#also the 'male bodied' thing killed me. you heard it here first folks: only women are capable of giving up power

[berylian]

Watched the doctor who special and it's literally "through the power of transgenderism all things are possible, so jot that down"

[crazylilmonster]

The Art of War

Part 4

Note: One important thing of note here is that the (Y/N)’s hair is long and curly. If you have short and/or straight hair and absolutely hate having it long, like me just think of it as something the king and queen made you do. Like you have to have your hair long and curled for the purpose of dignity or whatever. Later on in the story I won’t mention when (Y/N) cuts her hair so that you can adapt your imagination to your preferences.

Pairing: Izana Kurokawa x female reader

Disclamer: This story is meant for the mature audience only. It contains some heavy teams like abuse, killing, aggression, consuming alcohol and cigarettes, swearing as well as sex. It is a bit of a slow burn regarding the smut but you still shouldn’t read it if you are under 18. Because I can’t stop the minors from reading please do not repeat any acts mentioned in the story and please practice safe sex as well as trying to keep your body healthy since it is still growing and it needs all the nutrients it can get.

Main Masterlist

The Art of War Masterlist

“Princess?” You turned your attention to a familiar voice calling out to you.

There stood Izana in his full casual glory. He wore a white tunic that only emphasized and complimented his skin tone as well as loose fitting black trousers. His signature red earrings were dangling and eye catching as always not to mention that his hair was messier than usual.

“Drop the formalities.” You spoke in a tone which Izana has ever heard come from your mouth. “Now it’s time for you to be yourself, just don’t kill anyone.”

It was astonishing how you had no trouble adapting to the commoner way of speech and posture. Your back that was usually straight as a board now were slightly bent and your shoulders seemed relaxed as you sat on the brown horse. You wore a dress that commoner women would as well as the shoes. The top part of your dress was white and it showed off a lot of your collarbones which were usually covered with extravagant fabric. Not to mention that your sleeves were short and there were no gloves in sight. The skirt of the dress was brown matching your shoes in color and it had some simple flower designs along the hem.

What caught him as a surprise was also your hair which would mostly be tied up with some loose strand framing your face. However this time your hair fell down to your mid back in curls that looked soft to the touch. He had to swallow a lump forming in his throat.

You of course noticed his hesitation so you leaned down closer to his face? “What’s wrong foreigner? You’ve never seen a woman on a horse in your life?” You teased.

Izana’s eyes widened at your remark and he could feel his cheeks heating up. This was the only time he was grateful for his skin tone in this god forsaken country. He wasn’t necessarily embarrassed so to speak he was just thrown off guard. You were so formal when the two of you met so this was a whole new side he hoped no one noble got to see.

“Foreigner?” He questioned as he got on the horse that was next to yours.

“I thought it seemed appropriate.” You stopped for a second noticing that you were slipping. “I thought it suits you? No…” You mumbled under your breath trying to find the right way to say it. “I fucking hate this.” You sigh.

The first swear word that left your lips into Izana’s ear made him flinch. “What exactly?”

“The first hour before I get used to the common folk speech.” You explain “Never mind, follow me if you can keep up.” You teased the white haired man as you ran off towards the lower class town.

As you reached the towns streets you took Izana to the stables where you placed one silver coin on the table and asked the keeper to watch over them. The man offered you a wide smile and placed two coin like shapes with number thirteen and fourteen in your hand.

“We need to make up names so no one notices us right away.” You spoke to the white haired male.

He gave you a nod in agreement. You hummed like you were thinking about it. “Kanin.” It dawned on you like the morning sun.

“Kanin…?” His question made you nod in confirmation.

“Your name is known by everyone since you won the impossible battle.” You leaned in closer to him which made Izana lean back slightly.

Your behavior confused him; you were so collected and distant from him in the palace and now you were sticking to him like flies to the honey. Not that it was bothering him or anything. “Why are you getting so close all of a sudden?” He questioned you with slightly raised eyebrows.

“We are a couple, shouldn’t we be close?” You looked up at him where you noticed a blush creep up on the foreign male. His skin was darker so it wasn’t as visible but your sharp eyes could not just miss it.

“Wh-…“ He was baffled by your statement.

“It is our disguise for the night. A traveling couple that just so happened to stop here during the festival.” You offered him a hint of a smirk in the corner of your lips as you grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the town’s streets.

The music on the street was fast and festive the people were walking with smiles on their faces or eating food on the side. When the two of you reached the town square there was a band of men playing various instruments and a good amount of people dancing in the middle.

Izana noticed the excitement in your eyes the moment you laid them on the people dancing. He stared at them a few moments longer to pick up the dancing moves and it was far simpler that what he had to learn back in the Sano mansion. He pulled you towards the group mimicking the pose to start the dance and giving you a sign with his eyes to do the same.

You smiled at his actions following the dance and moving to the rhythm of the music. You danced on the festival before and you were grateful that the wounds on your back have healed enough for you to movie without wincing in pain.

At some point people around you noticed the two of you and a good number of them moved aside eying the young dancing with smiles on their faces. By the time another song was over the men playing said that they will take a short break before playing again.

“Are you new in town?” A young woman in her late twenties holding a baby in her hands approached you and Izana.

“Yes, we’ve been traveling for a while now.” You offered the woman a kind smile.

“Oh my… but you are so young. Did something bad happen?” She questioned. “I’m assuming your parents didn’t approve of your partner?”

Izana felt the familiarity in that question. She was asking because his skin was visibly darker than yours. He loved his lineage, the people from Vuur raised him and it was his home for all eighteen years of his life. Everything here was unfamiliar and foreign to him and he wished nothing more than to get back home but now… he has the opportunity to avenge his fallen nation. He just needs to play the role.

In the palace he is just a boy who wants to enjoy the luxuries instead of rotting in the cells or obeying any of the snobby nobles he has met so far. Here he needs to play the role of a young man who fell in love with a foreign woman and is now looking for a new home with the very same woman.

“She found me wounded on the battle field. If it wasn’t for her I would be dead now.” He made eye contact with you with such fondness in his eyes that it confused you. Was he such a skilled liar that he could fake expressions so easily? “She was secretly nursing me back to full health and I was still recovering when her father found me and tried to kill me with his farming tools.” His hold on your hand grew slightly firmer as he spoke. “I’m still surprised she wanted to come with me.”

Izana kissed the top of your head. The way he was speaking and his gestures seemed so honest that you who knew the truth believed it. It scared you to certain point. If he could be manipulative to that point was he ever honest with you. Did this mean he will kill your loved ones even after you asked him not to?

“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you enjoy the festival.” She smiled and awkwardly tried to excuse herself. That story surely made her uncomfortable.

“Did that actually happen or did you make it up on the spot?” You questioned him as the woman moved far enough where she couldn’t hear you.

Izana let out a sigh. “I was wounded on the battle field but no one came to help me. When I found shelter in a house that seemed abandoned the people there at first acted nice and looked like they tried to help me but...” He cleared his throat. “I was sold to the solders of Thymos and the next thing I know I’m supposed kill armored guards with a poor excuse for a sword.” His clenched the palm of his hand into a fist.

You stood there in silence thinking of any way to cheer him up until you heard whistling. It was that song… The song you heard last year during the festival. You eyed Izana gently pulling him by the hand closer to the crowd of people.

“I swim and sail on savage seas… with never a fear of drowning…” You heard the man’s voice as he was kneeling on his knee and serenading his wife from what you’ve heard. “And gladly ride the waves of life…” He continued.

“What is this?” Izana whispered in your ear.

You stared at the man and a woman in their mid-forties preforming the same thing they do every ear and you love it every time. “Every year she yells at him while rushing out of the nearby house. Every year he runs after her and sings to her in the square. Every year she joins in and they dance until the song is over. The song starts off emotional and slow but it becomes faster as it goes on.”

Izana turned his attention to the man. As the woman started singing you pulled him through the crowd and pressed your chest against his. One hand on his shoulder and the other holding his you moved with the music. He stared down at you with slight confusion.

As the man joined in on the singing and the two sang a duet the pace was faster just like you said. He followed your steps just fine and the stares pointed at him didn’t even make him as uncomfortable as it usually would. And for just that one moment that wasn’t longer than a couple of seconds. The only thing he could see was your smiling face there was no noise from the towns’ folk not even the music. Just silence in the mere darkness and you the only source of light in front of him.

By the time the song was finished you ended up in Izana’s embrace panting from the fast pace. “You’re a great dancer.” You whispered into his ear.

Izana swallowed a lump forming in his throat. Your face was way closer to his than he realized. “Thanks…” He let his hands fall down to his sides.

“Aren’t you going to kiss her?” Izana felt a poke of a small finger in his side where stood a young girl. To you she seemed two or three years younger than your youngest brother by blood.

The young girl had ginger hair tied in two braids. She was pale and her face was filled with freckles. Her big greed eyes stared at the two of you and her eyebrows were furrowed.

“What…?!” Izana questioned her stunned by her question.

“You heard me! In every novel the male lead would kiss the female lead right now.” She spoke up. “So what are you waiting for?”

“I-…”

“Don’t tell me you are not actually a couple? Only couples dance to that song.” She interrupted him.

Izana sighed after those words left the young girls lips. “Isn’t it inappropriate to kiss in public?”

She thought about it for a good second before looking up at the foreign looking man. She held no fear or judgment towards Izana. “It just shows that love still exists in this world.”

The words of the young red head stunned you and Izana as well as the most people listening in on your conversation. Love still exists in this world huh? You thought. Nobles don’t show any type of affection especially towards their spouse. People of high class are not supposed to concern themselves with love. They just marry for status.

You turned your attention to Izana; he was still staring at the girl stuck in his own head. You could see his profile clearly. White strands of his hair falling on the sides of his face. He was handsome you had to admit it but you never thought of him as a potential partner. You just assumed he will kill you when he avenges his people. That’s right… what reason does he have to keep you alive?

At least you should live your life to the fullest while you still have the chance. When you get married you will have to do all your firsts with an old man. So with that in mind you stepped closer to Izana and pressed a peck on his cheek.

The young man from Vuur flinched at the feeling of your lips against his skin and pressed the palm of his hand against his cheek. He looked at you with widened eyes and a hint of a blush forming on his face. “What are you-…”

You smirked devilishly at his reaction. “Aren’t you going to kiss me Kanin?” You playfully placed both of your hands behind your back bending your body at the waist.

You could feel the stare of the young girl burning a hole in your skull as you smirked at Izana. His eyes widened even more at you question. Izana swallowed a lump forming in his throat; his face was getting hotter by the second. You had the ability to fluster him this easily?

With the prying eyes of the young girl as well as a good number of towns folk looking form all the possible corners and smugly smiling at the two of you he had no other option. Just to escape the awaiting gaze and possibly slander if he doesn’t do it he really places his lips on yours making your eyes widen.

It could be barely called a kiss but his lips really were on yours. It didn’t last long either just a simple peck practically the same as the one you left on his cheek. It was your first kiss as well. It was better than what your first kiss was supposed to be. As a princess and a noble woman your first kiss would be in front of the priest and many other nobles if you were to marry someone on a higher position. Not in the square filled with the commoners.

“You call that a kiss?” The red head complained. “Are you serious…?”

“Not everything is like in the novel.” You spoke up. “You can’t give someone a passionate kiss if you never kissed anyone before.” You patted her head with a smile on your face.

You couldn’t spend many hours on the festival mostly because you were still the first princess and a queen’s stand in until your father remarries. So as the time you spent with Izana was coming to an end you both retrieved your horses from the stable and rode towards the archduchy Sano.

“What made you think I haven’t kissed anyone before?” Izana questioned you right before both of you reached the mansion. You turned your head towards him.

“I know I never did… so I just assumed. I’m sorry.” You apologized as both of you came to a halt close to the wall of the Sano mansion.

“You never kissed anyone?” Your statement confused him.

“Of course not… Noblewomen usually have their first kiss at the altar… With the man they barely know.” You sighed.

Izana’s eyes widened. “How does that happen?”

“Nobles do not marry out of love.” You switched to your polite tone you used in the palace so you don’t slip up. “Nobles marry for the benefits. They marry for the money, land, looks, and honor, even peace… everything but love. However they marry only for the love and nothing else.” You were looking down at the town.

The Sano mansion had the best view of the town besides the castle. You loved looking at the town from the window especially at night. The lights sometimes looked better than the stars.

Izana stared into the distance for a short while. Nobles were much more relaxed in Vuur. In truth you weren’t his first kiss. It was the rebellious princess he had to guard when he got the job in the palace at the age of fourteen.

He was outstanding in everything, beating many other warriors older and much bigger than him with ease. He got a job as a guard in the palace where he made sure that the princess was protected and well taken care off.

She adored Izana. That was the reason for their first kiss. He was fifteen and she was fourteen and she was just curious what it felt like since she was reading a lot of novels. She was reading mostly for the journey of a warrior but every single one of them had a love of their life waiting for them at home.

As the two shared their first kiss in the garden she realized she loved Izana but she had to let him go. He stayed in the palace with betrayal lingering in his chest and she ran away looking for the journey of a warrior and chasing her dreams of freedom.

Izana turned to you as you continued to stare at the lights bellow you. He used his upper body strength to lift his body up and to stand on the saddle you still haven’t noticed his actions just yet and he stepped over the base of your horses’ neck holding his entire body weight with his hands gripping on the front part of the saddle. You turned your head towards him and he was barely a few centimeters away from your face.

The young boy from Vuur pressed his soft lips onto yours in a chaste kiss. You closed your eyes cupping his cheeks. His lips were soft and comforting against yours. But you couldn’t help but feel the tugging feeling on your heart. You couldn’t say you loved him but you knew that you will miss him just as much as you’re going to miss your siblings.

By the time the two of you separated Izana was staring into your eyes. You took in the color of his eyes commencing it to your memory. It was a beautiful color you never wanted to forget. Knowing that you most likely won’t see him again you pressed your lips against his once again. He maneuvered his body closer to yours freeing his hands to hold you. Pulling you into an embrace but he stopped the moment he felt you wince. It was barely noticeable but still he moved away from you like burned.

“I’m a fool…” He spoke up with wide eyes. “I forgot… I… I’m sorry… I… didn’t mean to…” His breathing was uneven and he tried to move away from you as far as possible.

He forgot about the lashes you received because of him. Yes he blamed himself for your lashes. He got off the horse attempting to leave as soon as possible but was stopped by your hand on his bicep.

“It’s fine ‘Zana…” You attempted to turn him around to face you but he was standing in his place not moving a millimeter. You rushed in front of him holding onto his shoulders. “The lashes I got last time were supposed to be healed already…”

Izana shot his head up from the ground staring at your face with furrowed eyebrows. “Supposed to be?” He clenched his fists. “Did she lash you again? That concubine?”

Your expression softened and you let out a sigh. “It wasn’t her. But I was lashed by my half-sister about a week or so ago.” You said truthfully. He can’t do anything anyway so there was no harm in telling him.

Little did you know this only made his resolve stronger... He clenched his jaw. He felt so helpless and useless. Izana took a deep breath in and let it out to calm himself. He then held your face pulling it closer to him and pressing his lips against yours. This one wasn’t gentle nor sweet. Izana Kurokawa held you close kissing you passionately as if he moves too far you will disappear.

Just what will he do when he hears you will have to leave him?

~☆~☆~☆~

The day that has finally come… Veronica’s birthday party rolled around without you even releasing it. Yuzuha and you were getting ready together to ease the work the maids had to do as well as to be done at the same time so your young tailor could go to your brothers and help with getting them ready as well.

“I believe my work with you ladies is done.” Mitsuya smiled at your sister and you as the two of you eyed your dresses in the mirror.

He had really outdone himself. Not to mention how daring he was. There were colors that nobles couldn’t wear if the occasion didn’t call for it and if you weren’t or certain bloodline. For example only members of the royal family could wear gold and red. White would also be rare since it was a color meant for the wedding and black would only wear women who are grieving.

So when Mitsuya showed you the dress you were going to wear your eyes widened. It was a white dress with a tighter fit. That got wider from the top of your knees all the way to the bottom of your feet. From the hem of the dress all the way to your mid-thigh there were intricate black designs that reminded you of tree branches and elegant leaves. Similar design was on a shall that was meant to be draped over your shoulders was dark forest green and the only item of color made out of cloth on your dress.

He didn’t forget to suggest the maids to cover you with golden jewels specifically around your waist and neck. Thin golden chains and chokers brought everything to life in your opinion. You looked extravagant and elegant. The only skin that was clearly visible was the one on your face since Mitsuya made sure you had a pair of black gloves.

“Sister you are beautiful.” Yuzuha commented as one of the maids were getting her hair done.

Mitsuya was considerate of your sister as well. She most like told him that she dislikes dresses and how hard it is to move in them so he met her in the middle. Her dress was shorter in the front barely reaching above her knees and it would gradually get longer until it reached full length in the back. It was something like a cape and she wore trousers underneath it. It was mostly dark blue with white and golden details that matched the black ones on your dress and shall.

“You speak lies, if anyone is beautiful that would be you.” You spoke with a smile while side eyeing your younger sister.

“I would never!” She raised her tone slightly with a smirk caressing her lips.

By the time Yuzuha and you were done you met up with your younger brothers. Taiju had on a white suit with dark green dress shirt that matched your cape as well as many details all over his tuxedo of the same color as well as golden accents

Hakkai however had white trousers on as well as a tuxedo like top that had a dark blue cape hanging on his shoulders. His dress shirt was black and he too had many golden and dark blue details all over his torso.

Not that you thought about it you were matching with Taiju quite a bit as well as Yuzuha with Hakkai. “I must say that the two of you look quite eye-catching. You might even catch some attention from the ladies.” You offered them a hint of a smirk.

Hakkai had yet to publicly appear as a prince and Taiju never really bothered with the gatherings. So this will be the first time when both third and the fifth prince make an appearance in the society. Yuzuha did show herself once but was discouraged shortly after when young noble ladies bullied her indirectly.

“Before we go to the hall keep in mind a few things.” You spoke up you four walked towards one of the entrance halls. “Yuzuha, you are a princess who holds noble blood. If anyone says anything rude to you either glare at them or insult them back. No one is above you except the king not even the concubines but keep in mind what happens when you insult a concubine so stay away from them.” You spoke firmly. “Hakkai the same goes for you. And for all our sakes Taiju please behave.” You warned your younger brother who rolled his eyes at you.

Taiju ultimately offered you his hand to escort you to the party hall. You held onto forearm and out of the corner of your eye noticed Yuzuha did the same with Hakkai. “I have to say one more thing.” You sighed. “I want you to know that I… I love you. There is nothing in this world that is more precious to me than you three. So please take care of each other.”

You stunned your younger siblings. You rarely expressed your feeling if at all. And as you stood in front of double doors waiting for a servant to announce your presence to the guests you could feel Taiju’s intense stare on your skin.

“Here comes the first princess (Y/N) Shiba, the third prince Taiju Shiba, the seventh princess Yuzuha Shiba and The fifth prince Hakkai Shiba.” The servant spoke loudly as you entered. All eyes were on you.

You held a high position in the society so many young women admired your elegance as well as the unique dress you wore. Not to mention how many were stunned to see your tall younger siblings. You could practically see the many ladies irises contort from a sphere shape into the one resembling a heart. It took all your willpower and self-control to suppress a chuckle.

You could feel Taiju’s tall frame stiffening next to you. He never appeared in public where people could clearly see his face and talk to him. Not to mention the warring you gave him made him somewhat insecure.

“You will be just fine.” You patted his upper back in order to reassure your uncharacteristically anxious younger brother. “Keep your head up and don’t be impolite or swear and they will love you.”

Taiju visibly relaxed after those words left your lips. “Thank you…” He mumbled underneath his breath barely audible to you let alone anyone else.

“I greet their majesties the first and the seventh princesses and the third and the fifth prince…” Lady Gale was the first one to approach you with a deep and respectful bow.

“Lady Gale, it is a pleasure as always.” You offered her a kind smile making her stiffen.

She lifted her fan over her mouth and made a step closer to you. “I heard Lady Veronica complaining to her friends. I have a feeling the will try something.” She moved backwards. “Keep an eye out for her.” She warned.

“I will, thank you.”

“Is this the first time that the princes are attending a party?” She questioned which you confirmed with a nod. “Lord, help us… Did you warn them about…?” She looked to her side then the other before placing a fan over her lips. “You know who?”

“I did not have the chance just yet I am afraid.” You sighed.

“My, my, princess, and I thought you adored your siblings.” She offered you a smirk in a jesting manner. “May I have a moment of your time your majesty?” She eyed Taiju who furrowed his eyebrows at her. “You would not want to waste your precious time on troublesome people now would you?”

He followed after Lady Gale with a sigh leaving his lips. Yuzuha still seemed hesitant to leave your side as well as Hakkai. You looked through the crowd of faces noticing lady Sano and Tachibana conversing with each other, luckily Mitsuya was right next to them. Your younger siblings watched them from afar.

“You should join them.” You spoke up.

“But…” Yuzuha wanted to jump in but you stopped her by raising your hand initiating that you weren’t done talking.

“I have some people I need to greet; you should enjoy yourselves until you have to do so in my stead.” You watched as your younger siblings walked away from you.

You turned in the direction where you saw Shinichiro chatting with some gentlemen. When you were barely few meters away from them you also noticed Izana standing next to his adoptive brother. Their backs were turned to you and the gentlemen facing them had a displeased expression on their faces.

“With all due respect Sir Sano but he cannot be a general.” A noble gentleman commented.

“I do not see why not…” Shinichiro was interrupted by the very same gentleman.

“Sir Sano, I am aware that you are young but…”

“You are the new count leading the house of Osanai am I correct?” The gentlemen turned their attention to you and many froze in their place. “After your brother the late count died you took over did you not?” Your question made a smirk slither on his face.

“That is correct princess…” He looked disgusting in your eyes.

“I greet her majesty the first princess…” Shinichiro bowed at the torso with his dominant hand pressed against his chest.

“I greet her majesty the first princess…” Izana spoke up mimicking his adoptive brother’s actions.

“Your greetings are well received.” You bowed your head out of respect only to send a glare towards the gentlemen who didn’t bother to greet you properly. “I still believe that my position is higher than yours gentlemen.” You warned as everyone greeted you with a bow hurriedly with the exception of a count. “Count Osanai… do you perhaps believe that just because your nephew is possible crowned prince you do not need to show me respect?” You emphasized the word ‘possible’.

“I greet the first princess…” He bowed his head slightly.

“You do understand that my half-sister would have you beheaded if you spoke to her the way you did to me. Should I also remind you that your nephew does not carry the Shiba name which belongs to our king? Or have you perhaps forgotten the basic etiquette which you were supposed to learn as soon as you could walk and which foreigners are able to adapt to better in merely a week?” You looked down on the count.

“You…”

“I am the first born child of the king who you serve.” You interrupted hi stepping closer with fury glimmering in your eyes. You made sure to hide a shaking dominant hand before you spoke again. “I give everyone the equal amount of respect, be it the archduke, be it the baron, be it the knight or be it a simple commoner working in fields from dusk till dawn to feed his family. However the moment you do not give me the same respect or the same respect to the people serving the royal family for unreasonable reasons you lose all my respect. Now let me remind you the basics of etiquette before you make the same mistake and lose your precious tongue. When a member of the royal family steps close to you, you bow and say I greet her or his majesty and the title. And when someone of higher position speaks you do not interrupt them. Was I clear?”

He stayed silent. “Do not make me repeat myself.” You warned.

“You were crystal clear your majesty.” He bowed his head and left.

Shinichiro smirked as the gentlemen left after the count. “As venomous as always I see.”

“Silence yourself.” You said with an airy chuckle leaving your lips. “How can you keep so calm when someone like that disrespects you I will never know?” You added.

“Now that is a secret.” He smiled at you.

“How mysterious…” You mocked. “Is that why you got rejected to many times to count?”

“You snake...”

You giggled at his accusation. Shinichiro Sano was a joy to tease. However you failed to notice Izana’s eyes on you. He observed you several times and you seemed the most relaxed and yourself with his adoptive brother who he had no trouble with respecting. He heard rumors about your secret affair with the older man and he could understand how those rumors came to be.

Izana would probably be jealous if it weren’t for that secret outing. If the rumors were true you wouldn’t invite him to go with you him but Shinichiro.

“I must ask. What was the purpose of this party?” Shinichiro lowered his voice to the volume where only Izana and you could hear him. “I know our king better than most nobles.” He eyed Izana as he spoke. “He did not allow the first princess to have her coming of age party let alone and insignificant age as fourteen.” He added.

“Are you serious?” Izana questioned.

“Well I am the first child of the king to reach the adulthood and I think even the worms in the ground know he is not found of me. Just because I did not have a single celebration does not mean the children he favors will not.” You said.

“So what you’re telling me is that that is in his favor?” Izana eyed Veronica from afar with a hint of disgust on his face.

“Mind your expression.” Shinichiro warned the white haired male whose face relaxed at his words forming a natural expression.

“He favors everyone who gives him the love and affection or is a tyrant like him.” You covered your mouth with a fan as you spoke. “I like to think he prefers incompetent children. However that is a lie because some of my siblings are more than competent but not in the way they need to be in order to rule.” You lowered the fan as your eyes landed Taiju.

As if he knew you were looking at him your eyes met. You pressed four tips of your fingers against your lips and then nudged them in his direction. Your actions made a hint of a smile creep up on his lips and he mimicked your action.

It was something your mother taught the four of you for safety measures as well as encouragement. It was a simple action that meant ‘I see you’ as ridiculous as it may have sounded it was a smart action.

Nobody but your siblings and your mother knew the meaning. ‘When I was young my brother disappeared.’ The queen spoke with sadness painting her usually cold and natural eyes. ‘He was nothing but a curious boy who could not find his way home. He appeared out of nowhere after some years. His face was burned and distorted beyond recognition he begged our parents to let him inside the house but they did not recognize him and if we did not have a secret sign I would never be able to talk to my brother again and he would have died on the streets.’ She sighed. ‘This is why this means ‘I see you’.’ She pressed the tips of her fingers on her lips and nudged them in the direction of the four of you. ‘Even when someone tries to mimic it they will not know what it means and how much it means to you. I see you my children, I see how strong you are, I see how hard this life will be for you, I see so many things you will not understand until you are older.’ She then repeated her action and you and your siblings copied her. ‘Nobody knows what this means except for you.’

The voice of the king brought you out of your thoughts as he spoke up on a golden terrace in front of his people. He was more extravagant than anyone in the room and he held a wide smile as he looked down on his people. Next to him was the King of Sem Coração.

Breno Silva was a man in his late forties or early fifties his tan skin was darker than yours but much lighter than Izana’s. He held authority as he stood proudly next to your father. He had the most visible wrinkles around his eyes and eyebrows which indicated that he wasn’t a happy go lucky type of person but a strict ruler. His clothes were also unique much looser and colorful than what you were used to seeing in Thymos.

“I am delighted to congratulate my lovely daughter the ninth princess Veronica Belle on her fourteenth birthday.” He smiled at her. “As well as my happiness that my firstborn child will become a concubine for the King Breno Silva of San Coração…”

So it seems your intuition is never wrong…

[nightswithkookmin]

NO CAPTION

I love how this conversation is bringing out the homophobia in y'all's eyes😌

'Yall are scared Jimin will stop looking like a submissive gay man if he builds muscles'

So y'all think Jimin looks like a submissive gay man without his muscles????????

Huh????

Isn't this the very thing I'm ranting over in these posts? That people think he looks gay and a sub/bottom and that he doesn't look like a real man because of the way he looks??

Isn't that why they are fixing him to look more masculine in these ads????

Y'all think him building muscles will change his sexual orientation if he is in deed gay and a sub???

There is nothing wrong with being gay or sub or bottom or whatever any gay queer person might be into. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! Omg!

Muscle building is not for men only.

This is Namjoon's cousin. What about her makes her less feminine??????????????

Should she get longer nails? Bigger hoops? May be a Brazilian butt lift? Botox? Fillers? In order to look more traditionally feminine?

If she decides to stop working out or drink stuff to lose muscles so she can be seen as more feminine do y'all not think that would be ??? because she is feminine regardless?

What about these women make them less feminine????? They build up too and they are women.

Jimin with or without muscles is still an androgynous man. Building muscles does not erase his androgynousity. That is Jimin.

He is an androgynous MAN not woman. Looking skinny is not what makes him androgynous. Putting on make up and wearing feminine clothes is not what makes him androgynous.

We've been calling him androgynous from day one when he debuted and it's not because he didn't have muscles. He had them in abundance. so I find it weird that you will think we gay people are worried he is leaning into his masculinity- when the question we are asking is WHAT AT ALL IS MASCULINITY?

Didn't he ask the same questions when he asked his band mates, man man man- what the heck is man- when they said men shouldn't wear rings on their pinkie?

That was an iconic moment and I wish I could write a dissertation on it. Super iconic.

Is he a sex icon? Absolutely. Is he a queer icon? Yes. But he is not a gay God. No body is looking up to him to liberate them from no damn queer oppression- love how you trivialize and make fun of LGBTQ issues.

Really sista? You had to go there? And you say you are a Jikook supporter?? Interesting.

I think Tae put it best when he said Jimin may look cute and pretty on the outside but when he takes off his clothes that's when you see he's more masculine. I think for some of us, we've always seen Jimin as very masculine in his expressions and very experimental in his expressions of femininity. I've always seen him as grounded in his masculinity than feminity- although he does suffer from toxic masculinity every now.

I'm simply saying this may be one of those times. Emphasis on may be. I'm over it. Just took note of it.

When it comes to exercising, the members have said he used to be the one who trained the hardest in dance rehearsals. Didn't RM say he and Jin used to look up to him and learn from him because he is well disciplined?

He's always exercised. Y'all think him flipping through the air and defying gravity comes from a lack of exercise?????

This is the few times he's talked about exercising as a social male bonding activity with his members and even encouraged Hobi to join them. If you think he will look more masculine climbing rocks and building muscles then you are part of the problem I am trying to address here.

Do y'all not watch Bon Voyage and Run and Winter package? Do y'all not see him "be manly" and "lean into his masculinity" in those contents? Did he not say he wanted to go do yoga with the others but chose instead to go to the brewery with Yoonkook?

Out of curiosity, let me ask- which is the two options was the least masculine activity? I'm genuinely curious.

And no, I am not uncomfortable seeing him lean into his masculinity. I am uncomfortable watching him straddle the line of toxic masculinity and it's not limited to him. I think I have expressed similar sentiments with regards to JK and RM and Suga and the rest.

And no. It's not toxic that he is exercising or wants to exercise. I question that he wants to build muscles and look a certain way as a man especially if that way is the only way he and y'all think a man should look like.

I don't know about you but this looks pretty masculine and feminine to me.

As does this. He can look like the incredible hulk and I'll still see him as androgynous.

Now don't get me started on his upper lips and BigHit constantly concealing his upper lips with make up. Don't get me started on that! 😡

They are always erasing and tweaking something when it comes to Jimin! Always! I HATE IT HERE.

Jimin is not the first androgynous man in Kpop nor is he the only androgynous man in kpop. He doesn't have to be gay or queer to participate in social discourse.

And I understand that queer and gender issues may not be of importance to y'all cis straight folks but it is important nonetheless and BTS have dabbled in the discussions and voiced out their opinions on it. They are advocates for the youth and that includes gay queer folks.

How many times have they talked about same love? That their BT21 characters are genderless, that clothing shouldn't be restricted to specific genders? Jk have said he hates oppression and Jimin talks about self love and acceptance for all- you think gay people are not included?

They don't have to be gay to be gay representatives and "Gay Gods." Heard of Allies?

And when you say BTS are human not representatives- you kidding right???

Have you seen BTS issue statements on Black lives matter, on Racism and Asian hate crimes etc?

Yes, they human beings.... who care about other human beings and their oppressions. Y'all praise these men for wearing unisex brands and genderless fashion and praise them for when they voice out on certain issues... except when it comes to gay issues? I see y'all's colors.

Also you ship Jikook but it pisses you off that we say Jimin is gay??? 👀

Jimin gay. Jungkook gay. Jikook gay. Does this annoy you? 👀

They are fucking eachother. Do you wanna block me? 👀

JK fucks Jimin. Jimin fucks JK. Are you dead yet? 👀 Do you wanna kill me? 👀

I don't see them as straight honestly. If I did and I thought they were facing straight issues I'd be talking about those too. I see them as gay dealing with gay issues that we all deal with and I talk about that.

Credit to the artist. I think that photo of Jimin from On MV is one of my favorites.

I might have to frame it and hang it on my wall.

Don't have any hard feelings against you but I thought I would address certain problematic statements you made.

Love,

GOLDY

[athenawasamerf]

Feminism in Egypt, Part 2

FGM

FGM has a long, bloody history with African and Arab women. Some people say it originated in Ancient Egypt; others lean more towards it being a Bedouin Arab tradition. I’m not here to discuss the origin story of one of the most horrific human rights infarctions on earth. I’m here to talk about the current feminist struggle against it.

FGM was outlawed in Egypt in June of 2008, and a 2014 survey showed that a whopping 92% of married women and girls between 15 and 49 years old have been subjected to FGM (I will talk more about the inclusion of 15 year olds in official surveys of married women in a post about child brides), and that 72% of these crimes were carried out by doctors. In 2008, a DHS survey of women and girls in the same age range showed that 63% of them were in support of FGM as a practice. Of those 63%, 60% cited husband preference for ‘cleaned’ girls, and 39% cited religious reasons. All of these are easily googleable facts, but these things always sound so clinical when they’re presented like this. Cold, sterile, detached. So, let’s get a little deeper into it, shall we?

Girls in Egypt are mutilated anywhere between birth and marriage, but mostly before the age of 15. These are children. Every single year, we have cases of babies, toddlers, children, young women dying from botched mutilations and infections, especially after the 2016 criminalisation of FGM practitioners. Parents will take their daughters to backwater clinics, or have ‘doula’s who have no medical experience of any kind visit them at home, and cut into the flesh of their young daughters with non-sterile equipment, often without anaesthesia.

I’ve heard and read first-hand accounts of girls who got topical anaesthesia that wore out halfway through. I’ve heard and read first-hand accounts of girls who were dragged, kicking and screaming, and held down by family and neighbours forcefully as their bodies were torn into. Of girls who bled for days, of girls who had to have their legs bound to each other for weeks, of girls who couldn’t stop screaming in pain every time they went to the bathroom, to complete apathy and even disgust and anger from their families, of girls who were snarled at for making noise while their bodies were being torn away on their own beds, of girls who still have constant pain over a decade later, of girls who hate themselves and hate their vulvas, and hate their lives. Of girls who are suicidal, of girls who are terrified of marriage, who have trust issues, who can’t handle the thought of anyone touching them there again, after the first time being so traumatic and painful and horrifying. All of this is done while the family, and even friends and neighbours, celebrate in joy. It’s even tradition in some rural areas to take all the female children of the family to get ‘fixed’ together, dressed in pretty dresses and fancy shoes.

I’ve also heard of women who are asexual due to trauma, whose husbands rape them continuously, who are abused for refusing sex, whose families disown them for being such a disgrace, whose husbands divorce them and leave them for dead, whose husbands marry multiple women besides them, and they are left to fend for themselves, unable to get a divorce and move on, and completely abandoned by the people they trusted the most. They’re told the angels will curse them all night for refusing sex, but what about their trauma? What about their feelings? What about them, as people? Nobody cares.

So, how did we get here? There are 3 main reasons.

The ’’religious’’ folk will cite a (weak) hadith as their proof that FGM is a good, healthy practice. It goes that the prophet saw a woman going to get her daughter cut, and he told her to ‘not cut severely, as that is better for the woman and more preferable to the husband’. Apart from any implications of misogyny in this hadith, it has been disputed multiple times, along with a couple others in support of FGM. You can read more about that here.

Regardless of the truth of FGM having Islamic support, the reality of the matter is that a huge amount of actual, real life Muslim people cite these hadiths as their reasoning to mutilate their daughters, and everyone sees that as completely justified. The truth of the matter is this: Someone put these hadiths into the public conscience knowing full well they will be used to abuse, maim, hurt, kill women for centuries. Whether that someone was prophet Muhammed himself or later scholars, no one can actually ever know.

The second, more indirectly religious and directly misogynistic reason, is to ensure ‘purity’. You see, as I’ve talked about before and as many of you already know, women in Islam and in MENA in general are seen and treated as property. The family’s honour lies between a woman’s thighs. A young girl who speaks to boys her age in the most innocent context possible can be subjected to house arrest, beatings, forced stopping of her education, even death, for daring to put the family’s honour in jeopardy. A girl who has a boyfriend, well...

In a society that places so much value not only on women’s virginity, but also on their complete removal and separation from the male sex at any cost, it’s not very surprising that tips and tricks like using FGM to ‘cull a woman’s sexual desire’ spread like wildfire. Girls are mutilated to make sure they don’t become wh**es. This is said frankly, openly, it’s common knowledge. If you refuse to hurt your child in this way, you will be met with disdain and disgust, and even wails of despair, with shock, with animosity. “Do you want her to become like a prostitute and ruin your family name? Do you want her to walk around uncontrolled? Don’t you know what shame she will bring on you?” These statements are directed at girls as young as... in the womb, if you show your dissent early enough.

And the final reason is the least of them to hide under religious pretences, and the most misogynistic: Because this is how men prefer their wives to be.

You might think when I say preference here, I mean it in the way I mean, “Oh, I personally prefer brunette hair,” but you would be sorely mistaken. By prefer here, I mean demand. I mean a man could force his grown wife, through physical force or through abuse, to mutilate her body for his satisfaction. I mean that men will sneer at un-mutilated women. I mean that men will beat their wives on their wedding night to within an inch of her life for ‘cheating’ them if the wives are not mutilated. I mean men will suspect their wives of adultery and murder them, which carries a reduced sentence of ‘time served during investigation’, just for the simple act of having intact genitals. I mean men will divorce their wives on their wedding night for being unharmed, for being whole. I mean men will act so entitled to women’s bodies that they will always have the assumption that the ‘product’ they are ‘buying’ is cut to taste, and they will become violent and aggressive and murderous if they find out this is not the case.

I personally don’t know whether or not I’ve been mutilated. With such high numbers in Egypt, the likely answer is yes, but I genuinely have no clue. I am not allowed to ask about these things, or I’ll be seen as a loose wh**re. My parents would beat me up and they still wouldn’t allow me the dignity of knowing whether my own body has been altered against my will. I don’t know if I’ll ever find out.

The feminists fighting constantly for tighter regulations, for harsher punishments, for longer sentences; these women are seen as the spawn of the devil. Accusations of loose morals are thrown their way day in and day out. Death threats and rape threats (’that’s what you want anyway isn’t it?’) are hurled at them from every direction. They are silenced. They are ridiculed. But they are prevailing. This year, the Egyptian president has decided to alter the FGM laws to cover loopholes, and possibly to increase enforcement. He has also altered the charge set to doctors who perform FGM which results in death from manslaughter to first or second degree murder.

The problem, however, remains in lack of reporting. Ever since the criminalisation of performing FGM in 2008, and the setting of punishments in 2016 as a minimum of three months’ jail time, to a maximum of 2 years, or a minimum of 1000EGP to a maximum of 5000EGP fines (63.71 to 318.53 USD), and until 2018, and possibly until today, not a single mutilator had been convicted.

Imagine being fined as little as 60 dollars for the permanent mutilation of a little girl’s body. And even that is not happening.

People refuse to report the monsters who do perform this, despite a 2012 gynaecology convention condemning the practice, and calling it an inhumane act, and stating quite forcefully that it is not a medical procedure, and that it is an infringement on the human rights of women and girls, which medicine and medical ethics do not condone. And yet, the public opinion remains the same: this is their business, it is not our place to intervene. It is not our place to get this fine young man thrown in jail, or fined, for performing a ‘cleaning’ procedure, and besides, wouldn’t you rather they had a medical professional perform it, rather than an uneducated woman, or a barber, or a butcher? It is not our place to report this family and tear them apart -  what did they ever do to us that we may hurt them like this?

No one ever asks what little girls have ever done for us to fail them like this.

[thetravelerwrites]

DuMont (Part 3) Lemon

Rating: Explicit Relationship: Female Elf Ranger/Male Tiefling Barbarian Additional Tags: Exophilia, Tiefling, Elf, Kobold, Half Elf, Human, Rogue, Bard, Barbarian, Ranger, Mage, Wizard, D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, Sex, Third Person Perspective Words: 3839

Kharis seems dissatisfied with DuMont's... performance, so DuMont intends to ask for advice from Rupert. Things don’t go as planned. Please reblog and leave feedback!

The Traveler's Masterlist

“Why do you do that?” Kharis asked as she and DuMont lay in their bed of straw and furs together.

They were sheltering in a run down barn on the outskirts of the nearest town. Rupert, Sanoh, and Norman were at an inn, but DuMont was too large to fit through most doors. Kharis decided to stay with DuMont instead of enjoying the comforts of the inn, which usually meant she was feeling frisky.

“Do what?” DuMont asked, looking over at her in confusion.

She sighed. “Ask me if I’m okay every time I make a noise when we have sex? And you’re always so gentle, like I’m made of glass and you’re scared you’re going to hurt me.”

“I am scared of that,” He replied, propping himself up on his elbow to look down at her. “I could injure you very easily if I’m not careful. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Kharis sighed discontentedly and reached up to scratch his chest absentmindedly. “It’s not that I don’t like the gentleness. It’s sweet. But I wish you would lose control sometimes, take charge, be spontaneous. Just grab me and fuck me senseless without even saying anything. I’m always the one who tells you what to do, and trust me I love giving orders, but I’d love it if you told me to just shut up and suck your dick once in a while.”

DuMont grimaced. “I don’t think I’d feel right, saying something like that.”

“That’s kind of my point, darling,” She said, sitting up with a slight chuckle. “You’re too pure for your own good sometimes. It’s growing up in that church that did it, it must be. What did that caretaker of yours tell you about sex?”

“That it was mostly a trap set by women to steal a man’s money. He was rather bitter about some woman in his past, I think, though he never talked about it.”

Kharis snorted. “That tracks. Look, it’s not like I want you to treat me badly or be cruel to me. It’s not about being gross or vulgar or wanting to hurt me, it’s about being aggressive, feral, demanding. Using my body to get what you want. When that’s done the right way, it’s so sexy. And I’m giving you consent to do it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“But I don’t know how to do that without hurting you,” He said, mildly frustrated.

Kharis sighed again. “I know, angel. It’s alright, don’t worry yourself too much over it. We’ll figure it out.” She rolled into him and snuggled against his body. “Get some sleep. We need to be up and moving before dawn. Love you.”

“Love you,” DuMont echoed, curling his body around hers and making sure she was as warm as he could make her.

Kharis fell asleep pretty quickly, but DuMont was unable to fall asleep for some time. He replayed the conversation with Kharis over and over in his mind, trying to parse what it was she wanted. Did she really want him to hurt her or be violent with her? That couldn’t be right. When he was violent, he killed people. He didn’t even mean to kill people sometimes, it just happened. He was still trying to gauge his strength and he often failed. How could he be forceful with her and not end up injuring her, or even killing her?

Maybe he could ask Rupert or Norman. Rupert and Sanoh were… very active… almost as active as he and Kharis were, but they both had more experience than he did. Norman was known to hire companions frequently, so he had different partners often. Norman and Rupert might be able to help.

The next day, the five of them came upon something that they hadn’t encountered in their travels: a proper bathhouse. It was lavish and resplendent and wildly out of place in this little town.

“Oh! Look!” Kharis said, pointing excitedly. “Look how big the doors are! DuMont, you’ll fit! We should splurge a little! We made a ton of gold from our last job and I haven’t had a bath that wasn’t in a cold pond in ages. Please, let’s go!”

“I’m totally down for this,” Sanoh said. “My scales have been so dry and itchy. I think I’m getting ready to molt.” She grimaced and scratched at her arm, which did look a bit flaky. “I hate molting. I’m out of commission for a solid week. It’s such an inconvenience.”

“How often do you molt?” Norman asked.

“Once a year. The good news is, once I’m done we can sell the skin for a good price. People grind it up and use it as a wound paste.”

“That’s actually fascinating,” Rupert said. “I wonder what magical properties your sheds might have.”

“Yeah, that’s great and totally not gross at all, are we doing this or what?” Kharis said impatiently.

“Sure, sure,” Norman said. “As long as we’re not spending all our money, it’s fine.”

The four of them started forward toward the building, but DuMont hesitated. Kharis doubled back.

“You okay, big guy?” She asked, patting his arm.

“Are you sure you want me to come in with you?” He asked apprehensively.

“Of course!” Kharis said. “Have you ever had a proper bath before?”

“I don’t think so,” He said.

“Then this could be an opportunity for you. Come get pampered with us. It’s fun.”

DuMont groused uncertainly, but he allowed Kharis to drag him into the bathhouse.

DuMont felt very out of place inside the pastel walls of the parlor, looking around at the delicate figurines and statues with discomfort and attempting to make himself smaller. The hostess, an elven woman, looked at him warily but greeted them all brightly.

“Welcome to the Rushing Waters Baths. Will you be needing separate rooms or a communal room this evening? The separate rooms are more private, but also more expensive.”

“One for the boys and one for the girls?” Rupert asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Kharis said. “Do you have one big enough for my sweetheart here?” She patted DuMont’s arm.

The elven woman looked him up and down appraisingly. “Unfortunately, I think the only bath that will fit him is the public bath. However, we have no other customers at the moment, so he will have it to himself.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Kharis said. “You’ll get to stretch your legs and soak for a while.”

DuMont grunted. “Thank you,” He said, addressing the hostess. His deep, low voice rattled the shelves slightly.

“We also offer laundering services,” The hostess said. “Simply leave your clothing on the shelves at the exterior of the bathing rooms and a silver for the service.”

DuMont looked down at himself and the simple loincloth he wore for modesty’s sake. He also donned a simple coat that Kharis had fashioned for him out of some large drapes for when it started getting cold. She wasn’t a great seamstress and the coat was a little haphazard and slapdash, but DuMont had treasured the gift and rarely took it off.

He had money now for the first time in his life, but there wasn’t many places that made clothing in his size. He could commission something, he supposed, but considering how often he ended up covered with dirt and blood, there wasn’t much point.

“You will need to leave your… weapons,” She glanced at the massive church bell tied to a post that DuMont used as a bludgeon. “At the door, of course. They will also be cleaned.”

“This is a strange place to be in the middle of such a small town,” Norman said.

“We’re a resort town, actually,” The hostess replied in a chipper tone that made Kharis roll her eyes.

“A what?” DuMont asked.

“It’s a town rich people build so they can pretend to be simple country folk while looking down their noses at them at the same time,” Kharis said in an undertone. The hostess frowned at her.

“How much for two private rooms and the public bath?” Sanoh asked, redirecting the hostess’s attention.

“The public bath is only two copper, and another copper for soap,” The hostess replied, still eyed Kharis while disfavor. “For two private baths, it’s six silver. Soap and towels are provided.”

“Do you provide companionship?” Norman asked.

“Wait until we get to the inn, Norm!” Rupert said. “I don’t want to be in the room with you when you have your fun!”

“Prude,” Norman sniffed.

“We actually own the inn, as well,” The hostess said. “You can book your rooms and companionship here for later, if you’d like.”

“Good, let’s do that,” Norman said.

It took a few minutes for them to iron out all the details while DuMont stood in the back awkwardly. He then waited while his friends were led to their own bathing rooms.

Before he could be taken to the public bath, he asked the hostess, “Could I visit my friends’ room? I’d like to ask their advice privately.”

“Of course,” The hostess said. “Right this way.”

She led him to one of the rooms, in which there was a flowery perfume smell. Steam emanated from under the door.

“They are undressing in the side room,” The hostess said. “You are free to wait for them.”

“Thank you, miss,” He replied. She nodded and excused herself.

DuMont stepped in and lowered his massive body into a squat-sit position, waiting patiently. The door opened after a moment, and to his dismay, a very naked Sanoh walked through. DuMont slapped his hands over his eyes.

“I’m sorry!” He exclaimed. “The hostess must have brought me to the wrong room! I meant to go to the mens’ bath!”

Sanoh laughed. “It’s okay, big guy!” He heard the sound of her slipping into the water. “Feeling a bit lonely? Did you want to bath with the guys?”

“No,” He replied, still covering his eyes. “Well, yes, but no. I wanted to ask their advice about something.”

“Oh?” She said, her voice piqued with interest. “Maybe I can help. What’s the problem?”

“Oh…” DuMont hesitated. “Well… It’s private.”

“It’s about Kharis?” Sanoh hazarded.

“Yes,” He responded.

“Is it about sex?” Sanoh said shrewdly.

“Yes,” He said, almost dropping his hands in surprise. “How did you know?”

“Because Kharis and I talk, sweetie,” She replied. “Look, you can lower your hands. I’m not all that shy, honey; ask Rupert. Besides, if you want to know what a woman wants during sex, you shouldn’t ask a man. Why don’t you get in and sit with me and we can talk. Kharis is getting a drink, so she’ll be a few minutes.”

DuMont slowly lowered his hands and was relieved to see that Sanoh had sunk beneath the bath, which seemed to have a cloudy, pleasant smelling mixture in it that obscured most of her body. He carefully stood up and climbed into the bath, raising the level of the water by at least a foot. He took great care not to crowd her, looking much like an oversized dog crouching in a box too small for him.

“Alright, so what’s the issue?” She asked.

“Kharis wants me to be more aggressive,” DuMont said, hanging his head. “But I’m worried that I might hurt her.”

“I see,” Sanoh said, leaning forward a little. “I mean, I like a little bit of pain during sex, but I imagine it would be difficult for you, considering your size and strength.”

“That’s what worries me,” He replied anxiously.

“Well, there are plenty of ways of being assertive without hurting anyone,” Sanoh replied. “What about just ripping her clothes off the next time you feel frisky? Ooh, with your teeth! That would be hot.”

“But wouldn’t I make her mad if I ruin her clothes?” DuMont asked, cocking his head.

Sanoh shook her head. “Trust me, do it right, and she’ll be putty in your hands. Besides, we’re flush with cash right now. Kharis can buy new clothes. Kharis is also a little bit of an exhibitionist, so she’d probably like some public sex.”

DuMont balked at this idea. “That’s indecent! And also illegal, as far as I know!”

“I don’t mean do it out in the open! Although, knowing Kharis, she would probably love that,” Sanoh muttered thoughtfully. “No, no, somewhere public adjacent, like a rooftop or just beyond a tree line, somewhere you have the potential to be caught.”

DuMont frowned uncertainly. “Alright. What else could I do?”

“You could snarl at her when the two of you are getting in the mood. Some women really love that primal, feral energy. Love bites could be good, too. I do love it when Rupert puts his teeth to my scales.”

“But…” DuMont ran a finger over his exposed fangs. “I don’t know if I could do that. What if I actually bit her?”

“Drawing a little bit of blood might be alright, just don’t go very deep.”

DuMont grimaced uncertainly, but didn’t say anything.

“Honestly, honey, I think you’re really overthinking things. You’re just a big sweetie pie! I don’t think you could hurt Kharis, even if you tried to.”

“That’s patently incorrect,” DuMont protested.

“Just try it, big guy,” Sanoh insisted. “It’s called experimenting for a reason. If it doesn’t work out, then you don’t have to do it again.”

“I suppose,” DuMont replied slowly.

“Either way, Kharis should be here soon, and you should go take your bath. First rule of being a freelance mercenary: never let something you paid money for go to waste.”

With some difficulty, he climbed out of Sanoh’s bath and headed back for the public bath. It was fairly large; he was able to stretch out, still clothed, and soak his whole body with relative ease. He swam around the bath a little, using the soap Kharis had bought for him to wash his body and clothes.

In the warm water, he mulled over the suggestions Sanoh had given him. Feral, huh? Like… maybe hunting? The only time he really let loose is when he was hunting, though his intent was usually to kill. Perhaps he could modify it and turn it into a game? Would Kharis like that? He could try it.

After only ten minutes, he rinsed himself and got out of the bath, sloshing water all over the floor and walked dripping back out into the foyer, the hostess glaring at him as he exited the bathhouse. Should he try now? It certainly would be unexpected. He wanted to be more spontaneous, like Kharis suggested, and take her by surprise. She might like that.

Hide. He needed to hide. There was a grove of trees near the bathhouse, an orchard likely belonging to the inn. The trees weren’t especially dense, but the sun was setting and it would be easy enough to hide in the dark.

It was over an hour before Kharis came out of the bathhouse. She was alone, thankfully, and looking around with concern, likely for him. It was understandable; DuMont usually stuck close to Kharis in unfamiliar places.

“DuMont?” She called. “Where’d you go?”

DuMont purposefully snapped a twig, catching Kharis’s attention. She spun around and looked into the orchard, squinting, and moved away from the lantern light.

“Is that you?” She asked as she walked forward.

DuMont let a low, quiet, guttural snarl issue from his throat, shifting his weight carefully. Kharis’s brow furrowed and she laid a hand on the hilt of her short sword. DuMont moved forward slowly, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He had to admit, this was kind of fun.

“Show yourself!” She said. “I’m armed!”

DuMont snarled again, a little louder this time. Kharis started backing away, beginning to draw her weapon.

Now.

DuMont rushed out of the shadows of the orchard, snatching Kharis by the waist and throwing her over his shoulder, making her squeak in surprise, and began to scale the tall bathhouse building, digging his claws into the stone.

“DuMont!” She shrieked, smacking his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

DuMont didn’t answer, just continued to climb the wall up toward the roof. As he pulled himself up, he dropped her unceremoniously, pulling rope from his waist pack. Kharis watched in confusion as he tied her hands up, behind, and down to her legs.

“DuMont, what are you doing?” She asked, a slight smile on her face.

“Taking your advice,” He replied, a deep growl to his words.

Her eyebrows raised, intrigued. “Well, I’m glad, but how are you going to get my clothes off if I’m tied up like this?”

He took hold of her tunic with his hands and ripped it open down the front, exposing her breasts to the air. Her skin smelled of the rose and cardamom soap she had used.

“Oh,” Kharis said. “Well, then.”

He put her on the ground and sniffed down her body, growling low like an animal stalking prey. She bit her lip and squirmed a little. DuMont pressed his nose in between her legs and took a deep breath before taking the fabric in his teeth and ripping it, tearing a ragged hole

“Oh, fuck,” He rasped. “That’s so fucking hot.”

His tongue came out and licked a large swipe up and down, and she strained against the ropes, squealing. She was swollen and pulsing against his tongue, and he could tell she was enjoying herself.

With one hand, he picked her up and carried her to the ledge, where there was a large decorative gargoyle looking down over the courtyard. He placed her face down on top of it, so that she could see the courtyard. The way the light was directed by the lanterns, she could see down, but people couldn’t see her. Probably.

Holding her down with his hand, he plunged his tongue inside her and contracted it over and over, in and out, up and down. She moaned loudly, and DuMont answered with a snarl. The entire lower half of her body was inside his jaws, and while he knew he wouldn’t hurt her, he had to admit that the hint of danger was thrilling.

Her hips moved in time with his strokes until she lay her face down against the stone and just whimpered in pleasure. Before she could recover, he withdrew his jaws and lined himself up with her entrance, thrusting in hard.

She howled, making as much noise as she could, reveling in the feeling of him inside of her and the idea of being overheard by anyone down below. She’d always loved the idea of being almost caught.

She began to quiet down to a faint whimpering, and the interior of her body flexed and contracted as she climaxed around his cock. He slowed to let her draw out the orgasm, and then sped up again, thrusting so hard that her body rocked to and fro on the back of the gargoyle. He pulled out, flipped her onto her back, and pulled her up against him, holding her in the air and pumping into her, moving her on him, using her body as she told him to. He granted her, it did feel amazing.

Her head was thrust back and she grunted with her teeth clenched, her eyes closed. Her face was flushed, a vein bulging in her neck, and she was sweating all down her body.

“Are you--” He began, but she opened her eyes and snarled, “Don’t you fucking dare ask if I’m okay,” and he shut his mouth.

He thrust and thrust vigorously, with more force than he normally used, until her body went completely stiff and she was gasping for air, then went limp in his arms. He slowed his movement to a crawl, giving her a moment to recover, before driving himself back in again, full-speed, not giving her a chance to regain speech. She strained against her restraints, not as though she wanted to be free of them, but in a manner that suggested she was trying to contract and stretch with pleasure, the muscles in her stomach and legs rigid and hard. Her face was red with exertion and sweat poured off her body.

“Cum,” She grunted at him. “Cum for me. Do it.”

He snapped his hips against hers faster still, the rise of ecstasy building in him quickly, and he roared as he released inside her. He had to be careful not to drop her as he felt himself pop finally, gushing and shooting into her. As such, he did manage to lay her down before collapsing. As exhausted as he was, he used his claws to snap the ropes free and let her body completely relax under him.

“Is that what you wanted?” He asked breathlessly.

“Shush,” She replied faintly. “Let me bask in the afterfuck.”

They lay there together on the cool bricks of the roof, the evening air blowing lazily over their flushed, overheated skin.

Eventually, Kharis pushed on DuMont’s shoulder and he rolled off and lay next to her. She sighed contentedly.

“Yes, to answer your question,” She said. “That was undoubtedly the best lay I have ever had in my life. I didn’t think you had that in you, but I’m pleasantly surprised.”

“I wasn’t too rough?” He asked.

“No, not at all,” She said. “It was perfect. Just what I needed.” She rolled on her side and looked up at him. “You weren’t uncomfortable with doing it, were you?”

“No,” He replied. “I was uncertain I was doing what you wanted and worried I was hurting you. Did I?”

She shook her head. “I think if you had gone any harder than you did, you might’ve, but it was great.”

“Good,” He said, satisfied. “The hunting and stalking part was really fun, I enjoyed that very much.”

She laughed. “You startled me, certainly, but it was fun. Next time we’re camping in the woods, we should have ourselves a nice game of hide and seek.”

“I would like that,” He said.

“Well,” She said, hopping to her feet. “I’m starting to get cold, and my clothes are…” She looked over at the shreds of her tunic and trousers. “Well, unwearable. Can you give me a lift down to the ground?”

“But you’re naked.”

She shrugged. “I’ve got spares in my bag downstairs.”

“But you’re naked.”

She snorted. “It’s not the first time I’ve walked nude through an inn before and it likely won’t be the last. Just get me down.”

He obliged, lifting her onto his back and scaling back down the wall. Kharis drew a lot of stares as she made her way through the common area of the inn. Like normal, DuMont was too large to get into the inn, but he watched Kharis from the door to make sure she didn’t run into trouble.

Norman, Sanoh, and Rupert were sitting and drinking, staring at Kharis as she strode through the room, though Sanoh caught sight of DuMont at the door and smirked, winking at him.

If he ever needed advice in the future, he definitely knew who to ask.

Since my work is no longer searchable, please do me a favor and reblog this story if you enjoyed it. Help me reach a wider audience!To help me continue creating, please consider buying me a Kofi, becoming a Patron, or donating directly to my PayPal!

Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[yeniayofnymeria]

A Song of Ice and Fire "Champions" (Theory)

Hello everone, i want to share my own theory about long night and it's champions. It’s about Arya and Dany.

First, I'm sorry for my poor English, i helped from google translate, hope you can understand what i mean.

Introduction

The legend of the Long Night and AA has been discussed many times, but I want to approach it from a different topic. As you know, there are two fundamental forces in the universe of asoiaf, and we are reading the war of these two forces; ice and fire.

Power representing the ice side; It's called the Great Other. He is the god of death, of terror, of night. The Spirit of Ice.

Power representing the fire side; It's called R'hllor. He is the god of light, of life, of fire.

"...The war has been waged since time began, and before it is done, all men must choose where they will stand. On one side is R'hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. Against him stands the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light." Melisandre

And this...

"The way the world is made. The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good." She took a step toward him. "Death and life. Everywhere, opposites. Everywhere, the war." Melisandre 

Of cource from Melisandre's perspective "Great Other... dead... is pure evil" But if we could ask it to ice side, they will said same thing for fire side, yeah? So do not mind the words of good and evil. Just focus the sides... I always say "the war between ice and fire" is like same as Stark and Lannister war. We saw both sides did bad things(Arya POVs), and both sides had good reason for battle. Who can say Starks are pure good but Lannisters are pure evil? I'm a Stark fan and i cannot say this.

So let's return our battle. Ice side wants eternal winter and fire side wants eternal summer. Well, i can say both of this are not good something, this is not a balance. Imagine living in the heat of desert or cold waether of north pole. Just one season, nothing more. Wildings live in north and they doesn't want to live there because life is so hard in there.

Prophecies

And I know, AA sound like a hero but who knows this? Really, we should trust the prophecises? I do not think so.

GRRM: " Prophecies are, you know, a double edge sword. You have to handle them very carefully; I mean, they can add depth and interest to a book, but you don’t want to be too literal or too easy... "

and Marwyn

"Born amidst salt and smoke, beneath a bleeding star. I know the prophecy." Marwyn turned his head and spat a gob of red phlegm onto the floor. "Not that I would trust it. Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is . . . and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time." He chewed a bit. "Still . . ."

and Tyrion

"Prophecy is like a half-trained mule," he complained to Jorah Mormont. "It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head."

So guys, do not trust prophecy so much. :)

It doesn't mean AA is evil, forget evil word or good, ok? Both sides want to win this war this why they need a campion, and this champions are hero for their sides, that's all. Yeah but not for everyone, special not for common folk. You know, always common folk gets hurt in somebody's war.

Also AA prophecy comes from Asshai, a hero, a savior... That place so close to Yi Ti, Dawn Empire. Who caused the Long Night? Blood Stone Emperor. The Long Night was a punishmed for them(Dawn people and their emperor)which it was sent by Night's Lion. Some kind of revenge(ice is revenge). Who was Night's Lion? God of Night, God of Dead! So this why AA is against to ice, Great Other(Night's Lion).

But at Westeros, there is no AA or savior, a hero against Great Other... Yeah, there is a Last Hero, true but his story and mission are little different from aa's story.

According to Asshai, AA finished the Long Night but according to North, Last Hero found Childiren of Forest and get put together them and Night's Watch and First Men and fought against Others and won somehow.

The Champions

Actually, I want to focus on this word. R’hllor's warrior is also known as the “champion"

In the ASOIAF universe, in battles, sometimes there are champions both sides. They fight each other for win, In this way, sometimes armies do not have to fight... You need a champion if you want a trial by combat at Westeros. Of course, the other side has a champion too. Of your champion wins, you survive.

In summary, if there is a champion, it has to be valid for both sides.

Champions of Ice and Fire

Is there champion of ice? Well at least, we know Melisandre think so.

But beyond the Wall, the enemy grows stronger, and should he win the dawn will never come again. She wondered if it had been his face that she had seen, staring out at her from the flames. No. Surely not. His visage would be more frightening than that, cold and black and too terrible for any man to gaze upon and live. The wooden man she had glimpsed, though, and the boy with the wolf's face … they were his servants, surely … his champions, as Stannis was hers.

We might think that the ice side will have a champion. Like fire side.

Well we assume fire side's champion is Dany. Yeah, some people thinks Jon is AA but AA must be full fire but he is ice and fire by his parents. Dany suits more than him and looks she fulfilled the prophecy.

Also i belive Jon is a balance; he is ice and fire; dark and light; dead and life. First Dawn Emperor was son of Maiden of Light(fire) and Night's Lion(ice) and in his reign there was wealth and peace. Why? Because he was half ice, half fire; half light, half night; half dead, hald life... He was balance. If you realize Jon also dead now and when he comes back he will literally be dead and life, a ghost, neither literally dead nor alive, but both. There is a darkness inside him (especially after resurrection) and also there is light. I belive you got it. :)

So ok, Jon is balance... Dany is AA... then who is Ice's champion?

R'hllor's champion was full fire. Great Other's champion must be full ice? A Stark. A First Men, Daughter of North. Someone who smells death. Someone serving the god of death. Arya Stark.

She says the names of the people she wants to die in her prayer. Death accepts it. Why is that? Because she is messenger of dead, champion of Great Other.

Women are in a strong position in this book. Usually we are used to seeing men in the foreground in everything. That's why we're waiting for the hero or anything like that to turn out to be men. But not in this book. 5000 years ago, The Others's leader(or something like that) was a women; Night's Queen. We do not know what was it but she had a plan and used for this a NW member, Lord Commander, probably a Stark. Night's King.

If AA ise Dany, then it makes sense that Great Other's champion is a woman. It would be fun to watch two women's war. Dragon Queen and Wolf Queen, ice and fire. Also Arya's skills for what? Just for kill her list? No! He is one of the big five of GRRM. Like the other four, she should have a big impact on this war.

“If a twelve-year old has to conquer the world, then so be it.”

I believe FM is connected Great Other. God of Dead is Great Other. And Arya with them. Jaqen was around Arya and lead her to FM. Why? Too young to be FM. The Kind Man said her training would take years. But she's only been there for a few months, but she took a face. They taught her. They know exactly what she wants, but they keep her with them. They're giving her an accelerated course.

Ghost of High Heart saw what was inside her and her future

The dwarf woman studied her with dim red eyes. "I see you," she whispered. "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death . . ." She began to sob, her little body shaking. "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

Arya hears some whisper. Sounds like someone's talking to him.

Calm as still water, a small voice whispered in her ear. Arya was so startled she almost dropped her bundle. She looked around wildly, but there was no one in the stable but her, and the horses, and the dead men. Quiet as a shadow, she heard. Was it her own voice, or Syrio's? She could not tell, yet somehow it calmed her fears.

And this.

"But there is no pack," she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall. "I'm not even me now, I'm Nan." "You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you." “Wolf blood,” Arya now remembered.

So what do you think?

[raindrenchedstories]

Star Runners. 1

Here’s that new story I was working on. I hope you enjoy.

Two women sat across from one another. One tall, toned, and scarred all over. The other, short, bubbly and smudged in grease. The tall one tapped her finger on the table. “I don’t know. Runnin’ supplies is one thing. Tagging planets? That’s a whole new ball game.”

“I get that. And that’s exactly why we’re doing it.” The other sighed. “Think about it Holly. How much does our crew actually do? We show up, unload a ton of stuff, then head back to port for another pick up.” She ran a hand through her long hair, smudging it’s copper tones to black.

“Give me one good reason for me to have a weapons expert, communications officer, medic, and battle harden mercenary on a job like that. But if we start exploring new planets. Finding new worlds for people to settle, and set up relays, everybody gets a shot!” The short one shot up. Smiling like a mad woman.

Holly leaned back, thinking her words over. Eventually she sighed. “Well. I mean. PAM has perfect reason to be here no matter the job. A medic is never useless.” She grumbled. It killed her to admit her employer was right. Then again, it was a comfort to work for someone with a clear head on their shoulders.

That said... “But there’s an issue with that line of thinking.” She waited for her employer to acknowledge her concern before continuing. “You’re going to need at least one more employee.” She sighed.

“Oh. You didn’t think I knew that? Hell no. I’m not walking a full crew onto an uncharted planet blind.” She insisted. “I wouldn’t even HAVE this ship if I didn’t think shit through before hand. I’ve got a few interviews lined up next week. While we refuel and restock. I was hoping to leave the hiring process between you and Sleat.”

“Wait. You want me working with the salamander? I’m not against it but... Why?” Holly cocked her head to the side. The other woman tapped her finger on the table, thinking of how to word her next sentence. Which put Holly off on all ends. “Roxy. Why Sleat and I?”

Roxy huffed. “Well. You’re pretty strict on what sets the standard. Which means you’re not going to just fumble on the interviews. But your people skills are...”

“Woefully lacking?” Holly suggested.

“That. Yes. Meanwhile Sleat is basically a ball of sunshine that talks. He’s great with most people. And well, there’s that language thing of his. So we can broaden our hiring pool. But he’s a bit er...” Roxy hated saying anything ill of her crew. Especially because the ship was so small you could hear damn near anyone at a regular level.

“He’s soft?” Holly had no such qualms. And somewhere down the hallway, a scoff of protest could be heard. Both women were pretty sure they’d find the other three members of the crew standing in the hallway.

“Well. That’s just it. So I’m hoping your high standard will be counter balanced with Sleats kind nature.” Making for the best mix. Roxy gave a weak smile. Almost pleading. At the end of the day, Holly couldn’t refuse. This was the woman who signed her paycheck after all.

“Okay. Fine. Anything absolutes that we should know about?” Holly sat forward, folding her hands under her chin, brow raised. Here, Roxy had a few requirements. Must be physically capable, have good credentials, and absolutely must be flexible in their relations. She couldn’t have someone flake out because they were working with aliens.

It’d take them three days to arrive in port. And by the time they got there, Holly planned to have a list of requirements written out by Roxy, and drilled into Sleats head. The new employee also had a size limit on them. No one who couldn't fit on the ship. So... Compact was preferable. The biggest concern wasn’t so much working with aliens, but the kinds of aliens this person would have to accommodate.

The crew was nearly half alien, with only two humans on board. Holly and Roxy themselves. The others were a Gordylide. A kind of brute species, usually only accredited with the brains of a dog. But occasionally one of human intelligence was born and raised among Orug peoples from that planet. Majority male, looked human but had a retractable muscle mass and spiked back. As far as Holly was concerned, Shanadoh was a fun rival and over all amiable guy. But she could see someone being more likely to act condescending towards him.

A Lutillian female. Basically a werewolf if it had scales and a case of the skinnies. Known for being violent vagabonds that travelled on old slags of abandoned ships. Carrying reputations for being space pirates. The females were especially known for being quick to anger. And yet. Pam was a doctor and a damn good one if Holly did say so her self. Well known for just not giving a damn. Holly was half sure she could saw an arm off, and Pam would not care. Actually, given the fact that it’d just grow back. She probably could.

Sleat was the least concerning. The only problem with his people was that no one really knew them.  Oh, they knew what a Szuhine was. But for the most part, their people were reclusive. They were pretty things, with slender bodies, and delicate fins. A large, tadpole like tail. Though they could also morph their bodies to look different, for some unknown reason. Either bulkier or softer. But no one could say anything about their culture, habits, overall reputation. For all Holly knew, everybody behaved like Sleat. Sunny, and personable.

Holly considered hiring another human to round things out. But in her discussions with Sleat, he brought up an excellent point. “Honestly, I’d say let’s look at credentials and personality first and foremost. If we hired by species, we wouldn’t have Pam.” Best advice the tangerine terror ever gave in her opinion.

---

So when they arrived at port. The two scouts departed. Setting up a small booth with information on what they were hiring for. So many applicants arrived that it overwhelmed them. Running was an interesting job. It allowed you to travel from planet to planet, experiencing the wonders of a new world while delivering supplies to colonizers. Or scouting potential planets free if intelligent life.

This sort of idea was usually well above most folk’s pay grade. It was a chore to get off planet. And most people could only do for a short trip within their own solar system. Even then, there was the risk of pirates. And undiscovered planets? Good luck. Usually people needed a degree in at least two different fields of work in order to be valuable. Usually science and medicine.

Even then, that was just to get on a colonizing ship. Which would also take years to get where it was going. Sometimes an actual life time. Anyone low skilled on those ships were usually only allowed on board if they brought their families. Or significant other that they were definitely going to have children with. Then it was into cryosleep and off you go to who knows where. To live it rough until the planet was settled. And even that took decades.

The smaller, runner ships only took a few days to reach these planets however, and were essential for colonization as a whole. Bringing supplies and livestock that couldn’t survive cryo. Or skipping across the stars to locate potential colonies. Making the idea of working on one appealing to say the least.

So in some mid space port, orbiting some moon Holly forgot the name of, she was forced to socialize with hundreds of humans, aliens, synthetic people, and even a few gaseous forms. Eventually they had to take a break. Promising potential hires that they’d receive a communication one way or the other.

Holly grumbled. “I don’t think I have it in me Sleat. I can’t be nice to people for this long!” She moaned. Sleat just gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Well. On the bright side. We do have a fair amount of help available. It’s sad we had to turn away so many labourers though.” He sighed. Deliberately trying to make his voice calming, in human inflections. They had chosen to sit not too far from their booth near the food court. Both had already shared a light meal. But Holly still seamed distraught.

“You mean ninety percent of our applicants?” Holly snapped.

“Yes.” He winced. “I wish we didn’t have to be so specific. But! We’re never going to find the right match if we just sit here moping about it. Now are we?” He shot to his feet and reached a supportive hand to his crew mate. Trying to be the epidomy of encouragement.

Reluctantly, the human took his hand and made their way back into the thick of it. The process took at least as many days as the travel. In which Sleat had to do a lot of letting people down. Sometimes well received. Sometimes he’d pass the communicator to Holly and let her get her snark out.

Eventually, over many stressful days, they found a match. Well, for the first part of hiring. The second was touring around the ship, and meeting the crew. If any of the crew felt anything was off, the process would start all over again.

---

Roxy stood steadfast at the doorway. For once, not covered in engine grease and god knows what else from the mechanical heart of her darling ship. Cleaned up in proper attire. Sleat and Holly stood on either side of her, still dressed formally, or in Sleats case, prettied up a bit. A little jewellery for the day. Behind them, Shanadoh, in his best white t-shirt and jeans. And Pam. Scales polished to an ebony sheen.

The main door chimed, and Roxy pressed the button to open it. Standing before them was a mousy young man. Bright red hair shone in the artificial light of the port outside. He’d already had several clearly heavy bags that were buckling his thin limbs beneath. However, the moment Shanadoh offered to take them he held his items closer.

“No no! I can carry my own weight. Um. Hello. Captain Roxanne. My name is Chester. Uh. Chester Mainland.” He dropped several of his bags to shake Roxy’s hands. A few making concerning clattering noises. “Biologist, anthropologist, ecologist-” He rambled.

Pam cut in, speaking up for the stunned engineer deemed captain. “I think we get the gist of it.” She grinned. Her voice broke the cloud over Roxy’s mind and the dam broke.

“What is all this stuff?” She blurted out, bemused.

“Oh, just some equipment for the trip. Ah, that is, if I end up being your man. I thought it’d be better if I brought my own gear. Did I overstep?” He suddenly paled, which was an impressive feat considering he was already a few shades brighter than standard parchment.

“Not at all, just... surprising. How about you pass those over to Shan, and we can give you the tour.” She suggested gently. Chester attempted to gather is items, letting gravity catch the rest of his bags. Making for more falling and concerning clunks. The gordylide just patiently gathered them off the floor, offering to hang a few of the lighter ones from the long spikes on his back.

According to Chester, there were no lighter ones. “At least, none that wouldn’t pull or cause you some discomfort. But thank you!” He beamed. Before turning the rest of the crew. “I hate to ask, but who is the doctor on staff?”

Pam perked up. “Are you injured?” She glanced over his person, concern etched into her features.

“Ah! Must be you then! No, not injured. I just have a general exam I need to pass. But the time frame I was given for take off might make me miss it. I was hoping I could reschedule with you?” He gave her a nervous smile. Pam was a little taken aback. As was the rest of the crew. Even her closest friend, no, even SLEAT questioned her credentials initially.

Never the less, she gave a nod. “Won’t be an issue. If you clear the bar today, we’ll set you up day after tomorrow.” She nodded. Though, she left her jaws open just a smidgen. Scenting this newcomer properly. She could catch the salty taste of nerves in the air. Just flooding the room. She shut her mouth.

As Sleat made a point to show off every room of the ship, Pam held Roxy back. “I don’t think Holly would let a creep on board. But that guy is freaking out. Bad. He’s two steps from terrified.” Bright yellow eyes caught up in Roxy’s brown. The two shared a nod, before Pam fell back in step with the rest of the group.

“Sadly you’ll have to share an office space with Pamela, we’re a little tight here. Pam honey, you don’t mind, do you?” Sleat beamed toward her. She gave a shake of her head.

“So long as you keep your samples away from my medical equipment. We’re good. No offence just-” She began, but was cut off by the young man.

“It makes perfect sense! You can’t use contaminated tools to save a life.” He nodded fervently. Making note of where he could store his machines. Glancing back and forth then pointing out a tiny, unused space. Particularly cramped, but if fitted with a pair of tables, it would hold his equipment. He’d just have to stand while he worked. “How about right here? It should be right out of your way!”

Holly bristled a little, before glancing to Pam. Double checking her bullshit detector. The Lutillian gave a subtle nod in agreement. This guy was almost too accommodating. Still, Pam agreed to the idea under one condition. “For the love of god, give yourself enough room to sit. Not all day obviously, but it’s better for your spine if you take the occasional break.” She huffed.

Both women pulled Roxy aside that time. One argued he was too nice. The other argued he was hiding something. Trying to delegate, the redheaded mechanic waved a single hand between them. Hissing to wait until the end of the tour, and she’d sit everyone down and discuss his flaky behaviour.

Eventually, the main rooms were shown off, as well as a sizable cargo bay carrying a surprising amount of nothing for once. It always felt wrong seeing it so empty. It was usually full of livestock, adult or incubating. Or seeds. Now it was just thoroughly scrubbed and disinfected. Courtesy of her kick ass crew.

She followed her team back up the stairs and into what passed for a galley. Really it was a cramped kitchen, and a single, medium table. Enough to sit six people, if everyone minded their elbows. What wasn’t used for cooking or eating was stuffed to the brim with preserved foods, and some luxuries like fresh vegetables and fruits.

All six of them finally took their spots at the table, and Roxy took a deep breath. “So there’s been a concern.” She folded her hands. Sleat pressed his lips in a thin line. A few bitter clicks left him without his consent. He’d been rooting for this lad to make it. Perhaps he misjudged the humans demeanour?

Shanadoh just tilted his head obliviously. He wasn’t an unintelligent man, by Gordylide standards he was fucking brilliant. But he did tend to miss cues. Like three women whispering harshly behind him. Still, these people never led him astray before. If they were discomforted by the man, he’d stand behind them.

“You’re coming off as rather... Twitchy, to my team. Well, the ladies anyways. What do you guys think? Roxy turned her attention to both men at hand. Shanadoh spoke first, leaning back in his chair, as best he could, and folding his arms over his broad chest.

“Honestly so many humans are freaked out by folks like me, or treat us like... I think they’re called dogs? I didn’t notice the difference.” He shrugged.

Sleat on the other hand, started reflecting, on the tour, before coming to a conclusion. “I should point out. We’re a majority alien crew. That can be a little intimidating at first. Especially between two brutes like Shanadoh and Pam. However, thinking back, things are a bit tense. Perhaps it’s just nerves?” He smiled encouragingly at Chester.

He’d begun shaking, hard. “Well... I do admit, they are a little intimidating. Nothing I can’t handle mind you! But... I can’t afford NOT to get this job.” He blurted out. Fisting his trousers tightly.

Holly leaned her chin on her fist. Honestly bored with the whole situation at this point. She’d been getting all kinds of red flags, and this was just one more. “And why not? You’ve got a hell of a resume. You’ve got your pick of Colony ships.”

Pams jaws popped open again, obviously this time. Tasting the air for lies. It was a wonderful habit of her people. So long as you were a friend. No one could slip past the jaws of a living lie detector. Chester ignored this. “W-well. They’d pay my family in a lump sum. But... It’s not really enough to look after them, you know? My mother put everything she could into my college. So I could pursue my interests.” He began.

“She thought there was enough for her and my sister too. But apparently not. Not after a recent raid.” He dropped his head into his hands. “They lost everything in one night.” Those who had lived in the solar system for any amount of time shifted uncomfortably. Everyone but Sleat. Who was oblivious.

With the advent of space travel came the raiders. Folks who didn’t play by the rest of the solar systems rules. Usually mixed species like their own crew. They had a habit of attacking small planets in the system as they tended to be less guarded. Ravaging the sphere of supplies.

No one in any position of power really seamed to give a damn. On a galactic scale, it just wasn’t worth caring about. But on an interpersonal scale, it was always devastating. Sometimes people were taken as well. On those massive warships. Usually women. It was no wonder what that was for. Sometimes they broke free. But it was so rare... “That’s a fucking miracle they got out.” Holly spat. Pam shook her head, folding her arms. Ebony scales made a soft hissing as they rubbed along one another.

“And yet. He’s not lying.” She leaned her head back, gently thumping it on the wall behind her. The table was silent, until Roxy gave a nod.

“So you’re hoping to take a cut of your salary, and send it to your mother. How old is your sister?” She glanced at Chester. He held up his right hand. And then one more finger. Six. Chester had to be at least eighteen, early twenties at the latest. So he’d have to have had his schooling downloaded into his brain. Faster, but not cheap.

“Right. You know there’s a risk you’ll die. Right?” Roxy leaned back, blunt honesty was probably the best she could give him in this situation.

“I’ve already taken out a life insurance policy. So if I do die, they’ll have enough to at least get off that planet.” He sighed. “I get you guys might not be able to give me much of a cut. But aside from the basic necessities, I don’t need anything. So the majority is going to my family.” He glanced up, waiting for the final call.

The captain shared looks with her crew. Most of which nodding. One making a sound of hesitance as she did so. With that, Roxy pulled a few papers from below the table, and signed them. “Welcome aboard Chester Mainland. I expect you here early tomorrow to get your equipment and personal belongings moved in.” She passed her papers with a smile. Chester signed almost instantly, wrinkling them in his excitement.

With all that said and done, Roxy contacted old employers, and contracted a few easy runs to start the lad out with an actual pay check. Though runner work was high paying, the brand she was reaching into was infrequent. Finding a new planet then selling it off to a bidder was a high risk, reward job. Then there were the space pirates and raiders.

It didn’t take long for her to fill the hull with all sorts of live plants, and incubating eggs from all planets. On route to a colony three weeks away. Well, for the small ship. Not an ideal first job, but what had to be, had to be. When her crew was done loading, Roxy took it upon herself to do the supplies count for the trip. Making sure they had enough to feed the extra mouth.

---

Chester returned promptly early the next day. And found the crew... Less than lively. They were a mess of bedhead. Pyjamas and in the case of Shanadoh, very much going back to bed. Any professionalism they’d established the day before shattered the moment the door opened.

The majority of the team shuffled Chester in, shut the door, and collectively staggered to the galley once more. Roxy mentioned something about unpacking later as she slumped into her chair. There was an almost frog like flapping of Sleat feet on the tiled floor of the kitchen.

Chesters bags slipped from his shoulders once more. Though as opposed to equipment probably being damaged, there was simply a soft sound. The sound wadded up laundry makes. He’d been expecting a much more exiting welcome. Though he supposed he was the new fellow.

Instead of causing the main collective any annoyance before they’d had their morning coffee, he headed for the mens dorm. Doing his level best to remain quiet as he slipped in. Chester found a corner and set his belongings silently on the ground. From a bottom bunk, Shanadoh could be heard snoring loudly.

Gently, he rifled through his belongings until he found the small gifts he’d meant to give the crew. A small token of thanks for their acceptance of him. He placed a small bag of strawberry sweets on the Sleeping Gordylide’s pillow, then left.

Once he returned to the Galley there was a spread of easy, fast foods on the table. Piles of fried eggs and bacon, hot cakes and a nearly empty carafe of coffee was being picked at slowly by the four awake members of the crew.  Holly gave him one glance, motioned to the coffee, and returned to her eating.

Pam had a hand fully wrapped around a specially designed mug, and was slowly lapping the bitter black liquid. Sleat was absently chewing on some kind of crab cake. Roxy was more or less asleep at the table. Now was as good a time as any for good things. “So... I brought... things.”

“That’s kind of the point of moving day.” Sleat deadpanned. Chester was about to open his mouth to try again when the szuhine pointed to a sign beside the table. It read: Morning people will either be relegated to making breakfast, or shot. He decided that gifts were probably a thing for after coffee. Maybe after a week or two of living on the ship.

It wasn’t long until he found himself sitting among the small collective, munching on bacon. A treat he’d actually not had since he first visited earth. It was a bit too salty for his taste. He engaged in idle chat with the more awake member of the table. And waited for the rest of the group t o catch up.

Soon after he was unpacked in the lab, setting up his table and chairs, and ushered to pick a cot. He was given time to settle any lingering affairs he had. Go through his exam, and be cleared for extended travel.  Shanadoh appreciated his gift and before they left, Chester managed to hand out the rest.

For the most part it was foods that applied to everyone. Candies or preserved meats. It turned into a feast of sweets before long. Further contributed to by an overzealous pair of aliens who had passions for cooking.  This seamed to be a good first impression. As the crew started involving him their activities before the end of the week while squaring away their own affairs.

Then it was right to take off. For the third time in his life, Chester found himself staring at a planet fading away. He found it strange that only a few hours ago, he was standing on it’s surface. A few hours before that, exiting his hotel room.

He’d expected space travel to be like air or sea travel at first, with turbulence. But past breaking atmosphere, everything was oddly still. Like he were just standing on a planet’s surface. There was a brief moment of weightlessness before the gravity kicked in, but that was it.

Idly, he wondered if that feeling ever left. Eventually he gathered the nerve to ask Pam about it. The way she explained it, it never left. There was always a kind of lonesome realization that they’d left something behind. But it was paired with an eager thirst for new discoveries ahead.  Even if you’d been there before.

By her definition, you had to have good humour about it. Otherwise, you’d drive yourself mad from the sheer sense of insignificance the void would give you.  That’s why a compatible crew was so important. She also encouraged him to take up a hobby. As there would be a lot of free time on their hands.

So, he took up yet another study. Botany. This time downloading textbooks onto his personal device, and leaning back to listen to their lessons. He’d have to talk to the captain about getting materials so he could gain practical experience. Perhaps he’d make a mini biosphere. He’d wait and see.

[medea10]

My Review of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan

A random guy being struck in the head with a spiked-bat and having his entire skull swiped away in a bloody mess. You’d think I would have picked this up in 2007 when I picked up a punch of other absurd animes like Super Milk Chan. But time does make fools out of all of us. And because the randomizer is being a dick to me currently, I’m now stuck with this ridiculous mess. A student who disappears and no one noticed a thing. The class rep randomly turns into a monkey. Another boy randomly turns into a Shiba Inu. The male protagonist gets half of his skull sliced off and is magically better five seconds later (and the last one happens numerous times throughout the series).

That my friends, is the magic of Dokuro-Chan! Dokuro Mitsukai is an angel sent to the past to take care of a problem that will shape the very future. She was sent to kill a high school boy named Sakura Kusakabe. And before I continue the synopsis, I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a boy with the name “Sakura”. Amazing! Anyways, the reason why Sakura has a hit by angels in the future is because in the future, Sakura will come up with a way to stop females from developing at the age of 12 and these women stay like that forever. So imagine if a 67 year old girl looks like a 10 year old! Wow, that’s…oh so illegal! That is just raising the Lolita-fetish by 3000%! Well, Dokuro has taken a liking to Sakura and thinks she can find a way around this without killing him. However, other angels like Sabato Mihashigo and Dokuro’s sister Zakuro think he needs to be destroyed. And every episode we watch as this boy gets whacked eight ways from Sunday! Yeah, this anime is balls-to-the-wall out there, filled with poop jokes, panty-shots, crude humor, and absurdity on Pop Team Epic levels. BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So back in the day, this anime was carried by Media Blasters and given an English dub. Now Media Blasters is still around! It’s just that a lot of their older animes have died off and it’s up to other companies to give it a good home. So now Discotek licensed it. The dub has many recognizable voices who thankfully went on to do better things like Wendee Lee, Mela Lee, Laura Bailey, and Johnny Yong Bosch. But again, you have to start somewhere in this business!

And I do find it funny that voice actress Mela Lee makes a call back to this particular anime. When Lee was in Durarara, she said the signature line Dokuro says and hearing her in this makes me giggle. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from. JAPANESE CAST: *Dokuro is played by Saeko Chiba (known for Nagihiko on Shugo Chara, Nina on Code Geass, Miu on NANA, Azmaria on Chrono Crusade, Ruby on Rosario to Vampire, and Neko Musume on xxxHOLiC Kei) *Sakura is played by Reiko Takagi (known for Tadase on Shugo Chara, Holly on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 2, Su on Love Hina, and Young Bon on Blue Exorcist) ENGLISH CAST: *Dokuro is played by Wendee Lee (known for Faye on Cowboy Bebop, Konata on Lucky Star, Kirigakure on Blue Exorcist, Yoruichi on Bleach, Yui on Fushigi Yugi, Moegi on Naruto, and Haruhi Suzumiya) *Sakura is played by Johnny Yong Bosch (known for Ichigo on Bleach, Lelouch on Code Geass, Makoto on Free!, Izaya on Durarara, Artemis on Sailor Moon redub, Koizumi on Haruhi Suzumiya, and Yukio on Blue Exorcist) SHIPPING: So it’s obvious that Sakura has eyes for Shizuki, a random girl in his class. But she’ll never express her feelings. At the end of several episodes, she has this face of disappointment given towards Sakura. Probably because the mood is always broken by one Dokuro-chan!

Dokuro seems to like Sakura as she hasn’t tried to kill him and made it stick. Every time she would destroy his body, she would always repair it. Any other angel with the mission of killing Sakura would have laid waste to this kid by the end of episode one. But Dokuro doesn’t want to do so as she likes Sakura. Hell, she defied orders from her superiors, including her younger sister to be with this guy. However, she wouldn’t hesitate killing him for accidentally copping a feel! GUILTY PLEASURE: Pipiru piru piru pipiru pi

…I like the OP theme… I’m officially going to Hell for saying that. ENDING: Well this series is only 4 episodes (or eight 13-minute episodes). Each episode is filled with angel-laced crack and several times an episode we watch as Sakura is disembodied by a spiked-bat. You know, usual shit for an anime like this! So the final episode has Dokuro wanting to start her own club at the school. And hearing Wendee Lee as Dokuro, I am immediately having vivid nightmares of the S.O.S. brigade when she’s talking about joining a club. Much to my dismay, it’s so much worse…for Sakura! Well all that fun and frivolity comes to a sudden stop when the school is visited by Dokuro’s baby sister, Zaruko.

WHO IS NINE YEARS OLD?! DA FUCK, JAPAN?! Because Dokuro broke protocol by not doing away with Sakura like her original mission indicated, she was to immediately go back with her sister and receive a penalty for her crimes. Meanwhile, everything on earth will go back to normal and no one will remember any of this mess. But Dokuro doesn’t want to leave because she loves living with Sakura. Now Sakura has a decision to make. He can either have Dokuro leave and never come back or continue having a loli angel live in his closet and decapitate him every other day. Sakura chooses the latter. But Zaruko ends up taking her away…only for Dokuro to escape. She ends up returning back to Sakura’s room and when he came back thinking things were going to go back to boring life as normal, he’s decapitated. Aw, so abnormality wins in the end!

SEASON TWO: Why is Dokuro’s hair teal-colored now? Oh who the fuck cares? It’s only two episodes! It’s just more random shenanigans. Only now, you’ve got both Dokuro and Zakuro living with Sakura. What else do I have to say, the final two episodes were just more of the same with Sakura being impaled every couple of minutes or so, Sakura striking out with Shizuki, and getting in all sorts of trouble caused by Dokuro. We even get a meaningless cameo from Sabato’s mother who tries to take her daughter back to their time but gives up by the end of the episode. And then mentions something about Dokuro being related to…oh who the fuck cares?! Finally we end up with a bizarre Valentine’s episode. And the series really doesn’t end on any kind of note. It’s just the final episode with no real conclusion and ended like any other regular episode. It’s been 12 years since this anime ever saw the light of day and let’s keep it that way. What the hell did I just watch?

Seriously, this show is just balls-to-the-wall insane. And this is the same person who found some sort of sense and sanity in watching something like Excel Saga. This is like if Super Milk Chan and Puni Puni Poemi had sex and this show was the product of that mess. And then you just fill it with the most absurd things in the world like people being decapitated, panty shots, side-boobs, nip-slips, poop jokes, diarrhea jokes, crude jokes, random cameos from Kim Jong Il and George W. Bush, and random students turning into real life animals (including a baboon, giraffe, and shiba inu). It was all quite insane. Only, AND ONLY IF you are feeling extra curious that I would recommend stumbling upon and watch this. If you’re not a fan of blood, I wouldn’t recommend it. I know the blood-shed that’s used is mostly supposed to be funny (I guess?), but there’s a lot of it. The animation is nothing too special. The comedy is kinda hit-and-miss with me. Then again, there are only 6 episodes and if you’re bored, go ahead and watch this. Okay, now that this nightmare is over, what’s the next anime I’m watching in this category? Nozomi Entertainment/Discotek/Shit made before Fall 1986, and go!

Marmalade Boy! Oh good, I’m always in the mood for a cute shoujo anime. Medea, it’s also surprise incest! Wait, WHAT?! DAMMIT 2019!

[fayegracexo]

What “Witch” Means to Me, and a Call to Action.

“Witch” is an interesting word, with many meanings to many different peoples and cultures; some meanings good, and some bad.

Some people imagine the Wizard of Oz type of witches, green with a ridiculous nose and wart, or pink and fluffy like a fairy princess. Some imagine witches as costumes, around for Halloween with the pointy hats and cackling laugh, and some more modern folk just think witches are Harry Potter wannabes, or freaks in their Moms’ basement chanting and sacrificing lambs on Sundays when we should be in church.

Obviously, none of these stereotypes are correct, and they’re just that, stereotypes. Witches don’t “look” any certain way for one thing. Sure some of us (like myself) are decked out in crystal necklaces and moon tattoos, but the guy or gal in the business suit you know could just as easily be a witch too. Never assume, were not all as out there as the rest, and that’s totally okay.

But what does “witch” even mean?

When I say ‘witch’, and call myself one, I am referring to the folk (both men and women, witch is also a male term) that have heard ‘the calling’ and answered it. However for the sake of this post, I’ll be referring mostly to female witches, as I find a calling back to the divine feminine a large part of my craft. I just wanted to be clear here that anyone of any gender or lack thereof can be a witch, and witch is not a gendered term, it’s used for everyone. Also anyone can hear the calling of the witch, or the calling of the divine feminine, no matter your birth, gender, or identity. Just a disclaimer before I begin ;)

A witch to me, is an empowered woman, confident, strong, and faithful in her own power. She is awake and aware; of the cultural and physical problems the earth and the people on the earth face. She is connected to the elements, and whatever form of energy or God/Goddess she believes in. A witch trusts her own authority, and communicates with deities freely, without a middle man. She is imbued with feminine wisdom, intuition and trusts in herself and her strength. She is confident in her sexuality, and uses the power place between her legs in her craft and to her advantage. A witch remembers who we were as women, as a whole, before we were ‘dis-membered’ and frightened into forgetting our own power and who we were. Before we were ashamed of ourselves, our bodies and our blood. Before we were made to feel less than and inferior. Before our gifts were called ‘taboo’ or sinful. A witch is not afraid to fully express herself, and all her power. She is a paradox, both light and dark like the moon, both love and anger, peace and war, a whirlwind of emotion all at the same time, but still in control, and she accepts this, owns it. A witch knows there is more than what meets the eye in this world, and they are not afraid to see what's out there, and work with it. A witch ‘re-members’ herself, and puts the pieces back together, becoming whole again. A witch remembers that before we were domesticated, and made numb by food, drugs, shopping and social media, we were healers, seers, oracles, shamans, leaders, wise women. She remembers we were powerful for thousands of years, until we were made to forget. She also, questions everything.

A witch knows we carry the stories and power of the women before us and those that were silenced in our DNA. She knows she’s a creatrix, oracle, sorceress, and force of nature not to be reckoned with. A witch knows that she, along with others, are waking up, remembering, and taking back the power we gave away in fear of shame and judgement. She remembers we are taking back the word ‘witch’, and becoming whole again, and this she knows, frightens people.

As anyone knows, whole people can be a huge threat to the broken; and an empowered, outspoken woman, makes a weak man fear. But as in the old days, does wanting to kill us (or in this day and age, silence us, though witches are still killed in some parts of the world.) not prove our magick and power? Wanting to persecute a witch, only shows you admit that magick is real. No one would kill or silence what they didn’t believe would work anyway right? The fact is, we’re found to be threatening, by people who want to keep power. It’s why it was taken from us in the first place. Some of us, are even scared of ourselves. How intimidating it is to realize we are a paradox, of light and dark and everything in between, and scarier still, that we can wield that power? We must learn to take it back for ourselves, and break free of the silence and invisibility we’ve endured. We must make it safe to feel powerful again, for ourselves, and other women and witches.

We must break free of the fear of being ‘too much’ or ‘too little’. We need to break free of caring what others think of us, especially men, and stop listening to the patriarchy that’s telling us how we need to be fixed, with more makeup, and less body hair. We need to take back our sexuality, get rid of the stigma of ‘sluts’ and ‘whores’ and let women own their sex again, as we allow men to do. People forget, that ‘virgin’ before Christianity had a different meaning. Ishtar and Diana for example, were called ‘virgin’ Goddesses, but the meaning didn’t mean ‘chaste’ as in the Virgin Mary, but instead, ‘sexually independent’. Virgins were free women not yet owned by marriage, who were one in themselves. It was Christianity, that came and perverted the term to mean something degrading and shameful. 

“Witch” and “Hag” have been used as insults since our power was taken and burned away from us. I take the word back, and use it as my own, as a reminder of the women like myself, over 13 million, who’ve been burned, hung, tortured and persecuted for their knowledge. I remember who I was, and who the women before me were, before the patriarchy was a thing and we all learned to hate ourselves and be at war with our other sisters. Before we were consumed with eating disorders, and vulnerable to makeup and clothing ads making money off of our insecurities we were taught to have; before plastic surgery was the fastest growing medical procedure.

Misogyny and sexism make money, the shaming of women and harsh male-oriented pornography, make money, but it wasn’t always this way.

Before religion (Christianity if we’re being clear) came in and made women sexless, obedient, and submissive; before our periods became sinful and dirty,before our mistrust of other women and self-hatred, and our physical obsessions, we were relied upon by the townspeople, village people, yes, men included. We were cunning women, healers. We communed with nature, the moon, the stars, the seasons, and our cycles, to help provide for those we loved. We birthed the babies of our communities as midwives, we made potions and tinctures with our knowledge of herbs and plants to heal and aid our sick and frail. We were looked up to, respected. We knew medicine, we knew magick, we were witches.

But as Christianity came around and men wanted to dominate the fields of astrology, medicine and more, intelligent women became demonized. We were taught to not trust and instead betray our other sisters. The accusations became ridiculous, but they worked in trying to erase us. Women who had cats, knew about plants and herbs, spoke to animals, had a birthmark, knew astrology, science, had a neighbor that didn’t like them, or knew how to birth babies, all met untimely ends for their knowledge, all because they were in the way of the power and control others wanted. Outspoken women became ‘loud’, ‘crazy/mad’, and my favorites ‘hormonal’ or ‘hysteric’.

So when I call myself a witch, I am using it in the old sense. I am saying I remember who I am, my power, and the women before me. I am saying I do not fear, and instead will be loud about who I am, and not try to fit myself into a small, quiet box any longer. I was not made to be submissive and silent. I remember my sisters and brothers are just that, sisters and brothers, and we should not be fighting against one another. I remember I am dark and light, wise and strong. I am saying I listen to my intuition and live my life accordingly. I am saying I use the tools at my disposable, to change the world around me. Astrology, tarot, crystals, oracle decks, meditation can all help me create the impact I want not only in my life, but the lives of others, and the world. I'm saying I remember what we were, and who we were, and what we did.

I remember...

“We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn.”

(For more on this topic, the call, and the waking of the witch, I highly suggest reading “Witch” by Lisa Lister! I’ll be posting about it on Instagram shortly, and remember this blog connects with my Instagram account ;) @selfcarewitchxo )

[meeratakkar]

I thought I saw (PRIYANKA CHOPRA) in New Orleans, but it was just (MEERA TAKKAR). (SHE) is a (THIRTY THREE) year old (WEREWOLF). I heard that they were (CHALLENGING) but also (DIFFICULT). I believe they are marrying (CHYLER LEIGH, BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD, KRISTEN BELL/ASK PLAYER). 

hello folks !! my name’s bee. 21 residing in the eastern timezone yeet yeet. this here’s my presh werewolf child, meera. it took me a lil bit to get her backstory straight but here y’all go ~

* grew up in india. her parents were the best damn parents in the world, in her opinion. even if they were a bit nomadic and secluded. they loved the hell out of her and her two younger siblings (brother and sister). so it hit her twice as hard when they passed away in a tragic accident when she was 15.  * unfortunately, the only other family she and the police believed she had was her father’s brother, issam. he was probably the cruelest person she had ever met. being her siblings’ protector, she took most of his abuse. not that she had to try. after finding out she had been spending too much time with a girl in school, he connected the dots and figured out meera was gay. his exact words were ‘i’m beating the evil out of you.’  * it was a month before her 18th birthday when she was out for once celebrating early. her friends had convinced her to go to a club. sneak in, have a drink or two, go home before any damage is done. during that night, she had gone out to the alley to call and check on her siblings. make sure they were okay. one of her drunk guy ‘friends’ came out to see what she was up to, proceeded to try and get lucky. she shoved him off but he was insistent. to the point, she knocked him out hard. and something in her just snapped. she had had enough of someone thinking they owned her. she kicked and kicked until she couldn’t recognize him anymore. and then she came to, checked his pulse - which was absent, and ran.  * all meera could feel was guilt. she knew she shouldn’t have gone out. she should have been home watching out for her brother and sister. and now there was the possibility of her getting caught and sent to prison for murder. weeks passed and nothing happened. they ruled it a bar fight gone wrong. said the suspect had to have been male. * the night before her 18th birthday, issam was on a roll. it was also the night of the first full moon she would experience as a triggered werewolf. not that she’d realize. the last straw had been when issam shoved her siblings into the basement, locking the metal door behind him. she fought him to open it but doubled over moments later. gone was the scared and vulnerable child she had been, and in her place was what meera refers to as ‘the beast.’  * the next thing she remembered was waking up in the morning and feeling cold, and wet. covered in red, and somehow outside. confused, she traveled back home carefully and opened the door to a gruesome sight. the body of her uncle, or what was left of him she should say. and everything in the home pretty much wrecked. freaked out, it took her a minute to realize he had last locked her siblings in the basement. when she found the keys and opened the door, they were cowered in the corner and afraid. not of him, but of her. she had to soothe them first before hearing the truth of the strange night. how they had peeked through the cracks, watched as she turned into a big bear-like wolf monster, had destroyed issam and scratched on the door to get to them too. but had given up, and ran off when there was a few howls in the distance.  * funnily enough, it was the one good thing issam had ever done for them. but now that they were free of him, what was in store? her life kept changing overnight. first, they told the police a wild wolf had come in and done the deed. it was believable due to the paw prints and the wounds. meera was about to raise hell to take guardianship of her brother and sister when the police informed her of another, much distant family member they had discovered. her mother’s sister, who happened to live in america.  * needless to say, meera could choose to do it all on her own. but she didn’t know what she was, and how to raise her siblings safely just yet. so meera said they’d all go to america, if only to wait until she figured things out better. when police told their aunt, someone referred to as anushka, she was all too willing to take them in. she hadn’t known about them in the first place, and would have saved them from issam if she had. the woman was much like her mother in the same strange way, but different of course. and it didn’t take long to find out why.  * aunt anushka was a werewolf. and she was apart of a pack. in fact, the pack was actually her family’s by right, and each alpha had been her own bloodline. its current alpha was another cousin named rahul. anushka had figured meera was the wolf in her uncle’s attack. she forgave the girl easily. told her it was a crime to let a man like that live. also gave her insight on why her parents had run off together. her father was never welcome by the pack. they left to start anew, no doubt choosing to raise their kids hopefully without the ‘curse’ and its disadvantages. and so, never telling anushka. nor the rest of their werewolf family.  * meera and her siblings stayed with aunt anushka for a year, and she even joined the pack to learn more. but they were primal in their ways. encouraged the beast, rather than tamed it. and for awhile, she was every bit the monster she had tried to steer away from. especially when war started to break out between supernaturals. scared she would become someone her brother and sister couldn’t recognize, she saved up quick to move out with them. and that’s what she did. the pack was not too happy, but they relinquished their grip on the takkar children at last. * from there on out, it was a series of moving around. at one point, they stayed long enough for meera to attend college. she went for social work, landing two degrees to work with children. to save them from a past like hers. her brother and sister did their own thing, but they all stuck together. when word got out that aunt anushka had died, they went back to new york to show their respects. the pack was broken and uncertain at the time. rahul had been killed in battle, and they were going to have a stage of fights to determine the new alpha. meera knew this was her calling and fought until she landed up top. she prides herself as alpha, even if the role was considered a male one. she’ll fight anyone who says so to her face.  * hearing the marriage idea put into play in new orleans, she’s expected to go and secure their future. she’s just arrived, but she’s not a fan of it - probably because that kind of love has always been the furthest thing from her mind. 

important deets:

* she is the alpha in her pack. they are thriving, and a large pack. the pack was a bloodline hierarchy, save for her coming into power. they respect her, but it is hard to transition completely. a lot of members still stick to their primal ways.  * she is gay af. women are her thang. men are chicken wangs. * degrees in social work. works in child protection services and as a child therapist/psychologist. she is super into helping children, and wants to protect each and every one of them. she’d literally adopt all the kids if she wasn’t so busy rn. she is also very against people who harm kids. she’s probably killed an abuser or two. killing isn’t necessarily a no for her, but she does it for good? mostly. * does not like talking about her past. probs a supernatural thing, cause no one seems to like to she’s found. but if you bring it up, she’ll inch around it. if you try again and she’s not having it, she’ll be pissed. * huge competitive video game junkie. she denies this ofc. but she loves old school shit like pacman and mario kart and spyro. literally. if you wanna see her turn into a puppy, play some games with her. * didn’t cry on the notebook, but if you put on fried green tomatoes, she’s going to have to excuse herself from the room. * is an actual whiz with technology. could have been a hacker if she didn’t love kids more. * actually likes cats. go figure. they just don’t like her much?

wanted connecs: 

* brother and sister: they are younger than her. preferably in the range of 22-28. they could have triggered their gene, or not.  * pack members: there’s like two that have come along with her. they’re her closest confidants. people she trusts entirely. * friends from her travels: she and her siblings have lived literally everywhere.  * coworkers: works in child services. she just transferred to the department for a temporary stay. * drinking buddies: they always end up at the bar together. talk about how shitty life is. * old flings: although she’s not fond of love, she’s had a few bed partners. they could have ended on good terms or not. women only.  * old flame: someone she might have? sorta? fallen for in the past. a little. and then she realized what she was doing and bounced. it would be hard for her to see them. especially if they’re both about to marry other people. angst. women only. * enemies: she’s gonna have some. she can piss people off. in the war, she was merciless. could be one of her uncle’s friends that came for her. could be the old alpha’s friends. could be old lovers. could be rival packs. you name it. * saving grace: in the war, either she ended up saving another supernatural or a supernatural saved her. why? we can plot it out. but they owe each other their life, and it’d be great to see after the war’s concluded that they’re alive. to finally say ‘hey, ya could’ve killed me. but you didn’t. thanks for not letting me die.’  * anY THING. all the connections. if you have an idea, shoot it via IM. i’m nice and friendly, i swear.

[feelsgood-anon]

Eros - Bar AU Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: THIS PIECE IS A MYSTIC MESSENGER AU.  IT IS HEAVILY INSPIRED BY THE AMERICAN SITCOM CHEERS, A SHOW CENTERED AROUND A BOSTON BAR CALLED CHEERS AND IT’S REGULARS.  EVEN THOUGH I HAVE TRIED TO KEEP AS MUCH OF CANON PERSONALITIES WITH ALL THE MYSTIC MESSENGER CHARACTERS JUST REMEMBER THAT IT IS AN AU AND A FEW THINGS MAY BE DIFFERENT THAN IN GAME OR YOUR HEADCANONS. THIS HAS BEEN FUN TO PLAN AND I HOPE YOU FIND A BIT OF JOY READING IT!  

PG13+ FOR SWEARIN’ AND BOOZIN’.

CH.1 PT.1 | CH. 1 PT. 2 | CH. 2 | CH. 3 | CH. 4 | CH. 5 |  Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 |

Swinging in the backyard Pull up in your fast car Whistling my name Open up a beer And you say, get over here And play a video game

I'm in his favorite sun dress Watching me get undressed Take that body downtown I say you the bestest Lean in for a big kiss Put his favorite perfume on Go play your video game

Red rolled his head around as he let out a loud yawn. His eyes blinked firmly a few times as the bottles of liquor fuzzed before him. He was tired as hell and could barely keep from falling into a short nap behind the bar.

 “Yo, sleeping beauty, my order? Hello?” Cannon smacked his brother a few times with his notepad, “Wake up, I don't have all day.”

 Red recoiled as he felt the hits, grumbling as he finished up the drinks he had earlier started, “Cut me some slack, man. I'm running on three hours of sleep.”

 “Not my fault, you’re the one who stayed out all night after your shift. You should've thought about how tired you'd be before you went and had a late night rendezvous.”

 Zen slid a full shot glass towards Red, “Take that, it will help. I need you alert, it's getting a bit busy.”

 In his dazed confusion he took the shot obediently, eyes widening as the liquor burned down his throat and into his stomach. “Damnit, Zen! What the hell did you give me?”

 “Just a bit of 151, it won't hurt yah.”

 “You're trying to kill me with that rubbing alcohol?” Red coughed out, “I'm sure as shit awake now, my life flashed before my eyes.” He finished Cannon’s order and placed it on the tray, rubbing at his chest, “You could have at least warned me.”

 Zen pat his back firmly a few times, “You would have objected if you knew what it was. Help me get these drinks for Sunny, she's got a table of eight waiting.”

 Jingle~!

 “There’s the man of the hour!”

 “Tom!”

 Red looked up from the beers he was filling up, smirking towards the man that walked in, “Fancy seeing you in here.”

 Tom. A squirrelly, lanky type with a head of shaggy brown hair that came to Eros often only to shoot the breeze with Red who was one of his best friends. They lived in the same neighborhood as kids and often got into trouble when they were together.

 “Hey Tom, how's life in the fast lane?” Zen called out, eyes too busy mixing drinks to turn properly to address the man.

 “I dunno, got stuck on the on-ramp. I'll let you know when the traffic let's up.” Tom sat himself in front of Red and gave him a wide grin, “So that was fun yesterday, eh? We should go out more often, you're always stuck at work.”

 “Yeah, being an adult with responsibilities sure is the pits. Why aren't you at work? It's still pretty early for you to be here.”

 Tom shrugged, “They think I'm in the bathroom. I'll give it about half an hour before they start wondering where I am. That’s not important, though. That sassy blonde was asking me about you this morning. She sure was disappointed that you left with-”

 Red cleared his throat loudly, glaring at his friend, “Tom, how’s your girlfriend? Still out of town for college?”

 The brunette frowned, “How about a beer, bartender? Why are you being so sensitive?”

 “What I do in my spare time doesn’t have to be showcased here,” Red hissed, “Just keep things to yourself, alright?”

 “What did you do last night, Red? It must have been quite the party if you came to work so tired!” Zen poked into their conversation, casually pouring a few drinks for a fresh order, “You didn’t even invite me! Any pretty ladies?”

 Red groaned now that Zen had overheard, “We played video games all night. You know me, so nerdy.”

 Tom snickered as he took a sip, “Oh, we played alright…”

 “How about a round of shots on me?” Red called out as he tapped his hands loudly against the bar top, “But don’t let Zen pour them, he’ll knock you out until next week!”

 Zen let off a pout as he finally backed off, “Fine fine, sheesh. Don’t let your ol’ pal in on your fun.” His attention was stolen by a few ladies that had walked up to the bar, all thoughts of trying to find out what his employee had done the night prior flew out of his mind as he flashed them a smile, “Well hello~ What can I get you gorgeous women? A drink? A shot? Me?”

 The group giggled and one of them leaned forward as she looked him over, “Could we get a few martinis? We’re celebrating my birthday and having a girl’s night out.”

 His red eyes sparkled as she had given him quite the bit of attention, “Well happy birthday! Of course you can get some martinis! First round is on the house for the birthday girl.”

 “And next round is on me!” Tom interjected, smiling deviously at them.

 “The round of shots after that? You can take them off me. They’ll be free if any of you ladies can find my ticklish spot.” Zen countered, now feeling the need to exert a bit of dominance since Tom had slid his way into the exchange.

 “You boys are silly!” One of the other girls laughed, “We’ll be sitting at the table over there if you want to come join us.”

 Tom stood up and shot Zen a wink, “Don’t mind if I do. Put their drinks on my tab.”

 Zen scowled as they walked off towards the table knowing he was far too busy to join them, “You know, Red, your friend really kills my mood.”

 “Leave me out of this~” the other bartender sang out, “I want nothing to do with you two’s flirting battle. As you said before, we are getting pretty busy, let’s stay on top of things.”

 Jingle~!

 “Hey Everyone!”

 “Duckie!”

 The blonde smiled and waved, making his way towards the bar before he heard a voice call to him, “Duckie! Kiddo! Come join us!” He whirled around to look at the summons and seeing Tom surrounded by multiple women he dashed to hide around the bar. “Damn! Why does that guy always try to round me up in his escapades! I thought he was out of town for work, Red?”

 Red slid a glass of beer towards him, “Yeah, he got back two days ago. He was going to call you last night but I told him you’d broken your phone. You’re welcome, by the way.”

 “Yeah, thanks for that! He keeps trying to set me up! What is with that guy?”

 “He wants everyone to have a good time, and he feels sorry for you. You’re a bit lame when it comes to getting dates.”

 “What!” Duckie exclaimed, “I do just fine on my own! In fact, I have a date this weekend!”

 “Study groups don’t count, bud.” Zen said as he placed some glasses in the sink to wash, “You gotta get ‘em one on one. You know, a nice dinner, maybe a movie. Why don’t you ever go out with...wait a minute!” he glared at Red, “You guys invite Duckie but you don’t invite me? What gives, man?”

 Red let out a sigh, “Look, I don’t go out, it’s Tom. If you went, you’d steal all of the attention and he wouldn’t be happy with that. Look at him now.” He nodded his head towards the table, “He’s probably pulling out every line in the book on those girls and if you were there they would be fawning all over you. Let him have this one, Zen. You get enough numbers already.”

 Cannon lazily came up and set his tray down at the bar top, “Speaking of which, another round of martinis for Tom’s table. They also asked when those body shots would be ready.”

 Zen quickly whipped up the drinks, adding a round of shots to the tray along with a salt shaker and some limes, “I’ll take these myself. Red, watch the bar for a few. If Tom wants a battle, then he’ll get one!”

 As the guys watched him walked towards the table, he placed the tray on to the side, “I heard you were requesting those shots?”

 Tom frowned but didn’t object as to not ruin the mood all around. He knew he had to pull his biggest tricks to take some of the attention off the other male that could woo a room just by flashing a smile. “Just remember what he said, ladies. You find the spot where he’s ticklish and they are free!”

 Zen bowed his head slightly, “Yes, I did promise that and I am a man of my word! So, who’s first? Who thinks they can find it? Just sprinkle the salt where you think it’ll make me hot!”

 Cannon scoffed as he went towards a table that had waved him over, “Does that shit work on anyone?”

 “You’d be surprised.” Red said flatly, “It’s gotta be his looks that make them forget he says the dumbest things sometimes.”

 “What’s going on over there?” Sunny piped up as she had approached the bar from the back area, “Some sort of special event?”

 “I think some girls are going to take body shots off Zen. That guy...he’s my hero.” Duckie sighed as he turned back around, “He could get a date whenever he wants.”

 She scrunched her nose in disapproval, “What a gross display. Are these things they really do in public? How much more macho can someone be?”

 “Me first, me first!” One of the girls squealed out. She motioned him to unbutton his shirt which he did, showcasing his amazing physique to the other girls. Poking at the skin right above his belt, he grinned mischievously, “My my, you are bold! I’m going to have to lay down for this.” He cleared the table off and draped himself a top it. He put a slice of lime in his mouth as the girl sprinkled salt on the area. She quickly took the shot and licked slowly along his skin before reaching her lips over to take the slice from him. He waggled his eyebrows at her making her spit the lime to the floor and pressing a kiss to his lips. The folks around the table cheered, Zen moved to stand up keeping his arms around the girl, “Close, but not the right place! Hey, you know what? I’ll change the rules. Find a ticklish spot on either me or Tom and the drinks are free! Who wants to give him a try?”

 Tom shot a surprised look towards Zen, “What? I mean, yeah!” The white-haired male leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Look, I don’t know what idea you have about me, but I’m not greedy. I’ll always make sure you have a good time too.” A smile spread across Tom’s face as he carefully nodded in response, “Ah, perhaps I did misjudge you. No hard feelings, eh? Ladies~!” He pulled up his shirt, “Zen has made a grave mistake since I am very ticklish so pick your place!”

 Sunny rolled her eyes as the acts continued, “How disgusting. It sometimes truly amazes me how barbaric humans can be.”

 “Jealous that you can’t lick Zen?” Cannon jeered towards the girl as he set up his tray, “I’m sure if you just asked nicely he’d be more than happy to oblige.”

 “That’s not it!” She cried, cheeks blushing furiously at the thought, “Some people just have no shame! I have half a mind to go over there and say something-”

 The presumed birthday girl came around from the restrooms and stopped at the bar, eyeing Red carefully, “Say, your friend Tom over there said you were really into playing video games. I like playing games too. Maybe you could come over to my place after you get out of work and...go a few rounds with me.”

 Sunny clapped her hands together and gave a big smile, “Now see! Here’s a woman with some sense! She doesn’t care for that ridiculousness that is happening over at the table and wants to share a common hobby with you. There is hope in this place!”

 The woman quirked a brow at her and nodded slowly, “Right...well...here’s my number…” She slid a piece of paper towards Red, “I know a few other people that might want to join in, if you’re interested.” Waving her fingers to him she walked back towards her friends, Red reached over and took the number to place in his pocket.

 “Really, Sunny? Did that go over your head?” Cannon let out incredulously.

 “Huh? What do you mean?”

 He walked behind the bar and leaned over to whisper a few things into her ear. She let out a gasp and glared at Red, “You too? I work with pigs! I’m going to check on my tables.”

 Red finished up the rush of orders that had come in staying mostly silent the entire time except for a soft chuckle in response to Sunny’s reaction. His brother stared at him, “So you’re really going to just keep quiet? Act like nothing happened? If they only knew-”

 “Knew that I liked to play video games a lot with friends? Yeah, they know that and that’s how they will continue to think. My personal affairs are not for public consumption, you all get enough of that with Zen. Order up, Cannon, you’ve got work to do.”

 Cannon sighed deeply and took his tray, “Whatever you say, bro.”

 Red pulled the paper out once everyone was distracted, looking at it then towards the girl at the table who managed to catch his gaze and shoot him a wink, “A few rounds indeed.”

 “Say Red,” Duckie waved him over, “Why don’t you ever play video games with me? I know you do it a lot and so do I. You never invite me!”

 “Well you see, Duckie,” Red walked over to refill the beer glass for the blonde, “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t actually play video games. Tom and I go scouting the town for people to bring home. Pretty ladies...handsome guys...you know. Anyone that wants a good time. So we head back to his place since he lives alone. Sure, we play games. Strip poker, naked twister. But by the end of the night it really just turns into a huge orgy! He wants to invite you for specific reasons, you know. Sometimes there are just too many ladies to handle and we could use some helping satisfying them all!”

 Duckie sat mouth gaping open as he listened. He finally shook his head and glared at Red, “Like hell you do that! I know your life isn’t that exciting! If you don’t want to play games with me you don’t have to make up an elaborate lie like that. Geez…”

 “You’re right, buddy, i’m sorry. We both know I’m not capable of anything like that. I’ll make you a deal! Next time I have an all-nighter with games you’ll be the first I call, okay?”

 Duckie huffed and nodded, “You better! Ugh...strip poker...orgies...you have a really wild imagination, you know that?”

 “Yeah...imagination...Cannon! Order up!”

  **************

  The next afternoon at Eros was forgiving as the customer flow was a bit slower than the day before. Red let out a loud yawn as he filled a glass with beer from the tap to pass to a patron down the end of the bar.

 Zen handed him a cup of coffee, “It has Bailey’s in it, just so you know.”

 “Funny that you mention what’s in it when it won’t kill me.”

 “Funny that you are, once again, tired out of your mind. You really should have joined Tom and I last night. Man...was it crazy!” Zen sipped from his own cup of coffee, “Did a new game come out or something? You’ve been staying up pretty late these past few nights.”

 Red hummed a bit as he drank, “Yeah, new game. Did you two have a good time?”

 “I’ll say! You know that fiery little lady that kissed me on the table? Turns out that’s not the only trick she had up her-”

 “I get it, I get it. No need for details.” Red groaned out, “I’ll just have to hear it again from Tom. Looks like you two get along now which is good. Maybe you both will stop competing.”

 Zen shrugged, “A little competition never hurt anyone, but overall I think we both know we are on the same team. Hey, weird thing. The girl who’s birthday it was disappeared after a while. I wonder where she went? She was pretty cute, I bet she is a great kisser.”

 “She is. And so is her boyfriend.”

 “Oh, she had a boyfriend? No wonder she really didn’t stick around.”

 Red nodded and watched his boss from the corner of his eye, waiting for the moment.

 “Wait, you know she’s a good kisser? You know her boyfriend is a good kisser?! Red, what the hell?” Zen sputtered, dribbling coffee down his chin.

 There was the moment.

 “Hmm? What was that?” Red smirked from behind his mug, “A brand new game, came out a few days ago. It’s been keeping me rather interested.”

 Zen slammed his mug on the bar top and towered over Red, “Alright, spill. What the hell were you up to last night?”

 Red pointed towards Zen’s shirt that had started to stain with coffee, “I think you’ve spilled enough for the both of us, boss.”

 “Damnit!” Zen exclaimed as he dabbed a towel along his chest, “I’m going to go change but when I get back you are telling me everything! I knew you weren’t holed up in your apartment all the time!”

 The other bartender removed his glasses from his face to wipe the lenses with his shirt, “Video games, boss!” He called out, “It’s just video games!” He laughed to himself, pulling out the piece of paper with the phone number from his pocket as soon as he placed his glasses back on, “Ah well, at least the ending was good.” He carefully tore it up, sprinkling the shreds into the trashcan before busying himself with a few drinks.

 “Hey Red!” Sunny called out as she leaned across the bar top waiting for him to fill up her serving tray, “I thought Zen gave everyone a nickname and is really adamant about only addressing them in that way.”

 “He does!” He replied, “At least to anyone he sees more than once. I thought he explained it to you?”

 She shrugged slightly, “He did, but you guys call your friend by his name. Why is he an exception?”

 “Who, Tom?” Red inquired, “That is his nickname.”

 “Sounds like a real name to me.”

 “Nah, he’s simply Tom.”

 Sunny squinted her eyes at him, “That just...doesn’t seem right. Everyone else has some weird name with an explanation! What’s the story behind Tom?”

 “No story.” He said plainly, “He’s just Tom.”

 “So it’s just...Tom? Your friend Tom?”

 “Yeah!”

 She rubbed at her temples with two fingers, “Why do I even continue to stay employed here.”

 “Because you have work to do. Order up!”

tags! @illneverrecover @zenscrotch @suzunesays @serensama

[derekswhore]

RUSSIAN ROULETTE CHAPTER FOUR

chapters zero, one, two, three

2x06. the boogeyman.

    Kitanna Egorova was nothing more than a weapon. Or, that's how she felt, anyway. And due to never sharing her problems with anyone, no one knew how she felt. Not even her brother, who has mostly the same problems as her.

   Kit's phone rang and she sighed. "Hello?" She asked.

   "Привет Китти," a male voice on the other end answered. ( Hello, Kitty. )

   Kit stopped and glanced around. "Лорен, сейчас не время говорить," she replied. ( Loren, now isn't the time to talk. )

   She heard Loren sigh on the other end. "Китанна, скажи мне это. Вы тоже получили фотографии?" He asked. ( Kitanna, tell me. Did you also get photos? )

   "У тебя есть фотографии?" Kit asked, panicked. ( You got photos? )

   "Я так понимаю, у тебя есть фотографии," Loren said. ( I take it you got photos. )

   "Да. Запомни мой номер, потому что я знаю, что ты разговариваешь по телефону. Поговорим позже," Kit said, hanging up. ( Yes, I did. Remember my number, because I know you're on a burner phone. We'll talk later. )

   Kit walked up to the front door of Hotch's house and sighed. She knocked quickly and Haley opened the door almost immediately. "Hi," Kit said, smiling.

   Haley smiled brightly. "Hi! Jack's missed you a ton," she said, letting Kit into the house, "he's starting to think of you as his big sister."

   That warmed Kit's heart a bit. "Really?" She asked.

   "Oh, yeah," Haley nodded, "he absolutely loves you."

   "I'm so sorry I missed his birthday, by the way," Kit said, "Aleksander and his boyfriend, Noah, were going out all day for Noah's birthday and dragged me along."

   "It's no problem, don't worry about it," Haley said. Kit heard Jack's footsteps and smiled once he ran into the room. He ran over to Kit and she picked him up. "Kit?" Hotch asked as he followed Jack into the room.

   Kit smiled. "It's almost Halloween, I thought I'd see Jack before we're bombarded with cases," she said.

   Hotch nodded, giving her a small smile. "Well, after you're done, I'll give you a ride," he said. Kit nodded.

   "Thanks," she said.

   "Nicholas Faye of Ozona, Texas, was beaten to death roughly thirteen hours ago. Blunt force trauma to the head. He's the second young boy in Ozona to die the same death in the last two months," JJ said, "local hunter found his body in the woods. First victim's name, Robbie Davis."

   "Are these boys connected somehow?" Derek asked.

   "Ozona's population is roughly 2,500," JJ said, "everyone has some kind of connection."

   "Well, shit," Kit said softly.

   "Well, if they weren't linked before, they most certainly are now," Derek said.

   "Both murdered by the same offender," Spencer said.

   "Who's hunting children," Jason said.

plato wrote, " we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. "

   "You guys hear Elle was cleared?" Spencer asked as he sat down.

   "Self-defense," Kit and Derek said. Derek noticed her fiddling with the thin chain of her necklace.

   "So, it was a good shoot," Spencer said.

   "She hit what she was aimin' for," JJ said. Kit snorted and looked down, biting her lip.

   "That's not what I meant," Spencer said.

   "I know," JJ said.

   "If they cleared her, how come she's not here with us?" Derek asked, "or Hotch?"

   "Who knows," Kit said, looking up.

   "Focus on the case," Jason said.

   JJ looked at them and sighed. "Ozona police and autopsy report for Nicholas Faye and Robbie Davis," she said, handing it to Jason.

   "Well, the bludgeoning could suggest frustration or rage," Derek said.

   "With no apparent sexual motivation. That's rare when the victims are this young," Spencer said.

   "My maternal instinct is telling me to slap flex tape over Spencer's mouth the next time he mentions that," Kit said.

   "Maternal instinct?" JJ questioned.

   "Flex tape?!" Spencer asked loudly, alarmed.

   "You heard her, Pretty Boy, time to stop with your rambling," Derek smirked.

   "This unsub seems to be taking pleasure from the kill itself," Jason said.

   "So if it's not sexual, what's the significance of targeting young males?" Cora asked.

   "Most serial killers prey upon specific types to carry out their fantasies of revenge," Aleksander said.

   "You've been hanging out with one of the doctors too much, my money's on Spencer," Kit said. Spencer continued to talk ad JJ's phone rang.

   "Bundy killed that looked like an ex-girlfriend who jilted him. Dahmer claimed that schoolyard harassment fed into his fury," Spencer said.

   "So maybe these little boys represent someone who victimized the offender," Kit said.

   "Like a young male from his past," Spencer said, "maybe a bully, an older brother, someone who abused him."

   "No, that's unlikely," JJ said as she got off the phone, "they just found another body. 11-year-old girl."

   Kit sighed and bit the inside of her cheek. Derek grabbed her hand gently. "Why would the victimology change like that?" Cora asked.

   "Maybe the girl wasn't the target. Maybe she just got in the way," Derek said.

   "Or the sex of his victim isn't significant. The pace he's killing certainly indicates a velocity of change," Jason said.

   "We can't surveil every kid in Ozona. How are we supposed to keep them all safe?" JJ asked.

   "Enforce a curfew?" Spencer asked.

   Kit and Derek both shook their heads slightly. "Children shouldn't have to worry about something like that," Derek said.

   "Tell me about it," JJ muttered, "the woods were the only thing I was afraid of when I was a kid."

   "Seriously?" Derek asked, "thought you grew up in a small town."

   "Yeah, surrounded by woods," JJ said.

   "Bummer for you," Derek said.

   "Yeah," JJ sighed.

   "Only thing I was afraid of was the dark," Derek said.

   "Some of us still are," Spencer said.

   "You're afraid of the dark?" Kit asked, "that's okay, I'm afraid of medical masks."

   "When we land, Morgan and Kit go to the new crime scene. The little girl," Jason said, "I'll look at the scene where Nicholas Faye was found."

   Derek sighed and looked at Kit as she spoke with the ME. The deputy ( or, that's what Kit guessed he was ) had told them the little girl was bludgeoned to death the same way the boys had been. "Not entirely true. I found some markings on her scalp that indicated that this psycho beat her post-mortem," the ME said.

   "The unsub's getting more brazen," Kit said.

   "He's getting brazen, all right," the ME said, "I've bagged three children in the last month."

   "Now he's spending more time with the victims even after death," Derek said, "he had to know he wasn't gonna be interrupted, but how? Hoe could he be so sure?"

   "The forest goes for miles and miles, but nobody goes walkin' in it unless they're lookin' to kill," the ME said.

   Kit and Derek looked at the sign. "Or hunt," Kit said.

   "In which case, he'd know every inch of these woods, right, every trail?" Derek asked, "Kit Kat, whoever killed these children is very familiar with this area. In my opinion, he probably lived on Ozona his whole life."

   "It's something we call the buddy system. That means you always go everywhere with a friend," JJ said.

   "That's right, because bad men and women are more likely to talk to us only when we're by ourselves," Derek said.

   "We don't know what these guys look like yet. It could be somebody you know," Kit said.

   A little girl raised her hand. "Yes, sweetheart, you got a question?" Derek asked.

   "There was this little girl once on the news, who just got grabbed right in front of her house. Could that happen to us?" The girl asked.

   Derek glanced at Kit and JJ, Kit simply shrugging, as if to say, 'you're in your own with this one.' He gave her a dirty look.

   "Nothing's gonna happen to any of you, as long as you remember this buddy system, okay?" Derek asked.

   "Can I have your attention, please?" Jason asked, "good afternoon. We want to make something clear. Due to the velocity of change, we predict this offender could try and strike again anytime. His confidence builds with every attack."

   "Look for someone physically fit, shy, kind disposition, someone you may trust with your own child. Because the killer targets kids, he may be small himself," Derek said.

   "And though we keep referring to this unsub as "he," do not rule out a woman," Kit said.

   "Excuse me," a woman said.

   "Chief," deputy said, "you're gonna want to hear this."

   "My son Matthew never same home today," the woman said.

   "Here we go," Aleksander mumbled.

   "When was he last seen?" Jason asked.

   "His teacher saw him in the parking lot after school," the woman said.

   "Search team."

   "Yes, sir."

   "Okay, Reid, Cora, the school is on Willow Road," Derek said.

   "If the boy was abducted, then this area would be the most secluded nearby," Cora said.

   "So Jones can put his guys at the gas station..."

   The story about Finnegan gave Kit chills. An old man who watchers children and hunts them. Skins them. Eats them. Possibly the worst story Kit had heard.

   "Folks have been tellin' that story since I was a kid," the counselor said.

   "Why haven't we heard about this?" Kit asked.

   "Fables are often sparked by an ounce of truth. We should exhaust every possibility," Derek said.

   "Sure looks like a haunted house," Spencer said as everyone got out of the SUV.

   "Morgan, you, Kit, and Jones take the front. Reid, Cora, and I will cover the outbuildings," Jason said.

   Kit, Derek, and Jones ran up to the front quickly. The door was already open, and creaked as it opened slowly. "Mr. Finnegan!" Jones yelled.

   "God, if this isn't horror movie material I don't know what is," Kit mumbled to Derek, who smiled a bit.

   "Always know how to brighten the mood, huh, babe?" He asked as the three ran into the house.

   "Of course," Kit smirked.

   "Upstairs is clear," Jones said, "Finnegan's not here."

   "Yeah, and neither is the missing boy," Kit said.

   "Electricity's out," Jones pointed out. Kit rolled her eyes.

   "Thank you, Captain Obvious," she scoffed.

   "I know," Derek said.

   "Maybe he's been away," Jones said.

   "No. This paper was delivered today," Derek said.

   "So Finnegan was here earlier," Jones said.

   "Yeah, but where is he now?" Kit asked.

   Kit was watching the entire time Spencer was on the phone with Garcia. Spencer had gotten up and bumped into Derek and almost screamed, stumbling slightly. This caused Kit to almost collapse laughing.

   "You really are afraid of the dark," Derek said with a smile.

   "I'm workin' on that," Spencer replied as he walked away.

   "You should work a little harder," Kit teased.

   "My deputy got the boy home safe," the sheriff ( ? ) said as he entered the home.

   "Turns out the poor kid was scared by a tree branch," Cora said.

   "This whole town's on edge," Derek said, sighing.

   "Maybe that's why Finnegan's in the wind," Kit said.

   Kit and Derek walked over into a separate room and sighed. "Hey, that's interesting," Derek said.

   "The unsub didn't use a gun," Spencer said.

   "Bet he knows every trail in Ozona," Jason said, "Finnegan's an avid hunter. Why didn't he use a..." He picked up a lunch box under the table, "Robbie Davis."

   "First victim," the sheriff said.

   Jason picked up another lunch box. "Sarah P. Sarah Peterson, right?" He asked.

   "I guess Finnegan brought the kids back here first before baitin' 'em into the woods," Derek said, "but why wouldn't he get rid of the evidence?"

   "He considers them trophies," Spencer and Cora said.

   "When this is all said and done, I'd like to hang his head on my wall," Derek said.

   "You're lucky I live with three children, Derek," Kit replied blankly. The two walked away quickly.

   Finnegan had died. They guessed natural causes, Spencer had even pointed out that his heart had probably gave out setting a trap.

   "Those Coyotes were gnawing on him for a week," the ME said.

   "Before the second and third murders happened," Kit sighed.

   "The area's off the traveled path. It's a wonder anyone discovered him at all," Spencer said.

   "Is it?" The ME asked, "those leaves didn't cover him up by themselves."

   "He's right. The deputy may have not been the first to find him," Derek said.

   "And our only suspects been cleared," Cora scoffed.

   Kit and Derek looked at Jason. "Square one?" Derek asked.

   "No," Jason said, "if Finnegan's been dead all this time, who's livin' in his house?" He began to walk away. "Let's go."

   "Here's a question— if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if there's nobody there to hear it?" Spencer asked

   "What the hell are you reading?" Kit asked.

   "I was just thinking," Spencer said.

   "The unsub found Finnegan's corpse in a lightly traveled part of the woods, and no one else knew," Derek said, "so he was able to use this house, and no one was the wiser."

   "Actually, I was referring to Finnegan's wife," Spencer said. Kit laughed and looked down.

   "What are you talking about?" Derek asked.

   "She was rumored missing, perhaps killed, almost 50 years ago, when, in actuality, she left Finnegan for another man. Hr writes about it in hid journals, how he would look out the window on a daily basis to see if she would come home. She never did. He never recovered. He ended up turning into a recluse that people in town misunderstood," Spencer said.

   "Found somethin'," Jason said as he walked into the room, "come here." He walked away.

   "Provisions, delivered by the church to every elder's doorstep, each one dated after Finnegan died," Jason said.

   "So the unsub ate everything," Derek said.

   "Almost everything," Jason said, "unopened bowls of creamed spinach thrown into the trash, each other wrapped with ductape."

   "One with each tray," Spencer said.

   "So were looking for a guy who really, really hates spinach?" Kit asked, turning to Derek and holding her hands out, "might as well arrest me." Derek shook his head and shoved her shoulder gently.

   "I bet you'd like getting cuffed," Derek scoffed.

   "Only if it's you cuffing me," Kit smirked.

   "Who doesn't hate spinach?" Cora asked.

   "Me," Aleksander piped up as he walked up to him.

   "Ritualized, meticulous, organized," Jason said.

   "He would eat with the same particulars," Spencer said.

   "Pull prints," Jason said. His phone started to ring, "have Garcia run 'em for a match."

   "It's about Elle, isn't it?" Spencer asked, directing his question more towards Kit.

   "Hotch tells me a lot, but he doesn't tell me everything," Kit said softly.

   "Okay, Miss Future Unit Chief," Aleksander scoffed.

   "I don't know," Derek said to Spencer.

   "You know, I talked to her in Ohio."

   "Reid, we all talked to her."

   "No, I—I—I talked to her before. I went to her room one night, and she was drinking," Spencer said.

   "She almost died. I'd be drinkin', too," Derek said.

   Kit sat on the floor by Derek's legs, picking at her nail as Aleksander braided her hair. "Why the woods, JJ?" Derek asked. Aleksander sighed in annoyance when Kit looked at him, aggressively jerking her head so she groaned.

   "Ow!"

   "Hm?" JJ asked Derek.

   "Your fear. You said it was of the woods," Derek said.

   "Um, I used to be a camp counselor when I was a teenager in the woods up in Vermont. I had the night shift— tuck the girls in, turn off the lights, you know, the typical drill. Everything seemed fine, all the kids were asleep. You know, nothing seemed out of the ordinary… until I noticed that there was some blood on the hallway floor. So I followed the blood trail out to the camp directors cabin, walked up to his bed, and he was just laying there underneath his covers… dead. Someone stabbed him." Kit's eyes widened as Aleksander finished the braid. "I ran out if there so fast. Out the door, down the hall. I just remember it being really dark. Once I got to the door, there was another counselor there. I guess she heard me scream. They caught the caretaker on his way into town. I guess he still had the knife on him. Anyway, I guess that's probably when I decided I didn't like the woods."

   Kit and Derek glanced at each other. "You're serious?" Derek asked.

   JJ took a sip of her coffee, giving Derek a dead serious look before making a face. "No," she said. Kit rolled her eyes, as JJ laughed, "no, I… you fell for that?"

   Derek chuckled and leaned back into the couch. "Come on, I don't know why I'm afraid of the woods. I just… I am." JJ pointed to Spencer, still looking at Derek. "Why is he still afraid of the dark?" She then pointed to Kit. "And why is she afraid of medical masks?"

   Derek disregarded the question about Kit's fear, knowing it was a bad thing to look back on for her. "Yeah, Reid, why are you still afraid of the dark?"

   "Because of the inherent absence of light!" Spencer answered.

   "Oh," JJ said, Kit hearing an ounce of sarcasm in her voice.

   "JJ, that was pretty good," Derek said as his phone rang.

   "Ha! That's what she said!" Kit exclaimed.

   Derek gave her a look. "Just know that paybacks are a bitch," he said. Kit and Aleksander looked at each other with small smirks.

   "I'm shakin'," JJ joked.

   Derek answered his phone. "Yeah." He got off with the phone with Garcia after mentioning the guidence counselor. "Call Gideon. We just found our unsub."

   Derek walked into the cell with Kit and closed the door. He then walked over to Charles and placed the file down. "Here's the deal. I could stand here and tell you what I think you were doin' in Finnegan's house for the last two weeks, or you could do us all a favor. Sign a confession, maybe get a little something taken off your time. What do you say?" Derek asked.

   "I never stepped inside Finnegan's house," Charles said. Derek dropped the pen.

   "That isn't the answer we were looking for, sweetheart," Kit mocked. Earlier, Charles had called her sweetheart, so it was coming back to bite him in the ass.

   "See, fact is, we got your fingerprints inside the house all over the trays of food," Derek said.

   "Of course you did. I delivered 'em every week," Charles said.

   Derek grabbed the red hat. "What are you doin' with Nicholas Faye's hat? Hmm?" Derek asked.

   "Maybe he was trying to dispose of it. Or maybe he was so proud of his keepsake, he wanted a safe place to hide it," Kit said.

   "How these last six months been for you, James?" Derek asked, "not too good, huh? Oh, no, your whole life is fallin' apart, isn't it? Oh, yeah, you gotta be feelin' a loss of control."

   "Sense of abandonment," Kit continued.

   "And we would guess, uh… little impotent maybe," Derek said, "come on, man, give me somethin'."

   Kit smirked. "Why did your wife leave you, hmm?" She asked with a mock pout.

   "What happened, James? She get bored? I mean, you don't seem all that exciting to me," Derek said, "she start feeling a little uninspired? Hey, you're not a Minuteman, are you?" Charles stayed silent.

   "Oh, so that's what it is," Kit said snarkily, smiling as she walked over, "you're done before she even gets started, huh? She left you for another man who has—" James got up, pushing everything off the table and hitting Kit in the process, "okay then!"

   "James, that was exciting!" Derek yelled, "did she hit a nerve?"

   "I want to go home," Charles said.

   "Oh, you want to go home?" Kit asked.

   "Well, we're sorry. That ain't about to happen, so why don't you come over here and sit your ass down?" Derek asked. Charles didn't move, "I said sit down!"

   "I'm done talkin' to you," Charles said.

   Derek looked at Kit and she sighed. "I will tell you what you're done doing, understood?" She asked, "James, we can't help you if you don't start talking."

   "Somethin'!" Derek yelled. Derek got off the phone and Kit gave him a curious look. "What were you doin'? Workin' your way up to the victim you wanted to kill most? Your son?"

   Kit's eyes widened, before finally starting go catch onto what Derek was saying. "What'd you do with him, James?" Kit asked. James shook his head, sparking a new kind of rage in Kit. "Are you really so fucking weak you have to blame your own child for your failed marriage?!"

   "Shut up!" Charles yelled.

   "No! Start talking! Because we need to understand this!" Kit screamed, almost at the top of her lungs, "you beat those children who trusted you! Why?! So you could regain your power?!"

   Derek looked at her before looking back at Charles. "We got a news flash for you. You never had any to begin with," he said.

   "That's right. Keep it comin', keep it comin'," Charles said.

   "We are so far from finished with you, you son of a bitch," Derek said.

   "I could do this all day if I really wanted to," Kit said, "it's only a matter of time before I snap and you're on the floor, knocked out cold. You make me sick!"

   "You know what happens to guys who mess with kids on the inside?" Derek asked, "do you?"

   "Can I have a word with him?" Jason asked as he entered the room. Kit took a deep breath.

   "Yeah," Derek said, grabbing Kit's wrist gently and walking out. Kit leaned against the wall, rubbing her throat gently.

   "Screaming really took a toll on my vocal cords," she chuckled. Derek gave her the slightest smile, looking down at her wrist. He noticed the sever circular scars around her wrists.

   "What's that about?" He asked, nodding to the scars.

   "The US really needs to get better handcuffs," Kit smiled.

   "Ah," Derek nodded.

   "I also handcuff my wrist to the bed at night," Kit said softly, "PTSD has made me anxious. That I might get up and hurt someone without realizing it. Safety precautions, you know?"

   "Kit Kat," Derek sighed, "if you need help, talk to someone. Cora, Reid, Hotch Gideon, your brother, me."

   "None of you are professionals other than Cora, who despises me," Kit said.

   Derek nodded. "I get your point, but still..."

   "I'll keep it in mind," Kit smiled, starting to walk again.

   Derek smiled as well. "Yeah, you better."

   Kit, Derek, Jones, and Jason got out of the car quickly to meet JJ, Cora, and Spencer. "You know, after this mom left, Jeffery probably resented the fact that his dad spends more time at work with other kids than with his own," Derek said.

   "And took that rage out on any kid he viewed as having anything he didn't," Jason said.

   "So Tracy's mom said the bus would have dropped her off here after school," JJ said, "she was supposed to walk home with a neighbor."

   "That's most likely when Jeffery approached, but where would he have taken her?" Spencer asked.

   "There's such heavy patrolling in this town," JJ said, "how do you manage to take a little girl without being seen?"

   "Because we taught him," Kit realized, "nobody will think anything of two kids walking together—"

   "Buddy system, remember?" Aleksander asked.

   "In the process of educating the public, we educated a killer," Kit said.

   "When it's off season baseball, where would a 12-year-old kid hang out?" JJ asked.

   "The park," Jason said.

   "Surrounded by woods," Cora said.

   "Let's go."

   Kit and Jason had found Tracy and Jeffery at almost the exact same time. Jason had grabbed Jeffery while Tracy clung to Kit, Kit holding the young blonde tightly.

   "Are you okay?" Kit asked Tracy softly, stroking her hair a bit. Tracy nodded. "Good. Good. Okay."

   Kit sighed and looked at Charles, feeling slightly guilty. "I'm not gonna apologize, but if you want or need to, Kit Kat, go ahead," Derek said to her. Kit hesitated before nodding and walking over to Charles.

   "Mr. Charles," Kit said, "I think an apology is in order. Had I put it together before hand, I wouldn't have treated you the way I did."

   "You were doing your job, Agent Egorova," Charles replied. Kit smiled sadly.

   "I still shouldn't have said those things." She put her hand out and Charles shook it quickly, "have a nice day."

   Charles nodded. "You too." Kit walked away and over to Derek quickly.

   "You tell him everything you needed to?" Derek asked. Kit nodded and sighed, giving Derek a small smile.

   "Yeah. I did."

DAI SPEAKS howdy hoe

[handsomemoirawrites]

Dai - Hyperion’s Home Made Siren

Background - Dionysus, Lilith's home planet. If you never heard of the shit-hole count yourself lucky. Imagine a world where men control everything and once a month they pick a woman to be sacrificed for the gods. What gods you ask? Well the people who live on Dionysus believe that Sirens will come and destroy their planet and murder their children if they don't kill at least one woman or girl every month. Yup. The fucking idiots think SIRENS are gods. Dai was one of those women picked to be sacrificed. These stories all start out the same don't they? Her life was less than glamorous in the beginning. Dai never knew her mother and her father devoted his life to keeping her hidden from the towns folk. She lived underneath a run down shack that could barely be called a home. It sat on the edge of the town called Direfield. The small town was known for it’s farming and meat. You can almost imagine the smell. Her father tried to do everything in his power to protect her but in a world like Dionysus there is no true safety. Ever since she was born her father ran every job he could to keep her fed, give her clothing and make her happy. It was tricky to go shopping and get clothes her size since he was trying to make sure no one knew she even existed. The man would buy shirts his size, head home and attempt to cut and tailor the giant shirts into sweet tiny dresses. He allowed her to leave the underneath of the house at night twice a month just so she wouldn't feel trapped but she couldn't go far. Dai understood that her father was trying to do what he could but deep down she knew she would die here. That’s when Hyperion arrived. The soul sucking corporation installed a fast travel station on Dionysus and was only going to be there for a few days. It was Jacks orders that a group go down and search for what he called "Potential Si's". They needed women, they only had a couple of days to find them as well. The timing couldn’t have been better. The shack had lost its safety after Dai had been spotted late at night. She had been careless and forgot to cover her foot prints like she had been trained to do her entire life. The woman occasionally thinks back to why she had forgotten to do something she had done since she was first allowed outside. Dai thought about the answer for years until she realized it was her giving up. She didn't want to hide anymore, she wanted to be released from the hell that was her life. Despite her fathers pleas and begs, he was held back by town folk, watching as his girl was dragged, kicking and screaming from their home and taken towards the sacred sacrificing grounds. It was Hyperion’s last day on the planet and seeing any women had been impossible.It was almost as if they were all hiding from them, or maybe...something else. If it wasn’t for Handsome Jack orders, Dai wouldn’t have lived past this day. The agents were able to follow her screams and watch the beginning of the ceremony. Fire, blood, food. It was like a horrible festival with a child dying at the end. Dai’s body was slammed and pressed against a large concrete slab as masked men held her against the cold slab and cut off her left hand fingers. People cheered, women left out breaths of relief that it wasn’t them, the music played louder and louder and Dai watched as her father screamed for her. First her thumb was cut slowly with a dull blade, it’s jagged edges pierced her skin and sawed threw her bone. Next came her pointer finger and then -BAM! The masked men all fell one after the other, bullet holes replaced where their eyes once were. Screaming and chaos began to ensue as men charged the Hyperion agents to had come to Dai’s side. These people had never seen guns or grenades that these agents used to subdue the festival’s population. The planet was left in the past while other planets pushed into the future. Dai watched her saviors came forth from the rocks and bushes, leaping to her rescue. Was she dreaming? Were these people heroes or gods? No. They weren’t, they were anything but heroes but to her? They were all she had ever dreamed of. Her father, now released from the town folks hands began to run for his daughter but the agents were faster. No one saw the man and his voice was drowned out by the cries of many dying people. Dai’s limp body was lifted into one of the male agent’s arms and both their bodies began to digistruct. The child’s eyes were locked on the people who saved her and her father became a forgotten memory. Handsome Jack, somewhat pleased with the agents find, payed the brave and horrible people their money and quickly shooed them away. Work was about to begin. Dai had been brought to Jack’s office where he gently offered her his chair and carefully patched up her hand. When Angel was younger Jack always looked after her cuts and injuries. Missing fingers was a huge jump from cuts and scraps but he had enough knowledge to stumble his way to victory. Besides, Jack needed this girl to trust him. The child was silent through the process, unsure of what she should do or say. Everything she looked at was so advanced and shiny, she felt like she had entered the future. Was Jack the god of this place? Did he help her on purpose? Of course he didn’t. But to Dai it looked exactly like that. On the spot, in Jack’s chair, she mentally made a vow. Dai was intoxicated with the power and safety the man provided. “I will always find you. I will always help you, just like you did for me” Jack always had a way with words and after doing his best with Dai’s hand he charmingly convinced the girl that she was exactly what he needed. “You’re the savior of our world Dai! I am going to make you a GODDESS!” Needles, machines, Eridium. From the age six to eighteen, Jack and Hyperion used this small girl to create what they called The Home Made Siren. All of this was worth it for Handsome Jack. With Dai there, Angel was further protected and lesser known through Hyperion. Dai would be able to help power up the vault key he had stolen from Tannis, everything was going to plan and everything WAS PERFECT! Or so...he thought. Dai had become insanely loyal to Hyperion and Jack after all her time with the man. You would think someone who was poked, prodded and stabbed with needles everyday wouldn’t be kindly to the people who were doing it to her but that wasn’t the case. Every day she got filled with Eridium was a blessing in her mind. She was stronger for it, she was braver for it, SHE WAS JACKS GODDESS! At least, that’s what she thought. When Angel had betrayed Jack and had gotten herself killed, Dai had been ordered to stay back and wait for Handsome Jack to return to Helios. The company didn’t want their precious experiment running off. The newly made Siren waited with baited breath knowing deep down that her god may not return. And sadly? It was the truth. Dai’s mind shattered the moment Handsome Jack died, her body felt like it was breaking down and her screams pierced the edges of the universe. Only one thought had occurred since Jack’s death. Revenge. After taking everything she cared about from Helios and shoving it into a large bag, she stole one of Helios’s escape pods and made her way to Pandora. Ever since then she has been watching Lilith and the Vault Hunters. Her plans have been set and her moves have been made. She will destroy the ones who destroyed her god.

Personality - Dai is a very easy going person despite everything she has been through. She loves to crack horrible puns and make people smile. She embraces that she might not be the smarted person in the room but she makes it known she has ideas. Friends are hard for her to make, people on Helios weren’t the friendliest and she never developed the social skills to make some since Jack became the only father figure she had. Dai didn’t learn a lot of good things from him and picked up a lot of Jacks mannerisms.

Looks - Dai’s arms are littered with needle scars. Small tiny dots cover her fingers all the way up to her shoulders. She has pale freckled skin and deep brown eyes. Her long dark brown hair falls down to her lower back and she always seems to be wearing the same outfit. Light blue dirty skinny jeans, Jack’s old yellow Hyperion sweater and destroyed black skag skinned boots. Her siren tattoos are unlike the others. They are constantly bright with a green color that matches her nails.

Skills - Dai’s siren powers aren’t the strongest seeing as she was made in a lab. The most she can do is control certain types of land to her bidding. Grassy areas are where she is most strong, Dai can control the plants and cause vines to come rocketing out of the ground and attack her enemy before dragging them back underneath the planet. She is also skilled in combat learning a few things from Jack’s body double Timothy. She has his location but only goes to him when in need. Dai loves using assault rifles and what she calls Dai-rangs (Which are basically a boomerang just made with a sharp metal) in battle. 

[bfilmblues-blog]

Movie Review - The Last Slumber Party

No, this movie isn’t about a large surgeon fighting thunder storms. That would be an awesome movie though.

Pros: One of the most nonsensical twists I have ever seen in a movie which is kind of entertaining.

Cons: Birth of a Nation was less controversial and hateful. The theme song is now burned into my brain and unfortunately the only cure is death. Terrible ending. Terrible acting. Terrible killer. The longest quest for Orange Juice I have ever seen in any form of media.

Let me start by saying that normally as a fan of questionable music taste I can listen to the most horrible of audio treats in the world and still wear a grin on my face. Vaporwave? Bring it on. That bootleg Gaslamp Killer cut? Whatever, sounds good. That rare ICP/DMX beta track that was found in an abandoned grave in small Mexican village? Let's turn it up. Still, out of everything that has poisoned my ears "LETS GO OUT TONIGHT" is by far the worst song I have ever heard in my life. 

I don't say this lightly, who ever made that song is a terrible person but also some kind of autistic savant of audio, some kind of reverse Johann Sebastian Bach who hated both music and people. Not only does this song play every three seconds in the movie, but it also seems to have the ability to drown a ton of the dialog as well which makes it even more aggravating. Nothing shows this more then the very first scene where 99% of the dialog is drowned out in a classroom, which should be the easiest fucking place in the world to capture decent audio. I could go on for pages about how atrociously bad the sound is, but it really is something that one can only experience for themselves. I have watched a ton of low quality movies that has worse recording when it came to the audio, but it was a blessing because those movies often were terrible and not hearing the actors (Or your drunk friends you paid $2 to attempt drama) was normally a good thing. The sad part was, I was actually kind of interested in The Last Slumber Party because I am pretty sure it might be one of the most 80's of all 80's slashers I have ever seen and I was trying to find out what the hell was the deal with all the plot holes and illogical scenes put into this movie.

Well, joke is on me, I watched this like five times now and while I fully understand every line due to a crack team of Chinese secrete police who transcript the movie for me, nothing still makes sense.

The movie starts with three extremely unattractive women and the three counterpart boyfriends they have talking about summer vacation, how much summer is going to rule, and how some nerd in the background named Science rules because he helped them with their biology homework.

The three most beautiful women of Louisiana!

Meet Chris, Tracy, and Linda. Here is a easy chart to describe each character.

Chris:

Red Hair

Hates people with a different sexuality then hers so much she has to comment about it about 50230 times every single day.

Loves to drink all day, wake up at 4:00 AM, then continue drinking.

Might be a meth addict in real life.

Tracy:

Blonde

Extremely boring and stupid.

For some reason needs to bring every phone into the bathroom.

Only has like 5 lines.

Linda:

Nerd.

Has a dad who is a lackluster neurosurgery doctor.

Is holding a sleepover in the ugliest house on earth.

Really wants Man-nerd bad, which is odd because they are going out already. Don't know what that is about.

For the men counterpoints, I can't remember their names but assume each are named Jock, Goof, and Man-Nerd and they all fit the same tables as above.

Class is about to end and summer vacation is right about to start (But they are all like 30?) and the girls talk about the kickin' rad slumber party they are going to have that and if they should invite boys or not. Chris says a party without sex and men is a waste, Linda kind of twiddles her thumbs and agrees while talking about her lust over Man-nerd, and Tracy tries to remember she is in a movie but fails to do so and nibbles on her hair tips while drooling. Everyone cheers when the Bell rings, the conversation continues, and everyone goes home.

Later that night at a hospital entrance, a nurse walks out complaining that no one wants to have sex with her, which is odd considering she looks like the most attractive person in this film. She goes to a bus stop and waits on a bench while some sleepy guy next to her snores. She complains and complains and complains until finally the audience is granted mercy as our killer comes out to change things up. The killer is by far, in the movie, the most lazy of all slasher killers I have ever seen and consists of some random dude wearing scrubs. That's it, he just looks like some random guy at the ER. Anyways, the killer moves a scalpel in front of her face and she dies from this somehow. Sleepy guy, despite hearing her complain nonstop, scream bloody murder, and the struggle does not wake up. He wakes up afterwards and starts complaining that the bus is taking forever. The killer, obviously annoyed at this doofus, kills sleepy guy for a double whammy.

The face of evil. Hygienic evil. Also, that's the director.

We eventually learn the killer is some kind of random guy who had a lobotomy and became evil for no reason. With part of his brain gone, he now runs around town lightly stabbing people and being a jerk at various parties. Other then that, we never get a name, motivation, or any further background on him. Hell, even in the credits they just label him "Maniac" which is the height of laziness. The only snippets we get are when Linda's dad gets various phone calls we can't hear and he can blandly reply with things like "Oh, that maniac escaped? That's too bad." and "I need to find that maniac. I think."

Now, I have seen a bunch of bad actors in my day, but I might have to say the actor playing Linda's father may be near the worst. Every line he has is read with zero emotion. He can't have any facial expression besides minor puzzlement. Also, he sounds like a robot. I'm not joking when I say that all the actors in Birdemic did a better job then this asshole.

We finally get the titular slumber party and uh... well, not much is happening.

...You guys wanna play monopoly or something?

The girls sit around in various moo-moo's and sleep jerseys while looking bored as hell doing nothing. They do have a slight dance at the start, but it's interrupted by Linda's dad who says he has to get Orange Juice, for the girls to behave, the music they are playing sucks and he then leaves the house. After being burned on the music, they sit down and watch TV where a black static image of a news logo tells them that two people were murdered at the bus stop! DUN DUN DUUAAAAA~ - But they don't care because it's not connected to them in anyway and it’s Louisiana, so people get murdered all the time.

Of course, after hearing about the horrific murders, they immediately think of romance and debate on calling "Men-folk". It's at this point in the movie where suddenly every single person has a southern accent. There was no southern accents before, but now they are in full force. Every sentence ends with "Bless ya'll hearts" and "NASCAR RULES!".

Before they can call dem' ol' boys - well, they show up. They knock on the window with dumb Halloween masks and Chris calls them gay homo's for like, a half hour before they leave to go get some beer. This is a reoccurring theme in the movie where Chris will have a discussion with one of the male counterparts and often goes into a diatribe about how they must be gay and love the idea of having men tongue every orifice they own in a hedonistic sodomy session. It's really nonsensical and so out of place, but almost 90% of her script reads like bizarre homoerotic sex fantasy the director must keep hidden.

Welcome to beautiful Louisiana!

At the gas station, the guys drink in the parking lot when Linda's dad shows up still on his holy quest for Orange Juice. They talk back and forth when Linda's dad is like "Welpp... shit, prob - no Orange juice at this gas station, I better check my work. By work, I mean, the hospital." and just leaves the set. Science, the nerd from the first scene shows up. The guys throw a beer at Science and tell him to party hard, because it's summer! Science looks slightly miffed at this friendly jest and leaves. The guys then describe in great detail who is going to have sex with who, how much summer vacation rules and about how much fun it is to drink beer. All in all, seems like normal high school talk, except you know, that they all look 30-ish.

Back at the slumber party, the girls debate still for another five fucking hours if they should call the boys. Uh - They already said they were coming back. Calm down, ladies. After talking about boys, calling boys, and if smoking pot is cool (They come to conclusion it's not while continuing to pound shots) they finally decide it's time for bed. While they are heading upstairs, one of the boys somehow ends up at the house before the rest of them, had a ladder placed against the bedroom window, and climbs up and enters the room just as the ladies enter it. They pull him inside and after an absurdly awkward conversation between Chris and him involving homosexuality, Chris pushes the girls out the room and explains she wants to get busy. Before that, though, she has to shower. Uh - Ok. She tells him to lay on the bed and in the connecting bathroom, she showers for what seems like four hours - during that time, Science comes into the bedroom and kills Jock-kid who was laying there waiting for some muskrat love. After killing him, he puts his body in the closet.

Huh.

Now you are thinking - Why would Science kill this guy? Is Science the main killer now? The answer to both of those questions are I don't know, and no. For some reason, that light joke about being more upbeat about summer vacation really set off Science, so now he has a blood lust. Whatever. They never explain or show why Science would kill the people who liked him or why he would kill them, but also do their homework for them too, but uh - arughh - my brain.

Chris comes out and in frustration that another man would accept death rather then have relations with her screams to the heavens calling Jock-man a fag and queerbait nonstop over and over before finally getting exhausted from her rant and heading back downstairs with the other girls. Science hides in the corner of the room during all this and is able to not be found. Once again, I’m not sure why Science is there or why he is filled with murderous rage, but hey, that’s horror for you.

Like poetry, Tracy finds goof kid, they go upstairs to have sex and goof kid asks if she has any drugs. Unsure if she does have drugs, Tracy goes into the bathroom to search for some while Science murders the hell out of this loser and chucks his body out the window. During this time, the real killer comes in from the ladder and watches Science doing his stuff while nodding in approval.

Just so you know, there is now two killers in this room, both have not communicated with each other and both are easily hiding in different places in the room. Only the real killer knows Science is in there. While Science does his normal hide in the closet, real killer decides he is a under the bed guy.

Tracy leaves the bedroom, calls goof kid a homo a couple of times because of his disappearance, then screams because she finds a knife the floor. All the girls meet up in the room and discuss where the knife could have came from. After a slight bickering session, they decide it's all a prank from the guys and all cuddle in bed together to go to sleep. In the same room. With the two killers. Oddly enough, the killers leave them be and continue hiding. Seriously. They sleep for like five hours and no one disturbs them. Pretty polite killers, really.

You know a film is bad when even the dude who likes FIRSTRYKE says it's bad.

Chris has a dream where she wanders around a house for like twenty minutes doing nothing while terrible synth music plays. Finally, after the most boring dream of all time, she gets stabbed by various people and wakes up. All the girls are fine, everyone is still asleep. Also, the killers might be asleep too, who knows? Anyways, Chris gets up and decides it's time to start drinking. Hitting the liquor cabinet that isn't hers, she picks up the phone right when it rings (Rude) and gets some heavy breathing. Freaked out, she runs upstairs and tells the other girls about the dreadful phone call. They both could care less. Speaking of phone calls, the conversation then cuts to them debating if they should call the boys again for the 100th time. It’s like, 5:00 AM. Jeez, calm down ladies.

Chris is like "Whatever, I'm drinking" and Linda goes with her. Tracy continues to sleep in bed where she is almost murdered by Science in her sleep, but Science is dispatched by our main killer and is thrown out the window. Haha, that's what you get for not enjoying summer vacation, NERD! Main killer then kills Tracy, stabs Linda off screen, and sits around the bedroom doing nothing. Chris continues to drink when Linda's mom gets a call waking her up from dad saying he is still getting orange juice and will be back home soon. Dude? It's been like 10 hours. This causes Linda's mom to get up and tell Chris to shut the gate outside for some reason. Chris goes outside and see's the guys car, confused why there would be a car but no boys to call gay, she goes into detective mode.

And here is where the movie hits a climax. By climax, I mean the most absurd and slow ending ever put into a horror film. Chris walks around the house looking at nothing forever. There was less walking and looking in Homeward Bound. Honestly, it’s just like ten minutes of her walking around a house inspecting various things while the killer always hides somewhat in random frames and looking as goofy as possible. After the longest walking scene in any film ever created, Chris discovers the phone lines have been cut and Tracy is dead upstairs. Chris, by far, has the best reaction to this I have ever seen as she goes “Eh” and just walks out of the the room.

Jeepers Creepers,  Fuck. Oh well, time to drink.

Now, I know it’s Louisiana and I assume it must be pretty normal there to see your best friend murdered by some kind of random violence, but it may just be a bit of bad acting when you have no emotional reaction whatsoever to seeing a corpse in a bed. Like, I get it, acting is hard or whatever, but come on, lady. Chris wanders around till she gets back downstairs and Linda's mom bumps into her. She is like “Oh, uh - I’m dead.” and just falls over holding her throat. We are supposed to assume she was stabbed and wandering around in a panic, but instead she looks kind of bored and lazily falls onto a sofa. Neat.

Linda then also taps Chris on the shoulder and says “Get help.” before also falling on the floor dead from an invisible stab wound. Why, this slumber party is terrible... in fact, I hope it’s The Last Slumber Party! Once again, despite seeing two people she knows die, Chris has no reaction whatsoever and proceeds to walk around the house some more, because twenty minutes of that wasn’t enough. Armed with a large knife, she walks and walks and walks and walks an - Whoops, in a moment of awkwardness, Chris believes she notices the killer and lunges her knife at a figure around a corner and it’s the last doppelganger boyfriend. He dies instantly and yet again Chris has no reaction to this, but instead is just like “Meh.” while leaving the knife inside of him and walking off. 

 Finally, Chris meets the killer. Who will win? They both almost have similar body counts and only one may survive. Truly, this will be an epic battle of survival as - Oh, Chris just stabs him once and he dies. Well, shoot, that was easy. After a full night of binge drinking and murder, Chris passes out next to the killer in the kitchen. Huh... so fifty minutes of walking and a 10 second battle between the killer and the final survivor? Now that is some good film making.

Finally, dad comes home and HEY - He still forgot the Orange Juice! What the hell has this idiot been doing for eleven hours? He goes inside his home and looks at everything all broke/smashed up and his phone lines cut. He rolls his eyes, goes to the fridge and drinks a tall glass of orange ju - Ugh. I just - Come on, director. After his beverage, he continues to look around, still continues to look around, and finally is like “Meh, I should go to work” and drives to work, where upon reaching work he rides the elevator up to his office where he is killed by the killer. How did the killer get up there? Who knows. Anyways, Chris wakes up in the house, steps outside towards the pool, and that Killer must have the fastest running legs on earth because he is now back at the house and attempts to kill her in the pool. Alas, with a big fuck you to the audience, Chris suddenly wakes up and it was all a dream.

Now, “It was a dream” endings are always terrible, but this one somehow continues the stride of doing things on a legendary bad scale decides not only was that not enough, but to keep pushing and somehow get the most dumb ending of all time. Chris wakes up, calls her friends and asks if they are still doing the slumber party. Blah blah blah - Chris goes to her Linda's house and the killer sneaks in, it’s like some eternal loop of bad plot holes and confusion. Scream, credits.

You can watch the whole movie on Youtube, I believe. Check it out and let me know what you think. I would normally write a conclusion, but I just can’t for movie. It’s abysmally bad but at the same time unlike most b-films it is not entertaining either. It’s some weird void of garbage that never brought joy or happiness to anyone or anything.