#although i think it was also due in part to the fact that 1) i am in a stupid big amount of physical pain

[vriska-serketboard]

it's like. things are good, we're friends like we were before and nothing about that part is different, and i'm really happy about that part - if i'd lost them as a friend, that would be fucking horrible and i'd be regretting it for the foreseeable future. i love what we have in our friendship and i want to keep that. i just want to have something more than/in addition to friendship with them, and it's hard to deal with the fact that we had that for a week and now we don't anymore. the fact that happened is proof that it *could* happen at all, and i think that's why i feel like there's something missing. i feel like i'll always be wanting that back.

[fawnforevergone]

The Ultimate List of Dante References in Hozier's "Unreal Unearth" !!

Hello and welcome to my new-and-updated ultimate compilation of all 'Inferno' references I found in Hozier's new album! If I think of anything else, or if anyone else suggests something, I will be sure to add it, but, for now, enjoy this ridiculously long (you've been warned) list I made!

Since I didn't wanna make a post for every individual song and spam you all, the songs are separated by their respective circles! I hope that organises stuff a bit more :]

Usual disclaimer: I could be wrong about some stuff! I've read 'Inferno' and try to stick to the objective references, but sometimes I let subjective interpretation bleed through. If anyone has any corrections for anything, just lmk!! Okay, cool <3

DESCENT:

"De Selby (Part 1)"

We start the album not in the circles, but instead at the Gates of Hell. One of the main themes of Inferno is darkness, and these first two songs are embodiments of that.

The lyrics mention the idea of this being a "new empty space", suggesting that Hozier is being introduced to the feeling of Inferno through the relationship he's singing about, and, so, we begin the descent.

"The likes of a darkness so deep that God at the start couldn't bear." God is obviously a large theme of Inferno and is, biblically, the creator of light, hence the absence of it in Inferno. In fact, the first three stanzas all reference the heavy darkness of the threshold and its estrangement from God.

The Irish/Gaeilge lyrics roughly translate to: "Although you're bright and light, you arrive to me like night fall. You and I, together. You and I, metamorphized. Although you're bright and light, you arrive to me like night fall. The art of transformation is a dark art." The imagery of light and dark mixing together mimics the idea of walking from the brightness of Earth into the darkness of Inferno.

This entire album appears to be the recounting of a relationship and how it feels like walking through Inferno. Here we see the beginning of this relationship, of Hozier losing himself to the threshold.

"De Selby (Part 2)"

Part one appeared to be the step through the gates, whereas part two seems to be Hozier being enveloped by the threshold. In 'Inferno', Dante says the entrance to Hell is a darkness that no stars could shine in. We hear this shift from Earth to Unearth through the production alone; the weightlessness of part one falling into the heavy grunge of part two.

"Your heart, love, has such darkness, I feel it in the corners of the room." The theme of dark continues, as it will through the entire album, but, this time, Hozier feels it radiating from within his lover rather than the space around them. Though, him saying his lover carries darkness is not an insult. This extra depth to his lover is something more to know, something more to love. This idea actually differs from Dante, who sees the darkness as deceitful.

"I want to be so far from sight and mind." Inferno is a lawless place. He would be far from sight due to the darkness, and far from mind due to the insanity that persists within the circles.

"Let all time slow, let all light go." This lyric shows me that he has been submerged in the threshold. Again, the lack of light, but also the slowing of time. Punishment after death is eternal, something that time has no grasp on. Hozier is willing to let these aspects take a hold of him.

"I'd still know you not being shown you, I'd only need the workin' of my hands." Christianity is a heavy theme of Inferno, and this lyric plays on the proverb 'Idle hands are the devil's workshop', a proverb Hozier also hinted at in his song "No Plan" (from 'Wasteland, Baby!') - "My heart is thrilled by the still of your hand."

Now, though, Hozier's hands aren't idle, instead the opposite, his hands are working as God intended. Drawing us back to that idea we were given at the end of part one, we get the feeling that Hozier is bringing something light/Godly to Inferno, and he and his lover are fusing the ideas of Heaven/Earth and Hell.

FIRST (LIMBO):

"First Time"

We now enter circle number one, 'Limbo'. Limbo is an uneventful circle for those not worthy of punishment but also not fit for Heaven. It is mainly for those who do not believe in God, the unbaptised.

Firstly, to get to circles, Dante and his guide, Virgil, must be chaperoned by the Greek Psychopomp Charon down the river Acheron, and we see that in Hozier's first couple stanzas.

"And the soul - if that's what you'd call it, uneasy ally of the body - felt nameless as a river, undiscovered underground." This appears to be Hozier mentioning the river Acheron, one of the five rivers of the Underworld that surround Hades, and, in 'Inferno', are used to transport the souls of the dead to their respective circles.

"The first time that you kissed me, I drank dry the river Lethe." The river Lethe is another one of the five rivers, and is one that causes anyone who drinks from it to forget everything they know. Hozier is simply saying that kissing this person wiped his mind clean, similar to the end of "De Selby (Part 1)" where he mentions partaking in a transformation.

"Some part of me died / Some part of me came alive the first time that you called me 'Baby'." Relating to the previous quote, souls that drink from the river Lethe usually do so before being reincarnated, so they forget their past life. Hozier seems to experiment with the idea of being reborn by his partner's love for him - an idea prevalent throughout his entire discography.

"To share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering, but fighting off - like all creation - the absence of itself." This lyric tells us that we should not ignore the privilege of living just out of the fear of dying. This lyric is reminiscent of "All Things End" and the circle of Heresy. Since Limbo is home to those who don't believe in God, the theme of Heresy is a very fitting one.

SECOND (LUST):

"When I was young, I used to guess 'Are there limits to any emptiness?'" The punishment for those in Limbo is to exist eternally with the curse of a hollow, empty feeling meant to represent the lack of God in their lives. This punishment seems referenced in this lyric.

[ i ended up thinking about this song more so if you want even more "first time" content, here ya go: "first time dante references." ]

"Francesca"

Into circle number two, 'Lust', we have the story of Francesca Da Rimini, a woman Dante spoke to during his visit to circle two. Francesca fell in love with her husband's brother, Paolo, and when her husband discovered the affair he murdered them both.

Hozier seems to be singing from the perspective of Francesca/Paolo but throughout the album we see Hozier liken his lover to aspects of Inferno - darkness in "De Selby (Part 2)" or Lucifer in "Unknown / Nth" - so the story of Francesca and Paolo is fitting as another metaphor here.

"Do you think I'd give up? That this might've shook the love from me?" Even in Hell, Paolo and Francesca physically cling onto another. They do not let their death affect their love.

"My life was a storm since I was born. How could I fear any hurricane?" The punishment in Lust is an eternal storm meant to replicate the throws of passionate love - a storm also depicted in the production of the end of this song. Hozier/Francesca/Paolo says that it's impossible for them to care about this punishment when life was already as treacherous as it was.

The whole chorus emphasises the imagery of Francesca and Paolo not being able to let go of each other.

"When the heart would cease, ours never knew peace. What good what it be on the far side of things?" Francesca and Paolo lived their love secretly and anxiously, so what good would peace be in the afterlife when they've already become accustomed to difficulty?

"Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I." In the opening songs of the album, Hozier describes his lover as darkness, akin to something God cannot bear. Due to the depth of his lover, the mix of light and dark they've made, he believes Heaven would crumble beneath the weight of their relationship. That something as corrupt as Inferno is the only place suitable for them to live.

"I, Carrion (Icarian)"

Still in circle two, Hozier plays on Dante's own metaphor. In Canto 17, Dante refers to his own dread of descending Inferno to the same dread that the 'ill-fated Icarus' must've felt on his fall from the sky.

Hozier twists this, instead comparing his love to the hope Icarus must've felt as he flew towards the sun. He said, during a live show, this song is based on the idea hat Icarus never realised he fell, and woke up dead, too clouded by joy to realise what had happened.

"If the wind turns, if i hit a squall, allow the ground to find its brutal way to me." Again, we mention the storm of circle two. Lust is also said to have treacherous terrain - sharp rocks and jagged stone - that seems to be hinted at in the second half of this lyric.

"While you're as heavy as the world that you hold your hands beneath." This imagery seems reminiscent of the Greek Titan, Atlas, who holds up the Earth on his back. Dante talks about seeing Titans and Biblical Giants at the transition point of circle eight to circle nine, 'Fraud' to 'Treachery', which makes this lyric a sad hint to where Hozier will end up finding his lover; Taking the place of Lucifer in the deepest part of Inferno.

THIRD (GLUTTONY):

"Eat Your Young"

We enter the third circle of Inferno, 'Gluttony'. There are no specific references to Inferno, but the concept of gluttony is apparent. Hozier does what he frequently does throughout this album; He refuses to see the sin as "right or wrong" as Dante so stubbornly implies.

Hozier often divulges in a grey area, a spectrum or sale of severity, when it comes to the sin. Hozier's perspective seems more nuanced than Dante's, seeing sin as layered rather than objectively bad. In this specific song, he displays the different sources of hunger in humans, and where the line should be drawn.

"I'm starvin', darlin', let me put my lips to something, let me wrap my teeth around the world." We start, and reference back to in verse two, a sexual hunger, a harmless passion between two people. This is an innocent side of the sin, not deserving of the punishment of Lust which is to be ripped apart by Cerberus (the three-headed dog from Greek mythology) for all eternity.

However, Hozier moves onto the hunger of politics.

"Pull up the ladder when the flood comes." The government refusing to help the people when the sea levels rise.

"Throw enough rope until the legs have swung." When you don't have a ladder, you use a rope. This lyric plays on the notion of when governments give the impression they are helping, but are only making things worse - a take on the saying 'Give someone enough rope and they'll hang themselves', since what else are they meant to do with it?

"Skinnin' the children for a war drum, puttin' food on the table selling bombs and guns." The hunger for power manifests in war.

"It's quicker and easier to eat your young." Here, Hozier uses the common saying in a more literal sense, saying that if these politicians are hungry enough to destroy the world, they may as well physically eat their young, since it'll have the same effect.

FOURTH (GREED):

"Damage Gets Done"

This song takes place in circle four, 'Greed'! The title of the song alone is already very meaningful. In circle four, the main punishment is that the inhabitants are split into two groups and are forever forced to charged into each other and fight. Dante describes them are being so injured and damaged that they have become 'unrecognisable'.

The song is about greed within the changing of the world. It's about growing up and losing the naivety and innocence you once had, no longer able to ignore the burden of politics and money. Hozier and Brandi sing about the excitement of being young and in love, but, with the rise of inflation, it's hard to exist like that anymore - You need greed to survive.

"Wish I had known it was just our turn being blamed for a world we had no power in." This seems to be a reference to two things. One, the idea that governments blame the people for their own poverty, and Two, the idea of arriving in circle four by no fault of your own. It's not their fault they wanted more money with the world being how it is, but, nevertheless, they're being punished for it.

"I haven't felt it since then. I don't know when the feeling ended, but I know being reckless and young is not how the damage gets done." They talk about the enjoyment of the love they're singing about fading, and how they miss that, but they know that, again, this is not their fault. They know they didn't change, the world did, and they won't take responsibility for their 'sin' when all they did was adapt.

As aforementioned, the inhabitants of the fourth circle suffer extreme injuries, so Hozier saying "I know being reckless and young is not how the damage gets done" is him saying "I know that we are not at fault for being served the punishment of Greed."

FIFTH (WRATH / ANGER):

"Who We Are"

We enter the fifth circle, 'Wrath', where the inhabitants spend their time fighting to stay at the surface of the river Styx, another one of the five rivers of the underworld.

"Falling from you drop by drop." / "To hold me like water." These lyrics obviously give the idea of water, representing the river Styx.

"Or, Christ, hold me like a knife." This lyric comes in quite loudly, Hozier's voice strengthening with it. The subtle blasphemy of "Christ" and the violent imagery of "knife" comes across as a sort of anger. Being held "like a knife" is representative of how those is Wrath must feel - like they are something particularly dangerous, but still desperate to be held.

"We're born at night, so much of our lives is just carving through the dark to get so far." Again, this theme of darkness that is so frequently displayed in Inferno is mentioned again. After this song comes "Son Of Nyx", which Hozier said was the transition into the darker half of the album, and Nyx is the Goddess of the Night. Being "born at night" would make Hozier the son of the night, the son of Nyx. This gives the impression that, if the album is following on chronologically, this is the point where the relationship portrayed in the album begins to fray as Hozier starts to be consumed by the darkness.

"And the hardest part is who we are." Those in the circle of Wrath possess a 'savage self-frustration' that Hozier seems to represent throughout this whole song - A fierce annoyance with the way he and his lover let things go: "We sacrificed, we gave our time to something undefined", "Chasing someone else's dream", Etc.

SIXTH (HERESY):

"Son Of Nyx"

We have no lyrics for this song (though you can hear him faintly saying some things, one of which is him saying "who we are...") but we know it takes place in circle six, 'Heresy'. Heresy is a belief or opinion that is contradictory to religious doctrine, especially Christianity. As aforementioned, Hozier said this track is a transition song meant to replicate a descent into the darker half of the album.

Nyx is a Greek Goddess and is often known as the personification of night. She had many children all representing different things but the title would essentially mean 'The Son Of Night', and, as dissected in the previous song, we can see that Hozier sees himself as reborn into the darkness.

Once again, darkness is a large theme of Inferno, but Hozier saying in circle six that he is the Son of Night is particularly meaningful due to the association of light with God. He has been reborn as something that could not be further from God, something that opposes the idea of God, something of a Heretic.

Nyx was feared and respected by all, including Zeus, and, though I believe there is no reference to her in Inferno, she was described as residing in the dark recesses of the Underworld, which is heavily incorporated into Inferno.

"All Things End"

This song does not have many overt references to circle six but definitely incorporates the idea of heresy. As mentioned, heresy is an idea that contradicts (especially, but not always) Christianity. In this song, Hozier talks about the ephemeral nature of all things, particularly romance.

"When people say that something is forever, either way it ends." Whether it be death or a break-up, God doesn't plan for you to be able to spend eternity with your lover.

"Movin' on in time and taking more from everything that ends." Hozier, however, argues that things still have meaning beyond their end. That, even after moving on, we will remember and learn from the things we have lost.

"Just knowin' that everything will end should not change our plans." Throws back to the idea of the second verse of "First Time". If you avoided something just because it was going to end eventually, you would never achieve anything. That's like refusing to finish a movie just because you don't want to get to the credits.

When this concept of ignoring the end comes to death, we ultimately cross the concept of God. There are many rules people follow in religion, avoiding certain things because they are against 'God's Will'. Although this practice can be kept in moderation, it can quickly become self-imprisoning.

Not living your present life out of fear for an unproven afterlife can be limiting, especially if you dictate who you love due to what supernatural punishment may or may not follow. Hozier sings that we should not let God's plan interfere with what we need from life, allowing ourselves to indulge in love even if it will end - ultimately, Heresy.

SEVENTH (VIOLENCE):

"To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuaraithe)"

This song places in circle seven, 'Violence'. Violence is split into three subcategories, or 'rings'; Violence against others, violence against self, and violence against God. I believe this song gives an overview of all three.

With this song, we recognise that the title says "To someone..." and Hozier said this song was a gift to someone who was from a geographical warm climate, but there is also a lot of heat in circle seven.

"A joy, hard learned in winter, was the warming of the bed." Throughout this song, Hozier describes himself as cold, and his lover as warm. The idea of warming the bed is a concept Hozier mentioned in his song "Nobody" (From 'Wasteland, Baby!') where he sings that, if he had a choice between the warm bed of his lover or performing on stage, he'd go home to the bed. Since this song comes after "All Things End" (the break-up song), this call back to "Nobody" could be instead referencing a permanent distance, rather than a temporary one (like the temporary distance in "Nobody").

"And, darlin', all my dreaming has only been put to shame." This could have two meanings. One, Hozier waking from a dream about his lover to find them not here. Or, two, Hozier's expectations of his lover falling short as their relationship has finally fallen through. These expectations could be a form of violence against self, the second ring, as he set himself up for heartbreak.

"And I wish that I could say that the river of my arms have found the ocean. I wish I could say the cold lake water of my heart- Christ, it's boilin' over." As mentioned, Hozier is cold, his lover is warm. His wishes he could find something to to fill the loss of his relationship, but he still feels the heat from his lover in every part of him.

"It's boilin' over." References the river of boiling blood in the first ring, violence against others, Hozier could be talking about the way his partner loved him, how that was almost an act of violence with how hard it is to now let go.

"Butchered Tongue"

This song has less references to 'Inferno', and is more of a commentary on the act of violence itself. Hozier sings of places and cultures lost to the violence of man, and he mourns this deeply.

"To say 'Appalacicola' or 'Hushpukena', like 'Gweebara'. A promise softly sung of somewhere else." This grieving for a time when native land wasn't colonised and culture wasn't violently erased is prevalent throughout the song.

In the second verse, he sings very strongly of the brutal acts inflicted upon Irish rebels by the British forces in the Wexford Rebellion of 1789. As we know, Hozier is from Ireland, and he incorporates both the Irish language and history into this album, and recounting such violent acts for this song feeds into the grieving of what has been lost: "Between what is lost forever and what can still be known."

In the context of 'Inferno', it feels as though Hozier is listing the sort of actions that would land someone within the circle of Violence whilst also appreciating the efforts those above ground take to preserve erased culture. Altogether, the song is a very moving commentary on modern violence.

EIGHTH (FRAUD):

"Anything But"

The eighth circle is 'Fraud', split into ten subcategories that are positioned around the circle in trench-like ditches, known as 'Bolgia'.

"I wanna be loud, so loud, I'm talking seismic," follows up with, "I want to be as soft as a single rock in a rain stick." Who he wants to be fluctuates between moderation and severity. He is changing, unreliable, possibly referring to bolgia one, Panders and Seducers. Seducers tend to 'lead astray', as Hozier's unreliable narration does.

The punishment of bolgia one is to be marched backwards and forwards rapidly whilst being whipped, very much evoking the imagery of a stampede: "If I were a stampede, you wouldn't get a kick." This alludes to the fact that if Hozier were sent to hell for the various sins he commits for his lover, he wouldn't resent them for it at all.

"If I was a riptide, I wouldn't take you out." The second bolgia of Fraud is for Flatterers, 'the act of giving excessive compliments, sometimes for romantic courtship'. Obviously, the song is filled with these compliments.

"I hear He touches your hand and then you fly away together. If I had his job, you'd live forever." The imagery of "fly away" gives the idea of ascending, perhaps to Heaven, as hinted at again by the idea of the longevity of living. Bolgia three is for Simoniacs, those who would sell church roles, offices, or sacred things. This seems to fit with Hozier saying that if he had a divine role, he wouldn't follow protocol, he would allow his lover immortality.

Simoniacs were sinners because they were disobeying God's trust, because the selling of divine roles would lead to corruption in the Church. Hozier is using this hyperbolically, saying that if someone were to sell him the role of God, he would most definitely be a corrupt power.

"I'd lower the world in a flood, or better yet I'd cause a drought." In bolgia four we have Sorcerers. Although Dante used this term in a more logical sense for fraudulent sorcerers - false prophets, fortune tellers, those who lied about the plans of God - Hozier uses the term in a supernatural sense. Sorcerers were punished for trying to interrupt God's prerogative, whereas Hozier is blatantly saying he would summon another flood, usurping God's plan overtly.

"I'm talking seismic." The bridge that leads to bolgia seven was collapsed by the great earthquake and, as we know, seismic activity leads to earthquakes.

"Worry the cliff side top as a wave crashing over." There happens to be a cliff near the entrance of circle eight that a large waterfall plunges over.

"Abstract (Psychopomp)"

This song appears to be the crossover point from circle eight to circle nine that I mentioned when discussing "I, Carrion (Icarian)". Before we get to that, the title itself is significant.

A psychopomp is a chaperon of death; Someone like the Grim Reaper, or Charon from "First Time", or Dante's guide through Inferno, Virgil. Here, Hozier is describing the act of hitting an animal with your car as taking on the role of a psychopomp, whilst also relating this idea to the act of letting a relationship die, leading it from life to death.

In the crossover point from eight to nine, Dante and Virgil stand and look at the large well that leads down to circle nine, 'Treachery'. The Titians and Giants burst out of the well, to big to fit, but their feet stand stubbornly in Treachery. I believe that, at this point in the album, Hozier stands here, too. He's visited all eight circles, and has one last place to go before he leaves Inferno, and ultimately his lover, behind. This song is him realising he has to let his relationship end, he has to act as a psychopomp for his love.

"Sometimes it returns like rain that you've slept through." Circle nine, 'Treachery', is a frozen over lake, aka a memory of water, similar to the residue of rain. With viewing this song as the predecessor to "Unknown / Nth", we can take this as a hint of what's to come.

"The Earth from a distance." Since Inferno is arranged in rings (like a circular staircase), Dante could feasibly look up and still see where he started his journey. The same way Hozier could look up and see where his relationship began, "De Selby (Part 1)", The Gates.

"Streetlights in the dark blue." We have the mix of light and dark again, as mentioned in the opening track, referencing back to Hozier and his partner falling in love.

"Darling, there's a part of me I'm afraid will always be trapped within an abstract of my life." Of course, Hozier is talking about the memory of the animal hit with the car here, but the way this relates to circle nine is beautiful. As we'll properly dissect with "Unknown / Nth", sat within the most central point of circle nine, the deepest part of Inferno, is Lucifer, the fallen angel. Lucifer was thrown down to Hell from Heaven, and found himself trapped in Treachery, his body too big to escape. Dante says that the more he struggles, the more stuck he becomes.

That moment he was struck down to hell is a moment he finds himself forever stuck in, just as Hozier is saying here. In the next song, Hozier relates his lover to Lucifer, but these lyrics are a gorgeous mirroring of Lucifer's experience, and another hint at the final circle we will now head to.

NINTH (TREACHERY):

"Unknown / Nth"

Okay, buckle in.

The ninth circle, 'Treachery', is also one split into subcategories, yet Hozier appears to be singing about the centre. The frozen over lake of Treachery gets more frozen the closer you get to the centre. The inhabitants start half-submerged in ice to fully plastered in it. Throughout Inferno, and the deeper we descend, a soft breeze becomes a strong wind, that, as we reach the centre, we find is caused by the violent flapping of Lucifer's wings. Here he sits, stuck and chewing on Judas, another one of God's biggest betrayers.

After "Abstract (Psychopomp)" Hozier is now exploring the final stage of his relationship. The circles of Hell had mirrored the love he once had, and Treachery is where it shall be buried. He also represents his lover as Lucifer, though not maliciously. In interviews, Hozier spoke about the song being about a heavy betrayal he suffered from someone he truly loved, and likening this to God and Lucifer is just heartbreaking.

"You know the distance never made a difference to me." The song is about knowing someone in their entirety, discovering their best and worst parts. Hozier uses Inferno to talk about the tiresome journey of finally knowing someone. He says he would've made the trip all the same, that he would've walked this far for his lover no matter what.

"I swam a lake of fire, I'd have walked across the floor of any sea." This mirrors the previous lyric, but also references specific parts of Inferno. The are many fires in Inferno, particularly in circle seven, 'Violence'. The sea floor lyric reminds me of the lake of Treachery. Though a surface, not a floor, the lake would still be below any seabed, since Inferno is geographically below the Earth.

"Funny how true colours shine in darkness and in secrecy." You guys are probably sick of hearing me say it but... Darkness is a big theme in Dante's Inferno. It is meant to represent the deceiving nature of humans when light is not being shone. Secrecy is a running thread through 'Inferno', too, as Dante finds many people he thought had done no wrong residing there. Hozier is simply saying how (sarcastically) funny it is that he only truly knows his lover in the remains of their relationship; How he only knows them after seeing them in their cruellest form.

"Where you were held frozen like an angel to me." There are many angel lyrics, but this one specifically references the ice of Treachery. The fallen angel is indicative of Hozier's experience: Seeing someone he regarded highly, even heavenly, falling from that pedestal and turning into something that couldn't be further from God's work.

"You called me angel for the first time, my heart leapt from me. You smile, now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth, and, what's left of it, I listen to it tick. Every tedious beat going unknown as any angel to me." Hozier references his ex-lover chewing on his heart the way Lucifer chews on Judas. He listens to it somehow still ticking, however slowly, and at the end of the song we hear something akin to a heartbeat. The beats are "going unknown as any angel to me" since he can no longer recognise his own heartbeat after it has been mangled by another, and, since he mistook someone alike Lucifer to an angel, the idea of angels must be "unknown" to him.

"Do you know I could break beneath the weight of the goodness, love, I still carry for you? That I'd walk so far just to take the injury of finally knowing you?" We again have this imagery of walking far, referencing the journey of Inferno, and, even though he's aching with the realisation of who his lover truly is, he can't help but be grateful that he does now know them, no matter how painful that may be. That he would do this all again if it meant he at least got to the answer of who they are.

His weak heartbeat follows him through to final track as we begin the Ascent.

ASCENT:

"First Light"

The title is very meaningful for the Ascent. The song references both Dante and Virgil's ascent and the creation of light by God himself. Dante and Virgil leave Inferno through a tunnel that Lucifer left in the Earth as he was thrown down to Hell, and they emerge on the other side of the hemisphere. This song signifies Hozier stepping away from the relationship as he also makes that journey out.

"One bright morning changes all things." Dante is disorientated when he exits Inferno. He'd become so accustomed to the darkness that he asks Virgil, 'How is it that the sun progressed so rapidly from evening to day?' Hozier seems to recognise here that his relationship is no longer fit for him, that the darkness has become too encompassing, just as Dante realises on his ascent.

"The sky set to burst, the gold and the rust, the colour erupts...the sun coming up." Not only does this give the imagery of the birth of light, but it also represents Dante's view on his exit: 'Until...I saw the lovely things the sky above us bears. Now we came out, and once more saw the stars.'

"Like I lived my whole life before the first light." Hozier says that the darkness from his lover was so overbearing that it was hard to believe he'd ever felt light before - that light could not have exists with a darkness this heavy alongside it. It is a call back to "De Selby (Part 1)" - "A darkness so deep that God at the start couldn't bear."

"One bright morning comes. Darkness always finds you either way, it creeps into the corners as the moment fades." He speaks of bringing light to a moment between them, but has it quickly smothered by the darkness inherent in his partner. Another call back, this time to "De Selby (Part 2)" - "And your heart, love, has such darkness, I feel it in the corners of the room."

"After this I'm never going to be the same, and I am never going back again." This lyric is heart-breaking. Hozier states that Inferno has changed him, but he has no wishes to re-enter it. At the beginning of this album, he was begging for the likes of Inferno - "De Selby (Part 2)": "Let all time slow, let all light go." - and now he is desperate to get away from it. In "Francesca", he said, "At the end, I'd tell them, 'Put me back in it.'", yet, now, he's at the end, he's ascended, and he has no desire to go back at all.

He is letting go of his lover because he recognises that this pain was not worth it, that this love was not worth the punishment he received, so he leaves.

---

That was Hozier's Inferno !! I hope this was helpful to some people since it was very fun to make (I'm exhausted) and it's very enlightening to see how these lyrics relate to Inferno (I'm heart-broken) !! Okay, wooooo !! Enjoy !!!

[k-tarotz]

Would You Survive A Horror Movie? | PAC

𐙚 1 𐙚 2 𐙚 3

𐙚 4 𐙚 5 𐙚 6

written by Candy

Since Halloween is here, I thought I would do a more dark pick a card! I wish I could have posted more for spooktober, but unfortunately I couldn’t. Regardless, I came up with this because I genuinely think it’s a fun concept and we have all been curious about something like this at least once in our lives. If you dressed up as anything for halloween or will please do let me know! I love hearing what people dressed up as! 🫶🏻

Pile One

🃏: the moon, the star, ten of coins, eight of wands side ways

Hii my beautiful pile one! You would definitely survive a horror movie, but not alone. I do think that you would do better in a group because you are someone that thrives better in them, even if you are usually quiet or more on the shy side. This is honestly due to you being able to rely on someone, you need a sense of stability to not completely lose yourself to fear.

Honestly, being in a group could also remind you of reasons why you would keep alive, it could be quite a big motivator factor for you to be honest. Especially since I do think that most people choosing this pile thought of a very specific scenario, trope, AU or media that they would like to partake in! [for some of you this is a zombie apocalypse scenario/AU.]

At first you might be a bit lonely, but you have the kind of spirit that doesn’t give up. You aren’t easy to bring down. So you could for sure survive on your own, and you would, but it isn’t necessarily something that you would enjoy. It might even make you think that you won’t be able to survive, because perhaps you don’t trust in your own abilities that much, even tho you are awesome trust. Regardless, because of this you will keep seeking out a group to be a part of and will offer your help and rely on other people when needed. I do think that you are also very great at listening to other people, so that’s nice in this scenario! It would help in high tension situations, bc you would always be able to tell what’s right to do at the given moment. Although, I do think that you would be mentally scarred from the experience, you tend to be more sensitive to heavy stuff than the average person. (Which isn’t a bad trait at all, so no worries about that.)

Regardless, your energy seems like one of someone incredibly sweet yet still badass.

Thank you for reading! Please don’t forget to look at our paid readings if you enjoyed this! 🤍

Pile Two

🃏: the devil, the lovers, three of swords, eight of swords reversed, the world

Hello my dark romance enjoyer pile.~ If that doesn’t apply to you, this is probably not your reading. Either way, when it comes to you, it really depends on several factors. Do you know the killer? Are they attractive? Do you hate their personality or not? How are you feeling on that specific day? So many things to answer, so many things to say. Regardless, I do think that for the most part you would survive, unless you are like super depressed that day and genuinely have no will to keep on fighting.. or if the person physically overpowers you simply due to them having way more strength than you do.

Otherwise you would survive tho.

Matter of fact if the person that would try and kill you is a person that you hate you would just kill them yourself. You as a victim just sounds wrong, you know how to fight for yourself if you need to. The energy is sort of like ‘no human can bring me down unless I allow them to.’ (or creature if you are thinking of something along the lines of an alien or monster.)

Now, regardless of all of that.. as I already mentioned, some of you are into dark romance. This could be due to the media you consume, but I genuinely don’t think it’s a bad thing bc this pile seems very intelligent and also daydreamy!

Regardless, if you will like the person you will for sureee try to seduce them. Yes, the killer. I don’t mean this in a sexual or really sensually charged way, but like by treating them nice and being yourself, not being overly scared and reactive. (Someone in this pile likes venom a lot.. yes it applies to you too.) It would work though. You would gain yourself a pretty partner just by being yourself and I honestly think that’s adorable!

Though people might think you are a victim but you would be happy, just chilling. It reminds me of Gomez and Morticia Addams.. Morbid but full of genuine love without any sort of doubt between them. It’s very cute!

Thank you for reading! Please don’t forget to look at our paid readings if you enjoyed this! 🤍

Pile Three

🃏: the fool, five of coins reversed, the tower, wheel of fortune

Well in real life? No, you would absolutely die first, you would keep making the wrong choices over and over, because you would simply not be able to think straight because of fear, at all.

In a movie? you would survive for sure, simply due to pure luck. And plot armour, you would be the main character for sure. I think, if you would be in a horror movie people would watch it due to it being entertaining, not because it’s scary at all.

I do not mean this in a bad way at all though, of course, I don’t look at this as a bad thing. Your energy is more like the scary movies with ghost face rather than a story right out of the conjuring. So people would love the movie because you are fun, easy to relate to and very entertaining!

If you would be in a horror movie it would very specifically be one with a serial killer, or at least a real human in it, because I don’t think you would actually be scared of anything paranormal but that you would rather brush it off.

Though, in real life your story would unfortunately be tragic, but one that would get a lot of media exposure and bring awareness to people! Of course you are safe though, don’t worry about things that haven’t happened 🫶🏻

Thank you for reading! Please don’t forget to look at our paid readings if you enjoyed this! 🤍

Pile Four

🃏: the high priestess reversed, six of cups reversed, three of cups reversed, king of swords, page of cups

No, because you are simply too self sacrificing. I don’t think there is much to say about your pile aside from how loving and good hearted you are. I do think that most of you would self sacrifice yourself for your friends or family, but many of you would sacrifice yourselves for pets or helpless animals in general. You would rather sacrifice yourself than allow them to suffer, even if there is a slight chance of them surviving due to your sacrifice you will take it.

However, I do think that many of you would not even bother to try and save yourselves. For some of you the people and pets that you love are your everything, your motivation to keep on going and live your life everyday. So if they go you won’t try to keep on living. For this group, I do not think that there is an exception due to how big your heart is, due to how loving you are. You guys are very empathetic people, you might give more than you receive in life and that especially emotionally. Unfortunately, that would be your weakness in this. Maybe even now you put others before your own self.

Though, I do think yours would be a natural disaster horror movie (for example ‘under paris’, or a tsunami or something. definitely something that includes water though.) so not the cliche killers or paranormal experience.

Maybe, for only a few of you, there is someone that you love so much that if they tried to kill you (drown you), you wouldn’t mind at all. Just let them. You could have realised this while watching some media? Either way, yours would be a story of tragedy. (Please do not let anybody hurt you though.)

Thank you for reading! Please don’t forget to look at our paid readings if you enjoyed this! 🤍

Pile Five

🃏: the magician, four of cups reversed, the wheel of fortune, justice, ace of cups

You would survive because you are very smart! Yours would be more of a survival story, becoming a horror due to the cruel realistic things portrayed in it. With stomach turning scenes that absolutely do happen in the real world, in the shadows, in secret, which would he the horrifying part about it! Hard to wrap your head around, but still plausible if you give it a thought for a little while.

Regardless I do think that you would get along well with the killer, but not due to genuine interest at all, rather because you would want them to believe that they can trust you, that they can confide in you and that you listen well to them. Which you would, you would earn their trust in you and when they least expect it escape. (Bc I honestly think you are the sort of person that would get kidnapped and held captive, based on the energy in this pile.) So to put it simply; you would intentionally manipulate them so they won’t kill you right off the bat or hurt you as severely as they intended to do so. Though I don’t think you would be without any traumas, you would be much more lucky than victims that have came before you because you would know how to achieve your goals. How to pull the strings without being suspicious or causing chaos.

You would have a silent confidence in yourself despite being scared; because you are someone that’s very mentally strong.

You would survive due to pure tactics and because you would never get too comfortable or lost in your thoughts, lost in your feelings and emotions. There would definitely be a tunnel vision of what your goal is which would save your life!

Thank you for reading! Please don’t forget to look at our paid readings if you enjoyed this! 🤍

Pile Six

🃏: judgement, ten of cups, king of coins, death, six of swords

Yes, but there is nothing really celebratory about at all. At least you wouldn’t find anything joyous about it. Rather, there is a bittersweet feeling of guilt. Sure, you would be happy that you survived but you would feel like you shouldn’t have at all. That someone else more deserving of it should have, that they should have lived instead. It’s like you would try to convince yourself that you don’t deserve to be alive, which is not true, but you wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. Everyday you would be reminded of it, even in the ordinary and simple things.

I do also feel like this is in regards a very specific person that is close to your heart! They wouldn’t survive, but you would and I don’t think you would be able to live your life in a healthy way without them. You would think about them a lot, everyday.

It reminds me of the end of “Train To Busan” where the pregnant lady and the little girl survived, they lived but ultimately you could see the devastation on their face. They weren’t happy at all, just exhausted. One lost a husband, and one lost her father.

You would be like that, a ghost of who you used to be to the point of no return. I do think you would live on though, for them. To honour them, to not disrespect them.

Thank you for reading! Please don’t forget to look at our paid readings if you enjoyed this! 🤍

[4only1]

Could you please write Gitae obsessing over Jake's gf? Him getting jealous when he got to know that reader was dating Jake and when he tried to pursue her she had no intention of betraying Jake. This made him more determined to make her his and Jake hating his brother more. Thanks!!!

Trouble

Gitae Kim x Reader (Also technically x Jake Kim but barely) Word Count: 943 Masterlist -----------------------

Peace had finally returned to Big Deal. After the recent events, Big Deal was finally proven innocent, allowing the gang to return to the street. It made you happy that now you technically, weren’t dating a wanted man anymore.

You had been sweeping, when a large shadow had overcast you. Looking up, you are greeted with the sight of a very tall man. You couldn't recognize him, so he clearly wasn’t part of Big Deal. His words only confirmed your suspicions. 

“Hello, I’m looking for someone, can you help me? Where is Big Deal’s Number 1, Jake Kim?”

His voice was smooth, but still kept you on edge. You didn’t want to tell the man where Jake was, he sounded like bad news. Swallowing your nerves, you spoke.

“Oh Jake, I’m not quite sure, but he isn’t here at the moment.” 

It took a lot of energy to keep your voice steady, but it still wavered a bit. The man in front of you leaned closer, causing you to take a step back, clinging onto your broom tighter. He examined you, closely, seeming to like what he was seeing. 

He moved closer, again, causing you to take a step back. This pattern continued until your back met a wall. The man reached an arm above your head, effectively caging you in.

“Now I came here to see my brother, but I found something much tastier. What’s your name?” 

Brother? The gears in your head worked quickly to deduce that this man was in fact, Jake’s older half brother, Gitae Kim. What did he want with Jake, and why did he have to come after everything had just settled down.

“I’m not a fan of repeating myself, so I'll ask once more. What is your name?” He leaned in closer, his face right in front of yours. You didn’t really have a choice, knowing it would get ugly if you continued to refuse.

“(Y/n) (L/n). Why are you here?”

Since you told him your name, you felt you had the right to ask him a question. Maybe he was feeling friendlier than he looked and would answer. And he did, although whether it was due to him feeling kind or taking a liking to you was up to debate.

“I told you, I’m looking for Jake Kim. You said he isn’t here, so why don’t you keep me company until he is.”

Worry began filling you. You didn’t particularly trust this man. At all! His intentions with Jake were obviously bad and he clearly was playing with you right now. You needed to stay strong, and hopefully, get Gitae to leave.

"Jake won't be back for a while, so don't waste your time here."

"Now, now, no need to get upset with me. I was just asking a question. I can't help but wanna hang around a girl as pretty as you. I approched you for a reason."

He spoke with not a care in the world. It was as if he knew that whatever he wanted to happen, would happen. You tensed as he moved, his hand coming up from his side towards you cheek.

Thankfully, the tension was interrupted when someone grabbed Gitae’s wrist, pulling it away from you.

“Now, now, harassing girl’s is no way to get a date. I can give you some pointers if you want some romantic advice.” Sinu had appeared.

You breathed a sigh of relief, as Sinu’s appearance allows you to slip away from Gitae. You moved yourself to hide a few steps behind Sinu, out of harm’s way, but in reach if needed.

The conversation between the two men was a blur to you. All you could think about was what this man wanted to do to Jake. As the two men clashed, you took a few more steps back, until a kick to Gitae’s face caused him to look at you. No, he actually looked past you.

Following the gaze, you let out a sigh of relief as Jake’s figure appeared. You moved quickly, hugging yourself around Jake’s arm, who reacted in confusion.

“(Y/n), what are you doing? Not that I don’t mind, but can someone tell me what is going on here.” 

Just as Jake spoke, his brother’s arms wrapped around both of you, hugging you tightly. Gitae’s arm squished you between him and Jake, making it a bit hard to breath. He spoke, but you zoned out, too focused on the feeling of his muscular arm squeezing you.

Gitae removed his arm from Jake’s shoulders but kept it over yours. He took a step back, dragging you with him, being quite happy that you weren’t putting up much of a fight. He couldn’t help but admire you, despite not fighting back against him, you didn’t let yourself look weak.

Jake, getting angry at Gitae’s hold, moved, pushing his brother’s arm off, and pulling you behind him. You peaked out, finally paying attention to the conversation.

“I don’t care that you're my brother. You come here, asking about Gapryong Kim and now harassing my girlfriend! What is your problem?” Jake yelled, arm out, guarding you.

Gitae’s expression darkened. Girlfriend? Now that isn’t right. He had taken a liking to you, wanting to get a better taste, only for you to be taken by his brother. Despite this new information, that didn’t take away from your appeal. In fact, it made you even more delicious. 

He now had a second objective, making this girl his, no matter how much of a fight she put up. She seemed loyal to Jake, but that didn’t matter, a chase made things more fun anyways.

-----------------------

Please excuse any grammer and spelling mistakes.

That first picture is just 😘chef's kiss. But who TF is this man below?

😞 I still love him but why does he look like he hasn't eaten in days. He's losing muscle by the chapter. His downfall was when the art style changed and they unslutted him (buttoned his shirt up. Speaking of which, did this man only bring one set of clothes?)

Sorry for the rant, I didn't wanna make another post.

[noemilivv]

I need drama. what if their s/o is an angel who is in hell "illegally". they decided to help Charlie after her visiting Heavens. they have wings and a halo, and can easily move between heaven and hell. One evening they hurriedly leave the hotel, saying that it was "a very important meeting up there. I need to come so they don't suspect anything" and that they would be back in a couple of hours. and fled away. they have been gone for few days. Arriving at the hotel at night, they accidentally run into a character, and let's just say, their s/o is not in the best condition. Everything is beaten and covered in blood, but the worst thing is that golden blood is flowing from their backs and their wings are missing. holding the injuries, where the blood comes from, barely standing on feet, they whisper with a smile "They found out everything. Very soon they will start an attack. I'm so sorry."

For Alastor, Husk and platonic!Charlie

WTFF THAT IS ACTUALLY SO COOL !!

but yes, I will write that for you, rn ;)

Although, due to the fact that this is a bit lengthy, I’m only gonna do Husk and platonic!Charlie (assuming you want them separate) So I hope that’s okay!! But I could always do an Alastor version in the future :)

(pssst… there will be a part 2… you didn’t hear it from me…)

“Bad Little Angel” Pt. 1

Husk x Seraphim!Angel!Reader

Warnings: Swear words, S1E6 spoilers, alcohol mentions, use of (Y/N)

“I can’t believe Lucifer’s little cunt thinks, not only, that she can bring sinners up here, but also bitch to my manager? Like just say you’re a slutty, lesbian Karen and move the fuck on.” Adam whined as he walked with Lute out of the courtroom, “I couldn’t agree more, sir.” Lute said with a nod, taking off her mask and shaking her hair slightly.

This wasn’t right, and you knew that. None of it. But you knew, you had to do something.

A true Angel wouldn’t continue to let human souls die off, whether they be Hellbound or not.

“Sooo, how’d it go?” Lucifer asked enthusiastically as Charlie walked through the door, only for her to walk right past him, his face slightly falling as she did so, she fell face forward into one of the couches before mumbling some incoherent words into the pillow.

“Eh, wha?” Angel asked, as he turned to look at her from the bar, “Fine.” she mumbled, lifting her head up, simply to be audible, before slamming it back into the pillow. “Wow.” Angel remarked, before shutting up after Vaggie gave him the eyes.

Before more words could be exchanged there was a knock at the door, Charlie sluggishly walked to swing it open, and there you stood, one of the three Seraphim’s that were at the meeting, although it was hard to notice due to the white cloak that hung over your body and face.

“— Can I come in before we begin this? I just don’t want anyone to see me.” You said sheepishly, as Charlie stepped aside to let you in without uttering a word, slightly stunned by your presence.

You walked in, and neatly put your cloak on a nearby coatrack, your wings and hall now on display, and now it felt like everyone in the hotel had eyes on you…

Most of which you had either remembered from the meeting or the live video of ‘The Porn Demon’ — or as Lute said ‘Some crackwhore’

“Hello!” You said with a bashful wave. “I’m-”

“Smiles? What are you doing here?”

Smiles? Only people in Heaven called you that. You turn to see Vagi looking, almost confusion? Shock? Perhaps undecided for now.

“Ah yes, hi, Vagi-”

“It’s pronounced ‘Vaggie’”

“Oh. My apologies!”

Vaggie. Noted.

“As I was saying, I’m one of the Seraphims, Ms. Morningstar was in Heaven earlier this afternoon, and I must say, I’m invested in this hotel of yours.”

Charlie’s face lit up instantly, but you could feel the Porn Demon (for a lack of his name) and Vaggie eyeing you suspiciously.

“I… I know we’re different, but I really want to help, this whole hotel is about putting others together despite their differences, so, y’know.. well, I didn’t really think through what I was going to say before I came here.” You said, chuckling under your breath as you looked down bashfully and played with the tip of your shoe.

“Fine.” Vaggie said, before coming up to you, “But know everything is confidential, you don’t get to spill all our shit because you feel like it, I don’t care who’s in charge who’s telling you to do this, if you don’t follow our rules, you don’t get to be here.” Vaggie finished, looking to a deer-like demon, who has a big grin on his face as he comes up to you, and offers to shake his hand.

You hesitate, but shake it, a green light swirls around the room and flickers away the moment your and the deer’s hands lose contact.

You turn to Vaggie, your face serious about the promise just made, “You have yourself a deal.”

“So this is Angel! You saw him from the video! That is Alastor, he’s the one you made the deal with! Ooh oh! And that’s Pentious and Niffty — Niffty’s the one cleaning, by the way!” Charlie said pointing to a small cyclops girl sweeping and a snake man who followed behind her — he seemed to be a.. you couldn’t exactly put your finger on it, but you settled with magician.

“That’s Husk, the bartender!” Charlie said with a point, and the cat man gave a small nod — now that was a magician, but if he was a magician, what the hell was the snake supposed to be? Eh, it doesn’t matter.

“And this is… Oh, well you already know Vaggie! From.. er…” Charlie trailed off, it was obvious she was referring to what Adam had announced in the courtroom.

“So is, ‘Smiles’ like your real name? ‘Cus I’ve never met a damn person in my whole afterlife who’d wanna be named that…well, maybe except for him.” Angel asked from the bar, gesturing to Alastor for his last reference.

“No no.” You said with a chuckle, approaching Angel slightly to talk to him more efficiently. “Smiles is a nickname that Vaggie knows me as from… past social circles..” You explained, trailing off, “But anywho, you can call me smiles, or (Y/N), whatever you want!”

“You want a drink?” Husk asked, as he finished up cleaning Angel’s cup, as he just went to bed for the night, “No, I don’t drink.” you explained as Husker chuckled. “I just… never really got to know you.” You added.

“There’s only so much to know.” He said, “And didn’t Charlie say something about a ‘live video’ from that meeting? See, you know enough about me, new kid.”

It had been about a week since you made it to the hotel, you had been in Heaven for about half of that time though, but everyone was nice so far!

Charlie was amazingly kind and understanding during shared planning periods, you were starting to build a friendship with Vaggie again, Angel was turning into your bestfriend, you loved the chaotic energy with Pentious and Niffty, Alastor was creepy…but he was okay, and Husk was so soothing and understanding — you have to admit, that maybe something a little special was going on.

It was late, you had just been out on a walk around the block with Husk and Angel, and you were in your peejays, ready to clock out, simply scrolling on your phone, you see a text pop up, and you click to view it.

Lute : There’s a meeting on Sunday. Don’t miss it.

A meeting? For what? We just had a meeting..

“Is everything okay?” Charlie asked as you rushed to get your cloak and clip it below your chin. Angel, Vaggie, and Alastor also watched you scramble around the lobby of the hotel.

“Look, Heaven really needs me, and I need to leave now if I wanna make it there when I need to, I’ll be back, I promise.” You explained quickly and sternly, Charlie and Angel exchanged concerned looks, Vaggie looked a bit suspicious and you couldn’t help but feel awful, and Alastor had his signature grin.

“You’ll be back, right?” Charlie asks with a hopeful smile.

You hesitate to answer, but give a smile back to her that has the same hope within your eyes, “Of course.”

And then, you flew off.

[grimm909]

Red Phone - Part 1

Hello everybody! I'm back and for good! Thank you all so much for your support and comments.

This is a work done especially in celebration of Halloween. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be something small, but again I ended up getting carried away and had to separate it into two parts (maybe three, since the story is still developing). The story will also be posted on a03

Happy reading!

WARNINGS: age difference, non-con, kidnapping, horror, mental breakdown, murder, forced pregnancy

It had been a week since you and your family had moved into a new house. It was large, but had a somewhat morbid appearance, probably due to the time it had been abandoned. Although her parents had renovated it to make the house more presentable, it wasn't exactly an inviting place from the outside. Well, just on the outside, since you really had to give credit for how fascinating she was on the inside.

For example, the attic was an interesting location when you first saw it; full of old and dusty boxes, representing that the previous owner of that place had simply abandoned it there without bothering to come back one day to pick it up. When you went to open the boxes together with your parents to organize that place, there were some interesting things inside like comic books, board games, old clothes and even some somewhat useless objects. Much of it would simply be donated, since you didn't have much interest in most of those things, apart from comics and books.

However, something tucked into the bottom of one of the boxes and carefully wrapped in a piece of black fabric aroused his curiosity. A red phone cordless. Just an old-fashioned device, which was only used for calls and which would probably never pique anyone's interest due to how useless it was compared to a digital cell phone. However, it was curious to see that even though it had been abandoned for years, the device has a appearance new, the blood red color of the device still being quite shiny. It was quite pretty, you had to admit.

When you showed the device to your parents, they both didn't show much interest, although they were surprised to see that it still worked, even after years and years of abandoned it inside. They said you could stay if you wanted, even though it wasn't really useful to you due to the fact that already had a cell phone. You analyzed the device and said that it could be useful if at some point your cell phone stopped working and there was some precision. This would probably never actually happen.

What harm would it do to have it, right?

[…]

You wake up at midnight with your red phone ringing. It was the first time it had rung since you obted gotten it three days ago, since you were the one who normally made the calls.

Trying as hard as possible to get out of bed, you walk over to the phone that was on your desk and answer it.

"Hello?" You ask hoarsely.

“Koebi-chan, I'm so close to you.” A male voice whispers on the other end of the line. It doesn't sound like the voice of anyone you know. “I’m finally going to see what you look like.”

You remain silent for a while, absorbing what that must mean, but quickly concluding that it must just be a wrong call.

“Sorry sir, I think you called…” You didn’t finish your sentence when the call simply fell

Raising an eyebrow in disbelief, you don't care enough about the mystery man, placing your phone back in its place and returning to bed.

[…]

Two months have passed since you and your parents moved into the new house, so you already know a little about your neighbor across the street.

Ace was his name.

He was the only person closest to his house, with no one else around. A handsome man who appeared to be around thirty years old, married to a woman whose name was Elisa and having a ten year old daughter named Alice.

The two of you got along relatively well due to the older's playful personality, which reminded you more of a teenager than an adult.

You always greeted him every time you saw him across the street, also smiling and waving at him whenever you saw him through your bedroom window, since through it you had a complete view of Ace's house.

His wife and daughter were also sociable people and you wich especially became attached to the child, loving to take care of her when Ace and his wife left the house to have some alone time as a couple.

Alice also seemed to like you a lot, almost always knocking on your door so you could play together. Sometimes you accepted and other times you refused because you needed to study for college, in the latter case always earning a sad pout from the little girl.

The red phone rings at eight o'clock at night. The only difference from the first time is that you are not sleeping, but taking notes sitting at your desk.

"Hello?" You answer without blinking and lift the phone to your ear.

“Crab?” The male voice on the other line asks.

"Who?" You respond, confusion written all over your face.

“Isn’t that Ace Trappola’s number?”

"No. You called his neighbor.”

The voice is silent for a moment.

“There are no other neighbors besides Crab.”

“By Crab, you mean Ace?” Even though you think that's exactly what it is, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

”The same person~” He drawls.

“I've been Ace's neighbor for about three months. I moved recently.” You calmly explained, tapping your pen on your notebook. You were new to the neighborhood, so this stranger must have bee confused.

“There’s no one else but my family and Crab’s family here.” The voice says in a frustrated or perhaps nervous tone, you can't quite place it.

“I think there was some mistake. What’s your address?” You ask confused, starting to consider it was a prank.

The male voice gives you the location and you let out a tired sigh, realizing that it really was a stupid joke.

“You just described my address.”

The voice on the other end of the line becomes silent once again, until it breaks into laughter.

“Hehehehe, good Grab. I don’t know what you used to change your voice, but it almost got me.”

He says one last time, before hanging up on your face.

[…]

The stranger's call had piqued his curiosity. Were there really no neighbors around? The next day you explained the situation to your mother, who agreed that it could be a prank, since no one really lived close to there anymore. It was a considerably isolated place and far from everything.

“What about the previous owner of the house?” You asked the older woman who had her back turned, washing the lunch dishes.

“The previous owners sold it to a real estate agent.” His mother stated. “The agent who sold me the house just said that after that some other people came to live here, but that after a few years they usually sold it.”

"Just that?" You were displeased, expecting something more impactful.

“I was more interested in how many rooms the house had than who had lived here before.” She laughed nasally.

You would gain no more useful information from your mother and decided that the next place you would explore would be the attic, where there were five more boxes left that had not been opened.

Maybe it was a fruitless search, maybe you were just wasting time, but the man you had talked to didn't seem like a total liar, like he really had conviction in what he was saying. He even knew Ace's first and last name and you doubted your neighbor was playing a prank with you — it would be quite old-fashioned for a man of that age.

You turn on the attic light and open the first box, spilling all the things inside on the dusty floor, finding nothing that would help you learn more about the house. The second box was simply full of old clothes that were too big for you. The third is where you find a kind of notebook, but when reading its contents you don't find anything truly interesting or that indicates the owner of it.

Clank

Turning another page, a piece of paper falls out and you pick it up from the floor, realizing it is an old photograph faded at the edges. Analyzing the image, it seemed to be a family, consisting of the mother, the father and two completely identical children. On the back of the photo was the date it was taken, along with a small statement that probably referenced the two boys in that photo.

Clank

02/22/2009

My beautiful treasures, ♡Floyd♡ and ♡Jade♡

Even with the information obtained, that didn't seem like enough, especially when you didn't even have their last name. You decide to continue exploring the rest of the boxes, but you don't have the same success as before.

Clank

Putting everything back in its place, you decide to keep the photo for research purposes, keeping it in your pants pocket. Darkness encompasses the room when you turn off the light.

Clank

Going down the attic stairs, that's when you notice a strange sound coming from it, resembling two objects hitting each other. You decide to go back to check what it could be, turning on the light again and finding nothing that could hint at the reason for the noise.

Clank

You feel something fall on your head and run your hand over it to remove any insects that may have gotten into your hair. However, it is not exactly “something” that falls, but rather crumbs that appeared to be wood. Crumbs that continued to fall on the ground around him and on his head.

Clank

You go to the other side of the attic that was free of that dust and look up, expecting to find some termites eating away at the ceiling. However, it was something much worse than mere termites.

Something that could not be seen or touched.

Invisible hands carve the ceiling letter by letter, slowly forming an entire sentence.

JADE IS AN IDIOT BITCH

[…]

That number does not exist.

That's what appeared on the red phone screen when you tried to call the same number that called you last night. Even though he had the number saved on his phone, every time he pressed the button to call back, it was always the same message.

Honestly, at this point in the tournament, you didn't doubt that the house or the phone were haunted, not after what you had seen in the attic. Of course, upon witnessing such a scene, you just hurriedly fled, locking yourself in your room and determined to never set foot up there again.

You were scared of what this could be. However, his curiosity still continued to speak louder than any other feeling. Furthermore, you couldn't even run away from that house, since there was nowhere else to go and your parents would never believe that story about a strange message having suddenly appeared in the attic. His only option at the moment was to stay and find out what the hell was going on.

Therefore, all you could do was wait until the mysterious boy called again.

[…]

The red phone rings at midnight and you hurriedly put down your notebook and pen to put your hands on it, answering it without thinking twice.

"Hello!?" You say in a mix of fear and euphoria.

“So close…” The voice on the other end sounded breathless, almost as euphoric as you were.

“Close to what?” You ask, still unable to recognize who the man on the other end of the line was, even though you knew it was the same voice who had called you the first time.

“Close… pouʇ… of …ʇɹnsʇ… Let’s go …ɥᴉɯ… Together” You can’t hear it properly, the horrible sound of static playing in the background. “You just… ɯnɹ… pǝɹǝɹ… stay on the phone”

The call drops and you look at the small phone screen, noticing strange glitches. You hit his side with the palm of your hand, trying to get him back to normal.

After a few seconds, the static stops.

[…]

At six o'clock the next day, the red phone rings.

However, unlike last time, you seem a little afraid to answer. Maybe that device was the reason for the start of his problems, that was almost certain. You had even seriously thought about setting that thing on fire, maybe then the bizarre things would stop. Still, a part of you refused to do that, thinking it might end up making the situation worse instead of better.

You decide to follow the unknown man's instructions, even though you didn't trust him. Maybe he was a ghost who had possessed that cell phone and was now haunting you, you were starting to come up with some insane theories.

"Hello?"

“Ah, it’s the same voice as before.” The guy on the other line says uninterested.

"Yes. But don’t hang up, please.” You say as politely as possible. “It’s not a prank and I’m not Ace.”

“I know it’s not.” He responds back. “I spoke to Crab yesterday and he was quite confused, saying that this wasn’t even his number anymore.”

"Great." You sighed in relief. “Look, it might be hard to believe, but the address you gave me is actually the same as the one I live at.” You looked out your bedroom window and saw Ace playing with his daughter in the backyard. “My house is literally opposite his.”

“Eehh, mine too.” The boy spoke from the other side, not seeming to fully believe you. “Or would it be ours?” He laughed.

“Could you tell me your name?” You ask, taking the photo you had collected from the attic out of your desk drawer.

“Floyd Leech. And you?"

You turn the verse and see that the name was the same, but you don't know how to describe which of the twins he would be in the photo. The date on which it was taken also arouses your curiosity and you again begin to think that this whole situation was perhaps a bad joke. Could it be that the former resident of that house, Floyd, was just playing a welcome prank on you?

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” The voice on the other end gets louder when you take a long time rambling.

“Sorry, I just got distracted by something.” You prefer not to talk about the photo at hand. “My name is Y/n.”

“Never heard of it.” His disinterested tone returns to the surface.

“Yes, I had never heard of you either until today” That wasn’t entirely true, as you had discovered the photo a few hours ago. “I know it sounds strange, but could you tell me today’s date?”

“What, are you that lost in time?” He laughed. “Seriously, what did you smoke?”

“I swear I’m quite sane.” You respond sharply, but return to a calmer tone of voice, not wanting him to hang up the phone again. “Tell me today’s date, please.”

“Asking me so affectionately like that, I can’t refuse.” He jokes, using a more sly tone. “Today is 04/20/2009”

You cough, choking on your own saliva.

“Exactly at six-fifteen in the afternoon?” You look at the clock on the wall in your room.

“You got it~”

The phrase that appeared in the attic appears in his head like a puzzle piece to be fitted into that mystery. You had thought about the possibility that it was a vengeful ghost writing that, but upon reflection, it was more like an angry brother writing something stupid about his other brother.

“Something appeared in the attic yesterday.” You revealed. “A message that said: Jade is a stupid bitch. Did you do it?”

There is a short silence on the other side.

“How do you know that, huh!?” The previously sly voice suddenly turns into something threatening and you briefly withdraw the phone from your ear. “You’ve been spying on me, bitch!” He spits and you swear that if he were in front of you, that guy would definitely move towards you.

"No! I’m not spying on anyone.” You state with conviction, using your other hand to search your digital cell phone for any information that occurred on the same date that Floyd informed you. “I know it's hard to believe, but it's possible that we are in the same house, in different years.” It doesn't take long for you to find news that matches the date. “At nine o’clock, a plane will crash north of Chica-…”

“You and Jade are making fun of me, aren’t you!?” The boy on the other side looked like he was going to explode with rage. “Tell him to go fuck himself!”

You no longer have a chance to explain yourself, when he hangs up on you again.

[…]

The next day, you look for Ace to talk about the house's previous residents. You knock on his door, but are answered by Alice.

“Come to play with me?” The little girl asks happily, jumping up and down in anticipation.

“Sorry, I just came here to talk to Ace about something.” You break the illusion of the little girl, who makes a sulky expression and goes back into the house, screaming for her father.

It doesn't take long for him to appear in front of you, closing the door behind him and walking with you to the curb.

“Mom said you’ve lived here for several years. Does that mean you got to know the first residents?” You asked bluntly.

"Yes. They were a reserved family, a little strange and even scary, I would say.” He let out a nasal laugh, as if remembering something amusing.

“I found this photo.” You take the photograph from your pants pocket, handing it to Ace who promptly takes it. “It’s them, isn’t it?”

“Ah, man, I barely remembered the faces.” He spoke in surprise, a little nostalgic. “But it’s them, yes.”

“On the back it says Jade and Floyd, but I don’t know who is who. They are identical.”

“Hehe, if you look closely, you will notice subtle differences in each one.” He comes to stand next to you and holds out the photo for you to observe the details. “See, this is Jade who is smiling without showing her teeth, with her hands together in front of her body and correct posture. He was always the most reserved and eloquent, sometimes he even seemed like a butler.” He laughed and you followed him, infected by the energetic laugh that Ace had. “This is Floyd…” The redhead’s tone seemed less enthusiastic and more morbid for a moment, but you thought it was just a bad impression, as he soon returned to his usual playful normality as he talked about the other brother. “Relaxed expression and hand behind the head. Man, he was a whirlwind, the total opposite of his brother.”

"I imagine." You nodded, remembering how he snapped yesterday afternoon. “But why did they move?”

“Well…” Ace handed you the photo. “A tragedy occurred with the family” He sighed heavily, seeming to not like that story. “One of the sons ended up dying.”

His breath came ragged from the shock.

“But… how?” You asked, disbelieved.

“A motorcycle accident.” Ace shrugged. “The mourning was very much for the Leech family, mainly because they were all very united.”

“That’s why they moved?”

“I think they wanted to start again, somewhere else.” He theorized. “Honestly, I would have done the same.”

“But which of the brothers ended up dying in this accident?” You asked, apprehensive about the answer.

No, you already knew the answer.

“Floyd Leech.”

[…]

The accident had occurred on 04/30/2009

Since the days of the past and present were the same, this meant that Floyd would end up dying in seven days.

Shortly after talking to Ace, you returned home and did some research on your laptop to find out more about what had happened. In addition to finding out the date, you had discovered that Floyd died at the scene of the accident, before the ambulance could even provide assistance. Bones broken and fractured, his body had been completely torn apart.

If you still had doubts that this could be a joke, that possibility simply evaporated without a trace. You didn't just seem to be messing with the supernatural, but also with the timeline. That, or the house was haunted by the spirit of young Floyd who never passed on to the afterlife. Well, you hoped it was the first theory, since the latter was pretty scary and there weren't any ghostbusters you could call.

Your only option at that moment was to wait for Floyd to call you again before that date. You wanted to try to save him from that horrible fate, even though you were doubtful about the time lapse it could bring. If you saved him, would you still be living in the same house? Would you end up forgetting everything that happened, including Ace and Alice?

You had watched countless time travel movies and, honestly, the possibilities were endless.

[…]

The red phone rings at four o'clock.

You were in the shower, but you interrupt to hurriedly grab the towel and wrap it over your wet body, leaving a trail of water as you leave the suite and head to your room. You rub your wet hand under the towel before picking it up, worried that you might end up damaging the phone through sheer lack of attention.

"Hello?"

“How did you know?” It was Floyd. You were aware he was asking about the plane crash.

“I saw it on the internet.” You replied simply. “I’m in the same house as you, but fifteen years ahead.”

“What else do you know about me?”

“Honestly, nothing.” You shake your head in denial, even though you know he couldn't see you. “But I know what will happen to you.”

“What do you mean by that?” He asks, looking annoyed.

“On the twenty-eighth of this month, you will have a motorcycle accident.” You respond impassively. “A truck runs over you and you die before they can even help.” Although it would be a little cruel to say something so scary unceremoniously, you didn't want to beat around the bush. Everything now simply depended on whether Floyd believed you or not. “I would never joke about something so serious.” You finally say.

"I believe." You mentally thank him for the vote of confidence. “But why are you living in my house?”

“My mother recently bought this house from a real estate agent. The first family to live here sold it fifteen years ago, which coincides with the time you had the accident.”

“Do you know what happened to them?” From the tone of his voice, Floyd sounded worried.

“I found out about your brother through a photo I found in the attic” Which was still kept on his desk. “I did some quick research. Apparently he is a partner in a restaurant chain called Mostro Lounge. Quite impressive!”

“Aaah, so he did well.” Floyd didn't really seem surprised by his brother's success. “Cool~”

“I’m sure you too can have a cool future if you stay at home or take your motorcycle in for repairs.” You advise him gently. “Since the accident occurred due to a clutch failure.”

“Eehh, I just lent Crabby the bike until the weekend” Floyd looked annoyed. “I can’t believe that idiot is going to end up breaking her.”

“Haha…” You laughed awkwardly. “As soon as he returns it to you, just take it to be repaired.”

“Why are you helping me?” He questions, seeming really curious about that act of kindness coming from a stranger.

“I can stop someone from dying. I think anyone else would do the same in my place.” You shrugged. “And from what I saw in your family photo, you're still too young to go to the afterlife so soon” You laughed, trying to relax to make the situation less gloomy. “How old are you, Floyd?”

“Twenty years.”

"Coincidence. Me too."

“Do you think that’s one of the reasons we’re breaking the rules of spacetime?” He laughed nasally and you followed him with a brief giggle.

“To tell the truth, I think it’s because of the house or a red phone I found in the attic.” You theorized, choosing not to think about it anymore. “Maybe both.”

“A red cordless phone?”

“That one.” You confirmed, surprised.

“He is mine. The same one I’m using to talk to you.”

Okay, the weirdness hadn't stopped.

“Did you happen to throw some voodoo on him?” You joked and heard him laughing on the other end.

“If I was capable of something like that, I don’t think I would have died, right?” He replied back, dejectedly.

“Hehe, yeah…” The mood took a turn for the worse once again and you were forced to think of something to change the situation or simply hang up, since you were making the whole room wet. “Look, I’m not able to return your call, much less call you directly. So could you call me the day after tomorrow at the same time?”

"Of course~" His mood appears to have improved, to which Floyd responded excitedly. “I really want to know what the future looks like in fifteen years.”

[…]

The next day, you knocked on your neighbor's door again, this time being answered by Ace's wife.

Today you were committed to taking care of little Alice, since the older woman was going to visit her parents and only return the next day. And Trappola would not be able to take care of her daughter, as he would only arrive after six o'clock.

“You’re on time.” Elisa commented with a friendly smile.

“I like to be punctual!” You stated excitedly. “Are you leaving yet?”

"Yes. I won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon.” She hands him the house key. “There is food in the fridge if you want to eat, just heat it in the microwave.”

You nod in agreement, waving goodbye to Elisa as she gets into the car and starts it.

You enter the house you were already familiar with and lock the door, finding Alice in the living room watching TV.

“Hi, aunt.” She greets without looking at you, too engrossed in what was playing on the screen.

“Do you prefer to play or watch?” Looking at the screen, you recognized it as the little mermaid movie.

“It starts now!” She turned her head towards him and made those irresistible pious eyes. “Make some popcorn and come watch with me.”

You are unable to deny her request, doing what the girl asks you and after a few minutes returning to the room with a bucket full of popcorn. Already knowing the things that would happen, you weren't very excited about watching the film again, but the songs were still good to listen to and you even found yourself singing one of them together with Alice.

When the film ends, she decides that now she wants to play with dolls, picking up a beautiful plastic baby that was sitting in a child's chair.

“Look, auntie, it’s my new doll!” Alice said happily, practically rubbing the new toy in you face. “She even talks!” The girl presses the doll's chest with both thumbs.

Mommy, I love you.

"Cool!" You feign excitement at the irritatingly childish voice coming out of the object. Dolls hadn't been her thing for years.

“I’ll get another doll upstairs for us to play.” Alice places the toy in you lap and runs upstairs.

Being left alone with that silly toy, you squeeze the doll's chest to hear what other phrases she had.

Let's play!

You squeeze again.

Mommy, I'm hungry.

Again.

Can we go to the park?

One more time.

If you keep going, he'll come get you.

You are startled and let the doll fall from your hands, hurriedly getting up from the floor and moving away. For a moment, you fear that thing will rise up and start attacking you, similar to the killer doll movie. However, seconds pass and the toy remains stagnant on the floor, as lifeless as it always was.

Something in the previously said phrase arouses your curiosity and you raise an eyebrow, wondering who would come to pick you up or if it was just some hideous factory defect, as even the toy's irritating voice had become less childish and more morbid.

Even though you were afraid, you approached and picked her up, squeezing the doll's chest again to see what else she could say.

Mommy, I love you.

You snort, annoyed.

[…]

Ace arrives at eight o'clock, a little later than usual.

“Alice is already in bed.” You tell him as you watch him take off his dress shoes and coat, placing the latter on the hanger.

“Sorry to make you stay late.” He laughs awkwardly and you can tell by the expression on his face that the redhead looks haggard.

“Oh, no. It’s ok.” You reassure him with a gentle smile. “You look tired, is everything okay?”

“It’s just the job.” Ace lets out a heavy sigh, walks over to the sofa you were sitting on and sprawls his body on it, arms completely open under the upholstery.

“What exactly do you do?” You ask curiously, as you never knew about your neighbor's job.

"Counter." Ace responds dejectedly.

You also don't help improve his mood when you burst into laughter, disbelieving that this was the cynical Ace's profession.

"Hey!" The redhead exclaims, annoyed that you're laughing in his face.

“I’m sorry, but this doesn’t suit you at all.” Wiping a tear from your eye, you continue laughing in a less outrageous way.

“Obviously not.” He snorts. “But it’s not like I had a lot of choices.”

"What do you mean?" Calmer after the explosion of laughter, you ask intrigued.

“I was twenty-three when Elisa became pregnant with Alice.” Ace looks towards the stairs where the rooms were, turns his attention to you and lowers his voice. “It was an accident.”

“Oh!” You exclaim, surprised.

“Because of that, I dropped out of college and got a job so I could take care of the baby-”

“College of what?” Although it would be appropriate to continue listening to your friend's story without interrupting, your curiosity gets the better of you and your mouth moves before you can even think.

“Nah, you’ll laugh.”

"No! I won’t, I promise.” You bring your index fingers together to form an “x”, bringing them to your mouth. “Tell me!”

"Teacher." He responds without much ceremony.

You actually keep your promise and don't laugh, but you are truly incredulous that this would be the profession chosen by the mischievous Ace.

“Professor Ace Trappola.” You say slowly, testing how the taste of those words sound to your ears. “Sounds good.”

“Do you think so?” He smiles, apparently more excited by those simple words.

Yes yes." You agree smiling. “But tell me more! What’s the rest of the story?” You question, curious to know more about the redhead's life.

“After two years, Elisa and I got married. We thought it would be good if we got our shit together.” He shrugs and becomes discouraged again. “We already had a baby, we just needed the rings.”

"I'm very sorry." You say painfully, although you didn't know exactly why you were sorry. Maybe because Ace's dreams never came true? For the years lost in a life he never wanted?

“It’s okay, I kind of like being a father.” He gave you a sincere smile and you knew Ace wasn't lying.

“What about Elisa?”

“I like her too.” He responds without the sincere smile from before, just a blank facet. There was no sparkle in his eyes when he mentioned his own wife, you noticed. “You know, I saw you yesterday.” Ace suddenly changes the subject, straightening his posture on the couch to face you.

"As? I didn’t even leave the house.” You raise an eyebrow in disbelief.

“In the window, answering an old phone.” A dirty little smile appears on Ace's lips and you feel like you were missing something.

It still takes a few seconds to understand exactly when that happened, until the penny falls heavily on your head.

“Oh, my God!” You cover your face with the palms of your hands, too embarrassed to look at the redhead. “I’m not a pervert, I swear it was accidental!”

“Hahaha.” It's his turn to laugh about your misfortune and it makes you feel even worse, groaning in annoyance between your fingers. Seeing that you really felt bad about that, Ace immediately stopped laughing. “Okay, okay.” He holds your wrists delicately, gradually lowering the hands that covered your face so that you can face him again. Seeing him now, he seemed to have gotten even closer to you face. “Honestly, I liked the view.” The redhead gives you that stupid smile again.

“Hmm.” You just moan in agreement, still embarrassed and not knowing exactly how to react to Ace's compliment.

“You’re kind of bad at reading the climate.” He laughs one last time, before closing his eyes and breaking the distance that separated your lips from his.

Ace is quick to wrap his tongue around yours when you opened your mouth a little in surprise from the sudden kiss, involuntarily allowing the redhead to explore the inside of your mouth.

Even though you're shocked, it doesn't take you more than three seconds to close your eyelids and let yourself be carried away by the moment. Their tongues come together in a delicate way, exactly like a calm sailing at sea.

His brain gradually fills with pleasure, which was provided by the kiss that became more steamy as time passed. His tongue moved with an impressive mastery that you never had with boys your age.

Inside you there was a damn explosion of happiness, which internally clashed with some bitter emotions present, but which were being furiously crushed as the kiss progressed from a peaceful way to a hotter and wetter one.

Ace didn't seem very distant, wanting you more and more to the point of wanting to become just one with you through your lips that he so wished to kiss. The redhead takes his hand to you head and sinks his fingers into you locks, giving more depth to the kiss, but also making the air in her lungs become increasingly scarce.

The fact that you both needed to breathe became an obstacle in the midst of the pleasure you felt, which forced Ace to stop the kiss and move away a little.

He carefully visualizes the delicate features of your face, as he had done so many times without you noticing, considering that your pink cheeks due to embarrassment or the possible ecstasy of the kiss left you very cute. However, the redhead's greatest attention ended up once again falling on his parted lips, which were now slightly swollen and red. Ace couldn't help but feel attracted and mesmerized by them again, as he had been for a long time.

After normalizing his breathing, he was going towards you for a second kiss, but you stopped him by putting your hand in front of his mouth, preventing Ace from kissing you again.

“Ace, you have a wife.” You do your best not to fall into temptation again.

Although you couldn't deny that you had some conflicted feelings regarding what you felt for Ace, it wasn't fair to stab Elisa in the back. You liked her and didn't want to be a home wrecker. Not only would it harm her, it would also harm little Alice.

"I understand." He says placidly, stepping back. “But Elisa and I are going to separate.”

"Huh!?" You face forms into a clearly confused expression.

“Before you even arrived, things were complicated.” He lets out a tired sigh. “She went to her parents’ house to stay away from me for a while.”

“Did something happen?” Maybe it was rude to ask, but you needed to know if that story was really true.

“We fought yesterday.” His shoulders slumped in dismay. “I wasn’t lying when I said I liked Elisa. I like, but I don't love her anymore.”

“Is it possible for someone to stop loving another person?” A line of disbelief forms on his forehead, doubtful that something like this would be possible between two people who have lived together for so many years.

“In my case, apparently yes.” He laughed half-heartedly. “Elisa and I stayed together for Alice and tried to stay together as a family for her.” The redhead looks away to look at his own bare feet. There was a light of regret and sadness in his crimson eyes. “But we hurt ourselves in the process.” You stay silent, feeling a little sorry for Ace and Elisa, but mostly for Alice. Trappola looks at you again and once again gets dangerously close to you, but he doesn't kiss you. Instead, he places one of his hands on the side of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb in a clear sign of affection and kindness. "I want you."

You don't know exactly how to feel about this statement. The doubts were still present in his head and apparently the only way to dismiss them was to confirm the words previously said by Ace.

“Are you really going to break up? I don’t want to be a home wrecker, much less be your lover.” You firmly admit.

“In a month. Only a month left until the divorce papers are ready.”

In a bold and unpredictable move that you never expected to come out of your own mouth, the next words would surprise you when you remembered them the next day.

“Let’s go to your room.”

Trappola's crimson eyes shine and a smile of genuine happiness emerges from the corners of his mouth. He jumps off the couch and grabs your hand, dragging you upstairs.

[…]

Before you knew it, Ace already had his face buried between your legs.

His mouth was firmly attached to your intimacy, teasing hickeys with wet and obscene sounds, tasting every bit of your pussy to engrave the taste in his memory.

“You’re so hot.” Ace praises, placing a kiss on the inside of her thigh and then returning to attack her sensitive parts.

Even with one hand over your mouth to stifle your moans, you still moan loudly, feeling him focus exclusively on your clit, licking and sucking with such devotion that you can't stop yourself from taking your other free hand to locks Ace, squeezing a bundle of unruly red strands. He was very good at making your pussy the most appetizing thing in the world.

It had only been a few minutes since Ace was fucking you so fervently, but even in that short time you already felt the heat in your belly building up more and more, ready to explode. He was amazing at oral sex, probably due to years of experience. Your hand would never satisfy you in the same way again after experiencing the wonder that Ace mouth was capable of provi.

Trappola's teeth graze over your sensitive spot and you let out a whiny moan, drops of tears splashing your eyes due to the ecstasy you've never felt. Your soaked little hole was begging for a piece of meat, to the point where your warm, velvety walls tightened around nothing as Ace fucked you with his tongue.

You involuntarily lift your hips several times, while sparks of pleasure cross your body in a clear sign that you were close to finally reaching the fullness of pleasure.

“Ace I… Ah!… I… Ngh… I’m going to…” You remove your hand from in front of your mouth to warn him, but your moans were making it difficult for you to form a coherent sentence.

He looks deeply at you with his scarlet orbs filled with lust and possession, before pulling away to give you that stupid little smile and order in a husky voice.

“Cum for me, dear.” It's the last thing Ace says before he goes back to attacking your sensitive pussy with more frenzy than before, without taking his eyes off you.

You don't know if it's because of the eroticism of those words, the way he looks at you or even the most obvious reason that his mouth was on your vulva, but you scream and finally reach your limit. The knot that had formed in your abdomen dissolves in a hot orgasm and your hips rise again, at the same time that your entire body spasms constantly with pleasure.

Even after he has successfully made you cum, Ace continues to lick you more gently, sucking the clear fluid that comes out of your tight hole. He only moves away when he feels sufficiently satisfied, a thick thread of drool connecting your wet pussy to his mouth, but which soon falls apart the further away these two are.

“Please tell me your room has thick walls.” You inquire heavily, recovering from the newly felt high.

“Don’t worry about making loud noises.” Ace laughs and crawls until he is at the height of your face, kissing you and making you feel your own taste still present in the older man's mouth. Your arms circle around his neck and you reciprocate without any reluctance in that act.

Ace's hand roams your already fully naked body, sliding from your soft abdomen to your newly stimulated crotch, touching your hole. Upon noticing what he was about to do, you quickly close your legs and stop Trappola from continuing with his actions. You break the kiss and moderately push him away with your elbow, sitting on the bed.

“What’s the matter?” Ace asks as he puts his weight under his knees, clearly confused by your quick change in attitude.

“That's kind of embarrassing to say.” An awkward laugh passes your lips and you look away. “I’m still a virgin.”

Ace remains silent for about three seconds, before exclaiming in perplexity:

“Whoa, really?” He quickly removes his hand from between your legs.

“Yes, but I hope that’s not a problem for you.” You bite your bottom lip nervously and look back at him.

“Haha, that’s no problem at all.” Ace laughed, that beautiful energetic smile you loved so much adorning the mature features of his face. “I’m just surprised by that. I mean, you’re so pretty.” You were taken aback by the compliment and your face heated up as you watched the way he looked at you affectionately.

“I don’t want you to take my virginity with your fingers.” You laughed at your own words, quickly changing the subject. Honestly, you didn't want to ruin the mood by commenting on your practically non-existent love life. “And honestly, I think I’m already wet enough to welcome you.” You direct your eyes to Ace's intimacy, noticing a voluminous bulge in his underwear, as well as a dark stain on the tip of his cock protruding forward. "Do you have a condom?"

“Look, married people don’t use condoms.” He mocked with a stupid little smile.

Shit.

“Seriously, I always told myself I would never do this without a condom.” You laughed, disbelieving that you would end up breaking the only rule you had made when you had your first time. However, even more disbelieved given how much you trusted Ace to give in so easily without even thinking twice.

“Does that mean?” Ace inquires expectantly.

You respond to him with actions, lying back on the bed and vulgarly opening your legs, exposing your intimate area with the clear intention of someone waiting to be fucked.

Trappola swallows hard, feeling his cock throb at how beautifully erotic you were as you so willingly gave yourself to him. Even kneeling on the bed, Ace is quick, practically euphoric in getting rid of the only piece of clothing that prevented him from fucking you. The redhead positions himself above you and places one hand on your hip, while the other is responsible for guiding his own cock towards your slippery hole.

“Can I?” Ace checks before taking any action, although his breathing was clearly heavy, yearning to fuck you.

"Yes." You say a little shyly, even though your actions so far have been quite naughty.

With the confirmation Ace needed, he slowly pushes his erect member inside you, sighing in delight at finally being able to feel your warm, velvety walls wrapped around his cock.

On the other hand, the sensation was a little strange at first, until it became painful as Trappola advanced further inside, breaking your hymen and then filling you with his cock. The length of Ace's member inside your vaginal canal was more than acceptable, but you squeeze the bed sheets between your fingers and let out a low moan of pain.

"You are incredible." Ace comments with restrained euphoria, marveling at having you all to himself. However, upon noticing his expression of pain, he asks worriedly. “Does it hurt?”

"A little." You shift uncomfortably in bed. “But you can continue.” You calm down with a sweet smile on your lips, not minding being a little hasty even after having graduated from your virginity literally seconds ago. You hands circle around the redhead's neck again and bring him for you lips touch his in a warm kiss.

He reciprocates immediately, but it doesn't take long for Ace to pull away from your mouth and decide it's time to move after feeling his cock throb in excitement, practically begging to be moved and finally fuck you rough.

The redhead moves his hips away a little, enough so that half of his rigid penis remains outside your gummy walls, then returns entirely inside you with a hard thrust all the way to the bottom. Ace lets out a heavy sigh as soon as he receives a delicious grip around his member, intensely loving that pleasurable sensation of a young pussy like yours.

However, this action was responsible for causing you to gasp in pain, but unlike the first time it was completely ignored by Ace, as he no longer cared about trying to be gentle after you yourself approved that he continued to fuck you.

Addicted to getting more of those delicious squeezes, Ace successively starts to do the same actions mentioned above, but in a slower back and forth so that he doesn't reach orgasm so soon. After all, he didn't imagine that you virgin pussy would be so hot.

You periodically continue to let out one or another moan of pain, without having yet been able to feel any trace of pleasure in it, although it is no longer as agonizing as it was at first. Trying to feel as good as Ace felt when he fucked you, you take one of your hands towards your clitoris, rubbing it with your index and middle fingers. A sigh of relief leaves your mouth as spikes of delight begin to circulate through your body even in the midst of the feeling of agony.

“Still bothered?” Ace laughs softly when he realizes what was happening and removes his hand so he can take care of the situation himself, too proud to let you pleasure yourself. “Let me do this for you.” He asks, at the same time that Ace's thumb touches your sensitive spot, making rotating movements with a fixation much greater than you could alone.

“Oh!” You exclaim not only in surprise, but also in jubilation. Touching herself felt good, but being touched by someone else felt even better, bringing her a never-before-felt feeling of ecstasy.

The older man bends down a little and dips his face into the side of your neck, licking and leaving marks of love on your previously immaculate skin. A heavy sigh escapes your lips and your previously rigid body begins to relax on the bed as Ace continues to stimulate you in different ways. His dick inside you wasn't so bad anymore, starting to become less strange and more dizzying.

“Ace, this feels so good.” You say with a ragged breath, enchanted by how sex could be something wonderful and addictive. You didn't regret giving your virginity to Trappola one bit.

“I feel good too.” Ace whispers close to your ear, before gently biting your earlobe in teasing. A pleasant shiver runs through your body through this action and you reciprocate by biting his neck gently, weak enough to not leave marks. You wouldn't be stupid enough to do that when Ace was still married. “Oh, how cute.” He comments with a wicked laugh and you are indignant, taking revenge on him by putting a little more pressure against the redhead's skin, consequently hearing him moan in pain. “I take back what I said.”

You both laugh through sex, captivated by each other. However, Ace breaks the romantic mood by pulling away and removing his still hard penis from inside you. A groan leaves your lips, dissatisfied by the sudden absence of your intimacy.

“It’s okay, I won’t stop.” Ace soothes by kissing the top of his head. “But wouldn’t you like to try other positions?” He suggests, but before you can say anything, Trappola easily handles your body that had been claimed by himself, placing you on your side and positioning himself behind you, resulting in the redhead's penis touching the soft and warm skin of your buttock. Ace appreciates the slightest touch, letting out a sigh and feeling terribly tempted to give you a bite in that area, but deciding to leave that for another time. “What do you think?” He asks, his nose pressed into the crook of your neck.

“As long as it’s good…” You mutter without having an opinion of your own due to a complete lack of experience.

Ace slowly passes his hand down the length of your incredibly hot body, starting at your shoulder, sliding down your waist, feeling your hip and hovering over your thigh, lifting the latter without the slightest difficulty so that he could have better access to your hole and thus calm down his greedy hormones.

You were so deliciously wet, that Ace's member practically slid inside, being immediately massaged by your pussy that already responded to his thrust. Feeling like that, stretching and welcoming him as if Ace's member was already a natural part of your body, was like pouring gasoline on a fire.

It was inevitable. He felt the need to move quickly inside. And with a powerful thrust of his hips, the redhead delighted in feeling the limits of his tight intimacy, at the same time as he was gifted with a heavy moan from you, which only served to elevate his ego even more.

Ace's other free hand reached under your body to return to the work from before, which involved stimulating your sensitive clit. He started to move his hips faster, making a complete mess of you and eliciting several moans. However, if you continued moaning so sweetly for him, the redhead wouldn't be able to last two minutes in the paradise he was in.

Even though he wanted to prolong the fuck he was having, Trappola's body no longer seemed to obey his wishes due to the pleasure that had accumulated in his cock. Fortunately, you don't seem too far from that.

“Y/n!” Ace pants your name and closes his eyes, letting his seed fill your previously virgin hole with hot steady streams.

You come soon after, letting out a sharp scream as your pussy milks him with constant squeezes until the last drop fills you.

When Ace's pleasure is finally released inside you, your body becomes completely limp and your breathing is labored.

The redhead rested your leg on the bed and with the hand that was previously holding it he began to caress and eventually squeeze your buttocks, admiring the sperm that dripped from your pussy and slid down your thighs. Ace had come in very large amounts, pleased that you took all of him

“You were amazing.” Ace praised sincerely, placing an affectionate kiss on her reddened cheek. It was actually funny of him to say that, after all, you did absolutely nothing during sex.

“I hope your wife has some birth control.” You murmured as you recovered from your orgasmic high.

“She can’t get pregnant anymore.” He lets out a muffled laugh against your neck.

“Urgh.” An annoyed grumble leaves his lips.

You would have to buy contraceptives the next day or Alice would end up getting a new baby brother.

[…]

You left minutes after sex.

Although Ace insisted that you spend the night with him, you couldn't because of your parents. They wouldn't be stupid enough to believe any excuse you came up with to stay at the redhead's house all night, especially when your house was literally opposite his. At least you already had an excuse ready for his delay, saying that Trappola had arrived late from work, which actually happened.

Oh, yes. You also stole that doll from hell.

Although he felt sorry for knowing that Alice would be sad to wake up and no longer find her new toy, it was still better than leaving a seemingly cursed doll in her arms.

You burned her the next day and the doll no longer made a sound.

Thank you for reading this far! Constructive criticism is always welcome.

See you soon.

[actual-changeling]

i think this shot from episode 1 is criminally underrated. the comedic cut to michael and the alarm ringing in heaven is incredibly funny but it also distracts from it a lot. this is about to be some more unhinged rambling that probably wildly overestimates the meaning this scene holds but it's fun so here we go.

the first thing i find interesting is that the way aziraphale suggests it, it sounds like this is not the first time they have done half a miracle each. not with these stakes and with someone in the middle, but potentially as part of their arrangement or to hide the two of them from their respective head offices.

secondly, although aziraphale is the one to suggest it, it's crowley who checks if it took, which falls in line with the protector role he likes to take (and his probably unhealthy, trauma-based paranoia).

thirdly, and what i find incredibly intriguing, is the fact that the entire thing happens on the circle rug, which covers aziraphale's chalk/summoning circle. i do not think that positioning is accidental, and i still subscribe to the idea that part of why the miracle is visible from heaven (and as far as we know, hell does NOT notice on their own) is due to the fact that the circle + gabriel broadcast it like a signal. a signal that goes only up since the circle is only intended for communicate with heaven.

tying back to point two, there's just something incredibly symbolic about crowley being the one to quite literally reach up towards heaven and i can't help but be reminded of the scene in season 1 where he talks to god.

the angle is similar, a shot from above with crowley right at the center, and him looking up. the first scene is honestly quite heartbreaking and he does not get any answer from god, as expected. while he attempts to talk to god, it is aziraphale who actually, if accidentally, goes to heaven. he does not get any answers either, but he is still 'above' crowley and can get closer to god (at least in spirit), though i think ultimately this is me being clinically insane and probably does not hold any significance. it does for me though.

we also get the line "you shouldn't test them (humanity) to destruction", which is EXACTLY what happened with crowley and aziraphale.

crowley reached for heaven but it was aziraphale who actually went, and they got tested to destruction. now they need to put themselves and each other back together.

[cherry-bomb-00]

The brothers react to an MC who has small spasms when they sleeps deeply

A curious fact about humans is that when we sleep deeply, we get small spasms, which is the brain sending electrical waves to keep the body alive, since we sleep so deeply the brain believes that is sign of death, that's why the waves. So it would be curious how our beloved demons react to MC when they has those little spasms while sleep together.

Big Brothers edition part 1/??

Lucifer

The first time you had those little spasms, it was in the middle of the night, while you were sleeping next to Lucy, he felt something move sporadically, in this case, it was you, the first few times, he ignored it to continue sleeping, but It was already difficult to ignore it, then he woke up and stared at you, after a few minutes, your body moves due to spasms, he became alert, is something wrong with you? you are sick? this is normal? but after a few minutes, Lucifer woke you up. -Huh? Lucy? - You said sleepily - Are you okay? You had some spasms while you were sleeping- Lucy said in a worried and serious tone.

The moment you heard that, you stayed silent for a moment and then laughed a little, to tell him that you're fine and that sometimes happens when a human falls into a deep sleep, and that it doesn't hurt if it's not frequent, after I'll explain everything. , he sighs although he still worries, sometimes it seems sweet to him that this happens, at least this way he knows that you are alive with him.

Mammon

oh…man, as soon as he felt that he twitched he became very alert, panicked, thinking that there was something wrong with you, then he didn't hesitate to wake you up a little abruptly.-Human! are you OK? Answer meeee - says a worried Mammon while shaking you, and you had to calm him down, poor boy, he looked nervous, you told him that you were fine, that it was normal when a human sleeps deeply, obviously you had to explain everything, although the explanation was a bit ..worrying for him, so you hugged him to tell him that you were fine and not to worry- at least it's okay…I don't want to lose you again- he said in a hoarse whisper while they were hugging, you sigh and snuggle, Mammon Keep it close to your chest.

You don't bother him when there are times when you have little spasms as you sleep, that reminds him that you are still with him and that you are still alive, and it is also adorable to see you sleeping so peacefully and calmly, and don't mention what happened the previous night, because if you do that, Mammon will enter his tsundere state and deny everything with a big blush and a small stutter.

Leviathan

It is easier for Levi to detect when you have small spasms while he is sleeping deeply, since you both sleep in a bathtub, you sleep on top of Levi, so when he feels that you move sporadically, he wakes up scared, just like Mammon, he also wakes up. He panics, and wakes you up immediately, he looks at you and checks if you are okay with his expression as if he were going to cry, you quickly comfort him and explain everything to him when he is calm. -ohh…that explains a lot, although it scares me a little, still, it's good to know that it's not because of me or something… because I want to feel your warmth…- Levi finishes saying with a big blush while he looks at you

After that they go back to sleep. It doesn't bother Levi but sometimes he gets scared if that happens, even so, he knows that you can't control it, although that also gives him the reminder that he is not alone and that you are with him.

[isabelawritesthings]

My headcanons about some Mortal Kombat 1 characters (part 2)

Liu Kang

— He is a big fan of tea.

— He always invites Geras to have tea with him, even though Geras always refuses.

— He used to hold Kitana in his arms when she was a baby, thinking that she would be lucky if she had the beauty and strength of his Kitana.

Johnny Cage

— He began acting in musicals in Los Angeles theaters.

— He has already hosted the Golden Globes once.

— He flirts with men too, although he doesn't know if that makes him bisexual.

Kenshi Takahashi

— His favorite movie is Kill Bill.

— As a former gangster, he is also great with firearms.

— He began teaching classes to children who wanted to be samurai and swordsmen.

Raiden

— Sometimes he goes back to Fengjian to help the villagers and see his family.

— He has never used a cell phone in his life, as the internet signal in Fengjian is very bad.

— He's a mama's boy, and his mother always sends him candies at the Wu Shi academy.

Kung Lao

— He is a fan of Bruce Lee.

— Speaking of Bruce Lee, he dreams of being a martial arts icon and being as famous as Johnny.

— He is protective of Raiden's sister.

Li Mei

— Since the emperor's death, Li Mei began praying to Delia every day for Sindel to forgive her.

— Now that she is no longer an Umgadi, Li Mei wants to meet her biological parents (partially canon).

— Mileena was inspired by Li Mei to create her hairstyle, just as Kitana was inspired by Sindel to create hers.

Sindel

— I used to sing lullabies to Mileena and Kitana when they were children.

— She always knew that Mileena liked women, although terms like "lesbian", "gay", "bisexual" or "pansexual" don't exist in Outworld.

— Still on this topic, Sindel fears that Mileena will not have children (because well, besides her being completely faithful to Tanya, what are the chances of her conceiving a child with a man even if it is her duty?) and hopes that Kitana will marry one day to continue the royal line.

Mileena

— Just like in part one, Tanya was not her first love, she had romantic (and possibly sexual) relationships with some noblewomen at court, it was after Jerrod's death that she got closer to Tanya.

— She hates wearing jewelry, despite having to wear it at royal events.

— She was close to Jerrod, just as Kitana is closer to Sindel.

Kitana

— She is the most stylish of the royal family, wearing beautiful blue dresses and silver jewelry, as well as tiaras with pearls, rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

— If there was a tournament similar to the Olympics in Outworld where the provinces of the empire compete against each other, Kitana would participate in equestrianism (I totally see her winning gold or silver).

— The thought that she would make a better empress than Mileena is due to the fact that she always visits the sick (except Tarkatans, of course) and poor people of Outworld, as well as visiting small towns and fighting for better working conditions in the mines (imagine her as a kind of Princess Diana from Outworld).

Smoke

— Sometimes when he is angry he ends up saying Czech words like "Hovno!" (Shit!) or "Můj bože" (Oh my God).

— Tomas' mothers (biological and adoptive) used to comb his hair.

— If Kuai Liang and Harumi had a girl, he would be the best uncle in the world.

Scorpion

— He dated Cyrax while they were both teenagers.

— He looks more physically like his father, while Bi-Han looks more like their mother.

— Sometimes, he is more of a perfectionist than Harumi.

Sub-Zero

— She has a huge connection with Sektor, as if she completes him.

— Can stay for hours in temperatures below zero.

— He still has his and Kuai Liang's nanny in the clan.

[lilithofpenandbook]

I heard someone say that the Malfoys were the best parents, what are your thoughts on this? And could you make a rank from the best parents to the worst?

Hmm, I'd actually say yes. There's a difference between being a good parent and being a good person. Someone could be incredibly accepting of those with impure blood yet be absolutely terrible parents, and vice versa.

When it comes to the Malfoys, yes, Lucius did influence Draco in the wrong way, yes, he did raise Draco to be a Death Eater, and we don't know how Draco would have been treated if he rejected Lucius's ideology. However, there is no indication that Draco was forced into believing what he did. He just was a product of his environment- not forced into believing it but also not wanting to not believe in it. In a way, it was Draco's normal. Additionally, while Draco was forced to be a Death Eater (I believe), it wasn't because he didn't want to be one, it's because Voldemort wanted to use him despite being too young, primarily to punish Lucius (and that to me speaks volumes about Lucius's love for his son- if Voldemort recognised it enough to know it would hurt Lucius then it must have been clear Lucius put Draco before Voldemort deep inside). I also believe Draco, once exposed to the actual reality of his beliefs and what they do to people, regretted believing them and hated it all, and wanted out, and ended up a good person, but that's another topic.

As for the ranking, in no particular order (aside from me remembering them):

The Riddles/ The Gaunts. As parents, I can't talk about Merope or Tom, however as people all I can say is that Tom is a victim of SA by Merope and that action of hers was absolutely horrific. However, I can also empathise with Merope because her father? The worst. Actually, I'm going to put him as the ultimate worst parent, simply because his actions are what led to Merope being so unstable that she seriously thought love potioning a man was a good idea. I am not condoning Merope's actions, however I do understand that she was very unwell and unstable as a result of the abuse she suffered, and if not for that then she probably would not have married Tom 1 and conceived her son under a love potion, which is the canonical reason for Tom being Voldemort, and therefore the reason for almost everything wrong. Almost.

I say almost because regardless of Voldemort, both Tobias Snape and the Black parents would have absolutely sucked and so regardless of Voldemort, both Severus Snape and Sirius Black would have experienced trauma (although not as horrifically as it was due to the war).

Tobias is worse than Walburga and Orion Black in my opinion, as it's heavily implied at least that he physically beat Snape and definitely beat Eileen. He's only above Merope's dad because I do think he wasn't as bad as him, and because part of Snape's childhood struggles is due to poverty. Him wearing ill-fitting old clothes and being bullied and ostracized has less to do with Tobias's treatment and more to the inherit poverty, however Tobias did nothing to help Snape, and was definitely an abusive husband. As a parent, he was neglectful and abrasive at best.

The Black parents are better than him, as parents. Yes, this is separate to their morals- I am judging them based on their treatment of their children. And when it comes to them, firstly there was Regulus, who was favoured and loved by them, even if they didn't raise him correctly. Then there's Sirius. And here's the thing, while I don't deny Walburga at least was abusive, the abusive itself was only confirmed to be abusive, which is horrible, yes, but not as horrible as the previously mentioned parents (wow, the bar is low). And another key element is the fact that Sirius was the one who left, rather than he being kicked out too. So while verbally abusive, I don't believe Walburga and Orion completely neglected Sirius.

However, a very similar set of parents yet miles worse are Petunia and Vernon. One of their kids was incredibly spoilt to the point of being incredibly stupid, the other was completely and fully abused. They beat the Blacks but are still only a little better than Tobias and the Gaunts.

As for Harry's actual parents, James and Lily Potter, they both loved Harry, but they didn't live long enough to decide whether they would be good at actual parenting or if they'd spoil Harry.

And I'm gonna mention the Evans parents too. I don't think they were good parents. Not as bad as a lot of these people, but not good. How else do you raise someone like Petunia, so jealous of her sister she abused a little boy? Yeah, no.

Now, Molly and Arthur Weasley are rather polarising. Some say they're good, some say they were bad. I'm going to say that they weren't perfect, but not bad at all. Yes, Ron wasn't always given the best treatment, yes, Molly favoured certain children, but at the same time she was the mother to seven very strong minded individuals, and still took care of Harry despite their poverty. And I do count them as "poor". Although they aren't as poor as some of the others, they're still not rich at all. The reason they don't struggle is because they save money with the hand me downs and everything. So I'd say that actually, they weren't bad at all. I personally don't like how much Molly yells, however that's probably because of my own issues, not because she's actually being harsh. Her family is loud. She had to be louder.

I'm also gonna mention the Dumbledore parents. The father definitely made a bad decision, however it was to protect his daughter. That doesn't however change how bad that idea was. As for the mother, again, maybe not the best decision at the time to isolate Ariana, especially because it resulted in her boys suffering. However I will cut them some slack because they weren't in any normal situation and that would affect their judgement. So not abusive by any means, but not the best parents either.

Hermione's parents. Where were they and why didn't they seem concerned over their only child? That's all I can say (perhaps they figured her being magical made her invulnerable?)

The last parents I can think of are Andromeda and Ted Tonks. And actually they're probably the best parents in the series. Nymphadora grows up to be a good, happy young woman, and they clearly love her even if they don't agree with her choices. I honestly can't remember anything wrong with them.

That's my "ranking" of the worst to best parents, out of all the people I can remember. Honestly, there's a very high number of bad parents here (the bar is so low that Not Smacking Your Child is enough to give Walburga a higher ranking, dear god).

Oh, actually I forgot!

James Potter's parents. Maybe one of the WORST up there with the Gaunts because how do you raise such a little psychopath? I can see where Sirius gets it but his family is known to be bad, so what was with the Potters? James was well cared for and adored (the words used in the book!) yet he spent 7 years bullying Snape. Just how? What kind of parents were his?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! Thanks for the ask!

[riza-jes]

Luffy’s Parental figure — ACE!

Who raised Luffy and co-parented him with Sabo.

He's the guy who actually did the teenage boom and baby Luffy. Who was really the only one to be an adult to his brother for seven years. Who raised this little bugger and was there for him through hard training and after hard illnesses as well.

Ace who's an explosive head in his own right, but still cool-headed in the most precise moments of danger.

Who knows how to make chicken soup and other kinds of soups from nutritious foods because Luffy couldn't chew and swallow like normal when he was sick.

Who in the field knows how to pick out what's edible, what's poison and what's medicine, because you learn that quickly in the jungle.

Who really with bare hands will be able to build a place for a night's lodging, to make food or water and to make a trap for safety or for fresh game.

He's a man who smiles at his little bro when he's in sight and who really shows a lot of affection and attitude through touch, because Luffy always needed physical affirmation of love and gosh that kid was very touchy-feely baby.

His life centered around his little brother, who needed to be raised, preserved, and made strong.

Teenage angst and mood swings had passed him by(so nothing unusual), because Ace was already an emotional wreck, but having Luffy around was actually a good catalyzer.

Also life amidst the trash and scum had taught him very well what to avoid, i.e. roughhousing, rapes, murders, overdose deaths, the horrors that slums can hold, especially the nooks and crannies where Ace and Sabo used to sneak around.

According to one particular scene that Luffy had somehow stumbled upon (and he had witnessed the brutality and the corpses privately, but he had never seen the bodies of dead children and girls before )

Luffy had hysteria so intense that he passed out.

After that accident Ace and Sabo decided only to walk in the more lighted and more open area if necessity would lead them to the slums.

In general, Ace isn't used to violence and direct threats, although in some cases Ace remains painfully innocent and naive, especially when it comes to himself. ( unless it involves Roger, the Pirate King )

Because of the fact that Thatch almost cut to pieces a lost in life and specifically in that bar amigo who ran into Portgas and began, in Thatch's opinion, to spread his hands.

And if Ace at first reacted friendly enough on approaching of the future corpse by thinking that maybe it was one of his brothers or inhabitants of the protected area, but when the man had crossed the line with a couple of words, he was carefully folded in unconsciousness by the bar wall.

Honestly, I just want more and more of Ace's side as the man who raised a hyperactive ball of joy. And specifically the aspect of home life, which most often of course manifested itself during meals.

For example, some dishes that for example made pirates complain due to scarcity or flavor (e.g. tomato soup/onion soup, any other specific fruit/vegetable) or the beverage (compote/juice/tea of unfamiliar pickings, etc.) of specific fruits or vegetables to be consumed based on shipboard life.

So imagine the surprise of the Marco when most of the pirates booed about the nastiness of the same grated drink with greens (or search for what foods should be consumed when living on the sea and when living in the jungle) and Ace was the most calm and even nostalgic.

Because he'd made a similar thing for his little brother himself.

Part 1

Part 2

[dearloonies]

Why I think that Mana was in fact truly an Akuma and not some form of false memory

Dgm is filled with mysteries and paradoxes, and the relationship between Mana and the Earl of Millennium is one of those. On the surface, it is contradictory that Mana could have been turned into an Akuma when he is later revealed to be the Earl. However, the narrative provides subtle hints that may reconcile this paradox. (Bear with me guys)

1. Dual Identities and the Split of the Earl

The Earl of Millennium isn't a singular, static entity, this we already know. Over 52 or so years ago, Adam split himself into two infants in front of Katerina who would adopt and name the infants 'Mana' and 'Nea', raising them as twins. Mana and Nea were both integral parts of the Noah family, and there's this suggestion that Mana might have been a vessel of Adam's memories and thus was the one who became the Earl of Millennium while Nea could not, because he likely lacked something. When Mana lived as Allen’s foster father, he have suppressed/lost his memory of being the Earl due to his grief-stricken mind and deteriorating mental state. This allowed him to exist as a separate individual while being consciously aware of the Earl's existence.

2. The Akuma Creation Mechanism

The Akuma creation process involves a soul being bound to a body after someone calls it back from death. If Mana’s "human side" died and was mourned by Allen, the Akuma process could have targeted only that fragment of Mana’s identity. If the Earl of Millennium that appeared in front of Allen is indeed Mana at that time yet still present for when "Mana" was turned into an Akuma, there's a possibility that the Earl at that time was simply the Golem Suit, Mana himself but his body usurped or, as mentioned above, because the Akuma is Mana's human side.

3. Mana’s actions as an Akuma

The corrupted Mana attacks Allen, since his human persona was overridden by the Akuma’s violent instincts. However, his plea for Allen to "keep walking forward" does suggest that Mana's original personality wasn’t entirely lost. One is free to think of Allen's cursed left eye, which gives him the ability to see the souls of the Akuma, is a punishment but i saw a theory that the eye is the Earl's eye(?? I forgot the exact wording or speculation/theory but I got some of it from: @poppystheories ) although in a sense that Mana's curse serves to warn Allen of the presence of Akuma, of the tortured souls and also of the fact that the Earl's "arms and legs" (or was it "eyes and ears"?) are near. And we know from Alma that Akuma are offshoots of the Earl, which is how he knew that Allen was a Noah.

4. Foreshadowing and Symbolism

Hoshino frequently employs themes of duality and identity in DGM. Mana’s transformation into an Akuma while also being the Earl symbolizes the conflict between the Noah and humanity, as well as the tragic cycle of grief and that drives the story. This paradox could serve as a microcosm of the series’ central conflict, also the duality of having humanity and an inhumane identity can also be seen in this.

In Short: Mana’s transformation into an Akuma despite being the Earl of Millennium is because Allen called for Mana Walker rather than his Noah identity as the Earl of Millennium. Thus why the Akuma Mana could exist at the same time as the Earl's, his curse also have warned and er- "protected"? Allen more than once. It's also undermining if the Akuma summoned by Allen turned out to be some rando soul that the Earl used, since it doesn't make sense. The only plausible reason my mind could come up with is that the Akuma Mana summoned was the human aspect known and remembered by Allen.

[havg02]

Fem!Batman headcanons (part 1)

◇Still similar to Bruce. Bryce is still as cold, prissy, reserved, stoic and can be distant--although more scolding but only when she's Batwoman because it's the only where she gets to show her 'undesirable' side/get to speak bluntly as she pleases. She has a childish side too, but it's brushed off as being 'cute/haughty' and rather than broody, she's more gloomy like there's grief in the air around her that makes you feel sad too, and she's less likely to yell in an argument since she gets kind of emotional. If she's done something bad, she'll just be quiet as she's yelled at, but if she's in the right, she'll raise her voice but she'll usually give them this passive yet scolding glance as she sparingly doesn't berate them and simply brushes past the one at fault--the fact she doesn't bother scolding them makes them feel more hot in shame.

◇As Bryce Wayne, she's also the same except she gets to be shy as there's no need to hide it bc people just brush it off and even found it charming since she's a girl. Maybe she's also more humble/vulnerable since woman tend to face more criticism (ESPECIALLY if they're 'too confident') making her passive, elegant, refined, ethereal, lovely, fragile, dainty and soft--just pleasant to look at/be around that will make everyone immediately turn into a gentleman/gentlewoman--a sharp contrast to Batwoman so that no one would ever compare them together. She'll pretend to swoon at the sight of blood or pale when anyone talks about unpleasant stuff so that people would think she's too soft/weak to ever do something as brutal as Batwoman.

◇Bryce would either be the snobby queen of Gotham or be the Princess Diana of the DC comics by donating to charities/orphanage and be every mother's favourite celebrity. And rather than a playboy she gives more of a princess from a fairy tale vibe whose struggling to find the perfect prince to marry, but Bryce definitely made rumours of being a secret man-eater just so that men would stop courting her/scare off any creeps who like 'pure, shy, innocent' girls like her. Bryce Wayne=coquette/old money. Batwoman=dark feminine/gothic. But they both are give off victorian era style because its affiliated with death/grief. She dresses up like Elle from Legally Blond, like in the movie Pretty Woman or those vintage barbies-- just classy 1930s or 2000 fashion.

◇She speaks in a pretty silky lithe voice with some childishness to it bc she's still sort of mentally a child due to her traumatic childhood. Yet when she's Batwoman, it's more low/breathy (cuz she tired yet full of adrenaline) that makes criminals immediately freeze. It's a lot more dramatic change than Bruce and Batman since a lot of their traits can be excused as just simple common man traits but she's still just as admired and respected, though probably more feared. But even though Bryce's so intimidating she's so ethereal in appearance that no one can help but stare at her secretly at how lovely she is, and the vulnerable sadness about her which isn’t so secretive when she can't help show it when she thinks she's alone doesn’t help either, only charming everyone even more into gaining a soft spot just for her.

◇Shares the same trauma traits too ofc (unhinged, avoidant, pushes away, paranoia.....etc) but displays them in a different 'less obvious way' since I feel like as a girl she would hide all these 'imperfections' behind a 'proper lady-like' appearance like being dainty, level headed, gentle, kind.....etc, in a way that won't ruin the mood in the air and it wont make her look weaker as it's hard to look tough as a woman, and since she's born in a wealthy family it would be ingrained in her to act like a mature lady. Because of that, Batwoman is known to be quiet, cold, elegant with a shy side. I'd like to think Bryce isn't as strong about the no-killing rule as Bruce is, especially if it regards children due to her motherly instincts but still preaches it anyway for more people to not resort to killing despite rough times as she doesn't want people to start thinking they're just killing anyone, let alone go to jail for it as well.

◇This is a joke, but if everyone all have a sort of crush on her, that'd be hilarious-- The Justice League will be troubled as they'll have to be around her the most. She drops something? Flash will pick it up for her before it even hits the ground. There's a giant robot terrorising everyone and she needs help but is too prideful to ask? Superman will destroy within a second to save her time and energy (and lowkey impress her). Her safety is compromised due to an injury? Wonderwoman will guard her! Is the batplane broken? That's okay, Green Lantern will carry her like a gentlemen!--they all just show support in a way that won't make her mad and tell them she doesn't need help and when she catches them staring with her appraising eyes, they immediately look away blushing while internally freaking out. Even her enemies speak to her with a bit of politeness as if they can't help it and they hate it!

◇This lady is the it-girl of Gotham, the queen bee. The gothic version of Princess Diana. She'll spend most of her cash on orphanage and schools when she's got money to burn from all the photo shoots with fashion/cosmetic companies like Dior, Chanel, Victoria Secret, YSL, Kate Spade.....etc. But the number 1 thing she uses is perfumed body powder to help her suit not stick/sweat, like she would use a big swansdown puff to dust it on her and I could even imagine her make her own one with soothing ingredients/chemicals/scents which instantly calms victims that it becomes a well known smell of comfort in Gotham and Batwoman signature scent. So when the police goes to a scene, they know Batwoman was here because they'll smell it in the air or when someone is getting mugged, they don't have to worry because they'll know that she's around.

◇But scent could reveal her identity, so Bryce makes the body powder washable so no one can smell it on her when she's in public. The scent is purposely made to be comforting/familiar like childhood so it would be powdery like baby powder and floral like your mom's makeup or flower garden at home/school, warm spicy with cinnamon for the nostalgic smell, yet intimidating with gunpowder. It may even contain a chemical that can turn violent urges into fear to lower the criminal's defences. But overall it's supposed to be such an amazing scent that it helps release calming/dopamine chemicals from your brain to distract you from the traumatic smell of blood or pull you out of dissociation. And it works, there's been so many people online looking for a perfume that smells like her and begging her to tell them the name of it.

◇But alas, Batwoman can't tell or else criminals might mistake them for her and hurt them. She couldn't anyway since it's made for her where it only smells good on her skin that the Batfam are lucky that they're close to her. It's the iconic smell of Batwoman that lingers in the Batcave. Another thing, bc of the calluses and scars, Bryce has SERIOUS hand/skincare. She always wears hand masks full of sweet almond oil, rose wax, lotions and violet water to bed and put nail oil/ handcream to keep soft pretty hands. As for her scars, she knows a bunch of beauty tricks or goes to special clinics to be pampered since again, she'll face more critism about her appearance as a woman and it'll be suspicious bc it's not common for a rich lady with a famous malevolent personality while men just can be brushed off as a lot of mens interests consist of a lot of workout. Sure, she'll still use expensive stuff like Erno Lazlo, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, Lancome and Jill Stuart.

◇And that brings up the rest of her body appearance. She's bound to have a muscular figure from all that training so Bryce would probably find workouts where she can stay slim while strong at the same time but her muscles obviously end up still showing so she has to make excuses to people that she's working out in hopes of staying younger and in good health now that she's getting older or that she just wants to 'tone up' her arms. She'll maybe even upload videos of her doing exercising to explain it all at once to everyone and claim she wants to help change people's views that women can be just as strong. Also, I think after she finds out that she can't carry her kids again soon anymore when she realises they could be too big to be carried anymore, like Jason who's already tall as her, she'll keep training just so that she could still be able to hold them incase there's danger.

◇Jason definitely mocked she won't be as dainty like she used to be anymore, until he has a flashbacks in the middle of a battle where he just wants to hide somewhere small and Batwoman flutters down, landing softly like a petal and her cape fluttering behind her like butterflies. She'll envelope him in a firm protective hold like a warm blanket with her cape as his nose fills in with her scent that instantly pulls him out of his state back to reality with immediate feeling of pure relief as he knows Bryce will go through hell and back to make sure her kids are okay as she gets him out of there. The Batfam won't dare say it outloud because of their pride but they really love snuggling & hiding under her cape like they used to as kids bc it's the first coping mechanism they used to do when they first started being vigilantes.

◇Bryce is clueless to this and just thinks of it as a sign that her kids still love her but if she ever asks, they'll deny it and low-key gaslight her into self-doubt and Bryce will get flustered while using prepared excuses. This is probably what makes up the terrible traits of Bruce that Bryce doesn't have, she gets manipulated her kids easily or let's them go more easily with a little firm scolding as she's more sensitive about how she is as a parent than Bruce (motherly instincts are stroong) and her cluelessness to dealing with youngsters is a lot more endearing because she tries so hard to figure out on her own but ends up asking Damian for help in defeat/embarrassment with hot rosy cheeks. Everyone teases her about it lightheartedly while Dick cooes at her in reassurance as he's chuckling.

◇Is more thoughtful/considering regarding to her kids feelings than Bruce because Bryce's just scared of being a bad mother as mothers tend to be more judged than fathers who can get away with things like being too busy to play with their kids, and fully knowing how she is, she heavily relies on giving them affirmation or just actions as it's the least thing she can do--like when she first adopted Dick, she was hesitant to speak to him and avoided him by going to work during the day and going to patrol during the night from worrying about how awkward she might come off but when Dick asked if she only adopted him to make her look good in the public eye, she felt so terribly sorry for him that Bryce decided she wouldn't care how awkward she'd look anymore since she found that seeing her kids feeling reassured and not left hanging was much better.

◇And it can be about anything, just speaking honestly. Like casually telling them she's been worrying that she might be suffocating with her overprotectiveness and telling them to make sure to tell her if they ever feel frustrated with her since she admits she still needs to be told off as well despite her pride since she loves her kids that she'd rather admit defeat than them to resent her. Scared of looking silly due to being unable to communicate<<<<<Just get used to communicating. She sucks it up as she fears hurting them more than herself, so it's highly unlikely she'd ever raise her hand at them unless they crossed a line or something really bad. But she'll still end up accidentally saying something pretty harsh out of frustration, too. If she can't say I love you at the moment, Bryce will just go up to cuddle/kiss them randomly and everyone has gotten used to it.

◇She's a purse mom, she's got EVERYTHING like snacks or coffee candy for anyone feeling tired, a sewing kit to fix costumes, an mp3 with soothing music or white noise, mini umbrella, chargers, hand sanitizers, heat pads.....etc. like a real life Mary Poppins. When she sees a child in distress, Bryce has the exact things needed to calm them down. And honestly it surprises the batfamily themselves but ofc, she's the Batwoman so everyone jist accepts it. But it can't be helped when she pulls a thermos full of hot cocoa out of nowhere, despite it being perfect for warming up nonetheless. She carries those lavender or lilac smelling salts for herself though, cuz coffee can't really be enough sometimes.

◇Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian all suffer from the hot-mom syndrome, everyone is drooling over Bryce, as Bryce Wayne AND Batwoman so they can't escape it in normal life and in vigilante life--like they are so OVER their friends asking about her and not so secretly crushing on her. But they mostly get bothered at how people look at her. There have been so many accidents of them punching someone in the face or breaking some bones as a civilian, and all of them are solely because they were saying something jaw dropping-ly sick or misogynistic, it brings this different type of rage in them. ESPECIALLY when they see them say it to her face and Bryce can't help but simply stand there with sad eyes despite the default kind gentle smile on her face, and just take it with grace. But not on their fucking watch, unbeknownst to everyone, these kids have their own personal level of anger issues.

◇Her relationship with her kids is the same except she's less of an asshole, just a suffocating mom who can't help but worry. With Dick, Bryce too made many mistakes with him the most with the one example above and tried to make up for it by spoiling him until she realised that was a terrible idea because the freshly grieving young Dick needed help and love, not be left alone and only given presents. She was also paranoid thinking he might think she's replacing his mother which she didn't like the thought of either so she made sure to tell him that she doesn't want to replace his mother and he can call her by her name, look at her as a mom, big sister or simply like an aunt. And she sees Dick understanding what she means, she's so relieved.

◇Bryce ofc tries to prevent ways to stop him from being a vigilante but when he leaves her no choice but to make him a vigilante, she's afraid what he might do if she still says no so she gets an idea and makes him a deal; she would train him until he at least became 16 where he would at least be almost an adult by that time. So she trains him as a way of also helping him with his grief which she enjoys because she feels like this is what she can really do as it was something they had in common. But the funny part is when Dick first sees her training, he's like ??? How does a dainty woman do something brutal like this?? Oh and we all know how angry Dick was as a kid that it made Bryce often not regret taking him in for his safety because she worried at the thought of him acting like that with someone else and be mistreated/misunderstood because of it then realise she's the perfect person to help him.

◇But Bryce still at least lets him join the young justice league/form Teen Titans as a way for him to experience firsthand and when he grows up to looking like he's actually doing well off, she starts to see his potential and relaxes, even thinking she could raise him to be better than her. Until one day when Dick gets shot, she realises she's been playing around her luck and the world had come to remind her of it so she fires Dick out of fear, like she fully has a silent panic attack which surprises Dick despite being mad. But being a kid, he doesn't understand and just wants to get out of her shadow so even though they don’t have a fighting match, he leaves, leaving her lonely again for the longest time but when she hears from Babs that he's doing well as she didn't dare ask him personally as she felt like she didn't have the right to, she's relieved that he's at least alright/happy.

◇Yet before Dick leaves, Bryce who knows she may not see him again after he spoke hurtful words to her, still asks him to graciously give her a chance to let him know that even if he wanter to leave him alone from now on, he's still welcome in this manor as he was everything to her. She even sent him birthday gifts/letters through Superman after he left since he was his favourite superhero, in hopes he'd let her do this too, saying how proud she is and what a good decision he made to leave her side as she admits to also needing to be 'faced with reality'. At first Dick is unsure what to think of her words at that day before he moved out and just ignored the presents but when he grows up to understands and reads the letters, he immediately kneels over, clutching his chest with heartache for her--maybe feeling guilt too as she wasn't as special as his mom, she was still one for the rest of his childhood.

◇He quickly returns to the manor to apologize at least for the hurtful words, only to be met with her gentle, forgiving smile and be embraced in welcome sorry arms that he didn't realised he had missed. He also missed being overprotected by her and secretly longings for her dotings again as it reminds him of his mother so he might be a little jealous of Jason at first, thinking she's shown him more love to him than she did with him. But Bryce is too scared of making him leave again so she doesn’t baby him again unfortunately, after all she appreciates him so much because he's like the blueprint for her in parenthood, he opened up/caved a way for her to know how to raise kids/deal with her kids moving on/to get used to viewing them as equals. Bonus points when she finds it funny when she sees Dick take on a parent role for others.

◇Dick in canon feels like he can't get away from Batman and his shadows and I think with Bryce, he'd feel the same but without having to fulfill a role. After all, its Batwoman and he's not a woman. BUT people might still be expecting a Batman to be debuted anyway cuz patriarchy says there's got to be a guy when there's a strong woman as if she's not allowed to be self made 😮‍💨 and that annoys Dick a lot since he knows the whole purpose of Batwoman being made to be alone in the first place, but again! I have this idea that when Bryce dies, people are going to wonder about the new batwoman or a Batman to fill in the space so if Babs or Kate somehow doesn't take her role, Dick or Jason might end up becoming the first Batman. But if Dick and Jason don't, then he'll just simply feel like he's always kind of affiliated with her, at least.

◇So Dick turns out a little better than with Bryce but he's still finds his life being raised by her bittersweet/gloomy than lonely in canon. He's still terrified of disappointing her ofc but he warmly knows she'll slap him for thinking that. But when Bryce meets Jason, she adopts him only temporarily at first after finding out the orphanage she sent him to turned out to be sketchy. And with her knowledge about his life, she makes up for it with infinite patience/love while she finds another orphanage for him so when she sees him open up for the first time, she's charmed by just how lovely he actually is. After the scare with Dick getting shot, she doesn't turn him into Robin and doesn't want Jason who was raised with violence be met with more violence. If he did, she'd make it clear that she doesn't expect him be as good as Dick so he wouldn't feel pressured/unconfident so he wouldn't grow to resent her like Dick did from being in her shadow.

◇When Jason starts to call her mom, she's anxious/touched/heartbroken for him knowing that he didn't have anyone to tell what a good boy he is so she always made sure that he knew that, and Jason was bewildered by her passion by it at first then left feeling awkward/little sad/comforted cuz y'know. Bryce was surprised when Jason turns out to be more sweeter/good at grades than Dick despite his brashness and she didn’t expect anything from him but she loved him so much she went to find his mom Sheila because she believes he deserves to love with his real mom as she firmly believed a child should always be with their biological mother for that special bond that would affect the way they live in the future. And before she gets them to meet, she trains Jason basic self-defense so that he could learn to defend himself and maybe let him be Robin for a few times so she could test him. Or just not at all.

◇And when Dick gets mad, she's very guilty since she knows how personal the mantle is to Dick but at the same time protects Jason from Dick's words and makes sure to direct his anger at her/explain it was only just a few times for a test. This probably puts Dick in a bad light to Jason as he hates seeing her cry. After Jason is reunited with his mom, Bryce feels so relieved as if he would be safer with Sheila than with her but when she finds out that Sheila might be working with Joker, she immediately stops/alerts Jason as she invesitgates. And when Jason tries to stop Sheila anyway and dies, she just crashes. Bryce feels like anything she does just goes wrong and is meant to be alone, and dissociates with a panic attack again. I don't want to change Bryce too much but once again, motherly instincts are strong so she'll make sure to kill Joker or won't.

◇Then she'll spiral because she had just killed so Dick/Clark is there for her and either of them try revive Joker to help her but Bryce's still very unwell and unsettled for a long time, which hurts Dick to see. She'll notice that his body is missing in the coffin as she'll visit his grave often with the huge mom guilt she carriew, and freaks out again bc she just lost him again and tries to focus on Tim until Jason comes back. Maybe Jason will let her go as he has a soft spot for her since Bryce had been a better mother than Sheila and he still desperately longs for her but he will still feel like Joker should've been dead completely if she doesn't kill him. Bryce is apologetic anyway as she tried to make up the love he was missing his life yet she couldn't prove that he was to kill for. If she does kill him, then all is well but......

◇She's hesitant when Jason says he's going to live as Red Hood and insists on killing bc she's worried he might die again but he's quick to shut her up bc she did all she could do/gave him a reason to live. It's only until she sees a wind of his skills and is proud. Remembering that he was never apologized to as a kid when he was being abused and his death making it worse, Bryce can't have the heart to scold him but still tells him not to kill too often as she doesn't want him to go to jail. She’s so sad that she couldn't see him fully grow but seeing him as an adult so tall/strong, she's just so happy he's alive. So Jason doesn't resent her as much here, yippee.....? But due to her guilt, Bryce probably tries to please Jason a lot by letting him kill and even hope he moves back to the manor despite her happiness for him when he's living fine with the outlaws.

◇This annoys Dick so much that he argues with her as she stands there infuriatingly quietly as she knows she's doing something bad but Jason defends her calling him the usual Dickhead insult which she can't help but find it funny even when she scolds him. She may have called Dick that one time. Yes it was personal and yes Jason is proud of her while Dick stands there stunned/butthurt. Jason will be the one to kill for her when she can't for her comfort. BUT when he's having troubles, he'll immediately run into her arms where he turns into a little boy again and gets to be vulnerable as he pleases. Bc of Jason's death Tim doesn't debute as Robin (more of this bit below and in part 2) so Jason doesn't go after Tim's throat or resent him this time, except help Bryce on what to do with him when she introduces him and tells him how he managed to follow them to the batcave. Cue Tim fangirling and them having a better relationship at the start.

◇Bryce is immediately alert after finding out Tim managed to follow them to the batcave and interrogates him rather scarily to scare him off. She's incredulous at how a kid like him managed to track them down and would be impressed if she weren't disheveled by the loss of Jason and speaking of which, she does NOT like this and tries to figure out a way to stop Tim from convincing her to be Robin. Dick doesn't bother suggesting on making Tim Robin to help move on from Jason like in Canon because she'll give him a look that could kill. At the end up Bryce will just do what she did with Dick (training Tim until he reaches at least 16) due to the paranoia that this boy could get into danger now that he knew everything. So, Tim doesn't debute as Robin yet and is kept a secret from the world until Jason comes back to life.

◇Being careful, Bryce is worried thinking she might treat Tim coldly out of grief and voices it to Dick but he just smiles softly reassuringly that if she were worried about this even before training him then she wouldn't and besides he would help. At these times she's reminded that Dick is capable on his own but soon after finding out Tim's life, she has what she thinks is some affection for him out of pity which she feels guilty since he deserve better treatment from her than but in reality it's motherly love mixed with guilt of moving on from Jason. She really does her best to not be mean and just at least speak level-headed with Tim. Only after Jason comes back, she realises she did care for him and is so relieved that she did her best on still being kind to him and remember to still make sure to praise Tim despite distancing from him when they weren't training.

[yanderes-galore]

yan Neito Monoma (My Hero Academia) romantic concept?

I hate to admit I forgot about him as it's been a while since I've seen the show :( Hope I portrayed him accurately.

Yandere! Neito Monoma Concept

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Jealousy, Possessive behavior, Stalking, Delusional behavior, Kidnapping, Violence, OOC behavior, Murder, Blood, Forced relationship.

Your first impressions with Monoma are... not the best.

He's very arrogant, bratty, and goes out of his way to antagonize those around him.

I feel an interesting idea would be if he fell for a darling in Class 1-A.

He hates that class with a passion... but can't seem to get you out of his head.

Although, in reality, you could be part of any class and he'd still be insufferable.

Many see Monoma as unhinged and deranged.

To be fair, he's like that often.

He's overly loud and competitive, making him come off as insensitive.

Although in reality he's quite insecure about his own Quirk and upset he isn't in the main hero program.

There's a good chance Monoma's obsession isn't going to like him.

He could be hopelessly in love with them, yet somehow still butcher his bond with them.

Especially if you're part of Class 1-A.

In fact, you could hate Monoma's guts and he'd still be determined to win your heart.

He thinks he's so much better than everyone and wants you to acknowledge that.

After all, if he's better than everyone, then he is the only good choice for you when it comes to being a partner.

He's delusional and persistent.

His obsession could probably smack him square in the face, and he wouldn't be too bothered.

Alright, fine, he gets it...

You just need him to prove he's better.

Monoma probably also uses his quirk to impress his obsession.

It isn't a strong hero quirk, yet he wants to show you he can best all of your classmates.

Including you.

Ironically, while he hates your classmates, he doesn't hate you.

He could bad mouth your classmates all day and the fact you're beside them.

Yet in the same breath he compliments your abilities, he'll build your confidence...

All while knocking it down later on.

Monoma isn't the nicest person, he isn't evil, just a... nuisance.

He's simply a pain to deal with.

Even when he's crushing on you he can't seem to drop the ego, in fact you swear it gets worse.

I can see Monoma being manipulative.

He'd occasionally bully his obsession.

Yet most of the time he fixates his bullying on your friends, claiming they don't deserve you like he does.

It's no doubt going to get him beat up, but he likes to feel he's better than everyone else.

After all, Monoma has an inferiority complex.

He wants his obsession to like him desperately.

He adores attention and can appear rather demanding and competitive due to this.

All of this only makes you hate him more.

Monoma probably stalks you, watching you in the hallways and always remembering your every accomplishment.

Despite loving you, Monoma can still be harsh and weaponize your own insecurities against you.

He tries to make you think everyone else hates you except him.

It probably won't work... but if you're in a sensitive headspace, he can really get in your head.

Monoma doesn't seem like a murder person.

He wants to be a hero... although he is unhinged.

So while it may be OOC, maybe Monoma would snap sometime, especially as an adult, and get rid of someone he sees as competition.

Oh... speaking of which... even when he graduates he's going to be a pain.

I feel like going OOC for Monoma due to how unhinged he is.

So imagine Monoma's been your stalker for pretty much your entire school life.

By the time you graduate, well, it's not like anything's holding him back anymore.

Imagine if Monoma watches you until you're vulnerable, having been in love with you for years.

In fact, he's ecstatic you're no longer surrounded by those classmates of yours.

There's no one to stop him from pursuing you!

He's always wanted to make you his.

If anyone does stand in the way at this point, he's so depraved he may just... get rid of them.

I feel like he'd go crazy since you've always rejected him.

You may have hit him countless times, told him you hate him...

But he'll have you in the end, no one can stop him now.

Your next encounter with Monoma costs your freedom.

If you were close to someone, Monoma targets them and forces them out of your life.

It may or may not involve blood....

Monoma is sneaky when he abducts you for himself.

He's careful to be precise... right before knocking you on the back of the head with a blunt object.

By the time you wake up, you'll be in his apartment tied to a chair.

You can struggle all you want... but eventually Monoma makes his appearance known.

Monoma feels like the type of yandere that would rant to you about how he's better than all you know and love.

The entire time he may have blood on his face and clothes, not caring about cleaning himself off.

He'd prattle on about you and him being meant to be, how he's been there with you since day one.

He admits he's watched you for years, how he's always fantasized about you two together.

You can scream you hate him... about how you wish he was dead or that he needs help...

Monoma is quite used to it at this point.

Although... It's amusing how you keep playing hard to get.

You can't do anything now... He's planned this for years and even found a way to cancel your quirk.

He's grown tired of others being able to have you.

Sooner or later, you'll realize he's the one you should love and adore...

Even if it means keeping you in that chair, starved and isolated, until you admit you love him.

[panomiels-box]

『more project eden's garden ramblings ≫ spoilers! ⚠︎』

my thoughts on the potential meanings of the newly released imitation drawings (jett and ulysses + kai) by nifast greentail

⚠︎ TW for sensitive topics

jett

≫ let's begin with jett's. this is clearly a reference to his drag racing accident that left him with burn scars. the word 'confess' is engraved on the trophy he's holding, and a threatening shadowy face is also reflected on it. there's a small skull with a hat just behind it too, almost blending in with the flames on jett's head. just from these details alone, my take away is that the real jett dawson actually died from that accident, and someone has been pretending to be him since.

i think that "someone" is probably his twin, and i'm just kind of rolling with that because jett is a gemini and i also just like the idea lol. perhaps he had a twin so jealous of his talent, or so stricken with grief from his death that they started pretending to be him, either to a point they actually think they are jett, or are aware that he is dead and pretends to be him to not worry his family, friends, and fans. which means that the real reason why they won't show their face despite being jett's twin and therefore pretty identical in appearance, is because they don't have any major scars or burns, so showing their perfectly unharmed face would give away that they are in fact, not jett.

ulysses

≫ let's move on to ulysses's. in it, we can see him sitting behind a greek (?) statue that's covered in mushrooms with its head broken off. ulysses is writing in his notebook, and we can peek inside that he is writing himself reminders of basic essential needs (to eat, breathe, feel, shower...) as well as others that aren't fully visible but can be guessed: sle[ep], brush [teeth], and reme[mber]. my thoughts on this is that ulysses was neglected growing up. i believe we can also infer that from some of the things he says in chapter 1, so this illustration really reinforces it for me.

ulysses eventually found refuge in studying history, and his whole world proceeded to evolve around it. i believe the neglect he went through causes him to very regularly forget to take care of himself and his basic needs. combine that with his immense interest for history, he becomes even more likely to forget these things due to how engrossed he can get. he's highly likely suffering from memory loss due to the trauma. he might've even changed his name due to this - ulysses isn't a super common name after all, and i also don't see neglectful parents choosing a name like that for their kid.

in fact, i wonder if the word ulysses is writing starting with "reme" is supposed to be just the word "remember", as in to imply "remember this important part of yourself that you've forgotten" or simply another reminder similar to eat, sleep, etc... but considering those don't have the word "remember" written before them, i believe in the former more. or, it's not at all the word remember, but maybe "remedy", or any other word starting in "reme". what that could mean however, i don't know...

kai

≫ now let's talk about the last one, kai's. he is seen in a bathroom, completely hunched over an open toilet with his phone beside him, surrounded by pink butterflies. his expression is hidden by his natural black hair, although his reflection in the mirrors behind him show his pink hair and the black sweatshirt he usually wears.

my immediate take away is that kai used to suffer from an eating disorder. that's just how the illustration speaks to me. i think it's not too much of a shot in the dark considering he's the ultimate influencer, and before receiving the title he was already an online personality. therefore kai, from a super young age, has been constantly scrutinised by strangers, and being online all the time routinely exposed him to the insane standards that's put online. plus knowing how kai is, which is clearly very sensitive on what people think of him, i wouldn't be too surprised if he ended up developing an ed from stress and other factors. we don't really know about his home life either after all, apart that he lives alone (?) from his ftes.

as for the black hair and pink butterflies (and the person (who's also kai) standing in front of him, reflected in the mirror on the left), i think it's supposed to represent this was how kai used to be, and not how he is now. considering butterflies can symbolise things like rebirth, change, self-discovery etc, i think kai was able to find a way to heal. i did put down social medias as the potential cause for his ed, but maybe it's also what helped him make a recovery. the people he met through it, and his fans in general, provided him with support and love he probably really needed. combine that with therapy, and i can see kai blossoming into who he is now.

end note

alright, that's all i have to say i think! what amazing illustrations. i'm somehow even more hyped for what's to come with this game!! so so cool. go support nifast and check out his other imitation drawings! i'll probably do a few more posts analysing the other ones ♡

[scalefeathers]

Arcane Daemon AU:

Character: Sevika Dæmon’s name: Rustam / 'Rust' Dæmon’s form: Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)

As a consequence of being so vertical (and so dangerous a place to live), Zaunite daemons tend to be nimble and agile, if only so they can keep up with their humans as they parkour across the rooftops. If your daemon can't do that, then when backed into a corner you've got no choice but to fight. A Zaunite with a daemon who can't fly, climb, or hide, therefore, is clearly not someone to be fucked with.

And with a bite force of over 1100 psi, spotted hyenas are one of the most not-to-be-fucked-with critters around. In fact, the only animal in their environment that's arguable even more not-to-be-fucked-with is the African lion, which makes it all the more tragic that Ambessa and Sevika never got to interact in season 2.

Hyenas are social animals, but compared to other animals that live in groups, their dynamics are more competitive than cooperative. Likewise, Sevika, though a team player rather than a lone wolf, generally prefers to assert her dominance rather than seek consensus.

Speaking of dominance, hyena clans are matriarchal, with females being larger and more dominant than males, which seems fitting for Sevika being the bossest-ass bitch in Zaun.

In fact, due to their larger size, aggressive behavior, and some unconventional sexual anatomy, female hyenas have often been mistaken for males, and the species in general has long been associated with hermaphroditism and gender deviance (as well as just deviance in general). And while she isn't exactly butch, cigar-chomping, hard-drinking, hard-brawling, whiskey-drinking, brothel-patronizing, Clint-Eastwood-ass poncho-wearing Sevika is (in my opinion) the most masc-coded female character in the show.

That said, Rust is a male hyena, which are less dominant than the females; and while she can (and eventually does) have the skills to be a leader, we see over and over that Sevika would rather follow a strong leader than have to be one herself: first with Vander, then with Silco. She only steps up into a leadership position in season 2 because there's literally no one else who wants the job.

Despite her serious demeanor, Sevika has bit of a wild streak, as displayed by her fondness for gambling and the savage joy with which she fights. If a person's daemon represents their true self, an expression of the parts of themselves they usually keep under wraps, then it makes sense to me that Sevika's daemon should be one associated with chaos, violence, and wild, hysterical laughter.

(That said, hyenas are not nearly as vicious or scary as their reputation might lead one to think, and I believe that's true of Sevika as well.)

Though the fur of wild hyenas is quite short and sparse, hyenas taken to live in colder climates do grow thicker coats. Since Zaun is a lot more temperate than the Serengeti, I decided Rust is likewise a bit of a fluffy boi.

Although their fur is normally short, spotted hyenas still sport their distinctive mohawk ridge along their spine, which seemed fitting considering Sevika's punk-rock glow-up in season 2.

Like Sevika, Rust also has some scars from the hextech explosion (although he was able to keep all his limbs). Also, like Sevika, his eyes glow whenever she injects Shimmer.

Although they resemble canines, hyenas are actually more closely related to cats than to dogs--and as it turns out, they're even more closely related to mongooses. Since I consider Sevika to be a pretty clear narrative foil for Vi (especially in season 1) you can imagine how this realization delighted me, since I had already decided long ago what Vi's daemon was.

Rust's name is also tied in with Vi's daemon, whose name is Setanta, i.e. the childhood name of Cu Chulainn, the Irish folk hero. Rustam, or Rostam, is the name of a Persian folk hero whose legend shares several features with Cu Chulainn's. Coincidence? Quite possibly! But I thought it was neat anyway. And I wanted to continue the trend I'd established of Zaunite daemons having names that could be shortened to one-syllable, thematically-appropriate words (Set, Rig, Sin, Rust).