#and the two of them attempting to exorcise/cleanse him

[mikkeneko]

Hmmg I really wanted to see if I could get this piece out in time for the ZhanChengXian event next week over Valentine's, but I really don't think I'll be able to. The fic concept (sequel to brother, the password and the plans of our city are safe with me) seemed simple enough at first, but if I also want it to be a ZXC fic, then it needs more work. 

[wallflowerimagines]

I love your writing so much, it's very great! Anyways, can you make one with the lords with a s/o who can see ghosts, but everytime they see one they tensed up ? Thanks alot! <3 <3 <3

In a horror game???? With a horror villain s/o?????

Anon, you are so brave 😔✊ let's get spooky.

Alcina Dimitrescu

There are SO many ghosts in Castle Dimitrescu. And they're all so LOUD.

The majority seem to be victims of House Dimitrescu. All of them drift through the air, drained and skeletal, eyes sightless, and they just wail non stop. The wailing itself is actually kind of a lower volume, but because there are so many ghosts around, the sound layers and echoes through the space until you can barely hear yourself think.

They remind you of jellyfish in a way. They just aimlessly drift through the air, clothes billowing around them, sliding through the walls. Constantly screaming.

You actually prefer the ghosts of the victims of the Cadou experiments. They might be horrible, shuffling abominations of flesh and oozing blood, but at least they're quiet.

Alcina notices you flinch without any kind of visible stimulus, and immediately gets suspicious. She pulls you into a room and demands an explanation of your behavior.

If there is a problem, she's going to fix it.

When you tell her about the ghosts, her lips press into a fine line. You mean to tell her that these worthless wastes of space are crowding her halls, polluting her home even after their death?

They dare to not only crowd the noble house of Dimitrescu under her nose for years, but they're bothering you while they do it?

Yeah, Alcina is Furious.

She gets a couple exorcists on Retainer. Every month or so, priests of various religions are paraded through the house and cleanse the place from top to bottom. She has you follow them around and check their work, too. If any of them happen to be charlatans, they'll just join the horde of ghosts. No skin off her nose.

It is a little annoying that she has to hire even more people to clean up the mess in her Castle, but Alcina is a highborn lady. Any kind of clutter (living or dead) is unacceptable. Her home should be pristine.

Besides, her favorite reward is seeing you fall asleep in her arms, entirely peaceful. You had been so obviously stressed by the situation. It's such a relief to have you relaxed and calm once again.

Donna Beneviento

When Donna finds out you can see ghosts, she gets a bit ...manic.

This is a woman who lost her entire family, and is unable to deal with grief in a healthy way. She's constantly in mourning garb, and her veil rarely comes off. Hell, her grief was the catalyst for her current hobby-- which is what turned it into a hyperfixation.

I'm not going to lie to you, this revelation puts your relationship on pause. She's going to use you to get what she wants, and she wants her family back.

Donna pulls out all the family photo albums and portraits. She coaches you on her mother's laugh, her father's focused expression. She gets the projector and plays you home movies to show you how they walk and talk. Anything she can show you to help identify the ghosts of her family, she does it.

If you tense up, Donna gets so excited. Is it someone she knew? Her sister, maybe?

Unfortunately, most of the ghosts around are Donna's victims. They huddle in the corners of her home, rocking back and forth in terror, clawing at the walls in a futile attempt to escape whatever horror they've been eternally trapped in.

Sometimes, at night, you hear soft whimpers and scratches at your door...

If there is a ghost that isn't a member of her family around, Donna gets frustrated with it. She will banish any ghost that isn't a member of her family, or a member of the previous staff that could help them in the afterlife.

Eventually you need to sit her down and have a serious conversation with her. You're not something she can use to connect to her family. You might be willing to help, but all she's done lately is treat you like an object, not a partner. It has to stop.

It's the wake up call Donna needs. You both hold each other and cry for a long time, because the last thing she ever wanted to do is hurt you, but... She misses them. So much.

You still look for their ghosts for her, still tense in the hallway, but Donna stops asking you to describe them to her. She trusts you to tell her if they look familiar now. She can be patient.

Salvatore Moreau

Fish man might have been a doctor once, but he is a Small Town Doctor from a small fishing Hamlet. I don't care how much "logic" and "reason" you might think he has. This man is SUPER-fucking-STICIOUS.

Salt over your shoulder, four leaf clover carrying, fear of curse having man DOES NOT LIKE the idea of being haunted.

The ghosts of the reservoir are extra spooky too. Some of them are mid-mutation from the failed Cadou experiments...But the drowning victims are more common.

There aren't many ghosts around, but when they do appear, they're bloated, skin slipping off their bones, clothes dissolving around them as they glide through the air. They move much slower than other ghosts too, like the fact that they died in the water has permanently trapped them in that state.

If you tense up out of nowhere, Moreau does too.

What did you see?? Are they close?? Do they look bound to an object??

Salvatore will turn into his giant fish form and yeet anything that you might feel to be haunted over the mountain range. He takes no chances with that shit.

You two both are regular customers of the Duke's specifically for new exorcism methods. The Duke doesn't scam you guys either-- he provides candles, scriptures, holy water, perfumes, all of it works to keep the spirits at bay.

You and Moreau will walk around the reservoir, on guard for any hauntings, and clean up any area that might possibly have a ghost attached to it. It's a incredibly weird and very niche bonding experience.

By the end of the day, the reservoir is the least haunted place in the whole Village. Just how you and Salvatore like it.

Karl Heisenberg

Eat my ass, spirits

Heisenberg is not afraid of ghosts. He actually makes fun of you a little bit for even believing in them, until he sees you tense up out of the blue.

He trusts you enough to know you're not lying to him, so he knows that you are seeing something. He just doesn't know if they're really ghosts.

There aren't as many ghosts in the factory as there are at the Castle, but there is still quite a few.

A lot of them are missing limbs, unsurprisingly. They gasp and scramble around, eyes (if they are even there) bulging out of rotting faces as they scan the surrounding area for their missing pieces. They scuttle around like spiders up and through the walls, poking their heads into random rooms and constantly searching for something, anything to make them whole.

The worst thing about them is that they ALL scream when they see Heisenberg. It's not even a wail like from a normal ghost-- this is a full on shriek of rage and grief. They know who he is. They know what he's done. And they can't do anything about it.

Is it any wonder that you tense up all the time?

After you describe the ghosts in more detail to your partner, Heisenberg sets his jaw, gets pissed, and finds a way to exorcise the lot of them. While he can't see them, you can, and they might make you think less of him. He can't have that.

Plus, they're obviously bothering you. Karl does not tolerate some dumb spirits harassing his partner. If he has to nail a couple crucifixes to the wall and get a spray bottle of holy water, he will.

He also sees if he can kill his victims in an isolated section of the factory. Maybe having one specific room might limit the range on these things? It also makes for easier clean up.

[lulu2992]

I really liked that post about the intricacies of John’s feelings toward the deputy. If you haven’t already, could you give your opinion on John and Joesph’s? There definitely seems to be some fear and manipulation going on there, at least to me.

Thank you!! You mean my opinion on John and Joseph’s feelings towards each other? I’ve talked about this a little but not really in detail, I think.

The way I see it, there is indeed fear on John’s part but I wouldn’t say he’s afraid of Joseph. To me, he’s afraid of disappointing Joseph, which is a little different. And it’s not really Joseph’s fault because, unlike some people, I don’t think he sees his siblings as tools he manipulates, abuses, and doesn’t care about. I think he genuinely loves them but because I also see him as the embodiment of the proverb “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, his actions and words sometimes have unintended consequences.

As violent as it is, I don’t think Joseph disapproves of the whole “Marking, Cleansing, Confession, Atonement” procedure because he believes it’s necessary and God probably told him it was. However, I think he disapproves of the way John takes advantage of his position to make others suffer more than necessary in the process. The message Joseph left at the ranch is proof he knows John hurts people in a futile attempt to exorcise his own pain and to heal. He also knows it’s not the solution so he tells him, “your actions will only feed the sin inside you” and explains John’s salvation depends on “how much love [he lets] into [his] heart”. The problem, as I said in my other post, is that John doesn’t know how love works. I blame this on his upbringing and the way it conditioned him.

What his (adoptive) parents did to him literally broke him. I’m honestly not sure John has ever had a single normal, healthy interpersonal relationship in his adult life. He probably doesn’t even know how to make friends and “unconditional love” is a foreign concept to him. I think he believes that love is something he has to deserve and that, at the slightest mistake, he’ll have to earn this “love” again. Now, his brothers are here to love him for who he is but, even to them, he thinks he has to prove himself. Drew Holmes, the game’s lead writer, said John “wants to be recognized by his older brothers as having value”. Jean-Sébastien Décant, the narrative director, said he “wants to impress his older brother”. In the game, Hudson says John didn’t react well when the Deputy fled the bunker and that, even though he didn’t say anything, it was obvious he felt like he had failed and had to “make up for something, prove to his brother he could” do better. He still thinks that, if he doesn’t do what he’s expected to do, he will be punished, so he overworks himself to try to meet (what he believes are) Joseph’s expectations, becomes more and more violent in the process… and just makes things worse. The irony is that John desperately wants, desperately needs to be loved but when Joseph says, “No, this is not how you are supposed to do things, this won’t help”, John hears, “You are worthless, try harder”.

So, in a way, yes, there is fear but I don’t think Joseph manipulated John. However, it’s obvious he knew his little brother was broken (but maybe he never realized how much) and that he failed to reassure him in time. In the message he left at the ranch, he tried to make John understand he was loved and that he didn’t have to do anything to deserve it because this love was already there for him to receive… but it didn’t work. I doubt John heard this message and, even if he did, it probably was already too late.

I sincerely believe Joseph loved his little brother but I also think he should have made it clear sooner because John valued Joseph’s opinion more than anyone else’s... I wish the two brothers had understood they wanted the same thing: for John to be loved.

[multiverseforger]

Arcane is a scientist whose obsession with gaining immortality has led him to create monstrous creatures known as "Un-Men", as well as other monstrous biogenetic experimentations involving the dead. He was able to resurrect his deceased brother Gregori as the Patchwork Man. He is also a skilled magician, which he is able to channel through his horrific experiments.[2]

Living in the mountains of Europe with his niece Abigail, Arcane is introduced after he discovers and lures the plant-based hero to his castle home. Arcane sought to use his scientific and magical abilities to transform his body into the Swamp Thing's form, while changing the Swamp Thing back into Alec Holland. At first very grateful to be human again, Alec soon overheard Arcane discussing his evil intentions now that he could carry them out. Alec then succeeds in breaking the spell Arcane cast, and sacrifices his humanity, so Arcane becomes a frail old man again. Pursued by the Swamp Thing, Arcane fell to his death, only to be resurrected by his Un-Men in a new body. He then attacked the Swamp Thing twice more before truly dying, the first time as a hulking corpse-like Un-Man (only to be destroyed by the vengeful ghosts of African-American slaves who had possessed his Un-Men) and later as an insect-like cyborg piloting a massive dragonfly-like vehicle that is actually a tesseract (i.e., its interior is larger than its exterior). It is after his third death that his soul was consigned to Hell.

Arcane's soul later escaped from Hell and ultimately helped to summon the demon Monkey King into the world.

After a fight with Abigail that culminated in her leaving on foot to find the Swamp Thing, Matt Cable (Abigail's husband) had an attack of conscience and drove after her. He had been drinking heavily and wound up crashing his car, leaving him mortally wounded. Ultimately Arcane managed to possess Cable's body, and with it gained access to Cable's godlike power.

In this body, he masquerades as Cable, claiming that he has a new job at a company called Blackriver Recorporations and is buying a mansion for them to live. Arcane combined his own magic with Cable's inherent psychic powers to alter reality and the employees of Blackriver Recorporations were the resurrected souls of deceased serial killers returned from Hell. He finally revealed himself, tormenting his niece and causing havoc and insanity by altering reality on a massive scale. For miles around natural and unnatural disasters occurred, people succumbed to homicidal instincts and the resurrected serial killers returned to killing.

He once again battled the Swamp Thing, accompanied by monstrous forms resembling Un-Men, after killing Abigail and condemning her soul to Hell, all the while declaring Earth as his now.

It was during this battle that Arcane found that the Swamp Thing was a plant elemental and thus possessed semi-magical abilities, allowing the Swamp Thing to combat him on a more even ground. The battle was enough for Matthew Cable to regain control of his body, and Arcane was exorcised directly back to Hell. Cable used his awakened power to resurrect Abigail's body, but not having sufficient power to repair himself, became comatose and finally died, whereupon he became Matthew, a raven living within the Dreaming.

Arcane next appears as a demon, having been promoted to this status by the Lords of Hell. He attacks Swamp Thing yet again, only to be defeated. In a later episode, Arcane temporarily repents of his evil ways after having briefly found God, who eventually banishes him back to Hell. Arcane is tortured by the demon Josephine, whom he seduces into helping him escape. The Swamp Thing defeats the two demons, causing their forms to morph together, and when last seen, it is revealed that the Arcane/Josephine being is pregnant.

The New 52Edit

In the wake of The New 52 (a 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe), Anton Arcane is a regular antagonist in the monthly Swamp Thing comics.[3] After Abigail was able to fight off the mental control of Sethe, Sethe revives Anton Arcane from the dead.[3] as the avatar of the Black (a.k.a. the Rot), after which he tries to take over the Red (colliding with Animal Man as well) and the Green. Anton also has a son named William Arcane and Abigail is his daughter in this timeline.[4][5]

During Animal Man and the Swamp Thing's one year in the Rot, Anton Arcane and the forces of the Rot were able to take over parts of Earth. It was mentioned by Frankenstein that Anton Arcane had imprisoned someone beneath Metropolis.[6] When the forces of the Red and the forces of the Green converge outside of Anton Arcane's castle, Anton Arcane unleashes corrupted versions of Maxine Baker and Abigail Arcane.[7] Anton Arcane and the Rot's conquest of Earth is thwarted and undone when Maxine breaks the hold of the remaining Hunter's Three on her.[8]

After being defeated by the Swamp Thing, Arcane is put in a Hell specifically made for him by the Parliament of Decay when nothing ever rots and all is forever pure. Abigail, as the new avatar of the Rot, comes to him demanding information about her mother. Arcane reveals that when she was a baby she already had power over the Rot and she accidentally killed her by 'filling' her with the Rot. To make him talk Abigail lets him feel rot, but she now says he will never escape his Hell and will never touch rot again. Arcane says that when he touched it when she gave it to him, he became stronger than he had been in ages and he will escape and take revenge on both her and Alec Holland. As she teleports away, Arcane rips out one of his eyes and throws it in the portal. On Earth, a boy is about to eat an apple when it turns rotten. He throws it away and Arcane's eye appears in it.[9]

In Swamp Thing (vol. 5) #36, when the Swamp Thing goes in the Rot to warn Abigail about the new realm of machines, she initially assumes that he is there because of Arcane, who has escaped.[10] It is eventually shown that he has returned to Earth, but since he is not the avatar of the Rot, he can only gain strength from consuming rotten items, like corpses and garbage, and as such is terribly weakened. He joins forces with the new realm of Metal, which promises him the power that he lost, and his power does grow greatly in this time. He later poisons the Green from within, when the Swamp Thing is weakened in an attempt to destroy it, but this fails when all the avatars of the Green are awakened and use their power to cleanse the Green to its original state. Abigail challenges Arcane in the final war against Metal, and while she has the upper hand, Arcane eventually escapes.

In Futures End, it is revealed that five years in the future, a series of events conspired to ensure that all avatars swore to stay off of Earth and within their own realms to prevent chaos. Arcane only agreed to this if he was allowed to bind himself to Abigail forever, as seen when his left hand and her right are completely fused in a twisted embrace and when he calls her his "daughter-wife". In doing so, he allowed himself to leech off her power, as the true avatar of the Rot, and ensuring that the Swamp Thing could not fight him, without risking harm or death to the one he loved. However, the Swamp Thing has made the decision to destroy the Rot, using the power of a Life through a White Lantern Ring. Arcane attempts to dissuade him, by citing the necessity of death and rot, but the Swamp Thing counters it by saying that fungi/the Grey and bacteria/the Divided have already decided to take over the role of rot, while Metal will keep them in check. Arcane then tries to give up Abigail, but the Swamp Thing believes that there is enough life in her to let her survive and in the worst case, death is better than the Hell that she lives in. Arcane briefly tries to fight back, but Abigail makes her move to distract him, long enough for the Swamp Thing to activate the White Lantern ring and bringing about the death of Anton Arcane.

[solitaria-fantasma]

Dark Arts and Demons - Ch. 34

Vivi opened her mouth, and Lewis promptly reached across Arthur to cover it.

They may not have known much about this...Penn...but with Mystery’s confirmation that he wasn’t the cave demon they’d feared, there was no reason for them not to believe his frightened, confused facade was anything but truthful.

And there was something too gruesome about saying out loud, and in front of his sisters, “We thought you were the thing that killed me”.

“You’re not who we thought you were. Let’s just...leave it at that.” Lewis traded a meaningful look with the others. Arthur seemed understanding, but Vivi’s glare barely softened. However, when Lewis lowered his hand, she kept her mouth shut. Penn looked confused, but Lance cleared his throat before the awkward silence could resettle over the circle.

“Next question. What’s this I hear about you exorcising yourself?” The man demanded, glaring across the floor at Arthur. The blond in question sank down low in his seat, and moved to grab his left arm in a typical nervous gesture. The fiery texture of the limb rippled at the touch for a moment before settling back down.

“I-it wasn’t supposed to be an exorcism, really!” Arthur protested. “It was supposed to be a cleansing! Like Vivi said, I did it....wrong.” Vivi quietly reached over to pry Arthur’s hand off of his ghostfire arm, and held it. “Really wrong. I was just-...” Arthur stopped himself mid-sentence, and fell suspiciously silent. “...I was just trying to make things better, I swear.” He whispered, unable to meet his uncle’s gaze.

“You and I are gonna have a longer talk about this...but later.” Lance softened the angry edge to his tone. This was neither the place, nor the audience, to dig to the roots of the issue. Half of those in the room didn’t even know about it. “We’ve got bigger fish to fry, first.” Feeling the attention of the circle drawing back to him, Penn curled up a little tighter in the booth.

The talking went on for a little while longer, but Penn soon stopped listening. If Arthur had wanted so desperately to remove...whatever kind of creature they thought he had been...then it must have been a terrible burden to bear. Was he just as bad, now that he had taken Arthur’s body like this? Were they going to (what was it...exorcise?) him, too, to get him out?

A glass was placed down on the table in front of him with a ‘clink’, and Penn was startled out of his thoughts. Belle Pepper slid into the seat next to him, holding a milkshake glass of her own, and turned the straw of the first glass towards the other.

“It’s one of Papa’s dessert specialties.” She said. “Chocolate ice cream, white chocolate syrup and a sprinkle of sea salt, topped with a maraschino cherry. It’s always been a big seller.” She took a sip from her own glass as Penn cautiously picked up his. “No offense, but you looked like you needed one.”

Though his stomach was turning in anxious knots, and he really wasn’t hungry, Penn leaned in and took a sip through the paper straw. It would have been rude to turn down offered food, and the restaurant still wasn’t open, so it had been made specifically for him, too. And he had to admit, the chocolate ice cream and white fudge really did taste delic-

.......

“Oh!!” Penn gasped as a third, hidden flavor hit his tongue. “That’s what spicy ice cream tastes like!”

“What? Spicy?” Belle made a face. “It’s not spicy. This is one of Papa’s spice-free recip-...” She suddenly stopped, and grabbed the milkshake away from Penn. The spirit shyed back as Belle took a sip with an unreadable expression, and flinched when she pushed the glass back into his hands. “Cayenne.” She deduced, already spinning out of her seat and stomping back towards the kitchen. “CAYENNE!”

“IT WAS JUST A JOKE!” Her sister shouted back from somewhere behind the kitchen doors. Penn quietly slid the milkshake closer, and took another sip. Mmm...yum.

Now...what was the ‘joke’, exactly?

Archie Riddick was having a terrible week.

First, his girlfriend had moved out - packing up all her stuff while he’d been sleeping off a hangover - and moved back to her mother’s. She’d even taken the damn cat. Then, as he was buying pity beer at the gas station with his buddies, he’d run into one of those Mystery kids. He was facing prison time after those brats had outed his plan to scare old Mrs. McCreedy out of her home. His buddies had tried to talk him out of it, but Archie hadn’t listened, and attempted to stab that damn blond rat.

Now he was sitting in the back of a cop car, hands cuffed behind his back, and locked behind the partition while the officer tried to chase down his spineless friends.

Archie glared at the back of the seats - seething - as if he could sear away all the scuffs, scratches, and footprints left from other unlucky miscreants. Stupid girlfriend. Stupid Mystery kid. Stupid cop. Archie leaned his forehead against the cool metal bars of the partition, and spat a curse into the floorboards. He’d have to hope that at least some of his friends got away, and one of them could come back, and pay his bail.

God knows he didn’t have the money….

There was a scratching sound at the door, and the lock clicked. The man curled his lip in a snarl, and turned to glare at the cop, but before he could even open his mouth, something slammed into his throat, and clamped around his windpipe in a suffocating grip.

The patrol car rocked on its wheels as a great struggle ensued within it; a panicked kick shattered the backseat light, and a headrest was knocked askew. But after a minute or two, the struggling ceased, and the car fell still. Something from within pulled the open door shut, and after a few more minutes, Archie’s body slowly rolled back to a sitting position behind the partition.

He spat out blood from a bitten tongue, and snapped the chain of the handcuffs with an inhuman strength. Opening the patrol car door with the casual air of someone stepping out of an Uber, the thing that was once Archie Riddick climbed out to freedom, and started to walk away into the desert, seeming to examine himself as he went.

This host was far from ideal, but they would suffice…

...for now.

[greenxscarves]

ghost hunter / ghost emily au ;0c

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it *rubs hands together* Nyehehehe

Jack picks Emily up as he’s helping some distant cousin help clear out the house of a recently deceased grand-uncle or something like that. It was an old house that belongs to someone in the Morrison clan.

By ‘picks Emily up’ I mean he snags an ancient looking pocket watch because he’s seventeen and Aesthetics(tm).

Weird shit always happened before, but after he gets the watch, things get worse. So much worse.

He gets about a dozen people to bless the watch and try to cleanse it.

It works for about a week and then the activity starts up again. It can range from everything from knocks to falling items and things being pushed off counters and things going missing. He’s half convinced a ghost-cat has followed him home.

He picks a university to attend and moves in early. Like during summer session early due to a campus job he acquired.

Within a week he’s met a guy at the library and they go on a few dates. The activity finally dies down and Jack thinks that maybe this new boyfriend(?) is good luck.

Six months pass and he starts getting sick more and more often. He learns his boyfriend is into some... weird things, but hey he won’t judge.

The activity picks up again. Threats/warnings are left scrawled in mirrors, sometimes in steam, sometimes in blood. He feels hands and shoves and a book has been pushed off the bookshelf more than a few times when the boyfriend is over. One was even chucked at his head.

Winter solstice comes and shit hits the fan. Blood magic and occult rituals and some unnecessary chanting and a few too many knives for Jack’s comfort. If he thought having a boyfriend who was in a cult was bad, he really didn’t like that it was a demon-worshipping cult and the demon was his boyfriend.

Apparently the ‘I want to hold your heart in my hands’ was not an awkward figurative statement of affection.

Jack manages to Not Die due to sheer dumb luck.

Demon (ex) boyfriend is still out there.

The rest of the cult, not so much. They’re not as lucky as Jack.

Ready to put this behind him, he goes to sleep of this shitty dream.

He is not ready for the Red-Head floating above his desk.

Fast-forward twenty years.

After that initial demon hunt, Jack pursued the paranormal researcher stuff. He finished college, met Ana Amari and then proceeded to start a business with her.

They’re both very serious about it. Most of the time.

Ana sees ghosts. Always has been able too. The tattoo she has was an attempt to stop seeing them.

To actually pay the bills, they run a small curio shop. They live in one of the ‘haunted capitals’ of the world so they cater to tourists and the like. They do have a ‘real shop’ in the back for those who actually practice or hunt.

Emily is not bound to the pocket-watch. It’s just where she returns to if something goes wrong.

 She was a ‘witch’ who died of an ordeal by water. Aka a dunking, but years before it was standard practice.

Jack calls it a hipster witch-drowning. Emily couldn’t stop laughing for an hour. Ana was ready to kill both of them.

She actually was a witch, but the magic was not what got her killed. She has hundreds of years of knowledge, so while she’s not like a walking library, she is sort of like a walking Spark Notes.

Emily is pretty much by Jack’s side constantly. He usually has the pocket watch tucked into a jacket or hooked to his wallet. If not the pocketwatch, then something small that Emily possesses. Her preference are hats. He prefers things he can tuck away securely.

Jack attracts supernatural shit

All three of them hate being called ghost hunters.

Other mediums have offered to exorcise/guide Emily to the other side.

Jack politely declined. Emily was less polite.

They use the bluetooth earpiece to not look completely mad when talking to Emily. People just assume they have a research aide or something.

Mostly they investigate low-level things. Jack can count on one hand the number of times he and Ana have run into something that legitimately unnerved either of them. Ghosts and spirits and supernatural creatures are usually fine.

There have been two demons that Emily and Jack have encountered. The first was his uni boyfriend. The second was a research trip they agreed to when Ana left to visit family.

Emily does not like Jack dating. Mostly because he attracts weird people. Or things. If she has to stealth explain to Jack one more time that his date is not human, she’s going to scream.

The current person of interest scares the shit out of Emily. She won’t say why and she doesn’t stick around when he shows up.

Emily helped Jack study during uni.

She also bullied him into taking some classes she was interested in. It’s how he ended up with a few weird minors in things.

Her ability to interact with the real world is pretty mercurial. Jack and Ana have experimented with ways to change this. She can almost consistently use a computer now. Jack low-key regrets it.

Cryptids are counted among the paranormal.

Emily gets a little too excited about mothman.

Whatever Emily possesses sort of functions as a talisman against low-level spirits. She’s very territorial so no hitchhiking ghosts for Jack and Ana.

Emily really wants them to go hunting for bigfoot at least once.

She also wants to ‘swim’ in lake Champlain. Jack refuses to have another Nessie incident. 

[perpetually-jungshook]

Without You: Bloodstone (Part 24)

Genre: AU, bts!werewolf, fantasy, angst

Warnings: language, violence, suggestive content

Word Count: 3.2k

Summary: Werewolves, contrary to popular belief, are usually gentle creatures. Except for a very specific set of circumstances, they would never hurt a human (on purpose). The few unfortunate times when mistakes were made put a permanent dark mark on the beasts and people began labeling them as monsters. What the human population failed to recognize was the fact that they were protecting us from something much more sinister. Luckily, a few survived and the gene was passed down hereditarily until one day finding its way to me… in the form of my best friend.

Link to: Storyboard (reference pictures) | General lore post | Intimacy lore post Prologue | Previous | Masterlist | Next

Loyalty is often as blind as justice should be, as unstable as a lightning storm ought to be, and as misplaced as an opinion in the truth.

Chapter 24:

No matter how suspicious I am of Munhee, I can’t help but feel sorry for her. She’d probably just sealed a demon inside a body (which takes a lot of energy) or had banished one (whatever that entails). Now, on top of that and almost directly afterward, she has to exorcise or cleanse the traces Halsahm had left inside me.

I have so many questions, about my friends, about Jimin, about the “good spirit” that’s apparently enabling magic within me, at least according to the demon; but as Munhee leads me to one of the few unused rooms, I come to realize that even if I somehow found the words to ask, I wouldn’t retain any of the information anyway.

We make it to the nearest door that isn’t Jimin’s and she asks me to lie down. Perching on the edge of the bed, Munhee’s whole body sags in what I can only assume is exhaustion. I don’t press her for information, though the anxiety that someone is hurt beyond repair is an ever present gnawing in my brain. The fact that she says nothing is simultaneously reassuring, yet foreboding.

Hoseok walks through the open door a few minutes later, holding a book and a bucket. He sets them down, then backs away.

“I hope you don’t mind if I stay over here,” he whispers.

Munhee shakes her head, “She’s conscious this time. Hopefully she’ll be able to control herself.”

That doesn’t bode well for me.

The next few hours are excruciating. Munhee doesn’t have enough energy to do the exorcism all in one go. This leads to a cycle of incantations, convulsions, and vomiting. Obviously, Munhee only participates in one out of three of those activities. I partake in the other two.

It’s strange though, despite the full body spasms and the incredible pain that claws at me like hooks being dragged across my insides, I somehow manage to recognize a few things. The bright piercing green in Munhee’s eyes is similar in intensity to the amber color for the wolves’ and just as bright as the crimson in the demons’. I’m assuming in this case it’s a dissipative type of magic, to get rid of the evil spirit. I’m proud of myself, seeing how much my knowledge base and understanding of magic have expanded.

By the time Munhee sits back, declaring she’s finished, panting hard, Hoseok has long since gone, Namjoon stopped by to check on us and brought water, and Seokjin placed a tray at the door with food for both of us. She weakly pats my shoulder as the last of the foamy white bile expels itself from my stomach. As I look into the bucket, finding a blood laced mess, dried and crusty in some parts, highly viscous to runny in others, it almost makes me vomit again.

“I’ll get that for you,” she gently takes the bucket after closing the book. “Try to drink some water and eat what you can. I’ll have someone bring you dinner. You and I both need to get our energy back.”

Munhee stands and stiffly makes her way toward the door, book under one arm, half full bottle of water in hand, and bucket handle in the other. She scoots the empty tray into the hall with her foot before closing the door. I don’t hear her lock it.

After a small sip of water, I allow myself to collapse on the bare mattress. I feel like I’ve just run a marathon. No, realistically, more like two miles. My body aches, but the throbbing seems to have stopped. Any progress is good progress, right?

Sleep comes too quickly.

The next few days pass in a blur, a fluid state of wake and sleep. Certain things stick out to me, but they’re like events in a movie montage, only less cohesive and clean cut. One moment flows into, then tangles with the next. I remember Namjoon, Hoseok, Munhee, even Jungkook, but they’re all as tangible as ghosts. I remember food, water, moving to a bed that’s made with soft sheets and pleasantly heavy blankets.

Between these moments of lucidity, all I see are the piercing blood red eyes of demons and all I hear is the uncannily whimsical laugh of the little girl, accompanied by the whispered phrase:

You’re mine.

The first sight I truly wake up to see is Jimin. I want to recoil, but he’s not doing anything wrong. In fact, he’s sleeping, curled into a ball next to the bed, head resting on the mattress beside me. I try to keep still as I slowly regain awareness, not wanting to wake him up out of common human decency. The details of his face fade in and out of focus, but it’s more like a soft blur than the nightmare I’d been slipping in and out of.

His hair has fallen across his forehead and eyes, making them hard to see, but they are definitely closed. His breathing is peaceful and even, lips slightly parted, a little chapped. He’s not bruised anymore, but his cheeks are a bit paler than normal. Still, if he’d treated me differently, maybe I would think he’s beautiful- no, he is beautiful. If he had treated me differently, been a decent person, maybe I might have actually grown to love him.

But he took away Jungkook. He took away my freedom to choose Jungkook and for that it would take a miracle for me to even consider him as a friend.

Jimin stirs, his sleep blurred eyes opening slowly. For some reason, I don’t look away, but neither does he. This leads to a few seconds of awkward staring before his eyebrows knit, “What the fuck are you looking at?”

I scoff and try to sit up, but when that fails, I settle for turning onto my other side and facing the wall, making sure to passive aggressively bump his head. I can hear him stand, his voice a bit hoarse, “I didn’t mean that.”

“Right.”

“I’m just not used to people-”

“I don’t care what you are or aren’t used to. What are you even doing in here?”

“Well this is my room so…”

This time, I do manage to sit up. Jimin’s room? I look around, finding the space pristinely clean. I’m not sure what type I originally pinned him as, but it definitely wasn’t this type. The only evidence that the room has been lived in at all is a bookcase that I haven’t seen in any of the other rooms, which is odd considering the uniformity of the furniture in the bunker. On these shelves is a collection of knick knacks- small figurines, a frame filled with pressed flowers, a couple books with titles and authors that I’ve never seen before.

On one of the middle shelves, all by itself, suspended by a hook drilled in the backing, is a necklace. It looks like real silver.

“Why am I in your room?” I ask quietly, taking the malice out of my voice.

Jimin shrugs, crossing his arms, “Would you rather be with the dead body?”

I would rather be in Jungkook’s room, but I guess I should be thankful I’m still alive and in relative comfort. I decide not to reply, running my fingers through my hair as if it’ll clear my thoughts. I’m hungry.

“That’s what I thought,” he huffs.

Taking a calming breath, I swing my legs sideways, out from under the covers before slowly pushing myself up and deciding not to directly respond to that either, “I’m getting food.”

“Let me get it for you.”

“Don’t try to keep me in here, I’m not-”

“Do you really think I’m going out of the goodness of my heart? Because I love you?” he scoffs, upper lip twitching. “You can’t walk.”

“What are you talking about? I can walk no problem.”

As soon as I stand, I fall flat on my side. Jimin hadn’t even moved in an attempt to catch me, but I didn’t expect him to. This appears to be his preferred method of teaching.

He smirks, “So what do you want to eat?”

Fifteen minutes later, Jimin and I sit on his bed, each of us eating a cup of instant noodles, not speaking. He brought a small CD player and soft classical music or traditional folk songs trickle quietly from the speakers. It’s almost pleasant.

“Jimin, why do you hate Munhee?” I don’t look up from my noodles when I ask this, knowing it may provoke him. He hates questions, but I hate sitting here feeling idle.

“I don’t hate her.”

“But-?”

“She irritates me. There’s a difference.”

“Okay,” I relent, scooping noodles into my mouth to give me an excuse not to speak.

Jimin surprises me by continuing, “Among various other reasons, I don’t like her because she treats me like a child. Me and everyone else. I think it’s ridiculous and disgusting.”

I shrug, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, though his words do have a bit of truth to them, even if he acts unfairly or rudely. She’s clearly babied Jungkook and me on several occasions, when our limits could’ve been pushed for further productivity.

“She treats us like pets. With the others, I can understand. They need her, rely on her, have imprinted on her- whatever. They don’t mind being her puppets. But us? You, me, Jungkook… we’re different. We don’t need her.”

I finish chewing and swallowing just in time to reply, “So there’s a ‘we’ now?”

“Touché.”

“Besides, without her, I wouldn’t know what I’m doing- with Jungkook or magic.”

Jimin lets out a dissatisfied huff, “You and I both know I’ve helped you more with training Jungkook than she did.”

“That’s a very vain assumption to make.”

He rolls his eyes, “If I hadn’t said anything his progress would’ve plateaued.”

“Do you have a complaint for my magic training too?”

“No.”

“I’m surprised.”

He sets his empty cup aside, frowning, “I’m not an entirely terrible person.”

“That’s an opinion.”

I don’t know what’s making me so snarky with him. Maybe the fact that I’m tired. Maybe the fact that I’m tired of him.

Jimin sighs, his gaze dropping to the bed, “Another reason I dislike her? She was his tutor, you know.”

“Who?”

“Munhee tutored Namjoon. I’m not sure how they met or what she’d been ‘teaching’ him, but don’t you think it’s a bit suspicious that she can use magic and he’s the first one that transformed in the pack?”

A queasy feeling bubbles in my stomach, but I’m not about to start making conspiracy theories again- not until I see some solid, irrefutable evidence. As I’ve concluded before, most of my misgivings toward Munhee are based on suspicion alone and she’s quite frank and honest with me. I have no reason to distrust her. Yet I have every reason to distrust Jimin…

“What if it’s a coincidence?”

“Seriously? You don’t see the connection?” he leans forward, taking the empty cup out of my hands to set it beside his own. For some irrational reason, having nothing in my hands makes me feel alone, vulnerable. His stare pierces through me, as if his eyes were amber, but they’re not. “Wolves transform early only when there are evil spirits around. She knew Namjoon. Namjoon transformed early. She’s summoning demons, Eun.”

I’d thought about it before, especially after seeing the strange pit in the center of the workshop, but at the end of the day correlation is not causation.

“What’s your proof?”

“Namjoon being pack leader is proof enough.”

“No, it’s not.”

The conversation stagnates in a momentary lull, despite the dense amount of information he’s attempting to relay. The classical music makes the room feel oddly stuffy.

“Look, I’m not trying to make you hate her, or prefer me over her or anything. But I’m telling you, that’s what she’s doing.”

“Why would she though?” I can’t help but question him. Summoning demons? It doesn’t make sense.

Would she do it to collect the pack? For what end? She raised them, trained them. She couldn’t mean them any harm. She wouldn’t bring them together like this just to satisfy some vendetta against werewolves. Otherwise why not kill them after they’d imprinted on her, when they’re at their most vulnerable?

Of course, there’s always the possibility that Munhee would try to corrupt the wolf pack so that they eventually wouldn’t hurt demons, but who in their right mind would do that? Who would side with evil spirits? Someone threatened? She has an entire pack to protect her now. Thus the theory circles back, contradicts itself, and I can’t find a motive.

Jimin takes a while to answer, also giving me time to mull it over. I’m not sure if he’s legitimately thinking about it, or if he’s just trying to add suspense; yet when he does speak, the least I can do is appreciate his honesty.

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to figure out, but you have to admit that something seems wrong.”

Jungkook had expressed the same thing to me a while ago. He had been uneasy, but I’d eventually chalked it up to the fact that they had been trapping and containing demons in the bunker. What if…? I shake my head subtly to clear it. No. I’m not going to judge her based on someone else’s gut feelings, whether I trust that person or not. If this whole bite experience has taught me anything, it’s that I need to start making decisions for myself… in the areas that I am able to.

Jimin closes his eyes for a moment before he looks away, over at the shelves, amber tendrils curling into his irises, but never fully consuming them. I follow his gaze to the silver necklace and by the time I look back at him, the piercing yellow is gone.

“Can I ask you something?” his voice is unusually quiet, almost soft.

I can’t say no. I ask him strange questions all the time, so I nod.

“Do you really think… we aren’t monsters?”

“Werewolves?”

“Yeah.”

I let out a small sigh, using it to buy time as I formulate an answer, “Werewolves fight evil spirits, so they aren’t bad in theory. But I think whether or not they are considered ‘monsters’ is up to each person individually.”

Jimin lets out a humorless laugh, “You’re saying I’m a terrible person.”

“I never said that.”

“It was implied.”

Here we go again. Can’t we ever just have one nice conversation? The classical music in the background is noticeably out of place, while at the same time contributes substantially to the overall discord.

“I’m not implying you’re terrible. I’m implying that you’re an asshole.”

“But I saved your life.”

And this is the crux of my problem with Jimin.

“You can save my life dozens of times and I still won’t forgive you for what you did.”

He stands, walking away from the bed so that his back is to me, “Is this about me biting you still?”

“Yes.”

“When are you going to let that go?”

The fact that I’d thought we might have been having a decent talk, even bonding or simply creating mutual respect… it makes his comment hurt all the more. I finally realize that the disparity between our reactions doesn’t stem from a lack of understanding about what happened, but rather from a lack of understanding about how the incident affects me.

“You’re smart, Jimin. I can tell. So why do you insist on being so oblivious?”

He turns around and for the first time, I can see the regret in his eyes, “And you’re a nice person, Eun. So why can’t you understand me? Why can’t you like me?”

“Because you refuse to-”

Before I can finish, he continues, his words clipped, “It’s not my fault. None of this is. I didn’t ask to be attacked. I didn’t ask to have that bastard’s blood shoved down my throat. And I certainly didn’t ask to be abandoned by him afterward. It’s not my fault…”

“No, but it is your fault what you say and do to me,” I remain seated, watching him carefully. “I don’t want to be mean, but it’s the truth. Whatever happened, I’m sorry, but it’s not an excuse.”

Jimin, much to my surprise, slowly lowers himself to his knees beside the bed, resting his cheek on the mattress, mirroring the position he’d been in when I woken up, except now his eyes are fixated on the silver necklace.

“You’re right.”

We don’t say anything to each other after that and I’m almost relieved when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Munhee, checking up on us. She immediately hands me a bottle of water and a silver knife, then tells me she has to do a checkup on my body and mind. Jimin doesn’t protest, whether it’s because he thinks my health is important or because I now have a weapon that is effective against him, I’m not sure. He doesn’t even look as I leave.

She leads the way to her room, asks me a bunch of questions about how I feel and how Jimin treated me. I answer all of them to the best of my ability and as honestly as possible, though remain a little vague about the topic of our “argument.” Munhee lets me go after an hour or so and I return to Jimin’s room, not knowing where else to go. I don’t want to be in “my” new room due to recent gore and Jungkook’s is apparently off limits. A comfortable bed sounds better than anything right now and that means I’m not sleeping on a bare mattress, so even if I have to negotiate and put up with…

Jimin is gone. A little relief floods through me. He’s probably off doing whatever he does when he disappears for days at a time. Hopefully he won’t be mad about me staying here. Maybe it’ll play into the whole instinct thing and soothe him, like how I started staying close to Jungkook originally.

I sigh as I settle beneath the blankets, pulling them up to my nose to shield myself from the cold air flowing out of the air vent. The classical music had been turned off, allowing my mind to wander.

Jimin had relented in the end. Maybe… he can change. It’s a bold assumption and something I’ll probably regret considering later. Still, he has been slightly different since I woke up, since the whole demon incident, and even after the bite. Maybe if I just try a little more, he’ll see that the world isn’t all bad… that the man who “abandoned him” doesn’t matter because as long as Jimin tries to change, tries to become a better person, he’ll have people to support him. I will support him.

But then a month passes, and Jimin has yet to return.

✩✩✩♔✩✩✩

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[athyrabunlord]

A/N: (⊃◜⌓◝⊂) finished more concept doodles for [Animus/JobSet AU]

[Law Enforcement] [Fuurin Shrine] [Ohara Apothecary]

Ramblings Info/Background below cut:

[Fuurin Shrine]

Kurosawa Dia

The shrine maiden at the Fuurin shrine (the kanji for Fuurin literally means 'wind bell'). As the eldest of the ancient Kurosawa family, she upholds her family teachings and does her best to preserve traditions. Hence, she often gets into arguments with Ruby, who has a more open view on the spiritual matters and welcomes unconventional concepts and foreign ideas. Deep down, she is proud of her little sister all grown up and independent, though that does make her feel a bit lonely sometimes. She finds solace in the cats that often surround Kanan and Chika, and greatly appreciates it whenever Chika comes by with a few cats that are left in her care.

During the time Ruby was away traveling abroad, she grew close to her student Hanamaru. In a way, the young calligrapher filled the void that her little sister left behind, but she certainly didn’t consider her a mere replacement. Hanamaru has become a true friend and Dia values her opinions. As per her family's instructions, Dia was to give the blessed katana, the Kochou, to someone worthy of wielding it as well as using it to its greatest potential. She was told that she would know who the right person was when the time was right. Eventually, Dia determined Kanan was the one, though she didn’t explain to Kanan why she chose her. Dia considers You to be a good assistant in tasks like locating mischievous spirits that play harmless pranks on civilians, and since Kanan has complete trust in You, Dia also does the same.

The Kurosawa Family specializes in cleansing vengeful spirits or vanquishing youkais, and there haven't been any prolonged supernatural cases for generations. Therefore, Dia takes the recent events seriously and vows to get to the bottom of this. She is highly suspicious of the foreigners, especially the airy self-proclaimed blonde chemist, even more so after finding out her precious little sister's closeness to Mari. Yohane’s tricks confuses Dia to no end and even rather irritating sometimes. At least, Riko seems like a reasonable person, seemingly aloof but actually warm-hearted.

For most of the supernatural cases, her direct intervention wasn’t needed. The ofuda/talisman imbued with her powers is more than enough. She would dress in her ceremonial robes to perform miko dance; there has yet to be any youkai that could defy this purifying power. Additionally, the winds would answer her call and heed her commands. However, this also causes great strain on the spellcaster’s body, so Dia would only resort to this if necessary.

Matsuura Hanamaru

A calligrapher learning the Art of Sealing - using the fudepen, she is able to create wards to keep off the lesser malevolent spirits, or confine the stronger ones on parchments until those with spiritual powers (such as Dia and Ruby) can purify them. She is proud to be Dia's student and both Kurosawa sisters' friends. She tries to be understanding and supportive of each sister's viewpoints, and thus encouraged Ruby's desire to travel abroad while remaining by Dia's side to provide companionship. When Ruby left on her trip, she missed her dearly and worried for her constantly, and most of that worry was transferred to her adopted sister Kanan. Kanan sometimes (fondly) remarks that she nags like Dia does. The similarity makes her happy, as she's always admired Dia and wanted to be like her. Even then, she continued to wear her hair in a ponytail like Kanan does.

She grew up with her grandparents in a secluded temple, but they passed away when she was just a little girl. Lost and scared, she remained in the temple and lived off of what remaining food the pantry had. Before things became dire, an older girl came by the temple in hopes of finding food and water. Kanan had lived off of the streets as long as she remembered, and she wanted to settle down at a place close to the sea. After Kanan invited Hanamaru to come along with her, the little girl decided to leave the temple behind and they traveled to many places until they reached Uchiura. It was by luck that they inadvertently helped out the aging Chief Inspector Matsuura in one of his errands, and he decided to adopt them after hearing their story. Kanan underwent intensive training to succeed him, while Hanamaru decided to learn more of the spiritual world at the Fuurin Shrine. A part of her still feels guilt for leaving the temple, but she does not regret her decision.

Since she is petite, her unusual strength always surprises people who don’t know her. Perhaps it’s due to being Kanan’s adopted sister or something, but she is able to carry her giant fudepen and utilize it fluidly, no problem (sometimes even uses it like a club…). She is quite protective of her family-like friends, so she is also skeptical of the trio from Ohara Apothecary. Riko seems an okay person, and Ruby always talks highly of Mari, so that just leaves the incomprehensible errand girl Yohane. At least, her magic tricks are entertaining zura.

Kurosawa Ruby

Apprentice alchemist. As a Kurosawa, she is naturally intuitive to spiritual matters, and she does take great pride in her family name. However, she also worries for her older sister Dia, who abides by rules and traditions and is practically confined to the family shrine. The heiress has to remain on shrine grounds and its perimeter in order to conserve the shrine’s full power. Ruby doesn’t believe in sacrificing one’s happiness, least of all not her sister’s, just because tradition demands it. She wants to learn and see more of the world, and surely there is a way for mikos to retain and utilize their powers regardless of location. In spite of Dia’s disapproval, Ruby left Uchiura and traveled abroad.

The journey was exciting albeit a little frightening. She grew to be so much more independent and confident throughout her trip, but she truly found her calling when she met a quirky scholar named Mari. Mari, however, is actually an alchemist searching for an item that can make the impossible the possible, a concept that enticed Ruby. Mari was intrigued by the spiritual ways, which acted like a catalyst for many chemical reactions, and so she took Ruby under her wing for a while as an apprentice. Before they parted ways, Mari promised to come by Uchiura one day and they could reconvene.

After Ruby returned to her hometown, she continues to study alchemy and attempts to hybridize the two very different disciplines, much to Dia’s displeasure. She sometimes shares her discoveries with Hanamaru, as well as You, Chika and Kanan whenever they visit. When Mari finally comes to Uchiura as promised, Ruby is happy but also conflicted by Riko and Yohane’s involvement in Mari’s quest. While it is good to have more members to their cause, it also presents the issue of fairly distributing their discovery, whenever that may be. Ruby doesn’t like such thoughts and hopes that she never has to choose between her sister or her teacher-friend. Sometimes she has the urge to exorcise Yohane even though she’s pretty sure Yohane is a human...

[mooglequeenx-blog]

Podcast: Paranormal Almanac. An interview.

First, let me start by saying I love paranormal almanac and would like to thank Kurt for inspiring me to truly go down this rabbit hole.

Second, this was an awesome almost 2 hour interview with Debbie in her house where the haunting took place.

While I highly recommend listening to the whole podcast I will do an overview of points that stood out to me here.

Dates:

Debbie claims that the haunting was over 9 years from start to finish. However the time line is shown to be from 1987 through to 1992. The haunting appears to have begun after a caretaker preforms a santaria. The haunting ended in 1992, with the passing of Lee. The home is now peaceful.

Lee: Debbie Moffitt’s mother in law. She is the one that mr. entity is attached to. They could leave house and the entity would follow. The entity claims that she is owed to him in a blood sacrifice from a past life. The entity seems to try and get her to kill her self or others to do so. It is unclear why he can not do so, the entity is quite powerful.

Mr. Entity: The entity, aptly named by Debbie herself. The entity introduced himself as prince (which is most likely not his real name). She opted to call him Mr. The entity has many powers, and a distinct personality. While he wanted Lees life that he claims was owed to him, he was in his own way a family member. He would remind of dates, chores, make jokes and even tell the future. However all of this came along with destruction. Blown out windows, knives in every imaginable surface, writing, running water, heavy objects moved, and perhaps the strangest an ancient spear aported into the families bedroom.

The entity knew of events past, present and future. He talked of things to come that came true (such as a murder), and others that Debbie will not talk about. He would respond to questions and hold full conversations. He knew many languages and left symbols from all religions and cultures. The symbols were left with almost all writings. It is believed by some, myself included, that this is how he harnesses his powers.

He had the power to apport items into the house. Knives, ancient spear heads, trinkets, jewelry and even a tree. But it appears these items took quite a bit of energy from him, much like conversations did. He had the power of destruction. He could blow out windows, break cars or move them, move heavy appliances and move or break furniture.

His powers went beyond poltergeist. A poltergeist is typically seen in families with adolescent females. In this case there were none. Poltergeist also typically don’t communicate. His personality did not seem demonic. While according to the warrens, the demons can communicate through writing it is typically written backwards (from right to left). It is also typically not helpful. They won’t make jokes, bring gifts or give daily reminders such as the fire works show is tomorrow.

So this brings us to what was he? He is an interesting blend of many things. Powerful, smart, and apparently outside our realm of time. There are many theories. But paranormal almanac puts forward an interesting one. A jinn. An explanation I plan on elaborating in a later post

The house: The location of the haunting is Rancho Cucamonga, California. The house is supposedly a lovely inviting home now. A far cry from the description of the house during the haunting. It is supposedly a good sized home; Two stories. During the haunting the upstairs was ruled by mr. entity. If the family went upstairs they were assualted by the entity. Once, during a cleansing, a vision of mr. entity was seen in the upper story. This occurred in the attic, where the first disturbances occurred. For the whole of the haunting, the family stayed in the downstairs master bedroom.

The house had been attempted to be cleared, exorcised, cleansed, etc. all of which had failed. In some cases the attempts were even mocked by the entity. Prior to shamans coming, the entity played war drums all night. While this was comical to Debbie (and the entity I imagine) it terrified Lee and the others.

The symbols: While there were many other interesting points in the interview, it was and is the symbols that stand out to me. They were everywhere. They were in his mirror conversations with Debbie. The walls, floors, cars, everywhere. I don’t believe he would place them all over if they were not important. I have shared a few times his symbol, and plan to share others that had appeared during this time.

I believe he needed this to bring in the knives and spears. To bring himself through to speak with Debbie and tell the future. To inflict fear in Lee and manipulate those around them. I believe they will help decode his name which he never shared with the family. The only name he gave them was prince, and when it comes to entities, sometimes everything is in a name.

[hoshidanroyal]

▌ HEADCANON • • • ► Conquest AU ▌    ↳ REPOSTING FROM MY OLD BLOG. In short, an AU where Takumi survives the events in Conquest due to being exorcised by Sakura, develops the powers of a necromancer, and becomes the King of Hoshido who helps cleanse the lands of the spirits still stuck on earth. Credit to the wonderful @gentlexbloom for helping me with anything dealing with Sakura.

After falling into the Bottomless Canyon, Takumi was found wandering the woods several days later by Hoshidan soldiers, clearly in a strange hypnotic state. After taking him back to the nearest camp and allowing him to rest, the trance appeared to have worn off. Day by day as the war continues, Sakura is the only one to notice that there’s a difference in her brother;there’s changes in his mood, his mannerisms, the way he holds himself, the way he fights. It can’t be chalked up to the war; that war makes everyone and everything change. With Hinoka and Ryoma currently away leading their own troops, she doesn’t know what to do. Her training as a shrine maiden has granted her the ability to detect spirits, and she knows something has hidden itself inside him, but there isn’t a way to help without truly knowing what it is she’s dealing with. The spirit can’t dwell for long either, which causes the sporadic ups and downs he displays, and he constantly gets stabbing headaches due to the constant slipping in and out of his mind. The voices inside Takumi’s head are too strong to ignore after the battle trying to protect the Hoshidan capital. That, combined with the bitter loss to the Nohrians, Corrin’s refusal to side with Hoshido, and the news that Sakura had been taken prisoner, causes him to collapse into tears, his mind and body breaking and giving itself up for Anankos to fully take advantage of. To get the prince away for his own bidding, the spirit forces Takumi to throw himself off the city’s wall. It also forces his body to get right back up through the pain, forcing bones to mend and leading him back to where Garon has been stationed not too far from where Corrin’s camp had been. Again, the possession fades in and out, depending on the dragon-spirit’s mood. During a brief spell where the prince is fully himself, he hears of Sakura’s whereabouts. Despite the risk, he manages to escape when Anankos is focused purely on Garon. It takes a few days to fully stake out Corrin’s camp, but after mapping out an entrance and exit, and waiting for most of the soldiers to leave on a small campaign, Takumi rushes into action to free Sakura from prison, even if it does end in the guards’ lives. He and Sakura manage to make shelter in an abandoned shrine on Hoshido’s countryside, the village already empty and destroyed from the war party that had passed through weeks before. Due to still being in a considerable amount of pain, Takumi can’t fully help set up camp. Seeing that Sakura has moved up in rank to become a priestess and has begun training with the bow surprises him, and also regrettably makes him jealous that he wasn’t there to teach her and guilty over how much work she had to do just to help him. The pang of insecurity is enough for Anankos to sense, and the spirit once again secures its place in his mind, causing him to violently lash out against his sister against his will. It’s then that she has to take Takumi down (easy because he’s physically weak at the time) and perform a harrowing exorcism that lasts for several days and nights. By the end, both are fully exhausted, having to stay one more night in the old shrine to rest. While the spirit of Anankos is fully gone after the exorcism, Takumi’s physical appearance is permanently altered due to the evil tainting him and his brush with death. His skin is sickly pale, almost marmoreal, and cold to the touch, while his eyes have changed from red to purple. After being exorcised, and due to already being dead once before, he can no longer fall to the ways of evil or become possessed again. The Fujin Yumi also remains purple. Due to the bow being a holy weapon, it couldn’t fully become corrupted and take on the color red. It is, at times, stronger than the wielder in this regard. However, once it’s been infected, it can no longer return to its once vibrant blue. While previously the spirit was able to get into Takumi’s mind, it didn’t have an exact location of where the prince was. The severity of the exorcism, however, allowed Anankos to perfectly pinpoint his and Sakura’s location. King Garon sends a small group of forces in their direction to take care of the pair, only to be met with powerful resistance. As Takumi begs Sakura to flee, he’s overwhelmed by headaches again, and this time not because of the dragon-god. Spirits and corpses rise, allowing him to tune into their force and realize that he now commands them. Their cry to be free and kill the Nohrians is a will he feels the need to carry, and immediately he sets them onto the Nohrian soldiers. However, due to to not being able to fully control his new power, the corpses run amok in their own anger, causing destruction. Sakura and Takumi have to flee before they’re also killed. After Ryoma’s death, Takumi is physically ailed, having to pause their travels to vomit and overcome chills and a high fever. Even when he doesn’t feel the need to cry, tears still push their way from his eyes. His new necromantic powers make him overly-sensitive to the deaths of those close to him for now, making him feel weak and vulnerable. Not long after his death, Ryoma’s spirit appears before him, stating he wanted to see Takumi and Sakura; to help in the war one more time before he has to move on. Despite his begging, he doesn’t have the strength to force his elder brother’s spirit on,a and must accept his duty to fulfill the spirit’s final wish. After Corrin defeats the husk of King Garon, Takumi finally returns to get his revenge. Ryoma’s spirit appears behind him with similar features—glowing purple eyes, and the Raijinto has changed color to match as well. Outside the walls, the fight continues, as more spirits and corpses had been raised to help aid in the fight. There are two variations for this battle, with the first being the main:

Corrin is taken by surprise at the sudden attack, and the Nohrians are temporarily defeated. After they’ve retreated, Corrin must find a way to defeat the newest addition to the Hoshidan army before attempting another battle. The next time, Hoshido loses, but is spared by Corrin and Prince Xander.

Despite being taken aback, Corrin still manages to win the battle, although barely. Takumi begrudgingly surrenders, and he and Hoshido are spared.

Afterward, an uneasy truce is settled between Nohr and Hoshido. The crown passes to Takumi, mainly due to Hinoka feeling like she couldn’t be Queen and because Takumi had been raised to lead in similar fashion to Ryoma. Hinoka’s rank, however, rises to that of military advisor. There are two options for the position of royal advisor, with the first being the main:

Sakura. She has proven time and time again to be Takumi’s most faithful companion. He trusts her guidance, especially in areas where he usually relies on instinct. If it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t be the person he is today. Considering himself forever in her debt, he feels this is one of the best ways to repay her, and will always find ways to prove his thanks.

Saizo and/or Kagerou, if they’ve survived. They’ve both proven their loyalty to the royal family, no matter what. Despite being his elder brother’s retainers, they’ve known Takumi and his sisters for many years, and he still remembers when Kagerou was his mother’s retainer. He trusts Saizo as much as Ryoma once had, and believes the ninja to be a priceless ally no matter what’s been thrown in his way (for example, fighting against his twin brother on the battlefield). Kagerou has always been like an older sister, providing guidance since he was a child. Considering Saizo is similar to Takumi in that he relies on instinct whereas Kagerou relies on patience, it would allow the king to get differing opinions and weigh his options.

Due to the war being over, Takumi feels it’s necessary to cleans Hoshido and the neighboring neutral kingdoms of the spirits who lost their lives during their campaigns. With some of the monks and shrine maidens from the capital, he travels to various villages and battlefields to help the spirits pass on. He takes it upon himself to relay any messages to deceased’s family members as well, even if they were Nohrian. Eventually, under his royal advisor’s suggestion, he extends the offer to King Xander to travel to Nohr and release their spirits as well. As a way to tighten their bond, he also eases the spirit of King Garon off to the afterlife properly, away from the reach of any evil similar to that of Anankos.

[anthonywashrosado]

Who’s Afraid of Insightful Interpretation? - Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Play Review

Bernard Dukore and Matthew Roudané’s essays on Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?assert interpretations that lead the reader, by the end of each essay, to question the relevance of internal and external evidence presented. The internal evidence, that which is taken from the work, used by Roudané is more useful than the internal evidence presented by Dukore. “Useful”, or insightful, here ascribes value to the article. The article, or essay, is valuable if it is able to use internal and/or external evidence in support of an interpretation, evaluation, or analysis. This kind of critique allows the reader to judge or appraise the reading, rather than accept that the reading is the only interpretation. Although both writers reference external evidence, that which is taken from outside sources, only Roudané evidences his conclusions with historical facts; ones that Albee hints to in his play. Dukore’s perspective favores the traditional western literary lens. This scope is far too broad, and leaves space for any work to be interpreted in any way when compared to any thing in history. Roudané’s essay is more insightful, in that he offers a lens that is realistic and relevant.

While western traditional literary models will always be relevant in a society that idolizes western canonical values, it is a stretch to take a mid-twentieth century play and equate it to Medeafor the sake of proving that it does not compare to the glory of this classic tragedy. Dukore, as will be seen later, directs his readers to accept the connections he has provided. That is it. This is not useful, in that it pushes the reader too far from the work at hand. Roudané, on the other hand, presents a point and uses the internal and external evidence in conjunction to prove himself. He deduces his reasoning from logical associations between Albee’s artwork and his life experiences at Trinity College.

Roudané validates the violence present in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?The violence not only keeps the audience present as the night trudges along, he argues, but it also leads Martha to a place vulnerable enough for an exorcism of sorts. The exorcism of the “son-myth” (Roudané, 102) reveals the true roles of George, Martha, Nick, and Honey. Martha, the wife; the possessed. George, the husband; the exorcist. Honey and Nick, as Roudané sees them, become George’s “...assistants...whose unwitting participation in the ritual makes for a successful operation.” (Roudané, 102) The audience also exist as witnesses to confirm the efficacy of the exorcism. While it is argued that Martha and george are non-believably vicious towards one another, Roudané opens his essay with a compelling Virginia Woolfe quote from her novelBetween the Acts:

“Before they slept, they must fight; after they had fought, they would embrace. From that embrace, another life might be born. But first they must fight, as the dog fights with the vixen, in the heart of darkness, in the fields of night.”

Roudané, I would argue, acknowledges, the love behind George’s actions’ intentions. He does not take George and Martha’s words and exchanges at “face value”. Although covered with rabid words, their interactions and moments apart expressed a deep codependency. They love each other unconditionally.

While it can be argued who depends on who more, Roudané interprets George’s exorcism as his necessary removal of their son, or “son-myth”, from Martha. “When [she] becomes transfixed on her child [, their myth,] and hurts the most...” then George acts. (Roudané, 106) To support the essential and ritualistic happening of the night, Roudané utilizes the internal evidence of George’s recitation of the “Requiem Mass”. Roudané perceives the instance in act three when Martha describes their son as the “...one thing I’ve tried to carry pure and unscathed through this marriage...” as the moment “...of expiation, a cleansing intensified by George’s pleas for mercy evoked by his Dies iraeallusion.” (Albee, 241; Roudané, 107)

The exorcism, climax, ritual, final act is, for Roudané, a juncture of truth for George and Martha. The role of Honey and Nick is internally evidenced in Albee’s play:

George: ...peel labels, sweetie; and when you get through the skin, all three layers, through the muscles, slosh aside the organs (An aside to Nick)them which still is sloshable--(Back to Honey)and get down to the bone...you know what you do then? Honey: (Terribly interested)No!

George: When you get down to the bone, you haven’t gone all the way yet. There’s something

inside the bone...the marrow...and that’s what you gotta get at. (A strange smile to Martha)(Albee, 212) Roudané applies this internal evidence to assert his argument that George’s intent was based purely in love for Martha. Once the “son-myth” was provoked by Martha, she chartered George’s enticement to extend a welcoming stay to their witnesses. The act of unveiling of their “son” was a perepiteia that set the literal stage act two, titled Walpurgisnacht. The word is from the May Day Festival in Germany, where a “...cacophony of loud noises, incense, and holy water are used to achieve purgation...” or the purification/cleansing of someone/thing. (Roudané, 104) This ceremony, or “The Witches’ Sabbath,” is executed to exorcise demonic possessions. Following Albee’s hint to a calm before the storm, George transitions to the bar. He suggests drink after drink for their post-midnight guests, until the young couple are as drunk as their hosts. The night’s intoxicated state, ravenous volume, and proliferous cigarette smoke amplified each character’s intensity and sensitivity.

Roudané views the exorcism as more than the title of act three. To him it is the final event of the night, before the sun rises. He identifies it as a coming to the most sacred place of George and Martha’s love. Their restored sense of reality that comes with the “essential [sacrifice] if community order and harmony are to be restored.” (Roudané, 104) This argument is emphasized with a line from René Girard’s Violence in the Sacred, “Violence is the heart and secret of the sacred.” The violence that runs rampant throughout Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?is necessary and it is the cornerstone of what their night requires to be successful, that is for George and Martha. The affection expressed between George and Martha is not overt until the play’s end. It is disguised beneath actualized threats and haphazard verbal stabs. Roudané establishes value and beauty “between the lines” of Albee’s play. His exuberant writing style, I perceive, connotes an appreciation for Albee’s structural and content-based playwriting frameworks.

It is difficult to discern whether Dukore attempted to interpret or evaluate the work, until the end of his essay A Warp in Albee’s Woolf. He debates that the play has not “...succeeded in shaping the classical story in contemporary terms.” (Dukore, 99) For him, the work is of lesser value when compared to the classical tragedy that he states it is adapted from. He translates the title as an homage to Virginia Woolfe’s protagonist in her novel Orlando. His inclusion of external evidence, in this regard, is counter-effective to his argument. Moreso, it is an outlier that has no value to this discourse. Orlando experiences a gender-transition. Whether physically altered or solely trans-identified, Orlando’s “coming of gender” story can not be compared to the

“...change of sexual roles...” in Who��s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?It seems as though Dukore is confused with sexuality, gender, and gender roles.

Aside from the title, Dukore beats around the bush in accusing Albee of literary thievery. His accusation is not solely based on his parallel to Medea, but also on Albee’s refusal to take accountability for doing so. Herein lies a grande issue, one that renders Dukore to be one of the least useful critics that I have ever reviewed. He relates the internal evidence of child murder and George’s emasculation to the world of Medea. As a critic, I would not ever devalue Rent in relation to Remeau’s Les Paladins, nor would I ascribe value to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?in the context of Shakespeaere’s many glorified and ageless works. I appreciate the reference of scholarly and praised work, yet I am tired and bored by the entitlement of people who have the institutionally accredited “right” to claim a work successful or not; in comparison to an older, widely acclaimed work. Dukore compares Martha to Jason from Medea. Her adultery and status as daughter of a high ranking authoritarian are parallels concocted by Dukore. He notes that Martha cheats, as does jason. He then mirrors Martha and Medea’s fathers: Martha’s being the president of the university and Medea’s as Helios, god of the sun. Adding insult to injury, Dukore correlates Medea and George’s child-murders.

It needs to be noted that aside from Medea’s murder of her real-life children, her motivation was spawned from pure revenge. George kills his “son” in order to exorcise that which has been a daunting, malevolent force in both Martha’s life and their marriage. To associate the two acts as synonymous murders is to make George more ruthless towards Martha than he actually is. He loves her, and accepts her attacks. Dukore defines these attacks as emasculating gestures. However, the dehumanization Martha spits via words of fury at George produce emasculation not for the sake of emasculating, but for the cloaking of her own gender-based insecurities. Martha can not conceive children. Needless to say, Dukore’s arguments are a far stretch.

When a critic references internal and external evidence they need to keep in mind that the discourse between the reader and rtici is successful only if it allots the reader autonomy to appraise the critic’s stance. If the critic is unable to provide the reader this requisite resources, then they are ineffective and therefore not useful.

[wethewitchesthree]

Hello may I please request a reading from the Slow Holler Tarot (ready 2 have my deep dark acres unearthed) about how to once and for all completely get over and move on from my ex JJM? I just wanna live my life and not have my heart hurt and miss him :/ I JUST WANT TO EXORCISE HIM THE HECK OUT OF MY ENTIRE BEING AND MOVE THE HECK ON AND NOT BE A PATHETIC EMO BINCH PLS HELP - SSP (sad Emo hoe that never lets things go ever)

hello dear

the card I pulled for you is the Five of Vessels

“shed your tears over the past. cleanse your spirit of attachments that are presently too painful to maintain. prepare your heart for the promise of new life flourishing in the future.

the Five of Vessels taps into deep feelings of sadness, regret, and loss. setbacks, breakups, painful transitions, and failures are bound to happen to us sometimes. we can regret them all we like - obsessing over our mistakes and longing for what might have been - but we will eventually have to accept reality.

letting go of once-cherished relationships that no longer nourish you is painful, but essential. the five of vessels can indicate a belated and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to save something, which only makes things worse if it delays us from accepting the inevitable. it’s time to acknowledge what we’ve lost, to admit defeat, to let go.

allow yourself plenty of space to grieve even as you recognize and express gratitude for what remains. the tears we shed over today’s tragedies water the garden in which tomorrow’s joys will bloom.

to commit to living is to sign up for facing loss. we hold two visions, always - the past and the future, squeezing us into the present moment. what was bright and has faded is one vision. another, what is dying and will be reborn. decay brings forth new life.

face your grief, but remember it is only part of the story.”

- L

(free coven tarot readings are currently closed)

[doombox82]

MONSTA X THE CLAN FULL THEORY - ALL 3 VIDEOS.

I’ve been wanting to write this since Beautiful came out. There are a lot of fan theories, but this one is mine! :3 If you’re able to read through it, please feel free to discuss it with me. There are some parts I’m still shaky on. But here we go anyway. 

In a nutshell I feel the three videos are representative of MX coming together, finding their roles, and overcoming their own weaknesses. And here’s why:

All In: The story of 7 kids who want to change their stations in life. I won’t go into who seems like family and what label relationships fall under (but I know I am all for the THE ship *wink*) but I do think the associations are important. In this video we get 2 very solid stories with Shownu and Jooheon, then again with Hyungwon and Minhyuk. 

Shownu - His story seems to be one of loss and failure, well a few of them are to me, but Shownu’s especially. He make’s the choice to gain his money by illegal means and in the end it didn’t even save the elderly man. It was all for nothing. I associate this with Shownu’s trainee days where he took things for granted only to get dropped from his previous company. Mistakes were made, so to speak. 

Jooheon -  Jooheon seems to be the instigator of things happening, The group approaches the men in uniforms and Jooheon immediately jumps in first. Shownu needs money to help a sick family member and Jooheon is the one to give him a weapon to do it. Jooheon seems to be the overseeing shamanistic character while the mysterious blue serum is created. Jooheon’s role through the entire series seems to be this type. I associate this with Jooheon feeling like the master of his own destiny. He doesn’t need those big companies to make him famous, he’s going to do it his own way. 

Hyungwon - We meet Hyungwon as young rebel, harassing the police, afterwards a man who seems like his father punishes him in front of everyone for it. We get the feeling Hyungwon’s father is an unapproving, strict and likely pious man given the imagery of his own crew and their cross/plus sign imagery associated with them. This alone already has a strong imagery for “old regime” that we see get overthrown by the MX gang. Hyungwon’s punishment was getting hit, specifically in the face, which we later see him try to hide from Minhyuk. And while his friends are fighting for him later on in the video we see Hyungwon has given up (looking pretty much dead in the bathtub) once he was left alone. I associate this with Hyungwon feeling he has little value as a team member outside of his face/visuals and relies too much on the rest of the group in other areas. 

Minhyuk - The friend, the protector, the vengeful spirit. Minhyuk is known for being a person who looks after MX, his looking after Hyungwon in this is definitely representative of that to me. He also pushes to storyline farther by burning down cross/plus sign HQ (with possibly Hyungwon’s father and followers inside?) effectively taking down the “old regime” to let MX Clan have their freedom from previous expectations and standards. 

The others - Wonho, Kihyun, and I.M don’t have strong presences in this story arc, but we do see a moment near the end where Kihyun throws down his crutches and begins to run in the same direction as the rest of the boys, late is better than never, right? This may represent Kihyun not having he same closeness as some of the other members in the trainee and early MX days. Wonho and IM could be in the background here for other reasons, if you watched No Mercy you know IM came in late and took a bit of time before he was accepted by the other trainees. Wonho has some confidence issues and he may look at himself as more of a supporting role from this period. With him it’s hard to say. 

WTF IS THE BLUE FLOWER BREW??? It took me a long time to think on this, seriously, months... but I’ve come to the assumption the blue serum is the culmination of Monsta X. It’s X serum! All of the strength and happiness they feel when they are together is what makes this serum. The blue flowers are symbolically Monsta X before Monsta X knew they were Monsta X. Monsta X-ception? Yes. This is why it is only made when they are together, they drink it and start painting Xs all over themselves, they exorcise their inner demons, they are cleansed. This is why when Shownu burns all of his money he only has one thing left, his blue vial, and he drinks it to give himself strength (this makes more sense as we continue on to Fighter). This is also why when Minhyuk doesn’t know what else to do he pours the serum in the water and gets in the tub with almost-dead Hyungwon. And just then, we see Hyungwon flinch in reaction. 

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. I haven’t even touched the part where MX are in the white uniforms with white guns! This entire part of the video is their united dream for the future. It’s not reality yet, but the boys picture a world where they are not victims, they are -ta-da~- FIGHTERS. Only in this series of scenes do we see them all together, all marching towards a common direction with a giant BLUE heart at the end of it. The heart of Monsta X. They want to discover it together. This is also why Minhyuk feeds the blue flower to Hyungwon in the beginning, when the team is weak, it’s the power of X (flower) that keeps them going. 

Fighter: One of the main things to remember about these videos is they are all very stylistically different, but they are still the same story. All In showed us the dream of Monsta X, now Fighter shows the hard work it took to get everyone working together smoothly. I’ve seen people think there is a time jump, but I don’t think there is much of one at all actually, because the entire thing is figurative to begin with. 

Shownu - We find Shownu in jail, serving his sentence, and he gets this wonderful dance sequence where the blue (remember blue symbolizes Monsta X) light appears and practices dancing until he dances his way right out of those bars and atone/learn from his mistakes. We’ll just say he got out early for good behavior if that helps at all. As soon as he’s out we see him with his ol’ buddy Jooheon waiting for him, ready to knight him. Bears represent Shownu, we see them come up again repeatedly in this video. Hyungwon and Minhyuk are given gummy bears, I.M jumps to action after seeing the bear “power up” in his game, and there are two bear-headed figures next to Jooheon who I think represent Wonho and Kihyun. The knighthood here represents Shownu accepting his leadership role. He ain’t wearing those gold laurels for nothin’.

Wonho - He finally gets a much stronger presence here. Wonho has accepted his role as the studio engineer! You engineer machines, but you also engineer sounds in a music studio, coincidence? I think not. We now know Wonho works on a lot of music from his time as a trainee until now, but it wasn’t until Monsta X that his confidence has grown. He creates an X machine powered by X serum and controlled by the members themselves. The fact that the machine suspiciously looks like television set is probably also not a coincidence since the group debuted on a television show. 

Kihyun - At first I was really confused by Kihyun dragging a body around in a back alley. I still feel this represents being somewhat lost, alone and angry/violent (this will connect to Beautiful later) until he meets someone who shows him a new direction to take (Jooheon is that you?), and not long after he’s joined I.M and Wonho on their bicycles heading to the X machine. [Note: When I say Kihyun has a “violent” tendency, I don’t mean physically. I think it has to do with him having a sharp tongue and a quick mind that he sometimes uses against other people to get what he wants. But it’s harder to find something that symbolizes that as succinctly, ya know. The body Kihyun is dragging could also be symbolic for him killing/leaving behind his ‘old ways/old self’ before he becomes an MX member too.]

Hyungwon & Minhyuk - Together again. Looking like they are having forced psychiatric treatment for attempting suicide which we know they both looked like they did in the end of the last video. However, straight jackets also have symbolic meaning for simply feeling restrained and wanting to lose your mind over the frustration. Hyungwon and Minhyuk were struggling, not where they wanted to be (remember they were fighting against gaining a better status in life and finding where they belong), so the asylum really fit both of those aspects. and with a blue flash of light at the door we have fabulous, doctor-in-disguise, Jooheon handing out gummy bears before he breaks them out. Again, the bears represent Shownu and by eating them Minhyuk and Hyungwon accept the hierarchy of Monsta X and -poof- they are outta there.

Jooheon - A mysterious hooded figure out to anoint a leader and collect his members. The mastermind overseer is back at it again. Jooheon is the one filling Wonho’s X machine with X serum, since he made it in the previous video that hasn’t changed. He’s still the same man on a mission to show the world Monsta X.

I.M - He’s off on his own, “playing” which I feel represents him working on his craft until he sees Shownu’s bear power up and jumps to action joining the others. As if he was ready and waiting for the signal literally and symbolically. I.M also handles the controller of the X Machine as if it were the game he had been practicing this entire time. We see the screen flicker back and forth until it is blue, X flower blue. This seems to say I.M was born ready to show off his skills, all he wanted was the chance to show itself. 

Blue flower blooms and the ending -  “I need to wait for the right moment... right NOW!” I feel like this part of the video is referencing their debut specifically. The blue flower blooms at the ‘right moment’, the boys break out into a white hallway (blue and white are reoccurring themes), prior to this all of the surroundings had been dark and ominous. Now things are bright, the way is clear and boys are running to freedom. And it’s fleeting, but for a split second we see Jooheon also smiling and running alongside everyone else releasing his overseer position for a moment and joining in the brotherhood of it all. We see a giant blue heart floating again, this time instead of blue dimly showing through blackness, we have blue “blood’ running through a white heart. The power of Monsta X runs through their veins now. 

Beautiful:  We’ve seen the boys meet, work hard, debut, but that’s not all there is to it. The house is built but it needs fortification. Only as a team do you see your own weaknesses magnified. This video is about each member finding what they need to improve for the betterment of the entire group. This video seems to the most straight forward but there’s still a little bit of it I’m not 100% sure on when it comes to Hyungwon but I’m doing my best. ^^; We see each member locked in a room with the exception of Jooheon who has taken back his instigator/overseer role again. We have a white hallway which connects directly with where Fighter left off. Jooheon watches each member and at the right moment gives them a tool they need to overcome a weakness.

Shownu - Shownu’s room is blue (yes -that blue-) full of plants with one special one in a terrarium in the center of the room. We see he’s given his object: a vial of X serum, which could represent either he needs the power of Monsta X to help him grow, or the flower in the terrarium represents Monsta X and he needs to help them continue to grow. Probably a combination of both in more Monsta X-ception. It hurts my head a little bit at this point lol. 

Wonho - It looks like he’s in a room full of post office boxes, he opens one to read a letter and seems to have a wave of emotion. He is given a pen so he can reply to his letter. It seems simple, but I think this has to to with claims that Wonho isn’t good about asking for help, he puts a lot on himself. He’s also known for having a rather emotional personality so I think communication was his obstacle and learning how to reach out to his team when he needs to.

Minhyuk - His is tricky because it seems to be a room with pendulums that don’t move and balls on pedestals. It immediately makes me think that pendulums should be swinging and balls should be rolling (but if someone else has a better interpretation of this or I’m missing something please share!) so Minhyuk’s weakness would be a lack of action (which seems opposite his previous themes, but this is also after debut so possibly now he feels he’s not taking advantage of his situation as much as he could). He is given a pocket watch/clock which I think is to remind him time is limited and precious. 

Kihyun - Back to sharp tongued “pointed” personality Kihyun. His room is basically an armory. He’s surrounded himself with weapons, and is given a hammer to shatter those swords. Again, I read this as Kihyun learning to soften his edges for the sake of getting along with everyone. 

Hyungwon - And the one I’m the most unsure on, but we see Hyungwon in a beautiful room, watching the sand pass through his fingers, then beating at his door in anger. He is given a mirror, but he is the only one who seems like it could have been a trick question? He looks at himself then drops the mirror. He’s also seen looking at himself in the sculpture in his room. It’s the only time a tool given doesn’t seem to have an actual use. And I think this is why, previously I drew some symbolism from All In focusing on Hyungwon’s face and him possibly feeling like that is all he has to offer are his visuals, but with him looking into the mirror and then discarding it it’s like he knows he’s got the face but he has also learned he’s worth more than that. You can see a huge confidence arc with him through all 3 videos and I think it’s intentional. 

Jooheon - Watching. Waiting. Sitting on some rope. What? Jooheon has also been locked away in his little hallway with his own dilemma. There is something he also needs from the members, themselves! Rope would easily symbolize binding, as in Jooheon needs his bond with the members to push him forward. And it’s actually been that way since the beginning of the videos. Only when they are all together are they Monsta X. 

I.M - I.M is in a room full of gold and money. He gets angry and starts throwing gold bars like they were tic tacs (lol) and is given matches.This is the second time we see a member burning money. I think this may be I.M learning money doesn’t solve your problems and possibly to be less materialistic. I don’t have anything to back this particular one up but it just seems like burning money can only have so many meanings. If you have any help on this one I’m all ears.

In the end we see them all leave their rooms when they’ve overcome their issues and join Jooheon before continuing their journey down the white hallway. This is the only video with a dance sequence so one could guess the white hallway leads to the stage they’re dancing on. And that ties things up pretty nicely tbh.