#and then i check the wikipedia page for The Rose and saw that there was a drawing of the theatre : WRONGLY TITLED THE GLOBE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spellnbone · 4 years

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London Theatres Part II

There are three types of Wizarding Theatres.

Mirror Theatres

This first type is the most common. These theatres can be found spread across all of London, even the whole of Britain, wherever older Muggle theatres stand. The access is simple: one goes to the box office and asks for a ticket for the Wizarding play one wishes to see. In some larger theatres there’s a separate box office designated for Wix, though they usually also sell normal Muggle play tickets for the few confused Muggles who wander up to it.

The tickets are little one-time keys, which one uses to open a backdoor on which a sign reads: Staffs Only. This is (similar to the Shifting Wall in the Leaky Cauldron) the entry to the Wizarding World. Muggles often believe that their theatres are haunted, but that is only because the veil between the worlds is thin in those places and when it’s quiet between shows, one can hear the grunts and moans not of ghosts of actors past, but of Wizarding techies working their butts off.

The plays in these places range from ancient to modern. Who they hire and who they let in depends on the place. Most places welcome every type of paying customer, some even Muggle relatives. Some will be more restrictive, perhaps only allow adults. Tragedies, comedies, tragiccomedies, some abiding to the dramatic laws of Aristoteles, some following traditional Wix rules, it often all depends on the director.

- The Old Vic

- The Palace

- The Lyceum

- Prince Edward

- The Palladium

Purean Wix Theatres

One of the oldest theatres in London was torn down in 1605. It went by the name of The Rose and has since then been lost -- to Muggles. Wix however, who used to share the place with the Muggle acting troupe, were quick to rebuild it. A charm akin to the one that hides Hogwarts has since made the place invisible to Muggle eyes. Whichever Muggle does happen to wander out to the ruins of The Rose and gets too close, is suddenly magically reminded of The Globe and starts wandering away, reciting Shakespeare.

Since 1606, a Pureblood family has kept The Rose with all its traditions intact. The old laws of theatres apply here still and one will only ever find plays written in ancient times, singing of old customs and the honorable ways of the old Purean Wix World.

Make no mistake, though, those old Purean traditions are perhaps not as open minded as the modern Muggle Witch but they date from a time before the Statue of Secrecy was crafted, a time before Witches were burnt at stakes, a time before Wixkind loathed mankind. Those plays do perhaps depict a world where Wix were believed to be gods, where masters of divination were called oracles and hailed to speak ever-truths, where Wizards ruled side by side with Kings and were respected more than that -- but they don’t speak of a segregation between the magical and non-magical folk. Those Purean traditions believe that the only way to liberate Wixkind is by letting them rule of Muggles once again and guide them towards a better world.

Which is why, in 1979, when a Muggle archeologist decided to rebuild the old Rose (it took him multiple attempts to even remember his endeavour), the Wizarding World broke a sweat. Should they move The Rose? Should they destroy it to make sure no Muggle could find it? Should they keep it, talk to the new owners and re-establish the old Mirror? It’s probably going to take the archeologist a couple of years to go through with his plan (seeing how he’s currently forgotten about his endeavour again...) but what is a decade to a people that’s as old as time?

So last year, a new Purean Wix Theatre has popped up in the far west of Wizarding London (right at the end of Knockturn Alley): The Proud Elm Tree.

The facade is imposing and made of black stone, standing in a grand open space, not touching or mirroring any Muggle place, and the name is inscribed in a gleaming silver, which as you look more closely, you realise is a snake twisting in cursive across the banner. This theatre has yet to open but rumors have it that the first play they’re rehearsing right now has hired only Purebloods, from the playwright to the actors, and that the director has no interest in reviving ancient Purean Wix Plays at all. In fact, those who have glanced at the script are certain to have never heard those lines before, and that their modern verses are spewing arguments against the old traditional beliefs which The Rose held so dear. No The Proud Elm Tree doesn’t want to reunite Muggles and Wix in peace, they want to dominate the former -- or perhaps worse.

- The Rose

- The Proud Elm Tree

Underground Theatres

The third kind of theatre is perhaps the most underwhelming kind, to both reader and audience. Those places are to be found at the back of smoky pubs, in cellars or behind backdoors so inconspicuous, you need a special guide to find them. They house directors who have fallen from grace, actors who’ve made a name for themselves for being particularly terrible at acting, and faces who will soon be the new stars of the Wizarding World but are yet still undiscovered. But more importantly: they house ideas.

Those places are perhaps nestled deep into Wizarding London with no money to afford a cross-door to the Muggle World like the great theatres do, yes, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t open-minded. Muggleborns find voices here, Half-Breeds scribe their stories, and their audience is filled with eager eyes with all sorts of different looking pupils. The plays are -- in the eyes of the Pureblood Elite -- outrageous, an insult, and the epitome of why Voldemort is right. And perhaps that’s why those theatres are currently thriving: they’re an outspoken, safe space for people to gather and discuss, exchange ideas and find friends.

Those places are hard to find, and sometimes on purpose as it’s better not to name what mustn’t be known by the wrong kind of people, but when you do find them, you will see the proof that Voldemort’s rise to power has not yet scared everyone into silence, and that as long as those communities continue to make art, true silence might never exist.

- List of underground Theatres (and other Shops in Wizarding London)

[credit goes to amos and ilya, too]

#{ it’s rotten work }#{ wisdom begins in wonder }#i want you all to laugh abt The Rose joke with me so:#most ppl only know the globe nowadays right?#which is unfair bc it was by far not the first or best establishment of that time #the same way most ppl only know shakespeare and not any of his contemporaries #even if they were far more popular than him #and then i check the wikipedia page for The Rose and saw that there was a drawing of the theatre : WRONGLY TITLED THE GLOBE #i mean thats just #so unfortunate #i laughed for a long time #and thus you will see this mislabelled picture in the collage when u click the link #bc the idea that this was accidentally mislabbeled bc of the charms protecting the Wix Rose is just #too delightful

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lifeexperience · 4 years

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We are vengeance.

It has been almost three month since Lila Rossi came back from her fabulous trip from Achu. And since she arrived again she enjoyed the glamour. Enjoyed how everybody - who was someone, of course, - danced as she moved her strings. Even that Capitano della Moralità, Adrien was doing what she was saying.

Just lonely, little Marinette stood on the other side.

The Italian grinned confidently. If she had some plan like that day, she was going to ruin that little girl.

Anyway she had to take prioritization of her tasks. Firstly it’s time to make a Wikipedia page about herself for future reference. She couldn’t be sloppy from here because she could meet more forceful people than Dupain-Cheng.

Okay, so she would list her accomplishments: modeling with Adrien Agreste , best friend with Shaytan, knowing Jagged Stone… When she finally finished, the sun already went down and it was dark. Lila disinterestedly looked at her door, his mother again worked overtime.

Nevermind, she would eat something then collect links of her publications. Yepp, after some pasta all'Ortolana the work would be so much easier.

However when she went back to gather her online mentions she didn’t find anything. There was nothing about her on the Ladyblog, or on Adrien’s Instagram. Someone deleted them? Who? Maybe it’s just a bug? She would know more if she asks Alya first.

Yeah, don’t need any panic.

“Ciao Alya! I have a question.” she said immediately as that wannabe journalist answered. “Yeah, yeah, così accidentally you didn’t delete my interview from your blog, right?” She nervously patted her laptop as she waited for Alya to look at it. After two minutes there was the answer. She tried to disguise her anger, but she didn’t have the patient at the moment for that stupid girl apologizes.

So somehow her interview was lost. And she didn’t have to call Capitano della Moralità about their model photo, she knew he didn’t have too much control on it.

Lila unconsciously started to chew her nails. It was a bad habit of hers since her childhood.

Who had enough knowledge to hack two different websites to mess with her? Marinette was too morally high for this. And Max, who had the skill, was already under her thumb.

“Argh!”

She had to calm down. She couldn’t become an akume because of this since she planned a bigger performance for the next week.

Breath! In! Out!

Okay.

Maybe tomorrow she could make a new interview with Alya and drop some seemingly accident infos about the new adult heroes. Then at the weekend photoshoots she could force Adrien again.

Yeah. Why was she nervous at all? She could use this to grow her territory.

It has been almost six days since Adrien reluctantly posted a new photo about the two of them. There were fewer likes and more comments then before, but she was happy because she could continue to build her Wikipedia page. It would be her first thing when she got home.

And tomorrow she would start her small shame with poor Marinette again. The little girl already was alone most of the time in the school, but Lila knew it was a matter of time to find new friends outside of their class. And she wanted to prevent every attempt of it.

I am great at ruining others.

She smiled sweetly as she pretended to listen to another rabbling from Rose. That pink fool rarely shut up about her disgusting viewpoint, and Lila sometimes thought she would be a perfect next target after Dupain-Cheng. And if this little pink wannabe would be destroyed, her loser girlfriend would fall with her.

Yepp, she will be an excellent following after the shit show Marinette will go through.

“Lila, it’s not your phone?” Alix poked her. She turned to her in confusion and listened to the ringing.

“No.” she shook her head. “My ringtone is different. I don’t like metal music.”

The skater tilted her head. “You sure?” Lila nodded, starting to be annoyed. “Because it’s coming from your bag.”

“What?”

She hurriedly got her phone out, and indeed it was ringing with that strange growl music. And the number also was foreign, yet she picked up. “Hello?”

“It’s Lila Lucrezia Rossi?” Everybody in the classroom jumped at once.The voice from the other side was much louder than she thought and now every one of her classmates watched her with wide eyes. She fastly tried to turn down the volume as she answered in agreement. “So your appointment was moved to the next with Doctor Lacroix.”

“Wha...What appointment?” Lila asked. She didn’t remember any medical thing. Of course she told a lot of tails about her health problems, but she was completely healthy.

“So for the farting irritation.” The woman said with a monotone tone. And of course, because Lila couldn’t turn off the speaker everybody in the room heard it.

She blinked.

“I… I think you… you called the wrong number.” she muttered as now she tried to end the call. With no success.

“But you're Lila Lucrezia Rossi, age fourteen, Italian, aren’t you?” Lila looked around embarrassingly. How did that woman know that about her? If… If she denies it her little puppets' trust would crack. But if she continues this conversation… She didn’t even want to know.

And as she stood there in panic and listened about her supposed condition she wanted to be killed. Every fucking eye was on her. She even saw that goodie-two-shoe tried to hide her giggle with Adrien grinning next to her. And of course she noticed how her circle slid away from her.

Fuck.

She skipped two weeks of school again after that… THAT phone call. Of fucking course almost every one of her classmates called her almost daily to ask about her health. And she had to answer with a lot of information for Every Fucking QUESTION.

It was irritating.

However she couldn’t stay at home for more days because her mother. It would be too suspicious if there would be some supposed akuma without any TV gossip about it.

So she had to go to school.

Fortunately most of the kids were understanding and didn’t bring up the topic. But there was Kim. Of FUCKING course.

As many times as he saw her he faked a fart with a disgustingly loud moan. She tried to cry about it, though everybody said to bear with it. Kim was just Kim and if she didn’t react he would let it go.

At first Lila didn’t want to believe it then Alya patted her shoulder sympathetically and left her to stand alone. And because of these really annoying events she couldn’t start her plan with Dupain-Cheng who - of fucking couse - got closer to Adrien. To her key to the famous-rich-carefree life.

They were chatting cheerfully in the classroom without any glance at someone other than each. They were in their little world, and every girl in the class blissfully sighed at the sight.

And if that day was not enough of a bother to her somehow her school tablet started streaming porno when she tried to project out her presentation. She was mortified just like everybody in the classroom. And she didn’t even have luck with teachers. Because of - fucking - course that lesson was with Mendeleiev.

It was already December when she finally served her detention time because of that… THAT incident. She couldn’t go any photoshoot with Adrien due to her attendance problem.

She didn’t even see Batman, yeah THAT Batman when he saved Shaytan and Chat Noir. She was at a detention with others. Although she could tell Alya a little story about her knowing the American hero and how he called him to help Paris.

However she only had ten minutes to bask the light because her mamma called her home. Immediately. At first Lila found it strange, but she shook the confusion down. She said goodbye to the wannabe journalist and went home. She blissfully entered the elevator then with a big smile greeted her mother.

“Lila!” her mother nodded sternly. The woman waited as she - not so happily anymore, dropped her things in her room. “Why did you use your emergency money?”

Lila furrowed her eyebrows. “But I didn’t.”

“No?” her mamma asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t use her emergency card because her mother could check it anytime. That’s why she asked her payment in cash from Gabriel.

“Then tell me mia figlia, why your debit card is in the minus?” Her mamma held a tablet with an account statement in front of Lila. She slowly read over the document. And indeed, her debit card which was only for emergencies was in minus. The description list showed a lot purchasing from different sites that she didn’t even know.

“I didn’t do this.” she said franctincly.

“No?” her mother glanced at the numbers. “You know how much money it was? We kept it for your university years.”

“We?” Lila whispered as she became aware of the gravity of the situation.

“Yes. Your father was the one who drew my attention to it.”

At first Lila only just gaped then she felt how her blood started circulating. Of fucking course that bastard was the one who spying after her.

“You are a grounded signorina!” she heard her mother voice through her anger. “After the school ends you have to come home then do your homework. I take your phone and electronics too.”

She didn’t even have time to protest as she saw a dark butterfly. She quietly waited as that insect landed on her phone. “How unfair to blame something on others when she is not at fault.” She heard the well-known tone. “Finanza I’m giving you the power to punish everyone who sinned against you. Your only task to bring to me their Miraculous.”

“Of fucking course.”

She was defeated again. But one day she would destroy the fame of Shaytan. That girl would taste the fall and humiliation.

“LILA!” A loud yell cut her from her plans as she sat at the ground. “Lila!” Someone shook her. She looked up to meet Alya irritating face. “Are you okay?”

She blinked some to win some precious moment to calm down. Then she nodded with a fake whimpering. “What happened? You shouted about some money then forced everyone to admit their sins.”

“Oh… I… I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” she sobbed while she tried to hide her dry eyes.

“It’s okay.” Alya hugged her. “Can you stand up?”

She shakely raised on her foot. They silently walked along the pavement for some time when she finally looked around. They were not far away from the school. And of course it meant they were near to the Dupain-Cheng's bakery.

At first Lila didn’t even notice the bakery, then she heard a shocked gasp from next to her. Alya with wide eyes pointed forward. She also turned the direction and her jaw also dropped. There stood Marinette, little innocent Marinette, embracing a tall, muscular man. After some moments they let go of each other and with a big smile Marinette got in the car with the stranger.

“What… Who was he?”

Next day Lila wasn’t able to forget that stranger with the baker girl. He was gorgeous, but most important, older than them and a little dark. Plus he was clearly an adult. Alya tried to claim he was surely a cousin of Marinette, however Lila wasn’t that certain about it. They didn’t look alike. And if she remembered correctly Alya never told about any relatives of Marinette except her great-uncle chef and grandparents. Nobody else.

“Hm.” If she could twist it somehow then she would be on advantage again. But how? Alya was adamant about the family thing, but what if… Perhaps some well aimed stab about gang members. Perhaps.

Although she needed to conceal her mirth as she eyed her classmates. They all stood at the bottom of the stairs and were themselves like stupid sheeps they are. Lila forced a shy smile on herself and carefully stepped between them to tell a new tale about her time in China. And of fucking course it was not a coincidence, she knew well if she use any rather distinct - nevertheless linked to Marinette, - facts then Dupain-Cheng was much easier to upset.

However that stupid girl didn’t bother to pay any attention to her. She just stood beside Adrien and chatted happily with him.

Lila frowned.

“There is a problem?” someone poked her shoulder. It was Mylene.

“No… No.” her smile was strained. “I just… Why are Marinette and Adrien avoiding us?”

And everybody simultaneously turned their way. The two blissfully laughed at something as they ignored everything else.

“How sweet!” she heard Rose’s murmurs. Yeah, like pineapple on pizza. Bhrr.

She started to open her mouth to say something though she wasn’t able to voice any sound. A darker than black and really long limousine parked in front of them. It was not Adrien’s one, neither Chloé’s.

And the most surprising thing was Marinette jumping up and down for the sight.

All of them including Lila watched as their class president pulled Adrien to the car and after some debate with the driver they got in the car.

What did she just watch?

“Oh!” It was not a shocked ‘Oh!’, it was a ‘I realized what was happening’. And Lila also wanted to know what the fuck happened before her beautifull eyes.

“You know something, Nino?” She really tried to conceal her angry curiosity.

The DJ nodded with a relaxing smile. “Marinette’s family visiting from America.”

“You mean she has relatives in America?” Alya asked, more interested than a few minutes ago when she listened to Lila’s gossip.

“Oh, hell!” Kim shouted. “The brothers, right? I almost forgot about them.”

Alya tilted her head as he turned to the swimmer. “Brothers?”

“Yeah.” Nino talked again. “Dick and Jay, and Timtam… and… Who was the one who pissed Chloé off?”

“Some Da… De… Demon!”

“No. His name was…”

Lila tuned out the conversation. So Marinette had a family in the States. And they most certainly rich drawing that conclusion from the limo. Why didn’t she do better research before she transferred?

In the middle of the week was the career day and Lila was really lucky to talk her mamman down about coming to it. Of course she didn’t want her here. It would be a disaster.

She had a quite good feeling about the day. If she heard correctly only a few parents agreed to participate and after the school for the day would end. And naturally she kinda forgot this particular information when she told her mother about this ‘really awful’ day.

Yep, I am a genius.

She confidently walked through the hallways and winked at some cute boy because not only Adrien was appreciable in this school. Maybe if Monsieur Agreste would appear she could negotiate for a new line just for herself. After all she always paid attention to his handsome boy.

Humming the newest XY’s song Lila happily stepped in the classroom. However her mood dropped exactly that moment when her foot touched the room’s floor. Since there, in the middle of the room stood with her fake innocent Marinette and that gorgeous foreign man. And from closer he was more handsome than she first thought. Even Madam Bustier blushed and she had a husband.

Why has this girl this kind of luck?

Lila forced a charming smile on her face and with a friendly wave she sat down. She would not risk her status in front of that man when Marinette is nearby. She had to calculate carefully so for the time she just waited for the start.

When everybody arrived the teacher began her really boring speech about the importance of work knowledge and connections. Lot of the guests nodded in agreement. There was Rose’s mother who was a florist, Nino’s father was a doctor and Alix’s historian father. And of course Marinette’s mysterious man.

She was really curious about him. He wore a perfectly fitted suit and was fucking handsome, nevertheless he looked young. Maybe twentish. It’s maximum six year age difference between them. It’s not too bad.

She patiently waited as every one of the guardians did their presentation when finally the man stepped forward.

“Before I introduce myself I would like to clear something up.” His voice was a pleasant baritone. Even Adrien didn’t have that kind of sexy voice. Lila already enjoyed the show.

“I would like to ask everyone present to turn off the phones, tablets and any other smart device.”

Lila indifferently watched as everyone reluctantly got their device and turned them off. She didn’t get back hers since her mother grounded her. How lucky, she grimaced.

“In the next step please read through the confidentiality agreement that Marinette hands out. If you don’t want to partake in it or don’t agree to the terms I have to ask you to leave the room.” he continued as the baker girl gave everyone a copy.

As Lila looked around some of her classmates without thinking signed it up. And surprisingly it was Chloé and Adrien who handed back among the first. She also saw how after that some other looked at their paper with more bravery and signed it. She didn’t even bother to read it, just scan the logo at the top and the stamp at the bottom. She didn’t know this company so she also wrote her name on and handed it back.

Nobody left the room.

“Thank you, and I am apologizing for that little inconvenience, but this is necessary in today’s competitive sphere.” he said as he and Marinette counted and rechecked every one of the papers.

After a few minutes they finished. “Since today we also published an article it’s not that big of a harm if I introduce myself.” he smiled a little at Marinette and pulled her next to him. “My name is Damian Wayne and I am one of Marinette’s siblings.”

Lila straightened. She heard it right?

“I work at the Wayne Enterprise as a co-CEO beside my brother Timothy Drake-Wayne.”

It can’t be!

“After our Father decided he would like to spend more time with his family, I took over his position. Some of my...”

How the fucking hell?

Lila kind of lost herself and didn’t hear anything other than the slowly repeating ‘Wayne’ echo. That rascal was a Wayne heir?

And Lila targeted her?

Oh fuck.

It was Friday when Lila finally understood Marinette’s real power. It was never her connection or her skills. Not even her so-called friends.

No.

It was her family.

She of course knew about the Waynes. Who not? They were celebrities, start managers, philanthropists, fucking Gods. And of fucking course every one of the students also knew about them. So for the next couple of days went by like a couple of seconds. One moment she was the center of the attention then suddenly everybody wanted to be friends with Marinette.

Everybody.

Even the fucking street-sweeper.

And of course there was the media attention. The police had to be called because of the sensation. Lila even saw how two journalists quarreled about which one hid in one the bushes in front of the school.

Naturally she wanted to take advantage of the situation, however as the article with her name was published her mother’s phone started ringing. And the caller was Lila's worst nightmare.

On Friday she and her mamman head to the Wayne Enterprise’s Parisian branch. It was a modern building with clear glass windows and a big dark gold W letter. They were hurriedly ushering in an empty meeting room where there were too many chairs for Lila’s liking.

Her mother - of course, - was enraged. She almost learnt everything about Lila’s school life. Just almost. Unfortunately it was enough to lose her trust in her daughter. Lila was grounded kind of permanently. She wouldn’t get back her phone kind of ever. She only could use her mother’s computer and just for homework. She was not expelled from Francois-Dupont, however she had detention for a year and had to repeat this school year.

And now she would learn what the Waynes cooked up for her.

She grimaced.

“Good morning Madam Rossi and Mademoiselle Rossi.” greeted them Damian Wayne himself as he steeped in the room. He was followed by Marinette, her parents - or they were even her parents? Lila wasn’t able to read any article about the family ties. -, a petite Asian woman, then some other more business-like men and women. Surely the lawyers.

“I think you know why you are here.” Damian stated as he sat at the head of the table. Marinette went to his left side with her parents (?) and the petite woman sat down at his right side with the lawyers.

“Yes.” Her mother nodded.

“We would like to sue your daughter, Mademoiselle Lila Lucrezia Rossi, for breaking our confidentiality agreement. Furthermore ask a restraining order to prohibit her from approaching my little sister, Marinette Athanasia Al Ghul Wayne.” This man spoke with a really unconcerned voice that Lila almost thought he was not even interested in his sibling’s life.

“Yes.” Her mamman agreed without any protest.

“However” his voice steeled, “because my sister is a really kind soul she will not sue for the physical violence, a mental and physical harassment and the defaming.” he stared down at her with dark eyes. “Nevertheless we, as from her guardians who are presented” he pointed to the stranger Asian woman and himself, “decided to put on the blacklist Mademoiselle Lila Lucrezia Rossi in every business in which we owned the majority.”

The air got stuck in Lila’s body. Every business? Every? The Waynes owned half of the planet.

“But” spoke the petite woman, “we would ignore this blacklisting if the Mademoiselle successfully participates in various therapies.” She passes toward a paper. “It’s a list of some advised areas to search for good specialists. We don’t want to break a young child's career so we are ready to compromise.”

Lila almost believed her then she glanced at the man. At first she thought this Damian Wayne was gorgeous. And indeed his look was perfect, however she didn’t meet more horrifying people than him. His eyes screamed for murder.

She turned back to her mother who kind of looked relieved. “We… I thank you.” she breathed.

After that were just formalities. Signing up that or this. Lila wanted to run home and curl up. And cry.

She worked for her fame. She worked hard to destroy those lives in her way. She didn’t think she would meet someone who could destroy her with just a flick.

However the paper said otherwise.

Her fucking status said otherwise.

She didn’t remember a lot from the meeting after that. She barely registered when they arrived home. She almost didn’t hear her father's disappointed voice on the phone.

And Lila almost missed the little note on her desk. With a photo about herself as she moves to get an akuma.

We are the night. We are vengeance. We are a family.

#maribat #lila rossi #platonic daminette #bio dad bruce wayne #oneshot #2021

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listentothelittlebird · 4 years

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TW: dissociative episode

This was a whole scrapped oneshot, mostly because I couldn’t fit it in properly... I misread something on a wikipedia page and somehow ended up with “Jason revisited Ethiopia sometime during the Red Hood and the Outlaws, and had major PTSD”. I’m fairly sure I was sleep deprived at the time... (I’m honestly happy with how this one turned out, but it was just out-of-place with the rest of the other oneshots)

This is a “deleted scene” from my series on ao3, Code Bat!

It was a quiet, peaceful night, until the comms crackled to life.

“N,” Oracle called, “RH entered Gotham an hour ago. The new Super he befriended brought him in, but he hasn’t moved from his location since. Can you go check on him?”

Nightwing frowned. Jason was in town?

He was happy to have a chance to see his Little Wing, of course, but this was an unplanned visit. Usually he would at least radio in ahead, and dramatically announce his return by searching for them during patrol time.

Something was wrong.

“R and I are still dealing with the drug ring,” Batman grunted, “We’ll be with you as soon as we can.”

It seemed even the Bat himself was getting worried.

“I’m turning in for the night. BG’s headed towards RH right now. Let me know how he is, alright?” Spoiler paused, before adding, “I can pull an extra patrol or two, if he needs you guys for company. I’m not an official fam’ member, but I’m more than ready to help.”

Nightwing would have hugged Spoiler if she was standing next to him.

Batgirl was already at the rooftop when Nightwing arrived. She was crouched directly in front of Jason - in his Red Hood outfit, skull-like helmet still on his head - and staring. Nightwing had learnt to read Cass’ body language, and right now she was practically screaming concern. She straightened when Nightwing touched down.

“Unresponsive,” she signed, “Alive, but not there. Like the victims we saw last week.”

Nightwing sighed, a rush of air escaping his chest. It was relief mixed in with new pain, because something had happened to his brother for him to shut down. Something had triggered this.

“RH is dissociating,” Nightwing reported to the comms, “BG says he’s unresponsive. B, once you and R are done, get the Batmobile here.”

“We’re on our way,” came Robin’s tight response, crisp and serious but betraying the slightest of quivers.

In the meantime, Nightwing busied himself with removing Jason’s helmet. His face was blank, devoid of his usual snarky grin or unimpressed eye-roll. His chest was rising and falling in slow, mechanical breaths.

“We’ll take care of you, Little Wing,” Nightwing laid a hand gently on his brother’s shoulder, smiling warmly, “Take all the time you need, okay? We’ll be here.”

There was not so much as a twitch to acknowledge his words. Dick’s gut clenched tighter, even having expected the lack of response.

Batgirl had drifted away, standing several steps back. At Nightwing’s questioning glance, she murmured haltingly, “Scary.” She raised her hands to elaborate.

“No body messages. Nothing. Cannot tell what he is thinking, or if he is thinking. I’m scared for him. With other victims, it’s bad. With family...” the next motion was not proper sign language - she made a heart with her hands, then split it.

It hurt to see family like this.

Nightwing gave a sad, quiet smile in response, and the way he turned back to eye Jason was enough to convey his agreement.

Jason came back to himself slowly.

He was never truly gone, not quite. Not for a while, he thinks.

He’s… not sure about much. Just that he had been able to tell Artemis and Bizarro that he was going to pull a few strings in Gotham to get them a permanent base.

He remembered fumbling out an address for a safe house that he had, which would be able to last his two teammates for more than a week. He remembered Biz dropping him off in Gotham. He remembered sitting down on the filthy rooftop.

He thinks Batgirl came, then Nightwing. He thinks they helped him into the Batmobile, and he thinks he saw Batman and Robin.

He… can’t quite recall what happened next. It was like his memories were grinded to a pulp and then drained of substance, leaving behind the crusts of barely-coherent scenes. Flashes of what had happened.

He was in the Batcave, then he was being walked up the stairs to the Manor, one large arm wrapped around his shoulders, one large hand gripping firmly onto his elbow.

There was the rustling of old paperbacks, distant and distorted, like hearing through water.

There was Bruce, blue eyes focused on him, gazing at him and murmuring something soft.

“...here for you. You’re safe, Jaylad.”

He felt a sliver of pressure on his face.

Jason blinked. His hand rose to the spot, to where the mildest of pressures were, a calloused hand cupped against his cheek. He blinked two, three times, Bruce’s face morphing into the most genuine of smiles, even as the smell of the library and faint tightness of hunger greeted him.

“B?” Jason croaked, his voice hoarse from something more than dryness. Bruce was still quick to supply him a cup of water. The hand had yet to leave his cheek. Jason, still thrown off and trying to piece together his scattered mind, leaned into the hand even as he downed the glass.

There was a reason his throat felt scratchy. He had been screaming. Screaming at…

By the time Bruce had plucked his empty glass from his hand and set it down, Jason had jolted violently, as the realisation of how he got here, on exactly why he had returned back to Gotham, hit him like a train.

Ethiopia. The rebuilt warehouse. The living nightmare of his latest Outlaws mission.

“B?” Jason’s voice was desperate now. Logically, he knew Bruce was right there. Trying to convince his tortured mind though, as it finally came to terms with what had happened, was not as simple.

“Dad? Dad…” Jason’s hands reached blindly for Bruce’s arms, scrambling to tighten clenched fists into the fabric of the man’s sweater. Bruce pulled Jason into his chest.

While Jason tried and failed to quell his breakdown, Bruce had maneuvered himself back onto the couch, Jason sat half in his lap and half on the couch. Jason’s arms, tight around his father’s shoulders, loosened as he let out a shaky gasp.

“We - we had a mission,” Jason rambled before he could stop himself, “Artemis was looking for something, and we were helping her look, and-“

“Jay,” Bruce cut in gently, “Don’t force yourself. Please, son.”

Jason, his forehead pressed to Bruce’s shoulder, shook his head even as he barreled on. He had to get this out before his walls went up again, before it became too blissfully peaceful to even broach the subject.

“I- fuck. We went to Ethiopia,” Jason gave a hollow laugh, even as Bruce sucked in a sharp breath of air, “It was fucking hell, B. Pretty sure they were just doing the generic torture shit on me, but they didn’t even need to do anything, really. The location was enough to…to-“ Jason’s voice cracked. There was something wet leaking out of his eyes.

“It looked exactly the same, B. I checked after - it was the same place. It was-“ Jason’s voice gave out for real, then.

Bruce pulled him tighter, holding his son close as he cried himself dry. Bruce was just glad that Jason had been able to come back to Gotham, that his son was here for him to comfort - was willing to accept that comfort from him still, even after everything that had happened.

“You’re here,” Bruce hushes, when Jason’s sobs had died down to sniffles. He gave the boy - he would forever be a boy in his eyes - a squeeze around his broad shoulders. “You’re here.”

Jason sniffed again, and squeezed back, tight and desperate.

Later, Alfred would enter, guided by his butler senses to bring a meal for Jason. Later, his siblings would check in on him, and Dick would pile everyone into the living room with a movie marathon and a sleepover. Later, Jason would figure out a permanent base of operations for the Outlaws.

For now, it was just a father holding his son, both undeniably grateful to be alive.

Jason led Biz and Artemis to an underground bunker at the outskirts of Metropolis. They were right under Superman’s nose, which was both exhilarating and concerning.

He did not fancy meeting any one of Bruce’s colleagues.

On the other hand, if Superman did stumble upon them someday soon, Bizarro would finally get to meet someone like him. Well, someone who might see him as family, at least. Jason had heard from Tim that Superman was a big-hearted family man that had taken in Kon-El the moment he had trusted the clone.

He hoped Superman would take Bizarro in. The big guy deserved someone else besides him and Artemis.

Speaking of…

“Say, since we’re gonna be working with each other a lot more from now on, can I get insurance that you won’t take a swing at Wonder Woman while I’m in the collateral damage zone?”

Artemis glared at him, but Jason had weathered Bat-glares, and this was nothing compared to the man. His helmet was off, so she could see his smirk, his red domino stretching as he raised an eyebrow.

“I’d have thought you’d be on better terms with the lady. I mean, she’d gladly offer you any support you need,” Jason pointed out.

Artemis huffed, “Themyscira should have done more to aid my tribe. They still have yet to do more to aid my tribe. As Diana is a representative of her people, my grudge is against her tribe, and not her personally. Truthfully, Diana saved my life, and I am grateful for that.”

Jason hummed contemplatively. “Well, you should be a bridge between the two tribes,” Jason thought aloud, “Just saying, you basically became your tribe’s champion by getting back the Bow of Ra. If anyone could get them more aid, it’d be you.”

He could tell that the Amazonian needed time to think on his words, so instead of continuing. Jason splayed his arms, “Besides, sweet-talking gets you places!”

It was implied that such was how he had gotten their base, but the circumstances were probably far from what Artemis assumed. All Jason had needed to do was talk over conversations during dinner and Bruce was showing him possible locations even before patrol rotations had begun.

Artemis latched onto the new topic, regarding their new base with a satisfied tilt to her head, “What were those connections that you managed to find? Gotham is one place in Man’s World that I have yet to understand.”

“Eh, you learn to deal with the city’s fuckery. Like I said, I just had some old strings that I could pull to get us here,” Jason shrugged, and paused for a moment. Everything had been moving a mile and minute, from when Jason had first met Artemis to when they and Bizarro became a team.

He had neglected to tell them his name. Not that Bizarro needed his name, since he even called Artemis Red Her, but Artemis herself had always referred to Jason as Red Hood or Red.

“Jay.”

At Artemis’ questioning glance, Jason huffed, “It’s my name, I guess. Close enough.”

It was the name the Titans, Roy and Kori, knew him by. Artemis and Bizarro were shaping up to be his second round of Outlaws, and he wanted them to have his trust, too.

There was a weighty glint in Artemis’ eyes. “It is an honour to work with you, Jay,” she stated solemnly.

Jason cracked a grin, “Aw, c’mon, don’t go all mushy on me. Let’s go get Biz before he ransacks the whole pantry.”

He turned to head in Bizarro’s direction, his loud rummaging making Jason glad he had chosen to put them significantly low underground. Artemis trailed behind with a warm smile.

#probably not accurate to actual dissociation #there's an extra scene after the angst #Batfam #Jason Todd #Bruce Wayne #Dick Grayson #Cassandra Cain #Tim Drake #Code Bat #artemis of bana mighdall #Angst #Comfort #fanfic #straight from the trash doc

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momo-de-avis · 3 years

Note

what are 2 books you feel you should be financially compensated for reading (beyond reimbursement for purchasing them)?

hard mode: nothing by zuzas.

now those are high stakes

first of all, this is hard for me to answer because I genuinely cannot read a book through to the end if I don't like it. I won't go past fifty pages if it's annoying me. So there are only a handful of books I can say I hated because I wasted time reading them, and even those I didn't finish.

But there are two, and one of them I actually talk about it all the time

First of all, fuck you, Flaubert. Fuck Emma Bovary. Fuck that book. Not only financial compensation, but emotional of some sort, cause you go through the 7 stages of grief reading that piece of garbage. Not after, during.

Like, every time I try to explain why I hate Madame Bovary so much I tell this little anecdote about my life. It was probably 2AM, I was still living with my mom, and I was in the living room. Back then, the History Channel---before it became exclusively devoted to Aliens, Hitler, and World War II---had a super interesting show called, I believe it was, Great Books. I caught only a few episodes, there was one on Janes Austen, another on Dostoevsky---and yes, one for Madame Bovary. Which was the one I saw that night.

And on that night, I was just chilling on my ass, and there was this expert on Flaubert explaining how the guy came up with the idea for the book. This woman had a PhD in literature. She studied Flaubert's life and history down to the letters and his intimacy. And I chuckled to myself, completely alone---and listen, you're free to believe whatever the hell yall want, but I swear on my cat this shit is true---and said to myself: "I bet this guy ran away to a cabin and dressed himself as woman to write this book." In fact, I hate Madame Bovary SO MUCH I've making this joke for YEARS, and it's why I call that pile of regurgitated french trash "literary transvesty" because it is literally a man playing dress up with no counter-balance to the absolute derailment of this woman's down-spiral. It's just the story of Emma Bovary going off her rockers, and there's no point where there might a slight indication of societal criticism. She's just a piece of shit. You know, at LEAST Tolstoi gave us Kittie and Levine as a counter-point. At LEAST Tolstoi built-up an immense backdrop with Stepane's adultery to understand the horrid treatment Anna is subjected to. At LEAST we are given a good characterisation of Karenine enough, whereas Charles Bovary is limper than a soggy sock. The only Ken doll I owned as a child had more charisma, and that bitch had no clothes.

And AT THAT POINT in the documentary, that lady expert with a whole PhD says something to this effect: APPARENTLY, Flaubert DID run off into a cabin in the fucking woods or some shit, and he did so with a locket, and what was in that locket? The hairs of his lover. Like, oh my God, I hate you so fucking much.

What I hate THE MOST about Madame Bovary is that despite being a shit book and shit story, and having been written by a guy who purposefully isolated himself from the woman he loved in the ass of the world, with a piece of her hair, as he dead ass attempted to "become a woman", whatever the hell that meant (but then again, so did every romantic writer back in the 19th century), this motherfucker was trialled in a court of law for this book (because adultery, women are frail, scandal, blah blah blah), and his defense was so amazing he actually coined a very important term in writing called Indirect Free Speech. Like, I genuinely hate this motherfucker but this absolute genius final take on his shit book just makes me hate him more. (For reference, this is where I learned this, Hans Robert Jauss explains this in his book Reception Theory)

The second book I think I deserve financial compensation for wasting the like, 3 days I wasted reading those first 100 pages or so, was Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest. Oh my God. Listen, back in the day, like every teenage girl in the early/late 2000s, I was discovering paganism and that kind of crap, so I had a lot of wiccan friends. And there was Charmed. Not the rebooted crap, the OG Charmed, when Rose McGowan was closeted terf and we believed she was cool. Everyone loved Charmed. And everyone who bought into the new-pagan stuff and wiccan stuff, they were all introduced by one of two ways: either it was Charmed, or The Mists of Avalon. Either or. No other way. At least around my circle, that is.

So I had a lot of friends squealing over this one book from Marillier. I was absolutely obsessed with Arthuriana because of Mists of Avalon, and my wiccan/goth friends were all over me telling me "OH you GOTTA read Daughter of the Forest if you love Mists of Avalon". It's comforting to know the one wiccan friend who persisted with that crap went wacko and literally vanished into the horizon because I wanted to smack her in the face with that stupid book.

Basically, at the time, I was balls deep into Irish Mythology. And as I read it, I thought it was EERILY SIMILAR to the Children of Lir. Evil stepmother transforming her step-children into swans? Hm? The one thing that threw me off was that, in the story, the hero had to sew these shirts from some godawful plant that fucked up her hands, and that ISN'T in the original Children of Lir story. Then again, Children of Lir is genuinely not a compelling story. Of all Irish myths, it might be the least compelling.

However, I recently learned that IT IS the same tale, despite what Marillier sold as being "inspired by the Brother Grimm". It turns out the Children of Lir is a tale known throughout Europe, spanning from Spain to Ireland, with some variations, and it exists in Germany, where the sewing of the shirts with that weird plant is a plot point. So I guess that was a determent, considering the story is set in Ireland. Also, you can tell the story was written by a herbalist because, oh my god she goes off about plants all the time.

I basically stopped reading because the heroine is a bit obnoxious and it felt like the plot was going nowhere. And at some point, it was literally a book about plants. Like, Marion Zimmer Bradley's books can be boring (take the Forst House, which is one of my favourites, there's gotta be like 100 pages in there about Eilan's boring life picking flowers, but it builds up to her character, at least). But this one, it was going nowhere, while at the same time, Bretons were landing in Ireland? What? My anger came from when I checked the wikipedia page before I gave up because I wanted to see if there was something redeemable in that shit, like, come on, motivate me. And when I read that there's a fucking rape plot thrown in there that bears no relevance for no other reason than... I don't know, fear of men? I gave up. That was definitely when I stopped reading and decided to set it aside. It's weird cause, from what I remember, I think the author wanted to write it in pagan Ireland, but I don't remember a single mention of a pagan god? It was so convoluted, man.

And why the Children of Lir??? I 100% share the opinion of Sorcha Hegarty from Candlelit Tales regarding the Children of Lir: it is THE LEAST interesting tale in Irish Myth, and also---and these are her words, not mine---the least Irish lmao

Honourable mention: Thérèse Raquin by Zola is another one that made me SO FUCKING PISSED OFF that piece of shit book REQUIRES psychological counseling. Like, financial compensation isn't even enough to go through that crap.

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inkwell1013 · 4 years

Text

Lillies and Roses

Pairing: Aziraphale/Crowley

Genre: Humor, Oneshot, Outsider POV, Flowershop AU (just barely)

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: Mistaken infidelity, mild elements of body horror

Summary: Cameron has been running his family’s flower shop for years now. When a handsome yet peculiar redhead walks in to buy flowers for his boyfriend, he thinks nothing of it. But when that very same boyfriend comes in a week later to buy flowers for his fiancé, Cameron finds that he has a decision to make. Does he tell Crowley that Aziraphale is two timing him with Anthony or does he keep the secret? Or Crowley has two names and confuses a poor, innocent florist.

- - - - -

Cameron woke up early, as he always did. He brought in the latest shipment of flowers and swept up the shop floor ready for the customers. Things were always quiet in the mornings, when he was the only person in the store, and he took the opportunity to listen to some music while he worked.

Things were quiet most of the time. His shop was small, and he got just enough customers to get by. That was fine with him though. He enjoyed his quiet, unbothered life.

Whistling along with the music, he set up a few arrangements on the centre table and decided to work on a few special orders whilst he had the time. The door to the shop creaked open a few minutes later, and the bell rang, letting him know he had his first customer of the day.

He turned around and gave them a friendly smile. “Good morning,” he said. “How can I help you?”

The man was strange, though Cameron couldn’t immediately put a finger on what was unusual about him. It was a collection of odd traits which, when combined, made for an overall peculiar man.

He was wearing sunglasses even though it was bright and sunny outside, and Cameron swore he saw a flash of yellow eyes from underneath the dark lenses, but that was probably just his imagination playing tricks on him.

The man’s movement was almost serpent like and when he opened his mouth to speak, a forked tongue flickered out. Cameron blinked in surprise but when he looked again, it was replaced by a regular tongue.

Snake eyes. Snake tongues. Slithering. Serpents.

He shook his head. He was just imagining things. Covering his surprise with a classic customer service smile, he spoke. “Pardon?”

The man frowned. “I said, I want to buy some flowers for my boyfriend.”

How unusual… He even hissed his words like a snake.

“I can help you with that sir,” said Cameron. “Any particular type?”

The man thought for a moment. “Lilies,” he said at last. “He likes lilies. White ones.”

“You’re in luck,” said Cameron. “I got a fresh shipment of those this morning. It’ll take a little while for me to make the bouquet, but you’re more than welcome to wait in the shop.”

The man agreed and Cameron went to fetch some lilies from the back room. He found some suitable flowers and brought them out.

“So, tell me a bit about your boyfriend,” he said, pulling out a pair of scissors to cut the stems to the correct size.

“Why do you want to know?” Crowley asked, leaning up against the centre display table.

“Just making small talk.” Cameron wrapped the stems of the flowers with an elastic band.

“He owns a bookshop in Soho,” said the stranger. “Our anniversary is soon, so I thought I’d surprise him. Lilies are his favourite flower.”

“That’s sweet of you. He’s a lucky guy.”

“If anything, I’m the lucky one.”

Cameron nodded absentmindedly, holding the bouquet upright to check that everything was in order. Once he was sure that everything was in place, he laid it back down on the workbench and pulled out a notecard and pen.

“The flowers come with a personalized note,” he explained. “What do you want me to write on it?”

The stranger thought for a moment. “Could you write ‘Happy anniversary Aziraphale. I’m really glad Armageddon didn’t happen. Love Crowley.’?”

“What?”

“It’s an… inside joke.”

Cameron laughed. “And a unique one for sure,” he said. “How do you spell Aziraphale?”

Crowley spelt it out for him, and Cameron scribbled it down, along with the rest of the message. Then, he rang him up at the till and took the payment.

“I’ll come again soon,” called Crowley, as Cameron waved him goodbye.

***

Two weeks later, on a chilly spring afternoon, another strange person came into the shop and Cameron couldn’t help but be reminded of Crowley when he saw him. On first impression, he was unassuming - the only thing even slightly unusual about him was his unnaturally white hair. Still, there was something unequivocally wrong about him. Something off.

Cameron blinked and when he opened his eyes again, the man was gone. Instead, a creature was hovering before him. Concentric rings of eyes twisted around each other, framed by six wings which were large enough to touch either side of his shop.

He blinked again.

Two of the wings curled in on each other, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. The creature wrapped two of its wings around its body and Cameron watched in horror as three heads lurched their way from the thing’s shoulders. There was a human head in the centre, flanked by a lion’s head on the left and an ox’s head on the right.

He blinked again.

The creature cocooned itself in its wings. The two sets of remaining wings merged into a single pair. The wings were thrown backward revealing an otherwise normal human form, save for the bright while halo floating above it.

He slammed his eyes shut, blinded by the light. When he cautiously cracked them up again, he was faced by a regular man.

“Are you alright my boy?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just a little out of it,” said Cameron.

Had it all been in his head? He would have to go and see a doctor if these… hallucinations continued.

“How can I help you?” he asked, doing his best to keep his worry at the back of his mind.

The stranger gave him a friendly smile. “I’m looking to purchase some flowers for my fiancé,” he explained.

“Then you came to the right place!” said Cameron. “What kind would you like?”

The man considered for a moment. “Red roses, if you have them,” he said

Cameron nodded. “You’re in luck - I think I still have some of those left. This will only take a moment, so you are welcome to wait.”

Cameron went through the same motions he had gone through two weeks ago and every day since: fetching the flowers from the back room; arranging them; cutting the stems to size. The familiar routine was a comfort to him, especially after the strange occurrence that had happened just moments prior.

“So, how did you and your fiancé meet?” he asked.

The man smiled. “We’ve known each other for a long time,” he said. “When I first laid eyes on him, I knew he was different. But we didn’t get along at first. We were quite different people, and our families were… I don’t want to say at war, but it certainly felt like that sometimes. We were on opposite sides of a conflict we had no part in.

“Despite all that, he kept surprising me with his kindness and compassion. We ran into each other again and again, and somewhere along the line, between the clandestine dinner dates and getting drunk together in my bookshop, I realised I liked him. And I realised I loved him not long after. Things fell into place after that.”

“That’s so sweet,” said Cameron, as he finished making the bouquet. “Would you like me to write a note to go with the flowers?”

“I would like that,” said the stranger. “Could you write ‘For my dear Anthony. You bring light to my life. All my love, Aziraphale.’?”

Cameron went to write the message, but his pen stilled halfway through as his brain caught up to him.

Aziraphale.

This was Crowley’s boyfriend.

And he was buying flowers for a man named Anthony.

His fiancé named Anthony.

Cameron desperately tried to keep his expression neutral, even as his heart was racing. He hurried through the rest of the note and thrust the flowers into Aziraphale’s hands.

“I’m afraid we’re closing soon,” he announced, ringing Aziraphale up at the till. Aziraphale handed over the money and Cameron shooed him out the door.

Once he was sure that Aziraphale was gone, he let the horror he was hiding show on his face. Aziraphale was a cheater. He was cheating on Crowley with Anthony, and there was precisely nothing that Cameron could do about it.

***

Looking up a stranger in the phonebook made Cameron feel like a stalker.

He was surprised when his search turned up no results. You would think someone with such an unusual name would be easy to track down, but there was no one anywhere in the phonebook with the first name Crowley. It was like he never even existed. Aziraphale’s name wasn’t in there either.

He searched for them on social media too, which was an equally fruitless endeavour.

In a last-ditch effort, he searched for their names on the internet. When he searched for Crowley, the only search results to show up were some fictional characters and a brief Wikipedia page on a biblical demon.

Aziraphale’s name garnered even fewer results. There are a few reviews for bookshop in Soho owned by a man with the same name, which he presumed was Aziraphale.

He also found a blurred black and white photograph of a man under the images tab. The man was probably Aziraphale’s grandfather or something, though the family resemblance was almost uncanny; they could have been twins. If the photo weren’t so old, Cameron would have assumed it was Aziraphale himself.

He closed his laptop, having exhausted all his options. There was nothing he could do.

***

The shop door slammed open, and the sudden thud made Cameron jump. Whipping around, he was greeted by two familiar faces – Crowley and Aziraphale.

“My apologies,” said Aziraphale (cheating bastard). “We didn’t mean to startle you. It was the wind.”

Cameron cleared his throat, trying to compose himself. “It’s fine,” he said. “I was a little distracted anyway. How can I help you?”

Aziraphale grinned like the adulterous douchebag he was. “We’d like to buy some flowers please,” he said.

“Any particular type?” asked Cameron, plastering his face with a bland costumer service smile that barely managed to cover up his scowl.

“We’ll have a little look around, if that’s okay?” said Crowley, arm still wrapped around Aziraphale’s shoulder. Cameron gave a quick nod, and the couple started wandering around the shop. Somewhere along the line, they split apart, ending up on other sides of the shop. Cameron had found his opportunity.

Aziraphale was examining a bouquet of azaleas when Cameron caught up to him, with what could only be described as a serene expression on his face. He whispered something to them, and Cameron swore that they brightened up a little at his words.

He was talking to the flowers. First the snake eyes, then whatever had happened when he first met Aziraphale, then their presence on the internet (or lack thereof), and now the guy was having a conversation with a bunch of azaleas.

This pair was seriously weird. They matched each other in that way – like two particularly ugly Christmas sweaters or strange modern art sculptures. They fitted together so perfectly that it was difficult to imagine them apart. It was difficult to imagine that Aziraphale would fracture their relationship by doing what he had done.

“I know about Anthony,” he hissed, venom clear in his voice.

“Pardon?

“I know that you are a cheater, and I will expose you if you don’t come clean right now. Please, spare him any further heartbreak.”

He expected Aziraphale to blow up at him, or get defensive, or even cry.

Instead, much to Cameron’s surprise, Aziraphale laughed so hard that he could barely stand up, having to grip a hold of the table to keep his balance.

“Crowley are you hearing this?” he chocked out. “I’m a cheater, didn’t you know? Two timing you with Anthony.”

“Yes. You’re a real scoundrel alright,” said Crowley, wrapping Aziraphale up in his arms. “Adultery. What an unforgiveable sin?”

“Well, you certainly know something about unforgivable sins, don’t you dear?” There was an undeniable smirk on Aziraphale’s lips, that Crowley mirrored.

“I can show you another unforgivable sin if you want,” he whispered into Aziraphale’s ear.

“Crowley! You bad boy.”

“Its in my blood. Can’t help it,” said Crowley with a quirk of his eyebrows.

Cameron found himself feeling rather irritated and left out of the conversation “I’m still here,” he snapped. “What on earth is going on? Why are you two so happy?”

How could these two go right to flirting after he had dropped a nuke on their relationship?

“We don’t mean to upset you dear,” said Aziraphale. “It’s just amusing. That’s all.”

“I’m telling the truth. I swear! He came into the shop two weeks ago to buy flowers for another man.”

“Those flowers were for Crowley,” said Aziraphale.

“But they were addressed to a man named Anthony,” insisted Cameron.

“Anthony is my first name,” said Crowley.

“…What?”

“Did you really think Crowley was my first name?” he laughed. “Anthony is my given name, but I usually go by Crowley. It’s just a preference.”

“You said they were for your fiancé!”

“Yes,” said Crowley. “I proposed to him three weeks ago. I am his fiancé.”

Everything clicked. “He’s... Oh my God. I feel really stupid. I am so sorry. That was… I am so sorry,” he stammered.

Crowley patted him on the shoulder. “Its fine kid. I would have assumed the same thing if I were in your situation.”

“No, it’s not fine. I need to apologise.” Cameron face was bright red. This was so embarrassing. “I assumed the worst of you,” he said. “And that was wrong of me. You have my sincerest apologies. I’ll be happy to give you a refund.”

“No thank you,” said Aziraphale. “In fact, we have a favour to ask. Would you cater our wedding?”

“Really?”

“Yes, of course. You’re a good lad, and your flowers are to die for. They’re easily the best in London. Will you do it?”

“I’d love to!”

There were lilies and roses at the wedding.

#good omens fanfiction #aziraphale x crowley #crowley x aziraphale #inkwell writes #flowershop au #outsider pov #aziraphale #crowley #original character #cheating tw #body horror tw #biblically accurate angel

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dwestfieldblog · 3 years

Text

A VERY REMOTE ENGLISH TEACHER

Where meditations, rants, reverie and absent seizures cross over... closer to one gun with one bullet, the rose of ruby and the cross of gold...uff, and MENTACIDE IN THE TIME OF MASQUES. Although I have never suffered from the guilty masochistic torture of ‘pleasure anxiety’, Bacchus hath indeed drowned more men than Neptune. So I stopped drinking for 18 days to fool myself I was doing something positive and threw away enough things to be minimalist again. Arf. Beauty and/or function uber alles.

Been treading water for three years and trying not to drown...big round of one hand clapping for the former poet. Meanwhile, in this temporary world and perception I have created of it, I am looking at a very possible exile one way or the other...my ‘plan’...a long phased withdrawal or hasty retreat. My wish is to stay, but once I leave, it might well be very hard to return. Read as many metaphors as you want into that but in spite of my dislike of the conservatively minded Aristotle’s ‘either/or’ nonsense, there do indeed appear to be only two this time. And appear is the operative word. Appearances can be deceptive and emotions (unless raised and focused) cloud over what should be clear. Pain has a tendency to breed worry and fear too but let’s draw a veil over that for now eh? Suppress, suppress, release comes later...breathe deep and try not to cough, onward we go where the game gets rough...Just like Tom Thumbs Blues 65.

Remember Roman Protasevich...As Lukasenko himself said...‘Belarus stood at the edge of an abyss and I helped it take a step forward’. Look good on your tombstone that will Al. Fecking outrageous the Indian PM only admitted in May that covid was transmitted in the air. He needs removing... as do two thirds of all the other world leaders East and West. Hello Bollsanaro. People are very easy to manipulate when they’re are scared or angry...and right now the world majority are both. But, ‘there is a crack in everything... that’s how the light gets in’... and ‘things could change’, doesn’t have to be for the worse. It can take decades to realise this as actual truth, but still nice to read and try internalise the following last week.’The odds actually favour the optimists, since dissipate structures are more likely to evolve into more information rich (intelligent?) forms than into primitive or chaotic forms.’ All my friends bar my best one are optimists..Hello you:-)

Ever onward deeper downward with Orban in Hungary and his mission of ‘Christian values’, which involves a familiar routine of arresting, beating and disappearing dissenters in the name of Christ and taking over the universities to replace professors with those who understand on which side their bread is buttered. Decent judges long gone. Nice fascist communism...and ex soldiers in France and the Czech republic warning of civil war...

And now spiraling we go into the black hole vortex of Disaster capitalism, ‘Let the bodies pile high’. There’s gold in them thar ills....ISLAND PARANOIA and PERFIDIOUS ALBION! A country which demands a contract, agrees, signs to it and then refuses to honour it. We look worse than ridiculous, we look deceitful. Gentlemen, your places please. Boris Johnson is a clumsy, inept, disgraceful charlatan, con merchant and LIAR. A blustering master bullshit artist, the only decent thing about his recent secret wedding is that now he legally has one less bastard child.

Recently I read that British people are displaying signs of Stockholm syndrome...in that they dislike those who hold power over them and make the rules but during the time of pandemic, they are the ones who will release the saviour vaccine and get everything moving again. So rather than rocking the boat and daring to express dissent at the DIABOLICAL handling of the last 18 months, they have mostly kept quiet and voted for the same endlessly failing, corrupt and venal politicians who made a bad situation far worse. (That said, it bears repeating that there are a few million in the UK who didn’t quite understand that that the spread of a highly contagious airborne virus can be slowed by the wearing of masks/applying basic hygiene and even took offence at being told what should have made sense to any adult homo SAPIENS half capable of cogitating for themselves. Morons and scum. Same where you are?

By the way BBC...the colossal dearth of stories about the endless government failures in relation to Covid, death, corruption and the NHS...ever since they blackmailed you with threats of revoking the TV licence fee and got you to change Directors has been noted. Long may Have I Got News For You continue the satire and balance needed in a DEMOCRACY. Obey your public servants? Why, when they do not serve few but themselves? Power OF the people? Which ones...the mob? The same bleating pricks who follow populists?

Four eyed beanpole fop Rees Mogg, with his wonderful line that the benefits of Brexit will be seen ‘over the next fifty years’...well yes, that is why most people vote in democratic elections eh?...So they will be dead or ancient before the change they hoped for comes...and the politicians who lead them now, will have all long moved on to revolving door chairman of the board offshore limited liability company paradise. Bread today jam tomorrow fairytales. What I tell you three times is true.

O, but the English do so love to be told what to do by dumb posh boys who treat them like dirt. Some are forelock tugging and some are self flagellating middle class upper class wannabes who will never get there but still feel proud they are not street level proles. Doby the house elf alien hamster Michael Gove found guilty of breaking the law. Nothing. Internal inquiries run by those connected to the money changing hands find nothing illegal. Corruption for all to see...and ignore. ‘Well, what can we do?’ The uselessly inept serial failure Dido Harding to be in charge of the National Health Service? (she of the collapsed Woolworths, Talk Talk and the 22 BILLION pound loss of the Covid Track and Trace program where non working consultants/insultants, were paid 1000 pounds a day). American style privatisation is coming where only the wealthy or criminal can afford to be repaired and well. Sick.

Meanwhile, All our imported nurses out, and all the lobster red fat Spanish costa de la sol criminals back in. Great exchange, fair trade and forward thinking. The Kremlin are manipulating/supporting Scottish independence... I read years ago about their base in Edinburgh for Russia Today (the foul insert in The Daily Telegraph) and they were already encouraging it. Rees Smug has accelerated and supported their freedom with his snobbish utterances on countries in the UK other than England and their ‘foreign languages’. With every patronising, arrogant pronouncement, the Eton trifles fuel the fire in Scotland which has a long bitter history of being tortured, murdered and subjugated by their southern masters. Perhaps the chumocracy in Downing Street believe the Celts to be as easily cowed as the middle and working classes down south. Here’s hoping not. ‘Rebellious Scots to crush’? Not this time pal.

As for the future of Britain? A dystopian open prison where the lower social classes toil only at the pleasure of their masters. The higher caste getting richer and all others cast into a living Hell of debt, crime, and sickness. Serve until you die and be thankful we allow you to exist. Increasing in utter irrelevance to the world, other than as an example of how wrong a former democracy can go. This future started decades ago...its baobab roots truly deep now. Better education and critical thinking for the masses in the UK (or anywhere else) is highly unlikely now. Optimism huh? As long as I am not in England, I will still be able to tap into it, but once enclosed long term in the group mind there...trapped in a grey quagmire. Keep smiling...

Several weeks ago, I watched a video on YT of apparently English protestors running after the police in London, some attacking and throwing things, one pulling off the pandemic mask of an officer and all shouting abuse at the outnumbered cops who had to keep pulling back. As always, to get my caffeine rush of fury going, I read the comments and was surprised to see two or three from Chinese names. Almost all comments were against the government (fair enough) and dumb against the lock down, masks, vaccinations etc. Checking again, I saw the video had been posted by CGTN...a media company owned and run by the communist party in Beijing...and not one author of diatribes had mentioned this, nor speculated with a critical thought as to why such an organisation might enjoy turning people against their own democratically elected government (however mind rippingly foul and corrupt they are).

I copy pasted the Wikipedia paragraph about the company onto the page and hoped someone else would make the connection. I wouldn’t mind so much IF there were a credible and decent alternative other than the diseased populist poison for which the demonstrating goons chant. China really cares about the standard of democracy in Britain eh? Persuade your enemies to weaken themselves. Destroying countries by encouraging their ‘patriots’.

(That was written on the anniversary of Tienanmen Square...a few days later Xi Jinping gave a speech saying ‘...a lovable and respectable’ China must be presented to the world and must ‘expand its circle of friends’. Tell that to your teenage ‘dissidents’, Muslims, Falun Gong and Tibetans being tortured and brainwashed in prisons or being used for organ harvesting. Tell it to Hong Kong and Taiwan.)

Unholy America...against abortion and the pill, sex education’s not Gods will and in the Name of Christ they kill...if truth be known, we’ve failed the test...but Jesus was a Socialist and Republican conservatives hate them. The founding fathers of America were Very clear about separation of church and state with damn good Reason. Another part time Christian, Mike Pompeo wants to be president. Q Onan deepstorm morons/Kremlin stool pigeons aka POLEZNYYE IDIOTY continue to push for Trump and his Big Lie...He with the brain where ‘In the left, nothing is right and in the right, nothing’s left.’ Arf.

Over the last two decades, the dumb have been finding their voice and are now louder and prouder of their dumbass ignorance. 74 million in the US alone, their egos unable to retreat in the face of endless evidence to the contrary, they all double down. Like children sticking their fingers in their grimy ears sing songing ‘la la la can’t hear you’. 74 million versions of Eric Cartman, loud, proud and wrong. And uuff, Megan Markle, Majorie Taylor Greene, walking Picasso collage (bad car driver) Caitlin Jenner and Ivana Trump in politics...not exactly holding a proud lantern for women eh? I’d like to buy them for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth. Not very PC?

That was the point. Could easily been written about all of the men written about here too. Next examples follow...

Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones compete for who can be as mentally ill as trump. The Miami school where the husband and wife directors told teachers not to return if they had HAD their vaccine shots because their proximity to students was interfering with menstrual cycles and uuuufff...The sickness of utter mind buggering stupidity. I had my first shot, now waiting to turn reptilian when the 5G masts triangulate my position. Fnord. Covid appears to be killing more overweight meat eating males than females...perhaps testosterone is not useful for the coming Race of non binary mutant hermaphrodites...and look out for the end of the Y chromosome, coming to a temporary universe near you...in 4.6 million years. Yes, really.

Glad Netanyahu is out at last, smug corruption is never a good look unless one is a rich criminal. Ha. The Promised land of Israel...If I was in court for serial murder, breaking, entering and stealing and then defended my actions by saying that God had told me to do it, would the Judge; A. Call for a psychiatric report, B. Disregard the statement as unprovable and pass the appropriate sentence, C, say Ok mate, you’re free to go, good luck to you. ? Moses had a good schtick.

The law is only to punish the poor, do you feel as if you suffer from empathy? Once you know, you no longer need to believe. What does ‘reality’ seem to be? The more certain you are, the stupider you get and belief is the death of intelligence. The machine is running the engineers. What is the definition of rationality...the quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic.

Nothing is, but thinking makes it so. Epicurus.

EVERYTHING NOT COMPULSORY IS FORBIDDEN.

The glamour illusion of the mass of pointless hot influencers needs a constant renewing of the Banishing Ritual as much as all the pigslop bile coming from Fox News and Sky. Bloody long haired commie liberal faggot they cry against any not identical to them. Some days I have only flamethrowers of hatred for these idiots. Other days...not exactly self doubt, just questions...most of us seem to believe our opinions are more valid when there are emotions connected to them. Including me. Again, this seems like a very weak version of ‘truth’, unless disciplined, channeled and focused to a certain end.

Life appears to exist in order to become via chaos.

Most of us are working only not to be homeless, some because of the joy in our chosen work regardless of finances. Until ‘reality’ kicks in the door...the bondage gets tighter when you struggle. How much hardship is the individual willing to endure these days by choice? Surrounded by a universe of distraction and destruction, Maya mewling for our attention. Five years of Trump, rampant populism and Brexit doing a Hexagram 23 on democracy, compounded by the pandemic...all on top of ‘normal’ daily life. The ego feeds and the immune system breaks down. Hard to ignore without being on a mountain or in a parallel dimension and emotion free other than compassion. But BY GODDESS IT CAN AND WILL BE DONE. Ladies of Life Nin Khursag, Isis, Kali, Aradia...Love one, Love ALL. At very least have respect for thyself but be not thou proud of thine arrogance nor thy suffering.

Or just Remember where you came from, what you were, seem to be and will become.

Heal, heal, more work to do, more love to give, more love to feel, Heal. Stay in drugs, eat your school and don’t do vegetables. Impose your own reality upon and through yourself, breathe, exhale, repeat, and continue, LOVE UNDER WILL. Experience and absorb but ‘It’s a house of tricks, ignore the world’’.

Stay well, be seeing you:-)

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xietyflix · 5 years

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Warm Tats| 01

⇢ Pairing: Jimin x Reader

⇢Genre: Werewolf Au, tattooist Jimin

“I never felt like this before.” “Is that a good or a bad thing?” “Good because it makes me want to fuck you senseless.” “Oh.”

⇢ warnings: mentions of blood and future smut.

⇢ omg!! I didn’t think people would like it!

Warm tat ⇢ I’m going to create the links when I have time💀 also someone explain wtf is a tag list😭😭

@bluemooncnblue & @hoodmeup will make a better tag list later💀

Warm Tats CH: 00 01 02

******************************************

It’s been a week, a week since your visit and a week of what Jin said.

“Your like Rose and I! You should be happy Jimin, and that face your giving me is not excitement. It’s giving me… it's more a ‘I'll kill you’ type of face.” Jin said as Jimin set down his sandwich wrapper.

“Cause I’m going to kill you if you don’t shut up.” Jimin said getting up.

“Okay okay calm down, I won’t say a damn word.” Jin spoke holding his hands up in surrender.

Bullshit Jin didn’t keep his word now Jimin had to deal with Jungkook and Taehyung’s endless teasing.

The bell rang signaling that Jimin was going to have his first customer of the day. He dropped his sketchbook on his table before walking out front.

“What can I hel- Jackson?” Jimin froze when he saw Jackson standing there.

“I came back because of the pictures.” Jackson says gesturing the tattoo Jimin gave him last week.

“Oh right, follow me,” Jimin says leading Jackson towards the photo room.

“Did you treat it like I told you.” Jimin says as Jackson takes off his shirt to reveal his back tattoo.

“Why do you always question me?” Jackson said turning around.

“Cause your dumb and dumb people do dumb things.” Jimin says setting up the camera.

“Just take your damn photos.” Jackson huffed causing Jimin to laugh.

After the 30 minutes of taking pictures with Jackson Jimin expected you to be the next one for you photos but it was his next client for ink.

Jimin was gonna admit he was kinda disappointed, he missed your scent roaming around in his shop.

Yet he was left disappointed. Jimin just finished with another client which he was alone for the next hour, he spent that time sketching new ideas.

He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket indicating he has a call coming through. Not caring who it was he answered.

“Hello.” Jimin answered.

“Hey Jimin it’s Jin.”

“What’s up?” Jimin spoke putting down his pencil as he sits back in his chair.

“Not much what you think about we all go out to a diner for dinner, I don’t feel like cooking.” Jin spoke.

“I honestly don’t care.” Jimin spoke as he began spinning in his chair.

“SEE I TOLD YOU HE DIDN'T CARE!” Jimin winced as he heard Kook in the background.

“Jin let me see the phone.” Tae spoke and suddenly there was shuffling and growling that caused Jimin to roll his eyes in annoyance.

“Jimin how’s the shop?” Tae spoke as Jin cursed at him in the back.

“It’s good Tae, What do you want?” Jimin spoke and he heard the bell from the front jingle.

“Coming!” Jimin says getting up and walking to the front.

“I wanted to know if you seen ______ yet?” Tae teases.

“If I see her or no-“ Jimin stopped in the middle of his sentence once the smell of honey and lavender reached his nose.

“Jimin are you there?” Tae says and Jimin just ends the call before walking out to see you.

“Hey Jimin, am I interrupting something?” You spoke and Jimin cleared his throat.

“N-No you didn’t. How are you?” Jimin says as you put your hat on his table.

“I’m doing good, and you?” You spoke looking down at your feet. Only if you could feel what your doing to him, they way you act so innocent in front of him.

“Likewise.” Jimin spoke gesturing towards the back you followed close behind.

“What have you been doing for the past week, if you don’t mind me asking.” Jimin says as you walk into his photo room.

“Oh umm, I was just working and hanging out with friends. What about you?” You answered putting your bag down.

“Just working on some sketches. That’s pretty much it.” Jimin says turning on the lights.

“You can take off your shirt and stand against the wall.” Jimin ordered and You obeyed.

“So your an alpha?” You winced a little bit as you asked which caused Jimin to laugh.

“Last I checked I was an alpha, and still am one. Why?” Jimin says turning in the camera.

“What are the perks about being an alpha?” You said twiddling with your hands.

“That’s an interesting question.” Jimin says trying to make eye contact with you but you seem to avoid it.

“Perks about being an alpha is we don’t take shit from no one and… literally that’s it.” Jimin says walking up to you.

“That’s it?” You spoke as Jimin fixed your pose. His warm hands brushed across you cold skin causing you to shiver. Which didn’t go unnoticed by Jimin.

“Yeah pretty much.” Jimin says backing away making you miss his body heat.

“Stay like that for a bit.” He spoke causing you to nod.

“Don’t you switch during full moon.” You asked curiously.

“Switch?” Jimin chuckled.

“You know what I mean Jimin.” You whined which caused Jimin to tilt his head.

“I literally don’t know what type of switch you are talking about.” Jimin lies as he snap a few photos.

“Oh come on! You know When you… when you... I don’t know the word!” You whined causing Jimin to laugh more.

“Your too cute, the word you are looking for is shift or transform there’s so many words out there ______.” Jimin says and you could feel warmth travel to your cheeks.

“Does it hurt?” You asked and he paused for a moment.

“No not if your in control, Not everyone gets to change.” Jimin says switching the light.

“Why?” You asked watching him carefully.

“Your curious aren’t you?” Jimin smirked.

“Sorry.” You said standing out of your position.

“Don’t be sorry, least your asking me instead of google or Wikipedia.” Jimin says causing you to laugh.

“But Yeah, most don’t change because they have someone to keep them grounded..” Jimin began.

“If you have someone to ground you, no need to worry about the full moon, if your not grounded a few full moons from now your gonna be stuck like that.” Jimin says putting the camera down.

“Did your pack found their one to keep them grounded?” You asked putting your shirt on.

“Everyone found someone, Jin , Hoseok , Tae and Jungkook found someone I’m just the last one.” Jimin says turning around to face you.

Before you could reply a loud voice echoed through the shop.

“JIMIN!” A voice echoed causing Jimin to sigh in frustration.

“It smells like heaven in here.” Another spoke and it cause your heart to quicken.

“You don’t have anything to worry about. It’s just Jungkook and Taehyung.” Jimin grumbled before walking out mumbling a ‘hold on’ before he left.

Once he left you heard a bunch of curse words leaving Jimin's mouth causing You to smile.

Your eyes scanned the room before landing on a sketchbook. You walked towards it flipping the pages looking at his art until you see his recent drawing.

You took a sticky note and began to right your digits and a little message on it before sticking it on the sketchbook.

You grabbed your bag and headed towards the front.

“We could eat dinner once I’m finished,” Jimin says blocking the path. You see a head poked around Jimin smirking.

“You're done if she’s leaving.” One says and Jimin turns around.

“_____ your leaving?” Jimin says trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Yeah sorry I have work, and my best guess your friends are hungry.” You said.

“I’m Jungkook and he’s Taehyung, and can I just say you smell wonderful.” Jungkook introduce which ended with a slap on the back of the head by Jimin.

“Thank you? Nice to meet you guys, Jimin I’ll see you around Yeah?” You said grabbing your hat off the counter.

“W-Well can I have your number,” Jimin spoke causing you to raise a brow.

“So I can send you the pictures.” Jimin quickly rushed causing the two wolves behind him to laugh.

“You already have it.” You spoke walking towards the door.

“I do?” Jimin says confused.

“Yeah, it’s in your sketchbook, see you later.” You spoke before leaving Jimin confused.

Jimin walked towards the back with two wolves hot on his trail. He spots his sketchbook and began flipping through to find a note on his recent drawing.

Thank you for the tattoo!

one of these days you should draw me :)

Finish this convo another day??

____ cell

xxx-xxx-xxxx

“So are you gonna just stand there and not text her?” Jungkook says crossing his arms.

“Beat it Kook.”

unknown |9:40 pm

hey it’s Jimin

You smiled at the message and began to type your reply.

You |9:41 pm

it seems like you got my message.

Jimin |9:41 pm

yeah and I’m taking you up

on that drawing offer.

You looked at the message with a big smile and looked at the time to see that your shift is over in 5 minutes.

You |9:43 pm

Are you really?

Jimin doesn’t seem to answer the message right away which cause you to put your phone in your pocket and you to clean before you clock out.

“Kim I’m leaving!” You shouted waiting for a response.

“Goodnight ____!” She says and you left and you felt a sudden buzz in your jeans.

Jimin | 10:59 pm

Ofc! if that means I get to see

Your beautiful face again I’m down.

Hanging around you is better than hanging with my pack

You | 10:02 pm

Don’t lie

Jimin | 10:03 pm

Who said that was a lie?

#bts fanfic #bts preferences #bts reactions #bts imagines #bts senarios #bts fic #bts smut #park jimin #jimin preferences #jimin reaction #jimin imagine #jimin senarios #jimin smut #jimin fanfic #jimin x reader #jimin

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hashtag-amf · 4 years

Photo

Welcome to my Tumblr blog. Here I will give my honest opinions and pour out my thoughts about the ideas behind my Wattpad books. You can take inspiration from this blog when you are planning to write a novel. I wanted to write a separate Wattpad book where I could talk about this. But I then decided that I wanted to reach a wider audience, and Tumblr was better suited for this purpose.

Please note: This will be posted in parts every Friday!

Edited by @wayward-heronstairs , @hashtag-amf and Hemingway Editor

I started my Wattpad journey in May 2016. I was staying at my cousin’s house, and she asked me whether I knew about the app called Wattpad. I had never heard the name before. It was such an odd name for an app, I thought to myself. I was not interested in downloading the app because reading didn't appeal to so much. A few hours later, I downloaded Wattpad. Yay.

Then came the shocker. I got my first follower. A thin guy with spectacles. I was nervous because I had never been on a social media platform before. I didn't know what to do. I was staring at his profile pic, wondering if he was a psychopath or just crazy enough to follow me on Wattpad. I am anxious like that. I wondered how on earth did he find my account within six hours as I had not posted any stories on Wattpad yet.

The first book I read on Wattpad was fanfic about 'The Fault in Our Stars.' At that time, I had no idea what fanfic was. I picked that book to read because I had watched TFIOS twice now. Unfortunately, I didn't like the fanfic, so I uninstalled the app the same night.

Then came December of 2016. It was the Christmas holidays, and I was very tired of studying. I owned that crappy Nokia XL neon green phone. Urgh, that stock Android phone was a nightmare. I downloaded Wattpad and looked for some good books to read. At that time, Midika Crane’s books were a huge hit. Her books had those dark black and white covers were guys with eight pack abs stared out of the cover at the reader. At first, I hated the cover because I thought she hadn't done a great job of selecting a good cover for the book. I remember clicking on 'Alpha Kaden', a currently published novel. I had spent half an hour on one page trying to decipher what was written. Halfway through the Prologue and I couldn't read more. Her professional level of writing was not understandable by me.

When I was halfway done with Midika’s book, I added ‘She’s With Me’ by Ava Violet to my Wattpad reading list. It was such an amazing book. I loved reading it. It was about Amelia who was running away from her past. She had enrolled herself in the school. I don’t remember the name because I read it a long time back) and she meets the heartthrob of the school and his friends. The story was like a cliché romance novel but what stood out was Amelia’s back story.

After reading more than 90 books on Wattpad I decided to make a writing debut on Wattpad. I spent more time reading Wattpad books than studying. I would read Wattpad books in the canteen, the student's study room, at home when my mom wasn't watching. It was addicting. In 2017, the first book I wrote was a fanfic of Hellboy, the 2004 film. I never imagined myself writing fanfiction about a movie I was so scared to watch. As a child, I was so terrified of that movie that the moment I saw Hellboy on the screen, I would look away in fear. All that I remember as a kid was the scene from the second installment of the movie 'The Golden Army'. He was holding twin infants wrapped in a white blanket. There was some sort of fantasy creatures running around the street. Hellboy was spot on with his aim, that she shot them with his gun.

Then in May 2014, I got a chance to watch Hellboy on the television again. As a teenager, I wasn't scared of him anymore, but I was more intrigued by it. I loved that movie so much that I had a crush on John Myers (Rupert Evans). He was 'the dude that didn't get the girl', you know. I empathized with him as he took so much trouble by fighting alongside Hellboy. He deserved more.

Later in the movie, the professor tells John that he is dying, and Hellboy needs someone in his absence. In the movie, Hellboy treated Myers like trash. He is more of a nanny and less of an FBI Agent. And because of this, Myers tells the professor that he cannot stay at the BRDP any longer. The professor tells him that he chose him for a reason as he saw potential in Myers. He adds that in many medieval stories there is a white night and Myers was that. He tells him to take care of Hellboy after he passes away.

Another reason why I felt like writing fanfic was that Myers and Liz's chemistry was so adorable. He tried his best to flirt with Liz (Selma Blair). I hoped that he and Liz ended up as a couple. But Hollywood movies are unkind to side actors. So, when Hellboy got the girl, my heart dropped. My heart couldn't handle it. I was screaming at this heartbreaking injustice. I was like, this man needs a girl. I had to make a way to help him get the girl so that I didn't have this heaviness building inside me.

Above: Rupert Evans as John Myers in Hellboy (2004)

And thanks to being a Wattpad writer, I came up with my own story. I named it Hellboy 3. The reason for keeping this title was because of Hellboy: The Golden Army released in 2008. I didn’t want to confuse readers about which Hellboy movie the fanfic was about. I researched Wikipedia thinking that Rupert Evans had reprised his role as John Myers in it, but I was wrong. As per Wikipedia reports, Evans was filming ‘The Kiss of a Spiderwoman’ so he couldn’t be a part of the movie.

Writing the fanfic was challenging. I was stumbling through the dialogues and the scenes. I thought that this will not get more than 20 chapters, but if I am not wrong, it surpassed 20 chapters. The story got some likes, some encouraging comments, but then I was not happy with my writing. I deleted it.

In 2017-ish, I wrote another story about vampires. I wrote down the story on one of the leftover books I had in my drawer. I had a good time writing it as it was one of my original stories. I made my original characters, a mythical place cursed by time. I named it ‘The Kingsmen’. Then after I had filled half of the pages by writing, I decided it was time to edit. I posted it on Wattpad. I published the chapters with no updating schedule. After surpassing fifteen chapters, I deleted the book because the grammar was awful. I felt I was adding unnecessary commas after the dialogues. I didn't have someone to edit the story, and I also had this nagging suspicion that my mom knew I wasn't studying. I hated college because I would get tired, and the studies bored me to the core. I studied for the heck of it. Everything was fine when one fine day, I forgot the password to my Wattpad account.

It was hell on earth. Panic rose within me. It was like the end of the world was near. I tried to calm myself down. I had to remember the password. I felt that I was such a miserable person for forgetting a simple thing as a password. I tried password recovery. I scourged my Gmail account for the recovery link, but Wattpad wasn't sending the link. At that time, Wattpad was super slow when it came to sending recovery links for passwords. I remember Wattpad sent me recovery passwords five hours later. Wattpaders know that logging via recovery link is time-sensitive. When I clicked the link, Wattpad said that the link wasn't valid. I did this three times till my patience wore me out.

I was devastated. I had put so much of my heart and soul while writing that book. It was my baby, and now the account was gone….I didn't cry. Thank God I didn't cry. I was sad. It felt like someone took a piece of my heart away from me and didn't return it.

This is how it looked:

In January 2018, I made a new account on Wattpad. Now I have written down all the passwords in a notebook, not going to repeat the mistake.

Okay! This was the end of part one. Tell me how you liked it!!

By the way, I got the chance to watch Hellboy (2004) on the television today. John Myers is such a cutie!! Please check my latest IG highlights for the video. I cannot embedded the video on Tumblr :(

#writingwithalizeypart1 #hashtagamf #wattpadwriting #wattpad #newpost #writers on tumblr #writingideas #behindthestory #wattpaders #writinginspirat #newwritingtips #writeathon #writing #howtogetwritingideas

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couldnt-think-of-a-better-name · 5 years

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Moses and Pentecost motifs in TPN Chapter 134

I wanted to do a proper post on chapter 134 and explain some of the imagery that may at first have looked confusing or shocking. This post took forever to make just because of IRL commitments coming up! I will also get back to answering asks asap, sorry, I feel bad for taking so long on them!

I have posted previously about a long list of Bible references in TPN, from Genesis, to Exodus and the New Testament. If you haven’t checked those yet, you can look in my "Neverland Mythology” page for a list of posts (if you can’t find it on the phone, try it on a desktop browser). So as soon as I saw the spoilers of Ray wandering a desert for a long time, I instantly picked up on the imagery resembling the aimless wandering in Exodus. I also noticed that Ray’s hand looked wrinkled, and his hair looked like it could be streaked with grey.

So while others expected to see a young adult Ray, I wasn’t surprised when we got this instead:

After all in Exodus we did have someone wandering the desert aimlessly for decades in search of the PROMISEd land...

In fact I did joke that Ray may look like a 53-year-old (13+40 years in the desert like Moses) before I saw his face, and indeed he does appear like he could be in his 50s...

Here is a little more on Moses from wikipedia:

I find it interesting that God’s name is also unreadable, just like squiggly named demon!God... We haven’t seen a burning bush yet, I wonder if we will though in the future.

Another point about Moses’ story in Exodus is how he parted the Red Sea.

Since I have my theory that the demon world is located deep under the sea, a Red Sea reference would fit very well with that. So perhaps we will see either Ray or Emma part the ocean to get to the squiggly named demon!God? Recently we did see some Emma art with a staff. Also, notice that her robe has a lining with David’s stars? That’s a jewish symbol, and Moses' story is about the jews. There are other stars as well on the outfit, as well as astrology symbols and constellations, but those perhaps could be related to reaching the heaven and the sphere of stars in Dante’s Divine Comedy, if my theory on that is right.

Something else to consider for the place of day and night is the beginning of Genesis, where God created the world in 7 days... Some of these illustrations of the separations of day and night, air and ocean remind me of images of where the demon!God is. Perhaps this could be related to the Seven Walls if the Seven Seas is not what they are?

Okay, but what about Pentecost? Why did I say there were references to it this chapter? For those of you, who are not aware, Pentecost is a Christian holiday 40 days after Easter, it is a moving holiday just like Easter. The earliest possible date for it is May 10th (when the early release of chapter 134 happened), and the latest date for it is June 13th.

One of the main symbols of Pentecost is the dove, we saw two tiny doves hidden this chapter:

But you know what is significant about the pinwheels? They are another commonly used icon of Pentecost, specifically for children, to teach them about the Holy Spirit. In the Bible, the descent of the holy spirit was associated with strong winds, and it is advised that by observing how the pinwheels whirl, the children can be taught how just like the wind (and the holy spirit) there are things that are there even when you can’t see them.

There is another traditional symbol of Pentecost:

This chapter we actually see a flower on the table, and unlike the vida flower which is made of many small flowerheads, it has one big flower, just like a rose.

Pentecost actually ties to both Genesis and Moses as well:

I have said this before, but I believe that the original Promise is an analogy of the Old Testament, or the old promise between God and people (jews at the time), which was established by the 10 commandments being received by Moses. Why is this significant? Well Pentecost celebrates the establishment of the christian church, built on the New Testament, or the new promise between God and people... read this analysis also from wikipedia.

So if my analogy is right, it would make sense that as Emma is trying to set up a Second Promise, or a new covenant, Shirai-san would reference the celebration associated with it.

Finally, the part about the maze reminds me of Alice in Wonderland...

When searching to leave Wonderland, Alice is guided by the Cheshire Cat to meet the Queen of Hearts, and comes into her strange garden, which is a labyrinth.

Lewis Carroll (famous for writing Alice in Wonderland) was a mathematician. When he was in his twenties he drew a very tricky maze with paths that crossed under and over each other.

Interestingly, Robert Abbott, a game designer has also created a set of logic mazes he called the Alice Mazes, and it is based on following arrows, just like what Emma and Ray sees.

You start at the red square, and follow the arrows to reach the goal. These start out deceptively simple, but can get incredibly complex. Some have 60 or more moves, any one of which can send you down the wrong path. You can search for these online and play them.

He says on his website: “ these are called “Alice” mazes because they recall the scene in Alice in Wonderland where Alice eats a piece of cake with the sign “Eat Me” and grows larger, then she drinks from a bottle marked “Drink Me” and becomes smaller. These mazes won’t make you larger or smaller, but the distance you travel in a move will get larger or smaller.” The Seven Walls’ cryptic message is all about travelling distances as well.

There is a popular puzzle game that could have some significance, since we have seen Posuka-sensei highlight a related animal in important art pieces:

Snakes and ladder is actually a very ancient game, that has been popular for a long time. If you have played it, you will know that it deals heavily with the frustration of ending back where you started. Could Emma and Ray be playing a giant game of Snakes and Ladders? Well, hopefully the new chapter will be out soon and we will know more!

#tpn #tpn emma #yakusoku no neverland #tpn ray #the promised neverland #tpn theory #tpn spoilers #kaiu shirai #tpn bible #alice in neverland

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ivalice-tifalucis · 6 years

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Found a forum about Take That, also found some interesting discussion

Now it’s 4AM in the morning, I slept too much for past couple of days because of some flu and the medicine makes me drowzy and moody all the time and sleeping was very tempting. I should’ve finished my essay so I can get this one subject to more than a ‘B’ so I can still retain my dream of going to Netherlands this year. But here I am searching non-important things (or at least maybe it’s important for my curiosity), and tried to google if there’s any existing Take That forum. My standard is high with mygnrforum which is a super active and long term versatile fan forum of Guns N’ Roses, I even manage to find myself some friends there. The whole website is even made and funded by fans, active discussions from all age, nationalities, and genders, and even there was a time when Axl Rose decided to showed up to everyone’s surprise. But hey, obviously GN’R is bazillion times bigger than TT. I just saw their concert of same shit they’ve been singing for 35 years with terrible mickey mouse voice of Axl’s and people still went lit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I finally see my favorite rock band. It just hanging around with old fans give me sense of cynical for the band.

Anyway...

I went to thread that is talking about Odyssey. You may check it here: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=209704&st=440

The thread is actually meant for both Robbie and Take That fans. I found nice thread that talked about Reveal and even gave me snippets that I haven’t even seen before since I was too poor to buy Reveal. But what I want to talk about in Odyssey thread is the view of this person who definitely this kind of annoying GB Army you will find a lot around Thatters group or social medias comments sections. Try to start from the link I gave you. Here this person talks about the BBC Documentary.

Tl;dr the cynical side of Thatters and that for this lovey-dovey band, in the eyes of some of their fans they still are one of the most controversial band.

“Saw it There were some tears involved here as well, but of boredom, unfortunately. Absolutely NOTHING new whatsoever and nothing of substance and, on many occasions, it felt like the Robbie and his backing singers documentary. The era starting with 2006 was almost brushed off, because, of course, Robbie wasn't there - most of the moments from this era were the ones with Robbie in it-, we had the neverending Jason eulogy, but nothing to actually celebrate the members that really carry Take That. And I realized another thing that pissed me off - in almost all the recent performances, Robbie had the silver jacket, to make sure he distinguished himself from the others - God forbid someone mistook him for just a member and he didn't take the center of the stage. I guess that, on a very superficial level, the documentary will do its job, it will sell the album, but I see it as nothing more than that - just a promo trick, without real substance. I hope one day we get a documentary that brushes off Robbie's coming and going and the boys' constant "guilt" over it and the Jason "I'm happy to enjoy the money I've made off the back of TT, but without TT" and actually concentrates on what Mark, Gary and Howard have been doing. I know I sound bitter and I'm probably blowing things out of proportion a bit, but, seriously, is it too much to ask, as a fan, to have one episode that doesn't involve Robbie? Gary's documentary with James was so much more fun and deep, at the same time. This looked just like a label-ordered film, with no other purpose than filling some pockets. I was really disappointed. And I didn't understand what was the whole thing of including their mums in this documentary if they gave them 2 minutes and didn't get anything of substance out of them? We got more time with the same old fans that appear everywhere and say nothing interesting. It would have been more interesting to just have 2 fans that actually had some stories to tell; the same for the mums - considering how crazy it got in the 90s, they'd have had a ton of stories to tell - they probably talked amongst themselves, but nobody was smart enough to include the stuff of interest in the documentary. Sorry, just because I'm a fan, I'm not gonna praise everything they do, especially when it's so shallow. Rant over “

I mean a documentary released close with release date of their Greatest Hits album obviously not for commercial purpose related, right? People already complain that it’s going to be only TT3 doing Greatest Hits tour and she wants this documentary only about TT3. I agree though that maybe there should be more Take That mums and less fan stories maybe. But I think she doesn’t understand that ‘We’ve Come a Long Way’ is not like ‘For the Record’ or ‘Look Back Don’t Stare’. The purpose of this documentary is celebrating and look back but with brighter light on their career in the past 30 years. Don’t expect bunch of guys look pissed and depressed in this one.

And when I say she’s definitely GB Army, just read it how she reacts around the other person who is more leaning to Robbie.

“Take That have been a UK (almost) only act since especially after Progress. Boy or Manbands do not sell well in the rest of Europe. It is not down to them only. The music taste is different. Robbie maintained his solo fanbase in Europe different to the UK more than TT. He sells out stadiums still. Progress was the unification all time height. Gary never sold well in Europe. And in the UK in the comments on FB, Newspapers etc (aside of the usual hate comments every public figure gets) you see that his political direction and the tax issue hurt his image. Robbie coming and going makes some people happy, some unhappy as you also realize in the comments even in this thread. But what really took mojo away is Jason leaving. And the miss of huge ballads. However, as long as they sell tours, even if it is for the live moment rather than TT - it is good for them as it pays millions in their wallets. In 10 years there might be a full reunion and then the Progress effect will set in again”

And this GB Army lady thinks Gary has no political direction. Then do tell me why people mocking him as Tory. I don’t understand UK politics. I always roll my eyes when I found random comments like for example at Kit Harington, sometimes he got called Tory too and ffs the dude never say anything about his political views, the reason he got called Tory is probably people mistaken him for being blue blood because he is the nth descendant of an Earl and married to Rose Leslie, whom her uncle is an Earl. But then again, it’s even written on his wikipedia page with article related, Gary did stated he supported David Cameron.

Oh this GB Army lady again...

“To be frank, I understand certain fans liked Jason and miss him, I personally don't. I'm probably one of the few people who don't acknowledge that "intelligence" and "wisdom" the others are talking about - that's probably because I saw really intelligent, academic people in the person of my professors and I know how that truly looks. I guess Jason strived to be intelligent and he probably read a lot, but, imo, he had no real in depth view of anything. I'm not saying, by any means, he was a stupid person, just that he wasn't any more intelligent than the others. I agree with you, though, about his contribution to the band - even if it was only for the moral of the group, he was good for them. But he chose to leave, he wasn't kicked out, so I don't see why the boys have to always go out of their way to acknowledge him - if "fans" attack them for this, then they're idiots. The interviews the boys did in November clearly showed they are annoyed of always being asked about Jason and Robbie - that's why I find this documentary to be more of a "guided" one - they said exactly what people expected them to say, regardless of how they actually feel.“

“As I've said, I agree that both Jason and Robbie's contributions had to be acknowledged, that's indisputable. What I'm saying is that Robbie's presence in the documentary wasn't necessary, given all he's done to the boys. He could have left them have their moment. I truly, truly despised him when he referred to them as "my business brothers". He's clever when it comes to distorting reality without many people noticing it. Maybe the III and Wonderland eras weren't as successful as the previous ones, but, given the context, it's no wonder. They were still successful and it was all down to Gary, Mark and Howard. 30 years of work and did anyone actually acknowledge these eras? Even Odyssey was brushed off. So, I have a problem with the program being called "We've come a long way" while we're only presented the beginning and some of the middle. Oh, and funny how Robbie uploads his new single on yt precisely the day the documentary airs! How convenient! “

There’s also some talking about TT downfall, how they can’t sell as much as they used to. Personally, I wanna know too from this side of the story, long term fan all the way to the 90s. And tbh their problem is also every musicians for all time and all place problem. Even Gary acknowledge this. They’re an old act. And that’s ok. Kinda agree that they made some bad decisions on songs and singles, but to me it’s related to the first problem. I stand with all the 5 lads so I don’t think Robbie came and left and changing the dynamic has something major to do. I agree that they’re lacking huge ballads now, but I still enjoy their newer songs tbh, The Jason one is quite intriguing though.

“I agree about the impact of Jason leaving. He may have been quiet on records but from what I could see he was --Robbie and Gary aside-- the next most popular member since they reformed. (**) I think Jason represented 'the good guy' and humble aspects more naturally than the others and this gained him droves of fans. He is very intelligent, including emotionally intelligent which made him relatable with everyday members of the public. The other four are nice though in my opinion you could tell Jason was truly sincere. Of course he is also the only member not involved in any tax issue and possibly took moral issue on this. I once read he still banks with his local co-op.”

IMO, this part is even interesting

A (dylandog): “I actually feel for Howard. A few months ago he bumped into the 'elusive Jay' on Kensington High Street and they had a brief chat. Apparently that was the first time Jay had see Howard's two children. Howard has also posted some lovely heart felt posts about Jay - who has completely cut the boys out of his life. I genuinely think that Howard is upset by Jay's decision to not only walk away from the band, but also their friendship.”

B (GBA lady): “That's exactly what I'm thinking, dylandog. Howard and Jason seemed to be very good friends during the TT years and Mark, well, he seems to be friends with everyone. I'm not including Gary on this one, although, back in the 90s, they said themselves, it was Gary-Howard-Jay, on one side, and Mark-Robbie, on the other side. I can understand - to a certain extent - Jason's decision to quit the music industry, but I don't get why he had to also quit his friendships. Howard was the one who said, during an interview, that Jason doesn't even reply to their emails anymore.”

A: “Jay was always the one that struggled with the limelight so to some extent it wasn't a surprise that he was the one to jump ship. I also felt that he was, to put it bluntly, rather work shy. I think they probably understand/accept his decision to leave the music industry, but I agree with you, they must be hurt and confused by his actions to cut them out of his life. I know if a friend I'd spent many years with did that to me I'd feel very hurt. It does make me wonder what an earth went on? Was Jay appalled by their involvement in the tax scheme or was it something else? Whilst I understand Jay has his own life and friendship groups to completely erase them from his life is drastic to say the least. “

B: “I don't think it has anything to do with the their tax scheme. I doubt he even knew what the boys did with their share. Jason's finances are managed by his brother, the boys' by someone else. I don't see them sit down and talk: "oh, did your lawyer/accountant make you sign that paper regarding that investment?". I really trust Gary when he says he had no idea what he was signing - if he had any suspicion back then that it would be something that would backfire, he'd have pulled the money out immediately and payed the tax to the State, just like he did when he found out what it was all about. BUT, in the eventuality that Gary and the others lie and they knew they were doing something morally questionable and Jason was aware of this and this is the reason he left the band, then shame on him! He isn't a saint, he's done his fair share of morally questionable things in life - at the end of the day, using fans for sex is way more wrong than making an investment that doesn't break any laws -, so he wasn't in any position to judge. Just like all the others, he did alcohol, he did drugs, he used people for his own pleasure.....he really had no foot to stand on when it came to this. He is enjoying, after all, a life of doing nothing off the back of others, limelight shy or not. I sincerely hope that is not the reason he quit the band. If it were, his mum being in the documentary would look very weird.“

Then another guy came...

C: “I don't understand the talk about Jay like he is a bad guy here when this is probably the main reason why he quit the band, to stop stangers being judgmental on him. What's wrong with him dating young girls or older girls (Catherine Tate wasn't exactly young when they were dating)? He is single and should be allowed to date whoever he wants. And if he decided to quit because of the tax thing then I don't see any problem. People has different values in life that hold dear to their heart. Anyway, all this was just you guys' speculations (not even truth) and you still manage to use it to talk down on him just because he is not your favorite. Jason has never been a fan of technology since when he was in the band so I see no reasons for him to change after he left the band. Being of grid is so Jason that I don't know why everyone would be surprised. I have a lot of old colleagues that I was close to when I was working with them but never bother to keep in touch. I still like them but they are not my priority at the moment. There are so many levels of friendship and Take That is definitely a unique one.”

A: “I'm sorry you see it that way BadHabit. I in no way meant to be dismissive of Jay or suggest that he is a 'bad guy.' If you read my post I do say I miss Jay and for me they were at their best as a four piece. However, it's not unfair of me to point out that he had few leads, which I think is a shame by the way,because he's my second favourite vocalist in the band, or that he had very little input re song writing. The forum is for comments and opinions and unless we're looking at facts such as sales figures, then of course it's merely conjecture. My point was that I didn't fully understand the intellectual label given to Jason. Of course he can 'date' whom is wishes, regardless of their age, I don't think I suggested otherwise, but simply made an observations that he appears to have been photographed with much younger women on a number of occasions and therefore falls into that stereotype of older man/ younger woman. By the way for balance Howard is married to a much younger woman as well.“

B: “In regards to Jason dating younger women - although I couldn't care less about his private life (as long as his private life doesn't affect TT's image/reputation/connections)-, I do believe it's morally wrong for a 40+ old man to be dating 20 year olds. No, a person doesn't have the right to date whomever they please. In some countries, it's legal for 80+ year olds to marry young girls, some are still kids - based on the mighty principle that "one can do whatever/whomever they please". Just because it's not illegal, it doesn't mean it's not wrong. Plus, it's just disturbing to see an almost 50 year old - or is he 50 already? - jumping from woman to woman - he's either interested in settling down, in which case he should be dating just one person -or he's not interested in a family life, in which case he shouldn't be dating at all. I could understand it to some extent when all the boys were teens or in their early 20s, but now it's just ridiculous. I know you all live in a "liberal" thinking country, but I have the feeling nowadays abnormalities are being perceived as normal, which is soooo wrong. It's not right that any person on this forum be made to "retract" an opinion based on a system of values, just because others' fan bias. Like dylandog said, nobody believes Jason is "a bad guy", but that doesn't mean he's a saint either- he's just showing signs of immature and questionable decisions. Every single member of this band has been criticized for various choices they've made in their lives, why would be Jason exempt from the same treatment? He actually had it pretty easy going while he was in the band. For all his questionable public appearances, he never got the 10th amount of the slagging Gary did for simply existing.“

*sigh* now I’m getting some pattern that the older you are as a fan of an act, the cynical you are.

If anyone manage to read this until this part, please let me know your thoughts. Especially about Jason because tbh even I still confuse about his mindset.

#take that #tt5 #tt digging

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andavs · 6 years

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Yet another unprompted prompt from this long list of prompts. Prompt.

Number Fifty-Three: “That wasn’t very subtle.”

Allison took to late night drives.

Between her dad, Scott, Lydia, and Isaac rushing back from France, everyone had been a little...intense about her safety, to a stifling degree. She wasn’t holding it against them, it’d only been two weeks since she mysteriously rose from the dead, but she was getting a little stir crazy, and she needed to have a conversation with someone who didn’t look at her with reverence, almost a religious awe as if she was a miracle on earth. She just wanted someone who wouldn’t drop everything they were doing whenever she called, as weird as that seemed.

It was uncomfortable being everyone’s number one priority. It felt like they thought she would disappear if they asked her to wait an hour while they finished up whatever they were in the middle of—like this was only temporary and she could drop dead at any second so they had to see her as much as possible while they still could. The time Lydia assured her she was totally free and then showed up with a half-finished manicure really sealed the deal, so...sneaking out in the dead of night to be alone became a thing.

Sneaking out of the apartment in her socks and putting her shoes on in the hallway like she was back in high school or something—not that she actually graduated.

But as humiliating as it was, she would do whatever it took to get some time to herself, with total strangers who didn’t know anything about her. She was determined to find a pocket of normalcy somewhere in Beacon Hills...which is how she got the opposite of that and happened upon Stiles.

She was turning right onto a near deserted Main Street at almost three in the morning on a Tuesday, and he was just right there in the front window of the only 24 hour coffee shop on their side of town. Like that was a totally normal place to be.

She never would have sought him out like this before—well, before, but he’d kept his distance since she “came back from France” and she missed him. He’d always been good at distracting her, blowing through one topic to the next too fast for her to linger on her own thoughts for long, and these days she had a lot of thoughts to linger on, most of them bad. She could use some distracting.

(And while Scott insisted that the Nogitsune really was gone and had been for a year, she wanted to see for herself. To her, it was all less than a month ago, a demon using Stiles’ body to massacre innocent people, and in the very few brief moments she’d spent with Stiles, she couldn’t help but notice a hardness to his gaze that wasn’t there before.

She just needed to check.)

She walked right past him on the sidewalk without him noticing, even though he was sitting at the counter along the front of the shop, facing the windows. He was completely focused on his laptop in front of him, hand hovering over some stapled packets of printouts spread haphazardly across the counter, taking up three chairs worth of space. There were only two other people in the cafe, slumped in arm chairs near the fireplace at the back, so it wasn’t not like he was being rude.

Allison entered quietly and slid into the stool next to him, and it took a few seconds for him to drag his focus away from his work, frowning already at the intrusion into his claimed space before he even saw who it is. Then recognition flickered into his tired eyes and he jumped a little in delayed surprise.

“Whoa, Allison!” He flailed a little, less animated and more sluggish than she remembered, and his eyes tracked over the papers around him quickly like he was checking for anything incriminating. “What are you, uh—” he shoved a book farther under a printed page and tried to act natural. “What are you doing here? It’s like 1am.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “It’s like 3am, and I could ask you the same thing.”

He frowned and squinted at the clock in the corner of his computer screen, then answered distractedly, unconvincingly,

“Working on a paper.”

There was the half-hidden book open to a chapter on necromancy and a quickly closed internet tab named Lazarus Pit that suggested otherwise, but she didn’t mention them yet.

“How are finals going?” she asked instead, playing along even though she knew the entire pack was home from college for Christmas break.

“Good! Great! Yeah, can’t complain!” he answered somewhat manically,

She nodded along. “And the research into the undead?”

He slammed his laptop shut before she could register his movement, and she jumped, which seemed to make him jump in return, like he just realized what he did. She raised an eyebrow and his expression turned shifty. He debated his options for a moment, then gave in.

“That wasn’t very subtle, was it?”

She grinned and laughed through her nose; one of the few genuine laughs she’d had since she came back.“No, it wasn’t.” He bobbed his head in acceptance. “Any theories?”

His eyes flicked towards the empty street outside, then back to her. “What?”

“About me.” She gestured to the open book just behind him, and he didn’t even glance at it before he started to look guilty. “Do you think someone brought me back to use me?”

“Not seriously?” he tried, but she knew he wouldn’t be looking into it if it hadn’t crossed his mind with some sincerity. She raised both eyebrows and he sagged a little as he conceded, “Okay, a little bit. You’re kind of known for being a badass, you’d definitely be my first pick for any war of the dead.”

“That’s very flattering.” Probably. “Have you found anything about an upcoming war of the dead?”

The way he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head said no, he hadn’t but he would keep going until he did.

“There’s...a lot of texts to look into.”

Allison squinted an eye, playfully doubtful. “The texts of...Wikipedia?” She’d definitely seen the logo on a number of his tabs before he’d slammed his computer shut.

“I’m still narrowing down my sources!” He played along, feigning offense and falling back into their old dynamic from high school. It was unbelievably refreshing with everyone acting so strange. “There’s a lot online to sort through, and your family’s bestiary doesn’t have a post-death section—believe me, I’ve looked so many times, because no one around here can stay dead for longer than five minutes!”

His eyes widened a little, like he’d just caught up to his rant and realized who he was talking to. This was usually the moment things got uncomfortable, where everyone else started apologizing, or looking at Allison with wide and concerned eyes, like it would offend her to mention that she’d been dead.

She needed to stop that this time, before it even started. She couldn’t handle hearing another apology, not from Stiles too.

“Wait, okay.” She held up a hand. “Besides Peter and Kate—” Scott had filled her in on all of that, while looking very sincere and concerned it would upset her “— and obviously me, who else came back? I’ve missed four years of supernatural gossip, I need to catch up.”

Stiles reared back, awkwardness forgotten. “Wait, has no one told you about the chimeras? Like fifteen people died and crawled out of holes in the ground like actual zombies, and one guy tried to eat me—oh, and don’t even get me started on Derek, because I still have no idea what happened there—I mean, one second he was dying and then he was a wolf, and now he’s—”

Allison smiled at the barista who brought over a refill pot of coffee and another mug, and settled in to get lost in Stiles’ winding, ranting tale.

He may be a little sharper around the edges, a little darker, but he was still Stiles. He hadn’t become a werewolf, or a hunter, or a coyote or whatever the latest incarnation was—he was sitting in a coffee shop at four in the morning, ranting about the new patch of grey in Derek’s beard with an indignant intensity that made Allison want to ask a few questions, with his research taking up too much space, and his hands dancing around as he spoke.

Even after hugging her dad, Isaac, feeling Scott’s warm and enveloping arms around her, finally getting to have another girls’ night with Lydia—weirdly enough seeing this, Stiles in all his usual frenetic energy—that solidified things more than the rest.

Allison was back.

She didn’t know why or how, whether it was really permanent or not, but Stiles was on the case, just like he’d always been, and if there was something to be found, he would find it. He always did.

#teen wolf #look i just love stiles and allison a lot #ficlet #accidentally did some intermittent fasting today and it really does help you focus!#i got a fic done!#i mean i didn't really do my job that well #but i got SOMETHING done

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rauliskafan · 7 years

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A Hard Lesson in Vanity: Chapter 2

Authors’ Note: Happy Saturday, spectacular readers!!! Thank you all so very much for your sensational feedback last night!!! It means the world to us!!! Time to check in with Rafael as he deals with the reality of his new situation!!! @vintagemichelle91 and I hope that you enjoy!!!

“It’s been decided that you need to spend some time sitting second chair.”

The DA’s words echoed in his mind like an incessant noise filling the hallway that simply would not cease. Relieved to be back in the thick of it? Yes. Still, Rafael felt like the decision was a slice to the heart of his career. Second chair? Cutter could not be serious. Suspension aside, it made no sense given his spectacular case record. Definitely something he never saw coming; maybe having to share the caseload with someone such as Eve Selby. But second chair had never crossed his mind.

And yet, despite his wounded pride, Rafael tried to tell himself that this was temporary, and that soon enough he would be back calling the shots, dazzling the courtroom with pointed glances and well-chosen words…

“I get it. I know this wasn’t what you were expecting.” Eve’s soft voice brought him back from his racing thoughts, and Rafael gave her a small smirk.

“Could be worse,” he said. “Guess they could have changed the locks and told me to try my luck as a court reporter.” The joke was weak, and his head sagged while Eve sighed.

“You have the fingers for it,” she said, lightly touching his wrist, her blue eyes sparkling and her lilting laughter hitting the walls. “But it is a silent position.”

“Then I would have set some new precedents,” Rafael replied, letting her hand stay on his arm for a mere moment before finally pulling away.

“Would have been a waste of a great prosecutor,” she remarked. “Even though I think I’ve more than held my own.”

“I’m sure you have,” he said. “Thus, me following your lead.”

“And now I get to bend your ear and learn from the best,” she said, just biting her lip and tucking a dark curl behind her ear.

“That’s what I was,” Rafael said, pushing open the door to his office, making a mental note to get re-acquainted with Sonia, Carmen’s replacement.

“What you still are,” Eve said, reassuring him as she followed him through the doorway. “Only now you get to rub off on me.”

He raised an eyebrow and watched her cheeks fail to flush, but she did take a step back, her hands at her sides as she shrugged her shoulders.

“I know this is awkward,” Eve continued.

Rafael looked to the coffee pot and poured Eve a cup. “Now that is an understatement.”

Tentatively, she took the mug from his hand, her fingertips brushing lightly against his. “But I know we can make the best of it,” she said. “After all, we’re professionals. Believe me; I have no wish to step on your toes, Mr. Barba.”

“Then I’ll watch where I plant my feet,” he shot back, stirring his own cup and sitting down in his chair. The leather felt right so near his neck, but the atmosphere had changed, and in his mind, he was already hurrying home.

“Should I do the same, Mr. Barba?” Eve asked. “I hope you’re not looking to trip me up in any way.”

No. None of this was her fault. And when he shook his head and gestured for her to sit, a small stretch of fog lifted from the room, and Rafael returned her smile.

“Good to know,” Eve said. “Glad we got that out of the way.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “Since that’s settled… care to bring me up to speed on the latest case?”

“Of course,” Eve elegantly crossed one leg over the other. Rafael cleared his throat as he got a view of her smooth limbs that seemed to go on for miles and more. His stare lingered there for a few short seconds, but just as swiftly he shook the sight off. Because he had Natalia, because only he had the pleasure of seeing his wife in ways no one else ever would, because he could hold her well into the night and see the sun rise in her gaze.

“Now, this one is a little tricky,” Eve said, breaking his reverie again.

“Aren’t they all?” Rafael questioned dryly as he took a sip of coffee, the steaming dark liquid struggling to make like a tonic on the weight of his nerves.

Eve laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “True. But this one will give us a run for our money.”

“I’m all ears... and maybe willing to bet,” he said.

She laughed again and opened a case file. “We have an actress, Marcia Brown, straight from the set of her latest movie and accusing the director of sexual assault.”

“She waited for the film to wrap to report?” Rafael asked, his head already spinning with endless possibilities as to the outcome of the case. Scenarios where the victim and defendant lived in the limelight were a lot of work. The media would be all over this, and the evidence could be tainted, some unlikely to even be admitted, and Rafael was already strategizing how to get around that eventuality.

“This all went down right at the end,” Eve said. “Marcia hesitated to come forward because she needed to see this project through. Apparently, it’s something of a comeback film.”

“Great… the press is going to eat this up, and the tabloids will be littered with stories about her drug addiction and alcohol abuse,” Rafael said.

“How did you know about---?”

He turned the screen of his phone towards her face, revealing that he was already scrolling through Wikipedia and an IMDB page for more details on their victim, a stage actress who’d already had a few shots at the silver screen, making it abundantly apparent why she needed to make this movie work. But to have to deal with such sleazy advances? Not part of the contract or worth credits above the title any day of the week.

“Well, the oh so brilliant director isn’t a saint himself,” Eve pointed out as she handed over one Julian Frost’s file. “Known to be a womanizer, and it really isn’t helping his cause.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Rafael stated as he examined the information on the man in question. A Golden Globe in the bag… great. Cutter would want their A game, and Rafael could already sense a migraine coming on. But he calmed the raging waters with another swig of coffee. “I’m sure there are a few dozen women out there, actresses and production assistants just waiting to bring Frost down.”

“I already have the squad looking into it,” Eve stated proudly as she thumbed a quick text message.

Rafael’s brow rose, and he snapped the file closed. “That was quick.”

“What can I say? Liv called me to the precinct last night, and we worked it all out. We have her full support on this.” Her smile served as the punctuation to her sentence. So what exactly was his purpose? Everything seemed to be full steam ahead, and he was hanging on by his nails, having to go along for the ride.

“Guess I’ll see you at trial then,” Rafael said. “Since you have everything well in hand.”

“Did I hit a sensitive spot?” Eve asked. “Can even a big, brass ego bruise?”

Nearly spitting out a cutting retort, Rafael dialed his sentiments back and hung his head.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Just a new experience for me.”

“Obviously, Mr. Barba.” Looking up, he focused on her azure eyes, once again ready to cross examine her when he stopped short, swallowing his pride and thinking ahead to the moment when this state of affairs was a mere memory.

“Please, call me Rafael,” he said. “I think we’re well past the formalities.”

“No argument here,” Eve said. “And Rafael… how it happened is now moot. I only hope to work side by side and become a dynamic duo.

“Seriously?” he asked.

“Why not?” Eve suggested. “It could happen. Especially with a case of this caliber. And your brilliance back in play.”

Contemplating her words, Rafael still wanted to kick the second chair aside and stand up on the prosecutor’s table. No doubt Eve would bring him back to earth and keep her eyes on the prize that was a guilty verdict.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Rafael said, rolling his eyes with some mirth in his voice.

“Only the best of places,” Eve said, standing as she winked. “And that place is in the courtroom, Rafael… together.”

Not where he wanted to be. Not the person he wanted to be with. But Rafael shook her hand and made plans to meet for a strategy session after lunch. Watching her leave, he wondered how he could make this work without cracking. How long was the sentence for his crime? He felt his phone buzz and saw Natalia’s picture on the screen.

And as much as he needed the sound of her voice, Rafael couldn’t answer, couldn’t talk to her in the darkness of his defeat.

#raúl esparza #rafael barba #natalia barba #a hard lesson series #a hard lesson in vanity #law and order svu #svu fanfiction

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thewinsisterchronicles · 8 years

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could you pls write a Sam x Sister/daughter!reader where she's been refusing to sleep due to her having nightmares about him dying?? I'm in need of Sammy fluff

Word Count: 1135

Warnings: mild swearing

A/N: so I haven’t written a lot of daughter!fics but I love it anyways:)) thanks for sending @straightasdeanwinchester so I can get off my ass and write lol & sorry if this is up later than you wanted but here! it! is!

ALSO credit to Wikipedia for giving me info on vampires and no dad I am not going through “that phase”

Apotropaic’s, items able to ward off revenants, are common in vampire folklore. Garlic is a common example, a branch of wild rose and hawthorn plant are said to harm vampires, and in Europe, sprinkling mustard seeds on the roof of a house was said to keep them away. Other apotropaic’s include sacred items, for example a crucifix, rosary, or holy water. Vampires are said to be unable to walk on consecrated ground, such as that of churches or temples, or cross running water.

Y/N sighed as she flipped the page, eyes drooping. She clenched and unclenched her fist, trying to fight off the sleep that was overtaking her. No, she thought sternly to herself. You gotta stay awake. No more sleeping.

Of course, that was ridiculous. Y/N knew she couldn’t go on forever without sleeping, but she’d be damned if she wouldn’t at least try first.

Every night she slumbered was a night waking up in hot sweats with shaking hands and a name on her lips she didn’t dare speak for fear of being heard- or even worse, of not. It was never the exact same dream, but it all played out the same: she was hunting with her family, and she never got there in time. She was always too slow, too unprepared, too much worry and not enough action. It was always too much, yet not enough.

Unfortunately, this also kept her from staying on her toes. Y/N was so zoned out on her text that when her father walked in on her- at 3am, wrapped in a light blanket while curled up in her chair in the library- she jumped when he placed a hand on her shoulder. He jumped back, raising his hands in mock surrender, smile fading when he saw the bags under your eyes.

“Y/N?” he asked softly. “You okay?” She blinked slowly before answering.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Jus’ a bit tired, ‘s all. I’ll be fine.” Her dad’s frown deepened. He crouched, coming to her level. Damn his moosey figure, she cursed in her head.

“If you’re tired, Y/N, you should go to bed,” he placed a hand on her knee, stroking it with his thumb. He moved to take the book from her, but she clung to it tightly. He frowned at her, but she just looked away.

“No.” She said quickly, shuffling in her seat. “Thanks, but no. I want to… finish this. It’s riveting stuff, you know.” She attempted eye contact, but his eyes were disbelieving. “What?”

“Riveting?” he asked, incredulous. “Really? Y/N, I don’t remember the last time you read a lore book for fun.”

“Maybe you just haven’t caught me,” she challenged. She tried to make the words clear, but they came out slightly jumbled.

“Oh really,” he arched an eyebrow challengingly. “Y/N, what’s the last thing you’ve read?”

“Pfft,” she rolled her eyes. “Easy. It was… er, I know it was vampires- or, werewolves? No, vamps. Right, right, because… well… um, it was something about… water? Yeah, water.”

Sam looked at her, disbelief etched into his features. Y/N looked away.

“Y/N,” he started softly. “Y/N.” He said more sternly when she didn’t respond. Y/N looked up, concern in his eyes. “When was the last time you slept?”

“What day is it?” she asked. He looked at her suspiciously.

“Wednesday,” he said slowly. His eyes squinted. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Well, it’s been…” she counted her fingers. His eyebrows rocketed when she moved to count on the other hand as well. “Only six days. It’s really not that bad!”

“Not that bad.” He repeated, standing up. “Not that bad? Y/N, six days is a long time. Why the hell would you-” he stopped in front of her. “Y/N…” he said softly, kneeling down again.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” she muttered.

“We have to-”

“No. We don’t.” He sighed, hanging his head down. A second later, he looked up at her, a mischevious grin plastered on his face. She frowned.

“You’re still going to bed, though.”

Before Y/N could protest, Sam had scooped her up into his arms and was carrying her off to her room. She squeaked in protest, but it was faint. Sam gently rocked her, quickly lulling her into slumber.

“I don’t like it up here,” she grumbled, causing him to laugh.

Nudging the door open to her room, he gently placed her in her bed. He pulled the covers over her head, and leaned down to press a kiss to it.

“I love you, Y/N,” he sighed. She hummed a response, which sounded like a

“Love you too,” but he couldn’t quite make it out. He turned to leave, but Y/N’s hand shot out from under her pillow to tug on his shirt hem.

“Stay?” she whispered. He looked softly at her before drawing back the covers. He settled in beside her as her fingers held fast to his flannel.

After a while, he felt her stir. She hadn’t fallen asleep, but he could tell she was fighting it. She was trembling slightly.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, rubbing soothing circles into her back. “I’m here, it’s okay.” Her trembling stopped, and she let out a shaky breath. After a long minute, she spoke.

“You were gone,” she whispered, her voice cracking. Sam’s heart broke, but continued to rub her back. “We’re always hunting, and I’m always too late, too slow… I can’t do anything. And the blood…” she sobbed silently, a few tears leaking out and onto his shirt. “There’s so much. It was everywhere, all over my hands and I turned to Uncle De but-”

“Hey, hey,” he shushed her. She was quivering in his arms. “I’m right here. I’m still in one piece. Dean’s here, too. We’re all alive and well. It’s okay.”

“It’s not all okay,” she mumbled. “It’s not okay I see that every time I close my eyes, that I have to check in on you every night to see that you’re alive. It’s not okay. It’s not fair.” She let out another sob. He kissed the top of her head.

“I know it’s not fair,” he whispered comfortingly, stroking her hair now. “It’s not fair, it’s not okay, and I hate that you’re feeling this. But you know what? I’m right here. We’re together. We’re real. Those nightmares are not. Your uncle is too damn stubborn to let me die, and he’d never let you go, either.” Y/N let out a wet laugh.

“True,” she chuckled shakily. After a moment, she spoke again. “I love you, dad.”

“I love you, too,” he responded. “More than you could imagine.”

He felt her nestle closer, sighing contently. Moments later, her breathing became regular and small. He smiled contentedly at his daughter before dozing off beside her.

#supernatural #Winchester #reader insert #platonic!samxreader #platonic!deanxreader #fic #windaughter #Winchester daughter #daughter!winchester #daughter!reader #dad!sam

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karmaalwayswins · 8 years

Text

@nepenthenet prompts January 2017

1. transitions 2. the waiting game 3. empty chambers 4. a stolen crown 5. rose red / blood red 6. two faces 7. ceremonial swords and other sharp objects

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Whittle bars of Lucky Green soap (like Irish Spring but not as good) into figurines of the Old Gods. Stop when you have created fifty. Set them by the bed as protection until the twentieth week, when the baby in your belly has received its soul. Bury the figurines in a ring around the house at this point, because The Devil will be watching.

Cyril guesses Stomach pain when the girl in the corner starts puking and I say That's not fair you saw her puking and Cyril says You didn’t say that was a rule and I say Fine and then ask What about that guy with the purple hair and Cyril answers That guy is probably here for syphilis I bet he fucks a lot because the purple hair makes him unusual and I say Lots of people have purple hair and before Cyril can answer the nurse in the blue scrubs calls my name and Cyril pushes my wheelchair to a room so the doctor can take the glass out of my foot.

Lot 12

“Double” (2006)

Emi Sanderson

American, born 1986

Two black and white photographs, each 4 x 6 feet. Photograph 1 is of the empty chambers of a revolver, subtitled with the words “This is not a hornet’s nest.”. Photograph 2 is of the partially filled chambers of a hornet’s nest, subtitled with the words “This is a loaded gun.”.

Estimate: USD 3000 - 3500

Last date for bids: February 1, 2017

The top of former King Marshawn’s skull, missing for thirty years, was finally discovered last week in Indonesia, a coincidental finding during a tax raid on a diamond seller’s home. The skull piece was found incorporated into the centerpiece of a dining table. When questioned, the diamond seller answered that he had no knowledge of this.

Paint a rose on your chest using pig’s blood, a rose to match the rose tattooed on the breast of Dakota Taylor, lead singer of the girl group “Our Turn”. Do this in her front yard after climbing the fence and reading a manifesto describing your love for her. You do not meet Dakota Taylor today. You meet two policemen, one Black, one Asian. You attempt to explain your actions in mime. They taze you and put you in their police car.

Scar two faces of death with the letter X. The X marks the spot. The X marks the spot where the deed was done. Done in by their own greed, these men who lie here, marked as traitors to all that the good people of this great nation believe in. X out these men, place them face down deep in the dirt, never to be spoken of again.

Be knighted as a Hero of the Nation in a televised ceremony celebrating patriotism even though all officials in the room know that half your time in service was spent filleting fingers and using eyes as pincushions. Wave to the crowd and say a few humble words about just doing your duty. Check your Wikipedia page after the congratulatory steak dinner. Ignore the “Controversies” section. You are now a Sir.

#nepentheprompts #writing prompts #writers on tumblr #prompt list #my stuff

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rolandfontana · 5 years

Text

The China-US Trade War and the Winner is….MEXICO

When I was about 10 years old, one of my best friends managed to score us two free tickets for a professional wrestling match in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where I grew up. Both of us were huge sports fans but neither of us were wrestling fans but when you are 12 and you get free tickets, you go and go we did.

What I still vividly remember about that show (and that’s what it was, a show) is the anger of the crowd. I actually wrote about this previously in China’s Service Sector Will Reign, Part XVIII — WWE And Skimpy Bikinis:

When I was a lad of maybe ten growing up in small town middle America, one of my best friends, Pete Collins (a/k/a/ The Big Man), somehow managed to snare some tickets for a professional wrestling event in my town. So we went to some disgusting patched together arena for the event and what an event it was. The Sheik was there (I think). Tony Marino was there (I think). Bobo Brazil was there (of that I am almost certain). The women wearing skimpy bikinis who would come out between rounds and between matches were there (of that I am 100% certain).

The crowd was at least half of the show. People would get so worked up for or against a particular wrestler, huge numbers of security would constantly have to rush in. These people clearly thought it was all real. In doing a bit of background research for this post, I came across a bunch of disparaging blog comments about those “idiots who actually thought this crap was real.” I have to admit that at ten, I was a professional wrestling agnostic; I just was not really sure.

The wrestlers and the announcers would play up the wrestler’s nationalities in a way that the adult me finds repulsive. We were all encouraged to hate the Sheik because he was an Arab and because he used razor blades (I am NOT making this up) to surreptitiously cut other fighters. Wikipedia tells me that he was a Lebanese-American, born in Lansing, Michigan, which is maybe two hours from Kalamazoo. Bobo Brazil was billed as “the South American Giant,” though his Wikipedia page reveals he was actually born in Arkansas and spent most of his life in Benton Harbor, Michigan, also about two hours from Kalamazoo. I do not remember if we were to hate him as a foreigner or not.

What I also remember from that event was a match between a wrestler allegedly from Mexico who wore Mexican flag shorts and a Mexican flag jacket and a wrestler from the United States who wore US flag shorts and a US flag jacket. Again, I am NOT making this up. And if I remember correctly (which I doubt I am) about half the audience seemed to be from Mexico and they all sat on one side of the fairly small auditorium while everyone else (Pete and me included) sat on the other side.

To make a long story short (and there is a China point to this post), the alleged Mexican fighter soundly beat the alleged US fighter and then the Mexican fighter grabbed the microphone and said something in Spanish to a raucously cheering (taunting?) side of the room with the Hispanic fans. The announcer then translated what the allegedly Mexican fighter had said: “this was not just a win for me, it was a win for all of Mexico.” Needless to say, this was met with loud booing from the non-Hispanic side of the room.

I thought of that match this morning when I read a WhatsApp from a Mexican attorney friend of mine who sent me a Bloomberg article, titled U.S. and China Got Into a Trade War and Mexico Won, along with a note essentially saying that what the two of us had been predicting would happen had happened.

So everyone, let’s cue the lights and keep going with the wrestling theme. The US and China got into a big wrestling match and to the extent that match has ended, Mexico can raise its arms as THE victor. What exactly does this mean? Should we be booing or cheering?

I am writing this from Mexico right now — my law firm does a lot with Mexico and we have a ton of lawyers and staff fluent in Spanish — and I have always believed the United States should be doing more business with Mexico, not less. The US economy overall is likely to end up net negative from this trade war, but in my view, business going from China to Mexico should go into the “win” column for the United States.

A few months ago, in The US-China Future: Meet Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, Turkey, and the Philippines, I wrote about how my law firm’s manufacturing lawyers were getting a steady stream of American and European and Australian companies looking to move out of China entirely or reduce their dependence on China and I had this to say about Mexico in that post:

Mexico is very much open for business. Some companies refuse even to consider Mexico because of security fears. We see this as a huge mistake because there are plenty of great areas in Mexico that are shockingly safe.

I concluded that post with a weak rallying cry for China:

But China is not going to “just go away.” No way. It’s not going to become “an even larger, more powerful North Korea,” as I have heard some threaten will happen if the United States and the EU were to hang tough against China. No way. What I see is American (and European and Australian companies better recognizing what it is like to do business with China or in China. The days of so many companies having stars in their eyes about China are over and this newfound realism can only be a good thing. Will American and European and Australian companies continue to do business with China? Absolutely yes, but in lower numbers than previously. How much lower? Hard to say, but I would anticipate seeing a steady decline (maybe totally around 30%) over the next five years. China will remain a big and important country and that should not be discounted. But the big change we are seeing and expect to see accelerate is foreign companies that would in the past just check the China box are now exploring other countries as well. And this too can only be a good thing.

The Bloomberg article calls the US-China trade war a “windfall” for Mexico and though it does not mention other countries that have also benefitted, you should add Vietnam and Thailand and the Philipines and Indonesia to that list. One of our manufacturing lawyers is in Indonesia right now with a couple Taiwanese factory owners scoping out possibilities for our clients looking to move production from China to Indonesia. Another client wrote me this morning about moving its production to Vietnam or Thailand. Many countries besides Mexico are benefitting from China’s stumbling.

According to the Bloomberg article, “U.S. imports of goods from Mexico surged 10 percent to almost $350 billion last year, the fastest growth in seven years while growth in shipments from China slowed by about a third.” Not surprisingly, Mexico “has seen big gains in shipments to the U.S. in categories where competing Chinese goods were hit with tariffs, everything from poster board to air conditioner parts.”

The article then mentions the following examples of companies moving production from China to Mexico:

A Chinese maker of paper cups and straws for U.S. restaurants just opened a “$4 million factory in Monterrey, Mexico, that will soon begin shipping millions of paper straws across the border.” This company set up production in Mexico to “avoid the tariffs and it says it will make up up for pricier Mexican labor with lower shipping costs.

Texas-based Taskmaster Components “has for almost 20 years imported large wheels and tires from China, and assembled them for companies making trailers and recreational vehicles, but tariffs pushed it to look at investing in a factory in Mexico. Its COO, says “A lot of people are moving production down there . . . . its close proximity, access to ports and an educated workforce make everything about Mexico attractive.”

It then lists out product after product, where China losses have become Mexico gains:

“After the U.S. levied tariffs on metal ores and their byproducts, Mexico’s exports to America more than doubled, while China’s sank by a quarter.”

“Tariffs on aluminum products helped wipe out almost $500 million in imports from China. Mexico saw a 20 percent increase in sales to the U.S.”

“Peeled garlic cloves from China sank by almost a quarter after receiving tariffs while Mexican exports rose 54 percent.”

“After the U.S. put 10 percent tariffs on silk yarn, one of China’s iconic exports, Mexico’s shipments to the U.S. jumped from basically nothing, just $5,500 in 2017, to $1.6 million last year.”

“China’s imports of knitted and crocheted fabrics fell by about $3 million, almost the exact amount Mexican imports rose.”

U.S. imports of Mexican passenger vehicles with gasoline engines jumped 17 percent while shipments from China declined.

Per the article, “Chinese labor rates and Mexico’s proximity to the U.S., especially important in the e-commerce era of quick shipping had been chipping away at China’s dominance even before the trade tariffs.” It is just so much easier and cheaper to fly to and from Mexico (which is only one hour earlier than Seattle — the same time as Denver) is as compared to China. This matters. And just ask how many people at your company speak Spanish as compared to Chinese.

The Bloomberg article notes that the “Mexico bump” could be short-lived if the U.S. and China strike a trade deal, “reducing the impetus to move production to Mexico.” I disagree. The US-China trade war has opened people’s eyes to how China how difficult and inhospitable China is for foreign companies and how countries like Mexico are far more welcoming of foreign business and can offer their own distinct advantages.

The Chinese paper cup company in the Bloomberg article is quoted as already contemplating “shifting more work to Mexico” and “possibly start selling to the local market and then to South America.” I am not going to tell you that operating in Latin America or selling your product here will be easy, but I will most emphatically tell you that as compared to China, it truly is. The World Bank ranks Mexico at 54 for “ease of doing business” and Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru all rank between 65 and 70. China ranks 46, but that number is incredibly deceptive because the World Bank rankings are based on the ease of doing business for domestic companies and China so it fails to account for China’s rampant discriminates against foreign companies.. Were these ease of use rankings based on the ease of foreign companies doing business in each country, I would expect China to fall out of the top 100, with the rankings of the Latin American countries mentioned above barely impacted.

What are you seeing out there?

The China-US Trade War and the Winner is….MEXICO syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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