#because maria is an adult woman and these were made for babies

[butchladymaria]

not sure if you’re referring to my analysis essay, but at the risk of nudging into “make your own post” territory i do want to address your points here just for fun! this got long, so under the cut it goes —

Firstly, I do agree with the interpretation that he wouldn’t dress Doll in hunting attire. The thing is, there’s a vast ocean of nuance between “dressing doll in hunting clothes” and “dressing doll in hyperfeminine gender conforming clothes”, and Maria’s taste isn’t as mysterious as many make it out to be if you look closer at her attire. Maria’s homeland of Cainhurst allowed its citizens to be knights regardless of gender, but gave visually distinct uniforms for men and women. As you can see below, despite of the fact that she could have modeled her attire on either a masculine or feminine outfit, Maria’s hunting clothes far more closely resemble the masculine knight’s set.

I can’t speak for everyone, but when I point out how Gerhman feminizes Maria through Doll, it doesn’t really have anything to do with hunting attire vs civilian attire. I’m talking about how Maria’s garb shows that she was gender nonconforming by her own cultural standards, yet Gerhman omitted that in making Doll. Regardless of his presumed motivations, it’s inaccurate to just ignore that completely. In any case — just because we only see her hunting attire in-game, why should we assume that her masculine taste in fashion was solely the result of the hunt? I don’t think most folks imagine that other characters who dress masculine such as Gascoigne would be dolled up in a dress if not for the hunt (although it’s a great concept lol, good for him if true). It’s also not as if masculine civilian clothing doesn’t exist — plenty of corpses wear button-up shirts, waistcoats, and coats that fit the bill.

I don’t know how much canonical basis there is to prove that Gerhman “did love/care for Maria because of who she was and not what she looked like”, as in all my research there was nothing which points to that decisively one way or another. If that’s your headcanon, that’s totally cool! However, I will say this: people, especially parental/guardian figures as Gerhman was, as far as we know, to Maria, can care about a deceased loved one and still erase their GNC identities after death — and for a whole host of reasons. The specifics are a very complex issue for another day, but suffice it to say that those things aren’t mutually exclusive. The existence and memory of gnc people is complicated by a society that doesn’t want their memories preserved accurately — just look at any lgbt+ historical figure for that one.

On your point of mourning dolls — if you do look them up, you’ll actually find that they were only made for very small children, usually infants or toddlers at the oldest, and Maria was obviously well out of that age range. What’s more, other forms of mourning art were used for adults. post-mortem photography, hair art, etc were all common (and its actually a super interesting rabbit hole to go down, highly recommend). If you’re still going to claim that Doll was made as a mourning doll, it implies that Gerhman saw Maria as his daughter (which is decently in line with canon), but it also brings a whole lot of somewhat unsavory baggage along with it. To summarize: the mourning doll represents the culmination of the Victorian obsession with the inherent innocence of white children, and their emphasis on those children as paragons of untainted purity. I highly recommend you check out Eternal Innocence: the Victorian Cult of the Dead Child if you’re interested in learning more — you’ll see what I mean about that baggage being unsavory.

Either way, it directly implies that Gerhman was trying to make Maria in effigy as pure, innocent, and untainted. Maybe that’s okay on paper when it’s a baby we’re talking about, but Maria was a grown adult. Unlike an infant, she did have thoughts and opinions. It also puts the attire he chose for her in even more unflattering light — possibly implying he saw her gender nonconformity as impurity to be expunged…? Rather historically accurate, if nothing else. It gets even more uncomfortable when you consider that purity was heavily connected with obedience, dependence, and lack of personhood in this time period. The obsession with preserving purity seem in mourning dolls was the same variety that argued women did not belong in politics or the workplace lest they become “tainted” by the outside world (and protest being considered the wards and property of their husbands the same way children were of their fathers, among many other things). In other words, the infantilization of women was a key part of Victorian era misogyny that equated their “purity” to that of children — which must be preserved at any cost, even after death. Making a mourning doll of Maria would have been out of place even in Victorian times, but it only gets worse if you do follow that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion in the historical context mourning dolls come from.

To conclude, my larger point that I develop more in the essay is that it’s a bit of a lapse in logic to point to the historical existence of, for example, mourning dolls while overlooking the historical context of possession when it came to women and children that contributed immensely to their existence in the first place, and the deep prejudice that existed against GNC people at that time period as well. It isn’t accurate or logical to take a cultural and historical artifact like mourning dolls and completely remove the complex web of contextual meanings they were bound up in. I’m 100% in favor of acknowledging the historical influences of the Victorian Era on Bloodborne — in fact, I think it’s crucial to a complete understanding — but that’s a lot more complex than face-value comparisons. More broadly, I think we do Bloodborne a disservice by ignoring that broader historical context and womanhood, especially given how the themes of the game focuses on women, motherhood, and childbirth.

I saw this post the other day that I can't seem to refind, but it mentioned that when Gehrman created the doll, he makes her in the image of Maria but strips her of a lot of her non-gender conforming appearance. But if you think about it for a while, it makes a lot of sense why Gehrman wouldn't put the Doll in a hunter outfit. Because Maria being a hunter is what led to her experiencing the awful Fishing Hamlet, and eventually dying. Gehrman probably regrets ever teaching her, or letting her come along on that mission. It's also worth mentioning that he did love/care for Maria because of who she was and not what she looked like. When the Moon Presence brought the Doll to life, it didn't act or think like Maria because the Moon Presence can't just take her out of the Nightmare (or doesn't want to, but trying to analyse the actions of Great Ones will give you a headache). Also the whole Mourning Doll thing. Seriously, just look them up.

TLDR: Gehrman was a Personality man.

[dumbbitchenergy17]

Where the Wild Things Are - Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Parallels

Plot: Wild men or monstrous infected creatures, the world is wild and ravaged by Cordecyps but some are raised in it and flourish becoming a wild thing.

Word Count: 3.4K

Pairing: Joel Miller x Platonic!Teen!Reader, Ellie Williams x Platonic!Reader

Warnings: canon-typical fighting/violence, injuries, harsh language, motherly issues, tw: violence/abuse towards minors

—————

It wasn’t your fault your mom didn’t care for you but why couldn’t you care for me. We all have ways to cope, mine is taking pen to page, yours was needle to arm. I grieve for the girl you should’ve been...for the mom you could’ve been

A few days go by, with the only contact being Tommy to deliver you food though you barely stomach it. Ellie had stopped visiting probably Joel’s doing leaving you to the silence and your thoughts. It wasn’t until one day when both Maria and Tommy had arrived that you hadn’t expected them to open the door for you. You stared at the open cell taking a step out right as the door leading outside bursts open as two men struggle to bring in a thrashing and screaming man. He’s bloody clearly from a fight he lost, but his clothes are familiar, and when he made eye contact with you a surge of strength as he lunged for you.

“You murdering fucking cunt!” Snarls and insults hurled at you, words you’ve never heard of thrown at you. The two Jackson men reign him back in as Maria rests a gentle hand on your shoulder. You pull away harshly from the contact and Tommy leads you outside the community jail Maria following behind you. The sunlight blinds you stepping outside shielding your eyes slightly as the cold air sends a full body shake and you bring the coat closer around your body. What you didn’t expect was to see Joel leaning against a telephone pole a deep-set frown on his face.

“A patrol came back with him, they ran into raiders, said they were looking for what they described as a ruthless woman from a cabin,” Tommy explains and your blood runs cold. They weren’t kidding, these guys were actively hunting you down because you killed some of their guys.

“The reason we’re letting you out is we needed the room to question him. Now we’re relying on your trust you won’t try anything or we will find an alternative holding space.” Maria explains and you slowly nod looking at the two adults before you glance over at Joel who’s still watching you Maria notices, “So with that, you will be staying Joel.”

“What?!” “Tommy!” Both you and Joel speak at the same time, you don’t want to be near the man who has almost choked you and tried to break your arm. The man steps forward grabbing his brother’s collar,

“That wasn’t the fucking deal, you said to watch the kid but not her living with me.” He says as Tommy shakes his head,

“I had no choice, Joel you think I trust anyone else to watch after her? I would do it myself, but we got the baby.” Tommy says and Joel steps back with a curse on his lip.

“Hey, I’m not happy living with you either old man.” You spit and he gives you a look making a step toward you but Tommy steps between you two giving you both a look, “Please Joel.” He felt like he was dealing with two Joels. The stubbornness of his brother and he couldn’t ignore the eerily similar mannerisms you two had. Joel stares at his brother before he curses stepping back he looks over at you pointing,

“You try any shit, I’ll make you sleep outside.” He threatens and you cross your arms mumbling, “Probably better than being with your old ass.”

“I swear-” “Y/n!” Tommy gives you a look and you sigh rolling your eyes.

“I won’t try anything.” You promise as the two of you hold tense eye contact before he turns and heads down the street, and you look over at Tommy and Maria.

“Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be kid,” Tommy says and you scoff crossing your arms, “He fucking started it.” You say and the two adults sigh mentally preparing themselves for putting you and Joel together in the same house.

“Come on, let’s get you set up. I have some spare clothes that will fit you better than what Ellie has.” Maria says as the three of you leave the jail making your way to your new home.

You could feel the stares from people as you walk between Tommy and Maria, barring your teeth makes them scurry away or look away quickly and the two adults sigh at the feral behavior. You were like an animal asserting your dominance, a sign of ‘back of the fuck off’ coming off you. “Come on kid,” Tommy says as you turn down Rancher Street entering Joel and Ellie’s home. You hear the clink of the glass seeing Joel in the kitchen setting down his drink. A bottle of amber rests next to the glass in his hand, you freeze slightly seeing the liquid. The yelling of a woman as similar amber sloshes in the cracked glass, the liquor fueling the rage that always led to nothing well.

“kid…Kid?” Tommy’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts and you turn your gaze away from the man in the kitchen to the man beside you. “Let me show you the room you’ll be staying in.” Following behind Tommy your hands clutched to your pants hearing the liquid being poured before the glass slams back on the counter again. Tommy opens a door and you find Ellie inside moving things around. It looked to be used for miscellaneous things but those items were shoved in a corner, it looked swept up clean to have you stay in.

“I didn’t believe it when Joel said you were staying here! I tried cleaning it up as much, but we can get you stuff to make it your own, books, posters...” Ellie rambles as Tommy chuckles at the hyper girl speaking to the older one who silently takes in the room.

“Alright, Maria should be here soon with some clothes that will fit you better. Anything you might need just let us know, I’m sure someone in the community might have it.” Tommy says and you nod before Ellie races over grabbing your hand. Panic rushes through you as you rip it free from her grasp staring at her with wide eyes. Tommy and Ellie look at you slightly with pity in their eyes at the defensiveness in you.

“Sorry…come on I’ll give you a tour of the house, then I’ll show you the town, then there’s Dina and Jesse, oh and Cat you’ll like her.” Ellie rambles and you turn to Tommy who gestures for you to follow. Around the house, she shows off the living room and dining room, you stand in the entranceway of the kitchen as she opens cabinets and drawers explaining where everything is. You tune her out slightly your gaze focused on the bottle of amber the hair on your skin rising as you were entranced by it but not in awe but fear.

‘Fucking ungrateful brat’

“Okay let me show you upstairs.” Ellie’s voice makes you flinch slightly as she leads you upstairs. You’re silent your thoughts running wild, you hadn’t thought about her in years, as far as you were concerned she was the last thing that should be on your mind. You let the girl distract you as she shows you her room, the posters she explains Joel had found for her on patrols, the collection of comics that she promised to share with you, and the photos and sketches on a corkboard. “This is Joel’s workroom, he doesn’t like people in here same with his room…so I say just ignore it.” She points to two doors that are next to each other. Ellie let you know where both bathrooms were before the tour was over.

“Well this is home and there’s the garage. Joel’s thinking of making that another room said I could have my own space but is gonna wait until it’s warmer to start working on it,” Ellie explains as she grabs her coat and hat pulling them on, “Come on I’ll show some places in town.” Ellie swings her pack over her shoulder and opens the front door and there’s Joel almost as if he was waiting there to stop you two.

“Shit Joel trying to scare the crap outta me.” She jokes moving past him but the man remains silent looking at you. You knew a ruthless person when you saw one, you knew he did things he wasn’t proud of, the same with you but it was needed to survive. You knew he didn’t like you not an ounce of pleasure was it to have you under his roof.

“Give us a minute to talk kid,” Joel says and Ellie tries to retort but he steps inside closing the door and leaving the two of you alone. It’s silent before he speaks up, “To be frank I don’t like you. I don’t like you in my house, around my brother, with my kid. I’m only going to tell you this once, try anything and I mean anything that has you out of line. I won’t hesitate to do worse things than those Raiders would do if they had you.” His threat is not light and you knew he wasn’t bluffing. Though time had to soften him with Ellie and being in Jackson you brought back that darker side of him when he was younger and more ruthless.

“Are we clear?” He says and you nod silently and he grunts stepping aside and opening the door revealing Ellie waiting on the steps, “Be back in an hour no later.” He says as you step out joining the girl outside.

“Ready?” She says a wide grin on her face completely unaware of the threat her father had just given her. You nod and you both leave the home heading towards the main street. Your gaze darts around quickly taking in all the people of different ages around you, you hadn’t seen this many people not since you were younger. Most of it was spent alone traveling and fighting to survive. You feel each heated gaze and the whispers that follow and shackle you. Though you speak to no one as Ellie points at places explaining you felt drained and on edge, your hands are stuffed in your pockets as you follow beside her. Even though the girl was younger you felt like a child trailing after their sibling for their guidance.

“So there’s the mess hall, there you can have, breakfast, lunch, dinner, but sometimes we just cook at home if we have the time,” She points at the large building as people walk in and out of it. You remember this building running through it to escape Joel and Tommy. “Yeah that’s pretty much it, we should head back or Joel will tear us a new one,” Ellie says and you follow her as she claims she’s taking a shortcut through the back of the place, as you follow her you hear voices and the aggressive tone has you on edge. Ellie seems to notice the both of you turning the corner. You see a girl with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and tan skin as she’s backed against the wall by three guys around your age.

“Hey back the fuck up!” Ellie calls out and the three boys and girl look over spotting the two of you as Ellie moves to stand in front of the girl protecting her.

“Aw, Dina you’re little girlfriend here to rescue you. What’s Jesse gonna say?” The boy in the middle says as Dina glares at him and Ellie’s face flushes at the comment but quickly hides behind a sharp look.

“Just leave her alone fuckface.” Ellie growls and the boys all chuckle at the presence of the sixteen-year-old tries trying to protect Dina who looks to be your age. “Come on Williams what you gonna do, go cry to Daddy and Momm- oh wait it’s just Daddy.” The middle boy says as the other two laugh and you see her stiffen hearing the comment about her mother.

“Just leave us alone, Derek,” Dina calls to the middle boy who shakes his head as he steps towards Ellie she bites her lip and you see her hands balled up in fists.

“No come on Williams, gonna go home and cry over Mommy.” He taunts and her face is bright red in anger you’re not sure how her anger transferred to you but your body reacted.

“Hey.” You call out and he turns right at the moment your fist slams into his nose and you feel it shatter under your knuckles as he grabs his broken nose. The four other teens look at you in shock kinda forgetting you were there until a complete fight broke out. One of the boys jumps at you their fist striking your cheek the metallic taste filling your mouth. You kick your foot striking him in the groin his hands grab his dick and your fist slams into his throat as he grabs it gasping for air and falling to the ground. A hand grabs your hair as your temple collides with the brick wall stars flashing your vision and they pull back to slam you into the wall again. Grabbing his wrist you twist yourself free until you feel a crack as his screams fill the air. A punch to his face brings him down as you barely dodge a blow to your lip feeling it split from the force. Seeing Derek with blood pouring down his nose fire in his eyes as he holds his fists up.

“You fucking bitch!” He hisses and blood coats your teeth as you grin more sliding down your temple and you bring your fists up waving at him to come at you. With a roar, he swings a fist and you dodge landing a shot right at his kidney. A sharp gasp from the sudden pain as his hands go to grab his side not able to block his face as you drive your fist forward. The punch brings him to the ground as you pin him down your fists slamming into his face and beating the crap out of him. You hear screaming as blood coats your hands that you don’t realize is coming from him. His fighting grows weaker but arms wrap around your waist and you’re pulled off the boy, your elbow driving back but another pair of hands stop you. You’re heaving air trying to catch your breath as the red clears from your vision and you suddenly take in your surroundings. A crowd surrounds you as multiple people surround the three boys looking at their injuries. They all had severe injuries as you tried fighting the arms holding you back. You see Maria hovering over Derek’s body a man beside her as he screams curses at you. You are pulled away from the aftermath of your fight around the corner you slam against a wall not trying to protect your head as you find yourself staring at a furious Joel holding your shoulders to the wall. Behind him is Tommy who paces his hands in his hair as he curses with each step, beside him are Ellie and Dina who are silent but Joel’s hand grabs your jaw making you look back at him.

“What the fuck did I say about ‘try anything and see what happens’ did you no fucking understand!” He roars in your face as you continue heaving blood pouring from your mouth staining your chin some blood almost gets in your eye and causes some hair to stick to your face. “Are you fucking listening to me!” He shakes your body.

“Get rid of me then.” You retort and he slams you further against the wall your head smacking against the brick again, “Is this a fucking joke to you!”

“Joel!” Tommy yells as the man still keeps a grip on you, “Fuck…just get her out of here, and you two better not lie about what happened.” Tommy turns looking at Dina and Ellie who nod in fear not used to seeing the man this angry, Joel yes but Tommy no.

“Get the fuck out of here. Now!” He says and Joel pulls you off the wall shoving you to walk as you move. You examine your split knuckles before using the back of your hand to wipe the blood off your chin spitting some excess pooling in your mouth on the ground as it stains the snow. The walk is tense as people watch the four of you head towards the Miller home. It had only been minutes since the fight ended but the news spread like wildfire in the close-knit community. Joel rips open the shoving you inside as you stumble catching yourself on the wall before you slam into it.

“Joel!” Ellie yells at the aggressiveness coming from the man, she knew he was pissed but enough to shove a kid around is where she drew the line. Gripping the corner of the wall as he moves past you reaching the kitchen and you hear the telltale sound of glass hitting the table and you’re frozen gripping the wall. You knew you were in Jackson but everything felt just like Kansas City.

“Fucking ungrateful brat!” She yells as the glass hits the table and you are surprised it didn’t shatter. A meek child clutches her scraped hands using the dirty sleeves of her shirt to wipe the stray tears wincing from the bruise on her eye. The ruined book at your feet. You had tried to get it from the small library only to run into the kids that bullied you and you quickly lost the fight which got Fedra involved. This caused her to be called away from whatever busy she was in to deal with this which leads us to now. The glass hits the counter again as you flinch. “You fucking pull me away 'cause you couldn’t handle a few fucking kids? Are you that pathetic!” She hisses. Your gaze moves to the wall not wanting to look into the kitchen. Just let her vent and then you’ll be alright. A hand grabs your arm almost ripping it from your socket and you're whipped around to face the woman who was going to murder you with how angry she was.

Your mother.

“Are you fucking listening to me? You’re so fucking stupid I swear why the fuck did I have a dumbass kid!” She yells and your eyes shut instinctively feeling her spit land on your face, the stench of nicotine and liquor fresh on her breath. She shoves you away and you hit the ground wincing from the pain, “Should’ve fed you to fucking infected,” She says pulling the bottle to her lips and you watch the amber liquid drain as you push yourself to stand with shaky limbs.

“Want me to feed you to infected, want mommy to let them rip you apart,” Tears flood your eyes as you shake your head begging her not to, “How ‘bout I leave you in the streets and let the sick bastards out there do whatever they want to you. They would like a young ten-year-old.” She says as you cry out more pleading for her not to kick you out. A sharp slap across your face and you feel your lip split.

“Stop fucking crying god it’s irritating.” She shouts and you bite your lip only making it bleed more to muffle your tears. She looks down at the child turning away, “Get the fuck out of my face. I don’t wanna see you at all tonight.” She shouts and you scurry off running to the small corner hidden behind the rotting couch away from her gaze.

“Are you listening to me!” A man’s voice yells out as you gasp for air your fingers dig into the wallpaper, and everything blurs around you. You weren’t hidden behind the couch to avoid her wrath but the feeling was still there but only with a different person.

“Y/n?” A hand grazes your shoulder and you book it down the hall barely avoiding Joel as he comes out the amber glass in his hand that sends panic through you. Your body slams into the door to your bedroom as you shut it behind you twisting the lock as you hear a fist bang on the door. Your hands grab the dresser pushing it forward until it blocks the door. The banging and the yell of your name only get louder. Covering your ears trying to drown it out, you felt the tears stinging your eyes biting your lip hard enough to bleed more to muffle the whimpers from coming out. Boxes are pilled along the wall giving a corner for you to hide behind. Hands against your ears trying to block out the sounds as you try to calm yourself down.

You’re not there anymore.

Kansas City is gone.

She’s gone. Stop crying.

Stop fucking crying!

[ashlynlovestlou]

you and ellie find a baby while patrolling

꩜ CW: mention of gore , mention of infertility , father figure! ellie , fem! reader , pet names

꩜ synopsis: you and ellie find a baby while patrolling

sfw!

masterlist

☆—-------------------------------------------------------------—☆

No one knows how it happened. One patrol that was supposed to be normal ended up with you and Ellie finding an infant abandoned.

Ellie heard it first. The sound of clickers lurking in the heavily wooded forest just outside of Jackson. Of course, she never worried about it. Killing Infected was like stepping on bugs to her, but when she saw a group of people being torn up by them, she knew something was off.

You saw it all happen. A man had his entire arm dismembered, his screams piercing to yours and Ellie's eardrums. A woman's face was mutilated, her limp body making you feel sick. The third person of the group ran for a good while, managing to kill one of the clickers with a puny blade that didn't last long.

By the time you and Ellie had shot and killed the clickers, the people were all dead. The two of you were left alone in the forest, the only sound coming from the lacework of leaves above you and the crunching snow under your feet.

"You think they've got any loot on em'?"

You nod your head, already advancing towards them, trudging through the crunchy ice.

You both hear a noise, making you stop in your tracks first, Ellie right after. Your heart hammers in your entire body.

"Ellie, I thought you killed them?" You whisper, your voice caked with urgency.

"I did, babe!" She whisper-shouts, slowly approaching them with her gun drawn.

The noise happens again, this time more clear. It sounds like a cry, but not one that could've came from an adult.

You put your hand on top of Ellie's gun, slowly lowering it once you realize neither of you are in danger.

"Is that...?"

Sure enough, huddled by the cluster of dead infected and people, is an infant, kicking it's legs and squirming to be held. You heart instantly shatters into tiny bits and pieces, and you don't hesitate to scoop it up.

"What if it's infected?" Ellie says, thus receiving a dirty look from you.

"It's a baby."

"Have you seriously never seen the movie Gremlins?" She stifles a laugh, but you're too busy staring at the baby in your arms.

Ellie can see the look on your face. The motherly one that you've always had ever since she met you, even though you both know you can't have kids of your own. Ellie knows how much it broke your heart, knowing you can't have a baby. She always tried to tell you that it was okay and that she was happy just with you, but your heart always yearned for a child.

And now you're holding one.

"Babe..." She says softly, putting a comforting hand on your shoulder, "Let's just bring her to Maria."

"Ellie." You quickly say, looking at her with pleading eyes, "We were the last people to see her mother before she died." You motion at the woman with a bullet hole wound in her chest, and the swaddle wrapped around her body.

"What are you-"

"Can we keep her? Please?"

"Whoa, Y/N... this is a huge commitment, we can't just—" She stopped short when she saw the tears in your eyes, the baby leaning on your chest as if she had already warmed up to you. The look of you holding a child made Ellie's heart swell fuller than a river during a flood.

"Ellie. We can't just... leave her with Maria."

"Why not?"

"Because we can't." You say, sniffling and biting your lip, "Please."

She sighs, her shoulders dropping. She hates to tell you no, especially in a situation like this when she knows how upset it's making you, "Fine. Fine, okay, we'll take her home."

Your face lights up as you look at the little human leaning agains you, "Thank you thank you thank you! God, Ellie, I'm going to make this up to you."

Ellie rolls her eyes, a smile on her face as she creeps up behind you and rests her chin on your shoulder. Her hands hold your waist and she peppers gentle kisses on the length of your neck, "I like to see you happy, mama."

☆—-------------------------------------------------------------—☆

[sgt-morgan]

Sweet Thing🏞️🎶

Whiskey sunrise part 3

Whiskey Sunrise Masterlist

Pedro Masterlist

Summary: Everyone is very sentimental. Wounds still bleeding from loss, we all look to the past for happy memories, and when we do we find soulmates.

Warnings: none in particular, allusions to sex maybe? Idk. Anyway. AFAB! Female identifying reader, nicknamed reader. Also as per usual, all songs mentioned are not mine, they live in the whiskey sunrise playlist and all lyrics are the artist’s property.

A/N: I got hella sentimental on this one y’all, but next week the girls are gonna get to their scheme.

Frank has always been a believer in soulmates. Bill was like coming home when he first met him, the spark instantly catching between them and now years later they’re still together. Your mother and Father weren’t soulmates, no, Frank fully believes that his soul was for his children. The man was meant to be a father, and loved his children with ferocity until he was forced to leave them, and he was sure even in death the old bastard clung to you and Llewyn, protecting and comforting you as well he could from the beyond. Llewyn and Amber Lee were soulmates. He remembers watching the kid scramble to get into the production of Romeo and Juliet to be with her, and was not at all surprised when he proposed to her while they were still in high school, and he was even less surprised by the fact he never dated another when she died. Maria and Tommy were soulmates, their whirlwind romance and very predictable shotgun marriage was no surprise to the older man. He even believes Sarah and Ellie to be a kind of soulmates. The girls being siblings more true than blood could ever allow, in fact, he kinda felt sorry for whatever man and woman fell for them, because they would always have that troublesome super duo to deal with for the rest of their lives. You and Joel though, you and Joel were clearly meant to be from the beginning. Nothing had ever been more clear to the man, he can in fact remember to the moment when he realized, and it’s one of his most favorite memories.

In this memory you are seven. Your favorite uncles are visiting, and you all go to the river. Joel and Tommy come along, their overworked mother always happy to let them go off with your dad to give her some peace. The boys are unruly, and your ex military father can handle them.

Besides, as all of the adults in your lives knew, Joel was gonna complain until he saw you anyway, might as well give in before the whining starts. So they all go, the three men and four children are set to have a day of fun in the sun. Joel and Tommy’s mom graciously packed a lunch, you’re all slathered in sunscreen, and everyone is ready to have a good day.

You’re twirling around like a princess, the only girl of the group and they all treat you like you’re a delicate little flower. Back then you were, you cried at the drop of a hat, stray kitten? Dead bird? Crying baby? Movie? Sad commercial? Somebody talks to you a little too mean? You dissolve into tears. You were very sensitive, and very soft, and clocking in at the youngest made you the baby of the group. Woe betide any man who would go on to hurt you in the future, and a speedy recovery to whoever hurt you in the present, you were a well protected individual, and you needed to be. You were naive, always believing everyone only held the best intentions, and being so easily crushed when they didn’t.

Joel is besotted with you. Has been from the moment you met. He’s 8 years old, and he knows with clear certainty that this dancing six year old has got some kind of hold on him, a hold he doesn’t have a name for yet, but feels with an intensity of someone thrice his age. He loved her vibrancy. As a kid who quickly became ‘the man of the house’ when his dad died, she is such a clear picture of unbridled joy and levity he never really got. Nobody messes with Sugar if he can help it, not even Tommy and Llewyn, his two best friends in the world.

Tommy and Llewyn liked to pick, they picked on Sugar, and sometimes Joel, and mostly at each other, but they sometimes go too far. They don’t mean it, lord knows the two boys never intend to upset anyone, their brand of affection just borders on mean sometimes. They were two peas in a pod in that way, always tugging on each other one way or another trying to get the other to crack. They think it’s funny, and Joel thinks it’s annoying, but sugar? Well… sugar doesn’t get it.

Sugar’s latest obsession is being ‘lady like.’ She watched one too many princess movies and she’s decided that if she wants to be a princess, all she has to do is mind her manners. She has been parading around in a plastic tiara and dresses for weeks, and today is no exception. The three adults are sat on the river bank, drinking beers and dipping their toes in the river, while the kids are running and splashing around. Sugar is splashing along the edge, picking up pretty rocks and Joel is watching her with an eagle eye while he sits with the adults and listens to them tell stories about the tours they’ve worked on and the wars they’ve fought. He was an introspective kid, it’s what made him and Llewyn good songwriters later on in life. Then he peaks trouble on the horizon. Tommy and Llewyn have approached the girl, linking arms with her and lifting her slightly. She harrumphs any angry ‘get off me!’ The two boys plop her in the water with a giggle, soaking her through. She’s a sad sight as they run off giggling at being chased down by your dad. You’re sniffling in the water and sucking back your tears to not be seen as a ‘cry baby’ and Joel scrambles to go to you.

“Oh boy.” Frank giggles, bumping shoulders with Bill to point out the boy scrambling to the waters edge to make you feel better while your dad scolds your scoundrel brother and his partner in crime.

“Oh no, well, at least I will know the man I’ll have to threaten when she goes to prom.” Bill grumbles, wrapping an arm around his partner who is diligently snapping photos of Joel straightening your tiara and lifting you from the water.

Frank smiled when he saw the way Joel played the knight in shining armor to a tee. He helps you ring out your dress and smoothes your hair, before giving an exaggerated bow and proceeding to shove Tommy and Llewyn headfirst into the river when they came to apologize. Your father rolls his eyes as he approaches his best friends, flopping g down with a huff and muttering "Those two are meant to be, I know it."

Now it was early morning, you and Joel were sitting on the patio, playing guitar and chatting about the day ahead. You were waiting for the girls to wake up, and you were noodling back and forth on some songs you’d both gotten an ear for. Elephant in the Corn by Nickel Creek you think. One of those moments where you just get the mood to play around with a song, and you remember moments similar to this when you were eighteen and he was twenty and you wrote a song that would change your lives for good.

“Then like a- yeah! That! Good!” Joel laughed a bit as you carefully plunked out the next part of the tune you were writing. He presses a kiss to the Side of your forehead, he can’t remember a time in his life when he was happier than this.

“So what’s next.” You giggle enthusiastically, grabbing his jaw and turning to kiss him.

“Next is- well let’s see.” He gives an over exaggerated frown and you laugh.

“I know it ain’t All that late

but you should probably leave.

And I recognize that look in your eyes

Yeah you should probably leave.”

Your eyes glimmer and you look at him in awestruck recognition. There’s that look he’s singing about, he thinks with a grin. He picks a jaunty little riff and you laugh.

“Joel Miller-“ he cuts you off with another lyric and you laugh disbelieving.

“‘Cause I know you

And you know me

And we both know

where this is gonna lead

You want me to say

that I want you to stay

So you should probably leave.”

You laugh out loud and continue what he started.

“There’s still time

for you to finish your wine

Then you should probably leave.” You croon, grin infectious.

He laughs and plucks some more notes and continues the lyric you’ve started.

“And it’s hard to resist,

Alright, Just one kiss.” He leans forward and lays one on you while you’re still giggling. “Then you should probably leave. Go again on the chorus.” He sings and you grin strumming along, doing your best to add in a harmony. Then Joel leans real close and sings a bridge.

“Like the devil on my shoulder

you been whispering in my ear

And it’s gettin kind of hard for me

To do the right thing here.

I wanna do the right thing baby.”

You grin and picture all the nights he was singing about, you sneaking in the window of his little matchbox house he shared with Llewelyn and Tommy, talking, laughing, kissing, whatever. You’re not ashamed to say Joel was your first. Hell if it came to it, you’re pretty sure everyone in your life would be glad it was Joel, but testing that theory was not something you felt like doing. You remember all the nights you’ve spent since, pressed together in his room on a too small mattress, waking up to him running his hand up your back as the morning sun haloed him in the light of day, making him look like some kind of Angel. Then as if reading your mind Joel comes back in.

“Sun on your skin

Six AM and I’ve been watching you sleep

And honey I’m so afraid

You’re gonna wake up and say

That you should probably leave.”

The song you wrote that day would go on to win you Grammys for best new artists, country song, and country album, and then some. All because of one little songwriting session on your front porch, and mornings spent in sappy, lovestruck, bliss with Joel.

You look radiant. Your bare face looks tear stained, but Joel can still see the echoes of all the smiles in your eyes while you bask in the glow of the sun. The beat up six string you’re plucking on was a gift. He gave it to you on your sixteenth birthday. He remembers working long hard days in the blistering sun that summer to get it for you. Being a ranch hand was no easy feat but the owner of the ranch was kind, and the pay was as decent as he could expect at 18 with no prior experience in the field so to speak. He learned a lot of valuable lessons that summer, and one of them was that there was no greater value to be had in anything than the value he found in your smile. The joy in your eyes and the kiss he received proved that point a million times over he thinks.

replacing your dad’s beat up old twelve string was a gift unto itself.

His heart ached to think about you having waited all day to celebrate your sixteenth birthday for him. You were a vision of beauty, sitting on your front porch, barefoot, hair blowing in the gentle breeze. You’re leaning on your hands, a piece of cake sitting next to you with a fork sticking out of it. The radio is playing a Van Morrison tune, he can’t place it from this distance, but he knows it’s a perfect soundtrack to the beautiful girl who has waited all evening for the likes of him.

“Joel!” When you finally spot him, your face eclipses the sun in its radiance, and he counts himself lucky it was him who put it there.

“Hey Sugar baby.” He laughs, swinging you up into his arms.

“I saved you cake,” you grinned. He still held you up high and you looked down at him with your hands on his shoulders, leaning down to give him a kiss. “There was pizza but Tommy and Llew got to it before I could blink. I made sure there was cake for you though, couldn’t let my favorite sugar fiend go without.” He grins, so happy to have someone be so considerate of him for once.

It was different for Joel, his mom died last year and because he and Tommy were 16 and 17 years old with a place to crash, they had to work extra hard to keep up, Joel taking the brunt of the burden because it was easier for him to get a job. He was so used to being the protector and provider, it warmed his soul when someone did the same for him. You were considerate like that though, you noticed everything and appreciated all. Even remembering his famed love of sweets and making sure there was enough for him. It’s a small thing, but it’s still something he’s grateful for.

“You didn’t have to Sugar, I got the sweetest thing in the world right here.” He grinned bumping noses with you and laughing.

“Ugh, that was sappy.” You playfully scrunch your nose in disgust. Then the longer you looked at him, the softer your eyes became, and once again he was dazzled by how much he loved every second he had with you. “I’m glad you’re here cowboy.”

“Hey, check this out.” He puts you down and reached into his truck and pulls out the gift, a black guitar case with a red bow, when you open it you gasp, tears flooding your eyes and he grins as you practically tackle him with kisses.

“Joel oh my god!” You squeal, kissing him hard on the lips. It makes him damn near breathless. When you let him go he was dazed and grinning like mad. He was so Star struck he swore he could hear the angels singing, but the clearer his head got the more it sounded like Tommy and Llew laughing at his dumbstruck grin.

While it was fun for recreating Beatles tunes, the twelve string wasn’t much good for the music you were wanting to make, and the sound you were trying to accomplish. Watching you play the new guitar he got you for the first time, was like untethering you from some strange shackle, your playing was improved by tenfold because you weren’t having to compensate for six extra strings, but the most important thing was it made you happy. He loved the giddy joy the shitty cheap guitar gave you, and he promised he’d do whatever he could for the rest of his life to keep that smile on your face. If only he could have kept it.

Inside the house, your family was still making plans. The adults at the table looking out the window and murmuring about how they would get you alone, but the teens were in their rooms, planning what would happen once they did.

“Research. Let’s do research.” Sarah nodded, pulling out her phone and pulling up the early interviews of the band.

“Dude, we’re their kids, what’s a fuckin interview gonna tell us that we don’t know already?” Ellie snorted, still squishing into her sister to see the screen. The interview was a song association thing, and Ellie hadn’t seen them do anything so quaint in a long time. At this point in their careers, these fun buzzfeed and side show interviews were few and far between. Not that they didn’t happen, they did, popular internet corners attracting big stars or whatever, but you just didn’t really do interviews much anymore so when you did do then they were generally saved for prime time.

“Yeah, I get that, but before they were all that, some of these interviews held some nuggets of truth yah know? Stuff they told before they started censoring.” Sarah shrugged and pressed play.

“Hi I’m Llewyn Davis,” Llewyn winked at the camera.

“I’m Tommy Miller.” Tommy salutes.

“I’m Sugar Davis.” Your smile was bright and they noticed Joel was staring at you like you hung the moon.

“And that’s Joel Miller.” You grinned squishing his face as he scowled his usual grimace.

Then all at once you all said “And this is The Family Affair.”

“We’re here to play a game of song association.” Llewyn said, handing Joel a guitars before picking up his own.

“We’re gonna be the best to ever play. Watch.” You giggle, ruffling Tommy’s hair.

“Sugar is so sure of our prowess, because before we got big we were a house band for a bar and we took many many requests.” Tommy laughs, batting you off playfully.

“Baby Boy, we will be the best.” You nodded again, grabbing a slip from the bowl.

“First word?” She groans and hands it to Llewyn who cackled. “Lost.”

“Joel?” He sing songs.

“Yeah?” He grumbled with an upturned lip.

“I think she’s lost that loving feeling.” Joel chuckles at Llewyn’s obvious reference and starts strumming.

“No she hasn’t.” Joel laughs.

“Yes she has goose, She’s lost it man.” Llewyn grins.

“I hate it when she does that.” Joel mutters and the Llewyn sings.

“You're trying hard not to show it

But baby, baby I know it

You lost that lovin' feelin'

Whoa, that lovin' feelin'

You lost that lovin' feelin'

Now it's gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen that was Lost That Loving Feeling by the incomparable Righteous Brothers” Llewyn laughs.

“The boys were obsessed with the film Top Gun for a long time.” Sugar laughs. “It’s also an instant crowd pleaser in any bar with a military presence.”

“Truth. That and Top Gun is the shit.” Tommy nods and picks the next paper.

“Our word… is…. Season.”

Sugar dramatically throws her arms out and smacks Joel and Llewyn and begins singing. She animatedly sings the lyrics to a musical both the girls know very well at this point, it being one of their mother’s favorites.

“Everything has its Season!

Everything has its time.

Show me a reason

and I’ll soon show you a rhyme.

Cats sit in a windowsill

Children sit in the snow

Why do I feel I don’t fit in anywhere I go?”

She grabs Joel’s shoulders and holds a fake microphone, sliding a hand down Joels face as his eyes roll.

“Rivers belong where they can ramble

Eagles belong where they can fly

I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free

Gotta find my corner of the sky.”

“THAT.” Sugar exclaims when she’s done, slinging an arm around a rather annoyed looking Joel. “Was Corner of the Sky from the musical Pippin. In high school, I played Fastrada and had the time of my young life. I got to be the villain, I loved that role.” She sighs and Joel playfully muttered ‘And I loved the leotard.’ Causing sugar to laugh, and Tommy and Llew to gag.

“Our next word is… Joy.” Llewyn grinned. A few more songs went on like this, them taking turns pulling words from the bowl, until a very intriguing word was pulled by Joel.

“Our word is Sweet. Hit it Llew.” he grinned standing and Pulling Sugar to her feet, nodding at Llewyn who grinned and started playing the opening chords to ‘Sweet Thing’ by Van Morrison. Then, Joel began to sing.

“And I will stroll the merry way and jump the hedges first

And I will drink the clear, clean water for to quench my thirst

And I shall watch the ferry-boats, and they'll get high

On a bluer ocean against tomorrow's sky

And I will never grow so old again

And I will walk and talk in gardens all wet with rain

Oh, whoa-oh, sweet thing, this sweet thing

Eh-hey, yeah, sweet thing, yeah

Yeah-yeah-yeah, my, my, my, my sweet thing.”

The whole time he sang he swayed a giggling and blushing Sugar around the space in a slow dance while Tommy and Llewyn fondly laughed and played along.

“It’s Sweet Thing by Van Morrison. That’s our song.” Joel shrugged by way of explanation, never a man of many words. Sugar smiled and kissed him sweetly on the cheeks and his lips tilted up in a small grin, as was his way.

“This has been song association, and we’ve been the Family Affair, and this is once again Van Morrison.” Llewyn started up the Chorus again and Joel more than willingly stood to dance with you again as the video showed the credits and the people on set as they all continued to sing Van Morrison together. Old tour dates scrolled across the screen and the girls sighed, watching how happily in love you were.

“They were so cute.” Sarah muttered, and Ellie nodded.

“So their song is by Van Morrison. I didn’t know that. What else can we learn.” Ellie mutters and clicks on the next video.

“Hi we’re The Family Affair and this is our wired auto complete interview.” Llewyn starts and reaches for a board, smacking Tommy with it immediately.

“Is The Family Affair from Texas?” Llewyn peels the sticker and puts it on Joel’s knee. Joel peels it and hands it to you and you crumple it up and toss the tiny ball and it lands in Llewyn’s hair, causing you and Joel to have to stifle your laughter while Llew answers the question. “Yes we’re from Arlington Texas, home of the Bowie High Volunteers. Go Vols.” Llew pumps an arm and you all laugh with a ‘Go Vols!’

“Is the Family Affair a family band?” Llew peels and sticks it to Tommy who promptly takes it and uses it to tape his mouth shut.

“I guess I’ll answer.” Sugar laughs. “Yes, we’re two sets of siblings, so we consider ourselves a family band.”

“Is there a couple in The Family Affair.” Tommy reads, after Llew peels, still pretending he can’t talk with his mouth taped closed. When the question is read,

Llew rips off the tape and answers.

“Yes, Tommy and I have been happily married since 2008.” Tommy grins and they lean in to pretend to kiss each other, and Joel sticks a board between them.

“Sugar and I are dating.” He grumbles and Sugar kisses him on the cheek. They move onto a board all about Joel.

“Does Joel Miller ever speak?” The whole band answers ‘No.’ and they move on.

“Does Joel Miller act?” Was the next question and he looks confused as Sugar giggles.

“No he does not, but his actual twin Pedro Pascal certainly does.” She giggles and Joel rolls his eyes. “Quit it Joel, you know that man is your twin, don’t be bitter.”

Sarah and Ellie giggle. “Dad does kinda look like Pedro though, it’s true. We should do the Mandalorian as a family costume.” Ellie laughs. “I’ll paint myself green and say ‘Patu’ a lot.”

“Does Joel Miller have a daughter?” Joel smiles and answers for once. “I do, I actually kinda have two, I have my Sare Bear and my Bellie.” He grins and the girls smile fondly at their dad on the screen. Even if Joel wasn’t her real dad, Ellie would always be glad that he claimed her. His answer earned him another kiss from Sugar and he smiled.

“Is Sugar Davis single.” Sugar pretended to think about it and Joel bonked her on the head with a board. “No, Sugar is happily dating Joel Miller.”

“Is Sugar Davis a mom?” She grinned and pulled up her phone, showing her lock screen to be a picture of Sarah and Ellie in ugly Christmas sweaters. “Yes, I have my Ellie Bell and my Silly Sarah. If we were to answer honestly, Ellie is mine and Sarah is Joel’s, but they’re our babies.” She grins and Joel kisses her knuckles.

“Is Sugar Sugar’s real name?” This strip is placed over Llew’s mouth again as he tried to answer, probably with some horrid nickname. “No, but a Lady never tells.” She winks. They move on to the next question.

“What is Sugar’s perfect date?” They all laugh at that question and shake their heads. “I presume this has something to do with that interview you did for Rolling Stone?” Tommy laughs squeezing his brother’s kneecap.

“I don’t know Sugar, what do you think?” Joel grumbles, wrapping an arm around you.

“I think ours are similar.” She shrugs, twisting her fingers through Joel’s. “A good dinner, a walk around the park with Ice cream, a good movie, taking the kids to the Aero Space museum and getting in trouble for kissing in the model rocket.” She shrugs and Joel laughs a deep belly laugh.

“That’s it Sarah!” Ellie laughs, throwing up her hands in victory. “We can make them the perfect date night.”

Sarah squeals and throws her arms around her excited sister. “We did it!” She grinned, ecstatic that they were able to pull it off from just a couple YouTube videos. “Now we gotta get everyone else in on it.”

A conspiratorial thirty minutes later, they had come up with a plan, get them to go out together for a day, get them on a date. Starting today with their trip to the museum.

-

-

-

-

-

[ocenitram]

@heavy-little-and-milfy

Regina thought about what her new friend was saying and it shocked her. Regina herself thought she was beyond forgiveness but this stranger just like Snow had shown her otherwise. Her smile was infectious and made The mayor of Storybrooke smile as well. "Thank you Maria and I appreciate your help with my relationships, but I don't know where to start maybe your right and everyone deserves forgiveness but the problem is I don't regret my actions because they got me my son which means if I changed my past I would never have been able to adopt him. Well my world is easy to understand have you ever read a fairytale?" Regina chuckled at the analogy she made. Regina looked at the motherly figure Infront of her and raised an eyebrow at her as Maria patted her head. "You know am not a little right?" She didn't know what else to say so the queen chose to ask that instead. " Am sorry I didn't mean to intrude on that, I understand what you're daughter is going through and i see that you're right about the toilet," Regina smiled a first genuine smile. The two woman continued to talk but the queen would look over to where the girls were playing. Regina remember a time Snow was carefree. "Maybe I can help you change them It can't be easy you being the only adult in a house full of babies."

Snow-White was having fun with her sisters and brothers. She saw her mommies talking and it scared it her a bit what if Regina tells Maria to not baby her or what if Regina takes her away she did love Regina like a mother but Regina had shown her in more occasions that she didn't want anything to do with her. "Helen I scared," Snow waddled towards her big sister.

It had been a few days now since Snow and her family had moved into Maria’s home after the insistent. Things had been going well all things considered, Maria was doing her best to be there for all the little ones from Emma, her twins, Neal, and of course Snow. It was a nice sunny day out so everyone was out playing in the yard, Maria humming softly as she sipped her drink and watched them play. She looked over to snow as she saw her toddling about, giggling a bit as she went towards her, “still getting the handle of walking in a diaper sweetie?”

Emma was playing with the twins and she ws having lots of fun Snow played with them for a while but the baby bandit was a clingy baby and she decided to toddle toward her mommy she looked up at her and make motions with her hands indicated wanting to be picked up for a bit "Yeah it's a little hard the thick diapers make my feet split up sometimes I think crawling would be faster than walking." the bay bandit explained sometimes she talked using her big words even though she was in little time. Snow looked at her mommy she and nodded, "Mommy why my diapeys thicker than everyone's else?" the baby princess couldn't help but notice that she was the only one with extremely thick diapers making it hard for her to walk so she mostly crawled toddled or waddled as the diaper kept her feet apart.

[that-spider-witch]

On “Dead” Cultures and Closed Spiritual Practices: Why Colonialism Is Still A Problem.

Let me start this by saying that, as far as my knowledge of Paganism and Polytheism as a whole goes, I’m what the internet witch community calls a “Baby Witch”. I’m stating this out of the gate because I know there will be lots of people, including witches who have more experience on the craft than me, who might decide to ignore what I have to say based on that fact alone, stating that I’m not knowledgeable enough to give my opinion about this.

Here’s the kicker: I’m a ‘baby witch’, yes, but I’m also a twenty-six year old Venezuelan woman. I’m an adult. I’m Latina. I’m a Christian-raised Pagan,but I’m also a Latinoamerican woman over all other things including that. I grew up on this culture, these are my roots. It is because of this background than I’m writing this post today.

Looking through the “Paganism” and “Witchcraft” tags of this website, I’ve seen a few posts throwing indigenous deities and spirits’ names around on lists alongside deties of open cultures. Yes, you can know better by doing your own research and not going by what just a random Tumblr user wrote on one post (as I hope its the case with everyone on this website), but the fact that pagan beginners are still getting fed misinformation is still worrisome to me.

There’s nothing like reading a so-called expert putting Ixchen (Maya), Xolotl (Nahuatl) and Papa Legba (Vodou) on the same damn list as Norse, Hellenic and Kemetic deities and tagging it on the tags aimed at beginners who might not know better to truly ruin your morning. I’m not mentioning user names here: If you know then you know.

To quote @the-illuminated-witch on her very good post about Cultural Appropriation: 

“Cultural appropriation is a huge issue in modern witchcraft. When you have witches using white sage to “smudge” their altars, doing meditations to balance their chakras, and calling on Santa Muerte in spells, all without making any effort to understand the cultural roots of those practices, you have a serious problem.

When trying to understand cultural appropriation in witchcraft, it’s important to understand the difference between open and closed magic systems. An open system is one that is open to exchange with outsiders — both sharing ideas/practices and taking in new ones. In terms of religion, spirituality, and witchcraft, a completely open system has no restrictions on who can practice its teachings. A closed system is one that is isolated from outside influences — usually, there is some kind of restriction on who can practice within these systems.”

A counter-argument I’ve seen towards this when someone wants to appropiate indigenous deities and spirits is to use the “dead culture” argument: Extinct cultures are more eligible for use by modern people of all stirpes. It is a dead culture and dead religion. It would be one thing if some part of the culture or religion was still alive, being used by modern descendants, but the culture died out in its entirety and was replaced, right? They were all killed by colonization, they are ancient history now, right?

Example: “If white people are worshipping Egyptian deities now, then why can’t I worship [Insert Aborigen Deity Here]?”

To which I have two things to say:

Ancient Egypt’s culture was open and imperialistic, meaning they wanted their religion to be spread. This is why Kemetism is not Cultural Appropriation, despite what some misinformed people might tell you. Similar arguments can also be made for the Hellenic and the Norse branches of Paganism, both practiced by people who aren’t Greek/Norse.

Who are you to say which cultures are “dead” and which are not?

Religious practices such as Vodou and Santería certainly aren’t dead, not that it keeps some Tumblr users from adding Erzuli as a “goddess” on their Baby Witch post, something that actual Vodou practitioners have warned against.

Indigenous cultures such as the Maya and the Mapuche aren’t dead, despite what the goverment of their countries might tell you. The Mapuche in particular have a rich culture and not one, but two witchcraft branches (The Machi and the Kalku/Calcu). Both are closed pagan practices that the local Catholic Church has continuously failed to assimilate and erase, though sadly not for lack of trying:

“The missionaries who followed the Spanish conquistadors to America incorrectly interpreted the Mapuche beliefs regarding both wekufes and gualichos. They used the word wekufe as a synonym for ideas of the devil, demons, and other evil or diabolical forces. This has caused misunderstanding of the original symbolism and has changed the idea of wekufe right up to the present day, even amongst the Mapuche people.”

For context, the Wefuke are the Calcu’s equivalent of the Familiar, as well as reportedly having more in common with the Fae than with demons anyway.

This and other indigenous religions are Closed because it is wrong for foreigners to just come and take elements from marginalized groups whom are still fighting to survive and that they weren’t born into. To just approppiate those things would be like spitting in their faces, treating them and their culture like a commodity, a shiny thing, a unique thing to be used like paint to spruce up your life or be special.

I know some of you are allergic to the word “Privilege”, but on this situation there really ain’t a better word to explain it. You weren’t born here, you don’t know what it is like, you are only able to see the struggle from an outsider’s point of view.

If a belief or practice is part of a closed system, outsiders should not take part in it. And with how many practices there are out there which are open for people of all races, there is really no excuse for you to do it.

Why Colonization Is Not “Ancient History”

If you have kept reading all this so far, you are probably wondering “Ok, but what does Colonization has to do with any of this?”

The answer? Everything.

With the general context of culture appropriation out of the way, let me tell you about why the whole “dead culture” argument rubs me the wrong way: Here in Venezuela, we have a goddess called Santa Maria de la Onza, or Maria Lionza for short, whom’s idol statue I have been using to illustrate this little rant. If you happen to know any Spanish, you might recognize the name as a derivative of Santa Maria, aka the Virgin Mary, and you are mostly correct: Her true indigenous name is theorized to have been Yara.

And I say “theorized” because it is a subject of hot debate whether she was really ever called that or not: Her original name, the name by which she was adored and worshipped by our ancestors, might have been forever lost to history.

That’s the legacy of colonization for you: Our cultures were stolen from us, and what they couldn’t erase they instead tried to assimilate. Our ancestors were enslaved, their lands and homes stolen, their artwork and literary works destroyed: The Maya and the Aztec Empire were rich in written works of all kinds, ranging from poetry to history records to medicine, and the Spaniards burned 99% of it, on what is probably one of the most tragic examples of book burning in history and one that people rarely ever talk about. 

People couldn’t even worship their own gods or pass their knowledge of them to their children. That’s why Maria Lionza has such a Spanish Catholic-sounding name, and that’s why we can’t even be sure if Yara was her name or not: The Conquistadors couldn’t steal our goddess from us, so they stole her name instead. Catholics really have a thing with trying to assimilate indigenous goddesses with the Virgin Mary, as they tried to do the same with the Pachamama.

On witchy terms, I’d define Maria Lionza as both a deity and a land spirit: Most internet pages explaining her mention the Sorte mountain as her holy place, but it is more along the lines that she is the mountain. 

You’d think that, with Venezuela and other Latinoamerican countries no longer being colonies, we’d be able to worship our own deities including her, right?

As far as a lot of Catholics seem to think and act, apparently we are not.

The Catholics here like to go out of their way to shame us, to call us “cultists”, to ostracize us, with a general call to “refrain from those pagan beliefs” because they go against the Catholic principles. Yes, the goddess with the Catholic-sounding name, a name she happens to share with a Catholic deity, apparently goes “against Catholic principles”. You really can’t make this shit up. (Linked article is in Spanish)

This is just an act of colonization out of many, of not wanting to stop until the culture they want to destroy is gone. Don’t believe for a second that this is really their God’s will or anything like that, they are just trying to finish what years of enslavement and murder couldn’t. They might not be actively killing us anymore, but they still want us dead.

So no, colonization is not some thing that has long passed and now only exist on history textbooks: It is still happening to this day. It is by treating it as old history that they can keep doing it, and it is by pushing the narrative that our indigenous cultures are “dead cultures” that they try to erase our heritage.

Because we are not dead. We are still here, we are alive, we have survived and we’ll keep on surviving, and our gods and goddesses are not yours to take.

¡Chao! 🐈

[adrianasunderworld]

So… remember when I said I’d wanted to make something for Mama Spade x Mrs Rosehearts? Uh.

—————

Felicity Rosehearts has always loved roses. That was a given, living in the Queendom of Roses and such. Growing up, as a young girl she always struggled to choose her favorite color rose: red or white. The white roses that sprung from the ground through hard work and determination or the red roses which were painted and perfected to the Queen of Hearts’s desires.

It would switch between the two of them growing up, but more often than not, the white rose was her favorite, especially when she was being courted by her, now husband, Mr Rosehearts.

On their first outing together, Mr Rosehearts gave her a small bouquet of white roses. Those flowers made her heart flutter back then. The purity of the petals and the slight contrast of Mr Rosehearts’s hands and the flowers that he held within them all made the moment feel so special.

Felicity, as a young girl, had a hobby of learning about plants and their meanings. Not just medical plants, but also flowers and their many meanings.

Felicity knew that white roses symbolized innocence and new and young love. She thought the gesture was so sweet back then. White roses could also symbolize eternal loyalty…

On her wedding day, Felicity held a bouquet of 26 white roses. During the vows, Mr Rosehearts gave her bouquet another rose, a red one. When the single red rose joined the 26 white roses, the white ones changed colors, the once pure unblemished white turned a deep red. The red one spread its color to the other roses like a ripple. Her once bouquet of 26 white roses turned into a bouquet of 27 red roses. Felicity thought that maybe Mr Rosehearts had done his own research on flowers and their languages along with how the number may affect the meaning. She was sure he had as a love sick young adult. Now she isn’t so sure.

When Felicity watched the red ripple crimson onto the other flowers in the bouquet, she was so enchanted. She couldn’t help but hope that she could keep the bouquet and hope that they lasted forever.

An acquaintance of Felicity’s caught the bouquet. Though she never asked about what happened to the bouquet, she knew that they were eventually discarded when she went over to their house to see the vase that once held the flowers was gone.

That’s been many years ago now. Now Felicity doesn’t know what to think of white roses or red roses. She thought she would love red roses forever. Then she found her husband’s phone.

Many things have happened since then. Meeting the woman who her husband slept with who had no idea he was married, having her own child, a child who was able to pass the first year of life, occasionally helping the young woman who her husband slept with as the child was technically a Rosehearts. Many years passed. Then came the year that Riddle overblotted.

Her baby boy who she tried her hardest to raise and was so afraid of losing just like all her other ones overblotted all because of her and how she raised him. She tried her best. She thought what she was doing was best. But she was wrong and she hurt her baby who she only wanted to protect and wanted the world for.

So couldn’t help but want someone to lament to. She didn’t really have friends though. None that wouldn’t spread gossip and talk and spread rumors… but… maybe…

And then she found herself at a cafe, sitting across from the woman who she at first despised so much for what her, Felicity’s husband had done. It’s been a while since she saw the woman’s, Maria’s, face. Like Felicity, she too has been touched by time. Her face no longer as youthful and wrinkles making themselves at home. But they were different from Felicity’s own wrinkles. Maria’s seemed to be from smiling, certainly different compared to the ones from Felicity’s furrowed brow.

He’s hair was still blue, but it’s been cut now into a neat bob while also being held back by a simple black headband. Her hair still had some shine of youth that Felicity couldn’t help but compare her own dulling red strands. The hair framed her face with a gentle curve inwards, making it more soft looking. It’s different from the two lengths of hair either side of Felicity’s one face made hers look.

Maria’s clothes were loose and slightly tattered but it was obvious how loved the clothes still were by the cute little mismatched patches that dotted it. Felicity’s own clothes felt far too stiff now, with how form fitting and neat they were.

They looked to be from two separate worlds. And they were. But they were also ruined by the same man.

Mr Rosehearts wasn’t the same after they got married.

He went and took something from a beautiful young lady that can never be returned and then left her.

He scowled at his wife when she watched with tears in her eyes as another tiny coffin was put into the ground.

They had their differences, but they also had some similarities.

The roses that were Mr Rosehearts grew thorns and pricked and dug into her skin as she held on so tight, wanting to keep them with her. Maria asked her why she was still with her husband even after his multiple affairs. Her words made things both more clear and harder to see.

She kept trying to hold onto his roses when he already threw hers away.

So now, Felicity doesn’t know how to feel about white roses or red roses. She still loves roses, of course, but she can’t really look at roses of either of those colors without getting a tiny empty feeling somewhere inside her.

Roses can come on many colors. And each color has its own meaning.

Felicity can’t help but stare at the singular rose that sits peacefully in a jar that she normally wouldn’t keep around due to it normally looking “unrefined”, but this jar was… given to her. By her… friend. The rose itself was one that Felicity had cut for no particular reason other than to have the rose inside her office.

It was white when she had cut the rose off the tree it was from. But now? Now the rose was blue. A pretty blue that came from the water that had somehow turned blue, presumably from some kind of dye. A pretty blue with petals that curled just like… just like someone’s blue hair. Felicity has a fleeting question of if the hair is as soft as the rose’s petals. She tries to drive that thought off, but new ones always takes the old’s place.

It’s a pretty blue.

Felicity think her favorite flowers now are blue roses. Just because they look pretty… certainly no other reason…

—————

Uh. I think I opened my notes app and uh. Then this happened. This does have actual flower language in it fun fact! White roses and red roses should be fairly obvious I think? 27 roses should mean “I love you, my dearest wife”. Blue roses are actually not naturally occurring. As far as I know, blue roses mean impossible mysterious love. They can mean, like, attaining impossible love or… unrequited love… but let’s go with the first one!

I hope this was a fun read! I, uh, do apologize for the length of it >.< I just kinda got into “the groove”?

- SpadeHearts Anon

THIS IS SO CUTE!!!! I love it🥺

Also I knew the meaning of white and red roses, but I always forget blue ones are a thing. Though I didn't know the amount also has significance. So you learn something new everyday. Great fic SpadeHearts! 👍

[checkingoutforheroes]

B.A.B.Y PROTOCOL.

Part 1.

Avengers x fem!reader

Pt. 2

Genre: Minor angst, more fluff.

Warning: Language! (cursing here & there)

Words: 1746

Synopsis: This takes place in Avengers: Age of Ultron. When The Avengers were at the rock bottom, Nick Fury and advised by Maria Hill, to initiate the B.A.B.Y Protocol. 

Main MASTERLIST

The Avengers gather in the lab after one of an ugly half made robot command a few of the Legionaries to attack them. Currently they are finding out about what or who attacked them. Some of them cleaning their wounds and Thor going out to track the Legionaries. Bruce the only one who starts first. “All of our work is gone. Ultron cleared out every research that we do. He uses internet as an escape route.” Natasha turns and lean her body to a table to say what she’s found. “He’s been in everything. Fails, surveillances. Probably know about us more than we know about each other.”

Holding his right wounded arm, Rhody said “He’s in the internet, he’s in your files. What if he decides to access to something a little more exciting?” By that, Maria has thought something. “Nuclear code.” Natasha looking at them “Nukes? He said he wanted us dead.” Steve interrupt her “He didn’t say dead. He said extinct.” “He said he killed somebody.” Clint said but Maria ask back. “But no one else in the building.” Their conversations cut by Tony. “Yes there was.” He displays JARVIS damaged simulator form and all went silent except Bruce, he checks on JARVIS.

Thor come in angry and straight to choke Tony. Being choke, Tony try talk to Thor “Come one. Use your words buddy.” Thor lift him up a few inch above the floor. “I have more than enough words with you Stark.” Steve walks closer, breaking them. “Thor. The Legionaries?” Thor update them about the Legionaries have the scepter and they have to retrieve it again. For the first time after the attack, Dr. Chow speaks. “You build this program. Why he’s trying to kill us?” Tony just laugh at that question and Bruce disagree. “Tony, this might not be the time to-“ Tony cut his sentences. “Really?! Bruce. We didn’t create a murder bot. Remember New York?” Everyone move their head down facing the floor remembering that event and Tony continue. “A hostile army of aliens charging through a hole in space. We’re standing 300 feet below it. We’re The Avengers. We can bust arms dealer all day but that up there, that’s, that’s the endgame. How do you guys planning on beating that?” Steve looking at him “Together.” “We’ll lose.” Tony say and Steve still with his answer “And we’ll do that together too.” He looks at everyone and gives the order. “Thor’s right. Ultron trying to draw us out. We start tonight. Do whatever you can to find him. The world is a big place, make it smaller.” Maria stand from her chair. “I’ll escort Dr. Chow to airport. I’ll see you guys in the afternoon.” They all nods and both of them walks out of the lab.

 Next morning.

A young girl wearing her café’s uniform walking with a headphone on her head. While walking, she notices a guy snatches a bag from a lady. That lady screaming asking for help while her baby crying to see her mother in terror from across the street. You bring down your headphone and chase that guy. Thanks for your training, you almost keep up that guy until he stuck in an ally, nowhere to go.

“You wanna give me the bag or I’ll take it from you?” You said. Looks like he’s stuck.

“Fast legs.” He said.

“I had trained before.”

“I’m not a bad guy.”

             “Well, good guys don’t snatch a bag from people especially in front of their baby! You gave me the wrong impression though. Now, give me the bag and go.”

             “I’d like to see you take it.” “You asked for it dude.” You move forward and fight him hand to hand combat. Actually, you are a bit surprise by his technique. He’s not so bad but you have been train by a professional back in the academy.

You’ve been caught one day and some guy wear uniform took you somewhere. You thought it was a juvenile school because you are just 15 that time. Turns out it was S.H.I.E.L.D. They gave you test by test and found out that you good at combat and a little bit good at common sense. After you graduated, work job by job. Gang to gang. Mob to mob. You can’t do that kind of job anymore. You want to be good and yes, you did stop working with the dark. You washed your hands and works at Donut Do It. It’s not your vibe but it is fine for your fresh start. After you slap that guy, you hear a woman voice call your name that has been long unspoken by anyone including you.

 “Baby.” A woman called.

             “Normal people doesn’t know that name.” You said while choking that guy.

She said “Maybe because you’re not a normal girl.”

             “What do you want Maria?” You ask that woman.

You immediately know who he is. Fury. “Oh God, not you too. Okay, for the record, honestly, I haven’t commit any crime that violated the laws.”

“You.” A deep voice man said.

You can hear Maria smirk when she asks you “Are you sure about that?” “…today. You didn’t let me finish. I didn’t commit any crime, today.” You said. Fury tell you to let that guy go and you look at that guy “You’re with them?” He tries to answer even you’re still choking him. “Y.. YE.. Yes!” You release him and slap him real hard right across his face. “That’s for wasting my time. Fuck off.”

Fury look disbelievingly at you. “Was that necessary?” You look back at him “What? Caressing lightly on his soft cheek?” Maria interject “That’s the opposite of what you did.” You try again just to tease her. “Okay. I, tap his soft cheek?” Maria raise an eyebrow at you “Try again.” You surrender. “Fine. I just 180-degree angle slapped him. He’s a trained agent for God sake. He’ll be fine.” You turn around about to walk back to your work place and Fury stop you.

“And where do you think you’re going young lady?” He asks you.

             You turning back. “ Work. Turns out I have a job now papa bear. Thanks for the recommendation letter though. Now, will you excuse me, I have go to work. Hope to never see you two again. Babai.” Again, Fury stops you. “You are not going to that Donut Do It.” You tilt your head to him. “I told you I work there and I’m going. If you two want donut, you know where to find it. Mention my name and you’ll get 30% discounts.” Maria’s face changes when she talks this time. “This is serious and urgent, Baby.”

“We are gathering as many as best agents that we have, and you are one of the best, Baby. Come with us and we’ll brief you.” Fury said and you stop him from saying any further. “Look, I’m gonna stop you right here papa Bear. That is where you are wrong. Aren’t you guys seen my record? I know what good is but I’m far away from good. There is still red blood stain painted on my hands that I could never leave. Even if I wash it thousands time, it won’t come off. What makes you think I’ll do it?” You feel your left chest aching but you ignore it.

Maria answers you. “Because everyone deserves a chance to be and do good. To start over. Yes, you can’t wash that much blood on our hands but this is the chance for you to do something good in your life. A do-over. You actually do something good after the academy. Take out those mobsters down, those gangs. You went inside to get the intel and you burn them to the ground and made those cities safe. Then, you just proof us again just now by caught that robber.”

             You huff and look down on your feet. “You set that up.”

Maria look at you. “But you didn’t know that. Yes, Baby. We’ve seen your record. Detail. You are far away from where you are before the academy. Or after. I mean you did killed people.” You crunch your eyebrows at her “Hey!” Fury turn to talk. “Help us this time. After that, it’s all up to you. We are no longer bugging you. You are no longer in our record. I’m not wasting my time coming here if we don’t need you.” “I thought you miss me.” Fury huff and talk to Maria “I’ll wait in the car.”

             “He never begging. That kind of begging, what he did. Is it that bad?” I ask Maria and she nod with worry face. “Earth level threat. That’s all I can say right now. Come with us to tower and we tell you more.” You let out a long sigh. “Me? Out of all agents, me?” Maria walk closer to you. “Please Baby.” You’re now messing with her. “It Earth level threat and you want a baby to involve? What kind of adult are you? Put a cute baby in danger like that. Unbelievable.” She smiles more than earlier. “The kind of person that will make sure there will be chicken drumets and spaghetti carbonara every day for your meal.”  You silently look at her and playfully sigh and she knows you better. “Caramel pudding and fluffy pillow too.” The ache in your chest getting hard to ignore now. You ask Maria some time and turn back from her. You bending, breathing like your doctor teach you and massage your chest a little. Must be from running earlier.

“Hey, are you okay?” Maria ask, worry if you are sick, but yes you are sick.

             “Yeah. Just shock. Did you say fluffy pillow? You ask her, not wanting to let her know first. They need your help, that’s what you are going to do. Help as much as you can. She let out a giggles and wrap her arm around your neck. “Yeah, you are coming with us, like it or not.” You both walk toward their car where Fury is waiting. “How many pillow though?”

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

Thank you for spending your time reading this. Feel free to reblog or ask me anything, thank you in advance!

Part 2 is coming!!

[pigeon-princess]

TYBALT MONTAGUE’S BACKSTORY

It’s been a long time coming but here is the compiled backstory of my DnD Half-Orc Bard/Fighter Tybalt, tracing his life up until he joined the adventuring party known as The Tresspassers. I’ve also included drawings by me and other party members below the cut! 

(CW: SEXUAL ASSALT, RAPE) A small portion of Tybalt’s backstory contains some traumatic events, however they are not described in detail.

There is a collection of Islands off the coast of the continent of Iona, known by many as The Isles of Thiva. The culture of the islands is very Medditeranean, Italian and Greek inspired, so as you travel through you’d likely be seeing beautiful cliffside cities, lush wineries and lively street culture. 

For people living in Thiva, Orc pirates from across the seas are a serious problem, especially for certain villages on the Eastern coast. When an Orc raid passes through a city there is always a wave of destruction from the pirates, resulting pillaging, raping and murder thoughout.  

For the few women who survive their traumatic assault, only a handful of them are strong enough to survive and give birth to Half-Orc children. Because of this, Half-Orcs in Thiva are often looked down upon and shunned, almost as if they are a walking reminder of the trauma that the Isles have suffered. 

TYBALTS EARLY YEARS

Tybalt was one of these children. His mother was an Elven woman called Marina, from a small fishing village called Alta Maria. At the time of the Orc raid she had a husband and two, young half elven children called Mercutio and Benvolio. After surviving the attack, everyone thought she had gone mad for wanting to keep the child, but she was determined to love the baby despite the slander her husband threw at her. For her, the child was her own and one she wanted to protect them at any cost. Young Tybalt barely ever left his mothers side for the first 6 years of his life, his older brothers never wanted to play with him and his mothers husband couldn’t stand the sight of him. Despite all this he was happy by his mothers side. 

Marina - Tybalts Elven mother (Art by @lulii999​) 

Marina’s Drawings -  A young Tybalt finds a crab, Mercutio, Benvolio and baby Tybalt nap together, A grown up Mercutio and a grown up Benvolio (Art by @lulii999​) 

When Tybalt was around 6 years of age, his older brothers who are now 10 and 12 years old, invited him to play with them for the first time. He excitedly followed them to the docks where they managed to trap him in a fishing net and throw him onto a small fishing boat. Unable to escape the rope, the ship left port leaving Tybalt alone, trapped and afraid. He managed to survive the two day journey and the fishing boat arrived in the port of the capital city, Santiados.  When the boat made port, Tybalt made a run for it. He was lost and confused, but managed to survive by stealing food, avoiding the other Half-Orc kids that lived on the streets and sleeping in a barrel at night. Unable to find a way back home, and at this point thinking that perhaps his family didn’t want him anymore, Tybalt stayed living on the streets for 6 years. 

ON THE STREETS

During his time on the streets, when Tybalt was around 10 years old, he got into an altercation with an older Half-Orc boy who was picking on him. In a rage Tybalt pushed the teenager away from him, causing the boy to slip and stumble down a flight of stairs, cracking his head. When the other Half-Orcs saw that Tybalt had killed this kid, he became infamous and reveared among the Half-Orc street gangs. All Tybalt wanted to do was stay out of it. 

A NEW FAMILY 

At the age of 12 Tybalt decided to break into one of the larger merchant estates in the capital, thinking that he’d be able to steal a good amount of things from within. While rummaging through the mansion’s pantry, he was discovered by the family's 10 year old son, Romeo Montague, a human boy with bright blue eyes and blonde hair.

Tybalt threatened that he was going to hurt the kid if he came any closer, and instead Romeo suggested that if he is looking for food he should take the biscuits that they have at the back of the pantry. Tybalt hesitantly went further into the pantry to grab the biscuits, giving Romeo enough time to push the doors closed and lock him inside. Romeo immediately ran upstairs and called his parents to come down and see the kid in the pantry, his parents definitely thought he was making up some kind of imaginary friend until they heard angry yelling from behind the doors in the kitchen. 

Eventually the couple, Lorenzo and Helena Montague, sat Tybalt down and asked him about himself and why he was stealing from their pantry. With a bit of probing he told them that he lived on the streets and almost against his will Tybalt was given a bedroom to stay in and one day turned into a week. Before long Tybalt had a new family. 

Lorenzo and Helena Montague (Art by me) 

Teenage Romeo Montague (Art by me)

Growing up with his first ever friend, Romeo and Tybalt would get up to so many things together. They would spend their time pulling pranks, running away from lessons and throwing their tabaxi friend Antonio (Against his will) off the balcony to see him land on his feet (The tabaxi friend’s full name is Antonio Banderas). 

During their teenage years, Tybalt realised that his feelings for Romeo were beyond friendship and he developed a very deep, long standing crush for his best friend. He’d write poems and songs about his angst, about how much he loved him and how he was always chasing girls and never looked at him that way. 

Adult Romeo Montague and Antonio Banderas (Art by @lulii999​)

A TERRIBLE STORM 

By the time Tybalt was 21 and Romeo was 19, Romeo had started working for the family business in the merchant trade and Tybalt worked full time as his personal bodyguard and right hand man. Things took a turn for the worse when they sailed out to a business meeting with a man called Lord Magnus Kraus, an extremely well known merchant sailor in charge of an armada of sailors known as the Magdolina. 

As Magnus controls a large portion of the trade routes between certain ports, it was vital that Romeo secure this business deal in order for the Montagues to open up further trade. During the times negotiations seemed to be going poorly, Tybalt was starting to be very wary of the way that Magnus was looking at Romeo. It was like he was some kind of creature in an exhibit, and in a way that was extremely sinister and sexual. As Romeo appeared to be completely oblivious to this Tybalt confronted Magnus alone and threatened him. 

Magnus was curious about Tybalt, and offered a deal, if Tybalt agreed to sleep with him, he would agree to the trade deal and he wouldn’t lay a hand on Romeo. Tybalt was stuck in an awful situation, he knew that if he refused Romeo could be in danger and the trade deal would completely fall apart. Magnus Kraus is an extremely powerful man and one bad word from him could run their whole business into the ground. He agreed, and the next night he showed up at Magnus’s quarters. 

That night Magnus sexually assaulted him and treated him more like a beast than a person, using ropes to restrain him and whips to beat him with. Calling him awful things and breaking him both physically and mentally. There was terrible thunder and lightning that night, and from this day on Tybalt has a fear of storms as it always reminds him of Magnus. When Tybalt thought it was over, Magnus ordered him to come again tomorrow night or the deal was off. 

Terrified, beaten and bruised, Tybalt did just that and the ordeal continued every night for the next week. He even lied to Romeo that he was going to do extra work for the Magdolina so Magnus could get Tybalt alone on his ship for another 2 weeks. When all of this was done Tybalt returned back to the Montagues and swore he’d never tell a soul what he’d been through. The new trade routes were going extremely well and his parents were over the moon at Romeo and Tybalt's successful trip. 

It was shortly after this that Romeo met a beautiful red haired woman called Juliet Capulet, and Tybalt watched the love of his life fall head over heels in love with someone else. Juliet was extremely smart and insightful, early on she could see how Tybalt felt for Romeo. She tried to confront him about it to say she wasn’t sorry for loving Romeo but was sorry about how it was affecting Tybalts feelings, but he continued to deny anything of the sort. 

A few years later Romeo and Juliet announced their engagement and asked Tybalt to be their best man.  On the night before the wedding, Tybalt couldn’t bear to ruin their day with his own heartbroken feelings. Without saying goodbye or even leaving a note, Tybalt fled Santiados and sailed away to Estredios across the sea. 

A SAILOR AT HEART

Heartbroken, and lost, he spent all of his savings on food, alcohol and plent of company. When he was properly broke he hopped on a boat and started working on the open ocean as a sailor. 

During his time is Estredios and at sea, Tybalt did what he knew best to escape his heartbreak. He flirted and slept with people to his heart’s content over the next 2 years, learning not to get too close with people to keep his heart safe. He made a few good sailor friends who managed to pull him out of his darkest times and allowed him to enjoy his time on the seas. His memories of his time on the ocean are some of his favourite, although it was tough work at times Tybalt felt truly at peace when he was aboard a ship. 

Wanting to explore beyond the sea, his escapades eventually lead him to arrive at the docks of Finras, a port town on the coast of the continent of Iona. And it was there in a tavern where he picked up a job to help find a dwarven woman’s missing father, and that’s where his adventure with the party began…..

Thank you so much for reading Tybalt’s backstory! I’ve been playing this dnd character for over a year now and he means so much to me. If you have any further questions feel free to send me an ask! I’d love to answer them.

[july-19th-club]

Recap for Roswell: New Mexico S2E10: “American Woman”: tsela vie 

4/5 ⭐s

In “American Woman” we meet two more characters who have been oft mentioned but never seen, though only one of them turns out to (so far) not be involved in one of the many conspiracies or secret-keeping situations that envelop anyone who has ever lived, or known someone who has lived, in Roswell, ever, at any time. One of these people is Diego, the fiance Liz ghosted after a project they were working on got de-funded and she abruptly realized she only liked him when they were working together, panic-fled to her dad’s house, and started the plot of the show. 

The second is the third Manes sibling, Gregory, who is as lean as his brothers are baby-faced and, from what we see of him, significantly better-adjusted than either of them. They have a cordially estranged relationship (when the gang arrives, Alex sets about awkwardly introducing his friends until Gregory reminds him that they all went to the same high school). While Alex and Flint stayed more in their dad’s orbit well into adulthood, Gregory has distanced himself in what seems like a pretty healthy way. He now lives on a Diné rez where the boys’ mother grew up, and to which the gang has road tripped to track down more alien family history.

It’s a relief to me that there are only two major plotlines in this episode - we’ve had a lot of ones recently where the action was scattered across six separate people doing six very different things, which both made the recaps really long and made the action feel crowded. Here, things are more self-contained, and aside from a few instances of weird dialogue, it’s a strong 4-star ep. 

The road trip plot, which begins with a lot of fun Isobel bits and a general sense of excitement - we’re on our way! to learn about ourselves and share a car for hours! - becomes sober as soon as the actual learning about themselves starts to happen. Gregory has been briefed on the parts of the alien backstory that can be reasonably told to him without revealing the alienness, so he shows the siblings around town - first to Louise’s gravesite, then to visit an old man who knew her personally. There’s a little gravestone indicating a child, but that’s only half the story - because the child survived, and was adopted. 

Some of the flowers at Louise’s gravesite are the hard-to-come-by blue ones whose pollen can be used to dampen alien abilities. Of course Michael secretes some (assuming, I imagine, that he won’t have to levitate anything until he can take them out of his pocket). Hmm...little star-shaped flowers...ground stars? Like it fucking says on Maria’s preserved-flower necklace? It takes the characters far longer than you’d think to put this bit together. I can now say my theory about the DeLuca family was 100% correct. Louise, who survived the shootout, was ferried by Tripp to safety and later had a baby girl, Patricia (who would be Roy’s daughter). Patricia grows up, has a baby girl Mimi, who of course grows up to have our very own Maria. With only one alien in her family tree, Maria doesn’t flag medically as extraterrestrial, but there’s enough of Louise in her for a little bit of power. Her great-grandmother couldn’t have known how alien abilities would manifest in a human child, or alter that child’s brain. And we still don’t know why Patty was listed as having been involved in a Caulfield experiment - it’s possible that was just a coverup in order to disguise an even more dangerous truth. 

So our road trippers head home, marinating on what they’ve learned today. While the pod squad think about the past, Alex is encouraged to think about the future. There is a particular kind of stagnating hope that you learn as an adult child of an unstable or abusive parent if you haven’t completely put that parent out of your life. They have less power over you than when you were a child, so you’re able to grant them the benefit of the doubt sometimes, and maybe even try to see them as someone who can be vaguely redeemed. This is the position Alex is in. It’s a shuffle anyone with a similar upbringing will recognize intimately: really, Dad’s been a lot better lately, I mean, he sucked, no doubt about it, but he’s better than he was. Gregory illustrates the other way of coping with the dissonance: If you want to forgive him, go for it, he says, I’ll hate him for you. Neither way is right or wrong - they’re both just responses, that can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the individual. When they manage to push past that Manes machismo for a second and have a fucking hug, it feels like they both really needed it. 

Relatedly, given that we’re visiting a place with strong personal meaning for Alex, I guess I went in expecting more; knowing Jesse he can’t have been the most respectful partner for an indigenous woman, which seems like one out of many good reasons to divorce the man. But what are the boys’ relationships to this side of their family? It looks like Gregory’s the only one for whom it is a part of his daily life, but how does Alex fit it in, if at all? Did it have an impact on the fact that he specialized in codebreaking and encryption in the military? Does he speak much Navajo? Does it occupy the same comfortable-but-not-comfortable mental space as his gayness, or is it more of a positive or a negative or is he simply estranged from it? What about his gung-ho brother Flint? I know I just said that one of this episode’s strengths was the decision not to spread the focus too thin, so I guess what I’m saying is, it’s something I hope gets explored in the future, because to give it more weight in this episode would’ve meant moving Liz’s plot to avoid overcrowding. 

And Liz’s plot is even more sober than the road trip: she’s at the hospital taking her dad to his bloodwork and visiting Jenna, and ICE starts raiding the building. Despite the blatant illegality of ‘detaining people waiting for medical procedures,’ they start hauling people in, including Arturo. From there it’s a cumulative twenty minutes of screentime and several agonizing hours of plot time, Liz alternately panicking and steamrolling in her attempts to be heard, and getting roundly dismissed by people who don’t care that her dad has been a mild-mannered restaurateur for the past thirty years, or that she’s literally got his green card application docs in her purse, or that he doesn’t have his meds. If all this sounds lesson-y or pointed, it’s not. Sometimes even a soapy show needs to spend time in real life, and real life’s terrors. The ICE scare in “American Woman” is the mild, optimistic version of how this stuff works, because Jenna is there and supportive and helpful and uses her whiteness to grease wheels, and the ex-fiance shows up and has strings he can pull, and Arturo’s able to get home that same day, and he doesn’t spend the rest of the show in a concrete cell with a foil blanket and fifty other sardined-in people, or dying of treatable illness in custody. It occurs to me at some point in these proceedings that Michelle, for all the dismissive and rude things she’s said about the Ortechos over the years, absolutely knew their immigration status and never once considered reporting them. 

Just as I appreciated the slower pace, it also pays off to have most of this episode’s content be as grounded and realistic as it is terrifying or saddening. We’re gearing up for the last leg of the season here, and we’ll be in for intense, fantastical plots then; it’s smart to get our commentary on adult adoptees and childhood abuse and human rights in a quiet place where the audience will be able to appreciate it, rather than squeezed in between power battles and government kidnapping schemes. 

And the consequences of today’s two main plots do not leave us ripe for easy resolution. With Diego back in her life, and feeling like she owes him, Liz’s easy relationship with Max seems all too likely to be complicated by the realities of having a past. The stresses of not having a past are wearing away at Max’s new leaf, and he’s angsty and snappish and says he feels completely alone, which there’s no right way for Liz to take. They make up, this time, though, and Max’s jealousy towards Diego reads so admirable that I wish Isobel and Michael were here to needle him into admitting the tiniest sliver of bisexuality. 

And down in the junkyard lab, Michael and Alex have one of their heated little argumentative discussions, because (as I’ve come to consider it) they are simply too fundamentally good at challenging one another. Sometimes this is healthy, and useful - sometimes they just frustrate each other. Today, it’s the latter. Alex’s occasionally savvy investigative juices are flowing, and he wants to see what his dad would do if presented with the alien artifact. Maybe he would lead them to more artifacts - maybe even some of Nora’s work - but as Gregory reminded us, he’s been erring badly on the side of not enough caution about Jesse lately. And no matter how Michael points this out, Alex just reads it as the usual pod squad skittishness, and keeps pushing. He pushes them right into an unwinnable argument at the very root of the distrust and fear and isolation they’ve been living in all their lives, pushes hard enough to get himself pushed right back out the door...and into the waiting arms of an unseen assailant. 

At this point, one thing, to me, became clear: Alex was never meant to ‘go talk to recruits;’ as came up several times in conversation earlier in the episode, to the point where it stopped being background dialogue and became part of the viewer’s pool of potentially relevant stuff. In this case, ‘relevant’ means ‘a fiction that he probably never even questioned’ — and one that gives his captors several days before anyone will think to worry. 

LITTLE STARS ON THE GROUND

Isobel styling her hair in the milkmaid-type braid we see Louise wear a lot in the flashbacks is really a lot, for me, personally, especially since I don’t know if you can clearly see her hairstyle in the one photo they have. The idea of her doing it on accident just busts me up somehow 

Forrest, still constantly squinting in what I think he thinks is a sexy way, asks Michael if Izzy is his girlfriend. “EW?!” “Gross.” “Is that how I present?” Another mark in his disfavor if you ask me 

Michael spends much of the early episode attempting to be the buffer zone between Maria and Isobel’s sniping, and then everything gets both deadly serious and much, much funnier when it becomes clear that Izzy is Maria’s....maternal great-aunt? Something like that, anyway. 

One thing thing that confused me: in the first-season episode “Songs About Texas,” the gang meets a fake faith healer whose mom has some stories about a nonverbal woman who lived on a reservation and whose abilities the faith healer has created a mockup of for her act. I assume now that she was talking about Louise, but I didn’t get the impression that the characters have at all made this connection. 

Harry mentions noticing how Tripp has changed as a person, and Tripp expresses a sentiment Alex echoes at the end of the first season: a gradual disgust with calling oneself a good person while continuing to obey directives without question. We’re slowly getting a picture of a man who spent much of his life echoing the party line while privately working entirely against it. Within the framework of his worldview, which was undoubtedly very different from his dissenting descendant, he still attempted to form his own understanding of right and wrong. 

Trying to suss out the road trip setup: looks like Max is driving (though it’s Izzy’s car), Alex is navigating (because, although he is the smallest of the guys, he’s the one who knows where they’re going so can’t sit in the back), and Michael is crammed in with the Isobel-versus-Maria show (an attempt to keep order, but being too gangly to sit in the middle, doomed to fail). Five-to-six-person trips in minivan or hatchback-sized cars is always a recipe for bitching, no matter how much you all like each other. 

If we wanna talk lines of the episode, they go to Jeanine Mason, as the greatest fear of Liz’s life, one which she says she’s built her life around, finally hits her. 

Michael’s very awkward way of expressing to Isobel that, if she ever did want to have a kid and human procreation wasn’t an option, he would, as a non-biologically-related member of her own species, happily donate toward that goal and how genuinely touched Izzy is. Neither of them are thinking about re-populating their dying alien race, just about the fact that they might want to be parents. It’s honestly quite sweet, if a bit weird. 

[conradscrime]

Germany’s Creepiest Mystery: The Hinterkaifeck Farm

February 02, 2021 

Get ready for a bone chilling one you guys, this story has had me freaked out for years. Another unsolved, and another old time long ago story, this one really leaves you with chills going down your spine. Let’s get into it. 

One of Germany’s oldest and most terrifying unsolved mysteries surrounded a very quiet and kept to themselves family, Viktoria Gabriel (35), her two children Cäzilia (7) and Josef (2) lived on a farm with her parents Andreas (63) and Cäzilia  Gruber (72). They lived on a farm in a town called Kaifeck, which was outside of a place called Gröbern. 

On April 1, 1922 people in town began to grow concerned for the family as Cäzilia had failed to show up for school as well as the family not showing up to church where Viktoria sang in the choir. Also on April 1, two coffee sellers named Hans Schirovsky and Eduard Schirovsky arrived in Hinterkaifeck to place an order. But no one responded when they knocked on the door and the window, they walked around the yard but found no one. They noticed that the gate to the machine house was open, but they decided to leave without checking it out. When Cäzilia still had not shown up to school two days later on April 3 and the notice of the family’s mail piling up going uncollected, neighbours began to grow suspicious. 

On April 4, 1922 a man named Albert Hofner went to Hinterkaifeck to repair the engine of the family's food chopper. He said he had not seen any family members there and had only heard sounds of the farm animals and the dog inside the barn. He waited an hour, but decided to start his repair, which took him about 4.5 hours. This is honestly so creepy to me because at that point the Gruber family had been murdered and if any of the people who had shown up to sell or repair anything had known they were not only a property with 6 dead bodies but also probably in the presence of the person responsible for it I am sure they would never sleep again. 

So on April 4, neighbours began a search of the family farm to figure out what was going on. This search was led by a man named Lorenz Schlittenbauer who was a nearby farmer. The neighbours found four bodies in the farm, all of which were covered in hay. There were also two bodies found within the house, one being Josef, Viktoria’s son and the other being the maid, a woman named Maria Baumgartner (44), who suspiciously (and very creepily) had just begun her first day on the job when the murders took place. 

The reason the family had gotten a new maid was because the old maid had claimed that the farm was haunted and quit six months before the murders took place. Keep this in mind, it will become important later on. 

What happened to the family was very disturbing. It appeared that on the evening of March 31, 1922, Cäzilia Gruber (Viktoria’s mother) had been strangled as well as received seven blows to her head, leaving her skull cracked. Her husband, Andreas’ face was covered in blood, Viktoria’s skull was also smashed with her head showing “nine star shaped wounds” and she had most definitely been hit in the side of the face with a blunt object. Her daughter, Cäzilia’s jaw had been broken with her face and neck covered in wounds. 

It is suspected that the adults died pretty instantly from their injuries, however the younger Cäzilia appeared to have suffered the most. They believed she was alive for hours after the attack and in a state of shock, so much so that she had ripped her hair out in clumps that were found. 

Josef, the two year old found in the house had been murdered in his cot, suffering a heavy blow to his face, while the maid, Maria, suffered blows to the head. What is interesting is that the killer covered the bodies in the barn over with hay, and also covered the bodies in the house; Maria’s with sheets and Josef’s with his mother’s dress. 

None of the animals on the farm had been harmed, in fact it was discovered that they were all kept well and fed after the murders had occurred which meant that someone was staying in the house, someone who did not belong to the family. This explains why the bodies were covered, so that if the killer had remained in the house for a few days they would not have to directly look at the bodies. Chills. 

The killer also had made meals and eaten in the house in the days following the murders, as well as lit the fire to stay warm. The killer is suspected to have lived in the house with the dead bodies for 3 days. The previous maid that had recently quit, and claimed the house was haunted said she always felt as though she were being watched and constantly heard noises in the attic. Sounds like someone was living in the house with the family, unbeknownst to them. 

The previous maid was not the only one to report strange happenings around the farm. Andreas, Viktoria’s father also had claimed that he had found a newspaper in the home that he did not buy, a set of keys to the house had gone missing, and he had noticed footprints from the woods going towards the farm that were not any of the family members. The footsteps were found in snow, and only going in one direction: toward the house. Whoever’s footprints were in the snow, they had not left the family farm. 

There have been a few suspects over the years, but no one has ever been arrested for the murders. 

Viktoria’s husband had died in WWI and there was always suspicion on who the father of 2 year old Josef was. Viktoria apparently had a relationship with Lorenz Schlittenbauer, the man who led the search party and helped discover the families bodies. Lorenz had publicly claimed that Josef was his child and he had planned to marry Viktoria though Andreas did not approve and the marriage did not happen. Lorenz went on to marry another woman and they had a baby together, but the baby died a few weeks later. 

Lorenz was a pretty solid suspect and police theorized that he was in a bad place over his baby dying so he came to kill the family. They found his behaviour suspicious, he was very nonchalant about the whole thing, however they really did not have much evidence to actually tie him to the murders. 

The also thought maybe Viktoria’s husband, Karl Gabriel had come to murder the family. They suspected that he came back to war and killed the family though they soon found out he had died in France years before. This theory suggests that a possible affair was happening between Viktoria and Lorenz at the time her husband was away at war. 

There was also talk that either Viktoria or Andreas had slain the entire family before taking their own life due to the suspicion that Andreas had violent and incestuous tendencies. There was rumours that Josef was the product of incest and that Andreas was known to have a sexual relationship with his children. There is no real proof of this however, and none of the wounds found on any of the bodies appeared to be self-inflicted so it is very unlikely that this was a murder-sucide. 

In 1923, just one year after the murders the Hinterkaifeck farm was demolished, and the bodies were buried in Waidhofen. When demolishing the house, a mattock was found in the attic and a pen-knife in the hay of the barn. 

The Grubers and the maid Maria were beheaded after their autopsies and their skulls were sent to Munich to be examined, though no new information was found. They were actually buried headless and their skulls supposedly got lost in WWII and were never returned. 

This case remains unsolved. So I’m curious, what do ya’ll think? To me it’s pretty obvious that this is someone who knew the family quite well and someone who definitely had beef with someone in the Gruber family. I think that whoever the person was they planned the whole thing out very well, and had probably been living in the attic of the family home for a period of time (at least coming in and out of the house as far back as six months before the murders due to the previous maid’s claims) and without the family knowing which is perhaps the creepiest part of this entire story. Whoever did it will probably never be known as it will soon be the 99th anniversary of the Hinterkaifeck Farm murders. 

Whatever happened on that farm almost a century ago will probably remain a mystery forever.

[blackdiamondwrites127]

The Royal House of Trastámara (Redux)

So since the Trastámara family has become even more complete with the addition of Juan, I figured I'd make redo of this post! So here are the daughters and son of the Royal House of Trastámara.

Link to original post

Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal

The eldest child of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille, Isabella was named after her mother and became the heir presumptive to the Crown of Castille after her mother took the throne from her uncle Henry IV of Castille. She was betrothed and married to Prince Afonso, heir and only son of John II of Portugal. Her marriage with the prince was a happy one but unfortunately, Afonso died due to a riding accident and Isabella vowed never to marry again. Until six years later, after the death of John II of Portugal, his brother, Manuel I of Portugal, usurped the throne and asked for Isabella's hand in marriage. Her parents offered Maria's hand instead out of respect to Isabella's wishes to never marry again but Manuel refused. Eventually, she married him and became queen consort of Portugal. She later gave birth to her only son, Miguel de Paz, Prince of Portugal, and due to her poor health and constant travelling during the later stages of her pregnancy, she died within an hour of her son's birth.

In her second life, Isabella owns and works in her own music shop located just below her flat. She sometimes fills in for Maria on the drums whenever she's sick and just generally enjoys the simple things in her second life. She's grown to be very passive due in this life and can be quite sarcastic at times which may come off as rude but she means well. However, bad mouth her younger sister she'll go after you.

Isabella Trastámara belongs to @lexartsstuff.

John, Prince of Asturias

was the only son of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon who survived to adulthood. John was born in Seville in 1478 to the sovereigns of Castile, Isabella I and Ferdinand II. John's birth helped consolidate Isabella's position as sovereign as she had given birth to a legitimate male heir. At the time of his birth, he had one elder sister Isabella; his younger sisters were Joanna, Maria, and Catherine. During his early years, Isabella and Ferdinand came to plan a double alliance with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, for the marriage of his children, Archduke Philip the Handsome and Archduchess Margaret of Austria. On 20 January 1495 in Antwerp, a preliminary alliance, which included a wedding of Prince John with Maximilian's daughter was agreed. Similarly, Maximilian's son Philip and John's sister Joanna were to be married. Joanna left Spain to marry Philip the Handsome in late 1496. Philip's sister, Margaret of Austria, aged 18, married John on April 3 the following year in Burgos Cathedral. It was a good marriage and John was devoted to Margaret. On 4 October 1497, a messenger came to John's parents and informed them that their son lay dangerously ill in Salamanca. He and his wife Margaret had arrived a week earlier, on the way to the wedding of his older sister in Portugal. Ferdinand was with his son as John died in the arms of his former tutor Fray Diego Deza. Two months later, on December 8, the Princess of Asturias gave birth to their only child, a stillborn girl.

When he was reincarnated, he found that he was blind in one eye but that didn’t stop him from having the time of his life. He’s very fun loving, happy, energetic and a bit oblivious at times. He’s married to Margaret of Austria, who he calls Maggie. He works as a costume designer for SIX the musical, mainly so he can see his baby sister more. He now goes by Juan rather than John as a ay to stay in touch with his spanish roots.

Juan Trastámara belongs to @weirdbutdecentart100.

Joanna of Castille, Queen of Castille and Aragon

The second eldest daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille. Known historically as 'Joanna the Mad' or 'Juana la Loca' in spanish, she was Queen of Castille and Queen of Aragon. Modern Spain evolved from the union of these two kingdoms. Joanna was married by arrangement to Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria of the House of Habsburg. Following the deaths of her brother, John, Prince of Asturia, her elder sister Isabella, and her nephew Miguel, Joanna became the heir presumtive to the crowns of Castile and Aragon. When her mother died, Joanna became Queen of Castile. Her father proclaimed himself Governor and Administrator of Castile. Despite being the ruling Queen of Castile, Joanna had little effect on national policy during her reign as she was declared insane and imprisoned in the Royal Convent of Santa Clars in Tordesillas under the orders of her father, who ruled as regent until his death, when she inherited his kingdom as well. When her son Charles I ruled as king, she was nominally co-monarch but remained imprisoned until her death.

In her second life, Joanna or Juana as she preferred to be called, came back a troubled teen. In her misfortune, she was taken in by a very religious and abusive family. The father, named Fernando, would often lock her up in a dark room whenever she had mental breakdowns which are usually bouts of painful laughter. She finally escaped the house and was homeless for years until she found her youngest sister, Catalina. Catalina helped her by housing her until she got back on her feet and got the help she needed for her mental wellbeing.

Juana 'la loca' Trastámara belongs to @ellielovesdrawing.

Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal

The third eldest daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille. After the untimely death of her older sister, she married her husband Manuel I of Portugal and replaced her as queen of Portugal. As a queen, she wasn't that involved in politics at all and her focus consists mainly of religious teachings, sewing and child rearing. Although, she is sometimes credited for convincing her husband into acts of 'mercy' whenever he flew into a fit of rage. During her marriage and reign as queen, she gave birth to ten children. Eight of whom reached to adulthood. She was constantly pregnant most of her adult life. Only having a few months in between pregnancies and giving birth to her tenth child caused her untimely demise.

Reincarnated into the modern world, Maria woke as a young woman in her early twenties. She's a laid back woman and loves the experience of a good party or a night at a club. She's not as religious as she was in her past life. Not atheistic per se. She'll go to church if she feels like it and even wears a rosary bracelet as some sort of connection to her religion was raised and taught in. She has a friend with benefits that she has fun with weekly. She is 100% childfree in her second life because ten pregnancies in her past life was way more than enough for her. Despite being childfree, she still adores children so she had applied for uni and took up an education course. Graduating after four years and landing her first teaching job at a private academy where Hal and his siblings and cousins go to. That was where she reunited with Catalina during a PTA meeting and the two sisters have never been happier to meet again in their second lives. They then set up a meeting where she reunites with their older sisters, Isabella and Juana.

Maria Trastámara belongs to yours truly.

Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England

The youngest daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille. Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne. They married but Arthur died five months later. She was the first known female ambassador in European history. Catherine subsequently married Arthur's younger brother, Henry VIII. For six months, she served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. In 1525, Henry VIII was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to her had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters. Their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as supreme head of the Church in England and considered herself the king's rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy. Despite this, she was acknowledged only as dowager princess of Wales by Henry. After being banished from court by Henry, she lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, and died of cancer.

In her second life, Catherine or Catalina as she prefers to be called to avoid confusion with the other C/Katherines, found herself in a house with her ex husband's five other wives. Tensions were high on the first few months, especially between her and Anne Boleyn but the six soon got things settled and managed to create a family dynamic within their shared home. They created a musical about their stories and garnered quite the success. She mostly acts as the head matriarch of the house. Making sure that everyone was alright and knew not to cause any trouble that might get them hurt. The addition of their children being reincarnated made her even more attentive, caring and loving to her new found family.

[zoomzooomfast]

Fun things I have In my PJO Au

This is just a list of fun things that i have in my PJO Au were its set in modern day and there adults with Families and i have changed the paths of Some characters because I wanna

-Bianca is alive and is an actress on Broadway playing one of the Fates in Hadestown because Ironic

-Percy my favorite Bisexual was an Olympic swimmer then became a high school swim coach and a high school world history teacher 

-Annabeth is a Architect, Piper owns a shop with her wife were they sell nick knacks and things made buy woman on the rez and give back to the community, Hazel is a artist and Graphic designer, Nico works at a funeral home, Will  is a mourge worker , Reyna is Politian, Leo owns a mechanics shop, Jason is a supervisor at camp Jupiter, And Frank is a middle school history teacher in new Rome  

- Percy and Annabeth have 3 kids Charles, Sally and Grace

-Reyna has her daughter Bella(Reyna just kind of found Bella as a baby) 

-Piper and Shel haves 4 kids Tanner,Lupe,Antonella and Salvador (Lupe, Antonella and Salvador are adopted siblings who are children of Freya) 

-Nico and Will has there daughter Maria

-Leo and Parisa (an Oc of mine who is a daughter of Nike) have 2 kids Shahzad and Esperanza

-Frank as his daughter Emily(Emma may have been a gift from a god or just an abandoned baby)

-Hazel and Orson( an oc who is a son of Hecate) haves 2 kids Jacinda and Brix

This is just a fun AU don't take it to heart 

[dulce-chisme]

Vanessa having Mother’s Day blues?

/ the time is inconsistent, sorry lol. Also +Daniela because I know you love the two of them and +Usnavi because who doesn’t love him being a supportive boyfriend

Vanessa grabbed a card out from the rack and started to walk out of the isle. She felt a pit in her stomach. ‘She’s your mom,’ she thinks. ‘It would be rude to not get her a card.’ She stops and turns around, and grabs another one for Daniela. She was a better maternal figure, anyway. That eased her a little bit. Both cards and envelopes in hand, she walked towards the registers, grabbed a candy bar off the shelves and monster from the small refrigerator, and paid for her items. She pulled a pen out of her cup holder once’s she was in her car, and noticed how shaky her hand was. Mother’s Day always left her sour and upset. She never had a set ‘mom’. Sure, she had Camilla and Daniela, but she never had the relationship with her mom that everyone else she knew had. Benny and his mom had a wonderful relationship, Nina and Camilla loved each other dearly, and, before she died, Usnavi and Isabella were tight as a knot. Even the adults had great relationships with their moms, well, minus Kevin. Daniela took Vanessa and Carla to dinner with her mom every Sunday, Camilla wrote to her mom in Puerto Rico often, and Carla called her mom every day. All Vanessa got was an alcoholic and a spicy salon owner. Don’t get her wrong, she loved both Daniela and her mom, but it not what she wanted. Not what she needed. She needed someone soft, and gentle that was constantly like that. Not a rude drunk woman and a short-fused one. She need to be able to be held and taken care of without having to worry about pissing someone off.

She wiped her tears, not realizing that she was crying, and signed her name in shaky cursive on both cards. She sealed them both and sighed as she started her car back up.

***

Vanessa hugged her knees to her chest and Usnavi wrapped a blanket around her.

“I know this isn’t easy for you,” he said. “I’m here for you.” Vanessa shrugged.

“I’m okay,” she mumbled. Usnavi hugged her.

“It’s sweet that you got Dani a card too,” he praised, kissing her cheek.

“Shut up,” Vanessa mumbled in embarrassment.

“It’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing.” Usnavi told her, giving her more cheek kisses. He knew they made her feel special, like little rewards at the end of the day.

“I said shut up.” Vanessa said, squirming away from his affection. “Stop it, that tickles.” She pushed him softly with her foot to get him off of her, so she good have space to calm out. Usnavi got the memo, sort g up right and gently touching her thigh.

“You wanna talk about what’s wrong?” He offered. Vanessa scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Nothings wrong.” She grumbled, swatting his hand away. He folds them in his lap, watching her tenderly.

“I know this isn’t an easy time for you, isn’t for me either. But you can’t shut the world out, y’know?” Usnavi told her. She tugged the blanket tighter around her and sighed.

“Navi…” she trails off. She opens her mouth, but closes it and sits in his lap, hugging him tight. Usnavi holds her tight, but not to tight. Just enough to make her feel safe.

“We’ll get through this together, okay, honey?” Vanessa nods softly.

***

“Dani?” Vanessa calls into the salon. Daniela comes around the corner and smiles.

“Hola, bebé!” She chirps, walking over to Vanessa to give her a hug. Vanessa accepts. “Why’re you here? You have today off.”

“I have something for you.” Vanessa mumbled. She holds out the card and a couple roses she cut the thorns off of. “Happy Mother’s Day.” Daniela starts to tear up.

“Oh baby…” she says, pulling Vanessa into another hug. “Thank you, mija.”

“Thank you for being the best surrogate mama a girl could ever ask for.”

***

Vanessa sighs before knocking on the door of her mom’s apartment.

Once face to face with her mom, she just wants to run. The only thing convincing her not to leave is the hugs and kisses Usnavi gave her this morning. ‘You can do it, mi vida’ is replaying in her head.

“Hi mom,” Vanessa says, forcing a smile.

“Hi, honey.” Maria says, smiling back.

“Can I come in?” Vanessa asks. Maria nods and lets her in. She sits on the old couch, feeling the springs as she sinks into the to-squishy cushions.

“Can I get you some water, tea, something to eat?” Maria asks, sitting down. Vanessa shakes her head.

“Happy Mother’s Day,” Vanessa mumbles holding the card out and looking down.

Maria smiles and take the card. “Thank you, sweetie.” She whispers after reading it. “It means a lot.” Vanessa smiles awkwardly, and after a moment stands.

“I should go,” she murmurs. “I- I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, Vanessa.” Her mom says back. And with no more words, she leaves.