#billing discrepancies

[townpostin]

BJM Delegation Meets with GM of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited

Delegation discusses public electricity issues with the General Manager. Camp scheduled in Karandih and Birsa Nagar to address billing discrepancies. JAMSHEDPUR – A delegation from the Bharatiya Janatantra Morcha (BJM) Jamshedpur Metropolitan, led by District President Subodh Srivastava, met with the General Manager of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) to discuss public electricity…

[videogamelover99]

I felt I should write this lol.

The point of an unreliable narrator is not to trick the audience. The point of an unreliable narrator is to communicate that this narrator cannot be trusted, and encourage the audience to examine the material with a critical eye. The point is to have a different view of events be obvious enough that the audience can start questioning what is said to them.

And also to show that everyone is biased in their perspective.

Anyway I don't think Alex Hirsch is dropping major lore into a book only to say "haha it was all a lie you fell for it!" like some kind of "it was all a dream" hack of an ending.

[princehendir]

I think the actual biggest risk factor for falling for phone scams is not ever having had to call a government office to get a problem solved.

[swagyna]

A "Quick" Guide to Independent US President Candidates of 2024

Regardless of the party you usually vote for, I encourage you to go over this list

Jill Stein, Green Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia

A Jewish Doctor, she's been running in different campaigns for 21 years. This will be her third time running for presidency; her announcement was in direct response to President Biden's lack of action in regards to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Her main concerns are to reinvigorate our lacking Green New Deal, for the right of a living wage in a revised Economic Bills of Rights, an end to discrimination of women, BIPOC, and LGBT+ members; the removal of US influence in wars across the globe, as well as an end to our politicians being bought out by lobbyists.

Dr. Stein learned of the impacts of environmental pollution first hand while she was a practicing physician; her patients' were suffering from the nicknamed "Filthy Five" coal plants in her area. This spurred her into activism, which did eventually lead to the removal of these coal plants. While involved in this activism, she heard how many people had been demanding the removal of the plants for years. Local politicians refused to heed the people's words. Stein eventually learned it was due to lobbying, and helped to pass the Clean Elections Law. This law would only last for 5 years before Democrats removed it. A/N: Dr. Stein has only declared her running just this month on Nov. 9th. This may explain her lacking platform.

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Chase Oliver, Libertarian Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia You could describe him as sort of an "average Joe". Before entering politics, he worked restaurant jobs for 13 years. He's previously ran for Georgia's 5th district for House in 2020, as well as running for Senator in 2022 of the same state. He got enough support during his run for Senate that it caused a runoff election. His campaign is addressing many different problems, from positive immigration reform to being prochoice. Here's the list and a brief summary of what his plans are:

○ Healthcare system overhaul, swap to Direct Primary Care ○ Addressing Student Loans, making current loans interest free, ending FAFSA entirely, using Department of Defense money to pay for interest fees lost by this move. Also addressing high tuition costs. ○ Education, removal of the Department of Education to allocate money directly back to the states. ○ Allowing free market on Marijuana, signing full pardons for anyone with a non-violent drug-only criminal charge. ○ Changes to the Justice System, from courts to prisons to cops, removal of immunity from those in power, removal of mandatory minimum sentences, removal of prosecution of victimless crimes. ○ Work Changes, adjustments to taxes to make it easier on lower-income families, as well as law adjustments for people looking to open their own businesses. ○ Immigration reform, simplification for immigrants to become citizens to allow them to work and better integrate into our society. ○ Government invasion of Privacy, the potential repeal of the Patriot Act as well as any other invasive laws the government has passed in the guise of "safety". ○ The rights of bodily autonomy and Abortion, which should be codified. The exception here is that tax money cannot be used for it.

○ Ending the Death Penalty ○ Reducing Inflation by reducing government spending [a/n: this is not what causes inflation] ○ Removal of any Gun Restrictions and will strike down any new one that come up in the future What spurred him into activism roughly 2 decades ago, was President Bush's war campaign in Iraq. In 2008, he initially supported President Obama but later left the Democratic Party as he found that their policies were not anti-war and had no intention of becoming anti-war. He's spoken against regulations that prevent that feeding of the homeless and hungry in the City of Columbia [agenda], and has also made a public comment to the Atlanta City Council against Cop city (time stamp is 2:17:00).

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Independent Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia

An avid environmentalist lawyer who has won exceptional lawsuits for Indigenous People. This will be the first time RFK Jr. has officially ran for an election. In prior years, he's considered running for a Senator seat, NY's Attorney General seat, and has previously declined NY's Senate seat.

RFK Jr.'s campaign also has quite an extensive list of problems to address: ○ Housing Crisis and Cost: raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, changing zoning laws, changing taxes, opening ownership to local abandoned housing/buildings ○ Environment: restoring USDA and EPA control, incentivize companies to go green on a global scale, change agricultural practices ○ Ending of Lobbying: prosecution of officials and politicians who have been bought out by corporations, restoration of individual privacy, full government transparency. ○ Ending Party Division: RFK Jr. acknowledges that the Left vs Right is not helpful to the average person and seeks to remedy this divide by listening and compromising. ○ War: the removal of our troops and bases from countries in which we do not belong. The stop of unnecessary and profligate spending in our military machine. ○ Southern Border: Tighten control on checkpoints, restore lighting and motion detectors, but also allocate money into our courts to move asylum cases thru faster. This ties back with his stance on war, however; he wants the removal of our forces and weapons from the hands of the cartel. The US needs to stop funding the displacement of civilians in their own nations. ○ Restoration of Rights: Write into law that tech companies cannot ban, shadowban, or suppress someone if the government asks them to. Removal of government surveillance. ○ Civil Rights: to do this, a complete overhaul of these systems will happen - community repair, prison/police reform, focus on the working class and disenfranchised schooling, find addiction care that is long term, expanded youth programs, and free IDs for US citizens. ○ Native Americans: the restoration of land, the complete adherence to previous treaties that have been written and ignored by the US. ○ Veterans: optimization of the VA, creating a federal Veteran's council, to provide ways veterans can still "serve" in their communities. ○ Student Loans: the repeal of Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act which will allow people to file bankruptcy on student loans, allow people to refinance their student loans, remove interest on student loans, to hold universities accountable and not banks for loan defaults to prevent the rising prices of tuition.

Some things to note; Robert is a member of Children's Health Defense, which is an anti-vax organization that claims vaccines cause autism. Robert doesn't believe that HIV causes AIDS which he writes about in his book The Real Anthony Fauci (pg numbers: 298, 332, 347, 348, 351).

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Cornel West, Independent Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia

Another Doctor on the list, Cornel is a philosophy professor at Union Theological Seminary. In his practice, he focuses on how American society treats differences between gender, race, and class. This is his first time running for office, and had previously been with the People's Party which he dropped for the Green Party. In October '23, he left the Green Party to be Independent. Here is a list of what Dr. West is looking to address during his presidency: ○ Environmentalism: Canceling any and all national oil projects, codifying informed consent (FPIC) for Indigenous people and their land, end water privatization by making a clean water committee ○ Racial Justice: Reparations for black residents, following thru on the Civil Liberties Act of '88, public review commissions for all police stations, creating a committee dedicated to finding missing and murdered Indigenous women ○ Prison/Police Reform: End the death penalty, abolish current privatized prison practices, shutting down Cop City, end and ban police training thru military forces ○ Voters' Rights: Election day is to be a national holiday to ensure everyone can vote, term limits for all elected officials, ban on past elected officials from becoming lobbyists, term limits for SCOTUS members ○ Gun Control: Create national gun registry, reduce gun sales at shows, similar requirements for driver licenses to gun ownership ○ Economics: Tax billionaires, remove tax loopholes for the super rich, end Wall Street housing market holdings, ban stock trading for elected gov. officials, national minimum wage of $27/hr, create UBI commission ○ Workers' Rights: Four day work week, review US trade agreements and ban any that exploit domestic and international workers, free pre-K childcare, all for-profit companies must allow the creation of unions ○ Healthcare: Free healthcare, codify abortions, address addiction and help those affected by it, create federal panel to oversee the creation/safety/effectiveness of vaccines, focus on giving more power back to disabled people ○ Education: Redistribute tax money equally across all public schools based on student count (this way rural students still receive the same schooling as urban students), minimum wage of 80k for K-12 teachers, abolish state laws that obfuscate our US history, cancel student debt ○ LGBTQIA+: establish standards for trans healthcare, end assaults on trans people, ban on state anti-LGBTQIA+ laws, codify equal rights for LGBTQIA+ people ○ Global Influence: Removal of military support in all current wars, establish Truth Commission for the global south, disband NATO, cut the military budget, end global patriarchy and help women in Iran and Afghanistan, cancel IMF debts

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A note to end on: Firstly, I will not be discussing who I will be voting for on this post. Secondly, I want to add that just because a candidate has a large list of issues they're addressing doesn't mean they will actually get it done while in office. We regularly see candidates come in with large promises only to "forget" about them once they reach office.

Remember: the presidential election is important, but getting out and voting during midterms is infinitely much more impactful because those are our lawmakers!! A president cannot change anything if there is no house or senate backing her/him!

[averydistinctivestyle]

S5 E1: objection LEADING, c'mon prosecutor, just cause he's pro per don't mean you can't object to blatant leading. Twice. Inmates are allowed access to the law library so you can rake them over the coals in situations like this!

[ceilidho]

prompt: price/reader bear shifter fic. PART 1.

-

“—are priced wrong. You need to fix that.”

“Hmm? Sorry?” you ask, mind snapping out of whatever fog it’d descended into upon seeing John Price’s truck pull up out front of the grocer. You blink a couple times before focusing on the older lady lined up at your till, her face pinched with displeasure. It deepens when she realizes that you haven’t been paying a lick of attention to whatever she’d just spent the better half of a minute complaining about. 

“The beefsteak tomatoes are priced wrong. They’re supposed to be two dollars a pound—it’s in the catalogue.”

Before you can so much assure her that you’ll certainly honour the advertised price and save yourself the headache, she’s already opening up her purse to pull out the crinkled grocery catalogue, unfolding it across your conveyor belt; it goes out in the local paper once a week with all the sales and rippable coupons, and this isn’t the first time you’ve had someone try to lecture you about discrepant prices (Kate, your manager, is a sweet, gungho lady, that often sends off discount confirmations to the editorial staff of the local paper without informing anyone that actually works in the shop day-to-day). 

From the corner of your eye, you see John slam the door shut on his truck and make his way towards the shop, hands shoved into his pockets. Even from a ways away, the sight of him makes your cheeks redden; his beard’s gotten fuller in the week since you last saw him, clad in even more layers of flannel and tweed now with the fast approach of winter. He looks properly ready for the winter months, with just an air of heaviness present in the lines on his forehead and the tilt of his head. 

You feel your lips slip down into a frown. Helpless, you can only watch in defeat as John lumbers into the grocery store, brushing his hand over his hat to shake off the snowflakes onto the mat by the automatic doors. He picks up one of the baskets by the front door before heading down one of the aisles. His eyes don’t flicker to meet yours so much as once. 

Your shoulders slump when he ducks out of sight before you focus your attention back on the woman in front of you. She’s pointing out the tomato print with the little two dollar sign in the advertisement with a stiff finger, eyebrow cocked like she’s pulled one over on you. You really can’t imagine there being anything less important to you than the price of beefsteak tomatoes, never mind having to refund someone a whole dollar because you inadvertently overcharged them and you happened to get stuck with the one customer that would spend a full thirty seconds reviewing their bill before leaving the shop. 

“See?” she says, the word coming out sibilant and stressed. You blink.

Turning back to the till, you click a couple buttons before the register pops back out again and you pluck up a dollar to hand back to your customer. On the receipt that’s printed out, you hastily scrawl the reason for the refund and shove the seller's copy back into the till. The woman stares at the dollar now sitting on the belt in front of her.

“Of course, ma’am,” you say, a robotic smile stretching across your face. “Apologies for the inconvenience. I’ll get someone to reprice the tomatoes so this doesn’t happen again.”

She doesn’t say anything when she snatches up the dollar along with her groceries and hobbles out the front door, the automatic doors swooshing behind her. With her finally gone, you close your eyes for a second, a private moment just to yourself.

Someone clears their throat from just off to the side. Your heart bursts into a frantic pitter-patter when you open your eyes to find John waiting patiently at the end of your till, his basket filled up with bottles of mustard, gherkins, and other preserves. 

“A paper bag, please,” he says in a gruff voice, like he tousled with sleep just a few minutes ago. It makes your head spin. 

You nod, hardly able to even respond.

Up close, he smells like firewood and smoke, the ever-present cigar usually hanging off his lip nowhere to be seen but still clinging to his jacket and flannel beneath it. The mutton chops of his beard have grown out more than the rest, but his jaw is covered in a layer of fur in comparison to the week previous. John doesn’t really make eye contact as you scan his groceries, almost too tired to raise them from the conveyor belt. Not for lack of respect—it comes off as pure exhaustion. 

You know John as the gruff, taciturn park ranger that comes in once a week to load up on steaks, cold cuts and fresh produce, but in the months you’ve lived in this town, he’s always fresh off work, a little rough around the edges and not quite fit for human interaction just yet. He just grunts and nods when you tell him his total, towers over you and never really makes much eye contact. 

It’s always non-perishables with him these days. At least for the past several weeks, as far as you know. Cans and jars and freezer-ready meals. He doesn’t strike you as much of a prepper, but his order speaks for itself. It’s one of the things you like most about your job—getting to peek into the small crack of life laid bare before you. 

“Getting ready for the winter?” you ask. 

John grunts, eyes meeting yours just briefly before dropping down again. Dark brown. Sometimes you swear you catch the faintest glimmer of gold in them, like a honey glaze, but it’s likely just a trick of the lights. 

“Gonna be a rough one.” 

You try not to shiver at the sound of his voice. It’s not often that you get to hear it; even though you moved into the house next to his almost six months ago, he spends most of his days in the mountains, working up there as a ranger. He comes home after dark nearly every day—not so hard now that the sun sets early on in the day, but even back in the summer you’d spy him coming back from his shift well after dark. 

He’s gotten more heavyset in the last couple of weeks, a comfortable weight to his midsection and arms. Beefier, more solid. When John is in front of you, it’s like no one else in the world exists at that moment; he removes them all from sight and mind. It soothes some of the worry that his constant late coming has stirred up in you, knowing that he’s fed. Not all of it though.

“You know the, uh—” you start, clearing your throat midway through, almost losing your nerve under his sudden attention at the sound of your voice, “—the butter’s twenty percent off this week. I, um…I wasn’t sure if you’d noticed.” You catch his little frown and clarify. “You usually get butter.”

“Thank you, but not this time,” he says gruffly. “Got enough of it in the freezer.”

“Oh…well…” you trail off like you’re going to say something else but you let the conversation fall flat instead. 

He’s quiet the rest of the time as you bag his groceries. John always is. There’s a hurt side of you, silently begging for more, but you’ve watched him enough around town to know that this is just what he’s like. Gruff with the other rangers on the mountain, taciturn after a long day’s work, and sweet as apple pie with the older townsfolk. You’ve seen him help people at crosswalks and more than once he’s footed someone’s grocery bill when they’ve come short. 

Maybe you’re not interesting enough to merit conversation or that same goodwill he extends to others. Not that John has ever been anything less than polite with you, but—your thoughts scatter like birds when you recite his total without thinking and watch him wordlessly as he pays. 

“Thanks, honey,” John says, eyes meeting yours again. “See you next week.” He finally manages a smile, his eyes crinkling under the weight of it. 

You could get lost in his smile if you let yourself. It comes freely but seldomly these days, kept at bay by rough days out in the woods helping lost hikers, ticketing hunters for going over their allotment, and managing the wildlife. But when he smiles, you feel the blood go hot under your cheeks and fight every vision you have of him suddenly leaning across the counter and tipping your chin up for a kiss.

Tongue-tied, you nod. You can’t even force a smile on your face, wide eyes still set on him in wonderment. He doesn’t wait around for you to find your words.

But—you think again wistfully as he turns to leave—it might be nice once in a while. For him to look at you like you’re more than a stranger. 

You mourn your chance to talk to him once he’s out the door, wishing you could call him back. It’s not his fault that just the mere sight of him leaves you tongue-tied. It folds up like a cherry stem in your mouth when he speaks to you and you haven’t yet managed to untangle it in his presence. Maybe someday. 

That’s just life though. 

He’s always made you feel nervous, like a schoolgirl with her first crush, but it’s a safe kind of crush. The kind that feels fun to indulge in because there’s no possibility of reciprocation, like you can just ogle him and pine over him without having to worry about what you’d do if he felt the same way. You mourn the loss of him when he leaves, but like a tender bruise on your knee that you sometimes press just to shy away from. 

The rest of your shift pales in comparison to the eight minutes spent in his presence. Rinse and repeat. Someone else complains about the tomatoes and you write a note for your manager to read the next day. It’ll be her fault if someone finally emails in to complain or takes it to the news; there’s always an op-ed in the papers that’s little more than a thinly veiled bad Yelp review. 

John’s car is outside his house when you make it home at the end of the day, the lights still on inside. You sit in your car and stare at the light hidden behind the curtains. 

It would be nice, you think, resting your head back against the seat, to go up and knock at his door. If only you were braver. You’d march right up, knock on his door, and offer him something to eat. You could do it too. In the six months you’ve lived here, it’s not as though you’ve ever treated him particularly neighbourly. 

You squeak when you see John pull the curtain back and peer out the window, sliding down in the front seat so he doesn’t notice you there.

Maybe some other day then.

[trashogram]

He Chose You (P. 5)

Lucifer/Reader — Lucifer wants you to be the mother of his child. Rated E for the smut. FINALLY

(Hope none of y’all were planning to actually get off though).

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 13.5 | Part 14 | End

“You want a… baby?” 

Lucifer looked as stunned as you felt. He reminded you of a spooked deer — frozen and wide-eyed as he waited for imminent death. Or more aptly a dying fish as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly. 

“… To hang out with?”

Lucifer found himself in your apartment for the second time, milling about beside your coffee table. He internally scolded himself for fidgeting and shifting from one foot to the other, but it was either that or burn a hole in your head with his hopeful gaze.

“No!” He let out a pathetic laugh. “Well, yes, b-but obviously not just that! I know there’s more to it than just ‘hanging out’.”  

“I'm not stupid.” He chortled again before glancing at you. “… I’m not that stupid.” 

The King had the uneasy feeling that you might see right through him now; find that inkling of excitement still germinating in his breast, and change your mind. Or worse, you’d withdraw even more and he’d have to feel that dreadful, terrible, no good shame. 

He had practically skipped through the halls of his castle (unbeknownst to you) with the contract held tightly between his claws.  But as soon as he entered your fireplace, the excitement had curdled like milk. It was replaced by that shame when he looked at you and saw your ashen face. 

“Obviously you wouldn’t be doing this for free!” Lucifer gesticulated wildly. “You, you said you wanted to travel right? Right! If you agree, you’d get to travel wherever you want, whenever you want, no strings attached!”

“A-and also! No more costs, period! All your bills and expenses paid forever, in perpetuity, beyond the grave! Capitalism is a bitch? No, capitalism WAS a bitch!”

“No, no! Capitalism will be YOUR BITCH!” 

Your resigned countenance combined with the memory of his pitch made Lucifer flinch. 

——

You were never very good in a crisis. Or under a severe amount of pressure… or a moderate amount, in all sincerity. 

But you’d have thought, even with the prospect of homelessness looming over your head, that you’d have drawn the line at making a Deal with the Devil to avoid it. 

Or at least you would’ve taken more than the time it took to draw up a legal contract to accept your fate.

That time maxed out to 6 days. 

The scroll unfurled before you. It radiated an ethereal golden light, and lined with a litany of official statements occasionally broken up by blank spaces meant for a (second) signature. 

         Lucifer Morningstar was signed here and there, in the same glittery calligraphy as was on his business card.

‘This contract must be interpreted by the Governances of Heaven [Heofon, Himmel, Kem, ἄκμων, آسمان, अश्मन्] and any litigations associated with Hell [Hel, Hallju, Kel]…’

‘… By this contract, Party A agrees to carry the Seed of Party B, hereafter known as “Father”, to the extent of natural gestation as governed by the Law of Nature…’ 

‘… This union shall be recognized only within the parameters listed and not heretofore or after…’

The legal jargon was giving you a headache. You scrubbed a hand down your face, determined to at least read through it all and, if you couldn’t pick out tiny discrepancies, at least find any giant red flags. 

(Even if you’d already reserved the excuse that it was easy to be tricked by the Devil when the Devil was insanely good at presenting himself as a theatrical little man who wore his heart on his suit sleeve).

           Then again, would it not just be easier to sign away your life without regard to the consequences?

Lucifer twitched when you groaned on your seat at the table. “Problem?” 

You rose slowly from your hunched position to make eye contact. “… My pen isn’t working.” 

You demonstrated by scribbling randomly on the sticky notepad beside his scroll. Lucifer responded instantly, left hand flexing in the air and, with a flashy poof, snatching a fancy pen out of thin air. 

“You can keep it” He said, grinning as you accepted it with a sour look. 

“Thanks… show-off.” You began scribbling your name in half-assed cursive on every blank line in sight.

The grin on Lucifer’s face became borderline manic as soon as you’d crossed your ‘t’s and dotted your ‘i’s. His teeth glinted in the light from your cheap-ass lamp and it made you wince as you handed the rolled up document back to him. 

“Um, can we maybe skip the kissing stuff?” You asked. “I don’t really want to cut my tongue open.” 

His wounded expression tugged rather annoyingly at your heart. 

“Sorry.” 

The smile he gave your mumbled apology was strained at best. “No, no I understand. The fangs were daunting to me when I first got them, too.” 

You cocked your head, thoughts materializing like the web of a spider. 

“That’s actually something we should talk about.” You voiced your thoughts. “Are we compatible? Down there?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean — you don’t have teeth down there, too… right?” You asked. “Or some kind of eldritch horror miasma that I can’t touch lest I fall into a coma from ecstasy? Or a tentacle?” 

“No!” Lucifer looked mortified. “Wh-what is wrong with you humans?!” 

“I’m sorry! I’m just asking!” You cried. 

You continued when his expression stayed stagnant. “Look, I’m sorry if I offended you but I’m about to become intimately acquainted with… it, and I think I should be prepared!”

Your hellish companion stood, eyes closed, hands folded over his mouth as if in prayer. He breathed in slowly, then out. 

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry it’s… it’s been a while since I’ve been with a human.” He reasoned. “It’s good to ask questions. It’s—that’s a good one. Do you have any more?” 

That made you pause. There were millions of things you could ask the King of Hell and yet not one thing could properly formulate in your brain. 

“Um, I need a second to think about it.” You muttered. “What about you? My setup is pretty basic? I guess? I have a womb. At least I did, at my last physical a year and a half ago.” 

Lucifer’s lips twitched upward in a half-smile and there was an answering flutter from your stomach. “I know.”

Your eyebrows shot up and he immediately started babbling. “I mean! I know because the contract went through! The ink would’ve turned red… or disappeared… To be honest, I don't know. I haven’t made a deal in a long time, ha ha. But I remember something happens when there’s a technical issue!” 

“Ah,” You felt better with that explanation. 

Kind of. 

“I thought of a question, actually. Sorry.” You shrugged sheepishly. “It’s probably in the contract but…”

You swallowed down your trepidation. “… I won’t die, right?”

Suddenly unable to look him in the eye, you faced the floor and missed the way Lucifer’s face fell. 

“Barring the normal risks that come with being pregnant, nothing else is gonna happen, right? Or if it does, it won’t be agonizing?” You asked quietly. 

A moment of silence passed before the ex-Angel’s fingers curled under your chin. Your head rose and you saw Lucifer's eyes soften from something sharper and more determined. 

“I will do everything in my power to protect you and the baby.” He said firmly. “Nothing terrible will happen to either of you. I swear.” 

It was strange, the effect his words had on you. The jittery feeling in your chest slowly disappeared, and the tears forming in your eyes didn’t fall. 

“Okay.” You nodded with a barely there, watery smile. 

——

“I’m gonna turn off the lights, ok?” You said over your shoulder. 

Lucifer was undoing the last of the buttons of his dress shirt, vest and overcoat already laid neatly over your desk. He met your gaze, eyes bright. 

“Of course.” His close-lipped smile struck you, but you flipped the light switch before you could think on it. 

A lack of light did very little to suppress Lucifer. He seemed to glow like the star of his namesake, flourishing in the dark and hard to miss. You simply hoped, as you pulled at your sleeves, his shine wouldn’t illuminate the terrain of your body. 

Cold air hit your skin, goosebumps rose along your bare arms and shoulders, but you persisted. When everything was shucked save for your underwear, you moved to your bed and realized Lucifer was still standing at the baseboard. 

With arms crossed, you assumed the same position at the side of the bed. “Um?”

“Ladies first!” He chimed, as if reading your mind. 

You sighed, then slowly climbed onto the mattress and awkwardly pulled the comforter from under your butt. You settled and patted a spot in front of you. 

Hesitantly, Lucifer accepted the invitation, and he was sitting next to you before you could blink. 

No going back now. 

You shifted in your spot uneasily. Fuck, it had been a long time since you had sex. 

How did you start this shit again? 

No kissing — per your own request. You had half a mind to take it back while you sat there floundering, trying not to let the tangible awkwardness break your resolve entirely. 

You could do this. For a lifetime of no work, no bills, no cares. 

You could do this.

A bit of movement in the dark caught your eye. You glanced down and realized that Lucifer was twiddling his thumbs waiting for you. 

The laugh came bubbling from your throat before you could stop it. Reaching out, you grabbed one of his hands and tugged him forward.

You could see his throat constrict as he swallowed and smiled questioningly. “What?”

Lucifer yelped when you laid back, taking him with you. 

——

“Ah! F-fu — Slow down!” You scolded, words muffled as you were repeatedly pushed down into the pillows. 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, you just,” Every word was punctuated by a sharp snap of his hips against the flesh of your ass. “Feel. So. Fucking. Good.” 

Lucifer moaned loudly as he continued to lose himself in the sensation. You could only groan, irritation building as your partner refused to give you even the most basic attention. The frustration peaked quickly, then unraveled as his pleasured moans and squeaks caused your stomach to somersault over and over again. 

You clenched around his cock when he whined, thrusting into you so deeply you felt the base of him stretching your hole that much wider. 

Well, fuck you for finding the sound of a masculine voice cracking the hottest thing in all of creation. 

But it was actually getting you there, so what were you complaining for?

          Eyes closed, you focused on the feeling, trying to jump off that precipice with only penetration. It reminded you of when you were a teen, awkwardly feeling around down there. Of trying to find the appeal in your fingers inside of somewhere so sensitive against the fear of hurting yourself. All while you worked yourself up with your own imagination. 

In a perfect world, you would’ve moved on from that stage of life with no repeat performances. Hopefully, it could still be salvag—

You gripped the pillows that hadn’t tumbled off the juddering mattress when Lucifer’s claws dug into your hips. He pulled you as close as humanly possible with a strangled yelp, shivering, shuddering, stammering incoherence as warmth flooded your insides. 

Fuck’s sake.

——

You were disappointed, but not surprised. All you could do after the fact was bury yourself in the covers and watch Lucifer catch his breath beside you. 

Not finishing aside, exhaustion from the entire ordeal made you indolent and your thoughts hazy. You studied your partner as he calmed down, clearly trying not to be too close to you now that the deed was done. 

Lucifer’s hair was in disarray, the space between his eyes and across his cheeks rosy like the blots parallel to his smile. 

“Hey.” 

Lucifer looked at you innocently, waiting. You could physically feel your walls crumbling down despite yourself. 

“Come here.” You murmured, hand sliding beneath the covers to touch that poreless skin. 

Damn you and your soft heart. 

‘Actually…’ You had Lucifer in your arms, his body still warm. Once he was in your grasp, the King melted against you. 

He looked a little afraid as you tilted him up by the chin to look at you. The Devil had surprisingly soulful eyes, questioning whatever you had in store. 

The tiny thought that he was being way too vulnerable drew a taut, uncomfortable feeling your chest. 

“Kiss me.” 

Lucifer blinked in rapid succession — surprise, wonder, confusion and hope bloom all at once on his unusual face. 

It made you laugh in the quiet, comfortable darkness of your room before you yourself leaned in and met his lips with your own. The line of Lucifer’s mouth trembled, but he reciprocated with only minor hesitation. 

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[blueskittlesart]

where do you think eow falls on the timeline? i had assumed it was the alttp incarnations (because it's the same art style as the la remake) but since she doesn't know him, that would only make sense if eow is an alttp prequel, which seems unlikely

this is my current theory. there are several things in EOW that point to it being at a point on the timeline where the kingdom of hyrule and the authority of the royal family has been recently established or reestablished, most notably the fact that very few people outside of castle town recognize zelda and that she's able to introduce herself with the royal family's ancestral name to multiple other characters without immediately getting clocked. this suggests that the hyrule kingdom we're seeing in eow is significantly weaker in terms of influence than, say, botw or oot's hyrule kingdoms.

initially I was thinking about placing it somewhere after alttp and its sequels on the timeline, as that fits the bill in terms of a less-influential kingdom and the map similarities are glaringly obvious. However, there are a few things that make me think that's not where EOW goes. the most noticeable discrepancy is the triforce and how it's referred to in-game. games in which the triforce is not referred to by name usually do so to suggest a level of removal from the creation myth of hyrule--in both twilight princess and botw, it's implied that the triforce is never outright named because, for some reason or another, the people of hyrule forgot about it. because of that, I don't really want to shove EOW in after alttp on the failure timeline, because then we have to somehow justify how the triforce faded in and out of public consciousness so quickly.

what makes much more sense, in my opinion, is to place it on the timeline directly after the zonai era of totk. there are a few reasons for this. It fits the bill in terms of setting--I ascribe to the new-hyrule theory when it comes to totk's timeline placement, so a newer, less-established kingdom makes sense here, and the map is JUST similar enough to botw/totk in terms of major landmark placements for me to justify it. the one glaring flaw is the fact that the rito are missing from eow, but nintendo has historically said some insane things to justify when they exist and when they don't so i've decided it doesn't actually matter. there are a million different ways I can think of to justify that discrepancy if necessary. Similarly, the lack of knowledge about the triforce is consistent with what we know about zonai-era totk--it's never directly named, but does still exist in some form as a symbol of divine power.

The thing that really sold me on this being the placement of eow, though, is the existence of might crystals. To me, this is pretty transparently zonaite by a different name. I think the fact that it's no longer widely used or understood suggests maybe a few hundred years of removal from rauru's hyrule, but not so much that it's completely fallen out of use like in botw. Hell, if I wanted to get a little less canonically backed I could definitely make a connection between the eow rifts and the depths of totk. you see the vision.

anyway tldr i think it's after zonai-era totk but long before botw. hope this helps!

[ltwilliammowett]

The assistant surgeon

In addition to the actual surgeon on board a ship, there was also an assistant surgeon. This was usually a young man fresh from the Surgeons' School in Edingburgh, so please do not confuse him with a loblolly boy, who was simply an assistant from the crew. In Napoleonic times, in addition to a surgeon, it was compulsory to have three assistants on a ship of the line first rate, two on the other larger rates and one on a frigate. The Surgeon and his assistant were not required to wear a uniform until 1805.

Pay also varied according to length of service. A surgeon who had served for twenty years received 18 s. per day. A surgeon who had served for six years received 11 s. per day. Assistants had to serve three years on a ship, Navy hospital or dockyard before they were classed as full surgeons. As a result, each year of service had a different salary. The salary of the first and thus lowest grade was 4 S. per day. The other two grades received 5 S. per day. If they were not employed, surgeons and assistants received only half their salary, as was also the case for officers.

Being a Surgeon was not easy because both he and his assistant had to bring their own instruments, their medicines and other equipment were provided by the government, although there were many who made up their own medicines and passed the bills to the Admiralty.

One of the duties of an assistant was to keep a record of all cases presented to him, which was important in case of discrepancies, so that the Admiralty could compare these records with those of the surgeon and, if necessary, with the official logbooks of the captain and his lieutenants. He had to regularly check on the sick in the sickbay and show new cases to the surgeon.

He dressed the men's wounds every morning and had control of the lighter general cases. An assistant surgeon sometimes accompanied the logging and water parties, especially in places where the men were likely to stay ashore for a long time, just in case something happened. On these expeditions, it was his job to look after the men's health, keep them from drinking foul water and eating sour fruit in the heat of the day, and more.

Naval Surgeon: Life and Death at Sea in the Age of Sail, by J. Worth Estes, 1998

Rough Medicine: Surgeons at Sea in the Age of Sail, by Joan Druett · 2001

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

🥩🍴 AITA for lying about my "criminal activity"?

I live with my girlfriend and neither of us has ever had a lot of money. We get by, but we can't save anything.

I'm pretty harshly anticapitalist, and while she criticizes the system we live in too, the difference is I act on it. Everytime I go get groceries, I steal about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total. Groceries are increasingly expensive, and corporations are increasingly taking more and more from the people while continuing to deliver less in return and I'm honestly so fucking fed up with it. I figure if I'm gonna steal anything, it might as well be food that we need to survive anyway.

The problem is, we aren't absolutely broke. We could afford groceries, we'd just have to be more careful about getting things on sale, buying cheaper brands, and buying cheaper quality meat and veggies. I wouldn't mind that but my girlfriend really likes having good food in the house and I want to be able to give that to her. She's also not the best about food waste and she ends up throwing expensive food away because she lets it go bad. She causes us to have to spend more.

I know my girlfriend wouldn't approve of the stealing. And I know she'd be worried if I got caught I'd face heavy consequences, so I've never told her I steal groceries and since we've never worried about who pays for what while living together, she hasn't noticed our grocery bill discrepancies. This has gone on for about 7 months now.

So AITA for keeping her in the dark, and keeping us well fed for less money?

What are these acronyms?

[riverssongs13]

First, let's just get this out of the way for I'm still seething about the storytelling mess that was Familiar By Thy Side (and parts of Darkest Hour). I want to appreciate the fact that this masterpiece of an episode is more than 10 minutes shorter than the previous one, which had so many unnecessary parts; this half hour of an emotional roller coaster ride has done so much more to progress the ENTIRE show's plot. We finally pieced the puzzle of Lilia's kookiness and her "jumps". We got so much more Teen lore from this than the Teen episode itself. We now have resolution to all the (previous) trials, Alice's… state, Rio's real identity, Jen's importance… We even dealt with the damned Salem Seven as a bonus. So many things happened but it was not overwhelming at all. If this were a suit I'd say it's bespoke indeed.

Now, what I truly loved about this episode is how it was able to paint a non-linear narrative with so much finesse, with each twist and turn taking us to different parts of a single timeline, without making it nauseating, all while pulling the threads to secure the stitches in place and make sure the seams are tight without it puckering. Like embroidery that adds patterns on different areas, we finally sew it all up to see the final tapestry.

The whole fandom has definitely theorised all about how Lilia's weird "inserts" are connected, each episode giving us more pieces to make sense of. But of course it feels infinitely better seeing it ourselves, and how they make up a whole linear timeline in Lilia's mind-POV, while Agatha and the gang are left confused with the breadcrumbs of phrases left for them at different intervals. I absolutely loved how this time discrepancy was used. No more boring-ass unnecessary flashbacks filled with drivel. This time, the past is completely enmeshed with the present, and is used to decide on what's needed to be done to get the desirable future outcome.

This "time is non-linear, it exists simultaneously at all points" phenomenon has certainly been used in countless other media (Fringe and its Observers come to mind), but I love how actively Lilia used it. Her being in that tea-leaf reading lesson held so much significance to her as a Trial Subject, as a Coven Member, and as an Individual Witch. Her time in the gazebo reminds me of The Time Traveller's Wife; existing in all the times, getting sent and pulled back and sent again.

That gazebo was both her prison and her escape. Being stuck in that place made her think her life is a rigid series of unfortunate events, and she can't do anything but be helpless in the face of tragedies that befall everyone she ever cares about. Having had the power to see the future yet be unable to prevent her original coven's death perpetuated her self-depreciation, thus she spent 450-ish years giving in to the usual witchy tropes and misconceptions (the palm reading and tarot tents and the minor scams here and there, but a girl's got bills, ya know), even if it hurts her in the process.

So then, prison AND escape, right? Being tethered to that specific point in time, with her mentor guiding her path to self-rediscovery, was crucial to Lilia's ability to escape her shackles, because she needed to realise she put the shackles on herself. Having a powerful but dangerous gift and being actively afraid of it is quite the self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. You're scared so you stop using it altogether but then you can't control it so all that suppression does more harm than good (looking at you, Charles. What you did to Jean was cowardice. Also, hello? Elsa??). Lilia exclaiming "I was bad at tea leaves" at her literal first day of training might just have been the reason why she spent her life believing she's bad at it. She planted the very idea in her brain (Inception? lol).

This whole forward and back travel from the Road to the Gazebo is instrumental to Lilia coming to terms with the idea that time for her does not move in a straight line. Her confession to Jen, paired with her mentor's wise words, makes her admit that she does, in fact, have a problem. First step to recovery and all that. This then leads to her unravelling the next layer of her issues, which is death to all she holds dear. Granted, she has seen so much death within her lifetime. 450 years of life would do that to you. Something she cannot possibly control.

But that's the thing, isn't it? She was never supposed to control anything. Her job as a Trial Subject, a Coven Member, and an Individual Witch is to SEE. See the trial with the eyes of 450 years simultaneously happening, the heart of someone who wants to protect her coven, and the power of a witch who can walk through the threads of time's tapestry. Once she sees that, and once she accepts that Death is not a Bad Thing, and once she lets go of control, the pieces started to fall into place.

Which then makes her SEE that she's the Traveller. This tarot reading is about her, and she has been sprinkling the answers throughout her timeline, waiting to be plucked by the Awakened Calderu of Now. Give credence to who she is, and her power that Must Not Be Feared. Recognition that she needs her Coven in order to succeed. Acceptance for what she has lost along the way. Welcoming the path ahead no matter where it leads her. Embracing heartbreak, sorrow, and grief. Undertaking miraculous transformation. And finally, the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning.

How fitting is it that we see the start and realise it was actually the end? The fall, initially thought as something dangerous, was in fact just part of the journey. Death, once feared, now embraced like an old friend. Something that perpetuates the cycle. The past, shrouded in darkness, now illuminating the path ahead.

So now we see, she wasn't actually falling. If you ask me, she was flying. Flying to that gazebo in a garden somewhere in Sicily, 450 years ago, about to start her very first lesson in reading tea leaves. Her mentor saying, "Let us begin", and her ultimately saying, "I loved being a witch".

[townpostin]

Jamshedpur Residents Protest Unfair Electricity Billing

MLA Mangal Kalindi Joins Demonstration Against Irregular Meter Readings East Ghorabandha Panchayat locals voice concerns over arbitrary power bills, prompting officials to pledge corrective measures and improved meter reading practices. JAMSHEDPUR – Residents from East Ghorabandha Panchayat area took their grievances to the streets, demonstrating at the Executive Engineer’s office in…

[junkdrawerfics]

Swan Sisters (Part 1)

Jasper Whitlock X Reader

Bella Swan and Sister!Reader focus

Request:  Hello :D, I did like to make a request where Jasper's mate is Bella's older sister that lived with Charlie instead of going with her mother, so she was turned into a vampire even before Bella comes back so when she moves to Forks the reader avoids Bella for some time.

Note: I have attempted, though it definitely ran away from me! Part 2 coming soon, because I felt like it was getting too long. I really loved this request, and I hope I'm doing it justice.

Word Count: 3962

Warnings: None that I can think of! Maybe a bit jumpy, also does not really follow the book timeline, so apologies to any hardcore fans out there! There's gonna be discrepancies.

---

“Bella’s gonna come live with us for a while.”

“What?”

Your head shoots up, eyes impossibly wide as you stare at Charlie, your father.

“Yup. Your mom’s hitting the road with Bill, so Bells is going to come stay here,” Charlie explains as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

“His name is Phil, dad,” you snort, though you still can’t wrap your mind around the news.

“Close enough,” he grumbles as he goes back to his paper.

You let out a heavy sigh, an old habit, and wring your fingers together.

This is really not good. Really really not good. 

You haven’t seen your younger sister since you were turned. It’s hard enough being around Charlie, you had to go on a month long “roadtrip” to adjust, which was actually just a month at the Cullen’s Alaskan home with Jasper. It’s easier when you’re with him, since he helps keep you in control. Everything is easier with Jasper by your side.

But you can’t have him at your side all the time here, in your home. Charlie wouldn’t like that. You cope for the most part, since you just graduated and work from home. Billy and Jake are the only ones who visit, and they don’t exactly smell all that great. Besides them, it’s still a struggle to be around other humans, and the thought that you might hurt Bella? It makes your chest hurt.

“I’m going for a run,” you mumble, throat tight, and you can’t tell if it’s thirst or anxiety. Either way, the buzzing under your skin is only getting worse the longer you do nothing.

“Take some mace with you, there’s been some weird animal activity in the woods recently,” Charlie calls as you head for the door.

“Sure thing.”

You tuck the canister of mace into your pocket despite knowing how pointless it is. You could handle anything in the woods with your bare hands, but if it helps Charlie feel at ease, you might as well.

You get a few paces from the house before you take off like a bullet. The forest whips by, blurry and focused all at once. Every deer, every squirrel, every spider, you can feel it, hear it as clearly as you can hear your feet pounding against the ground. And you can hear voices ahead of you as you near the glassy house tucked deep in the forest.

Alice must have seen you coming, because Jasper is waiting on the doorsteps, dark eyebrows set in concern, jaw tense. You come to a stuttering stop in front of him, practically falling into his arms when he opens them for you. The moment they wrap around you, all the anxiety, the worry, the fear, dims into a low hum, replaced with something warm and comforting and so Jasper.

His question rests heavily in the silent moment you take to compose yourself, to just breathe in his scent. Old books and gunpowder. He hasn’t touched a gun in ages, but somehow it lingers, and you love it. It reminds you that everything turns out for the better, just like you and him.

“Bella’s coming to stay with us,” you confide into his neck, fingers curling in his sweatshirt.

Jasper’s arms tighten just a fraction around you. “You’re scared.”

“More like terrified,” you breathe and pull back to look into his eyes, golden just like yours, like the sun. If you didn’t feel so much like crying, you’d bask in it, but you can’t do either now, and all that comes out is your voice, broken and shaky, “I don’t want to hurt her, Jas. She’s my little sister. I can’t hurt her.”

“You won’t,” Jasper insists softly, hands coming up to hold your face, fingers cool and smooth against your cheeks.

“How can you be sure?” 

“Because, darlin’, you care too much. Under this fear, you’re all…stubbornness.” The corners of his lips quirk up. “But if you’d like, we could take another trip, jus’ you and me. I hear Brazil’s nice this time of year.”

You shake your head, “As much as I love the sound of that, cowboy, I don’t think my dad will be such a fan of me disappearing again.”

“That’s a shame, I sure wouldn’t mind seein’ you-”

“Jas.” You narrow your eyes, and the vampire smirks.

“Yes, darlin’?”

“Let’s stay on topic, shall we?” You chirp, resisting your own urge to smile.

“My apologies, ma’am.” Jasper gives you a mock bow and takes your hand to press a kiss to your knuckles, eyes dancing with mirth as he looks up at you.

This does get you to smile, “You are ridiculous, mister.”

“And you’ve calmed down.”

You pause, check in with yourself. Jasper always seems to be more aware of your feelings than you are thanks to his ability. And he’s right, you do feel calmer. Your mind is clearer and the urge to run has dimmed. The worry is still there though.

You can’t let her figure out what you’ve become, or what the Cullens are. You don’t want to leave Forks, after all, and you can’t leave Charlie behind. So you’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t figure it out. Shouldn’t be that hard, right?

---

The moment Bella steps into the house, you realize just how wrong you are.

The scent of fresh blood hits you like a truck, or perhaps something worse considering you could handle a truck now. A werewolf maybe. It makes you falter, chest completely freezing as you stop breathing all together.

You were very, very wrong.

“Hey, Tinkerbell,” you greet her, forcing every bit of warmth into your voice despite the pain creeping up your throat.

Bella rolls her eyes, but a smile pulls at her lips as she sets her suitcase down, “I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Sorry, but it’s a forever thing, hun,” you chirp and move to give her a quick hug. She accepts it far too awkwardly, which you’d tease her for any other day, but you’re more focused on putting some distance between you. “So, how was the trip?”

Your sister looks at you for a moment, something unreadable in her eyes, which makes you shuffle your feet out of habit. Did she notice the cold skin thing? You’d put on several layers though, and you’ve both always run cold. Maybe your eyes? No, no you’re wearing the contacts. 

“You look different.”

Crap.

You feign innocence, casting her a confused glance, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know…”

“Your sister’s on a big health kick, she’s looked different since she started.”

Thank God for Charlie.

“Health kick?” Bella raises an eyebrow at you, far too smug for your liking.

“All you’re nagging finally paid off,” you huff, secretly relieved.

“Not on me,” Charlie points out, almost proudly.

This takes most of the attention off of you thankfully, as Bella turns to chastise your father and they fall into an all too familiar debate. She’s still the same Bella, and Charlie is still Charlie. You’re the only one who’s changed.

Something twinges in your long-still heart.

You don’t regret your decision, you could never regret choosing Jasper, but looking at your family, you can’t help but realize how temporary this will all be. While you will end up disappearing with some elaborate story, they’ll keep living, keep aging. They’re human and you’re not anymore.

Another breeze catches Bella’s scent, the fire in your throat flaring back to the front of your mind. You swallow dryly.

Focus, (Y/n), focus.

Without a sound, you busy yourself grabbing Bella’s bags and taking them to her room. It’s all you can do to stop the hunger from taking you away. It’s like you didn’t just feed a few hours ago, like you haven’t fed in weeks. You haven’t felt this bad since you first turned.

If only Jasper was here. It’d be so much easier if you could just tuck yourself into his chest, forget the world for even a moment. But then he’d be struggling just as much as you are. You could never ask that of him.

So you tuck yourself into your room, shouting down the stairs that you have some work to do. Even when Billy and Jacob drive up in the truck Charlie bought for Bella, you merely perch at the window and watch on. Billy must feel your gaze because he glances up to you, his lips pinching into a thin line when your eyes meet.

Is it even possible for someone to look more disapproving? You can’t imagine it, looking down at Billy right now. To think, the man used to be like a second father to you. And then you turned, and suddenly you were on opposite sides of a longstanding war.

You miss him, and Jacob. So much.

All that’s left of that relationship is a curt nod, a small sign of respect, before Billy turns back to Charlie as if nothing happened. At least you know he won’t say anything. That would hurt Charlie more than you.

With a soft sigh, you watch as Bella hops into her truck. She leans forward, obviously looking for something in the house. You lift a hand, catching her attention. Bella sends you a relieved smile, waving back, before she shifts into gear and backs out of the driveway. Off to school, you guess.

You take a deep breath, letting the clean smell of your room fill your senses. It helps sooth the pain in your throat, enough that you can think a little clearer.

You need to stay as far away from Bella as possible. At least, for the time being, until you get used to her scent. She’ll probably notice, your sister has always been more perspective than you give her credit for. After all, it’s no diet that’s changed the way you look. 

You’ll just have to be even more careful.

---

“What?”

You blink owlishly, glancing between Jasper and the rest of the coven to Edward, who looks more nervous than you’ve ever seen him look. In fact, you don’t think you’ve ever seen him look nervous.

“She’s his singer,” Alice explains softly.

“Bella?”

“Yes.”

“My sister?”

“...Yes.”

An indescribable feeling burns in your chest as you cast another glare towards Edward.

I’m going to kill him.

“I didn’t do anything!” He exclaims, holding his hands up defensively.

“She’s my sister, Edward,” You growl, temper simpering.

“It’s not like I have a choice in the matter,” he snaps back.

You lunge for the man, only stopping when a pair of arms circle around your waist like iron bars. You snarl, struggling against the bonds, clinging to the anger burning in your chest when a flood of calm water rushes in to wipe it away.

“Let me go, Jasper,” you bite out, but his grip only tightens.

“Calm down.” His voice is firm, his ability cloaking you further with calm calm calm.

You grit your teeth, eyes clenching as you shake your head, as if that can rid you of his powers. You don’t want to be calm. You want to tear Edward limb from limb. Every morsel of your being is screaming at you to protect your sister, protect your family, even though you know Edward would never hurt someone.

It’s impossible to hold out long against Jasper’s ability though. You’re one of the few that actually can resist, if only for a short time. But eventually, you have to give in. You slump back into Jasper’s hold. The last strands of your fury melt away, soothed when your mate presses a kiss to your temple with a low hum.

With one final deep breath, you turn back to Edward, “So, what are you going to do?”

“I can’t stay here,” he murmurs, voice tight, “Not with what Alice has seen. I’ll go to the Denari, stay with them for a while.”

“For how long?”

“However long it takes.”

You purse your lips and nod, “Be safe. And don’t be long okay? I may want to kill you now, but I’ll miss you.”

Edward flashes a snarky grin your way before nodding to the rest of his family and disappearing to go tell Carlisle. The others disperse as well, probably wanting to occupy themselves after such a crazy day. You huff softly. 

It must be difficult for all of them to be separated from him, since they’ve been together for so long. Even after just a few years, you’ve come to love Edward like the brother you never had, which makes you feel all the more conflicted about all of this.

Instead of facing it, you turn to Jasper and wrap your arms around his waist, chin propping against his chest as you gaze up at him,“How did you feel today? Everything okay?”

“Besides the constant concern from my siblings?” He sighs, and you brush your fingers comfortingly along his jaw. Jasper leans into your touch, kind of like a content cat. “I find myself still struggling with certain…urges.”

You hum softly, “I hope you’re not ashamed of that.”

Jasper perks a brow at you.

“I just mean that you should keep in mind how hard you’re working,” you elaborate, “Give yourself credit for that, Jas. You may have to work twice as hard as them, but you’re doing so well. I mean, look at us. You knew me for years as a human, and I know how hard that was for you, but you never, ever hurt me.”

The blond purses his lips, glancing between your eyes for a silent moment. It’s only when he feels your sincerity, a feeling akin to a warm blanket on a cold day, that the tension drips from his shoulders.

“You really are something, darlin’,” he murmurs, lips pulling into a slanted grin as he ducks down to press a kiss to your lips, “Worryin’ about me when you’re facin’ your own problems.”

“Well, I can always just come here when Bella’s home, you’re stuck in that school. I’m sure she’ll notice me avoiding her, but that’s better than her ending up dead, right?” The words send a pang through your chest.

“Based on today, I’d say your need to protect her far outweighs your thirst, sweetheart,” Jasper drawls, a touch of humor in his tone, “You looked this close to killing, Edward.”

“Oh, I would have. If he even touches her, I still might.” Jasper grins amusedly down at you, despite how serious you are trying to be. You set your lips into a stubborn frown to hide your own smile. “Seriously! I need you to keep an eye on him at the school when he comes back, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” You huff and stretch onto your toes to press a kiss to his curled lips. Jasper chases after you as you pull away, but you cover his mouth before he can draw you into anything more. A giggle breaks past your facade when his brows steeple, eyes narrowing at you. “Sorry! But I need to go home, mister. I may have to keep my distance, but goodness knows Charlie can’t cook, and we don’t have food to make anything, so I need to make sure that girl gets something good to eat.”

“You can get there in seconds,” Jasper grumbles through your fingers, grip tightening around your waist as he pulls you even closer.

“Yes, but we both know that I won’t be leaving anytime soon if you start something,” you point out, a teasing smile on your lips, “And it’s not like I’ll be gone long. I’ll come back tonight, okay?”

That’s when the sad puppy look comes out. For being the strong, southern hero type, Jasper is secretly a sucker for some soft attention, and he’s figured out exactly how to get it. He quickly mastered the puppy-eyes once he realized how they weaken your resolve. The little, conniving devil knows exactly how to get to you.

“Don’t give me that look,” you groan, squeezing your eyes shut, “Please, Jaz? I promise I’ll come back.”

“...fine.” Jasper relents, you can feel his grin under your fingers. “I’ll be waitin’ for you, darlin’.”

“I love you, Jazzy.”

His laughter fills you with a warmth you no longer have. You’d be a blushing mess if you could, especially when he kisses your palm, all gentle and soft, eyes alight with mischief.

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

“I already was.”

“I swear-”

---

The next week goes by miraculously, somehow, between you avoiding Bella and Edward being gone. You get away with a few lies whenever Bella tries to talk to you.

Oh, I have some work I need to finish tonight.

My boss is about to call, can we talk later?

Sorry Bells, work is just killing me this week.

Each time, when you have to watch her face fall, guilt claws viciously at your chest. It’s not like you want to avoid her. If anything, you wish you could just sit down, spend hours talking, about school, about boys, about everything. But everytime she gets close, the familiar burning feeling comes back. Weaker and weaker each time, thank the heavens, but you still can’t bring yourself to linger.

Bella doesn’t seem too keen on being patient though, as she corners you one evening while you’re cooking dinner.

“Do you know the Cullens?”

Every muscle in your body goes still, but only for a millisecond, before you force yourself to keep moving, breathing, blinking.

“Kind of! As well as most people, at least.” Not exactly a lie. “I knew of them while I was in school.”

“How about Edward?”

Ah. You recognize that tone. The slight interest, a touch of curiosity. 

It’s exactly how you felt when you first learned about the Cullens, when you met Jasper.

“What, are you into him?” You cast her a glance, eyebrow raised teasingly.

“What? No!” Oh, she’s blushing. Now you really have to keep an eye on Edward. “He’s a total weirdo anyways.”

You snort, “Yah?”

“I have biology with him, and he just…I don’t know. He was so weird, and then I caught him trying to change classes after school. I think he hates me, but I don’t know why.” She looks so put out by the idea, an all too familiar pout on her lips.

“I doubt that’s the case, Bells,” you chime, “Edward’s not that kind of guy.”

“I thought you said you barely know him?”

Whoops.

You smile down at your soup nervously, “I don’t, I just meant that he doesn’t seem like that kind of guy. The Cullens are weird, but Dr. Cullen is a kind man. Dad likes him.”

Plus, you know exactly why Edward acted that way, not that you can tell her. It’s far from hatred, you think bemusedly.

“So you don’t think it’s a coincidence? Him asking to leave the class the day I start? Or that he hasn’t come back to school since?” Bella crosses her arms, staring you down with the stubbornness of a bull. She really is Charlie’s daughter.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Tinker Bell. Maybe he just got sick?” You force a smile, despite the pit opening in your stomach from the lie. “Boys are weird, take it from me.”

“Does that mean you have a boyfriend?”

“And dinner’s ready!” You squeak, dancing right past that question, “Could you go tell dad?”

“Sure.” Bella gives you a look that says this conversation definitely isn’t over, but does as you asked anyways.

You breathe a sigh of relief once she’s out of the room.

Of all the things to start talking about, of course she would pick the Cullens. You can’t blame her, you really can’t. When they first showed up in Forks, everyone was inexplicably drawn to the vampires. Not so inexplicably, you guess. You were drawn to Jasper the moment you laid eyes on him. His quiet, almost shy demeanor did you in, and the accent. To this day, you still swoon over that deep, southern drawl.

And now it’s like you’re watching it all from the start. The disappearing. The self-doubt. The intrigue. Except it’s Bella and Edward instead of you and Jasper. 

“So, what’s for dinner, (Y/n)?” Charlie rubs his hands together as he shuffles into the kitchen.

“Tortellini soup, old man. Low sodium, but plenty of chicken, just for you,” You tease as you put a bowl in front of him.

“Dad, does (Y/n) have a boyfriend?” Bella follows close behind, and you can’t help but quawk at her.

“Bella!”

“She sure does,” Charlie snorts as he blows on his soup, “That Cullen boy.”

Bella shoots you a look, something between a glare and something smug. You cringe away, busying yourself with cleaning up. You’re screwed, you’re so screwed.

“Which Cullen boy?” She presses.

“The blond one. Not too bad, that kid.” And Charlie is completely oblivious! He’s supposed to be on your side here!

“I thought you said you barely know them?” Bella prompts, brow raised in accusation.

Think quick, (Y/n).

“They’re a private family, Bells, and you don’t understand how people are here.” You dig into old emotions, one’s you’ve long since buried. Hopefully it’ll make her uncomfortable enough to stop. “When it came out in school that Jasper and I were dating, people were horrible to me. I don’t like talking about it.”

It brings back every pain seeded in your heart. You faced it all. Jealousy, hateful notes shoved into your locker, obscene rumors whispered as you walked down the halls. Everyone you grew up with, everyone you loved, turned on you, just like that. You had no one except the Cullens and Charlie after that.

“I have work to do,” you mutter, grabbing a bowl of soup to pour down your sink later. “Enjoy the food.”

“(Y/n)-”

“I’m sure he’ll come back soon, Bells. Give him the benefit of the doubt when he does.” You give her a gentle, sad smile. “He is a good guy.”

And with that, you disappear upstairs, every step like a heavy weight, pulling you underwater.

It’s not supposed to be this hard. You’re supposed to be able to tell her everything. That’s how it’s always been. Even when your parents divorced, even when they moved to Arizona, you and Bella never drifted apart. You told her every tiny detail of your life.

Until high school.

When it all happened, you were just so…embarrassed. You’re the older sister, you were supposed to be strong, set a good example, show her that she could do anything. But you just ended up drowning, with Jasper as your only source of air.

So you’ll do anything for him, for the Cullens, even if that means lying to your sister. And it’s protecting her too, you remind yourself as you settle down at your desk. The less she and Charlie know, the safer they are from the Volturi.

You can do that, at least. Protect them. Both the Cullens and your family. No matter how many lies you have to tell, or creative answers you have to whip up for Bella’s sure to be unending number of questions, you will protect them.

And who knows! You perk up, trying your hardest to be positive. Maybe this won’t be exactly like you and Jasper. Maybe this is just a passing curiosity that will let up once Edward comes home, and you can forget it all in a week. Eventually you’ll be able to talk to her about Jasper, just without all the bloody details.

Yah. Once she’s safe, from you and the looming threat that comes with this truth, everything will go back to normal. Hopefully.

---

I'm struggling a bit with this one but I'm really enjoying the concept! There's just so many ideas to go with, and I want to write them all! Who knows how far it'll go haha.

Part 2

[colorful-white-ideas]

Is Bill Skarsgård only in remakes ?

This will be long. Really long.

After the relase of The crow 2024 , a lot of comments have surfaced saying that Bill only do remakes and nothing else. That he is where he is because of nepotism and that he only plays dark characters.

How about we review his trayectory according to his imdb page ? Lets see his eldest credit, how long it took him to position himself in america ( his big break) how many remakes has he done and what genres he explored.

If we go all the way down we will see that his career started in Sweden. His first credit come from the 2000's movie Järngänget where he worked with his brother Alex. Bill was 9 years old aprox. Since then he worked ocationally until his teenage years ,when he took the job more seriously , in consecuense he started to gain fame for himself in scandinavia, even nominations for some roles. Like with simple simon (I rymden finns inga känslor)

In The crown jewels ( Kronjuvelna) we have Alicia Vikander and Bill skarsgard sharing the screen, both are swedish, and later both participated in the 2012 american adaptation of Anna Karenina (Leon tolstoi novel) sadly for Bill ,being Stellan Skarsgård son did not help his small role from being cut out of the movie. Alicia is the one who gets her big break from this by playing Kitty.

Role: Captain Makhotin

But things don't end there, he may have not done it in american movies yet but he did land the role of the vampire / upir Roman Godfrey in Hemlock Grove (series), another adaptation from a book with the same name, on netflix ( small streaming plataform in the early 2010's) he did a total of 3 seasons.

In 2016 he gets another small role but in the Divergent series , in 2017 Atomic blond ( as Merkel). Now it's in 2017 at 27 years old when his first remake and big break comes: IT (pennywise) . But first lest define briefly what is a remake?

wikipedia says: A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film".A remake tells the same story as the original but uses a different set of casts, and may use actors from the original, alter the theme, or change the flow and setting of the story. A similar but not synonymous term is reimagining, which indicates a greater discrepancy between, for example, a movie and the movie it is based on

It is a novel by stephen king ,the first adaptation was for tv miniseries of 2 episodes in 1990 with Tim curry as Pennywise. In 2017 another adaptation is released and here is where we open the main debate: The 2017 movie was a remake or another adaptation? I guess is matter of perspective, while is true that the first popular reference we have about the subject is the 90'series , the new production based his storyline and character design in the book... So if you are more familiar with the book you'll call it an adaptation but if you have never read it then it'll be a remake "with differences".

The contrast beetween both vertions of IT is too big to consider the latter ( 2017) a re-do/ remake of the miniseries. You can notice that just by the approach Bill and Tim took on Pennywise. Tim's version was more human, a psycopath like in John Wayne Gacy-esque type. Bill's was a monster, not one trace of humanity in his character, it was out of this world and enjoyed playin/ torturing its meals cause it tasted better basically.

My own take is that IT CHAPTER 1 AND 2 are not remakes of It (1990). But due to pop culture they are considered as such.

Between the IT- MANIA he was in the following productions: Battlecreek , deadpool 2 ( short role), Villians, Assasination nation and Castle rock ( series). He also participated in shortfilms like: A stone Appears, Alteration and Do you like the taste of beer?

Is in castle rock where he plays another creepy role as the kid .For battle creek he is an artistic vulnerable depressed dude. In assassination he plays a misogynistic teen asshole. And with Villains we see him explore his comic side.

This is what I would like to call the transition period, besides Deadpool and castle rock, all the projects previously mentioned are in some way small projects , that he for some reason decided to take on ,maybe for scheduling reasons cause by the end of 2019 IT CHAPTER 2 was premiering.

2020- 2022

The pandemic hit and changed things, he losses momentum. The whole industry was shaken actually. Movies that were supposed to be released in cinemas went to streaming, projects were cancelled and others got delayed.

For example Bill was set to work in The northman with his brother Alex again , he was already in Eggers radar, but due covid he had to drop out: Here

He left that project because something else was scheduled: Clark. (netflix nordic) a series he helped to produce too.

From this time we got Nine Days, The devil all the time (one of his best works and one of his most underrated film. He plays Willard a traumatized ww2 veteran), Soulmates (a series - one ep. He plays a uptight gay man who finds love while vacationing in Mexico), Naked Singularity ( he's an lawyer with adhd and a weird obsesion with ears) , Eternals ( KRO) ,Barbarian (horror movie where he is just a good guy who's in the wrong place at the wrong time )

By this time he was still under the shadow of " pennywise" but he had built a reputation for himself, he was a good actor before the critic and public that followed his work. Not as popular as Alex ,for example , but he was known by now.

2023 -24

After the pandemic we enter the period I woud like to call : COMEBACK.

The projects we find here are more "commercial" because these are action films, which is not bad , it was about time, most of his films usually dont get too much of exposure or are small projects. If someone said Bill Skarsgård automatically people thought in the clown 🤡 and not in Kro, mickey, willard or Clark for example. So we see here some sort of rebrandig he's now a killing machine, a cartoonish villain and anti hero.

John wick 4.

This offer came to him thanks to a previous work he did in Atomic blonde. Chad stahlesky let him choose what character play ( here) , and he went for the bad guy. A cartonish kinda old school villain , with funny accent and great suits: The marquis de Gramont.

Now, a very common observation people do is that roles are offered to him and his just takes them. That he is like a passive actor who only plays what he's tell to play, but since Pennywise he has always talked about how much he gets involved in the making of a character. The marquis was not the exception. That annoying accent was , for example, his idea. here more about it

This participation was a breath of fresh air, and brought new eyes to him. New fans arrived, people saw more of his work and he stepped a bit away from the IT shadow. Later was confirmmed that his next project would be BOY KILLS WORLD a pure gory action film with some comedic touch for which Bill prepared hard.

Moritz Mohr: Bill is a terrific actor. The only thing we weren't sure at that point was, "Can he deliver on the action?" He basically just promised, "No, I'm gonna put in the work, I'm gonna get ripped, I'm gonna train, and I'm going to learn the choreography." Which is a huge commitment, because it's just months and months of training and rehearsing, and I'm so glad that he did it. He overdelivered sometimes, he was really committed to it, and I'm very lucky that he was, because I think the results are just phenomenal.

In BKW we see Bill has good comedic timing, as if that wasn't clear with previous projects like Villains , but here he delivers comedy without talking. Conclusion : he can also be funny.

So far we are very into 2024 and NO MORE REMAKES in sight for him besides IT and we have talked about how many movies- series ? Almost 20 since his first big job in America (Hemlock G.)

The recent fame of " remake actor " comes from the next two jobs he landed. The crow 🐦‍⬛ and Nosferatu. 🦇

The crow 🐦‍⬛: How Bill got the script on his hands? it was given to him because he is known for remakes, because of his lastname , because no one else wanted to do it ? Luckily for us , Empire magazine tell us the following:

The project was conceived to be a separate work from the 1994 movie the crow, the source of inspiration was THE CROW graphic novel of J.O Barr. Again, by this and more interviews around we see Bill as an actor who played and active part in bringing a unique version of eric. From the physique ( something he kept from filming BKW) to the aura he's nothing like Brandon lee's Eric Draven.

The big differences between the 2024 and 1994 version, are confirmmed now after its release with heavy critics of people claiming it to be a "bad remake cause it looks nothing like the original " Here I ask rethorically , so is Bill a remakes actor or not?

Remakes are in full force lately, examples are whatever Disney has been doing lately, the ghostbusters, robocop , etc. Movies that go frame by frame , super close to their media source.

The same way Dune 2022 is not considered a remake of the 80's movie , The crow 2024 shouldn't be considered one either. Not even IT. Because, primarily, the source material is not the previous movie or series, but a book or a novel. So the best term to use is , I believe, adaptation or reimagining.

But what about Nosferatu?

I'm glad you asked random tumblr reader. I'm almost finishing and this is where I want to suggest that this upcoming film is actually the first remake Bill Skarsgård has done.

Robert Eggers ( director of this new remake ) shares with anOther magazine, that he planned to film Nosferatu after The witch , that's how he met Bill , who was 25 by then ( at 25-26 he was also auditioning for IT) . Eggers recalls Bill's audition being excellent for Hutter . Unfortunatelly the project fell but they stayed in contact and planned to one day work together , Bill was later set to work in the northman , we already know how that played out.

As we see here Bill was the one trying to get the opportunity to work with the director, having another role in mind ,until Eggers proposses to him the opportunity to be Count Orlok thanks to the work he did as Bob Gray in IT chapter 2.

Eggers knew about his capacities as an actor to embody darkness while having a youthful and pretty exterior that's why he tought of him as the right choice for the project.

Once again we read an interview that highlights the joint work of the director and Bill on the character, from the psyque to the make up. He was very proactive, long conversations, audio tapes, isolation, voice coach , etc. All of which finally paid off

Bill Skarsgård has proven his desire to become a versatile actor, just by reading his imdb page we see a variety of works forming his resumee , but he has a particular preference for dark, scary , creepy roles. In this review since the Hemlock grove days he has played a total of 7 obscure characters ( from antagonist to conflicted ones). This alone is not bad, and they aren't that many either. Every actor have a genre they prefer , characters they feell more pulled to work with. Bill is a goth king and I respect that.

His career itself also proves to be the result of organic growth, although he was lucky to be part of one of the most successful and respected acting families in sweden , that alone couldn't have granted him is current success. He started in America with a small show that most people haven't heard of till this day, and was in his late 20's when he got his first big opportunity. He sent emails, he sent tapes, he auditioned, he gave his word promising to deliver a good job. He works his ass off for what he wants. He doesn't seem to be the classic textbook nepobaby.

That's why I think that considering him just a remake actor is unfair and narrow minded. Said statement reduces a still growing career full of exploration to just opportunistics cashagrab roles ... and this guy is far from being that. Also because not everything that shares a tittle or character's names is a remake. It dependes on what the creators are having in mind for the new work.

That's so , after reading the most recent AnOther magazine interview , that I came to the conclusionI expressed before: Nosferatu is his first remake . Both Bill and Robert Eggers have always in mind the 1922 movie as source of reference and they worked Count Orlok and the story around that.

He's still a rising star, and has a lot more ahead, im confident the general public will see what directors and fans have seen in him: A good mfucking actor who wants to leave a mark but in his own terms. Taking risks , exploring, chosing roles that may not look right for him but always improving himself to expand his potential and keep taking on new and more promising challenges.

Its intersting how everything connects , IT oppened the door of Nosferatu. After all the issues that came to him at the right time , and I can bet my left arm he will deliver !

*Im sorry if this was too long it took me 2 days finishing it ,i'll go to sleep now .

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Marielle Was Killed for Being Seen as an Obstacle to Militias, Says Brazil Federal Police

The crime is said to have been committed due to the 'repugnance of the Brazão brothers' towards the PSOL councilwoman's activities

The Federal Police inquiry indicates that the PSOL councilwoman Marielle Franco was murdered "for being seen as an obstacle" to the interests of brothers Chiquinho and Domingos Brazão.

Investigators correlated statements from former police officer Ronnie Lessa, suspected of being the perpetrator of the crime and who closed a plea deal on the case, with data on the former councilwoman's political activities and alleged criminal activities of the Brazão brothers, mainly related to militias and land grabbing.

"Based on the facts depicted in Ronnie Lessa's plea deal, the determining motive for her death would be related to a matter played out more discreetly by her parliamentary mandate, namely: the defense of the right to housing," says a passage from the approximately 500-page PF report.

"The statements about the animosity of the Brazão Brothers towards PSOL politicians are considered plausible," the report says. The police highlight discrepancies between Marielle and Chiquinho Brazão in the Rio City Council's discussion on a bill "designed to ease [land] regularization rules."

Continue reading.

[triangular-static]

someone might have presented this idea already, i'm definitely not early to the party, but hey given the language of euclydia would have to be readable in 2d, it couldn't be bill's normal cipher, at least, not unless it's some weird way of being 2d somehow.

so. one of the things we know euclydia has is colour, and for a thing that could be written to be readable as a line in only two dimensions.. the colour substitution cipher could be a possibility, right?

other than the fact that it's the only cipher that fits the bill so far (deliberate pun) (sorry) from what i've seen it was introduced in the book of bill, which is where we're learning a bunch of other stuff about bill's home dimension

though i will note, all pictures we've seen of euclydia so far don't seem to follow 2d rules with the way characters are posed. so it may mean it's not 2d in the sense we imagine. but also worth noting is that a lot of it might be through bill's eyes, who Could see in 3d, which may account for the discrepancy.

or it could be like. localised for us, in a weird sense. or i'm thinking about the implications too much, but hey, that's where the fun is, right?

there's also the note that it looks like a glitch effect, which with the tv static themes and everything might even be another connection between the colour code and euclydia.

TL;DR the color code was:

introduced in the book of bill

might fit the rules of a 2d writing system (if that applies here)

does encode things from bill's home dimension, but i don't believe that is unique to this code?

looks like a glitch effect

so my theory is that it's a candidate for the writing system of euclydia.