#day 8 presumption

[berryshiara]

N7 Month Day 8 Presumption (little fen stories)

Today we see a fathers love. In a cliche way and in a deeper way. Also. enjoy the cliffhanger ;)

@n7month

[fanfics-i-find-here]

Do I know you? Part 2

Jason Todd X Reader

Synopsis: Jason, not Red Hood, “checks” on you. Cue the shortest/ longest conversation you have had with the man.

Or in other words, is this flirting?

Notes: There is no planned plot for this if anyone can tell. Just running on vibes.

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Masterlist

Your presumption of a long night was regrettably accurate. The annoyance of it all makes you want to chuck your alarm against the wall. But alas, being an adult mattered more and you need money, so work it is. You pray for it to be a busy day so you can forget your embarrassment from the night before.

Clocking into work makes you confident in the fact that it will be busy. You slide into your routine as a waitress at Jackie’s Books and Coffee, greeting customers and delivering drinks and pastries to them. You chat with a few of the regulars as they come in, and you listen as they yap about their lives. As you make another round, you greet another regular.

His name was Jason and that’s all you really knew. He wasn’t like many of the other customers who liked to talk about anything and everything to you. He usually only got coffee and read a book. The one time he did actually talk to you was when you mentioned you had never read a Jane Austen book. It was like that was the only thing that mattered in the world. He ranted at you for 15 minutes about it and you didn’t have the heart to step away. He was cute when he was passionate.

He sat down at his usual table and pulled out a book. You went to work with his order, he always got the same thing. You sat the cup in front of him and asked, “What’s the book for the day?”

You try to glance at the cover but find the front cover blank, a fancy hardcover. Not finding the answer there you meet his gaze to wait for his response. You're startled for a moment by the familiarity of his features. Of course, his features were familiar to you, he was a regular but there was something different this time around. A scar on his lip and his cheek-

“Dracula” your thoughts are cut off by his voice, suddenly strangely familiar too, and you focus in on the conversation.

You smile, “I actually have read that one.”

You are half tempted to add, might be better than Jane Austen, but you decided you still want to work for the next half hour. You settle on, “Hollywood definitely got that one wrong, so much for the undead being sexy.” You joke.

His laugh comes out a little startled and you’re proud of the accomplishment. He usually looks so sullen in his corner booth, although that might just be because he’s so focused on his book.

“I don’t know, Hollywood might be onto something.” He says it like it’s an inside joke, but you feel like you missed the punchline.

“Maybe,” you say with a polite laugh, “Did you want anything else?” you ask.

He shakes his head. Not a huge shocker, he never wants anything but his drink and his book.

“Just let me know if you do.” You walk away slowly as you try to push down the weird familiar feeling you’re having all of a sudden. You check in with a few customers and, with a lull in commotion you settle into a chair next to the register. Bless Jackie for having one, your feet slowly starting to ache as the end of your shift draws near. Darla, one of the other waitresses comes to stand close to you. She leans in with a conspiratory look.

“So, you get his number?” she questions, her Gothamite accent heavy. Your head whips to look at her and you almost knock noses.

“What?” you try to keep your tone neutral, but your tone pitches up. Her lips twist into a grin and you’d think it evil if you didn’t already know her. Darla was nearly 50 years old, and she reminded you of a self-proclaimed “Fun Aunt” who liked to be in on all the gossip and had no sense of personal space. She had been goading you to date someone, anyone, just so she could be all up in your business. Because according to her, you were the most boring person she’d ever met.

“The hottie, did you get his number?” she asks again as she pulls out a compact mirror to brush some fly-aways from her face.

“First of all, I still don’t know who you’re talking about.” You do but that’s neither here nor there. “Second, you can’t just call customer’s Hotties, Darla, that weird.”

She scoffs and snaps her compact closed. “All right, Scarface over there. Did you get his number?”

You practically jump at her to cover her mouth. “Darla!”

She pushes your hand away with a grin. “Don’t worry Baby doll. It makes him look hot in a rugged way.”

“Darla, I swear-“you're cut off by a throat clearing. You turn to see a college student awkwardly waiting at the register. Your face flushes and you drop your hands from Darla and through on a customer service smile.

“Hi, sorry about that. How can I help you?” You manage to stay away from Darla for the rest of your shift, checking on customers probably more than necessary.  It's 5 o’clock when your shift finally ends. You brush by Darla to clock out and she follows you.

“You gonna answer my question or not?” Ever persistent for an older woman.

“No, Darla, I did not get Jason’s number” You pointedly use his name, so she won’t use Scarface or Hottie again.

“Oh, First name basis.” She teases.

You roll your eyes and pull off your apron to hang it up. You turn and look at her.

“Goodbye Darla,” you say sweetly with a too cheesy smile. It's her turn to roll her eyes as she goes back to work. You collect your purse and jacket and head for the front door of the shop. The early fall weather not having kicked in yet, you carry your jacket on your arm. Focused on pulling your purse over your head, you nearly run into a mass.

“Oh Sorry,” you say as you take a step back.

“No, you’re okay. I shouldn’t have bullied my way in front of you.” A deep voice speaks. You look up and meet blue-green eyes. Jason.

“I hardly think someone so passionate about Jane Austen could do any Bullying” You see Jason flush a little at the comment but don’t say anything. He holds the front door open for you. You thank him as you hurriedly shuffle through the open door. He follows you out onto the warm sidewalk. Assuming your conversation is done you head down the sidewalk with your arms crossed in front of you holding your jacket. As you walk you become very conscious of the man next to you. You glance at him curiously but don’t comment.

You take your time walking with him silently. You're not in a rush to get home, darkness still a few hours away. You should be worried. You’re not though. Jason has never struck you as a bad guy. Call it energy or vibe or what have you (ranting about Jane Austen). He just wasn’t bad. Intimidating? Yes, but not bad. As you walk you give some subtle side glances. He was very… Large. You didn’t know how else to describe him. Nearly a whole head taller than you and muscular. Yeah, he could definitely pick you up and carry you. You flush, not that that mattered. Your eyes get drawn back to his face. You know those scars; you swear up and down that it's not just because he’s a regular. They’ve never stuck out to you like this, and you can’t figure out why. In your (not so) subtle side-eye, you meet his gaze. He’s already smiling at you, but you don’t linger on it dropping your gaze to the concrete.

“Heading home?” He asks, tilting his head toward you.

You look up to meet his gaze, intense in the stare and unsure if he's just like that or dissecting you. This is the longest amount of time you’ve spent actually near him without tending to customers.

“Uh, yeah?” you ask yourself. Of course, you're going home; where else would you go? But why would you tell him that? You don’t think Jason would do anything bad to you; he is still, at most, an acquaintance, and you don’t really know him. (Not that it matters considering you let a literal stranger into your home the night before.) If he senses your hesitation and worry, he doesn’t comment on it.

“I wish I was.” He admits but quickly adds on, “Going to my home, not yours. That would be weird, I don’t really know you.” His voice drops quieter as he trails off. He rubs at the back of his neck, a light flush on his cheeks. The man in a flustered state must give you some courage.

“Yeah, that would be weird,” you tease, “Although maybe not a bad thing.” You quiet for a moment and think is this good flirting?

“If you're not going home, then where are you going?” You ask both curious about the answer and if it’ll explain why he's still walking with you.

His flush darkens and he mumbles for a moment and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. Leather Jacket…

“Family required dinner,” he says it like it’s the worst thing in the entire world, sitting next to nuclear weapons and climate change.

“That sounds fun” You try to keep a neutral tone because a family dinner does sound fun, to you, but he, apparently, thinks otherwise.

“Oh, loads of it,” he says with a scowl.

You decide a variety of things at that moment. First, he was unfairly attractive. Scowling should not look that good. Second, you want to stop him from scowling, a sadness sitting just behind his eyes. Thirdly, Darla was, unfortunately, correct. You should get this guy's number.

“at least tell me there's dessert.” You ask teasingly. Your inquiry is enough to chase away the scowl and you smile at the fact.

“Only the best homemade cookies in existence” he responds with a smile.

“At least there's something good.” You slow your walk as you come to the corner where your apartment building sits. You don’t want to give away that you live here, but you don’t want to start wandering around the streets of Gotham with him either. As it turns out, your overthinking is unnecessary.

“This is me.” He states as he walks to a parked motorcycle right in front of the building. You can't help but stare.

“Will you make it home safe all alone?” he asks like he already knows the answer. It takes you a moment to answer, distracted as he pulls a helmet out of the back seat of the bike, preparing to put it on. The leather made more sense now.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, it'll be no problem. I don’t live far.” You gesture further down the street, where you definitely did not live. He nods and smiles knowingly as he slips the helmet on.

“Okay see you later, sweetheart.” He says as he slings a leg over the bike, starting. You stare, again, at the denim of his jeans stretching over his legs nicely. He gives you a wave before taking off down the street, turning a corner. You stand and stare at the spot he had just been for much longer than you should have. You let a quiet “Bye” leave your lips despite him being long gone.

You finally turn around to your apartment building. How convenient that was. You pet one of the stray cats that sit on the steps as you climb them and enter the building, thinking Am I missing something?

Other Note: Thank you for all the love for the first part. It inspired me to keep going. I hope this makes some kind of sense.

[crossroads-of-the-raven]

Kai, Nya and their Parents - The Difference between knowing and not knowing what you're missing - and the sacrifices made by a caring brother

The day Nya was brought home - the day Kai met Nya face to face for the first time; Kai is two (Hands of Time, episode 3, A Time of Traitors)

Three years later

Ray and Maya are kidnapped, thus forcing Kai to take on the responsibility of becoming a five year old Dad aka the death of Kai's babyhood and childhood so as to preserve Nya's babyhood and childhood (Hands of Time, episode 8, Pause and Effect)

Thirteen years later

Kai and Nya are reunited with their parents (Hands of Time, Episode 8, Pause and Effect)

Three years later (vid from Seabound, episode 2, The Call of the Deep)

Though Kai had pointed out that Nya and Maya did not get along (due to Nya's independence from having grown up without her parents); at Master Wu's insistence, Kai calls in his mother to help Nya with her power problem.

Nya, however, dislikes Maya's mothering (what she considers babying).

When Wu suggests that Nya should discuss her issues with Kai, Nya insists with scorn that Kai likely enjoys being waited on and loves to be treated like a baby.

(Note how Nya goes from the probability statement of "probably, likes, being waited on" to the presumption in her absolute statement of "I bet he loves being treated like a baby" -- Nya, please tell me if this is your thoughts on your brother who raised you and gave up everything for you then when has he ever previously behaved in such a way that would suggest your statements to be true.)

The difference here is that Kai remembers what it was like to have someone taking care of him only to have it ripped away - to go from being the baby boy to suddenly having to be the adult for his sister.

Nya, though, doesn't really remember what it was like to be cared for by her parents; but, she remembers what it was like to be cared for (by her brother).

Kai is, in a way, reveling in the joy of being able to play games with his father, eat food cooked by his mother, and learn once more from his parents.

All things he hoped for but never once thought he'd ever have again.

While growing up, Nya was likely allowed to play games, eat homemade food that she didn't have to cook, and learn from Kai the lessons that he remembers their parents teaching them.

Kai on the other hand, had to get straight to work, schedule time in a busy day to cook so that Nya could eat, and be the one to teach trusted lessons from his parents (while likely having to weed out good advice from bad, given to him by whichever random adult decided to give it to him).

Kai's sacrifices for Nya can even be seen in the clothes they wear in the pilot.

When we first see Nya it looks like she's dressed in silk clothes which we know didn't come from Maya's closet since she generally dresses in blue.

Kai on the other hand is introduced in his blacksmithing clothes and goes to train with Wu, in his blacksmithing clothes, which may indicate a limited closet - he may even be wearing his Father's clothes as a way to save money.

But, you might say, he has different clothes in the episode, The Royal Blacksmiths.

Yes, he does have different clothes, but these clothes, like his and the Ninja's matching pajamas (color coded but with the same golden dragon on the chest pocket) are likely the result of Kai now being able to lean on Wu, financially.

Note that Kai's clothes are the only ones that indicate his elemental power - the others likely already had these clothes on hand before they met Wu (except maybe Zane - IDK).

Another way Kai's sacrifices and generosity torwards his sister can be shown is by comparing the first pilot episode to the Season 2 episode 6, Wrong Place, Wrong Time.

In this episode it is shown that, were it not for Nya getting kidnapped by Garmadon, Kai would never had cared about becoming a ninja.

It was only the knowledge that becoming a ninja was the only way to save Nya that motivated Kai to become a ninja.

Yet in a timeline where Nya was never kidnapped, all Kai cared about was getting the blacksmith shop back on its feet after the Skulkin attack.

So how did Wu convince Kai to come to the Monastery, the answer, he didn't - Nya did.

Wu unintentionally convinced Nya to become a ninja and since Kai wasn't just going to let her go off on her own (this is his fourteen year old little sister who he raised after all) Kai went with her so they could become Ninja.

Kai gave up what he wanted in favor of what Nya wanted.

~~~~~

Kai's sacrifices, his giving nature, and everything he does for Nya is almost practically an automatic habit, because he and Nya lost their parents at a young age thus forcing Kai to give up being a child to be Nya's caretaker.

And yet throughout the series whenever the siblings bring up their parents, it becomes clear that Kai made sure that Nya never forgot them and that they were remembered well, that they were missed and not forgotten.

I really like Nya; and while Seabound is a great season it also points out that Nya may just be truly unaware of how much Kai sacrificed for her to the point where she doesn't understand exactly why Kai likes having their parents around; among other details that she and others misunderstand about Kai.

Believe me, I like the idea that Nya knows and helps her brother out where she can, and she definitely loves him, but it seems like Seabound has shown her to be unaware of Kai's trials and tribulations in raising her and keeping them both from landing in the grave of the fireflies.

[unironicallytes]

Thoughts on the Wrath of Sithis*, Where It Comes From, and Why Mathieu Bellamont Did Not Receive One (Now Purified!**)

*For the purpose of this discussion, "Wrath" is used to refer specifically to the actual enemy specter/wraith encountered in ESO and Oblivion.

**ifykyk, a lot of this is copy-paste from an old post we no longer speak of nor circulate because it got toxic real quick and we never actually got to discuss the topic itself.

Imo, Sithis does not send the Wrath - it is instead conjured by the Black Hand themselves.

In this idea, the Hand disguises their conjured Wrath as Sithis himself enacting unholy retribution against a Tenet-Breaker - this lends credence to their authority in a way that also absolves them of responsibility for what happens to a member. Sithis works in mysterious ways, my brother! This could also explain the following:

Lucien straight up pardons the HoK for the Purification. That is apparently within his authority to do, yet breaking the Tenets is always said to be a surefire way to invoke the Wrath. You break Tenet Five like 8 whole times within a day, but Lucien has the power to just wave it off for you and carry on business-as-usual. There is something decidedly "mortal institution of laws" about that rather than sacred retribution.

Greywyn lasted for years in hiding without getting auto-Wrathed as punishment for leading an entire coup. A mortal assassin found him and doled out a punishment, not a Wrath of Sithis. This could be because the Hand was unaware he still lived, whereas if the Wrath was Sithis-sent, that dude would've been deleted pretty quick.

No one in the Skyrim DBh is ever sent a Wrath for breaking Tenet One, perhaps because there is no Hand at this time. Cicero is the only one who attempts to punish Astrid for what I presume was breaking a Tenet (large presumption, as we are never outright told). You could argue Astrid got her karmic comeuppance, and perhaps the Wrath was her crispy death, but that can also be explained by her simple hubris. But, like I said, for the purpose of this discussion, we're referring specifically to the physical Wrath here!

(Another new, additional thought) When you finally kill Mathieu at the end of the Oblivion DBh questline, there is no Wrath to come and claim him as in the case of the Black Dragon confrontation. No specter comes to aid you (save for Mother, who's only there to go "lol. lmao even.") This is also potentially because, as in Case #3, there's no longer a Hand to even conjure the Wrath - the only ones left are you and Arquen.

(New, additional thought) The ESO DBh and its traitor, the Black Dragon. The Wrath does appear later to take her ... but notably, it only appears once you have informed your Matron - and subsequently your Hand - who the traitor is and where she is hiding. You have now given the Listener the true identity of the traitor. When they send you and Green-Venom-Tongue to take her out, perhaps they quietly summon a Wrath too - not only as a back-up, but as reaffirmation of its existence to those who witness it.

Venom also remarked the following during your vision of the First Purification: "In the old stories, the Wrath of Sithis appeared to carry away the souls of traitors. If that's true, I wonder why purification was even necessary?"

So then, if it's the Black Hand sending the Wrath, and the Black Hand does not know Mathieu's identity, they cannot send him a Wrath throughout the entire questline. This would be extremely bothersome to them, because his continued activities undermine that faith-leverage they have. If a lower ranking member of the Family finds out that there's a traitor, but that traitor hasn't been punched in the face by a Wrath yet, then that lends itself to the same question we're asking here and the same questions Green-Venom-Tongue started asking. It lends itself to a member going "wait, so an all-knowing death god isn't enforcing these Tenets? so ... as long as no one in the organization finds out, I can break them." And I think Mathieu figured out that this was exactly the case.

Now then, encouragement of participation is always implied on tumblr dot com, but I'm saying it outright due to the history lol - please feel free to add on with your own thoughts! Even if you disagree and have a different idea! The only thing required for participation is respect.

[physalian]

Seen a couple varieties of post on here in the realm of “nobody owes you fic comments” and… actually?

Some of the reasoning was like “you aren’t entitled to praise” or “maybe nobody commented because it’s bad and it helps you write better” which is… you’re supposed to interpret my silence as constructive criticism is not great. Or, the big one, “write for yourself”.

Cool.

First of all, nobody "owes" you fic comments? I'm sorry, is this a new bitcoin I haven't heard of? Is there a bank collecting interest on fic comments? Do you have a strict budget of commentability? Ffs you should want to comment and show that you like something, you gatekeepy cynic.

I write plenty for myself. If I choose to post what that writing is online, I am doing so because I am seeking engagement. Every fic out there is posted under the presumption that the writer wants feedback, otherwise you could easily disable comments, likes, kudos, and shares. Even if somebody in the notes says “y’all don’t have to read this I’m just archiving it”

… Do you really believe they mean that and wouldn’t be excited that somebody gave kudos anyway? Have you ever met people?

Saying this because writing is supposed to be fun. I love writing for myself, but the moment I decide to share it with others, the whole of my enjoyment of my craft is split right down the middle, 50% ‘I’m happy with this’ and 50% ‘are you happy with this?’.

If I’m not getting feedback, I will keep it to myself. Time is the one thing you can’t get back and if I get a more positive and healthy experience just keeping shit to myself and not risking silence from the void, then I’ll do that, and you won’t get fic. Not here holding fic hostage or anything, but if I’ve only got 8 hours out of my week to write and one private WIP makes me happy while one pubic WIP is just a reminder that no one likes it… I’m going to put the effort into the private one, the one that’s written for me.

Now I’ve never largely participated in fandom in the first place and am utterly shocked whenever anything I write for older fandoms gets engagement and I’m not posting with the mindset of “if this doesn’t get 5 kudos fuck ‘em” it’s a subconscious thing.

It’s a “Imma try this out. Oh, ok, well posting online feels no different than keeping it to myself and in fact the act of getting nowhere makes me feel a little worse, so never mind let’s take that down and go back into the safe space of a private Word doc.”

The act and love of writing is not intrinsically tied to the approval of our readers. The act of sharing our writing is.

Especially with fanfic: fic is designed for sharing, it's the act of showing love and support over a beloved story.

And this weird idea of “only good fics get kudos” is like… babe, people gotta start somewhere. I’ll read a lot of “bad writing” that has a good idea just executed poorly and still have something positive to say. It’s not hard. Being nice takes, like, 5 seconds.

Tap the kudos, send the bare minimum of a heart emoji through the comment, hit submit, and go about your day. You’re not out here rewarding “bad fic” with attention. We can all tell which fics are of higher quality and one little comment isn’t going to turn a bad writer into an egomaniac. You aren't rewarding bad writing, you're telling a hopeful writer "I see you over there standing awkwardly in the corner, here come join the rest of us, it's okay, we're here to have fun".

All of this shit is free. They write for free, your account is free, kindness is free.

So be kind.

[hollowtones]

this isn't so much a "play this game" message but i heard you mention that you might play the bl*ey game in a similar vein to the p*ppa p*g game. thought i'd note that bl*ey as a franchise is far more genuine and has more spirit in comparison, not to mention the fanbase has expanded overtime a la my l*ttle p0ny.

during the pandemic my friend group bonded heavily over the show bc of its writing which based on my own experience is capable of appealing to adults in a subtle but still deep emotional and wholesome manner. it's a NZ gov't-funded kids show that truly has a purpose as edutainment for young families and fulfills it beautifully.

point is that doing a "wtf is this game about" stream of the recent game may not be the best idea for an otherwise beloved piece of media. also i wouldn't want you to deal with unwanted attention from toxic toon buffs. but don't wanna be bossy, i'm not ya mum ofc. that game does look very silly and adorable like the source so maybe you'd enjoy it! but just wanted to give you a heads up in case the original stream idea is in the works.

PS i listened to the beginning of the final pikmin stream early in the morning chasing around a mouse the cat brought in. so now my brain has connected the existence of the gumby movie to "where is that DAMN mouse"

I have been getting multiple questions and comments and messages about this recently, and I do not understand why.

I made one off-hand comment about wanting to play the game with friends (who like the show, and who were already planning on playing it) because it has multiplayer, and that sounds funny.

It is made by a company that exclusively does kids show licensed shovelware. I do not think it matters if the source material is good. People have been making bad video games out of good properties since video games became a widely produced thing.

(The friends I want to play this with are both fans of the show, and I think it'll be fun to try and understand it through their eyes. They also agree with me that shovelware is weird and funny and fun to pick at. LOL)

There's this weird thread of presumptions in these messages I keep getting, that if I do end up streaming this, it's going to be some weird irony-poisoned thing, or I'm going to be really unnecessarily mean or something. I do not understand. I know I can be kind of a bitch sometimes, but... Have you seen my streams?

"I wouldn't want you to deal with unwanted attention" I already am. I have received like 8 messages about this in the span of a few days. If you are going to get mad at shadows on the wall you do not need to make it my problem.

It's a children's cartoon. It's fine. The dogs will be fine if a bad game comes out and I have a chuckle about it.

Please do not send me questions or comments or presumptions about this anymore. Thanks.

[waterdeep-weavemoss]

Your Soul for Love

Day 8 of kinktober, song is Labour by Paris Paloma. Raphael x Tav.

'I want an equal standing, or nothing. You treat me with respect or I leave, that's how it goes.'

'Such a demanding little mouse,' said Raphael. The softness of his voice belied its danger, but he rubbed his stubbled jaw, thinking. 'Not many would have the guts to make demands of me.'

'I'm not many,' she said with a sardonic smile. 'Isn't that why you like me?'

'Naturally,' he said. 'You have an uncanny knack for getting yourself into trouble.' He watched her across the table, amused. He beckoned with a finger; Doe found herself rising to her feet, but then she paused, raised her chin, sat back down. 'Mouse,' he said. His voice was half paternalistic indulgence, half warning. 'You know I can't give you equal standing. That's not how this works...'

'Why not?'

'If we are equal, there is no bargain.'

'What if you agree because you want me, and not because you want something from me?'

'Presumptive.'

'Only true. I've caught you peeking when you think I'm not paying attention. You think your longing is invisible, because you don't believe you have the capability.'

'Doe-'

'Ah, there it is. My name, to manipulate me into... what?' She narrowed her eyes. 'I don't trust you.'

'Power would drape well across your shoulders.' He stood, stalked the length of the table, lifted her to her feet by the jaw, as though she weighed nothing at all. 'You are a vicious little bargainer and an even sharper vixen. Equals then, so long as you remember how small your body is in my hands.'

'Only if you remember your own stuttering heart, devil.'

'Hmmm.' He pressed a clawed hand to her back, pressed her to his chest. Under her hands, she could feel his heart, strong and steady. She gathered the fabric of his doublet in her fist, felt his heartbeat race. 'Satisfied?'

'No,' she said. 'You narcissist. Make me believe it and I might agree to your terms.'

'You're the one making demands.'

'But you're scheming to make me your warlock. You have been for weeks now. There's no point denying it, I've seen enough pacts to spot the signs. But...' she smirked up at him, towering above her. 'If I sign, I sign for your soul, not mine.'

'What?' He blinked, astonished. 'How-'

'I get your soul. You get mine. That's what love is, Raphael. If you want to show it, you have to know it.'

'Killing for you isn't enough?'

'No.'

'Why?'

'Because you love killing. Love makes you do things you'd rather not, gladly, for the other person.' Her gaze is challenging, unflinching. 'Kneel for me.'

His nostrils flared in fury; he glared at her, the strength of hellsfire in the depths of his yellow eyes. He growled softly, and slowly, miraculously, sank to his knees. 'Brat,' he hissed.

'Good boy.' She reaches out to caress his cheek. 'That wasn't so difficult, was it?' She snaps her fingers, imperious. 'Don't make me drag you through this. You know what to do.'

'You're pushing your luck spectacularly.'

'It's held so far. Now do what I want.'

'If you were anyone else-'

'I'd be dead, I know. But I gave you a command, and I expect you to obey.'

For a few moments, she thought she'd gone too far. The air crackled between them, silence growing heavy. And then her armour was in shreds under his claws, and he pulled her to his mouth by the hips. Fire flooded through her in searing pleasure-pain, and he made a satisfied little hum in response to her cry. For everything the incubus had said, she didn't find herself wanting; there was no clumsiness, in fact he was careful, calculated. Every sweep of his tongue was followed by a pause as he listened to her body, and she grew taut under his attention, tipping over into a wave of pleasure that morphed into the pain of overstimulation; this he understood, pushed her through it, demanding in his own way. She grabbed for his horns, moaning at his answering growl, and rode out the crash of another, and another, and another...

'Having regrets, little mouse?' he asked, grinning wickedly up at her. 'I did promise you'd never dealt with a devil like me before.'

'Fuck,' she sobbed, tightening her grip and grinding against his mouth. 'I- I wasn't expecting-'

'Agree to my terms,' he purred. 'And you will never want again. Your soul for power.'

'Your soul for love,' she countered, gasping. He growled against her skin, bit at her inner thigh to draw blood. 'I'm not- changing my mind.'

He gripped her hips, bruising and furious. 'Your soul for mine. For love. That's what you want, mouse? The love of a monster? Very well. You shall have it.' He rose to his feet, crowded her against the wall. 'You have no idea what you're in for.' He kissed her hard. 'But you will stay. You will stay and be loved, if that is what you insist upon. All the divinity in the realms save you.'

It sounded like a threat, snarled, breathed against her mouth, his kiss searing and angry. All the same, she imagined she held his soul in her hands, twisted as it was; it was hers now. Forever.

Tags:

@bluerosetarot @dansnotavampire @further-than-forever

@forget-me-maybe @poetryvampire @sasha199 @wandawillow

@boufsy @owlseeyoulaterpal @lanafofana @amorgansgal

@aryancunin @miradelletarot @marlowethebard

@crimson-and-lavender @reeseykins @medra-gonbites

@roguishcat @weaverofnetheril @galedekarioswifey @hyperfixationstation128 @lastlight-inn

@astarryvamp @feedthepheasants @dabigstinky @dreamingofthewild @ladyofcrowsandcoffee

@femmefuck @spooky-lil-bee

[democracyunderground]

Kamala Harris gives first campaign speech in Wisconsin after securing delegates needed for Democratic nomination. Harris campaign raked in millions in donations after Biden endorsement.

Vice President Kamala Harris was in Wisconsin Tuesday for her first campaign appearance since President Biden announced that he was dropping out of the race and endorsed her as his successor. One day after launching her campaign, Harris had already secured enough support among Democratic delegates to become the party's presumptive presidential nominee, the Associated Press said late Monday.

Biden announced his decision to exit the race in an open letter posted to social media on Sunday, following a weeks-long pressure campaign from fellow Democrats that began in earnest following his much-criticized debate performance in late June. He announced in a post on social media Tuesday that he plans to address the nation at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday on "what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people."

[kmackatie]

shadowgast fic rec list: the modern au edition - part one

This has been a long time coming, and hopefully the start of a few, but I have been intending to make some fic rec lists for a while. I am time-poor and generally bad at remembering to bookmark fics, but I figured I shouldn't let that stop me.

I have a love for modern au's, I write many of them, and I often see arguments against them when the source material is fantasy based for a number of reasons. But, I wanted to shine a light on some out there that tickle that box for me of being delightful.

Listed below the cut are a bunch of fics I have enjoyed, in no particular order and of varying lengths. I will of course forget some, but I hope to do some more lists in the future as I have more tabs open than I can reasonably fit in a list.

Fundamental Forces Other Than Gravity by mllekurtz (TheKnittingJedi)/@mllekurtz (1/1 chapters, 40,676 words, E, no warnings)

- A shadowgast college au with great characterisation and weaving of the Nein throughout. This one has chronic pain Essek, and I love how it is handled. As a note, Essek is briefly one of Caleb's professors, however, there is little power imbalance between them.

the fire kept closest (burns most of all) by mousecookie/@ariadne-mouse (3/3 chapters, 21,822 words, M, warnings: MCD)

- The fic that created the vocaleb tag. Essek is scientist on a research team studying a volcano, for which a tragic accident occurred years prior. It's told in a series of present and past, and the slow build of the relationships throughout the fic are gorgeous. For those eyeing the MCD warning, know that it is also tagged with 'angst with a happy ending'.

I've been lost before (and I'm lost again, I guess) by toneofjoy/@fireryn (21/21 chapters, 165,080 words, E, no warnings)

- The boys are rock climbers in this one. I know, it sounds odd, but trust me and read this. It has incredible characterisation and conversations about sexuality and gender (I hold the cafe scene in my hands so gently), as well as some wonderful sexual tension that builds until it bursts. This fic also got me into recreational rock climbing and I owe the author for it big time. As a note, Essek is Caleb's coach in this fic and this is a plot point for the background of their developing relationship.

starting with your heart (bright heart) by 2manyboys/@cluelessheroes (1/1 chapters, 9,914 words, E, no warnings)

- This has the sentence "Have you been taking four legged showers with Essek Thelyss?” in the summary and it has lived rent-free in my head ever since. Modern-wth-magic university au where they are both students with some lovely build-up of sexual tension between them. Hot smut to go along with it.

disputable presumptions by hanap/@callingvoicemail (3/? chapters, 9,606 words, E, no warnings)

- The corporate lawyer au of my dreams where they are friends with benefits and hiding it from the rest of the Nein. This has a delightful background of plot, along with ambiguous not!wizards hiding their true feelings behind an air of casualness, and snappy writing that keeps you reading.

Inside Edge, 3 Turn, and Closed Hold by MithrilWren/@mithrilwren (3/? works, 16,060 combined words, T/G/M respectively, no warnings)

- The shadowgast figure skating au I didn't know I needed until I read it. I've reread this one so many times and keep coming back to the characterisation and the way the story is slowly told across all three fics. There's a richness of the world behind what we see, and I adore coach!Beau in this one. Another with chronic pain Essek, and generally a careful understanding of the risks that go into the sport.

Labor of Love by OMGitsgreen (6/6 chapters, 43,331 words, M, warnings: CNTW)

- Bakery au. It's a classic, and it's done so well here. This is one of the earliest fics I remember reading, and it's a warm hug on a cold day that is great for when you're wanting something nice.

fermata by canyon_wizard/@canyon-wizard (8/8 chapters, 65,403 words, E, no warnings)

- A classical music au (there really needs to be more of these, please) where they are both piano students. The focus of this one is less the music world and more the character dynamics, and they are incredibly well done. The smut is hot, there is delightful miscommunication, and tense dynamics (ha) throughout.

(your face in my hands is) everything good I need by mllekurtz (TheKnittingJedi)/@mllekurtz (8/8 chapters, 25,884 words, M, no warnings)

- Professor au where they meet at a conference, Caleb a professor of modern history and Essek an expert in Latin. This fic has everything--wizards being nerds in every universe, first kisses, developing feelings, long distance relationship, emotional stakes, and dramatic declarations of love. I adore Mlle's writing (it really should not be a surprise at this point) as they have a way of capturing emotions and turning them into stunning pieces of prose. This one is also a love letter to Paris and Berlin, and please give it a read!

[thepastisalreadywritten]

A collage of The Record Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria — 63 years, 216 days.

The collage shows the Heir Apparent (Edward VII) - Heir Presumptive (George V) - David (Edward VIII).

Also, her other living children when attaining this historical reign. There are 8 miniatures of Queen Victoria.

Credit: Illustrated London News (special edition)

[enterpris]

An Education in Attraction, Chapter 14

Pairing: Reader x Gojo

Summary: It's spring when you start your Master's degree. As the flowers and leaves unfold, so too do your feeling for Gojo

Warnings: emotion reconciliation, soft Gojo, making out, light swearing, oral (m->f), no condom, p in v sex, multiple Os

Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Ao3: PlaidSparrow

You’re not sure what else to do, so you mutely open the door wider and he walks into your room. You shut the door softly and then turn around. Now that he’s here, you have no idea what he could want or how he even remembers where you live.

You avoid looking directly at him, but after a moment you close the blinds. Even if you don’t want to talk to him, you don’t want the light to make him uncomfortable. 

Out of things to do, you finally face him, leaving plenty of space between you. 

He's busy looking around your room, so you take a moment to catalog his appearance, searching for any clue that might indicate why he’s here. Gojo’s a little dressed down, wearing a long sleeved button down and casual trousers. His hair has gotten longer, it hangs down in front of his dark glasses.

He keeps the sunglasses on, but they’re low on his nose, and you can see his face fully. 

Gojo stands in your room, silent. Stress creeps into the room, filling the formerly comfortable and airy ambiance you had created. 

He looks at the photos on your wall, so very like the last time he had been over. More items have joined your collection since he last visited- pictures with Saito and Kuzume, a photo from the day trip you took over summer break. 

The longer he waits to speak, the more your anxiety grows. You’re uncomfortable and apprehensive to know why he came over unannounced, but you aren't going to be the one to break the silence. 

He continues looking over your personal effects and then visibly hesitates, his words and thoughts swallowed before he faces you. 

“I came to talk to you.” He runs his hand through the hair on the back of his neck and huffs out a sigh. Gojo pauses again, and when his words do come, they’re disjointed and messy, thoughts overlapping each other. 

“We haven’t really spoken to each other lately. And you didn’t want to speak to me after the symposium.”

You fold your arms, this really isn’t a conversation you’d like to be having. 

“Sooo I wasn’t really able to say what I wanted to.

“I , and,” he hesitates again. His eyes wander across the room, searching for something to make what he’s saying easier. He huffs and pulls the glasses off his face, shoving them into the top of his shirt. 

Gojo's voice is strained when he speaks- you've never seen him anything but nonchalant and relaxed. You avert your eyes. Seeing him this humorless is making you feel exposed, like something is wrong.

In an effort to cut the conversation short and allow both of you to save face, you offer him an out:

“It’s fine, Satoru.” His given name slips from your lips before you know you’ve said it.

He turns to you, expression softening as he looks into your eyes.

“It isn't. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

Some of the frustration leaves his voice, “I’m sorry.”

You hold his gaze, and he takes a step towards you.

He moves softly but surely, like a cat. When you don’t respond he takes another step closer. He could reach out and touch you now. His attention hasn’t left your face, but as you stare back at him you see his eyes drop to your lips. 

And while that’s a little exhilarating, you can’t help the anger that burns at his presumption. 

You turn and step away from him, trying to gain some breathing room and control. He's too close and your emotions feel tangled up, trapped in the tiny dorm. Nowhere else to go, you snap, and release everything you thought you had resolved or buried over the break.

“No, you can’t just come in here and say sorry once and then try to kiss me. Are you kidding?

“You brushed me off, you didn’t speak to me for weeks. Of course I didn’t want to talk to you at the conference!”

When you turn back to him, Gojo hasn’t moved. He’s looking at you intently with a transparent expression, his body language soft, just like when he kissed you on the couch. The anger dissolves, and you let out a long breath.  

“I thought we were friends, or maybe more, but I’m not going to let myself be played with. You can’t push and pull me like this.”

“I don't want to play with you.” Gojo’s voice is low and soft now. 

“Then what are you doing? Because I tried to talk to you, and you barely gave me more than a word.”

“I did.” He nods.  

“Why?”

He pauses a moment.

“I don’t like working in groups. People know who I am and what I’ve done, so my partners pawn most of the work onto me.”

From another mouth, the words would sound conceited, but there’s no arrogance here, his voice rings with sincerity. 

“I thought that you’d be the same at first. But you were so passionate about teaching. You pulled me in,” he shrugs and smiles a little. 

“When I got that call, after I kissed you, it kind of snapped me out of it. You might have been playing the long haul. Soooo,” he runs his hand through his hair again, “I had to pull back.” Your outburst seems to have broken the dam holding his words back. And where he had reserved himself in the past when you had pushed, now he melts in front of you. 

His explanation is blunt but genuine, and now his vulnerability feels like an invitation for you to open yourself up to him too. You’ve missed him these last weeks, and the possibility of having him back makes you light and a little impulsive.

“I had top marks on all my assignments last term. I don’t need you to do the work for me.”

Your voice is just slightly teasing, and you take one step towards him. 

Gojo tilts his head and gives you a soft smile. “I know.”

He steps toward you again, “You were so lively, so passionate when we were presenting. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I made a mistake pulling away.

“I’m sorry,” he says, but it sounds like it could mean, I want you. 

Satoru’s eyes flick over your face again and you can see the desire plainly in his eyes. 

This time, you draw closer to him. 

When he brings his lips to yours, it’s gentle. It’s soft, a re-exploration of each other since the last time you were this close. Everything about him is warm- the heat of his body and hands, the hint of cologne lingering near his shirt collar, his smooth voice. 

As his lips meet yours, one hand raises to skim your cheek, and his touch is so light it’s nearly imperceptible. Satoru’s other arm wraps around your waist and you relax into his touch, returning his embrace. 

Hi's lips are warm and soft, and when he slips his tongue into your mouth you can't help but sigh. 

Heat builds in your kisses, and soon Satoru mouth drifts to your jaw and your earlobe, his hands brushing the skin under your shirt. 

“I've wanted this. Wanted you for months,” he murmurs. 

His voice is surprisingly sincere and warm, and his touches so gentle that you want to believe him, believe that he wanted you the way you've longed for him. 

Then his mouth is back on yours, hot and fervent and every other thought is shut out. You open your mouth and he slips his tongue against yours and he surges against you. 

You're burning under his touch, every nerve in your body sings as his hands brush over you and your lips meet his. All the intensity and heat from your first kisses are present, magnified by your heightened emotions. You're not going to let him go this time. 

Satoru slides his warm palms under your shirt and slowly trails them up towards your bra. He touches your forehead to his own as he swipes his thumbs over your nipples through the thin fabric, eyes bright and completely focused on your reaction. 

You exhale heavily and heat pools in your lower stomach. Now that he’s here before you, you’re greedy to have as much of him as you can.

Your own hands thread through the long hairs at the nape of his neck and then down his muscular arms. Even through the material of his shirt, you can feel the toned bulk of his upper arms and shoulders. And suddenly it’s not enough to feel him through the clothes, you want his skin bare on yours, for the warmth of your bodies to meld together and burn.

The moment you undo the top button of his shirt, Satoru pulls your shirt over your head, and then his hands are helping you, loosing the buttons and tugging his own shirt off. 

You’re breathing heavily already, and you have to take a moment to appreciate his body. Apparently in his little free time, Satoru must be going to the gym. His entire body is sculpted and lithe, skin pale in the low light through the blinds. Downy white hair dusts the top of his chest and below his navel to the V of his hips. 

You find you’re rather eager to see where that trail leads, and slide your hands down his chest and stomach to start on his belt. You pull the strap as Satoru nibbles on your earlobe and kisses down to your shoulder. His breath comes quickly and raggedly against the delicate skin as your hands brushes his erection.

You pull the belt off and drag the trousers to the floor. Nearly on your knees, you’re tempted to place your lips somewhere lower, but Gojo pulls you back up and his hands continue their roam of your body. He strips off your own bottoms, leaving you both nearly bare before each other.   

The emotional distance between you two had made you vulnerable then, but nearly naked before Satoru now, looking into the depths of his eyes, you are utterly attuned. Your hands are drawn back to his body, and you kiss him and back him up towards the bed. 

Before you push him backwards onto the bed, Satoru reverses your positions and lowers you to sit in front of him. Now he's kneeling before you. 

Satoru presses his lips to your stomach above your underwear. He ghosts his lips down your body and presses an open mouthed kiss to your inner thigh. You whimper and your hips jump. He pins a hand on each of your hip bones and locks you onto the bed. He laughs, soft and short and looks up into your eyes. “I’m not gonna go easy on you.” Then he nibbles on your other thigh and hooks his fingers into your underwear.

He drags your panties down as he continues laving his tongue over the delicate skin near the apex of your thigh. He's so close to where you want him, but Satoru seems content to tease you right now. You’re already soaking, you can feel the slickness between your folds, dripping down to your sheets.

As you writhe in need, his eyes flick up to you and he smiles. This time, it’s smug and sinful. He stops his ministrations to your thighs and licks a flat stripe up your pussy. He repeats the motion, this time flicking his tongue when he reaches your clit. You jolt and cry out, but Satoru has already locked one arm over your hips, pinning you to the bed.

His quick tongue is good for more than just academic conversations or banter, and the way he moves it against you now makes you keen. Having his mouth on you, hands holding your legs open, the sensations are overwhelming.

He devours you- his hot mouth attached to your clit and his eyes burning up at you. Your hands shoot down to his head, winding your fingers in his hair you pull, feeling too much and not enough. 

“Satoru, please,” you moan, breath coming quickly.

He hums, and the vibrations have tension building low in your stomach. Satoru takes the opportunity to slide one of his fingers into you. After watching his elegant fingers write and fidget all term, you finally feel their talents for yourself. 

Satoru adds another finger to pump slowly inside you and swirls his tongue around your clit. Your legs begin to tremble when he slowly curls his fingers within you, slowly circling the clit and brushing his tongue against you. It's wet and messy and all you can think about is his hands on you and in you, how much more you want from him. 

Gojo comes up for air, his chin shining with the proof of your arousal. His hands keep busy gripping you and rubbing your clit as he pants. His face is pink and you’ve ruined his hair, but he looks alive and determined. He whispers your name.

Then he reattaches his lips to your clit and sucks, and the tension that’s been growing within you snaps. You cry out as you reach your peak and you can’t tell if you shout or if it’s his name on your lips. 

Your orgasm radiates through you, sapping your energy and leaving you boneless below him. 

He stands up and you see his erection straining at the material of his underwear.

“Condom?” He asks as he shucks the last piece of clothing between you. You’ve barely had time to recover from your intense orgasm, but Satoru looks ready to jump you now. 

You shake your head. “I’m on the pill.”

He mutters a swear and climbs onto the bed on top of you, positioning himself between your legs. There’s nothing blank or neutral in the way he looks at you now, just an intensity and wanton desire. 

“This alright?” His voice is scratchy and low as he slots himself in front of you. 

In response, you raise your hips to meet him. His earlier work has left you slick and needy, and Satoru’s eyes flutter as the tip of his cock brushes your entrance. 

He slowly pushes into you. You keep your eyes on Gojo’s face as he slides in and bottoms out. The sensations are overwhelming as he fills you, kisses you. In all your fantasies about growing closer to Satoru, you’d never imagined he would be sinking into you, looking at you this hungrily, and you're nearly vibrating with desire for him to fuck you in earnest. 

“Fuck,” his voice is rough now. 

He kisses you deeply and rolls his hips into yours. You lock your legs around his hips, bringing him closer as he ruts his lithe body against yours. 

He slowly builds a rhythm until he's snapping his hips, your legs urging him deeper, faster. 

One arm brackets your face and supports his weight above you, he moves your other hand to rest next to his arm. He entwines your fingers, and beneath the haze of lust your heart flutters. He caresses your breast as the impact of his thrusts rock your body. When you grab his shoulder and dig your nails into the muscle there, he moans. 

The slide of his cock is delicious and easy through your sopping cunt. You groan as he hits deep inside, pulling him deeper. Your bodies move together, grinding, filling, creating. 

His hair sticks to his forehead with sweat, and your own skin feels slick where it meets his body. He's attentive to your needs, maintaining the rhythm when you inhale sharply, teasing your mouth with his tongue. He kisses you until you’re breathless and lightheaded, hardly able to think of anything beyond his body.

Between his mouth, his skilled fingers, and his cock, it's easy to lose yourself in the sensations of being fucked.

When you pry your mind from just the physical, you also feel every ounce of Satoru’s awareness focused on you. Your faces are so close you brush noses, and as your breath mingles you look into the depths of his eyes. They flick down to your mouth and back up to your eyes. He’s eager to please and pull reactions from you, you're reminded just how marvelous a partner Gojo can be when he wants to be. 

His pace is beginning to build tension within you again, and his hand burns as he runs it down to your waist. He grips your hip tightly for a moment, sighing in appreciation as you meet his thrusts before dragging it lower to the juncture where your bodies meet. 

When Satoru brings his hand back down to your clit, you moan. 

He circles your clit slowly at first, slowly building speed until he matches the pace of his hips meeting yours. The tension grows until you're at the precipice of another orgasm, thighs shaking as they're wrapped around him. He pants and continues circling the sensitive nub until you shatter again, even more intense than the last.

Gojo groans as you flutter against him and his hips stutter. Your walls clench on his throbbing cock and you try to catch your breath as he pumps into you. Sweat beads on his temple and the veins in his arms stand out as he chases his own high. 

When he does reach his release, he’s radiant, like a star bursting apart. A supernova blocking everything else out of your world. His eyes are closed and his head tipped back in ecstasy, and it’s all you can do to just stare up at him. Seeing him so soft and open melts your heart, and you bring a hand up to caress his cheek as he comes back down.

He rests his head above your shoulder and pants to catch his breath. You want to memorize every part of him- threading your fingers through his hair, feeling the sweat on his scalp and the velvet of his undercut. You trace patterns on the skin of his back and his arms. Connecting constellations map themselves under your fingertips as you stroke his skin. 

You feel Satoru easing into your touch, relaxing into your body further. He kisses your shoulder and neck before landing at your lips again. When he's done kissing you deeply he looks at you with half lidded eyes and sighs. 

“Do you need a towel?”

You hadn’t even thought about cleanup before jumping into bed with Satoru. You’ve never been so thankful to have an ensuite bathroom. 

“Yeah, they’re in the cabinet in the bathroom.” 

He pulls out of you gingerly and rolls to the side, admiring your body before walking to the bathroom.

In a moment, he returns with the towel, shamelessly exposing his exquisite body. Without the cloud of lust filling your brain, you unabashedly admire him and invite him back into bed.  

He climbs in and kisses you again, lazy and sated.

Satoru’s chest swells as his breathing slows. With his arm hap-hazardly thrown over your waist, warmth radiating through your body, you are utterly content.

A sliver of light shines through the closed blinds of your window and you can’t help but feel as bright and promising as the summer day outside. It is going to be a good term.

[beardedmrbean]

Jörg Dornau, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party in the Saxony state parliament, has used political prisoners to work on his onion plantation in Belarus, a Belarusian news outlet reported Tuesday.

Dornau inked a deal with a local Center for the Isolation of Offenders to employ Belarusians convicted of political infractions at his Belarus-based agricultural company, OOO Zybulka-Bel, according to independent local outlet Reform.news.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ramped up political repression and instituted a mass crackdown on dissent, locking up opponents, in the aftermath of a 2020 presidential election widely dismissed as fraudulent.

One of the laborers at Dornau’s farm told the outlet he sorted onions for about €5 per day after being detained in February 2024 for liking a post on social media.

He described difficult working conditions, with breakfast at 7 a.m. and no food or water until the end of the working day at 8 p.m.

“We were brought to a shelter,” he said. “It was a horrible basement, people had all kinds of clothes on, so our hands and feet were freezing.”

The onions, he noted, “were tasty.”

The work was overseen by a foreman who would decide whether the detainee would be paid, he said. The labor was not forced, according to the prisoner, and the earned money was supposed to go toward the maintenance of the detention center.

Dornau, according to the report, made at least one visit to his onion plantation to see his employees in person.

“I’ve even seen him. A tall, bald man,” the prisoner said, with a description that matches Dornau’s physical traits. “He came once in his car with German registration. He came into the shelter where we were picking onions together with hired workers.”

Dornau did not respond to multiple requests for comment by POLITICO on Tuesday.

“The presumption of innocence applies until full legal clarification,” Andreas Harlaß, a spokesperson for the AfD in Saxony, told POLITICO.

He has represented the far-right populist AfD party in the Saxony parliament in eastern Germany since 2019 and has come under scrutiny for his business dealings in Belarus, a Russia-friendly dictatorship ruled with an iron fist by Lukashenko.

Dornau was ordered to pay a fine of €20,862 by the Saxony parliament last month for failing to reveal his involvement in Zybulka-Bel. The company was registered in Belarus in October 2020, even as pro-democracy protests roiled the country.

As of Tuesday, there are more than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna.

Belarus has been targeted by waves of sanctions by the European Union over the years, most recently in August for ongoing internal repression and human rights violations.

[thelazuliwitch]

Black Clover timeline Headcanon

(but gives numbers for happy brain)

Okay! Gonna put my timeline math into a post! Feel free to alter!

So Under the presumption that the average Wizard King term is 10 years, and a Wizard King can have multiple terms. And there has been 28 in the past 500 years. 

Lemiel was the first and he was one for a day

Princia was the 11th (died at 22)

Jester the 16th  (died at 23)

Edward the 20th (died at 66)

Conrad the 27th (stripped of power at 35)

Julius the 28th (stops being Wizard king at 44 presumably, but it’s hard to say)

Black Bulls and Golden Dawn are created when Yami is 22 and William is 20, to which Julius is Wizard King (age 37) at this point. 6 years ago. And we know he became WK 10 years ago from Spade Arc (was he 33 when he became WK?) Damn. Wait… Rill is the youngest ever captain at 19.  And Rill even states he isn’t anymore when Yuno becomes a Grand Master. 

So who was Captain prior to Rill? 

And that means Julius had to become a Captain at at least 20 years old.

Yami meets Julius as a captain at 15 (14 years ago)

The fight with Conrad had Nozell, Yami, Kaiser, Merelona, Feugolean 

Mathamatically Yami should be 19 (Charlotte just joined the magic Knights by this point)

Probably right after Morgen’s death as he isn’t in the fight

Say Julius is 33 here, Julius could have been 20 when meeting Yami which fits in the timeline better.

So let’s say vaguely 10 years is a single term, if each Wizard King stuck to that then there would have been 50 Wizard Kings instead, but clearly that isn’t the case. Unless the average Wizard King goes at it for about 2 or more terms. A WK isn’t limited to a set amount of terms, but a decade is 1 term. If the average is 2 terms per WK, that is 25 Wizard Kings, for a perfect 20 years divided, but we know Lumeire, Princia, Jester, Edward, and Conrad all had short terms.  All of these are assumptions, so head canon territory

Lumiere (Age of WK, year 1)

? WK 2 for ten years (the start of a single ‘term’ (year 11)

? WK 3 eighteen years (dies as WK) (year 29)

? WK 4  seven years (Year 35)

?  WK 5 for 23 years (died in third term) (Year 58)

? WK 6 for nineteen years (year 67)

? WK 7 for for twenty years (year 87)

?  Wk 8 had a term for four years, WK for forty years, retires to the next WK who wins in the tournament ( Year 127)

? WK 9 for 22 years ( year 149)

? Wk 10 for 27 years  (year 176)

Princia (based on age of death 2 years) (year 178)

? WK 12 for 36 years (year 214)

? Terms: 33 years (year 247)

? Wk for 35 years (282 EWK)

3 Wk terms for 24 years  (303 EWK)

Jester (Three years based on age of death) (306 EWK)

Terms: 40 years (346 Ewk)

term: 32 (378 Ewk)

? Wk for 16 years (394 EWK)

Edward (harder to say, he could have become the WK at 46 and had a twenty year term, but I don’t think he was. He was also a priest, which takes 5 years, and you have to be 25 years old. So say he became a priest at 30 years old, orphanage he cared for was burned down at 40 years of age, he became a WK, average time to rise for someone talented enough to be the WK is probably around 3-5 years to be a Captain, and then after that who knows. So became WK at maybe 46-47. Died twenty years later at 66, for his beliefs, but lived a fairly long term as WK (4th  century) (414 Ewk)

Term: 15 years (429 EWK)

Term: 8 years (437 EWK)

Term: 20 years (457 EWK)

Term: 7 years (464 EWK)

Term: 15 years (479 EWK)

Term: term 13 years (492 EWk)

Conrad (term: 8 years) (500 EWK)

Was a captain, so had to be at least 20

revoked of power at 35

It seems he was WK for a good while, probably at least 5 years, so giving him a 8 year term

Julius (11 years)  (511 EWK on Judgment day) ----- SO! My guess is that Grimoire ceremonies are in spring as we know, probably the equinox, because celestial event and all that. So makes sense that when we know that magic knight exam is 6 months later on the Autumn equinox! Which September 22nd! Which is 12 days until Asta turns 16!

So Day 2: Mission with Magna and Noelle about boar hunting which spirals out of control

Day 3: Dungeon with Luck and Noelle

….

Day: 4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10  Asta was asleep for a whole 7 days, and then the magic knight meeting and the attack on Capital…. 

Day 11: Asta goes out on the mixer, saying he is 15 (and it fits because it technically is October 3rd here).

Day 12: Asta’s birthday, hanging out with Rebecca, her siblings, and also Marie. (Ironic since it's supposed to be her birthday, but Asta literally calls himself 15 the day before)... So Asta is 16 from here on, and we know that he is part of the Black Bulls for a whole year before training begins! So training begins right before he turns 17. So a timeline!

January 508 EWK

Alecdora turns 23

Gordan turns 25

February 508 EWK

Fragil turns 19

Henry turns 25

Finral turns 21

Grey turns 24

Solid turns 17

March 508 EWK

Show begins!!!

Asta and Yuno get grimoire

Rill turns 19

Recca turns 13

Dorothy turns 27

Theresa turns 64 (yeah... her birthday is gonna get confusing, I don't know what to do with her birthday ngl)

April 508 EWK

Magna turns 18

Nash turns 10

Klaus turns 18

Hamon turns 19 (this both shocks and saddens me) 

Sekke turns 16

Nacht turns 28

Kirsch turns 20

May 508 EWK

Sol turns 17

Vanessa turns 24

Late May is the dinner with Charlotte or something 

Siren turns 22 : ’(

Ichika turned 21

June 508 EWK

Charmy turns 19

Jack turns 28

Nero’s human form turns 17, but she is turning 517

Gauche turnes 19

July 508 EWK

Mereoleona turns 31

August 508 EWK

Feugoleon turns 30

Mimosa turns 15 (how does she have a grimoire???)

Altering it to her turning 16, because I don’t think grimoires can be collected early royalty or not

Leo turns 16 ( not 15 for the same reason as Mimosa)

September  508 EWK

Yami turned 28 (9/17/480)

Charlotte turns 27 (9/18/481)

Langris turns 20 

Asta  joins Black Bulls (9/22/492)

Yuno joins Golden Dawn

En turns 24

October 508 EWK

Asta being Fifteen during Mixer adds up as long as his birthday is the day after and turns 16

Yuno turns 16

Leibe turns 16 trapped inside Grimoire still so no cake (unless Charmy put’s some in Asta’s grimoire for no reason)

Luck turns 19 shortly after???? This works if the reason he said he was 19 in anime  (if he did) was only because he was literally a few days a way.

Marie kindapping

Nebre turns 24

Julius tuns 42

Kaiser turns 49

November 508 EWK

Noelle turns 16

Sea Temple

Everyone searching ways to cure Asta

December 508 EWK

Witch Forest

Zora turned 25

William turns 26

Marie turns 10… and minor plot hole (or headcanon hole, who knows??) !!! Her birthday was the episode she was kidnapped and ironically plot wise it lands on Asta’s birthday actually. I could spin this that Gauche lied to see her??? BC how else would that make sense?

Nozel turns 29

January 509 EWK

Alecdora turns 24

Gordan turns 26

February 509 EWK

Star Festival (tournament is announced)

Training

Fragil turns 20

Henry turns 26

Finral turns 22

Grey turns 25

Solid turns 18

March 509 EWK

The Tournment

Rill turns 20

Royal Knights Unite! 

Elf Madness

Recca turns 14

Julius is in body of a 13 year old

Dorothy turns 28 (she is revealed to be 27 during elf arc, and birthday is after, so she is now 28)!

Theresa turns 65 (yeah... this confuses me too, I don't know what to do with her birthday ngl)

April 509 EWK

Asta’s trial

Devil/curse  research begins! 

Magna turns 19

Nash turns 11

Klaus turns 19

Hamon turns 20 (this both shocks and saddens me) 

Sekke turns 17

Nacht turns 29

Kirsch turns 21

May 509 EWK

More devil research with little results 

Sol turns 18

Vanessa turns 25

Late May is the dinner with Charlotte or something 

Siren turns 23 : ’(

Ichika turned 22

June 509 EWK

Charmy turns 20

Jack turns 29

Nero’s human form turns 18, but she is turning 518

Gauche turnes 20

The Agrippa visit

Mimosa puts in application for Heart visit (It takes a month)

July 509 EWK

Mereoleona turns 32

Asta, Mimosa, Noelle, Nero, and Finral go to Heart

August 509 EWK

Feugoleon turns 31

Leo turns 17 (same reason as Mimosa)

Mimosa turns 17

September 509 EWK

Yami turns 29

Charlotte turns 28

Langris turns 21

Asta and Noelle have their little yearly reunion to the knights exam though (implied close to going to Heart)

Theresa's turns 65 1/2?

Filler arcs, but training as started

Charmy, Rill, Luck, Noelle, Finral, Leopold, Charlotte, Asta, Nero, Mimosa train in Heart with Lolopechka and the Spirit Guardians. 

En turns 25

October 509 EWK

Asta  turn 17

Yuno turns 17

Leibe turns 17

Luck turns 20

Nebre turns 25

Julius tuns 43/14

Kaiser turns 50

training

November 509 EWK

training

Noelle turns 17

December 509 EWK

Training

Zora turns 26

William turns 27

Marie turns 11

Nozel turns 30

January 510 EWK

Alecdora turns 25

Training

Gordon turns 27

February 510 EWK

movie!

Julius became Wizard King Ten years ago!

Either he is Wizard King longer because the tournament was postponed due to the drama of everything

Fragil turns 21

Henry turns 27

Finral turns 23

Gray turns 26

Solid turns 19

March 510 EWK

Spade Arc should start here actually (6 months of training ends)

Rill turns 21

Theresa turns 66

Dorothy turns 29

[bestworstcase]

anyway. something interesting about how the thematic narrative unfolds with regard to the opening narration (and ozpin’s rejoinder)

in her v1 soliloquy salem invokes strength twice—once as an intrinsic quality of mankind and once as a characteristic that emerged "in the shadow’s absence"—and the context in which she goes on to say that "there will be no victory in strength" makes it clear that she means the latter kind of strength; she’s referring to ozpin’s "guardians" and "monuments" and this is reiterated again in her v3 soliloquy and in divide and in her strategic approach to the war generally, in that she strikes at ozpin’s isolated guardians and symbolic monuments because she understands them to be false projections of strength masking his true weakness, which is that he lacks faith in mankind’s intrinsic strength—what salem defines as wisdom, passion, resourcefulness, ingenuity, hope.

ozpin’s retort that victory is found in the "simpler things that [she’s] long forgotten" which "require a smaller, more honest soul" misses her point altogether and is revealed very quickly as a statement of belief in the importance of finding the (correct) chosen one; his "smaller soul" is merely the rhetorical distillation of his guardians, a single heroic figure who achieves true perfection and so inspires the whole world to follow.

salem is correct on all counts—there is nothing special or unique about ruby herself that makes her capable of doing the impossible; she succeeds by banding the world together against a common enemy, which is precisely what salem mocks ozpin for refusing to do—not just in the sense of understanding the story’s themes but also in the more practical strategic sense. you cannot win a real war with symbols and martyrs.

gestures at v7-8.

"victory is in a simple soul" (this will be the day) -> "but through a simple soul, we lie complacent" (until the end).

"strength will not bring victory" (divide) -> "strength’s not victory" (for every life).

the "smaller soul" idea is given the appearance of being the narratively correct position by its inclusion in the first opener, while "no victory in strength" is the villainous—and therefore presumptively wrong—retort. the common trope of evil cannot comprehend good predisposes the audience not to think deeply about this or pay close attention to the specifics of what the villain is really saying.

then in atlas the narrative throws this reversal down like a gauntlet; suddenly we have the heroic voice in agreement that the "smaller soul" engenders complacency and that strength is not victory. how can this be? the villain understood all along that ozpin’s "smaller soul" was nothing more than a belief in salvation through the strength of a single heroic paragon obfuscated by poetic language. "there will be no victory in strength" and "when [your guardians] fail and you turn to your smaller soul, know that you send her to the same pitiful demise" are the same statement, spoken first in salem’s own words and later repeated in ozpin’s.

i’ve made this point before but taken into context with the whole soliloquy, "there will be no victory in strength" implies its own converse: there will be victory in the virtues salem sees innate in mankind, wisdom and passion and resourcefulness and ingenuity and above all, hope.

she reiterates this again more overtly in her v3 soliloquy, naming hope as mankind’s greatest strength and mocking ozpin for his failure to put his money where his mouth is and ACT on his professed faith in mankind. "your faith in mankind was not misplaced," she says, dripping sarcasm. if only you had given the people a common enemy rather than sowing doubt and distrust among even your inner circle by keeping them in the dark.

and on the foundation of this reversal: “balance is not two forces locked in never-ending battle. balance is an ecosystem, an organism, a living, breathing thing; thus, balance cannot be restored by force or calculation. true balance finds its own equilibrium. it only requires love, and the patience to see things through to the end.”

NOW this is where the recontextualization of the "victory in a smaller soul"/"no victory in strength" conceit starts to become really interesting: there is no victory at all.

there is only the state of being in equilibrium, or not. this is a story about balance.

as with salem, the specific language the blacksmith uses here is important (and it helps to have some familiarity with hellenistic philosophy, heraclitus and plato in particular, because that strongly influences rwby’s metaphysics): she doesn’t mean that opposition or strife is antithetical to balance. the first emanations of the tree were darkness and light, given destruction and creation. the central conceit is chiaroscuro. one cannot be without the other.

equilibrium is found in the tension between weight and counterweight and lost whenever these two opposites become unequal, such as (for example) if light decides that darkness should obey him rather than seek compromise with him when they disagree.

that in turn is passed down from the gods to ozlem through ozma’s belief in light’s (false) conception of balance as a state of perfection without strife. within this framework "unity" demands the complete absence of conflict or disagreement and becomes synonymous with obedient submission, and thus salem—who wants nothing but to be free—is rendered as the great evil who must be destroyed.

there is no question that salem understands the narrative themes with respect to humanity and the injustice of the divine narrative; she does. it is absurd and unserious to argue that she does not fundamentally believe the things she says in soliloquy just as it would be absurd and unserious to suggest that ozma doesn’t believe what he says in his.

what is in question and what does have crucial implications for the story’s resolution is whether salem herself seeks victory (to defeat the gods) or equilibrium (to remove herself as the blade held to remnant’s throat by ending the divine mandate); does she intend to win the war or to end it?

and that is a more difficult question. the fact of her commitment to war does not in and of itself provide an answer because ozma has existed in a perpetual state of (imaginary) war with her for thousands of years, with or without her participation. if she comes into the open and tells people the truth about his mandate and what the huntsmen academies are for, there will be a war. he already knows why she rejected the divine mandate and she has no reason to believe that he will react any differently this time if she appeals to him again, not when he’s had thousands of years to think about it and reaffirmed his commitment to the mandate over and over again.

or she can cut him down and strike at the academies one after the other in quick succession to claim the relics and be done with it before he returned—remember that neither the siege of atlas nor razing vale were part of her original plan, and she intended to leave atlas for last. it is likely that her plans for shade and atlas resembled her minimally-destructive plan for haven.

and even when she panics and commits to open warfare, she exercises a great deal of restraint; it remains to be seen what the exact situation is in vale but razing vale mere weeks after oz decimated hundreds of thousands of not millions of her grimm is in and of itself a demonstration that she’s fully capable of burning the whole world down to get what she wants by brute force. perhaps she felt emboldened once she’d claimed two of the relics but even then the sheer disparity in power between herself and ozpin is so vast that it is becoming absurd to believe that her restraint is motivated by "caution" alone.

she rips a continent open and uses the liquid core of the planet as a siege weapon. oz explodes every grimm for miles around with a blast of magical energy that took lifetimes to accumulate and that slows her down for maybe two hours. salem knows that humanity is strong when banded together in common cause but she also knows that didn’t stop the gods from wiping them out in the blink of an eye, and the difference in power between herself and modern humans is in that ballpark.

"in pursuit of a new world, no cost is too great," she says… in praise of cinder’s restraint. i couldn’t stop them from evacuating the city, i couldn’t stop them from using the last question, i couldn’t stop the maiden from escaping without putting the relics in jeopardy—you’ve done well.

so in salem’s view, for the sake of a new world, allowing thousands of innocents to evacuate to safety and laying aside personal grudges or ambitions is worthwhile. conceding a partial victory to one’s opponents is a fair price to pay in pursuit of a new world. what does this tell us about how salem thinks?

gestures, also, at witch. what does it say about salem that upon learning one of her five hostages is her general’s daughter, she gave up on recovering the lamp and lost a fight on purpose to let all of them go?

"there will be no victory in strength," she says. the rest of her soliloquy implies the converse that victory is found in human virtue and hope. in her second soliloquy she gloats about dedicating all her power to extinguishing ozpin’s hope; two volumes later she cautions cinder against relying on power to "take what [she] wants by force" because power comes with a cost but the "usefulness of others" cannot be overstated; three volumes after that she’s all smiles when ruby reveals her to the world as a rallying cry for hope and tells cinder that sparing lives is a worthy price for a new world. she intends to gather the four relics—that is her game to win, as she puts it to cinder—but what’s her plan?

is it to summon the gods for another confrontation? because there any number of things that salem could do, or try to do, with the relics in hand in pursuit of a new world: destroy the relics, end ozma’s curse to prevent him from coming back, release the imprisoned spirits, use the relics to carve open a doorway to a literal new world where the brothers can’t follow—she’s had millions of years to research and thousands to consider a way to escape the final judgment—use the crown to force ozma to stop, if it works like the golden cap. or even tell the world what will happen if anyone brings the relics together and use the implied threat of her having all four as leverage in negotiations, much as ozma did after the great war.

if salem believes she can beat the brothers and is dead set upon using the rest of the world as bait to lure them back, that makes her more dangerous and more difficult to persuade to talk—it’s what i’ve been anticipating on the grounds that it is the most straightforward way to keep the narrative stakes high.

but the other way ’round is also compelling—salem having a specific minimal-risk plan to dispose of the relics and/or ozma or otherwise end the mandate by making it impossible to summon the gods, and team rwby hitting upon the idea of bringing the relics together in the ever after to persuade the god of light to ascend—and seems more in line with salem’s characterization whenever she isn’t venting her rage at ozma; risk-averse, restrained, pragmatic, willing to compromise. if her most important priority is to end the eternal crusade against her and she doesn’t care about the brothers as long as they don’t ever come back, and these children get it into their heads to confront the brothers face to face… well it makes the negotiations crunchier, that’s for sure.

[meandmybigmouth]

“I’m the king of debt. I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me,” Trump told Norah O’Donnell in an interview that aired on “CBS This Morning.” “I’ve made a fortune by using debt, and if things don’t work out I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that’s a smart thing, not a stupid thing.”

IMAGINE GIVING THIS ASSHOLE KEYS TO THE TREASURY? YOU ALREADY SEEN 8 TRILLION PISSED AWAY!.

IF THERE WAS ANYTHING THE GOP NEEDS TO INVESTIGATE IT'S THE LOOTING OF THE TREASURY OF 8 TRILLION DOLLARS AND TRUMPS MISHANDLING AND LYING ABOUT THE COVID PANDEMIC!. AND TRUMP IS GOING TO DEMAND SOMEONE PAY THEIR BILLS?

[justinspoliticalcorner]

S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON ― Would Donald Trump ever have become president if he hadn’t paid off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet in the days before the 2016 election? The answer is impossible to know, but the premise of the question forms the basis of the very first criminal trial of a former president in American history: whether Trump’s scheme to keep Daniels’ claim of a 2006 affair with him under wraps was, in fact, a crime for which the coup-attempting former president should be punished. While “hush money case” has become the shorthand to describe the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, particularly among Trump defenders who wish to diminish it, that is not how it will be described to prospective jurors Monday at the scheduled start of jury selection. Judge Juan Merchan’s first sentence of a 223-word summary describing the case to jurors reads: “The allegations are, in substance, that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the 34-count indictment against Trump just over a year ago, will argue that the ledger entries and other business documents Trump created claiming that he was paying lawyer Michael Cohen for “legal services” when in reality he was repaying him for the $130,000 check he delivered to Daniels, were felonies under New York law. “The core is not money for sex,” Bragg told New York’s public radio affiliate last year. “We would say it’s about conspiring to corrupt a presidential election and then lying in New York business records to cover it up.” Trump’s campaign did not respond to HuffPost’s queries for this report. He has primarily argued on social media and in his campaign speeches that the case was brought to hurt his efforts to regain the presidency, another piece of the “witch hunt” that he claims the “deep state” is conducting against him.

He repeated those claims Friday during a brief news conference. “It’s not even a crime,” he said. “It’s very unfair that we have this judge who hates Trump.” It’s unclear precisely how long the trial will last or even how many days it will take to seat a jury, although estimates suggest it could stretch into June. Merchan, in an April 8 letter to prosecutors and defense lawyers, noted the logistical challenges involved in trying a former president and presumptive major party nominee who travels with a substantial Secret Service detail. “In a case where security concerns are implicated every time anyone enters or exits the courtroom, or mingles around the corridors, moving the entire jury panel is no simple task,” Merchan wrote.

Bragg’s filing accompanying the indictment lays out the plan Trump and his ally David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, developed to “catch and kill” stories that could hurt Trump’s presidential campaign. The scheme also involved paying off a doorman at a Trump building, who claimed Trump had a fathered a child outside his marriages, as well as a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who also claimed she’d had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Neither of those payments, though, were made by Cohen, and the actual indictment only involves Trump’s reimbursements to him.

To what extent Trump’s successful pre-election silencing of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, played a role in his narrow 2016 win is unclear. Trump lost the national popular vote by 2.9 million ballots but won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by a combined 77,744 votes, which gave him a healthy Electoral College victory. After watching his poll numbers crater after the Oct. 7, 2016, release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he bragged that his celebrity allowed him to grab women by the genitals, Trump slowly recovered over the coming weeks as Russia’s spy agencies and their ally, Julian Assange, on a near daily basis released stolen emails designed to hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

[...]

Whether it would have cost Trump the election, of course, does not matter in terms of his criminal trial. Prosecutors must only prove that Trump had Cohen make the payment to Daniels for the purpose of influencing the election and that he subsequently created fake business records to disguise the purpose of the reimbursements.

“I think the case is strong as a matter of both evidence and New York law,” said Norm Eisen, a White House lawyer under former President Barack Obama who recently published a book about the New York prosecution. “If Bragg proves that theory of the case, and I think he will, he will establish this was no minor hush-money peccadillo but a serious democracy crime.” Trump faces three other felony criminal prosecutions ― two of them based on his attempt to remain in power despite having lost reelection in 2020. A federal indictment could go to trial as early as late August, depending on the timing of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on his claim that he is immune from prosecution. A Georgia state prosecution based on his attempt to overturn his election loss in that state could also start later this year. An unrelated second federal prosecution based on his refusal to turn over secret documents he took with him from the White House to his South Florida country club has not yet been set for trial.

Today is the first day of Donald Trump's first criminal trial in New York v. Trump to determine whether the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal made by Donald Trump to falsify business records in order to influence the 2016 elections leads to convictions for Trump.

If Trump is convicted on even one charge, he'll be forever known as Convicted Felon Donald Trump, and that would hurt him at the polls come election day because people who are hesitant on voting Joe Biden again but don't like DJT likely won't vote for a convicted felon to lead the nation.

See Also:

HuffPost: Trump’s Hush Money Trial: What To Expect

The Guardian: Donald Trump’s hush-money trial: a timeline of the case