#hamlet but more woke

[redheadspark]

One Moment

Summary - The female reader wonders if the life she has is worth it. Ominis reminds her it is.

Warnings - a hint of angst but mostly fluff

A/N - I wanted to write a good oneshot of the female MC and Ominis together after all that happened in the video game! I hope you like it!

"What have you done?!   WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

You woke up, gasping for air and feeling your heart race so fast against your chest you could almost feel it in your throat.  The last bit of the nightmare was floating in and out of your mind, now slipping away like mist over a lake.  You took in a shaky breath, trying to bring yourself back to reality as the soft chirps of the night insects were right outside your window.  With the darkness of the room slightly illuminated from the scattered stars that hung so high, and the softness of your quilt draped across your body to keep you somewhat warm, you still felt suffocated in a way. That nightmare was in the back of your mind, creeping along the corners of your brain like skeleton fingers. 

The soft sound of heavy breathing was behind you, deep breathing, you slowly moved to be on your back and looked over at your husband who was dead asleep.  His blond hair, recently trimmed, was against the dark green pillow to illuminate the soft features of his pale skin and delicate lips.  You smiled, seeing how content he looked compared to you. The dark circles were no longer there, no was he fidgeting in his sleep as much as he did once before.  It seemed to be now that roles were reversed.

You were the one who was now suffering. 

Without waking him up, you slipped out of bed and threw on a robe, tiptoeing down the wooden stairs that lead to the cramped but cozy living room.  There wasn't a whole lot in the room itself, one couch and loveseat in front of the fireplace, and a tiny dining room table that was tucked next to the kitchen.  You moved back the plants that were perched along the windowsill, the leaves dancing and thriving in the moonlight as you touched some of the leaves with your fingers.  Finally, making it to the front door, you opened it and breathed in the night air deeply. 

The small hamlet of Aranshire was deeply asleep, the other little homes and cottages were dark with the small village snore humming along with the night. You grinned, loving the quietness of the area and the view that was stretched out far behind it.  Your little home was right along the edge of the hamlet, a small grassy area that led to a cliff that then gave a pristine view of Hogwarts Castle.  The wrap-around porch had a set of rocking chairs, a gift you received from one of the neighbors when you moved into the home a year prior.  The familiar creaking of the porch below your toes and the whispering winds high above you made you feel peaceful again as you sank into one other chair, watching the majestic castle that was perched across the lake and some of the lights still lit in the windows.  

You've grown so much since you were a student there within those walls, taking over as the Herbology Professor since Professor Garlick decided to go on an international trip in search of new plant species to study. Thankfully, you had great knowledge of Herbology and had a great relationship with Professor Garlick, along with Professor Weasley.  She offered you the job, to which you took it with some hesitance.  

Now it was the summer before your second year as the Herbology Professor.  Professor Garlick was due to return the next summer, leaving you one more year to teach before you were to find another job.  Thankfully, Professor Weasley wanted to keep you on as a member of staff since you were amazing with the students.  She reassured you that you had a position at the school, along with the home where you were living in during the summer and on the weekends.  You had a room in the castle during the school year, but you always came back to this home every weekend. 

Your family was in that little home.

Perhaps you were in deep thought and not realizing that someone walked up next to you.  You smiled, knowing exactly who it was as his hand was now resting on your shoulder, his thumb rubbing along your robe while you were still watching the castle.

"How did you know I was out here?" You asked, your voice soft and yet still on edge.  A chuckle was heard from him.

"I may have been blind since birth, but I do know where you go when you're in deep thought, my dear,"

You looked up, seeing your husband and your best friend with a soft smile on his lips and the grey in his eyes heightened from the night light: Ominis Gaunt.  

"Join me then?" You asked, reaching up to lace your fingers with his that was perched on your shoulder.  With swiftness, he moved over to the other chair on your left and sat carefully, the rocking chair swayed from his weight as he leaned back.  It was quiet once again, your fingers still laced together now hung between your chair as the grasshoppers chirped and the calm lapping of the lake waters along the shore rose in the air.  Being able to sit for a moment or two with Ominis, neither of you saying a word, was soothing.  You loved the quiet, craved it really, which was why you were happy when this house was offered to you by Professor Weasley when you first took the teaching job.  The first night you spent on the porch, seeing the castle and all the beautiful highlands around you, took your breath away.  

It didn't hurt that you had Ominis with you to make your little home perfect to live in.

"Was it Sebastian again?"  Ominis asked, tilting his head in your direction as he held your hand gently in his.  You sighed, squeezing his hand to answer his question.  Ominis hummed, keeping his eyes downcasted a bit as he spoke again, "How bad was it?"

"His Uncle," You sighed, Ominis squeezing your hand in reassurance as you blinked a few times, "I thought I was over the dreams and nightmares,"

"It takes time, trust me," Ominis reassured you, "Took me some months, now they're a bit tolerable," 

You shot a look over to him in panic, "I didn't wake you, did I?" You asked in worry, though he smiled and shook his head slowly.

"Not even the Giant Squid's wailings in the middle of the night would wake me.  A trait thankfully our son has inherited from me," He commented with a snort, looking over your shoulder at the window that was tucked against the garden and growing pumpkins, You could see through the glass a small being in a bed, snoring away and in deep sleep.  Light blond hair, freckles along the nose and cheeks, and a stuffed dragon in his arms as his face was tinted blue from the night sky.

Your two-year-old son, Daniel Sebastian Gaunt.

"I knew you weren't in bed when I reached for you is all, " He explained, motioning with his head over towards the window where you were looking, "As for our son, he shouldn't worry about his mother and her nightmares.  That's my job," Ominis hummed, you looking away from the window and back to him as he moved his head in your direction.  You saw in his light grey orbs, the look of worry on his face and uneasiness, "I don't wish for you to dwell on the past, it's not healthy and not safe,"

You had to smile softly at his explanation, "When did you get so wise?" 

"I learned from you," He replied, inching his head at you as you blushed, "I've learned plenty of things, thanks to you. One of which is to not dwell on things behind us.  Rather focus on the things in front of us, the present,"  

You knew he was right: rehashing the past only brought pain.  You've had those moments, of course, the tears that feel because of it and the regrets that you had if you made the right choices at the right time.  However, Ominis was always there to guide you back and make sure you were never lost in yourself.  You were grateful for him.  Even with his own pain and his own burdens, he never unleashed them on you.  

You two fell in love with each other towards the end of your schooling at Hogwarts.  After all that you went through together as friends in your fifth year: losing your friend Sebastian as he was expelled and sent to Azkaban, the Goblin Rebellion chaos, as the absence of Professor Fig.  Even with all of the pain and uneasiness you went through, there was still some positivity that came through the dark mornings and somber evenings. 

Several friendships blossomed, including with Natty and Poppy.  Both of which were your close girlfriends by the end of your seventh year.  Amit, Garretth, Everett, and others stayed your friends, even with some of the gossip of your friendship with Sebastian and his expulsion from Hogwarts.  Others would talk behind your back, the gossip would float in the air as you would walk along the halls or attend class.  Even the stares you would get were enough to make you want to take off on your broom and fly away. 

Ominis stayed with you through it all, never showing you for one moment he was going to let you go. 

"I do miss him sometimes," You heard next to you, seeing Ominis and how still he was.  His grey eyes were in the direction of Hogwarts.  You squeezed his hands, knowing who he was talking about and not wishing to say a word as Ominis took in a long breath, "I know what he did was wrong, beyond wrong, and there is no returning from the road he went on.  But I do miss his friendship,"

"I know letting him go was not easy for us, for you," You explained, shifting a bit as you were facing him while still in your rocking chair and seeing how calm he looked in his face and somewhat relaxed in his chair.  The topic of your ex-friend was never easy to discuss with your husband, who has known Sebastian much longer than you have.  However, Ominis would never shy away from what was on his mind when it came to his ex-friend, how he felt betrayed by him, and how he watched his life take a dark turn.  

The downfall of Sebastian also brought a downfall to Ominis, mostly to his family.  His parents reprimanded him for turning his back on his friend, thinking of him as the black sheep in their pureblood family and with their pureblood ideals.  He always had a struggle with his family and how he was against their beliefs and way of life, but to hear that he turned in his fellow Slytherin Classmate because of his thirst for the Dark Arts, was too much.  

You never met his mother or father, Ominis never wanted that to happen.  But he had a rude awakening when his family disowned him, cutting him out of their lives as soon as he graduated from Hogwarts.  The wedge that was placed there by his mother and father at the very moment they heard about Sebastian, and was driven bigger when they also heard about Ominis dating you by your seventh year.  You would have thought Ominis would try and reason with him, pleading to stay with you since his parents thought out of you is nothing but trouble for him.

But he chose you, and he has never looked back since. 

"Do you regret this life, leaving your family for me?" You asked almost sheepishly, feeling a bit bad that you were asking him this.  It plagued your mind from time to time, the lingering thought that this was not the life he would have wanted.  He spoke once or twice or he wanted to be outside of Hogwarts, but it was never something that seemed important to him.  In all the choices he had made, you never saw him be swayed. He was certain and seemed bold.  He was bold when he packed up his things from his childhood home and moved out to be with his distant relative, he was bold when he asked your hand marriage.  

And lastly, he was bold when he forbade his parents from meeting their grandson, ever.

"Not for one moment, my dear," He replied, his voice smooth and soft as if it was floating on the top of the Black Lake and alongside the rocks below the castle.  Ominis was filled with happiness from the moment you two got together, even more, when you were married in secret and only some of your friends as witnesses.  There was happiness and warmth in his smile, in how he carried himself. He was willing to go on an adventure with you, happy to hear you were taking the job as the Herbology Professor and finding the perfect little home for the pair of you.

Your surprise pregnancy scared you mostly since you had no idea how you both were going to raise a child when you both were barely adults.  The topic of being parents never came up from either one of you, the last thing you both were going to think about was children. Yet you were pregnant, and you thought that Ominis would not want to be a father so young.  

The day you told him, right at sunset and out on your little porch with your things barely moved in, Ominis kissed you deeply and swung you around in his arms in bliss.  

"This life, this small and quiet life," he said in a slight tease, you giggling as he traced his thumb along the top of your hand, "It's a life I never thought I would have at any moment.  I only thought of my life filled with darkness and fear, with ideals that did not match mine and beliefs that were tainted."

He turned his head in your direction, a soft smile tugging at his lips as he spoke again, "But you changed all of that, from simply being my friend and loving me for who I was, who I am.  Apart from my Aunt, you've snuck into my life in the best way, and I don't wish to part from it anytime soon.  It brought me this home, our son, and this life,"

It made your eyes mist, leaning over to kiss him on the lips with one finger tucked under his chin to keep him close.  You too were happy in this life with Ominis, every day being filled with happiness and simplicity as you both were settling into your new life as a married couple.  Even more so before Daniel was born, Ominis was a very worrying father to be and making sure all of your needs were met.  He got the layout of your new home real quickly and was able to be mobile around the home with ease when days.  He never wanted you to lift a finger, or anything for that matter while you were getting towards the end of your pregnancy, which brought out your stubborn side.  Of course, small arguments and snap comments were made, but nothing you couldn't mend.

Once Daniel was born, Ominis swore he would never be like his father, and he kept to that promise.  

Once you pulled away from him, a smile was etched on his lips as you scanned his calm face and grinned from ear to ear, "I love you, Ominis,"

"And I love you too," he replied, lacing your fingers again as he gestured with his chin over to the sight of the castle in front of you, "Let's stay out here for a while.  I rather enjoy being out here with you amongst the peace and quiet in the countryside,"

"You call the howling Mooncalfs peace and quiet?" You teased, your husband laughing as he shook his head.

"No, but I have grown accustomed to it at this point. I'd take the mooncalfs over the Giant Squid any day," He explained, and the sounds of your giggles filled the air while the night rolled on.  You both were still sitting side by side, your eyes on the very castle that brought you two together what seemed like ages ago.  

The End

[pablitogavii]

More Jealous gavi please

Theater

In this story, Rebecca is your best friend and Pedri's gf!

You were helping Pablo put on his tie since you agreed to go to the theater together to watch Hamlet together for your date night. Pedri and Rebecca came over to look after your kitten while you were gone since Aurora wasn't in town to take her.

On the TV was a very big game Real Madrid vs Man United and both Pablo and Pedri had their eyes glued on the screen trying to see every detail. It was a big deal for them and they wanted Madrid to loose after the bad Classico they had at Camp Nou.

"I can't believe you're going to the premier of Hamlet!! I'm so jealous! Doesn't Luca act the main role? Girl, he is so freaking hot!!" Rebecca whined that she couldn't go since it was true the main actor was quite an attraction for every girl in Spain.

"I can't believe you're gonna miss this hermano! It will be one hell of a game!" Pedri said and Pablo rolled his eyes at him telling him shut up and not make it worse.

He loved hate nights with you and was happy to bring you to the theater if that will make you happy but for him it wasn't really something he liked or understood at all.

"Um..amor you sure you want to go with me tonight? I mean if you really wanna watch the game instead.." you started but he quickly kissed you reassuring you that he wants to take you to the theater if you love it that much.

"Dios!" Pedri interrupted and both of the watched until screaming "GOALLLL!!" on top of their lungs when Man United scored while you girls shook your heads chuckling at their passionate reaction.

"Oh come on girl! He doesn't even want to go!! Just take me! Please! Please! Please!" Rebecca begged you and you sighed walking up to Pablo who was still focused on the screen until you touched his arm.

"In case you really wanna watch this game..I could go with Rebecca instead? I wouldn't mind cariño" you said and he asked if you promise and when you nodded he kissed you happily sitting besides Pedri while Rebecca cheered fixing her lipstick.

If only Pablo knew the trouble this would cause, he would have never agreed to stay behind and let you leave on your own..

The next morning

You came in late having met the main actor after the premier which made Becca go absolutely crazy. Apparently actor was a big football fan and asked you both to go backstage to meet them in person. How crazy!

He was certainly flirtatious with your but you never though much on it since he knew you were Pablo's girlfriend and it was probably the last time you will ever talk to him.

"Mmm buenos dias.." you woke up moving your messy hair form your face looking at Pablo who was already wide awake coming back from his morning training and bringing you a cup of coffee to bed.

"Buenos dias mi amor..you really came late last night?" he said giving you the cup and you nodded telling him all about meeting the actor and spending some time backstage with Becca.

"He gave us four tickets for the premier of his next piece this weekend if you wanna go?" you said although pablo was not really in a good mood after hearing about night backstage time you had with the supposed actor. Even though you weren't alone and Becca was there, he still disliked that he wasn't by your side.

"He gave you the tickets?" Pablo said suspiciously wondering why would he want to do such a thing if he knew she was already taken?

"Yeah, and said that he was a big football fan too. So the four of us can go all together?" you said and Pablo nodded his head pretending to be happy about it when deep down he wanted to punch that stupid guys face. Pablo knew he had something up his sleeve!

During the training

"Hermano I hate theater! Joder! You have to be quiet for hours and can't even move if you need to go pee! I'm not going!" Pablo said to Pedri while they were doing push ups on the pitch in order to warm up.

"You have to go! Have you heard he gave your girl his phone number?" Pedri said and Pablo's mouth went dry..he didn't know that..why wouldn't you tell him that this morning?

"So what? Maybe he is just being nice or whatever" Pablo clearly lied because he was just as worried as Pedri about this whole thing.

"I heard he already broke off five different relationships! All the girls are crazy about him and you think he's just being friendly!? Don't be stupid Pablo! We are going! Claiming what's ours!" Pedri said and Pablo nodded knowing that he will not just let you go without a fight!

At the night of the premier

After watching the show for three hours, Luca and his friend invited the four of you for a drink at the bar. You two girls gladly agreed and the boys didn't have much of a choice than t go along with it.

"Are you sure you've never acted on any TV show before?? I definitely seen your face somewhere??" Luca said to you with those dreamy eyes and you blushed at the sudden attention from everyone on the table while shaking your head no. You were a very shy girl and any attention made you embarrassed.

"Classic pick up line.." Pedri whispered to Pablo meanwhile whole hold on my thigh tightened and I looked at him with raised eyebrows as he relaxed.

"That's a shame..your face belongs on big screens" Luca said finishing his whiskey and ordering another one. You smiled but were still a bit uncomfortable that he felt free to speak to you in such a way with your boyfriend right besides you.

"There is a small role we are casting if you are interested?" Luca's friend said and your eyes sparkled being an actress always being your secret dream but due to your shyness you never gave it a try. Pablo was giving them a death glare seeing right through their act but didn't have the heart to ruin your happiness at this moment.

"R..really??" you said and Luca nodded saying it was made for you. You looked towards Pablo with big puppy dog eyes really wanting to try this and hoping he would be alright with it.

"Could I try out cariño???" you said and Pablo wanted to scream 'hell no!" while grabbing your hand and bringing you home immediately but seeing your adorable pout all he could do was nod.

"Yay!!!" you cheered kissing Pablo's lips before talking about details of the audition while he looked at Pedri's disapproving face.

To Pablo and Pedri

"Are you insane!? You are going to let her go to that audition all alone after the way that actor flirted with her in front of your eyes!? Estas loco!?" Pedri said to Pablo everything he already knew.

"She was excited about it! I couldn't say no when she looked at me like that hermano...joder!" Pablo said feeling frustrated with the whole situation!

"Don't you know what goes on during those auditions??" Pedri said and Pablo shook his head starting to be fearful of the answer.

"Those actors promise girls to make their dreams come true..only if they first give them something in return..don't be so naive!" Pedri's words were making blood in Pablo's veins pulsate as his face got red in anger.

"Alright, chicos ready for the training?" Xavi interrupted the conversation suddenly but Pablo had no interest on pushing these thoughts away.

"I gotta go!" he just grabbed his bag and left without a word knowing he would get in trouble alter but he just had to see you and talk about this!

At home

"Amor!! You home!" Pablo rushed into your shared bedroom seeing that you were doing your makeup wearing one of his favorite red dresses.

"I'm getting ready for my audition" you answer turning around and asking him how you look to which he was unusually quiet about.

"Why does it matter how you look!? Are you going there for him to look at you or to act??" Pablo was clearly agitated Pedri's words echoing in his ears about you 'giving something' to that actor in exchange for the role you so desperately want.

"Why are you yelling Pablo?? What got you so angry amor? Tell me.." your voice was soft as you walked up to him and placed your hands on his face gently and he relaxed leaning into your touch.

"I know what happens during those auditions.." he said and you were even more confused now. What the hell was he talking about!?

"Pablo, what's going on with you?? You've been strange since the premiere" you said and he looked away from your eyes clenching his jaw.

"He is going to fuck you for that role!" Pablo's words left his mouth before he could stop them regretting them the moment he looked at your shocked face. What the hell did he just say!?

"Excuse me!? Is that what you really think about me Pablo Gavira!? I can't..believe..I gotta go!" you pushed past him and he tried grabbing your wrist but you pulled away.

"Amor, please don't go! I didn't mean it like that..I know you would never do that..but he.." Pablo spoke but you were so angry that none of his words meant anything in that moment.

"He is my friend and that's all..and you are a controlling..asshole!" you spat walking out and leaving him there on the bed frustrated and worried out of his mind.

You didn't reply to any of his messages for hours and Pablo was really starting to go crazy doing the only thing he could think of which was to call Pedri.

"Has Becca seen her at all today??" Pablo asked his friend

"Yeah, and now not only are you in trouble for what you said but I am as well for thinking you were right to be mad..I am sleeping on the couch because of you cabrón!" Pedri replied and Pablo rolled his eyes thinking he kind of deserve it for making him go crazy with his stupid talks.

During the audition

You went to the audition disregarding Pablo's protests especially after him acting like a jealous asshole earlier. You talked to Becca about it ready to give up on this whole thing but she reminded you that it was your dream and that Pablo had no right to say what he did.

"What can I do for you, my kind sir?" you said feeling uptight on that stage and having to speak in such a way to anybody who was not Pablo.

"It needs to be sexier..like you're trying to seduce him but still keep the shyness" one of the camera guys said and I felt my cheeks blush feeling very uncomfortable with the whole thing. What if Pablo was right?? What if Luca was really going to try something??

"Um..I don't know if.." you said but Luca walked up to you raising up your chin while smiling with charm but you pulled back telling him you weren't comfortable with him touching you.

"You might have to get comfortable with me touching you soon..if you want the role preciosa" he smirked and you felt your stomach flip in disgust..what did he just say?? why would he have to touch you at all??

"What do you mean?" you said not wanting to jump to any conclusions.

"For the sex scene?" camera guy said and you immediately walked off the stage grabbing your bag absolutely done with this whole thing.

"You didn't mention anything like that when we talked! I have a boyfriend I love very much and I have to decline this offer" you said and suddenly Luca's usually calm nature turned into angry one.

"You are a stupid little fangirl who knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she agreed on this right in front of the boyfriend..I bet you guys have an open relationship if he let you come here tonight" he tried coming closer but I pushed him back.

"You are disgusting! I argued with my own boyfriend because I thought he was just a jealous asshole but now I see he was right about you all along!" you spat before walking out and calling Becca to pick you up.

At Pedri's house

"Are you sure Pablo isn't here?" you said when she opened the door to you saying he went to be with Pablo a few hours ago since he was going crazy where you were at.

"He was right Becca..that disgusting asshole wanted to sleep with me for a role and I was so naive and stupid..I should have listened to Pablo" you were crying while she brought you a glass of water.

"He might have been right about Luca but he has no right to control who you can talk to like that..especially when girls drool all over them and we still menage to trust them!" Becca said and I knew she was right but all I wanted was to be in Pablo's arms right now.

"I just want him..and I am so worried how he feels right now.." you cried and she held you in her arms.

"And you think he worries how you feel? I told Pedri he is sleeping on the couch for agreeing with him! They are surely watching a game and drinking beer while we feel horrible and cry over here!" Becca said while you were still thinking about Pablo.

At Pablo's house

"She's surely fine hermano..maybe we jumped to conclusions" Pedri tried to reassure Pablo who felt awful about what he said to you never meaning to making you think he sees you in such a way.

"I am an idiot! A jealous idiot and she has every right to leave my pathetic ass!" Pablo said just as the door rang and they went to open it together wondering who it was.

“Amor??” Pablo said shocked to see you standing there with tearful eyes playing with edge of your dress. Were you crying!??

"Lo siento muchísimo Pablo!" you were definitely crying while hugging him tightly and he held you agains this chest kissing the top of your head lovingly glad that you were finally back in his arms.

"Que pasaba? Did someone hurt you preciosa??" Pablo was really freaking out that you were crying and apologizing terrified that something bad happened.

" Are we kicking someone's ass tonight!?" Pedri looked at Becca who was looking at the two of you hugging with a smile on her face. She was glad that no matter what you tow always found your way back to one another.

"No! Por favor don't Pablo.." you said fearfully when Pedri said that knowing that Pablo has a short fuse and last thing he needed right now was a scandal.

"Did that hijo de puta do something to you princesa??" Pablo repeated his question really tensing up while holding you.

"No..he tried but I left..I promise" you said but all Pablo saw was red when he heard that he 'tried' to do something. He was about to walk out and drive to his house and show him who is the only man allowed to touch what's his but you held him tightly begging him not to do anything.

"He's not worth it..please think about your career Pablo" you said but he didn't calm down at all wanting so badly to kick his ass.

"She's right hermano. We don't need a scandal" Pedri said knowing that his friend was nowhere near convinced.

"I don't fucking care! She is my girl and I can't let him get away with this!" Pablo was getting angrier but when you grabbed his bicep and stood in front of the door he finally stopped to look down at you.

"Please don't..for me" you whispered the last part and he used last bits of his strength to catch his breath and nod his head.

"We're heading home..sorry if what I said caused trouble but I only care about you amiga" Pedri said holding Becca's hand and you smiled kissing his cheek before hugging your best friend.

"I know Pedri, don't worry about it..and I talked to her to let you back in bed" you smiled at Becca who rolled her eyes and nodded her making Pedri very happy as they left you and Pablo finally alone.

Before bed

You were taking off your makeup when Pablo walked into the bedroom freshly out of shower looking towards you. It was his turn to apologize now..

"I might have been right about him..but preciosa..what I said was not right..I trust you and I don't think you would ever do something like that..because you're mi anjo precioso..and te amo muchisimo!" Pablo spoke looking down and you smiled getting up from the chair and walking to him. You held his face and kissed his lips lovingly.

"I love you too..so much..only you.." you said and he kissed you again pulling you into bed where you cuddled up together forgetting this whole situation all together now that you were back in each other's arms. <33

[icedbatik]

This week I have read two unrelated news articles talking about a new phenomena.

One was about how North American Taylor Swift fans have realized they can buy Eras Tour tickets and fly their entire family to some European city on the tour route and make the concert part of their vacation for less money than it takes to buy concert tickets for two -- assuming they can even get them -- in their home town/state. And how this is a totally unique-to-Taylor thing.

The other was about the trendy rise in sports tourism. This, of course, involves people building their vacations around a particular sporting event.

And my first thought was about I woke up at 4 a.m. one morning -- in 2014 -- to join a virtual queue for tickets to Benedict Cumberbatch's "Hamlet" in London and then spent the next 18 months saving the money to afford the trip. And how so many people I knew from Tumblr (and who lived all over the world) were doing the same thing. (I even had a chance to meet up with some of them while in London. It was lovely!)

As for sports tourism? I'm pretty sure Pens fans have been traveling for hockey games since the Pens became a team. I know I have been doing so since November 2016, and not just to Pittsburgh. Pens fans traveling for games is such a thing that fans of other teams have stopped me in their home arenas to ask me why it sometimes seems as if there are more Pens fans there than home-team fans.

This can only mean one thing.

Far from Tumblr and its users being (whatever derogatory term has been attached this week), they are just so far ahead of the curve that mainstream society can't handle them.

[coyotecoining]

Alter intro 🌲🌳🍃🌿

Umm, hi? My name is Root. To make it easier to understand:

I am the system's sanity holder and a Yaelokre introject, but I'm not sure which character I'm supposed to represent.

I do not have source memories, I just woke up in the headspace one day with nothing except my name.

Not pictured in the faceclaim is my large purse which contains the body's sanity.

I enjoy hanging out in the woods when I'm fronting. I'm not fronting rn (Kermit is, I'm just using the Lifa app) but when I do it's mostly in the forest.

I am currently living with ASPD, HPD, AuDHD, Hamlet Disorder, and GAD.

I apologize for not fronting more. I am getting used to the fronting controls and the fronting room makes me uncomfortable.

-Root

[esotericas-sims]

Chapter Five

Furious with my father, and intent on punishing him for his unwillingness to involve me, I concluded my only option was to disobey him; I set off aimlessly into the streets of outer Rome, ignoring signs and path markings, and following wherever my feet pleased.

After some hours, I naturally found myself quite lost. I'd managed to find a forest amidst the stone and grass, and I was immersed within it - the sea to one side, and the woods to the other.

I do not recall precisely what happened next. Fear has erased many of the details from my mind. I remember only the abstract pain on my left side, as my arm was torn from my body, and a distinct sensation that I was dying - bleeding out alone in the woods, ignored by my father and forgotten by my sisters.

I found, sometime later, that I was not dead. A great mercy. I awoke on a table, to the sound of voices behind me. My whole left side felt to be on fire, the searing pain of a wound left untreated.

Two women were speaking: I can identify them now as Elisabetta Battaglia - Eliza - and Magda, who I would only meet once, but whose memory would stay with me all my life. In that moment, however, their voices were simply a blur, swimming below my strained awareness. Eliza was pregnant; Magda spoke comfortingly, whispered platitudes.

Pain overtook me once more, and again I slept. When I awoke, only Magda and I were in the small room. My left sleeve hung empty at my side. I was dizzy with blood loss, and with pain - far more pain than a girl that age has any right to experience.

"Forgive me," She whispered, crouching down to face me. Her hands were bloodied, I know not from what. "I did not mean to wake you. Are you well? Usually people only visit when they're ill."

"There was a monster in the woods. It ate my arm, and then... I felt very sick, and then I woke up here."

"I am Magda," the woman said, wrapping an arm up around my shoulders. She stank of foreign spices, smoke, and blood. "Let me see your arm, little girl. Was it here, that you lost it? In this forest?" I nodded mutely, and raised what remained of my left arm, coated in dried blood and grime and who knows what else. "Time has not treated my dear hamlet well. It is... like when you meet someone you do not like in your home. You can't tell them to leave because they are much bigger than you. You must simply stay away in your domain while they roam in theirs." Gently, Magda wiped the grime from my wound, patting it dry with a clean cloth.

"Like my sisters." I nodded again. Magda stood, and turned elsewhere in the little cottage. I laid back on the table, lacking the strength to watch her work, though I was desperately curious to see what she was doing. "They make fun of me. They're supposed to like me, but only Tilly does."

"Some people are cruel without reason, child." She pulled something clanking from a drawer. "And some are cruel with reason. As long as you have someone who cares for you, you don't need your sister."

"Papa promised me my own room, if I was good. But I think running away and getting eaten by monsters isn't good." She reached for my arm, and I allowed it, eyes still shut as she bandaged the stump, and then pressed a syringe into my flesh. I winced, but bit my lip and held still. She was helping me, I reasoned. Whatever she was doing, it was to help me.

"Thankfully you can return home alive and well." What she did with the blood I only know now, many years later. Then, I only felt her wrap something around my arm, and a new heavy weight at its end. I sat up once more to investigate, and found an arm of wood hanging from my stub of a limb. "Try that out," Magda said.

Disbelieving, I attempted to spread the fingers of my left hand, and watched as the wooden ones moved. "How did you do that?" I asked, turning abruptly to face her once more. "Are you a witch?" Magda laughed, and sat down on the table beside me.

"No. I am an Alchemist." She tapped the wood, and I felt the touch as if it were on my own arm.

"Thank you, Miss Witch." I wrapped my arms around her in a hug, eyes forced shut. It would still be impossible to explain to my parents, of course, but two arms was infinitely better than one.

"Come now," Magda said. "Let's get you home."

previous | next latest | chronological

[hey-hamlet]

Hey Hamlet, just wanted to start this ask with a thank you for all ya do, these AUs, be they funny or sad, usually bring a smile to my face and are likely the last BNHA content I really consume now a days.

I woke up and chose violence today, or more aptly, pettiness, for the Indentured for Life AU. For post-grad Izuku or even during his second or third year governments from nearby countries begin asking All Might or others to assist in “Double Checking” themselves for any similar institutions, leading to various heroes deciding to offer their interns slots to accompany them to these other countries to get a taste of variety.

I’ve also been stuck thinking “Are there Exceptions to the seeming rule that Japan fell into?” And if so, which country (ies) do you think didn’t fall into doing indentured programs who you would expect to?

Thank you! That's very sweet of you!

I like to think the whole plot of the 3rd movie and 1A's trip to Otheon could have been part of a joint venture between the EU and some international quirkless rights organizations to make sure there were no underground quirkless factories. Instead they found a whole cult.

And for Indentured for Life - most places didn't go as extreme as Japan. Some American states got close, but the level on institutional oppression in Japan was pretty catastrophic. However - Japan (because of Nezu) had pretty strict laws about quirk based gene therapy and prenatal quirk tests on a fetus. In a lot of countries, being quirkless is classed as either a disability or preexisting condition and can result in a denial of insurance or a terminated pregnancy.

[thatgoblin]

Summary: Waking up in a strange place with no way out, what is a not yet a witch to do?

Warnings: LISTEN HERE! You are in for some fun, consensual depravity. We're talking, slight body horror of a person with multiple limbs fucking another person with those limbs. Anal, dick and toy. Bondage, cling wrap kind. Gags, an o-gag. Tentacles-ish oral, giving. Penis in vag. Oral, vag receiving. Smothering with tentacle and hand. DP and all holes are fucked on reader. Those are the ones that are the most outlandish.

Also, slight religious kink/trauma. Towels are on your right when you enter. Please tip the cleaning crew when you're done.

It had to be a dream. That was it. It was all just a dream. I’d wake up back home in my new bed, safe and comfy, curled up with so many pillows and blankets.

Instead, I woke up groaning while laying on a very hard and very cold stone floor.

“Ow,” I grunted as I rolled to my back. Opening my eyes, I stared up at the ceiling of the room I was in. It was tall with pillars curving inward to meet in the middle to make a dome of dark gray stone. “Wha. . .'' Sitting up, I was greeted with what looked like a staged bedroom from Hamlet. Dark, rich colors of reds and golds and blacks in velvet poured down the walls and the very same bed frame from my room. A long, hand carved table held candelabras with dripping candles, but more importantly, a long line of food and drink. “Did I hit my head?” I mumbled, turning around to see the stained glass windows of rather lude scenes.

A few more turns confirmed that there was no door. That can’t be right. It had to be hidden. Checking every inch of the walls as well as the floor, there was no way to exit. But how did I get in there? Even the windows were sealed and couldn’t open. The ceiling was firm, leaving no exit for me.

“I gotta be dreaming. It’s all a dream or a coma dream or hallucination,” I said to myself. Picking up a candelabra, I put out the flames on it before hurling it at a window. The heavy iron decoration bounced off the glass, without leaving any sign that it was weakened or hurt. “What? No, no, no, no.” Picking it up, I took a baseball step forward to swing it into the window. The decoration flew out of my hands as I stumbled back, a force that was over the glass kept me from making a dent in it. “Okay," I said to myself, trying not to panic or hyperventilate.”I’m just tired. That’s it. I’m asleep. I’m just asleep and don’t have to worry about anything.”

“You sure about that, Darlin’?”

Grave’s voice cut any hope from the air that I would wake up in my new bed. Spinning towards his voice, I looked at him wide eyed.

“Because, last I checked, you are very much awake and this is very much real,” he said, standing by the bed. “Now, I know that you weren’t given any information about why you’re here. Your parents didn’t tell you anything, but that’s okay. You still found your way to this side of things,” he said, smiling at me.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you drugged me or this is just a way to mess with me. . . Look, I just want to go home. I’ll tell everyone that it was a mistake. I’ll make sure no one follows you or tries to do anything. I just want to go home,” I pleaded.

“Well, that’s not going to happen. Not till you give me what I want at least,” Grave said, taking steps towards me. “I need you to give me something very precious and very powerful. Something you don’t even know you have. All you have to do is just will it to me. Think in your pretty, little head that you want to give it to me.”

“I don’t even know what you want,” I said, stepping backwards to keep space between us. “Whatever it is, just take it and go.”

“See, that won’t work. I need you to will it to me. Say to yourself ‘I freely give Phillip Graves my powers.’ That’s what you have to do. Otherwise, well, you’re going to be here a long time and I have nothing but that,” he said, closing in on me.

“Powers? What?” I said, my back hitting the wall. “Look, I don’t have any money, but my roommates might. You said you knew them! Ask them!”

“Money is not what I want, Little Witch,” he growled, narrowing his eyes. “I said give me your powers. I want you to give them to me, now stop wasting my time and just do it!” Reaching out, he grabbed my arm to drag me to him, keeping me in a tight grip.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I screamed, struggling against his ironclad hold. “Let me go!”

A crack of thunder shook the room as bricks flew out from a wall, hitting us and knocking us down. On the ground, my ears were ringing and dust blinded me while I curled up to try to shield myself from more projectiles. As the deafening ring died down, I was able to make out the sounds of growling and snarling mixed with threatening words. Coughing, I looked up to see John with giant, leathery bat-like wings arching up from his back as huge ram horns curled around his head, coming from his forehead. Sharpened teen shined in his mouth as he jumped onto Graves to pound on him with clawed fists, all while a long, thin tail whipped around. It felt like it was in slow motion, the smoke billowing from Graves body as his eyes glowed bright red.

What the heck? What was going on?

Laying on the ground, I could only watch as John beat Graves back till he was shoved through the hole in the wall. When he went through, the bricks followed, closing up the space and our way out. Silence fell on us as John stood there panting and staring at the wall while I stared at him.

The man/bat/demon/whatever he was turned to me. His body didn’t look right. Any recognizable features were gone and in their place was something from a horror movie. When he took a step towards me, I scrambled back. I had no clue what was going on, but this was serious and monsters of the fairy tale and biblical kind were suddenly very real.

“No, please-” I whimpered, pushing myself up and away. John paused, hurt flashing across his face a moment. Staying where he was, the wings and horns and tail, all of it, faded from his body. All that was left was a shirtless man in jeans that I lived with.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, leaning down a bit, making himself smaller like someone would with a spooked animal. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”

“What are you?” I asked, looking him in the eye, not trusting him. There was probably a good reason why he hadn’t told me, but this wasn’t something I could laugh off. It wasn’t a crazy hobby or weird interest. The man wasn’t a man. Everything I had thought was silly growing up in the bible belt of the US was suddenly seeming very real.

“I’m still me. I’m still John,” he said, keeping the space between us, at least giving me that. “But as for what I am? I’m a demon. An Incubus.”

“Wha-An-” I choked out, wondering if I was going to be used or abused or eaten alive. The only thing I knew about demons was that they were from hell and would try to seduce humans into sin. Being the kid of a Baptist Preacher, I had my fair share of bible studies. But I had left the church after moving out at 19 and never looked back. This whole situation just brought so much trauma and questions to the front of my mind that I felt sick with dizziness.

“An incubus,” John said with a nod. “I’m not evil or bad.”

“Yeah, says a literal demon,” I snapped, moving a chair between us. “Am I in hell? Is this hell? Are you going to get me to drop my guard then torture me, make me forget it happened then just keep doing it over and over, forever?”

“First of all, there really isn’t a hell like that. I think. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details myself as I don’t work for the Big Boss,” John said.

“Satan? You mean Satan?” I asked, already feeling my heart was about to tear itself apart from the stress.

“No, I mean Cernunnos. He is the god of fertility and prosperity from the British Isles, well before it was the British Isles,” John said. His tone shifted to a more familiar one as his body relaxed. I was still confused and terrified because I didn’t know what he was talking about. “I’m not a demon as in the ones from the bible that you know. There’s so much more to it and you’re giving me a look that I can’t quite read.”

“I have to be dead, that’s the only explanation,” I said, gripping the chair tightly to keep myself grounded and not pass out. “I’m dead and I’m in hell. You’re trying to make me think there’s no hell so that I’ll be seduced by sin. Oh gosh, my dad was right. I am going to burn in the fires of eternity for watching Fantasia.”

“Oh no,” John said. “Baptist?” I looked at him and nodded as he winced. “That explains a lot actually. You’re not dead, Love. I’m not trying to play tricks with your head either. Graves just had to make everything so much more complicated.”

“Is he a demon too?” I asked.

“No, he’s a revenant,” John said. “But let’s slow down and have a breather. You look pale and those bricks must have hit you hard.” There. That was the John I knew. The one that was going out of his way to help me, to make sure I was safe and okay after barely knowing me for a few days. The concern in his voice had me nodding as I moved to sit in the chair before my legs gave out. “Good, slow, deep breaths. Even and solid,” he said. Moving to a dresser I had missed before, he pulled it open to rummage a moment. Pulling out a shirt, he slid it on to give himself some coverage. While I would normally be blushing and/or drooling over a very attractive man/demon like him while he was shirtless, I was coming down from having a panic attack.

I watched him intently, almost waiting for some sudden movement or jump scare, but nothing came. He pulled another chair over, still giving me space, to patiently wait for me. A few minutes passed, turning into who knew how much time, but he didn’t push or rush me at all.

“Better?” He asked, giving me a smile from under his beard.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said, nodding. “Uh, my dad was a Baptist Preacher. The whole ‘Fire and Brimstone’ and ‘Everyone is going to hell.’ Yeah, that was kind of pounded into me growing up and even though I left when I could, it still lingers.”

“No worries. I understand,” he said. “Now, what do you know about Witches?”

“Nothing really. Just the green faced, hooked nose ladies that are actually kind of racist caricatures of Jewish people,” I said, earning a snort from him.

“Yeah, that sounds about par for the course,” John said with a nod. “Well, the thing is, you’re a witch.”

“No I’m not,” I said immediately. “Graves said that too and demanded I give him my powers. I’m not a witch and I don’t have powers.”

“Not yet, but you will and you are,” John said. “Most of the time, you’re born into a coven and know it from day one. Sometimes, someone leaves and doesn’t want it, so they lie and hide that part of themself. Then someday that someone has kids and doesn’t tell them. The line is still there, but the culture isn’t. That someone is in your family. A grandparent or great grandparent even. They left and hid their past.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, shaking my head. “Everyone in my family is from America and we all came from the same region and all grew up Baptist. No one suddenly showed up with a mysterious past.”

“That means that the last witch in your family goes back even further. Sometimes witches did it for safety. Given the hunts and trials over the centuries they had to hide or they would be killed. There wouldn’t be any sign of it. It’s not like what that cunt wrote in her books about the boy wizard, the little shit. You don’t have magical things happen that you can’t explain, you’re just a normal person till your line is triggered,” John said.

“But how? I mean, Graves kept telling me to will it to him, but I don’t even know the first thing about any of this,” I sighed, rubbing my face. “I just want to go home and pretend none of this happened. It would be just a normal life with odd roommates.”

“I’m sorry I can’t give that to you,” he said gently. “I wish I could, but with Graves involved now, we can’t.”

“Why not? You got in here and threw him out, why not get us home and throw him back in?”

“That’s not how this works and I know it’s not what you want to hear, but that’s the truth,” he said. “I got in here by accident. He stopped paying attention long enough for me to find you and get in. Now that he’s gone, we’re not getting out till he’s ready to let us out. Graves made this small pocket room, so he can keep it shut as long as he wants. The only other way to get out would be to awaken your powers to get us out. You would be more powerful than him, if I’m right, which is probably why he went after you to begin with.”

“Okay, but how do I get these powers? Walk in a circle five times? Wiggle my nose? Find a goblin that has a magic wand and quest?” I asked. John chuckled, shaking his head.

“To trigger the powers you have to have sex three times with a preternatural being. Most of the time, witches are born into the community and often find another witch or being to have a ceremony with to get their powers, but it has to be consensual. If it was forced, it wouldn’t work. As for taking powers from witches, it’s more fuzzy.”

“Okay, first of all, I have to have sex three times to get my powers? I haven’t even had regular sex three times! And what do you mean taking powers is more fuzzy?”

“It’s not pretty, but you would have to will your powers to Graves and then he’d have to eat your heart,” he said with a small wince. “If your line is as long as it seems, to have no witches for several generations, it would be very powerful magic.”

“He said something at the store, about wanting what you had, what was that?” I asked.

“Well, the men and I thought we were guarding an ancient case of magic. Something from Merlin’s time, but it turns out it was a decoy. There wasn’t really anything in it,” John said. “We spoke with a contact and after some digging for a few days, we discovered that it wasn’t the case itself that was magic. It has a list of potential witches whose lines have large gaps carved into the bottom. Turns out that you didn’t accidentally find us.”

“What?” It felt like I was slowly losing my mind the more that he spoke. Everything that he was saying was insane and impossible. I really must have died or was drugged or something. But I had felt the bricks and the dust and pain from John busting in. There was no denying this, as much as I wanted to.

“See, you were cursed,” John said. “By your boss, specifically. The knick knacks she gave you were trinkets of misfortune. She had cursed you, we don’t know why, but it brought you to us. When undiscovered witches come around preternaturals and stay, they turn into a beacon of sorts. Anyone and everyone that would want your powers would be able to find you, especially if you were undiscovered and stayed that way.”

I needed a moment to absorb and process everything. Not to mention follow the stupid red string John had just handed me that was pinned to a giant board of maps and papers and names, nothing I knew or understood.

“Can Incubuseses make people sleep?” I asked, close to breaking down into tears. “I just need to sleep. Not even to try and wake up at home. Everything I’m being told is making my head ache more and more to the point that I’m too overwhelmed to understand anymore words.”

“I can’t make you sleep, but I can help you relax,” John said, standing up. Coming over to me, he held out his hand for me to take, that same smile that made worries leave my over crowded head was on his lips. Taking his hand, I let him lead me to the dresser to find clothes before taking me to another door I hadn’t seen before. Inside was the same clawed bathtub from Johnny’s room that I adored. “Take a nice, long, hot bath, and when you’re done, let’s get some food in you then sleep, mm?”

I nodded, unable to fight anymore as my body was aching more and more. Adrenaline from the fight and initial waking up was leaving me rapidly and all I had was pain behind it. Comfortable around the man/demon again, I stood in the small room as John started a hot shower. Steam quickly filled the room as he pulled a few items from under the sink cupboard. It looked like oils and soaps, which was good. At least we didn’t have to shower with just water.

More questions filled my brain, making my eyes throb as I began to wonder about him. How old was he? Did he always have his horns and wings or did they actually disappear from his body? If he was a demon, what were the others? What other creatures existed that I was told were make-believe?

“You’re quiet, but your head is very loud,” John snorted, setting towels on the sink.

“Can you read my mind?” I asked, looking up at him.

“No, but you look like you can’t stop thinking,” he said. “Here, strip and hop in. There’s some bath oils you can use to help relax.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said, standing there. There was a moment of silence between us as I waited for him to leave, but he wasn’t.

“Are you going to get in?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah, but you’re still in here,” I pointed out. John stepped closer, tilting his head to look me in the eyes.

“Love, I don’t think you understand. We’re not getting out of here unless Graves lets us out or you get your powers. Right now, our best chance is for you to get that magic because the bastard isn’t one to let things go,” he said, his voice lowering in town and volume. “I don’t want to push this, but we need to get out of here.”

Despite the overload going on in my brain, I knew he was right.

“Okay, but after eating and a shower. Food first,” I said quickly, leaving before he could stop me.

Sex wasn’t a big thing in my world. I didn’t actively seek it out or necessarily want it, but if I had urges that I took care of myself. From the two partners I’d had, I wasn’t missing a lot. Missionary position while being uncomfortable as someone pushed something into me repeatedly for a minute or so, then pulling out was the only experience I had to go off of. Movies and books hyped it up as something so amazing and life changing, but I felt the two times I’d had it was enough for me to know that good sex was a myth.

Moving around the table, I picked at the food, finding that I was actually pretty hungry. There were all sorts of desserts and meats and cheeses, along with drinks. John soon joined me, having taken a shower himself instead of waiting on me.

“For being a creepy jerk, Graves has good food choices,” I said as I put some sort of meat onto my plate.

“Mmm,” John hummed as he picked up a group of grapes to pop into his mouth, one by one. I chanced a look at him and the man was in a small towel that barely wrapped around his already slim waist. Water was still rolling down from his hair as he took a seat. His muscles and body hair glistened as he moved even subtly. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he plucked a grape from its stem with his teeth and lips. Were he laid out on a lounge chaise and surrounded by servants in robes, John would look at home in a renaissance painting. “Something you want to say?”

His words pulled me from my thoughts and the beginning of a very naughty daydream.

“Huh? Uh, no,” I said, tearing my eyes away from his grinning face. Chancing looks here and there, I kept catching him doing the most oddly arousing things. Like with the grapes, I’d catch licking his lips after having a drink and then would see him shifting to spread his legs, putting more strain on the poor towel that was already struggling to keep him covered. “I’m gonna go shower and then we can do the thing,” I said, setting my clean plate on the table to scurry away. With the door closed, I cranked the shower to as cold as I could stand it. What the heck was that!?

Since when did I stare at him like that? Since when did I get so horny so suddenly? It was out of left field that all these desires suddenly manifested, leaving me confused and dizzy and needy. Stripping, I tossed my clothes to the side. In the shower, the cool water helped clear my head so I could focus. I needed this. Soaking my body, I began my usual shower routine.

The water turned a light gray as all the dust from the stones was washed off, taking the gritty texture and oils with it. It didn’t take me long, but I didn’t want to get out. If I left the shower and the bathroom, then I would be faced with sex with John. On the surface it sounded like a blast, but I knew it would be mediocre. It was probably for the best, after all, I had said no rebounds with roommates.

Stuck in my thoughts, I didn’t hear the knocking or the door opening.

“Love?” John’s voice pulled me from my thoughts again, startling me and making me let out a very undignified noise.

“Wa-aaah!” I cried out, my feet slipping and arms flailing. “What the heck, John!?”

“Oh good, you’re still here. I came to check on you, but the noise made me wonder if you’d turned into a goat for a moment,” he said with a chuckle.

“Oh shut up,” I grumbled, picking up my wash cloth I dropped in my panic. Pulling back the curtain a bit, I peeked out to see him standing by the door. “I’m fine, as you can clearly hear.”

“Are you? Because, from the remark about having had sex less than three times, I’m inclined to believe that you’re nervous. It’s okay to be nervous, especially with something so intimate,” he said.

“It’s-” I cut myself off with sigh. Dang it, how did I explain this to him?

“It’s what?”

“I know stuff about sex, I watch porn and I have, well, alone time,” I said. “It’s that I don’t believe the hype around it.”

John was quiet a moment and I could only imagine what he was probably thinking.

“Please explain,” he said after a few more beats.

“I mean, the sex I did have was not that great and because I can pleasure myself just fine, I don’t believe sex is. . . Well, fun,” I said. John let out a bark of a laugh as I stood under the water wondering if I really was in hell after all.

“That’s it? You just don’t think sex is fun?” He asked, moving closer to me.

“Yes, that’s it,” I huffed.

“That is something I can change your mind on, Love,” he purred, standing right outside the curtain of the tub. “You really don’t know what an incubus is?”

“No,” I said with a frown.

“I’m a sex demon. I feed off of sexual energy. That’s how I live,” he said. “Sure, I can eat food and I’ll be fine, but I won’t be thriving. I’ll get depressed and aggressive. Take everything away from a lion and put it in a small cage, it’s still a lion, but it’s not living.”

“Sounds kind of sad,” I said, wincing as it came out. Good job, insult the demon.

“That’s my existence. I need, not just sex, but intimacy and pleasure. To hold someone as they see the universe as a whole as they have pleasure slam into them over and over, to touch someone in a way that has them melting against me without knowing why, to be that anchor as someone floats through pure bliss as well as catches them when they come back down to earth. That is what I need to survive and thrive. A quick roll in the sheets is fine, like fast food, but I need to dine on pearls and mussels.”

The more he spoke, the hotter it became in the room. Whether it was my body reacting to his voice and words or if it was that deep seated heat I got when I looked at him too closely, I couldn’t deny that John was someone I needed.

“This isn’t magic, is it?” I asked softly, needing and wanting this feeling to be real. To open myself and let someone see inside me, to bear my everything to him, I needed it to be real. “What I’m feeling right now.”

“I can’t make people want to have sex with me,” he said, his face right next to the small crack that I had made in the shower curtain. Our eyes connected, his crystal clear blue irises held my gaze, making me want to keep that eye contact when I usually shied away. “I can’t force feelings on you, of any kind. I can only enhance them. If you’re feeling something, it’s already there. I’m just making it harder to resist.”

It was impossible to say that I didn’t want him, that wave of heat I got from time to time around him only confirmed it. I just had to decide if I allowed him closer.

“I’ll make sure you see the beginning of life itself before we even finish the first time,” he promised, his hand covering mine that held the curtain. “You won’t even remember what human sex was like afterwards.”

The trail of breadcrumbs he left me was becoming harder and harder to resist. Did I need to resist? It was just sex and then we would be home like it never happened. I hoped at least.

“Okay,” I said, closing my eyes and pulling the curtain back to let him see me.

“Open your eyes,” he breathed into my ear. “I want you to see how badly I need you.” Looking away, I let my lids flutter open before slowly turning back to him.

“Holy shit,” I said, losing my breath at the sight of the towel being gone. John was already hard, his tip pressed to his hairy belly. He was thick and long, his balls hung under his impressive cock looking heavy and full. If I survived this, I may really never have sex again because it couldn’t compare.

“Thank you,” he chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’ll work up to it. First, I want to taste you.” Lips parted, he pressed them to mine gently, easing me into it. One hand took mine as the other rested on my hip. “Let’s get you to bed, hmm?” He let me nod before bending over a bit to put me over his shoulder to carry me off.

“John!” I cried, scared that the water would make us slip. He laughed, giving my rear a swat as he carried me to the bed. Yelping, my face heated up at what it did to make me clench.

“Someone likes being spanked,” he purred, tossing me onto the bed. Crying out as I fell and bounced, I grabbed onto the bedding to keep myself on it. “I’ll keep that in mind for later.” Looking up at him, I wanted to make a smart remark, but the words caught in my throat. He looked massive as he stood over me. I knew he was tall and built, but from this angle, it was like a wolf staring down at a rabbit that didn’t know it was about to be eaten. “Now, spread those legs for me so that I can show you how good sex can be.”

I hesitated only a moment before doing as I was told. Leaning back on my elbows, I couldn’t help the shiver as I opened myself up to let him see the most intimate parts of me. Just having him stand there and drink in the image of me like that had me breathing heavier and starting to ache between my legs. He hadn’t even touched me yet.

“I am going to enjoy devouring you,” John groaned as he climbed into the bed, taking his time to kiss up one of my legs then the other. He pushed them apart further, making me gasp as cool air rushed to hit my spread apex. Chuckling, John blew softly on my wetness, making me squirm and whine.

“Don’t tease,” I groaned, looking down at him.

“Oh, Love, you have no idea how much I am going to wind you up,” he said, licking his lips. His big, calloused hands held my thighs open to give him the close up look that he wanted. He kept blowing cold air on me, earning more whines and moans before I finally felt his tongue slide up my slit gently. I whimpered, shaking as he did it again.

“John, please,” I begged as he gave me another slow swipe.

“Please what?” He asked between gentle licks to my sex.

“Please! I-I just, I need you!” I cried in frustration.

“What do you need me to do, Love?” He asked, not giving in to me that easily.

“I need you to eat me out!” I snapped. The shit eating grin on his face showed me I said the magic words. Immediately, John began to thrust his tongue past my wet folds and open me up. It was amazing and no toy could replicate the feeling of him burying his face into my sex. His nose teased that delicate nub at the top as his tongue was sliding in deeper than it should have. I was sure that his tongue was touching parts of me not even I had touched. My head fell back as I let out a long moan.

Usually, it would take some time to get me to a place where I felt I could orgasm, but John had me there in under a minute. Fingers replaced his mouth as they thrust into me and curled as his lips moved to suck on my clit.

“Fuck!” I cried out, falling back as my hands went to his hair. “Don’t-don’t stop!” I sobbed as he added a second finger. They were thick and stretched me past what I was used to. It wasn’t painful, only a bit of discomfort that quickly left as he sucked hard on that sensitive bundle of nerves. “John! John! I-I’m close! I-I-I-!” I tried to warn him as he let his pinky nudge at the tight ring of muscles of my ass, slick sliding down to make it easy to tease and push at without catching. That was what sent me over the edge. Crying out, I sobbed as I squeezed my thighs around his head and shook hard as I came. While I had a voice telling me that I should be worried for his safety as I was tensing hard, John didn’t let up even after my orgasm was dying down, quickly giving me a second one on the heels of the first.

Panting, I choked out a cry as I jerked and clenched hard. After the second one, he eased up, pushing my legs apart. Relaxing my muscles as there were still small jerks, my legs flopped open as I laid there feeling completely satisfied and buzzing. Pulling back, he looked down at me with a feral grin. His beard and chin were shiny with slick as he sucked on the fingers that had been inside me.

“Oh, you are a feast of repressed sex,” he moaned, his eyes starting to glow purple. “I am going to open up a world of pleasure for you and show you how much fun it can be. But first, we’re going to do the basics. I don’t want you to misinterpret how wonderful simplicity can be.” All I could do was nod. Pulling away, he grabbed a towel to wipe his face off as well as clean me up a bit. The fabric felt rough on my red and puffy sex, making me groan and squirm underneath it.

Tossing the towel aside, John moved to climb further onto the bed and over me. I looked up at him, still smelling my orgasm on him as he leaned in close. I was nervous at first, unsure of what it would taste like, but his slow kissing helped ease my anxiety. There was no way to really describe it other than it tasted like me. Instead of being frozen and awkward, I felt comfortable and even confident in my movements as I reached up to run my hands over his body. He slotted himself between my legs and fit perfectly and comfortably as we rocked our bodies together. The man was warm and firm, but his skin was so soft, even with the bumps of scars that I felt. Every part of him felt welcoming and even coaxing me to touch more. His back, which had held those giant wings earlier, had nothing to suggest that he had such appendages. John’s smell was even good despite the slight sweat we had broken in that first act.

Everything about him was disarming and perfect for me to have him. Which was a subtle reminder of what he was. But it didn’t matter anymore. He was making me feel so good and wanted and adored that I didn’t care. So when his cock head slid over my sex, I groaned and bucked, wanting to feel him fully without care of what could happen. Contraception wasn’t on my brain, just his cock buried deep inside me.

Pulling back a bit, he reached down to guide his cock to my wet, warm hole. Gently, he began to rock it into me, letting my body take him at its own speed. Just the head inside me had me moaning and panting.

“That’s it, that’s my good pet,” he mumbled as he began to sink deeper and deeper. “Take my cock like a good pet. Yeah. You were made to have this inside you. All that time you were waiting for the perfect fit and here we are.” His words had me mewling as the slight sting was fading. When he was balls deep, he stayed there, pushing in still as I felt like he would knock the wind out of me. Something inside me wanted him to stay there, let me sit in his lap and just enjoy his cock in my cunt. I could imagine myself in his office as he did paperwork, straddling him while napping peacefully. All the while I warmed him with my sex.

I moved my legs to press my feet into the mattress as they were still spread wide, giving me the leverage to buck up a bit as my lips couldn’t get enough of him. His tongue slid into my mouth, letting me taste more of myself. We were connected at so many points and still it wasn’t enough. Our bodies began to rock against one another, giving some much needed friction below the waist. The rhythm was slow and steady, both of us not ready to cum so quickly. Which made me appreciate him eating me out first. Who knew how long I would last otherwise.

It was a perfect concert of breathing and moaning as we worked together to enjoy the pleasure that was sex. John’s size didn’t matter anymore because he very much knew how to use his whole body as a tool for pleasing me. As the heat inside us was stoked, making us more needy, we began to paw at one another. His hand reached down to grab my thigh, pulling it up to rest over his waist. I thought he was deep already, but he slid further in, making my groan loudly.

“Oh fuck,” I panted, kissing and nipping at his neck and shoulder. Guttural groans and grunts came from me as he began to snap his hips harder. There were noises I had never made before that were coming out of me as he found the perfect angle and spot. “There!” I cried out, digging my nails into his back as he panted into my ear. His soft noises of moans and groans were driving me insane as he sped up. There was this spot that he had found in me that was forcing these obscene sounds from me. They weren’t delicate mewls or soft whimpers, they were deep and took the air from my lungs. When he found it, he didn’t deviate from it. John kept thrusting hard to hit that area over and over, making me claw at him to keep him in that position.

“Shi-it!” I choked out, as I felt my orgasm coming on. Digging my nails in, I was sure I was ripping into his back as he sped up. My sanity was being tested and all I could do was hold onto him. As I approached the edge, he snaked a hand between us, rubbing and circling my clit. Just a few touches and I was cumming hard enough to gush onto him. My body wanted to milk him, to keep him seated deep inside me and never let him go. Bucking my hips and burying my face into his neck, I held on like a koala bear to a tree as I rode out my orgasm.

When I was almost done, I was not prepared for the warmth of him cumming inside me or the words that came out of my mouth.

“That’s it. Fill me up. Make my belly big and swollen. Give me every last drop,” I babbled as I kissed his ear and nipped at it. That was from left field and all I could think of was him cumming so hard and so much that I was filled and plugged, ready to be used later. John snarled as he held me down tight, grinding against me to give me every last drop of his orgasm. The intensity lasted a few more moments before we were both spent. It was amazing and he truly had ruined me for anyone else if they weren’t the same way.

With a soft grunt, he pulled out of me to flop to the side. Immediately I felt myself leaking, which was a strange sensation to say the least.

“I made you curse,” John said after a moment, chuckling as he turned his head to look at me. “Never heard you curse before or sound so dirty.”

“Never was given a reason to,” I said with a giggle. “God, I’m making a mess,” I groaned as I sat up a bit to look down between my legs.

“You are. Such a dirty, messy cunt,” John hummed as he rolled over to grab the towel again. Biting my lip, I really shouldn’t have been ready for another round, but those words were an aphrodisiac to me. Just hearing him say something so crass had me clenching on nothing. John wiped up the mess I was leaving before turning the towel on me. I whined and tried to move away as he wiped me down rather roughly, but John had a hand on me to pin me to the bed to finish the job.

“It’s too sensitive,” I whimpered, but he didn’t stop.

“Oh, you think you’re sensitive now? You’ll be unable to close your legs or wear anything for a week by the time we’re done,” he said with a wink. Swallowing hard, I was actually hoping this wasn’t a threat, but a guarantee. Unable to stop the noises I was making, he ignored them till I was cleaned up to his satisfaction. Groaning at the reprieve, I pulled away to lay down and rest a moment.

Then I heard him opening something.

Turning over, I saw him at the foot of the bed opening a large, old looking trunk. Curious, I sat up to scoot closer to see what it was.

“I think we’re going to have lots of fun,” John said, looking up at me with a wicked gleam in his eye. Frowning, I was confused till he reached in to pull out what looked like a large roll of black plastic wrap as well as a thick, bulbous dildo.

“Uh, where is that going?” I asked, hoping he would say my mouth or sex.

“Oh, you know where it’s going. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it fits,” John said, setting them aside before pulling out a few more items that I couldn’t see. “First things first, have some water.” Hiding his choices for the moment, he went to the table to bring back some water for me as well as a small slider of a sandwich. It wasn’t a lot, but I wouldn’t be starving. Doing as I was told, I drank and ate the snack he provided as he cuddled up behind me. It was a dangerous thought, but I wanted to get used to this. This was what had been sold to me as good sex. Actually, this was so much better than anything else I had seen or heard. His hands rubbed over my body, helping any stiffness that had started to settle in before letting me use the bathroom quickly.

Back at the bed, he was waiting for me with that mischievous smirk.

“Go ahead and get on the bed, Love. On your back as well,” he said. I didn’t argue, not knowing what he had planned, but also knowing it would be something worth the wait. “Good, now grab your ankles and hold them there.” Again, doing as I was told, I watched as he took the plastic wrap and began to wrap it tightly around my hands and ankles to hold them there. He moved it up my leg and arm to my calf before he was satisfied. “Give us a squirm to see if you can get out.”

Grunting, I pulled and twisted my body, but to no avail.

“Fantastic,” he purred. Picking up a spreader bar, he locked the shackles in place around my ankles before picking up an O-gag. Opening my mouth, he placed the rubber coated metal ring into my mouth to buckle it securely. “Is this your first time tied up like this?” He asked, running his hands over my body.

“Uh huh,” I grunted, nodding as he paused at my sex with his hand.

“So I’m guessing you’ve never had anything in your ass before, then,” he said, giving me a quick slap. I squealed and shook my head, pleasure shooting through me along with the pain. “I think I really won the lottery with you, Love,” he said, slapping my sex quickly over and over to listen to me squeal and struggle to close my legs. The spreader bar did its job, keeping me open and exposed to him. “Now, let’s play with that ass of yours.”

Flipping me over to my front, my bound position had me face down and ass up. Perfect him to experiment and toy with my tight hole. Humming to himself, I could only listen and feel as cold gel hit my pucker, making me squirm and whine. John ignored my noises of protest as he pushed and pulled at the hole he wanted to abuse. “Such a pretty little rose bud. Go on, open up for me,” he muttered as he pushed his finger against the tight resistance. “There we go,” he cooed, his finger tip breaking through as I moaned against the bedding. Adding more lube, he kept pushing and working his finger into med. All I could do was moan and get aroused.

“Someone is liking this a lot more than they thought,” John chuckled, teasing my wet folds with another finger tip. “Don’t worry, all three of your holes will be stuffed soon enough.” Adding more lube, he didn’t pause his work till I was taking four of his fingers with sobbing moans. “There we go. Now, let's get this hungry hole something to fill it up with.” Drooling and feeling light, I knew my slick was running over my sex and down my belly and thighs. Each pump into my ass had me leaking more and more. When I felt the first bump of the toy, I groaned softly, having settled into an almost drunk/euphoric state. Then came the next one, and the next, I lost count of how many ribs there were as a heaviness settled in my belly from the toy. Just as I got comfortable with it, John ripped it out.

I cried out and sobbed in desperation. It didn’t hurt, but I hated the empty feeling it left behind. Babbling around the gag, I sniffled and struggled to make him put it back only to get several hard spanks to my cunt. Choking out a scream, I tried to shake my head as he rubbed the tender flesh slowly to help take the heat.

“Shhhh, it’s okay. You’ll be full soon enough,” he hummed, rubbing over my sopping wet pussy to calm me down. When I stopped struggling and settled, he leaned over to give my ass cheek a kiss and a nip. “Good pet. Now, let’s keep going.”

The dildo was back, pushing into me, forcing grunts and groans from me as it was settled once again. This time he didn’t rip it out, instead he pushed and pulled on it, making it fuck me slowly. Panting, I couldn’t help but start to rock back and forth with the motions, enjoying myself while being at John’s mercy. Groaning softly, I followed the plug, whining when it was taken away again, but this time it wasn’t as dramatic. Keeping still, trusting John would make me feel good, I waited.

“That’s my pet,” he said, rubbing over my ass and sex, sliding a finger past my wet, puffy lips for a few pumps before pulling away. “You’re doing so good. I’m so proud of you. Learning quickly and understanding.” I gave him a soft noise of appreciation as he slowly finger fucked me. “Now, you seem to like a little pain with your pleasure. So, we’re going to add some more toys.” Sighing softly as he pulled again, I waited patiently as he moved things around. I felt him pull my lower lips apart and began to clip something to them. Groaning and whining softly, it didn’t hurt horribly, but it was more of a steady pressure all along my sex. “You’re doing amazing. Just relax,” he hummed, lining my lips with many of the clips. “There, all done and pretty.” He flicked a few of them, making me whimper and shake. John just chuckled as he went back to my ass.

The heavy plug was gone and something even heavier had replaced it. A thick, round head pushed at my hole, forcing its way into him. It was much longer than the other, the dildo being about 5”, while the new one felt like it had to be a foot long. Pushed till it was fully inside me, John moaned as he held it in place. “You look gorgeous like this. Tied up, ass stuffed, your cunt covered in clothespins, all while you’re a drooling, sticky mess,” he said. Letting me adjust to the new additions, I was nearly falling asleep till he began to move the toy in me. Using long, slow thrusts, John pulled it out till it was just the head then let it slide back in. He repeated the motions, letting me feel every single inch of it.

“Now, the only way you’re going to cum, is by me fucking your ass,” he said. “Either with my cock or this toy, understand? I’m not touching your mess again till you’re having an anal orgasm. Understand?” He asked, tapping my face to make sure I was paying attention. I grunted and nodded, whining softly as he picked up the pace with the toy. It didn’t take long till he was jack hammering it into me as I wailed and sobbed, my body contorting as my orgasm steadily got closer.

Babbling and drooling, making a mess, I tried to tell him I was close, but it was too late. Crying out, I clenched hard on the toy, shaking and sobbing as I came. I gushed on nothing, the clothespins barely hanging on as he kept slamming into my ass. Choked and garbled squeals filled the room as he whipped the toy out to toss to the side, quickly climbing up to mount me. His cock felt bigger than the toy as he began to fuck my ass without mercy. I could only groan as he thrust hard and fast. It wasn’t long before I was wound up again, cumming hard with a scream as he kept fucking me. I tried to buck and move, my body needing to get John as deep as possible, to no avail.

He grunted and muttered under his breath as he gripped my hair tight to force my head back. “Look at me,” he snarled. “Look at me and ask me to cum inside your ass.” I could only sob and look at him over my shoulder, unable to make more than incoherent grunts. Garbled sounds seemed to be enough as he snapped his hips hard before cumming. Tears ran down my face as he stayed buried, grinding against me and his warmth spread. Unlike last time, there was no break. He didn’t stop to untie me. Instead, when he pulled out, he took a moment before thrusting back in.

This time, he must have added another toy because something just as thick and long as his cock slipped into my sex as well. It was a strange feeling, but it also wasn’t bad. I was full of cock and just as I thought I couldn’t be stuffed further, something warm and wet wrapped around my neck before shoving itself into my mouth. Too out of it to care, I moaned around the phallus like object as he began to face fuck me. John began to move at a brutal pace, the thing in my mouth following his lead. The room was actually much quieter with my throat full, save for the wet noises of John fucking me.

It was almost too much as John began to grip and paw at my chest, pinching and pulling and slapping my nipples harshly as he kept fucking me. He was giving me so much all while I was forced to take it. Pleasure began to seem like a drug as he kept going. I didn’t pay attention to anything anymore, even when extra pairs of hands began to touch and grope me. One began to pinch and roll my clit as another swatted at my stuffed cunt to get the pins off, all the while one began to smother me as one other acted like acted as something to keep my eyes open.

The last one even forced me to look ahead of me and where the headboard should be, there was a mirror. I saw what was happening and while it would have sent anyone else insane, I was screaming and cumming again.

It was John. It was all John. The hands came from arms that were sprouted from his sides and the ‘toy’ in my mouth looked like it came from a tail that had a cock on the end. I didn’t need to see what he was fucking me with. They weren't toys. Taking it all in and cumming, my eyes rolled back into my head as I saw stars. Literal stars.

Everything went black for me before stars lit up the darkness and showed me constellations and stories, the history of everything on this planet and more. My body hummed as I felt the light of the stars come into my body, making me glow bright and warm. This was my power. It was given to me from the sky and there was no way I could give it away or let it be taken. Every bit of information that I was shown would have filled the world’s libraries and still need more space, but it was in seconds that I received it. It was placed behind a large wooden door that looked like my bedroom, but instead of the plain wood, there was a carving of the Orion constellation on it. I knew what to do and how to get us home.

I came back to myself as John came one last time. He filled my ass and womb full, as well as my throat that I greedily swallowed down. When he was done, the additional appendages pulled away to disappear. John cut me free before taking the gag out of my mouth. I was nothing but a pliable mess of cum and completely satisfied sexually.

“You still with me?” he hummed, holding me close as I slowly came back to him. I nodded, reaching up to wrap my arms around him, nuzzling close. “Are we going to go home soon?”

“After a nap,” I said, my voice hoarse. “Then home.”

Taglist: @birdstoprey @sebbytheraccoon @pricescigar @alwaysshallow @sae1kie @sleepydang @lexi-zsy09 @ghostlywhiskey @ghosts-cyphera @poohkie90 @neothewitch

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[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

So stop your despicable whining. You are a disgrace and a shame to Jews like my friends and me who, for two thousand years, never had life as good and as privileged as you have it. They were getting butchered in Kiev and Odessa in their meager hamlets. They were burned at the stake during the Inquisition. The Crusaders broke into their homes and treated them as Hamas-ISIS does. And you are whining that 32 Muslim and Indonesian and Pakistani and Black Student groups sign a statement hating Israel and loving Hamas-ISIS? That is what they are. Grow up. They cheer the subhumans who cut off limbs, beheaded, and burned even children and babies. The Left distinguishes between bad rape and good rape. Hamas-ISIS is good Woke rape. Rape women who want peace. #MeToo. So, O Jews of campuses, stop whining. If they chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free!” then gather a hundred of you and chant “From the River to the Sea, Yis-Ra-El Will Be Free!” If they chant for a “Palestine” that is a fraud because there are no “Palestinians.” But then you chant for Israel. Chant for Israel. And really get them angry by singing “G-d Bless America.” (READ MORE: Patiently Waiting for Israel’s Ground Invasion to Crush Hamas) As Woke leftists, you have been taught to whine, to seek safe spaces, to cringe at microaggressions. But whining will do no good. It never does. Get out there and affirm you are Jews. Affirm Israel’s right to live, even if it must kill 100,000 Gazans as collateral damage to exterminating Hamas-ISIS. Accept that the DEI Woke have no room for you. Stop waiting to be saved by off-campus organizations. You have to save yourselves, for G-d’s sakes! Christians will respect you for it. Many will join you. You don’t have to let a handful of foreign students — who do not even belong in America — along with a bunch of Jewish self-hating apostates, beat you down. There are more of you than them. Stop marching to the showers like lambs. This is not Auschwitz; it’s Harvard Yard. Stop whining. Fight back.

On the one hand, Fischer is pretty harsh. On the other hand, as we've seen, nobody is going to stand up for Jewish students. They only have themselves. Even psychotic, Jew-hating bullies respect strength.

By they way, there is more to the article. And Fischer is just as harsh.

[aikoiya]

LoZ OoT & TP - Unpopular Opinion - OoT Link Had Every Right To Hate Ganondorf

I don't care how racist you think that Link & Zelda & Hyrule in-general are in OoT.

I don't care if you think that Din was right in giving Ganondorf the Triforce of Power in Twilight Princess. Because "he hadn't done anything yet."

But if you do think that, then let me ask you this: How far back do you think that Zelda sent Link?

Do you believe that the king arrested Ganondorf immediately upon the discovery of another child backing up his daughter's claims? And why? Out of racism? Spite?

And do you really think that that was all it took to get him to turn on the Gerudo King despite having allowed the other man into his home?

At the very least, Link was sent back to before Gdorf killed the king & chased a little girl from her home. But even if Zelda only sent him back to just before they first met, then Gdorf still committed at least one crime.

Remember, the Deku Tree was a victim of Ganondorf's actions long before Link ever even saw a Gerudo. DekuDad died because of him.

Bottom line, Gdorf basically killed the only father figure that Link had ever known at the tender age of 8-12. He may not have done it directly, but he sent the minion what done it, so he's at the very least culpable in this. And this was something that he did before Link first woke up in the game. Ergo, if Link's a bigot, then he's a Tragic Bigot.

Which, I don't even think that he is considering the fact that he gets along just fine with every other Gerudo besides Gdorf & his hag mothers. Which indicates that if he is prejudiced, then it's specifically against jackasses. Which is something we all at least dislike & don't even pretend that it isn't true.

Either way, unless Zelda specifically sent Link back to before all that even happened, then Gdorf was at least a damn murderer already.

And I seriously doubt that after allowing Ganondorf into his home, all it took was a second opinion from yet another child to get the king to shout treachery.

This tells me that the king wanted something. I don't know what, but considering the fact that it'd only been 8 years minimum since Hyrule was knee-deep in a civil war, I doubt that he was itching for a fight even if his side won.

Especially when you remember how damn tiny Hyrule is here! At most, they had 5 settlements so small that I wouldn't even classify any of them as hamlets based purely on population. And that's only if you believe that the Kokiri, Gorons, & Zora are part of Hyrule. And only 2 if you instead believe that only Castle Town & Kakariko fall under the king's dominion. Which, I'm more inclined to believe, seeing as Ruto is a princess herself, suggesting that the Zora at least are simply Hyrule's allies.

Yes, he has a murder dungeon in Kakariko, but the place has been deserted & we only have a clue as to how long it's been since that time.

And considering how he doesn't have his elite clan of ninja at his beck & call anymore, I'd like to imagine that he'd play at least a bit more cautiously now.

So, if nothing else, I'd think that he'd require a bit more hard evidence than the word of a second worried child, especially since, to his eyes, his daughter likely roped the poor kid into this.

And that's not even taking into account the fact that we don't know exactly when it was that Ganondorf actually made his move against the Gorons & the Zoras. It's entirely possible that he'd already attacked them by the time Link had first arrived in Castle Town & in such a case, it would've been stupidly easy for Link to go, "just ask Darunia & Princess Ruto."

If nothing else, he's likely to believe the word of his "Sworn Brother."

Which, just the fact that Link was given the Kokiri Emerald at all would be enough to raise some MAJOR red flags! Especially considering the fact that the Spiritual Stones were the key to a major holy artifact of Hyrule's main religion.

Regardless of everything else, the fact that some kid had the actual Kokiri Emerald & was accusing Gdorf of going after it & was even suggesting that he was willing to kill the Spirit of the Forest to get it; any monarch would at least turn his head & scrutinize his apparent guest.

So, add that with the possible testimonies of Darunia & Princess Ruto that he was after their spiritual stones, too. Then that adds up to what ammounts to, "this man is after the Holy Grail!" Which would automatically paint him in the absolute worst light possible!

Like, you don't do that sort of shit to the country you're supposedly trying to ally yourself with!

If they put Gdorf on trial, then I can guarantee you that there was enough evidence to get him a guilty verdict & it would've been completely warranted.

So, in the end, it wouldn't matter if they were biased against the Gerudo because Gdorf sure as hell did absolutely nothing to disprove those assumed biases.

If anything, all he did was reinforce them!

Also, I'd like to point out something. The length of Ganondorf's hair at the beginning of OoT vs the length of his hair during the execution scene in TP.

Whereas his hair before the timeskip is as short as it can be without being a dang buzzcut, in the TP scene, his hair is long enough to roll up into rollers. And, depending on how long it takes for a male Gerudo's hair to grow, it may well have even taken several years to get to that length provided he wasn't wearing a wig or something.

This indicates that at least some time has passed since OoT's ending. And I highly doubt that he'd have been given a full set of freaking plate armor & a freaking halo crown by the king of Hyrule if he was held in the dungeon all that time.

My guess is that Gdorf escaped at some point. Whether it was before getting captured or he was captured, tried, & held in the dungeon for a time, then escaped later, matters very little. The facts are, the sneak's hair grew & he changed clothes at some point.

This is a clear indication of an extended passage of time.

And if it's the first option & he went back to the desert & the Gerudo (minus Nabooru) still followed him, then it's extremely likely that the Gerudo & Hyrule went to war.

Hell, it's possible that Time was even the one to take him down & take him back to be executed if we take into account the Hero's Shade's armor.

That could've been the armor he wore to fight Gdorf. Which, honestly? I think that could've been an interesting game, personally.

An adventure amidst a war much like HW, but in the classic LoZ format & possibly with the grim atmosphere of TP & basically Teen-rated borderline horror themes of OoT & MM? I'd definitely play that.

Good day!

LoZ General Masterlist

[kritischetheologie]

🔥 Academia

for all that the numbering at bethelehem is a very Light Academia fic in terms of genre and aesthetics, it is quietly an extremely anti academia fic.

academia is the thing that tears lewis and nico apart; it's the thing that destroys seb's sense of self; it's the thing that's so astronomically awful for daniel that I couldn't even write the fic from his pov. of course, the fantasy of the academy gets the last word: lewis giving a shakespeare lecture that changes pierre's life (and charles's), seb learning to accept his position within the institutional hierarchy, they all live happily ever after and get tenure. but before that, we get one of the greatest "maybe the villain has a point" monologues I've ever written (not that it has a lot of competition?):

“Great paper,” Lewis tells him, and means it. He always means it. Nico’s queer reading of A Midsummer Nights Dream is going to end up in a book that’ll win prizes, and Lewis will see the announcement and remember what it felt like to be there as Nico presented the paper for the first time, in New York. “You always say that,” Nico says. “I’m getting sick of the shtick. Here’s a classic, now it’s gay. It’s the only thing I know how to do to literature. I think I might quit. Start a substack, or a podcast, or something.” The aviation in his hand must not be his first. “It’s important work,” Lewis reassures him. “Gay people have so little heritage to call our own that every act of reclamation is an act of revolution. You’re the one who taught me that, remember?” Lewis remembers the first time Nico told him about Hamlet and Horatio and the double meaning of goodnight, sweet prince . He might never have gathered up the courage to kiss him, otherwise. “This shit matters, man.”  Nico scoffs. “This shit pays. Woke universities that have no conception of aesthetics or tradition pay me to fuck up their old classics because it makes them feel better about not assigning them to kids who lack the reading comprehension skills to read them. We’re the last fucking generation of Shakespeare scholars and you know it.” He looks pleased with himself, like he’s imagining how good he’ll look peddling this bullshit on Tucker Carlson. Lewis sighs.

now, my actual critiques of the industry tend to include words like "neoliberalization" and "precariat" and focus on things like the labor structure, etc. but I'll admit that nico's little villain speech was a hell of a lot of fun to write, because I've often found myself wondering what the purpose of the humanities actually is--and especially, what the point of humanities scholarship is. does the world need another book on shakespeare? does expanding the canon to include more diversity, whether through new readings or the classics or the addition of more diverse authors, actually do anything about the material inequity in our society? if your students are going to go on to do something more practical, of course it's lovely for them to spend some time reading some books before they do it, but if you're just a lovely, entertaining diversion for tomorrow's stockbrokers, is that worth devoting your life to? I have a couple of friends in academia, and I have a tendency to ask them these questions, and then they get mad at me, lmao.

and yet, the idea that the humanities are dying and/or deserve to is so overplayed at this point that the idea that there's even anything worth saving might be my truly unpopular opinion.

[mariacallous]

I crept into the inaugural Westminster meeting of The Future of the Right, a Policy Exchange project from a bygone age of Tory ascendancy. I admit it: there’s a certain schadenfreude in observing the remnants of what was the “natural party of government” for most of my lifetime as it tries to adjust to its worst defeat in history. The programme from the group that still calls itself “the UK’s leading thinktank” will mark next year’s 50th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher becoming party leader, and the 100th anniversary of her birth. Are the Conservatives capable of grasping how profoundly they have lost any sense of the country they used to govern or why their eviction was the single, clear-as-a-bell voters’ imperative? Are they willing or able to do so? Not from what I heard.

This is a project of “the right”; its commissioners include Rupert Lowe, Great Yarmouth’s new Reform MP, sitting alongside new Tory MP Katie Lam, a former Goldman Sachs vice president and special adviser to Suella Braverman. Charles Moore is their august keeper of the Thatcherite flame. They are led by Paul Goodman, a Tory grandee, who writes a column that warns: “Unless the right changes course, Britain is dooming itself to perpetual Labour rule”. Their Tory-leaning pollsters include Rachel Wolf – founder of Public First, No 10 adviser and author of Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto – and James Kanagasooriam of FocalData, coiner of the phrase and idea of the “red wall”.

“We in the Conservative party absolutely deserved to get thrashed,” was an opening burst of reality from Wolf. She excoriated almost everything about the party. Without change, she said, “we deserve to be consigned to oblivion”. That began to sound hopeful, alongside Lam’s “We have no divine right to exist.” Pollster Kanagasooriam also laid out their dread state. With the Liberal Democrats winning Britain’s erstwhile most rightwing seat, Surrey Heath, he said, the Tories must decide if they are for economic conservatism or social conservatism, which has recently meant fighting anti-woke wars.

The room was full of old troupers, rightist thinktankers, ex-MPs and young besuited wannabes waiting for a someday right revival. But they offered scant daylight as the floor and platform echoed with the old sounds: small state, “freedom”, “let people keep more of their money” and “make their own choices”, and “deregulate” the nanny state.

MPs selecting their sixth leader in eight years revealed the depth of their dysfunction in their round one choice of the very essence of their unelectability. Robert Jenrick topped that poll. Who is he? A man whose outings in the public eye include fast-tracking a £1bn planning application by Richard Desmond, a party donor and former purveyor of top-shelf magazines, which could have deprived needy Tower Hamlets council of £45m of revenue had it gone ahead. As immigration minister he ordered staff at an asylum reception centre for children to strip illustrations of Mickey Mouse and Baloo from The Jungle Book from the walls, warning that this was “not a welcome centre”. He would leave the European convention on human rights, though most voters want to stay. He’s anti-net zero, defying the 77% of voters who are worried about climate change. He believes any protester shouting “Allahu Akbar” should be arrested. He would vote for Trump (only 20% of British voters would do the same). As “best prime minister”, the public rate him 20% against 48% for Keir Starmer. (The other leadership contenders do scarcely better.) If his views are closest to those of the party members making the final choice, they are sunk.

Here, at the right’s ideasfest, the water is already flooding in. There are no signs of new thinking, quite the opposite. In this forum, Moore is an anchor, the original old fogey reprising the happy days of Thatcher’s arrival 50 years ago as he read from his noted biography extolling her values and convictions, and her wily politics. These days, among the post-Brexit Tory mayhem, he passes for their saner wing: at least he is not pro-Trump or Putin. Next to Lowe of the Trump-Farage party, Moore was enlightenment itself.

And yet Moore represents the core of the Tories’ problem. When he says of the Thatcher era that “it is time to stop squandering that inheritance”, he embodies the anti-state religion that makes his party unelectable. Until they think the unthinkable and escape the Thatcher fetish, until they understand that she has finally been proved wrong on almost everything, they will stay lost to modern Britain. Privatisations have collapsed into spectacular unpopularity – water, energy, rail, mail, social care, children’s homes and council homes. The “left behind” ruins of her de-industrialisations scar the social landscape. The inequality that soared under her leadership remains an economic as well as a social disaster. Deregulation’s crusade against red tape was tragically exposed in the Grenfell horror. And most people now know all this.

Thatcher used to say, “You will always spend the pound in your pocket better than the state will”, but most people would rather pay more tax than see the underfunded public realm buckle. Even if it means personally paying more tax, 40% of Britons want public services improved, compared with 27% who choose tax cuts. “The right needs a programme that will address the fundamental problems facing the country,” said one of the more sensibles. Yes indeed. But there is no sign of that on the horizon.

From the floor I asked the last question: none of those problems can be solved by less government, only by more, so how will they address them? (“AI” was the empty reply from one panellist.) Voters want more from the state, not less: better NHS, schools, environment, police and everything else. How does the Conservative party adapt to that?

The only coherent reply came from Wolf. “If Labour fails, then we can say that proves the state can’t do everything. The public will move to the right.” OK, but flip that coin: if Labour succeeds in steadily improving public services, then this party has nothing to say. Escape from Thatcher idolatry and Brexit fantasy looks unimaginable, but until someone dares to make that break, they are lost. The only comfort, said Kanagasooriam, is Labour’s victory on just 34% of the vote. And the electorate’s new volatility.

All governments fail in the end. Failure comes in infinite varieties, from events out of the blue, to loss of grip, losing touch, exhaustion of ideas and hubris. Labour is learning on the job that rational policies, such as taking the winter fuel allowance from better-off pensioners, are not necessarily good politics. (Expect a finessing mitigation soon, such as cheaper social energy tariffs for all on low incomes.)

The new volatility threatens the old duopoly from all sides. Plausible populists can spring up: never say never. But in the here and now, it is simply implausible that they could succeed on any platform resembling small-state Thatcherism. Until the budget, we don’t know how expansive Labour will be, but its greatest risk would be failing to set the public realm back on its feet after the austerity years.

Starmer removed that portrait of Margaret Thatcher from his No 10 study - and riled the right by doing so, but if ever a group needed to deradicalise itself from her, that group is the Tories. She looms, she haunts, she is ever-present. It is a debilitating deification they will have to address if they are ever to get near power again.

[thesolemnhour]

i'm curious, what variation and ballerina would you give to agria

Ama, I am SO glad you asked! I mentioned it here, but I have decided to use my executive power as blog owner to answer this question in so much more detail than you could have ever wanted.

The tl;dr answer is Natalia Osipova. The answer is so strongly Natalia Osipova that I couldn't bring myself to assign her to anyone else, even to characters where it would have made sense like Ariadne, Mino, or Hilde (though I think I found more fitting answers). The emotional freedom of her performances and her dogged stubbornness to stick to her own vision scream Agria.

As for a variation, I am weak, and I can't pick just one, so I have three! Look out below, everyone. Ballet takes be upon ye.

Kitri's Entrance

Natalia Osipova debuted her first principal role as Kitri when she was actually still just a member of the corps de ballet at the Bolshoi in Moscow. Osipova's Kitri is so, so special. The music starts up, and immediately, Natalia just absolutely bowls you over with her force of personality. You never ever ask yourself, "Who is this Kitri character, and why is everyone so obsessed with her?" You're right there clapping along like the rest of the ensemble!

There are so many wonderful details to the way she plays the character. How she tips her head to the side with a big smile at 0:24 to the music just delights me. Wherever she goes, the stage is too small to hold her.

Osipova describes this debut like a Cinderella story. She said something to the extent of, "I performed as Kitri, and the next day, I woke up famous."

2. Giselle Act II (0:00-0:18 and 1:08-2:13 for Agria but by god you should watch all of it)

This is the Osipova role that truly means everything to me.

I want to give a little context about where Osipova was in her career at this point: in 2011, she left the Bolshoi because she found their way of doing things to be creatively restrictive. When someone at the Bolshoi tells you to do these steps in this order, it's not usually up for debate. She didn't sign another contract until 2013 when she joined the Royal Opera House. This performance isn't too long after.

Giselle is sometimes referred to as ballet's Hamlet; the range it demands is tremendous. I discussed it in greater detail here, but I really like to read Giselle as a coming-of-age story where Giselle becomes an adult through the act of dying. Act II Giselle is all regret and wasted potential. Emma Byrne put it best when she said Osipova's Giselle rose from her grave "hollowed-eyed and sunken-cheeked, ready to go into battle for love."

It must have been so difficult for Osipova to follow up such an incredible performance as Kitri at the Bolshoi, and though she'd had a million incredible performances since she'd left, I think putting such a profound stamp on the character of Giselle in this performance proved that Osipova had been right to leave. It allowed her to grow.

Everything about this, from Osipova's place in life to the eeriness she manages to convey to Giselle's theme of regret, fit Agria outrageously well.

3. Raymonda Act III

Osipova in absolute command of her craft! I picked this variation for Lenarius/Leonosa to demonstrate Svetlana Zakhrova's control and precision, but here, I want to point out the way that Osipova throws herself into every role with all of the blood and breath in her body. She couldn't possibly be giving more at any moment. It's thrilling, and it feels like watching a force of nature. This is exactly how Agria would dance.

[endeavour12345fics]

The Aftermath, chapter 27

Sharp coughed, feeling pressure inside his chest. Not good, he thought, but it would happen sooner or later.

That month, a cold epidemic had ravaged Hogwarts. He’d spent the last few days brewing large batches of Pepper-up potion for the hospital wing, its reserves used up at an alarming pace.

Most students had gone through it, but none of the professors had fallen ill… until that moment.

He sat at his desk, shuffling through papers. Maybe he could still finish his lesson plans for the day.

He dipped the tip of his quill and started writing, having to stop after a few words. The feeling of pressure in his chest had increased, and he was feeling cold, even colder than usual. Tiredness washed over him, as if the quill weighed a tonne.

He cursed under his breath. I’d better go to the hospital wing, and Merlin help me get there.

He had to stop to catch his breath more than once as he walked, and he thought he’d pass out from the effort as he crossed the hospital wing’s entrance. Fortunately, Nurse Blainey saw him and quickly directed him to a more secluded bed. He laid on it without a word, focusing only on trying to breathe. He closed his eyes, and wished he could sleep. Sleep quickly claimed him without a fight.

As he laid there, Nurse Blainey went back to work, fetching a few Pepper-up and Wiggenweld potions.

After a few hours, he woke up and looked around. There were two Pepper-up and a Wiggenweld potions on his bedside table. Next to it, Philip sat on a chair, reading a book and mouthing something to himself. As he saw Sharp was awake, he closed the book. Sharp could now see its cover: it was the copy of Hamlet that he’d given Philip for Christmas.

“Nurse Blainey left these potions for when you woke up. I was just trying to memorise a soliloquy as I waited.”

Sharp took the potions, starting by the Pepper-up ones. Philip couldn’t hide a smile as he saw steam coming out of his professor’s ears. After taking the Wiggenweld potion, Sharp’s expression became more relaxed, and he laid back against the pillows.

“I’m feeling better, but I think I’ll try to sleep again. You’re free to leave if you want to.”

“I think I’ll finish this scene first, then go to the library. There’s something I need to check for Charms.”

Sharp closed his eyes and turned to his side, and Philip went back to the book. After a few pages he closed the book, hearing Sharp’s peaceful breathing next to him. Trying not to make any noise, he made his way out of the hospital wing.

At the library, he took his quill and parchment out of his bag, and searched for books that mentioned the water making charm, Aguamenti. He opened the first one and read a few paragraphs, the introduction of the essay already forming in his mind. He wrote it as fast as he could, before he forgot something by opening another book.

The rest of the essay took a while to write, for he had to stop at every few words to allow the ink to dry, or it would get smudged and hard to read.

When he was done, he put away the books as he waited for the ink on parchment to dry. Afterwards, he read a scene from Hamlet before leaving the library. The common room would probably be warmer and more comfortable.

When he got there, he was surprised to see that it was not too busy. It allowed him to curl up on his favourite armchair by the fireplace and read some more.

Around dinnertime, he made his way to the Great Hall, where, as he had suspected, Sharp wasn’t present. Philip first thought about checking on him after the meal, but at the same time it didn’t seem necessary. He would check the next morning if he felt it was needed.

He ate silently, noticing that the Hall was a lot more quiet than usual. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint why, but it was probably a mix of the weather and the wave of illness around the castle.

He was able to leave the Hall before the majority of the other students and went straight to his dormitory. He got ready for bed, hoping to already be asleep when his dormmates arrived. Although he usually went to bed later, he felt exhausted, as if his brain was going to shut down.

He fell asleep rather fast, which surprised him. Usually, it took him hours to fall asleep, and he wouldn’t feel rested when he woke up, but he was sleeping soundly when Garreth and Leander arrived.

[elijahhendley]

７月15號 Day 4: A Day of Walking

Today was another slow start for me. I woke up around 8:30am and had breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast at the hotel is very strange. It is not the most normal American breakfast, but it is not a very traditional Taiwanes breakfast. They have noodles and rice options as well as sausage, bacon, and eggs. My favorite item on the menu is the pineapple. It is so good!

After my breakfast, I went back to my room to go back to sleep. After sleeping for a bit and talking on the phone to my people back home, I started to get hungry. So, naturally, I start my wondering activities. I walk a path I am fairly familiar with, looking for someplace to eat. I am in a hurry because we have a classroom meeting at 1pm and I left the hotel at 12:33pm. Definitely did not give myself enough time. Oops. But I walk past this place that looked pretty good, but the menu was all in chinese so I did not walk in at first. But after 8 more minutes of walking, I circle back because I need to find food quickly. I talk to the shop owners and ask them what is the best thing on the menu because I could not read it well lol. It was a good chance to practice my chinese but I eventually use google trranslate to translate the menu. They were super nice and recommended the scallion pancake and I also ordered a burger on top of that. It was all very good. But by the time I got my food it was 1:06pm. I was LATE! I speed walk back to the hotel in 4 minutes and find the room we were meeting in. That was when I noticed there were also like 5 others missing. I felt a little relief that I was not the only one late.

After classroom time, we went out to the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall which was very cool. The court yard, the arches, the statue, and the buildings were all so big. I also loved the traditional style used to make the buildings as well. While there, we were able to see the changing of guards and the museum as well. They did the changing of gaurds out side, and it was scorching hot. I was sweating so much and I know the gaurds had to be hot as well.

After the chiang kai-shek memorial hall we were able to see the Taiwan "White house" which the president does not acually live at. Then we went to the grand hotel, which indeed was very grand. It was awesome to see all of the history of the place and how many important leaders in the past have stayed in this hotel. Also, how many important meetings happened in this hotel as well. Such as the negotiation for the US to break diplomatic relations with the Republic of China(Taiwan, R.O.C). After the Grand Hotel, we went to the night market where we ended our night eating so much great food.

ACADEMIC REFLECTION

Reading about Chiang Kai-Shek and how he came to political power was very interesting. Many people liked him during his time and were very radical when it came to keeping him in power. But, at the same time, a lot of people did not like him. As peter told us today, your view of who Chiang Kai-Shek was, whether he was a good or a bad person, depended on your own family history and how Chiang Kai-Shek treated your family in the past. People like him because he lead the rupeblic of china to victory over the japanese. He also was a martyr, survivning warlords, coups d'etat, japanese invasion, and communist rebellion(taiwan review). In the 1940s, even president Franklin rosevelt sent over billions of dollars to support Chiang Kai-shek. But others do not like him because under his rule, the White terror happened. The White Terror was a period of time when 10s of thousnads of Taiwanese people were killed, and hundreds of thousands of people were arrested and treated like animals. And it was all done to anyone who seemed to oppose the KMT(Chinese National Party)(Jamison).

Memorial Hall-freedom square where many protest happen.

Grand Hotel

Taiwan's "White House"

Chiang Kai-Shek statue and a replica of him in his office

Shilin night market - Bao and Winter Melon Tea :)

Until Next time, 再見！

[no-phrogs-in-hats]

If I could Turn Back Time

Larissa Weems x fem!reader

Warnings: Argument with your mother

Chapter 13

I was pulled from my doze by voices. Opening my eyes, through the dim light of lamps, I saw Larissa on the other side of the room at the door in a white satin robe. She stood tall and was obviously shielding me from someone’s view. 

“Is he alright?” Larissa whispered.

The other voice, who I recognized as Marilyn's, seemed frantic. “We don’t know. He’s been taken to the hospital. They said he’s in critical condition.”

“Alright, Miss Thornhill,” Larissa said. “Thank you.”

After closing the door, Larissa turned back around to the bed. “Oh, you’re awake!” She climbed in and immediately pulled me into her arms. “I didn’t mean to wake you, darling. I’m sorry.”

I pecked her on the cheek before snuggling into her. “It’s okay. What was that about?”

“A student was attacked in the forest,” Larissa sighed. “Apparently he’s in critical condition.”

I gave no response, and instead, laid there. As I listened to her steady breathing, I began to doze off again until I heard Larissa’s soft voice. “What’s…what’s your Outcast ability?” 

I hummed and looked up at her. “It’s the trickiest and most consequential ability of all time.”

“And what is it, darling?”

“Time manipulation.” 

Larissa’s eyes narrowed. “Most consequential ability of all time,” she repeated before giggling. “Oh, I get it. Of all time. You time travel…alright.”

I giggle alongside her, my hand reaching up to play with her hair. “Time travel is one term for it.”

“How often do you do it?” she asked.

“Well,” I said, “not much anymore. I really discovered that I was able to do it around thirteen years old–I went to bed one night and woke up in the middle of the middle of the 1800s. Every night would be different. And then, I finally decided to tell my grandmother. She knew exactly what was happening, and she gave me a pocket watch that would let me control it. Now, I never travel back in time unless I want to.”

Larissa smiled. “You’re rarer than me!”

“I am!” I laughed. “Not many time manipulators have been documented. But, a few of my ancestors were. The watch is a family heirloom.”

“What’s your favorite year that you’ve been to?” Larissa asked.

I huffed, thinking hard. “Oh, god…I don’t think I have a favorite year or a favorite event. Each one I’ve witnessed has been so different and incomparable to the next. The women’s suffrage movement is definitely in the top. I’ve been able to read the first published copy of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.” Larissa giggled at that and I continued. “I’ve been within five feet of Queen Elizabeth I. I watched the Boston Tea Party happen.” Each experience I list off, Larissa seems more and more mesmerized. “I use my ability more for my students’ benefit rather than my own. I have to be really careful when I go back in time. I’ll observe events, if I’m able to, but I won’t partake. Is there anywhere you’d like to visit?”

Larissa smiled. “I’ll go wherever you think I’d like to go.”

“Hmmm…I think you’d like the Renaissance,” I said. “Maybe…1504? When Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa? Or…maybe 1512, after Michelangelo finished painting the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. What about…1789? The inauguration of George Washington? We’d have to stand back a bit, and find suitable clothes, but I think you’d enjoy it.”

With a peck on my lips, Larissa takes my hand in hers and threads our fingers together. “All of those sound wonderful, my love.”

“Y/N!”

The sound of my name drew me from the papers I was grading. In front of me, Marilyn walked up, a salad in hand as she took a seat. 

“Where were you the rest of the night?”

I stared blankly at her. “What?”

“Friday night?” she clarified. “I couldn’t find you when I came back.”

“Oh! I–” I tried to come up with an excuse that wasn’t ‘I was having sex with my boss’. “I wasn’t feeling very well. I’m sorry, Marilyn. I heard it was quite the night, though! How’s Eugene?”

Marilyn sighed. “He’s stable.”

“Well,” I said, “that’s good. Let’s just hope he wakes up soon.”

There was silence between us for what felt like hours. The silence that I shared with Larissa–calm and mild, pleasant and tranquil–was the opposite of this. This was tense and Marilyn obviously had something to say.

It was seconds later that she blurted it out. “Would you, maybe, wanna go out sometime?”

“Um…” I set down my pen gently and took a sip of water. “Well…I’m sorry, Marilyn, but, I’m kind of…involved with someone.”

Marilyn’s face grew red. “Oh…Right. Sorry, I just–”

“No, no!” I said. “Don’t apologize! I’m flattered. Really.”

A hesitant smile quickly flashed, and soon, the tension and silence became unbearable. I quickly gathered my things and gave her my kindest smile. “Well, I have to go! I have a meeting soon. I’ll…see you around.”

“Hi…” I slumped into a chair in front of Larissa’s desk and sighed.

She looked up at me from her computer. “What happened, love?”

“Marilyn…” I almost hesitated saying the next part, not wanting to set Larissa off in some way. “Um…She asked me out…on a date.”

Larissa stopped her work immediately. She looked at me and–to my surprise–seemed completely unphased. “Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“What?” 

She chuckled, going back to typing away on her computer. “Have you seen yourself? I almost asked you out the second you ran into me with that coffee. Also, she’s been drooling over you since you arrived.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I scoffed. 

“It’s true,” Larissa said. “She and I were talking during your first couple of days here. She told me she was thinking about asking you out. I didn’t think she'd actually do it, but then I overheard your conversation at the dance, and–” she stopped typing again and grinned at me “–I just knew I had to step in.”

My cheeks flushed. “Well…You definitely stepped in.” When Larissa went back to working, I gathered my thoughts. “I just…ugh…I felt so bad rejecting her.”

“Sweetheart,” she said, “you shouldn’t feel bad. You didn’t lie to her. You weren’t rude. She’ll get over it.”

I wish I could believe Larissa, but there was something about Marilyn that just didn’t feel right.

Parents Weekend rolled around quicker than I would’ve liked. Thursday night, in Larissa’s office, I sat beside her, going over the outline and helping her with any last minute needs. 

“It always hurts to see the children who have absent parents,” Larissa sighed, scribbling a couple things down on a post-it note. “Reminds me of when I attended.”

I looked at this woman, who was always so stone-cold with a facade of strength and dignity and elegance, and for the first time ever, I saw it drop. It was barely there, but it was noticeable. “I’m sorry,” I said, leaning over to wrap my arm around her waist and press a kiss on her cheek.

The facade that had slipped quickly revived itself and Larissa smiled softly. “It’s not your doing, darling. But, thank you.”

The following evening, parents arrived. I sat at a picnic table in the Quad with students as Larissa stood at a microphone, going through the itinerary and various events we had planned for the next couple of days–picnics and trivia, bonfires and three-legged races. 

A dinner at the dining hall took up the rest of the night. I was truly hoping for no surprises, and it was going well–until about half way through when I heard my name called. I broke my conversation with Larissa to turn my head and to my demise, it was my mother.

She walked over to our table, smiling and reaching her hand out for Larissa to take. “Wendi Foster. Y/N’s mother. A pleasure to meet you.”

As usual, she wore a dark skirt suit, her frame heightened by small black heels and her arm occupied by a purse and a white lab coat. Before either me, or Larissa, had a chance to respond, she sat herself down in the empty seat beside me. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you got fired from Jericho High?” she asked–too loudly, in fact. People turned their heads to look at us as soon as the words passed through her lips.

I sighed, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. “Mom, please, can you not be so loud?”

“Sweetheart,” she said, “I’m from New York. I’m going to be loud.”

“Well, can you be loud quieter, please?” I asked. “Or, can we at least go somewhere else? People are staring.”

Down the hall, in my classroom, my mother and I stood at the front of the room. As always, the confrontation turned into shouting.

“All I’m asking is for you to call your mother every once in a while!”

“Why should I, when every time we speak, this ends up happening!?” My throat became tight and my lip quivered as my frustration boiled over. “I know! I know I didn’t turn out how you wanted! I’m not a physicist like you! I don’t have some fancy doctorate degree that took me a decade to achieve! I’m sorry! I’m sorry I wanted to be my own person rather than follow in your every single goddamn footstep!”

“I just don’t want you to regret anything!” she yelled.

At this point, I was sure we were yelling so loud that the entire school could hear us. Sobs finally choked my words and my head was pounding. “I don’t regret anything!” I cried. “I love my life! I love my job! I love my students! I have someone who I love and who I’d give everything for! Why would I regret any of that?” My chest heaved. “Get out! Get out of my classroom! Now!”

My mother stood there with a clenched jaw and flared nostrils, red cheeks and balled up fists. She angered me in every way possible. With no words, she let out a simple huff, leaving the room, and slamming the door. 

As I wiped away my tears, the quiet sound of the door opening set me off again. “What?” When I turned around, I met the sheepish face of Larissa. I instantly felt like shit. “Larissa, I’m s–”

She walked over quickly and gathered me in her arms. “Don’t apologize, love. It’s alright.” 

Larissa was more than I deserved. She let me cry, she let me scream my lungs out, cursing the universe and everyone in it–except for her. She drove me home that night, not wanting me to be by myself. After helping me get ready for bed, she moved to open the door, but I stopped her.

“Will you stay here tonight?” I asked.

She smiled at me before stripping her clothes and climbing into bed. I followed her actions and tore the nightshirt from my chest, eager to feel her bare skin against mine. There was nothing sinister about this. There was no ragged breathing and overwhelming pleasure clouding our thoughts. There were no mumbles of curses and there were no soft moans gracing ears. 

This was simply without sin. 

This was simply holding each other close, refusing to let go.

This was simply love.

Before I dozed off, Larissa spoke into the darkness one last time. “Oh, by the way…I forgot to say. Your nose looks a lot better now that the splint is off.”

[jackdawsfavorite]

I'm playing The Forgotten City. I would have sooner, but all I heard about it was that it was a time loop puzzle game and all I saw were stills of beautiful scenery. But it's a social mystery! I didn't expect it to be all about people! It's more like Elsinore than anything else I've played, in that you're looping and manipulating outcomes by choosing what information to share with what people. But nobody has ever been able to tell me that because tragically few people have played Elsinore.

It's quite good. I'm growing to love and hate almost every character I've been introduced to and it hasn't even flinched when I do things in an unusual order, just has the NPC go, "Oh!" and updates my quest log. The dialogue trees are very natural.

If you like The Forgotten City, consider Elsinore! It plays completely different but shares the mechanic of learning things about the characters to push the world in different directions to solve the Big Mystery of Why Is This Happening To Me. It's third-person top-down. It's woke Hamlet but you don't need to know anything about Hamlet. Rosencrance and Gildenstern are women. It's a good time.