#i have an obsession with werewolves and their psychology

[scuddish]

BENICIO DEL TORO as THE WOLFMAN THE WOLFMAN 2010 | dir. Joe Johnston

[torybrennan]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

[yeyinde]

Seen your layla frost mention - any good dark romance books you would recommend? 👀

oh, absolutely!!! though, fair warning - my ideal dr is a horror/thriller moonlighting as a romance so! def read the warnings.

Little Dove by Layla Frost. Maximo, honestly, is my ideal mmc. cold, collected, cunning, unflappable, with a cruel and sadistic side (but never directed toward the the fmc), and wholly devoted to Juliet on a level that would probably land him in jail irl

Then, Earth Swallowed Ocean (book 1) by Shiloh Sloane

"Southern Gothic Werewolves Fight the Devil" that's it. this is the book for me. Shiloh Sloane is my favourite author. genuinely, truly. i love her writing, i love her characters. i love her for her tiktok bio alone: I write love stories whose trailers would have Ethel Cain music in ‘em. obsessed with her. i stalk her daily on insta and tiktok. but the book: it's more horror erotica than DR, but to be totally honest, this is so far up my alley, it was practically written for me. werewolves, the devil, smut, an INSANE mmc (obsessed, mean, possessive), a strong fmc, and it's set in post WW2 Appalachia. instant fave. when i die, bury me with this book.

Cracked Blue Sky (book 2) by Shiloh Sloane

features a native fmc and i know Shiloh Sloane is white, but how she shapes Howie Black Elk was pretty realistic. i loved how much she reminded me of a few cousins, aunties. love this book!!

Snuff by Bonny Capps

dark horror erotica that you absolutely should heed the warnings to. i loved it. 5*. but it does end up on several dnf lists for being brutal and disgusting. fmc goes to Russia to discover her roots, is taken by the Bratva to feature in their "passion projects" (snuff films!), but the mmc decides he wants her all to himself. if you're queasy about totally irredeemable mmcs (sadistic, vile, possessive, obsessed, cruel), then this probably is not for you, but lucky for me, i'm into that. def on my "i couldn't look my therapist in the eye for a while" collection, though.

Lemonade by Nina Pennacchi. mmc is irredeemable (cruel, vile, obsessed). historical romance (Victorian). also on the collection. Little Mouse by Emily Rose. mafia. age gap. A Stone's Throw by Stevie Sparks. age gap (dad's best friend. Scottish hero. auction. weird rich people doing weird rich people shit. God Of Vengeance by Michelle Heard. age gap. mafia. found family. i re-read the bound series this week and my favourites are Bound by Vengeance (Growl and Cora), Bound by Duty (Dante and Valentina), and Twisted Pride (Remo and Serafina). anything by Lilith Vincent. Brutal Husband is dropping in October and i cannot wait. The Devil's Vice by Mindy Paige. trauma bonding. motorcycle gang. age gap. Little Stranger by Leigh Rivers. revenge (fmc sends mmc to prison and he gets out and comes for her). insane mmc. Spectre by Shiloh Walker. kidnapping. violence. neuro-atypical fmc. Slashed by Thalia Sanchez. fmc wants to become a Final Girl. Slasher!mmc gives her just that.

also, not a romance but if you're into dark books with compelling characters, Break Her by BG Harlen was sooo good!!!! the premise is that a professional rapist is sent to break the fmc and it's such a good psychological thriller. def not for everyone though. A Beautiful Evil by Eris Belmont has no HEA but a very brutal and malicious mml. God's Eye by Ansa Reads is brutal. loved it, dgmw. but it's def not for the faint of heart.

[anonymous-dentist]

The following story is inspired by actual documented accounts.

-

I was first introduced to Agent Cellbit upon the request of Agent Elena....

-

"How aware are you of Agent Cellbit?"

The office is dead silent. There's the clock on Elena's desk, stopped. There's Elena's breathing, and Roier's.

It's... awkward.

But Roier shrugs and answers with an easy smile on his face: "I've heard of him. He's some kind of genius, right? He's solved, like, all of your cases for you since you recruited him. He's the Enigma Guy."

Elena's left eye twitches slightly. The man with the cigarette turns towards the window.

"You're right," Elena says. "But, recently, he's gone... weird."

"He's always been kind of weird, though, right?" Roier asks.

"Yes, but now he's." She lets out a breath, clasps her hands in front of her on her desk, looks Roier in the eyes. "What do you know about the X-Files, Agent Roier?"

Roier blinks, confused. "They're cases the Federation doesn't want to deal with because they're too weird. Aliens and stuff, right?"

Elena nods. "The unexplained and impossible. But they're what Agent Cellbit has become obsessed with, and now he won't work on any actual cases. We would like you to complete a psychological profile of him and determine whether or not he's still fit for duty."

It's Roier's turn to nod. Of course, right. He's the psychologist... technically. He does more crime-fighting than psychoanalyzing these days, but he can do both. He's great at multitasking.

The man with the cigarette doesn't turn away from the window. His hair, pure white, shines in the sunlight.

Roier stares at him. Who is this guy?

Elena clears her throat, says, "We would prefer it if you didn't let Agent Cellbit know that he's being monitored."

"Of course," Roier responds. No shit.

He isn't an amateur. He's a FBI agent! He's got this!

-

Agent Cellbit is in the basement along with the X-Files themselves. He has his own office, and he's never interrupted. He doesn't have a partner, unlike most other agents, and he's become so reclusive recently that people are starting to think that he's dead.

But, no, he's alive.

"I can't believe that they think I'm crazy," Cellbit scoffs.

He's alive, and he's short. He's about at the same height as Roier's chin, but he more than makes up for it with how freaking cool his hair is. The white streak in his bangs goes down through his eyebrow, eyelashes, and his facial hair. And his eyes, they're so blue that he can probably see into another dimension. (Not that those are real.)

He's dressed neatly, at least: he's following bureau policy save for the lack of a tie and a pair of hiking boots where a pair of standard loafers should be. He has a pair of reading glasses pushed up in his hair, and he looks exhausted, and he's exactly who Roier had been picturing through all the rumors.

Cellbit isn't looking at Roier. He's rummaging through a bunch of papers on his mess of a desk, instead. He's pissed, and for good reason! His bosses think he's nuts!

Roier doesn't argue. He didn't mean for Cellbit to see through his lie of being his new partner, but he didn't not expect it; Agent Cellbit is a genius, everybody knows it.

"I'm not crazy," Cellbit says. He turns and points a finger at Roier. "Don't put that in your report. Crazy people always say that they aren't."

He goes back to his desk before Roier can say anything.

Roier rolls his eyes. Wow, rude!

He looks around the office. There are posters plastered across every inch of every wall, each one with something absolutely insane on it: aliens, UFOs, werewolves, vampires. There's even something that looks like the Loch Ness Monster that Cellbit has labeled 'MERMAID?????' in big red letters.

"Since you're here," Cellbit sighs, finally finding what he wanted on his desk and grabbing it, "can I get your opinion on something? Psychology really isn't my thing anymore."

Okay, that's a lie, Roier read Cellbit's profile before heading to the basement. Prior to becoming a Federation employee, Cellbit was a detective specializing in violent crime. He was, and debatably still is, an expert in criminal psychology. He can just get into killers' heads and figure them out, and, honestly? Roier's jealous. Just a little.

Just a little.

Reaching over and poking at his laptop's track pad, Cellbit opens a PowerPoint presentation that projects itself onto the wall behind Roier.

Roier turns to look at it. And he's immediately met with a photo of a dead girl in a pile of leaves. Blood is streaking down her nose, and her eyes are shut. She's in her pajamas.

"Elisangela Neide," says Cellbit, "the fourth person to die in this exact way, in this exact location."

He taps to the next slide. This photo is (presumably) of the victim's back, and two raised bumps next to each other on it.

"But," Cellbit continues, "she is the first to have been discovered with these marks on her lower back."

"Mosquito bites," Roier immediately says. "Look at the forest she's in, it's gotta be full of mosquitos."

"Sure, but they aren't mosquito bites." (Cellbit clicks to the next slide.) "See this? It's the chemical formula for the compound found around the marks."

The formula is... weird. Roier didn't pass chemistry on his first try, but he knows something organic when he sees it. This is organic, definitely, but-

"And," Cellbit continues, "we might already have the killer on record."

He clicks to the next slide and moves to stand next to Roier. The file in his hands is open and showing the same mugshot that's on the presentation: a young man with blank eyes staring at the camera.

Roier shudders. Creepy.

"Here's why this case is with the X-Files," Cellbit explains. "The killer claims to have been working under the orders of aliens."

Roier gives Cellbit a look. "Aliens aren't real. We'd know if they were."

"Unless the government was hiding them from us, but, sure, keep believing that."

"Whatever. If we know the killer, why is the case still open?"

"Because he was in a coma when the four murders happened. Despite that, his fingerprints were found on three of the four bodies, and he's gone to the police in his city almost daily since waking up from his coma saying that he's the killer."

...Huh.

Roier takes another look at the file in Cellbit's hands. Missa Muerto, what a fucking name. Was in a coma for four years after a car accident, has been awake for two weeks, woke up the day after the discovery of Elisangela Neide's body. Fingerprints were not found on her body, but were found on the previous three victims'.

"Weird," Roier comments. He looks back up at Cellbit, meeting his eyes and smiling. "So, are we going?"

Cellbit frowns and backs away slightly, pulling the file close to his chest.

"You aren't actually my partner, you know," he says.

"No, I am. I'm just also here to make sure you're doing your job."

"And psychoanalyzing me."

"Maybe, maybe not. But that isn't important. What is important," Roier says, gesturing towards Missa's projected mugshot, "is bringing the actual killer to justice. Whether it's this guy or not, we need to figure out what's going on."

"...You still think he's the killer?"

"I won't know until I get to interview him myself. Soooo... let's go?"

Cellbit stares at him for a second before turning away with a small huff of laughter. "You really are a psychologist."

And Roier chooses to take it as a compliment. Finally, he's getting some appreciation!

-

Missa Muerto is currently being held in custody in a psychiatric facility in his home city, and so that's where Roier makes Cellbit take him first.

But, before they get to the hospital, their car stops right in the middle of the road.

Roier, driving, groans and slams his foot against the gas pedal a few times. "Come on!"

Cellbit's eyes are wide, and his reading glasses are on, and the case file is in his lap.

He leaves his glasses and the file behind and clambers out of the car, ignoring Roier's questioning noises.

Rolling his eyes, Roier gets out and follows Cellbit around to the trunk of the car. He watches as Cellbit opens the trunk, digs around a little, and pulls out a shiny orange can of spray paint.

Cellbit takes three big steps backwards, nearly trips on his own shoelace, turns around, and paints a big orange 'X' over the road.

"Electronic interference is a classic sign of alien activity," he explains.

"Yeah, or we just have a shitty car," Roier snorts. "Come on, help me push this thing."

Just as he turns around, the car starts back up again. All by itself.

"See? Aliens," Cellbit insists. "Missa is right."

He heads back to the car, but Roier lingers just for a moment. He stares at the car, and then he looks up at the sky.

Nothing.

-

They finally manage to meet with Missa, and the first thing Missa does is insist that Roier and Cellbit both prove that they don't have anything shoved up their noses.

Cellbit chooses to blow his nose as proof. He shows Missa the empty tissue; Missa considers, sighs, and nods his approval.

Roier takes a slightly different approach.

"Come and check for yourself," he tells Missa. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns the flashlight on and holds it out. "Here."

"Roier..." Cellbit warns.

But Missa just snatches the phone up and holds it to his chest, the flashlight shining right into Roier's eyes.

"You know what you're looking for, right?" Roier asks, squinting through the light.

Missa nods, hesitant.

More hesitant, he takes a step closer. And then another step. And another.

"It's small," he mumbles, his feet and his words both unsure. "Metal. Kind of shaped like a piece of candy. They put one up me and I can't get it out."

Roier generously tips his head back so Missa can inspect his nostrils properly.

"Nobody believes me," Missa breathes. "But it's real! It's right here!"

He taps the side of his nose vigorously. Now that he's closer, Roier can see blood crusted around the rim of Missa's right nostril. Nosebleed, or he was trying to get the... thing out himself.

"Has anybody done an x-ray?" Cellbit kindly asks.

Missa nods, shining the flashlight right up Roier's nose. "They didn't see anything, but that's impossible! Because it's there! I can feel it!"

He peers into Roier's nose, entirely too close for Roier's comfort. But, really, it's fine. Roier's own dad does weird shit with flashlights all the time, this is fine.

"The aliens put it there?" Cellbit asks.

Missa freezes. "Them."

His hand starts to shake. So do his knees.

Suddenly, he drops Roier's phone and grabs him by the shirt with both hands in a white-knuckled grip.

"Please," he pleads, face twisted up in desperation, "you have to stop me! They say that I have one more to bring them, but I can't! I don't want to!"

Cellbit makes a move closer, but Roier gives him a Look (capital-'L'), and he stops.

Gently, Roier raises his hands and wraps them around Missa's wrists. Loose, easy to break out of.

"Have you ever tried just... telling them 'no'?" Roier asks.

Missa pauses. "Uh. Well..."

Roier takes the opportunity to pull Missa off of him.

"To me, it sounds like you're in a toxic relationship with them," he says. "You're doing good by asking for help. That's step one. Step two is taking accountability."

"But I am taking accountability!" Missa shouts. "I confessed to the murders!"

"And that's good! That's step one-and-a-half. But now you need to do step two, which is you taking accountability for yourself. You need to cut them off."

"How?!" Missa cries.

And then he screams, collapsing to the floor and curling into a ball.

His hands, of course, fly to his nose.

Roier immediately drops to his knees next to Missa. Cellbit kneels on Missa's other side. Neither of them move as a squad of nurses and orderlies rush into the room and start trying to help Missa off of the floor.

"Another!" Missa screams. He thrashes in the nurses' grips, blood leaking out from between his hands. "I can't do it! I won't! I can't! No!"

Roier watches as Missa is taken away. He frowns.

"I think he broke my phone," he say, not looking at his phone, still on the floor. "What the fuck was that?"

He looks to Cellbit, who's just smiling.

He's smiling.

"Well, Doctor Roier?" he asks, turning his head to smile creepily in Roier's direction. "What's your diagnosis?"

Roier absently scratches his nose, avoiding Cellibt's gaze.

"I think that he needs help," Roier says.

"That's fair. I think that we need to redo Elisangela Neide's autopsy and check her nasal cavity."

"What, you think Missa was right?"

"I think that you need to expand your horizons. Sure, he might be crazy, but his nose basically exploded as soon as you told him to stop listening to the aliens. They're listening. Who's to say that he's the only one they're listening to?"

-

The autopsy is done again. Cellbit stays and watches. Roier doesn't. (He hates the smell of dead people, yuck!)

After a few hours, Cellbit comes out of the morgue with a little glass vial held triumphantly in his hand.

"I knew it!" he crows, wiggling the tube around like a chemist.

Roier snatches the vial as soon as it's within reach, and he almost immediately drops it.

"What the fuck?" he wheezes. "Why is it heavy!"

He manages to catch it, but just barely.

And then he sees it: a dull metallic object vaguely shaped like a pill. Little wires poke out of cracks in its... shell? Its shell.

Slowly, Roier looks up at a giddy Cellbit.

"Try explaining this in your report," Cellbit taunts. "If I'm crazy for seeing this, then so is the medical examiner. And so are you."

...Fuck, Roier's report!

Sliding the vial into his coat pocket, Roier stands and meets Cellbit's gaze.

"This isn't about the report," he lies. "This is about the truth. Like I said back at the office, this isn't about me proving that you're crazy. It's about finding out who's actually killing people out here."

"Right," Cellbit dryly responds. "And who do you think is 'actually killing people out here'?"

"You're gonna say it's aliens, but I think it's something way simpler. Like a cult. That's the 'them' that Missa is so scared of. They convinced him to kill Elisangela Neide, and they convinced him that he killed the other three victims. Obviously."

Cellbit looks frustrated. Good, Roier feels frustrated.

"A cult," Cellbit flatly says. "Right. A cult is sticking metal tracking devices up people's noses and sending them psychic messages."

Again, frustrated, Roier throws his arms in the air and shouts, "I don't know, man! This is weird!"

"Exactly! Now you know why I have to be the one handling these cases. I'm the only one taking them seriously!"

Roier is ready to start a proper argument, report be damned, but he's stopped by Cellbit's phone ringing in his pocket.

Cellbit takes his phone out and answers the call: "Hello?"

He frowns: "Who is this?"

He pales: "Oh. He- what?"

He sighs: "We're on it."

The call ends. He puts his phone away, scrubs at his face with his hand, sighs again.

He then looks at Roier and explains, "That was the hospital. Missa escaped. The last thing he told the nurses was that he was going to 'take accountability'."

Roier's blood freezes.

Ah. Shit.

-

"Aren't you supposed to be a psychologist?" Cellbit demands as they run through the forest outside of the hospital.

Roier puffs out his cheeks in annoyance. "I'm a psychologist, not a therapist! I'm not trained to actually deal with patients!"

"Are you even trained at all?"

Roier trips over an exposed root and nearly falls, but he narrowly manages to catch himself on a tree.

Leaning against the tree, he shoots Cellbit a dirty look.

"What were you doing, eh?" he snaps. "You were just standing there!"

He takes off again after Cellbit, who hadn't slowed down or stopped to wait. Asshole.

"I was observing," Cellbit huffs. "Keep an eye out for Missa."

"Well, yeah."

"And listen for any strange noises."

"Like what?"

They both skid to a stop as a sudden high-pitched whine fills the air around them, like metallic fingernails scraping down a chalkboard.

Cellbit claps his hands over his ears. "Like that!"

He looks up at the sky. Roier doesn't. Why should he?

"What is that?" he asks.

And then there's a familiar-sounding scream from deeper in the woods.

"Missa!" Roier yells. "Hold on! Don't do anything stupid!"

Ignoring Cellbit's protests, he pulls his gun out and bolts in the direction the scream came from.

"I'm done with you!" Missa shouts. "Leave me alone! Find someone else to bring them to you!"

Leaves crunch and skid under Roier's feet. Twigs snap in his face, leaves pull at his hair.

The noise continues, and it only grows louder the closer Roier gets to Missa.

"First it was Alexandre," Missa rants, barely able to be heard above the noise, "and then it was Reyna, and then it was Casper, and now it's Elisangela! You say you need one more, well! Fuck you, aliens!"

Gasping for breath, Cellbit manages to catch up to Roier. He's pulled his own gun out, and did Elena really let the supposed security risk leave the office with a firearm? What the fuck?

"He was scared of them this morning," Cellbit wheezes. "What the fuck happened?"

"Maybe I am good with patients after all!" Roier suggests.

"That was terrible advice!"

"I'm not a relationship counselor!"

"I can tell!"

Missa continues ranting and shouting even as the noise grows louder and louder. He's unintelligible at this point, speaking in a language that Roier can't understand. (What is it, French?)

The trees are starting to thin out around Roier. A clearing? Gotta be. That's where Missa has to be.

And, Roier realizes as he approaches the tree line, it's where Missa's four victims were found dead.

Missa stands in the middle of a field of leaves and blood staring up at the sky. Wind whips around him, twisting his hair into knots and ruffling his hospital gown so hard that it's starting to tear. His nose is bleeding again.

Roier skids to a stop and aims his gun towards Missa's knee. Just in case he tries to run, that's all.

"Missa, look at me," he carefully says. "Don't listen to them."

Missa doesn't look at him. Missa doesn't look at anything.

His eyes, Roier notices, are a pure black color. They almost seem to be oozing black gunk. It's like he's crying.

"Missa!" Roier calls. "Look at me! Whatever they're telling you is wrong! You're better than them, you know that!"

Next to him, Cellbit quietly says, "Roier. Look up."

He's looking up.

And so Roier does as well.

He looks up, and he sees a bright light, and-

-

Agent Cellbit is fit for duty, but that he needs someone to keep an eye on him. He's invested in his cases, but that means that he needs a partner willing to both act as the skeptic and entertain his wild theories. Otherwise, there is a small possibility of him going rogue. Agent Cellbit appears to be psychologically sound, but further study is needed to make a sound conclusion. I, Agent Roier Brown, submit this report to the committee of sound mind.

Elena doesn't look too impressed.

"You do realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?" she asks, closing the file and placing it on her desk. "A UFO? Really?"

"Maybe a UFO," Roier corrects. "I didn't get a good look at it. It was... really bright."

"Right."

Elena pinches the bridge of her nose. The man with the cigarette is still facing the window.

"Do you, at least, still have the 'metallic object' the medical examiner retrieved from the victim's nose?" Elena asks.

Roier nods and smiles and reaches into his pocket. "Yep! Right here."

He pulls the vial out and places it on Elena's desk.

The man with the cigarette turns around. His suit is white, and so is his cigarette smoke.

Elena's eyes widen slightly. She picks up the vial, turns it around, holds it up to the light. Holds it out for the man with the cigarette to take.

"I see," she awkwardly says.

She coughs even more awkwardly and adds, "As per your report, I'm going to be permanently assigning you to the X-Files unit with Agent Cellbit. Keep an eye on him. If he starts to go AWOL, contact me immediately."

Roier nods again, slightly less smiley. "Got it."

It's her turn to nod. "That will be all, Agent Roier."

Roier nods one last time.

He stands.

He leaves.

He scratches his nose once he's out the door.

Cellbit is outside waiting for him with a new file in his hand.

"They still haven't found Missa's body," he says.

Roier rolls his eyes. "What happened to 'hello'?"

"And the local file for the deaths he caused has vanished. I called, and they told me that there was a fire. Every file was found intact except for Missa's."

Roier thinks back to the light in the sky and the figure within it. Its hand was extended downwards, and Missa's hand was extended up.

"The only copy left is the X-File," Roier supposes.

Cellbit nods. "I won't let him be erased."

That's what the X-Files are for, Roier realizes. They aren't about aliens or monsters or whatever-the-fuck.

They're about remembering those who would otherwise be forgotten. Those that are meant to be forgotten.

Maybe Cellbit isn't that crazy, after all.

(But Roier volunteered to help him for the foreseeable future, so what does that say about him?)

-

[For Spiderbit Week Day Three: Sci-Fi | First Meetings]

[howtofightwrite]

Professional Monster Removal

So, you've been hired to clear out a monster (or monsters) infesting a building in (or around) a modern city. What do you do?

The first problem is that you can't trust what your client tells you. Not in the sense that you think they're intentionally lying to you, but rather, they don't know what they're talking about.

If they tell you it's a vampire, that's basically meaningless. As myths go, vampires are more of a catch all for a staggering number of monsters from folklore, and while you wouldn't want to deal with most of those critters, your options for disposing of them (or even identifying where they are in the building, and assessing how dangerous they are) are far more picky. It's a bit like working as a normal exterminator and when you ask what the client needs removed they only offer, “it's furry.” Yeah, that's not helping anyone, buddy.

Werewolves aren't much better. The modern bipedal wolf monster is basically a Hollywood invention, dating back to the mid-20th century. There's absolutely no folklore support for it. That doesn't mean that in your world that flavor of nine-foot tall snarling deathbeast isn't a reality, but it's going to be hard to research. More often, werewolves were humans who took the form of a wolf, usually through some form of magical ritual. Knowing what that ritual is would be critical to identifying and eliminating them. Of course, this does come with the problem of leaving behind a very human looking body (in some cases), and that could be an entirely different problem, depending on exactly how well job is.

If they tell you it's a demon, that's almost more worthless than telling you it's a vampire. First off, there is no way to know that they've actually got a demon, and not just some random spirit. If they do have a demon, I hope you've brushed up on your advanced theology, because this is going to get extraordinarily messy. And, there's a very real danger that whatever you've run into has the capacity for completely unmaking small parts of reality. Or it could just be an unusually malicious house cat. Really, demon is even more of a catch all term for, “something we don't understand, but we're pretty sure it scares us.”

If it's fairies? Run. Just run. You're not getting paid enough for this, they can have their deposit back. It'll be fine. They're smarter than they look, and way more malicious and vindictive than you realize.

Just walking away is also pretty good advice for any esoteric, “list of rules,” you may get handed. Sometimes, this is pretty obvious safety considerations, like don't wander around in darkened rooms while the critter is loose, but when you start seeing things like keeping to a schedule, that's a very good sign that, either, whatever you're dealing with is sophisticated enough that some simple rituals and a catch pole will not get the job done. Or, alternately, someone (probably your client) is using you as bait,  or planning to feed you to the critter. This overlaps pretty strongly with the warning about fairies above, the Venn diagram isn't a perfect circle, but there's a lot of overlap.

Now, this doesn't mean you should ignore your client, but it does mean, you're going to need to do a lot of footwork after they hire you. This is not the fun kind of research. If they say vampires, you're going to need to be conversant in the many, many, vampire myths throughout human history. Sometimes you can shoot them. Sometimes you need silver and garlic. Amusing, on the cliché of, “forget all you know about vampires...” there is one element of folklore that actually doesn't exist; vampires don't need your permission to enter a dwelling. Now, a lot of vampires are extremely obsessive compulsive (yeah, this is the hilarious moment where you realize Sesame Street's Count has a legitimate grounding in folklore), so, they may want that invitation for psychological reasons, but it's not a mystical barrier that will protect you. Get them angry enough and they will forget themselves, cross the threshold, and rip you to pieces. (Though, in some cases, churches and temples may repel them. It goes with the holy symbols thing in general.)

That said, the holy symbols isn't specifically a vampiric vulnerability, more just a general ward against monsters, when it pops up. So, this is one to be very cautious of, but it can be useful in a lot of situations if you're receptive to that.

When you're doing your initial walk through, of the residence, keep an eye out for certain tells. You'll pick this up with practice. The direct signs of the critter are always nice, but finding secondary evidence of regarding the site's residents shouldn't be ignored. Keep an eye out for large amounts of esoterica, evidence of objects having been recently removed from the site (or recently added to it), evidence of ritualistic practices (often these will originate from the human residents themselves, rather than the critter, but, obviously, that's not always the case), and other anomalies. You're not just looking for tufts of fur, or forensic evidence, you also need to know why the critter is there.

So, you've identified your pest, hopefully. Under the best possible circumstances, you should now have a roadmap for dealing with these things. Here's the bad news, in some cases, that won't actually give you any tools to deal with it. A distressing amount of folklore will tell you how to avoid dealing with the critter in the first place but then washes its hands of what to do after the critter has been provoked.

Worse, and more frustratingly, folklore will sometimes give you bad information. Yeah, the biggest problem with folklore is, the more dangerous the critter, the less reliable your information will be. If someone offers you to clear out a nest of crawlers, my advice would be to not do it alone, and don't get too attached to the people you work with. There is no reliable folklore on those things, and 99% of the, “lore,” that does exist is internet fiction, written by people trying to spook each other out. As for sifting out that last one-in-a-hundred? Good luck.

This brushes against a related topic, you cannot trust research you pull off the internet. Obviously, things are a little different when you're digging through well documented myths, but when you start getting into more esoteric topics, the signal to noise ratio hops off a cliff. This doesn't mean the internet is useless, it can be useful for a brief overview (if you have the time to sort things out), and of course it's amazing for communicating with your colleagues. However, expect that when you need to dig into local folklore, you're going to need to spend time in the city's libraries, digging through books no one cares enough to scan and post online. For the most part, newspapers have been saved and uploaded, though if you're in the middle of nowhere, you might run into a small town paper that hasn't kept up to date.

So, what do you need to do? Remember that your job is to remove the errant critter from the site, not necessarily kill it. (Try to avoid those stipulations when you can. It can result in really unfortunate situations when you're dealing with something that literally cannot die.) Prioritize elimination in cases where the creature cannot be moved, or will return to the site regardless what you do, but remember you're getting paid to remove it, not to play hero, and you're certainly not getting paid enough to die over a spelling error in someone's circle of protection.

This brushes against a (hopefully) rare problem; amateurs. Yeah, it doesn't matter how much research you do, if your perfectly baited trap gets trampled by some bumpkins who broke in with shotguns and flashlights because they heard some monster was on the loose. Mercifully, these guys are a self-solving problem more often than not. If the critter kills them, then they're not your problem. In some rare cases, amateurs can even be useful, either as bait, or as a new vessel to get the critter off the site and make it a problem for someone else. If that sounds callous, remember that between their poor trigger discipline, misplaced hero complex, and unpredictability, they're more dangerous to you than the monster you're trying to evict. Sure, a century old specter that preys on hope is going to be harder to kill, but these guys are just dumb enough to shoot you in the head if you startle them. Or if they get it in their heads, somehow, that you're the one responsible for the infestation in the first place.

If you're, “lucky,” enough to get repeat business, that's probably a bad thing and the client is not going to be happy about it. In these specific cases, (assuming it's actually a new critter, and not a case where the original one wandered home after being released somewhere distant), your priority changes to identifying what brought the creature back here. Some critters are extremely territorial, and will return home no matter what you do (these are times when you really do need to find a way to permanently eliminate it.) However, if various critters of the same variety found the place appealing, presumably independently of one another, then you need to identify why. Again, this going to take some research, and you might even need to bring in a specialist (if you have access to one.) These kinds of situations can be really frustrating because the client is likely to be pissed with you over the new infestation, and believe its due to your incompetence, not because they didn't disclose critical information the first time round.

Checking city records regarding the place, even land claims and the history of a place become significantly more important on a return visit. (Now, if you're being thorough, you should have checked this the first time, and sometimes you'll even have time to, but if we're being honest, that stuff is rarely relevant, and you won't often have the time to dig through city records.) On the bright side, in the 21st century, a lot of those kinds of records are now available online, and free, so the days of wandering around in some sub-basement of city hall are (mostly) a thing of the past.

This is just napkin math, but figure that about one in four infestations can be traced back to a human cause. Either someone moved into the critter's territory and it's trying to drive them out, someone did something “very bad” and now they have a critter focused on them, or (worst of all), someone deliberately brought the critter here, lost control of it, and now wants you to remove it. The first two can result in repeat business if you simply remove (or even eliminate) the infestation, first time around. The third can also result in repeat business as well, but with a critical tell, the client's going to be fine with bringing you back. This isn't necessarily a red flag, but it is something to be cautious of.

Note that, in cases where the critter is focused on hunting down a specific individual, it may be in your best interest to simply stay out of its way. Actively helping the creature is a major liability risk, as you'll now be implicated in their death, but again, your job was to remove the creature from the site, and if that's accomplished, you can point to your contract and move on with your day. Similarly, getting in the  critter's way can be a very bad idea. That said, there's no guarantee the critter will voluntarily leave after it's managed to satisfy whatever's driving it. So, this becomes just one more consideration you need to weigh.

So, what do you do? Pay attention to the details, identify the critter, use that information to formulate a plan, and never forget that you're not getting paid to die on the job.

-Starke

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[impishtubist]

Sirius chaos anon back for more (not a native english speaker BTW, please forgive my typos):

I think that Sirius Black is one of the only characters to genuinely challenge the system in HP. I called him anti-autoriteran for a reason: he knows people in power that everyone think are right can be wrong, and that everyone can make mistakes. He’s the only one to challenge Dumbeldore’s opinions and show mistrust of him without being outright vilified. However the Narrative karmically forces it to be a mistake every time, and punishes him for it. He’s the only character to challenge the idea that goodness isn't an inherent character trait but something you must choose, work on, and question over and over again. He knows good people can make bad and even evil choices.

The systems failed him time and time again. In his abusive upbringing, in failing to adress the growing threat of the death eaters, in never giving him a trial, in ignoring his mental and physical needs as long as they can use his property. He has no reason to trust people in power have his wellbeing in mind.

He is not stupid, far from it, he probebly is the best critical thinker in the cast. He was so deeply traumatized by injustice it’s literally the core of his personality and what kept him sane in Azkaban. He knows actions have consequences more them most others, but still chooses the subversive path because he trusts his own judgment more than the authority. I fully believe that’s why he needed to be killed at Ootp, and reframed post-mortem.

Bonus: If anyone thinks that a flighty, stupid, and spoilt person that needs tough love comes from an overtly abusive home: you have no idea how human psychology works. choosing as a kid do openly oppose you parental abuser and discured the ideologies and identities they push is a sign of personality who deeply mistrust power and an unwillingness to give yourself over even for the price of safety. That's why common fanon wolfstar makes no sense to me.

However, the closer to the cannon iteration of Remus would be attractive to him, in my opinion. Not only because he's a living proof of how wrong everything he was taught about werewolves is, but because he can identify with the position of being told he is bad because something intrinsic he cannot control and having to prove his goodness over and over.

Yes, all of this! You're especially right about Sirius being the only critical thinker in the cast, and yet the narrative forces him to be wrong/punished for it each time.

Wolfstar is so interesting when you stick to their canon selves! I will never understand fanon Remus, or the fandom obsession with him.

[thewarmestplacetohide]

<3 your blog! trying to watch more international films and i know there's some classics from Asia. do you have any recs for Asian horror

thank you!!

here are my favorite Asian horror films (note: a lot of these contain triggering content, so please do research beforehand if that's an issue):

Japan

ゴジラ/Godzilla (1954; creature feature, science fiction): US nuclear testing off the coast of Japan creates a giant lizard creature that rampages through Tokyo

藪の中の黒猫/Kuroneko (1968; ghosts): a woman and her daughter-in-law come back as vengeful spirits after they're murdered by samurai

ハウス/House (1977; horror comedy, ghosts): a group of schoolgirls visit a haunted mansion

天使のたまご/Angel's Egg (1985; dark fantasy, surrealist, animated): in a ruined world, a young girl cares for a giant egg

吸血鬼(バンパイア)ハンターD/Vampire Hunter D (1985; vampires, animated): when a woman is betrothed to a vampire, she hires a vampire hunter in an attempt to escape

アキラ/Akira (1988; science fiction, animated): 31 years after a nuke was dropped on Tokyo, a young man tries to save his friend from government experiments

鉄男/Testuo: The Iron Man (1989; techno horror, body horror): a man finds his flesh is cursed to turn to iron

パーフェクトブルー/Perfect Blue (1997; psychological horror, animated): a pop star is driven mad by a stalker

リング/Ring (1998; techno horror, ghosts): a videotape curses anyone who watches it to die in seven days

オーディション/Audition (1999; psychological thriller): a widower auditioning women to be his new wife makes a deadly choice

バトル・ロワイアル/Battle Royale (2000; science fiction, psychological thriller): a group of students are put on an island and told to slaughter each other

回路/Pulse (2001; techno horror, ghosts): a group of young people in Tokyo discover a website that claims to show you ghosts

殺し屋１/Ichi the Killer (2001; psychological thriller, slasher): a sadomasochistic Yakuza enforcer goes on a rampage

仄暗い水の底から/Dark Water (2002; ghosts): a divorced mother and her young daughter move into a haunted apartment building

ノロイ/Noroi: The Curse (2005; occult, found footage): a paranormal investigator tries to tie together a series of supernatural events

シン・ゴジラ/Shin Godzilla (2016; creature feature, science fiction): a giant lizard kaiju attacks Tokyo

カメラを止めるな!/One Cut of the Dead (2017; horror comedy, zombies): people making a cheap zombie flick find themselves in the middle of a real zombie outbreak

South Korea

올드보이/Oldboy (2003; psychological thriller): after being imprisoned in a room for fifteen years, a man hunts down the ones responsible

괴물/The Host (2006; creature feature, science fiction): a monster made when American chemicals were spilled into the Han River emerges to attack a community

박쥐/Thirst (2009; vampires): a Catholic priest is turned into a vampire by a blood transfusion

악마를 보았다/I Saw the Devil (2010; psychological thriller): a man goes on a brutal revenge mission after the murder of his wife

늑대소년/A Werewolf Boy (2012; werewolves, dark fantasy): a girl moves to a country home, where she befriends a strange, feral boy

부산행/Train to Busan (2016; zombies): a zombie plague breaks out on a train

서울역/Seoul Station (2016; zombies, animated): a zombie plague breaks out at a train station; companion film to Train to Busan

아가씨/The Handmaiden (2016; psychological thriller): a woman hired to be a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress plans to defraud her

곤지암/Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018; ghosts, found footage): a group of influencers livestream themselves exploring a supposedly haunted institution

#살아있다/#Alive (2020; zombies): a young man is trapped in his apartment during a zombie outbreak

Hong Kong

殭屍先生/Mr. Vampire (1985; horror comedy, vampires): a Taoist priest must fight jiangshi that descend upon a village

餃子/Dumplings (2004; psychological thriller): a woman obsessed with staying young eats dumplings stuffed with strange meat

維多利亞壹號/Dream Home (2010; slasher): a woman goes on a killing spree to get her dream apartment

India

Bhoot/Ghost (2003; ghosts): a Mumbai businessman and his wife move into a haunted flat

Ek Thi Daayan/Once There was a Witch (2013; supernatural horror): a magician seeks protection from a witch who has haunted him since childhood

Tumbbad (2018; dark fantasy, occult): a father and son seek treasure in a castle inhabited by an evil god

Bulbbul (2020; dark fantasy): the village of a child bride, now grown, is attacked by a chudail

Indonesia

Pengabdi Setan/Satan's Slaves (2017; occult): a woman returns from the dead to haunt her children (this is a remake of a film from the 80s, which i have not yet seen)

Sebelum Iblis Menjemput/May the Devil Take You (2018; occult): a woman and her step-family visit her sick father's old home in search of what ails him

Iran

دختری در شب تنها به خانه می‌رود/A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014; vampires): a vampire targets a small Iranian town, attacking men who mistreat women (technically an American production)

زیر سایه/Under the Shadow (2016; occult): during the War of the Cities, a woman and her young daughter are haunted by djinns

Thailand

ชัตเตอร์ กดติดวิญญาณ/Shutter (2004; ghosts): a man begins capturing strange figures in his camera

Turkey

Baskin (2015; occult, dark fantasy, surrealist): a group of police officers discover a gateway to hell

Taiwan

哭悲/The Sadness (2021; bio horror): a virus spreads through Taipei, compelling all who are infected to commit the worst crimes they can imagine

[princeescaluswords]

I wan to know your opinion about something that me and my friend talked a lot regarding the show's relationships.

Scott or Stiles; who obsessed more for "the girl"?

I think Stiles has a tad more obsession sprinkled into his character (especially if it's about Lydia and the 10-year plan thingymabob) but my friend said that Scott's obsession toward Allison is borderline assholic and made him a jerk to his friends (their words, not mine)

The first step in resolving a conflict should be defining the terms. According to Webster, obsession is "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, or desire." On a television show that can't give us insight into a character's thoughts 24/7, the writers and actors have to demonstrate obsessive behavior in other ways. I would argue the most common sign of obsessive behavior should be very simple to identify: undesirable actions a character performs that indicate their thoughts are dominated.

If your friend wants to claim that Scott is obsessed with Allison, then it stands to reason that they have to give examples of actions -- not jokes or word play, but actual decisions he made with negative consequences -- which demonstrate this obsession. Accusations without proof are not useful in comparisons.

I'll start with my evidence that he is not obsessive in his behavior. While Scott's emotions toward Allison were intense, they were also reciprocated. In other words, Allison liked him back. They entered a mutually rewarding relationship, one that recognized boundaries and limitations. In addition, Allison became Scott's anchor, a psychological necessity for werewolves, distinctly required to maintain control as explained by Derek in Party Guessed (2x09).

Isaac: Then how do you control it? Derek: Find an anchor. Something meaningful to you. Bind yourself to it. Keep the human side in control.

Even with Allison as his necessary anchor, Scott did not allow her to control all his decisions. Scott ditched Allison four times in the early seasons -- Night School (1x07), Co-Captain (1x10), Abomination (2x04), and Restraint (2x07) -- to act appropriately even though he didn't want to do so. He also made decisions that would endanger that relationship -- Magic Bullet (1x04), Wolf's Bane (1x09), Ice Pick (2x03), Raving (2x08), Frayed (3x05), and Insatiable (3x11) -- because it was the right thing to do. Finally, Scott demonstrated his ability to let her go, such as in Master Plan (2x12), Tattoo (3x01), Alpha Pact (3x11), and Illuminated (3x16). I am confident in my analysis because of the sheer number of examples.

In addition, I would argue that the popular counter-examples are extraordinarily weak. In The Tell (1x05), skipping school to help Allison celebrate her birthday in a way that spared her from embarrassment and unfair public shaming is not an example of obsession; it's an act of kindness. Stiles finding an important clue while Scott's phone was off was a classic plot complication as was the Sheriff getting mildly injured by a car, not a demonstration of negligence. Scott only lurks on Allison's roof in Formality (1x11) due to Peter's direct threat. In Abomination (2x04), Scott didn't hang up on Stiles in order to concentrate on Allison, he hung up to concentrate on safely finding the Bestiary that Derek needed. Scott's deliberately creepy behavior in Motel California (3x06) is defeated by Allison saying "no." Even the heart-of-darkness influenced confrontation with Isaac in Anchors (3x13) -- while still a mistake by Scott -- was initiated by Isaac and doesn't indicate obsession, because there was no follow up by Scott.

I feel that the idea of Scott being obsessive comes not from negative behavior but from his resistance to white men, predominantly Derek Hale. He repeatedly tried to warn Scott away from Allison, and Scott resisted. But here's the thing: Derek was wrong. Allison wasn't Kate. Allison didn't have to become like her or Gerard, and when she had her dark arc in Season 2, that was a result of Derek's actions both toward Scott and Lydia. So, with confidence, I can argue that Scott was not obsessive.

Now, Stiles's attraction to Lydia was, to quote Scott in A Novel Approach (5x05), "a little obsessive, but not all bad." Stiles had a ten-year plan (then fifteen year) to win the heart of a girl who ignored him. It wasn't reciprocal. On the other hand, it was also passive most of the time. While Stiles demonstrated intense interest -- interjecting facts into a police investigation, waiting outside the hospital, talking to her when she wasn't listening -- most of the time he was an observer at a distance.

On the other hand, he did take deliberate steps that crossed boundaries. Even Stiles's die-hard detractors would argue that he's not ignorant of social norms. His behavior with a drugged-up Lydia in The Tell was very questionable, though he resisted the temptation to go too far. His pushing Scott to sniff Lydia when he knows it's a full moon was dangerous as was his attempt to punish Scott in Lunatic (1x09) for it. His rants to Lydia in both Formality and Master Plan also places his own emotional needs far above hers, reducing her to an object in those situations. Yet, as Lydia and Stiles developed a real relationship, these moments subsided, so I don't think it qualifies as a full-blown obsession. Was he more obsessive than Scott? Yes, but that's a matter of slight degree, and far less destructive than Derek's, Peter's, or Matt's obsessive actions.

I hope this gives you some perspective.

[seiya-starsniper]

Rules: 10 (non-ancient) books for people to get to know you better, or that you just really like.

Tagged by @wintersmitth and @bluesundaycake, thank you both for thinking of me!!! I definitely saw a few books on both your lists I'll be adding to my to-read goals for this year :)

This was a bit of a challenge as I was a very avid reader of novels as a teenager, then just…stopped for about a decade. I still read, but I transitioned over to graphic novels and Japanese manga, developed a massive fanfic addiction…and then read 77 books in 2022 LOL. But these are the books that have left a mark on me over the years.

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice - I first read this in 2003 when I was far too young to be reading it but well…what can you do hah. This novel single handedly jump started not only my vampire obsession, but my obsession with the supernatural genre and supernatural romance in general. I am pretty sure I have a monsterfucker fixation because of Anne Rice ahahaha. I’ve reread this novel many times over the years so it is very near and dear to my heart.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Teenage me and adult me LOVED the hell out of this book. The imagery, the loneliness, the prose, I could read Gatsby over and over again and fall in love with some new piece of it. When the copyright expired last year, I went ham on reading as many spinoff novels as I could. I still have one in my queue of things to read actually. 

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - My first foray into psychological horror. Goodness I absolutely devoured this book, and I know it’s controversial for a variety of different reasons (mostly the ending change), but it was the first time I had really read a book with a protagonist that was just absolutely unhinged and unapologetic about it. That being said, I personally prefer the original ending to the Kubrick film ending, I don’t care what my fellow Americans say, it made perfect sense to me.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Was I 100% the target demographic for this book series when it was being published? Absolutely. Did I go completely feral when each book and movie came out like a basic young adult? Yes indeedy. Are its overarching themes still relevant today and plenty of people, including people involved with the movie, seem to miss entirely? YOU BET. I have a very soft spot for this series, and I’ve been on the fence about reading the prequel. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d love to hear them!

World War Z by Max Brooks - Max Brooks my beloved. Zombie Survival Guide was my first exposure to him as an author, but World War Z really made me think about how people would react to a zombie virus, or any virus that affects the world. It was unfortunately rather prophetic when Covid rolled around :/ But I think that is partially the brilliance of it. I have a signed copy of the book that I hold very near and dear to my heart. I still read passages from the book from time to time and highly recommend it.

Fullmetal Alchemist - As I mentioned at the beginning, I tapered off novels and moved into graphic novels/manga, but in all honesty, none have left nearly as lasting an impact on me as Fullmetal Alchemist has. It is by far one of the best series I have ever read in my life. Do you want philosophy on the value and meaning of life? A realistic depiction on the horrors of war and genocide? Well written female characters that are not tropes? Endless short people jokes? This series is for you!  

Wolfsong/Green Creek Series by TJ Klune - I know TJ Klune is more well known for his YA books, and they are fun, but generally not for me. But this. This book series is what got to me. Still gets to me! If you want queer romance + found family + werewolves with none of the squick of omegaverse tropes, this series is absolutely for you. I had initially read the series for @lyriclorelei because she had heard the third book in the series featured an ace character, and that particular character is in fact, my blorbo. I love him. I cried throughout his entire book because I love him so much. 

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall - I credit this book with jump starting my reading binge in 2022. I knew from reading Green Creek that there was a lot more queer fiction out there, but this was the first time I had ever seen fake dating outside of fanfic and well…I got hooked! At my core, I am a romance reader at heart, and I was pleasantly surprised to find all the ways the genre had evolved since I stopped reading. Truly a fun introduction to get back into reading for me.

A Marvellous Light/The Last Binding series by Freya Marske  - MY. HEART. Do you want queer wizards? A unique magical system that has not been done before? A murder mystery tied to a curse? Enemies to lovers? Queer self-awakening? This book and series has all of the above! It is absolutely fantastic and I am SO EXCITED for the final book to be published at the end of this year. Just cannot say enough good things about it.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy - In addition to romance, I found myself binging celebrity memoirs in 2022, and Jennette McCurdy’s was the best. She’s an incredibly witty writer, and I found myself laughing and crying in equal parts throughout the book. It is, in fact, a rather triggering book considering what she went through, I definitely found myself triggered a few times, but, it was a really eye-opening thing to read, and I absolutely recommend consuming it via the audiobook because her delivery is just fantastic. 

Tagging: @valeriianz @sans--seraph @the-cloudy-dreamer @rooftopwreck @historyandqueershenanigans @introvertbibliophile @mallory-x @quellawrites @aquilathefighter and whoever else wants to do this! A few of you tagged me in the other ask game, and since I already did that one, I'm tagging you in this one :3

[darkarfs]

9 People You'd Like to Get To Know Better?

Tagged by @mysteriouslybluepirate, hey, thanks! Last song: "Rejoice" by Devin Townsend. I don't know when I became this idiot who decided to give prog-metal's yelliest weirdo a chance but also ended up liking a good bit of his shit, but here we are. He's a massive dork, but he is...unfailingly sincere, so even his lyrics that make me cringe kinda help me tip my hat to him regardless. Currently watching: Honestly, at the end of the day, I watch Farscape on Tubi to help me unwind. Or the Nanny. Nothing substantial in the sense that I haven't seen it already, but it means something to me regardless. Ambient television when I don't want music on. That said, Money In the Bank. Right winners so far, wrong results, if that makes sense. My smarter, more passionate wrestling friends are already spilling on what needs to happen and why, and they're the reason I never liveblog anymore. :) Currently reading: The Erstwhile, the second book in Brian Catling's so-far excellent Vorrh trilogy. The man was a gifted user of words and the world is incredibly realized. It's also the kind of odd dark I enjoy; it's not just "climbing with bloody fingers out of a hole only to be killed anyway" Cormac McCarthy-ness in narrative (so far, there's another book! No spoilers.) Current obsession: Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess? I'm obsessed with music and wrestling and cartoons and the same silly but VERY important shit around which industries have been built. Specifics? Horror movie psychology books. Roland Barthes. Ween. Character actors. Books about who is a sociopath and who isn't, and what are the signs. Charismatic strangers who change your life and them being linked to the previous idea. My least favorite part of these...the people I wanna know more about I feel like have a guarded sense of their privacy (and if I want to know more things about them I will ask them), the people I know enough about I'm happy with the information I know, and the ones I consider personal friends I feel like that we'll get there if we need to. But...@shes-a-voodoo-child, @werewolves, @gracejones, @kydtyk, @brightlovebird, @mortuaryschool, @little-lady-trashcan, @funeralopolis666, @mutter2001, @barbieland No pressure, any of you, promise!

[statisticsatanist]

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[ freakedyandere ]

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💗 ARIEN,, HE/AVOID,, 🩸

💗Hello! My name is Arien, I am a 21 year old autistic adult who is Intellectually Disabled, Mentally delayed(mentally behind.) with OCD and PTSD and had experience Obsessive Love [OLD related.] and Delusions regarding Love obsessions which is very personal to talk about, and am uncomfortable doing so and I'm very ashamed of it, and so I have reclaimed the word Yandere due to that, and the slur Freak and Pathetic due to being called those for being mentally disabled; and I have no empathy. [/srs]

💗Sexuality: Homoromantic, Fraysexual, Frayapothisexual, Aegosexual, Requissexual, Frayromantic, Panaesthetic, Requiesromantic.

💗Gender atm: Male, Yanderefreak, Boyandere, OCDgender, OCDFreak, OLDFreak, BoyFreak, Tramatofuck, yanhurjectic, Pasrian, NOIBLUR, villaiboy, webgender, beholdigender, wrongsomian, Genderemote.

(NOT OCD/OLD as a gender./srs)

Polygender, Agendervir, Incubian, Teladen, LOViRiUM, irisgender, IDgender, IDFreak, GlitchedLovic, AUTiBEiNG, LOVESiCKNURSiC, obsessgoreloveic, DeadBoy, DEVILUVISH, 𝙻𝚘𝚠-𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚡, intrudemonic, Perichiros, AMBiENTiMECHORiC, losergender, Experibomagender, genderthreat, ANGELBEING, DEVILBEING, werecreature, wolfsheepsclothic, FLORISFLUID, Vampiregender.

💗My prons atm is He/Avoid.

💗My other pronouns[I change them out]:

♡He/Him/His. ♡Freaks/Freaks. ♡Avoid/Avoid's/Avoidself. ♡Devil/Devils/Devilself. ♡Angel/Angel/Angelself. ♡Sin/Sinners/Sinnerself. ♡wolf/wolfs ♡Lycan/Lycans/Lycanself.

[♡]Online:💗/🔪s/🩸self.

[🔪💗] My special interests:

🔪 Psychology.

🔪 Vampires.

🔪 Werewolves & Lycans.

🔪 Littlest Pet Shop.

🔪 Jacksepticeye. // The I.R.I.S Project.

🔪Neurogenders.

🔪 Xenogenders.

🔪 Horror Games: Left 4 Dead1&2, The Evil Within1&2, Outlast, Corpse Party, Resident Evil 7&8.

🔪Amine.

[vivitalks]

okay okay okay i have a half-baked theory, hear me out.

so we know deucalion aka The Demon Wolf can do this to his face

and there’s never really any explanation as to (a) why he can shift like that, or (b) why none of the other alphas or werewolves seem to have that ability.

BUT. we do see this type of Dark Shift (that’s what i’m calling it) happen one other time in the show:

in 4x10, “Monstrous,” when scott loses control and is on the verge of murdering that guy.

what else do we know? well, about deucalion, not a lot, but we know that prior to being blinded, he was an intelligent and respectable alpha who had a vision of peace and enough faith in humanity that he tried to make peace with gerard argent. of all people. we don’t know how old deucalion is or how long he’s been a werewolf, but if it’s true that he bit and turned alexander argent in 1977 (which we see in the opening scene of 3x05, “Motel California,” and which is later confirmed by gerard), that means he would have to have been an alpha for at least ~40 years.

outside of deucalion lore, we also know that this Dark Shift doesn’t happen to just any werewolves on the brink of murder, because it doesn’t happen to liam in the 5A finale when he almost kills scott. as far as canon goes, aside from deucalion, the Dark Shift only happens to one other person/werewolf - scott mccall, True Alpha.

so here’s my theory: before he was corrupted, Deucalion was a True Alpha.

think about it: we know deucalion had certain traits characteristic of a True Alpha before he was ambushed by gerard. he valued peace even in the midst of allies all clamoring for war. he wanted to see the best in his enemies (gerard) and to believe them capable of change. we know True Alphas are rare, but obviously scott wasn’t the first. it would make sense that any existing True Alpha would have a certain renown, and deucalion certainly had renown, both before and after being ambushed.

so for the sake of argument, let’s say deucalion was a True Alpha. he earned his power, became an alpha in his own right simply by strength of character, without ever having to kill. we know you can’t become a True Alpha if you kill someone before you can advance to that level, but what about after? what happens if a True Alpha kills someone?

i doubt you lose your alpha status/spark. that wouldn’t really make sense. instead, i think that maybe when a True Alpha corrupts by intentionally taking a life, the werewolf part of them corrupts too. it withers. it darkens. and it turns their shift into something even less human, but also less werewolf - more demon than anything.

this also fits in with that s4 scene with scott, because that scene is the only one where scott comes close to actually murdering someone. the Dark Shift starts to take over, but then, importantly, he stops, and doesn’t actually kill the guy he’s attacking. and the Dark Shift recedes, and we never see it on scott again. he never gets that close to killing someone again.

also ALSO! if deucalion was a True Alpha, but then was corrupted, that would even further explain (a) how he seemed to be so knowledgeable about True Alphas even without knowing scott at all and (b) why he was so desperate to corrupt scott. in morrell’s words, psychologically speaking deucalion both “desires” scott (as a reminder of what he once achieved) and is “threatened by” scott (as someone who is still capable of becoming a True Alpha and thus being “better” than deucalion himself, who is a former True Alpha, now corrupt). 

and as morrell says, if the obsessive can’t have the object of his desire, then he will choose to destroy it instead. think of scott in the beginning of season 4, feeling so threatened by liam’s skill in lacrosse that he accidentally plays too hard and injuries him. i mean, hell, think back to season 1, with jackson feeling threatened when scott suddenly becomes way better at lacrosse than he is. remember this quote?

“Do you know what it's like to be the best player on the team? To be the star? To have every single person at the game chanting your name? And then... some kid... some kid just comes along, and then everyone starts looking at him instead of you. Do you know what that feels like? [...] Well, it feels like something's been... it feels like something's been stolen from you. And then you start to feel like you'd do anything-- anything in the world-- to get it back.”

for deucalion, scott becoming a True Alpha would be a taunting reminder of everything he lost, the person he used to be, the person that was ripped from him along with both his literal and metaphorical vision. deucalion having been a True Alpha makes his obsession with scott - and specifically with corrupting scott - make a whoooole lot more sense.

TL;DR: Deucalion was a True Alpha before he corrupted by killing his own beta, and intentionally taking a life caused his werewolf form to turn dark and evil-looking. this is also what starts to happen to scott in season 4, but it never takes because scott doesn’t actually go through with killing the guy.

[steelycunt]

Absolutely obsessed with remus’ cowardice cause on the surface you’d never call him a coward. this man looked a dementor, a literal embodiment of fear itself in the face and told it to fuck off without even flinching, he has committed murder and he WILL do it again! he goes through a horror every month since he was 4 like psychology morally and physically that man is insane but he’s soooo terrified to loose the people he loves more then anything. It’s not even that he was some push over for them we literally see him boss Sirius around in ootp but he’s so scared of upsetting him . I’m sure he hated confronting James too but it was sooooo bad with Sirius. He let himself become someone he wasn’t proud of just to avoid upsetting him AND HE’D DO IT AGAIN!!! If that man had a shred of self respect or just any common sense he would have walked out on him a hundred times over but he didn’t cause Sirius makes him so fucking pathetic.

(under the cut this got a bit long xx)

yes yes!! soo true it's such a particular type of cowardice. because it's being pitted against this sort of martyr complex i also think he has: as you say, he's regularly very brave when you think of him facing his condition, dementors, fighting in both wars. in fact i imagining him being overly (...unnecessarily?) selfless and self-sacrificial. as in i imagine him on missions he's consistently prepared to lay his life down for others even when the circumstances are not at all calling for measures that extreme. he is the guy sacrificing himself without being asked lol. he's going wherever dumbledore sends him to negotiate with the werewolves for weeks at a time for the 'greater good' regardless of the physical and psychological toll that sort of work takes on him (and the toll it takes on his relationships) because he thinks this is the kind of person he is supposed to be and to present to others.

and then!! it's matched with this strange emotional cowardice. which could come from multiple places, i'm not sure--there is a desperation to not let go of the people he loves/give them a reason to let go of him (which perhaps comes into conflict with his self-sacrificial elements, e.g. his commitment to continuing to do whatever dumbledore asks of him in the first war despite how detrimental it is to his relationship with sirius), and furthermore a more general desire not to displease people (considering the image of himself that he finds it sooo important to maintain and present to people, the Model Werewolf etc.), and above all a reluctance to confront his own feelings and relationships, either in conversation with others or within himself. given the choice i think he'd always rather be tortured/deep in self-loathing than examine himself much further; he's familiar with that, he knows how to do that. talking about the lost years--if he were to attempt to let go of whatever he has that still tethers him to sirius, what does he have left? wallowing in his feelings towards sirius--clinging to sirius--is soo much easier than the alternative, which is living for himself. he loves being loved by sirius but he also loves loving sirius, he loves everything that ties them together, and everything about how that makes him feel (which is why he's never going to really leave him, pre- or post-1981), and i sort of think he loves being wretched and miserable about what sirius has done to them (and to him) during the lost years. it's not really martyring himself, or punishing himself, though he might want to pretend it is. it's more like indulgence i think. if that makes sense

[wolfieslae]

"liam saved theo from his never ending nightmare so theo saved liam from himself"

it’s no surprise to anyone, i’m a tiny bit obsessed with thiam.

when theo first arrived to the show i liked him already, i felt like he was an interesting character with an interesting backstory, i wanted to learn more. the more i did the worst it got but i kept thinking he was interesting and i liked seeing how he was able to plan his take on the pack. he managed to insert himself in the life of the characters and turned it around, when his plan failed, he still got his pack but ended up killing them all, i admit, kinda real bad, and then he got drag down to hell.

during the fifth season we found out that when he was ten he was manipulated into thinking his older sister – tara – wanted him to have her heart, because his had a genetic disorder. he believed the dread doctors when they told him they could make him better and he killed his own sister – taking her heart. he then left with them and was raised by them, raised believing that power was all that mattered and that he would be nothing and no one without it.

in season six episode six liam and hayden decided to bring him back because they needed his help with a supernatural creature in town, while hayden was more resistant, liam did not hesitate to smash kira’s sword into the ground and free theo, saving him from his never ending nightmare at the same time.

very rapidly we understood that whatever power theo might have stolen from his chimera pack – more specifically josh – he wasn’t in possession of them anymore, he was back to "classic theo" part coyote and part wolf. after he helped with the ghost rider, liam and hayden locked theo in the holding cell at the sheriff station. theo wanted out and liam wanted answer, they made a deal and liam broke the sword and with it any chance of theo going back to hell, his never ending nightmare.

when they needed him more, liam and stilinski broke theo out of jail but unfortunately the sheriff was taken and only theo and liam were left, leaving them no choice but to work together to flee the ghost riders. they – liam – had one goal, lure them away from scott, lydia and malia who were trying to get stiles back.

the both of them ended up at the hospital where, and i quote, liam said "when the ghost riders find us, i’m not gonna do anything for you, i’m not gonna help you, i’m not gonna save you, i’m gonna do exactly what you’d do to me, i’m gonna use you as bait". we all know he did not keep that promise, in fact, while fighting with a ghost rider, he pointed a gun at the one theo was fighting and shot, saving his life in the process. to "pay him back" and maybe prove that he wasn’t as bad as liam made him out to be, theo offered himself as bait.

while we all thought he had been taken in the hunt, we found out he hadn’t when out of nowhere he came back and saved liam from one of the ghost riders at the school, leaving liam able to get on with his god awful – but working – plan to get into the hunt.

while theo later on fought at the side of scott, malia and peter, he was forgotten and left alone. obligated to live in his car.

we found that out on season six episode twelve, where i noticed that the deputies coming to wake him up seemed to always wear a different uniform, did theo move around? or is the beacon county just, that big?

he was shot and didn’t come back until three episodes later (not gonna lie, these were the three most stressful weeks of my life).

when in episode twelve we found out he was living in his car, we also found out that he might have been the first target for the anuk-ite. thankfully, theo caught the spider early and got rid of it before it took his body and with it, his life.

when he came back in episode fifteen, he was hang up and tied to an electric fence in gerard and monroe’s headquarters. along with two other werewolves. when he thought he was free, he ended not being and was taken into custody.

during episode fifteen, when nolan was caught trying to sneak into the sheriff station liam automatically recognized him as the one who tried to make him shift in front of the whole school by beating him up. by scott’s reaction we understand that he might not have told him. but some of the shots during this scene were interesting, showing liam on the first plan with a close-shot accompanied by a blurry theo in the back. we understand why in the next scene that they share, in the bathroom.

theo confronts liam about what is happening, saying he will not risk his freedom. while liam first manages to stay calm during the discussion, he looses control when talking about brett and lori’s death. he punches theo before heading out and saying "i’m still working on my anger".

while we don’t know what happens between episode fifteen and episode sixteen, we understand that something might have clicked in liam’s brain, because, while he reacted poorly, theo seemed to be the only one noticing that something was wrong with liam. could this be why he brought him with him at the zoo? maybe.

it could also be because theo seems to be able to handle liam. theo has a past and liam knows it, theo doesn’t shy away in front of danger and maybe this is what liam needs at the moment? someone who will not hesitate to get in the way to stop him from doing something stupid?

there is also a line in this episode where theo says "i’m not dying out here because you want pay back against a kid who kicked your ass" and while i have no recollection of anyone explaining to theo what happened in the prior episodes with nolan and liam, maybe someone did between episode fifteen and sixteen, liam perhaps?

the car conversation is also interesting because now theo knows how bad liam has it with his anger, and the fear the anuk-ite brings is not helping "people only feel one emotion at a time liam". he also knows liam needs help "you brought me here because that thing that came out of the wild hunt is affecting you too" at this moment theo has already made up his mind, whether liam wants his help or not, he is going to get it.

and funny enough, liam doesn’t seem that resilient – oh he is yes – but not so much because deep down he knows he needs it, he also knows that whatever technique theo uses, it seems to be working because in episode seventeen, during the locker-room scene, liam calms down a bit too quickly for my liking (wrong i absolutely loved that).

theo uses reversed psychology and makes it to seem like liam would turn into a murderer, into someone like him "i’m the one with experience here", theo even uses "we" so that liam can feel more of a "bad person" because of what he might do. but in the end, it works and liam calms down.

now here is my favorite part, right after that liam asks theo "why do you keep trying to save me" and while theo answers something so dumb i don’t even want to mention it, i know it’s because liam saved him first and now theo feels obligated to return the favor (well, he does seem to enjoy it anyways).

theo can be seen in the next episode, number eighteen, right at the beginning, in the animal clinic with scott, liam and mason.

mason agrees with theo and liam doesn’t seem to like it, everything he says to or about theo seems to come out as an insult, but why? they seemed to be getting along well in the prior episode? finishing each other sentences when showing the dead bodies gabe brought them to to scott and malia? maybe because he’s starting to realize he might need theo more than he thought? and he doesn’t want to acknowledge it?

either way, theo and mason are sent to the tunnels to find aaron. they are both clearly uncomfortable being with each other but theo even more because the tunnels are where everything started and he surely does not want to stay or be here at all.

mason ends up hurt, and theo decides to try and take his pain away. first of all, great decision, it shows that he is trying to change, that he at least knows he can do it at some point and wants to. unfortunately he isn’t able "you can’t take pain if you don’t care". theo still decides to stay with mason while waiting for help.

the next time we see theo, it’s at the beginning of episode twenty, the finale. he is in his car, driving to somewhere on the phone with scott.

here are some details that don’t sit right with me. their phone call lasted twenty six seconds. there is no way theo answered the phone, got in his car, and drove to what seems to be the highway in twenty six seconds, so where was he going? was he leaving town because of what had happened with mason in the tunnels or liam’s sneaky comments at the clinic? because even after all his efforts, he is still not being accepted and knows he probably never will? probably. but i’m glad scott called and asked for his help.

he got to the hospital and saved liam’s ass – again might i add.

then, there is what is for me, their most important scene, for their relationship but also for their own character’s arc.

the elevator scene.

where they promise each other they weren’t gonna die for each other. where they lie their ass off.

i have a theory about this scene. remember the look? yes that one, the famous look down. based on my calculations, it is way too low to be directed to liam’s lips as people believe it to be, no, i think it’s directed to his chest, most importantly, his heart. because liam lied, and theo heard it. now of course theo lied too but he’s a professional he knows how to keep his heart steady.

and of course liam knows that theo knows because the look gives it away, which is why he accepts to fight with him (and damn, they make a pretty good team! i mean, that back roll? come on!) and i think in that moment they understood that no matter what, they can’t hide from this anymore, whatever this is (my money’s on anchor with a touch of love).

but in that moment i knew. i knew that because liam allowed himself to get help from theo, allowed himself to be anchored by theo, he anchored theo too. he gave him a reason and the opportunity to stay on the right path, on the path to redemption. and in that moment theo realized that he mattered, that he had a purpose.

can we also quickly talk about the small shot of theo flinching at the sound of the gun going off? when has he ever done that? he was literally raised by the dread doctors, he’s not afraid of anything, but not knowing if liam was on the other end of that gun shot scared him.

now we all know that part of why theo was able to take gabe’s pain was because he saw himself in him, the kid who trusted the wrong people and suffered the consequences, just like he did. but part of why he was able to care was because liam cared. liam gave theo a reason to care.

and this is why i love them so much. because their relationship, again, whatever it is, is special. it’s unlike any we’ve ever seen in the show. it’s important because it takes into consideration who they are on their own. it doesn’t exist just to add a relationship or a story-line to the show, it exists to fit on their own story-line, to make them better people.

as the title says, liam saved theo from his never ending nightmare so theo saved liam from himself (and fell in love with him in the process).

they are so important to me because i like when relationships have meaning, and theirs seems to be just that, meaningful.

[chandajaan]

vanilla chai for the ask game :)

vanilla chai— do you have any hobbies that your followers don’t know about? or any hobbies that you once had, but stopped doing?

I think I accidentally get into whatever my besties are obsessed with so historical dress making and sewing is something I’m kinda slipping into.

I think the only one are that I’m more into werewolves then I let on, and I feel myself becoming a spooky movie fan (even tho I’m a big baby) and I do take a lot of interest in crime and criminal psychology and forensic stuff but I don’t post about that because true crime “fandom” is weird and I’m not going to be disrespectful online about real people

[princessfanonanona]

📓📔📒

📕📗

📘📙

[Not sure how many of these you have, but I liked the fact that there were 2 notebooks, a spiral bound notebook, AND books titled Volume 1-4, so go off, if you like.]

Put "📓" or some other version of a book emoji into my inbox and I'll explain the plot of a fanfiction that I haven't written but daydream about.

adsgkjahj okay you asked for 7 fanfic plots that exits in my head rent free so you're gonna get 7 plots

Plot one

Computer Club: All of the key players of the invention of the computer meet regularly to gush about tech and things, Technus is not allowed in and he is salty

Plot two

Jazz decides to attend a very Highly Accredited College to get her degree in psychology. Practically free admission (compared to the current cost of American schooling), a fantastic campus, wonderful dorm set up. The catch? It's in the Ghost Zone

Plot three

dance!au: at the behest of Sam, Danny enters a ballroom competition as a fill in for Sam's partner who ditched last minute.

Plot four

Dani, on her adventure's globe trotting around the world, stumbles upon a local pack of werewolves. They've never seen a ghost like her, and she's never seen a wolf like them. confusion and miscommunication abound, only complicated when a deadly enemy returns

Plot five

Original novel idea for the spiral bound notebook: A young mermaid, while trying to protect her nest, leads her clan's warriors into taking down a ship that's trespassing. Aboard the ship, she finds a chest locked under spell and key. Inside is a human child. Deciding to raise the child with the clan, the two cultures must find a way to communicate and learn to trust each other.

Plot six

Jazz and Danny's age swap, everything else is the same. Jazz has to deal with her brother becoming the new ghost king after the pariah dark incident and Amity doesn't know how to deal with the youngest Fenton suddenly becoming nobility or gaining influence over the ghosts. (Princess Jazz)

Plot seven

demon!au take 2: The Fenton's are still obsessed with ghosts, except ghost's don't exist. The beings that they think are ghosts are actually demons. Danny still ends up in the accident but picks up a passenger a la Venom style.