#i looked it up and understandably saw a lot of varying answers as to how long it took to help people

[little-eye-guy]

there’s this very bizarre feeling that comes with your health doing better but only because of the temporary medication you’re taking

[genderqueerdykes]

howdy, this may be a stupid question but I saw a post of yours talking about how men can be lesbians and I'm just a little confused? can some men be lesbians just because they identify with the label? and If people of any gender can be lesbians what does being a lesbian mean? my understanding may be flawed so I would really appreciate help in understanding :3

hello there! not a stupid question!

yep, men can be lesbians simply by identifying with the label, that's all there really is to it! that's how every queer identity except intersex works, in fact! in recent years, we've begun welcoming non binary people into lesbian and gay spaces- so why can't we open the doors to other people? this can be for a variety of reasons why a man would identify as a lesbian, transmascs and trans men who started in the lesbian community and still feel a connection to that identity, bi/multigender men, genderqueer men, genderfluid men, intersex men, bi and pan men who feel like their attraction is gay and lesbian instead of gay and straight, lesbian trans women who are also men, the sky is really the limit!

it's a bit complicated to define what terms like "gay" and "lesbian" truly mean, because they don't exist in a static vacuum that can encompass everyone in that given community. every lesbian has a different definition of what lesbian means. many lesbians believe that it strictly means cis women being attracted to cis women, which is definitely not how lesbianism works at all. no two queer people will ever define a queer term the same way. a lesbian is anyone who identifies as one. it can be a queer woman, non binary person, or man, or a gender well beyond that. or no gender at all.

for example, there's a loooooonnnngggg history of trans women who are also gay. many trans women still identify as gay and with the gay community even well after transitioning and not identifying as a man anymore. this has been a well documented experience since the dawn of the modern queer community in the United States, so why can't we extend the same to men and lesbianism?

when i say i'm a lesbian, i mean a lot of things. i do experience queer attraction to women ofc, but for me, lesbianism is about community and expression. it's about my love for other lesbians, dykes and sapphics, not just women. i'm a lesbian-oriented person. i resonate with the community, history, and culture. i feel right at home hearing about other lesbians' struggles and experiences with gender, expression, identity and sexuality. i see myself in other lesbians, dykes, and sapphics, and just because i'm (partially) a man doesn't mean i have to give all of that up!

i hope that makes sense! most queer identities don't have a concrete definition when you get down to brass tacks. for example "genderqueer" is not something that's easily defined at all. people love to argue about what it "really" means but there's no one answer to that. the same goes for lesbianism. the experience is too broad to be able to be defined simply by saying a lesbian is is a woman attracted to women. identity and lived experience is too varied and complex for that

feel free to have any more questions you may have! if you'd like, i highly recommend looking into the life and works of Leslie Feinberg, a transmasculine butch lesbian revolutionary and queer activist who had to transition into manhood in order to feel like hirself as a butch lesbian. zie identified as multigender and never gave up hir lesbian identity, even after living as a man for many years. it was vital to hir butch lesbian identity :) thanks for stopping by, i appreciate you asking!

[icantpromiseforever]

You know how Gojo's six eyes allow him to instantly see a person's cursed energy and cursed technique? He would have almost instantly known that Geto had the power to absorb curses, but he wouldn't have known how, and he probably freaked the fuck out the first time he saw Geto swallow one. They would have fought the curse. Gojo would have used the opportunity to show off because duh, but he wouldn't have completely destroyed the curse so that he could give it to Geto.

Gojo: So, do you like touch it or something?

Geto: Huh?

Gojo: When you absorb the curse with your technique. Do you just have to touch it?

Geto: No, I wish. It's actually really gross. You don't have to look. It's better if you don't.

Gojo: Gross? You just turned the curse into a ball. That's pretty cool. What are you even talkin- *watches Geto fucking throat goat the curse* Oh...

Geto: *almost throws up because he hates this part of his technique* Told you. It's pretty gross. Gojo?

Gojo: *instantly teleports to the jujutsu high shower room, blasts ice cold water fully clothed*

Then because Gojo can't catch a break, he would look over and notice Nanami's in the shower too (he's facing away and ignoring him because duh).

Gojo: Funny story, Nanamin. You're probably wondering-

Nanami: I'm not.

Later, Gojo would lie and tell Geto that he was right. That watching him swallow a curse was gross. He would be obnoxious about it. Geto would initially be understanding, albeit annoyed. Except that Gojo would bring it up and bring it up:

Gojo: But why swallow it?

Geto: I-

Gojo: Like, what even led you to try that?

Geto: So my techn-

Gojo: Those curse balls are pretty sizable, too. Who would look at that and be like, "Huh, maybe I should swallow this."

Geto: *stares at Gojo deadpan*

Gojo: And you had no one to teach you? You just decided to swallow it on your own?

Gojo: I get turning the curses into balls after you've tamed them. That had to have come naturally. Instinct, you know. But swallowing? Was that instinct, too?

Gojo: Did you swallow the first curse you ever beat? Or did you, like, collect a bunch of them before you stared at a huge pile of curse balls, and you were like, "What if I just swallowed all these?"

Gojo: Circling back to the fact that you had no one to teach you. Everything I know is stuff that was drilled into me. Mostly. Not the point. Point being: if one of my teachers told me to swallow something. I probably wouldn't. I would have a lot of questions, and that's that my six eyes usually always see the answers.

Gojo: You don't even come from an established clan, so you totally had to figure it out on your own. And all by yourself, you just decided: "I gotta swallow these curse balls."

Geto: You done?

Gojo: How many have you swallowed? Always just the one, or have you tried swallowing multiple before? Do the curse balls vary in size? What's the biggest- nevermind. Don't answer that. Um, does your throat ever get sore?

Geto: I'm not indulging any of this. You weren't raised with any manners, Gojo.

Gojo: So you swallow because it's good manners?

Geto: You said there's a bounty on your head, right?

Gojo: Yeah! Like ever since I was born. Silly, really.

Geto: How much is it?

Gojo:

Geto: Bring this up again, and I'll cash in.

Gojo would eventually start getting used to seeing Geto swallow the curses. At least now, he would wait until they both got back from their missions to take his cold showers.

[autumnmobile12]

The Epic Saga: Just A Man

Trigger warning for infanticide.

I want to talk about what an interesting choice it was in Epic's first installment for Odysseus to be the one to kill the infant.

In all versions of the story, the fate of Astyanax, son of Prince Hector, is always the same. He is thrown from the walls of Troy while the city is sacked. What varies from telling to telling is who does the deed, and it's usually between two people: Odysseus and Neoptolemus.

Most modern retellings make Neoptolemus the villain in this story, or they'll leave out this part entirely, because in the eyes of today's society, the senseless murder of a helpless infant is something only a villain would do.

Who's Odysseus? He's the man who won the Trojan War by engineering the idea behind the Trojan Horse, he's the guy who took ten years to sail home, he's the main character of The Odyssey. Odysseus is a hero. And heroes don't kill infants.

Who's Neoptolemus? He's forgettable. He didn't go on any heroic quests like Herakles or Perseus. He didn't slay any noteworthy monsters. Neoptolemus' biggest claim to fame are three things: He's the son of Achilles, he clubs King Priam to death in the sacking of Troy, and in some versions, he kills Astyanax. (He also enslaved Astyanax's mother.)

From the lens of the Ancient Greeks, a hero wasn't an upstanding guy who did the right thing. A hero was the guy who fought for what he wanted and did horrible things to his enemy in the process.

In the context of modern society, it's no wonder why the dubious credit of Astyanax's death goes to Neoptolemus. When that's the only real claim to fame he has, of course he's going to be a villain. We can't be having heroes killing babies because that's insane.

So let me tell you that when I first listened to The Horse and The Infant and I realized it was Odysseus who was committing the deed, that took me so off guard and I had to pause the song just to tell my poor sister how fucking crazy that is. I rarely saw this version. I mean, I understand the reasoning; it's setting up Odysseus' guilty conscious that'll plague him for the remainder of the musical. It's the flawed hero trope, which is a far cry from the brutality of the original myths.

And that in itself is testament of how mythologies have evolved over the centuries. It's why we have different variations of the myth in the first place. Societal views and values change and the stories told adapt accordingly.

Did Hades kidnap Persephone or did she go willingly to escape Demeter, her overbearing mother? Both versions are correct. All versions are correct. We cannot look for something as narrow-minded as a 'canon' version of mythology because mythology is a jumble of headcanons about the same basic concept thrown together by countless storytellers over literal centuries of storytelling.

In The Horse and The Infant, Zeus directly warns Odysseus that if Astyanax lives, he will take vengeance on him and his homeland. And after what the Greeks did to Troy, slaying the men, enslaving the women, and leaving the city in ruins, Odysseus is one of many Greek kings who have a lot to answer for.

Is Odysseus heroic for protecting his family by killing Astyanax because now the infant prince won't grow up to take vengeance?

Is Odysseus a flawed hero who carries the shame of his sins with him?

Is the deed committed by Neoptolemus and Odysseus goes home with his honor unsullied?

It all depends on interpretation. You can choose one that reflects a harsh history or you can pick the one that's been adapted to suit modern values. You don't even have to pick. You can appreciate them all for what they are.

And Epic: The Musical came out swinging.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

How about the bishops with a reader that has a ton of different scars? Some they tell stories about, about some they grumble and laugh, and when asked about some they avert their gaze while chuckling and change the subject?

Leshy

He can't really see the scars, but you allow him to feel them and trace his fingers over each one.

Of course, you'll be guiding his hand the entire time should he ask you to, sharing stories about them all the while.

Your tales vary from fights, attacks by Darkwood creatures, clumsy accidents, and a few near-death scenarios you barely got away from....all of which have happened on several missionaries you've undertaken in his name.

There are a few you'd rather not speak of for various reasons.

Including a nasty gash on your cheek that you got from one of the Lamb's attacks, not wanting him to know you failed to kill them.

Leshy 100% understands if you're uncomfortable with talking about specific ones.

He hates it when people ask about his eyes, so he gets it.

It's no different after you both end up in Lamb's cult, although it's easier for him to feel your scars and be closer to you.

If he overhears anybody talking shit about them, he's gonna throw hands (and by that, I mean he'll bite them).

Kallamar

Seeing one of his finest warriors marred with so many scars makes him proud..and yet worried at the same time.

Infection was certainly a risk, so he'll heal any ones that appear new should he deem it necessary.

Although he doesn't ask many questions about where they came from, he does like to remind you that his blessings are a privilege, thus he won't always do this for you every time you get injured.

It's his subtle way of saying "please take care of yourself" without saying it outright.

Never really hears the stories you tell to your fellow followers (not because he doesn't care...he's just deaf af).

But after you both arrive to Lamb's cult, he asks you about them and you explain where you got most of them from.

The coolest ones--at least in your opinion anyways--are the bites from wrestling rogue sharks, barracudas, etc. for food.

Kallamar is both amazed and slightly more terrified of you now.

He sometimes feels bad that he can't heal you up if you get a new scar, but you reassure him Lamb's been keeping you in good health.

Shamura

As a proud warrior of Silk Cradle (and one of Shamura's personal bodyguards), you had the scars to show your fighting experience.

Everything from bug bites to claw marks to flames--you had a lot of stories to share and did so willingly.

Especially to Shamura, although they tend to forget at times...

They even sometimes believe you had more scars than you did yesterday, asking if the one on your arm is new.

Or they may just stare...and you immediately see the concern in your lord's eyes.

But you gently remind them that it's been there for weeks.

It's no different after they arrive in Lamb's cult, with you following suit.

They forgot about every scar you had, and honestly looked a little scared when you approached them and they saw them all over your body.

Once they calm down, though, and get more settled into the cult, you'll reshare stories of your scars (or at least ones you're comfortable sharing), answering whatever questions they may have.

If they ever ask about one that's a particularly painful memory, you'll just subtly change the subject, insisting they rest their head.

Heket

She overheard her cultists listening to your stories about your scars during a feast, and she can't help but eavesdrop.

"And this one? From trying to help the Mushroomos carry a box of menticide mushrooms....it was a splinter." You shake your head as the people beside you laugh. "Embarrassing, I know."

While Heket never says anything outright about your scars, she's impressed that you're proud to wear them.

The one thing she doesn't know is that you've gotten into a fight with the Lamb themselves and miraculously survived.

However the resulting scar(s) weren't too pretty..and you weren't too proud of them, either.

So you tended to them in private, keeping them a secret as you didn't want her finding out you failed to kill that little sheep.

Only after you and her arrive to Lamb's cult do you finally tell her all about them, knowing she can't really retaliate now.

You decide to show her the scar(s)...

And to your surprise she's still able to eat her lunch while staring at them, intrigued.

She did always think you were a great fighter.

[positively-mine]

Study buddy Lucifer

You fail one of your classes, and Lucifer is set on making sure you pass with flying colours for the next one

A/n: Since I got my exam results back and saw how horrendous they were. A comfort fic for all fellow students (･･;) Also, very sorry for the sudden hiatus. I'll explain what the delay was later. Still hope you enjoyed this!

Ok yeah you flunked that exam. But are you really the one at fault here? Despite all your time being in the Devildom, how were you supposed to know the anatomy of demons?

Sure you lived with 7 of them but you don’t spend your time asking about their internal structure and whatnot. That would be weird.

However, even with your very understandable excuse, Lucifer did not seem to buy it.

“As the representative of the human wold, I have high expectations of you ___.”

You watch Lucifer tending to his never seemingly ending pile of documents from your spot on the table opposite of him.

He had called you to his office when he caught wind of how terribly you did for the test. Giving you a long lecture about who knows what. Honestly, you were tired and it did nothing to help with the fact that Lucifer was pacing back and forth.

“Your not even listening now are you?”

You snap out of your stupor to look up at him. He was already giving you one of his frowning looks. Though no weight behind them. If any of his brothers were here now, they would be able to see the fondness that he held in his eyes. All of it just for you.

Who knows? Maybe he had an alternative reason for making you come to his office.

“Sigh. Maybe it’s time for a break.”

That, coming from Lucifer said a lot.

“I can’t help it that I don’t know much about demons," you say lazily.

"And that's why I'll be tutoring you from now on. At least until you can pass that is."

And that was exactly how your weeks went by. Until the next exam was around the corner.

At first, you would spend one or two days tucked away in his office. Studying beside him while he did his work. But with exams around the corner, you were practically holed up in his room everyday.

Like clockwork, as soon as you got home from school you would wash up and scurry to his office. Lest you want to receive one of his lectures.

One question however was giving you a very difficult time.

Not really sure what to write, you wrote the first thing that came to mind.

"That," Lucifer said, "is definitely not the right answer."

He gets up from his seat opposite of you and heads over to stand behind your chair. His figure looming over your body.

"A demon's wingspan varies based on what type of demon they are, so..." He flips to one of the pages of your textbook in front of you. His front pressing flushed against your back. "It should be..."

His words lost to your relaxing form. You couldn't help but feel relaxed with his warmth enveloping your figure. His words lulling you to sleep.

Lucifer glances down towards your resting figure. A small smile spreading across his features.

Now that he thinks about it, he has been coming down hard on you lately. A little break for you wouldn't do any harm.

He reaches his arm over the chair to carry you bridal style to his bed. Careful not to make any jerky movements.

Gently placing you onto the bed, he tucks you into his sheets. His eyes catches a glimpse of the digital clock at his bedside. The clock displaying the time 12.48pm.

He supposes a break for himself wouldn't do much harm either.

He heads over to the other side of the bed that isn't occupied by you and pulls you closer to him. You shift slightly but show no sign of waking up.

Gently placing a kiss on your head, he mumbled a small goodnight to you to. The waves of drowsiness pulling him to sleep.

[fortpeat]

Hai 👋 so I happen to read your metas and they are quite insightful and made me see things in a different perspective but I have to say I don't agree with it all as there was quite a lot of mistakes within this series that I couldn't look past. I am not here to bash the series. I happen to have a question for you. Why do you love the series so much. You seem like the kind of person who doesn't hesitate to criticize a series if it happens to be flawed and yet I couldn't find any post of yours that talks about it. I am just trying to understand why.

I am hoping you could provide me with an answer.  Thank you.

Hey nonnie ❤️😊

First of all, thank you for the compliment—if it was one! 🤭

I see the flaws and imperfections in the series, and I'm not shy about pointing them out. But despite that, I love this series deeply because, for me, it was perfect. Maybe my love for Fortpeat blinds me a little, and I'm okay with admitting that because I love them with all my heart. That doesn't mean those who critique the series love them any less. How we view and focus on things varies from person to person. For me, the stories they told and the characters they portrayed resonated deeply. It was like looking into a mirror. When I don't connect with a story or a character, I usually drop it or watch it just for entertainment. But I wouldn't spend my only free day making gifs or edits unless it made me happy. Somehow, these characters have become a part of my life.

Let's start with Sky and Prapai. At first, I was more drawn to Prapai. I'm open with my feelings, I'm forward, and I don't hesitate to speak my mind. But after getting to know Sky, I saw myself in him. Even though I'm open, I'm still scared to love. Because of past experiences, whenever someone new comes into my life, I wonder when they'll leave—because it seems inevitable. I do speak my mind, but I'm still closed off about the things closest to my heart. But once I'm in, I'm all in. I love with everything I have and everything I am.

With Rak and Mahasamut, it's different. Despite issues with pacing and storytelling, I didn't feel them personally. I only noticed those flaws after reading some reviews, and I can completely see their point of view and respect it. How we absorb content is unique to our experiences and the culture we've lived in. With "Love Sea," even with its flaws, I understood the reasons for their actions, even if some didn't make sense. I understood why Rak was scared to love. I understood why Mahasamut walked away after Rak pushed him away, even though part of me wished he'd stayed to fight a little longer rather than leaving for the island the next day. These characters are fictional, and we sometimes place heavy expectations on them to make the perfect choices. But I'm thankful that they're flawed, that they make mistakes, and that they learn from them. I'd rather have a flawed character with room to grow than a perfect one.

Truth be told, I haven't reached the level of obsession with "Love Sea" like I have with "Lita." Paisky will always hold a special place in my heart, and they'll always be there. I don't even know if "Love Sea" will ever reach that spot, even if I love them so much. But that's okay. I suppose we all have that one series that owns a part of our soul, and for me, it's the story of Paisky.

Sky taught me that your past doesn't define your present, and it's up to us if we want it to control us. Prapai taught me to be tenacious in love and to always keep faith. Mahasamut taught me to always choose myself and that even if we're in love, we shouldn't sacrifice who we are as individuals for the sake of another. And Rak taught me it's okay to be scared of experiences that have only brought us pain, but we shouldn't let them ruin our one shot at happiness. And even if we get hurt in the process, maybe the end can be beautiful. After every storm, there's always a rainbow.

(Oh boy, I didn't expect this to be so long, but it's been a while since I received an ask 🫣, so I might have gone overboard. Honestly, I'm also glad I don't have too many asks because I really don't have the time to answer them all, even if it's one of my favorite things to do. It also makes me realize how much free time I had last year while I was still searching for a job.)

[pascallatte]

It's just Us

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Actress!reader

Summary: Love in Lockdown Part 2, basically a lot more sweet things that happened during quarantine.

Date: May & June 2020

Warnings: none

May

Being put on live on the spot isn’t a thing you’re great at doing. Even if you’re being confronted by friends, you tend to sort of standstill in shock for a few moments before whatever had happened sinks in.

Why is this being talked about? It’s because it is currently what the people who are watching Sarah’s Instagram live with Pedro are seeing right now. You have just entered the car, with a bag and coffee cups in either hand. Dressed up in your most frequent get-up, a shirt and sweats, as well as a mask adorning your face. 

The live was also something Pedro was not ready for but if a friend of yours is on live and you haven’t seen each other since quarantine had started, one can only think of acting before thinking of the outcome.

So here you were, holding the phone and chatting with Sarah while Pedro’s driving the two of you home after deciding to buy from the nearest and only opened coffee shop rather than having it delivered.

“So as I was saying, Olivia a while ago talked about wanting to adopt a pet. How about you? You guys ever think of adopting?” Sarah had asked you again after being interrupted by the car’s horn.

Agreeing with her, “Uh, yeah we have thought of adopting one but never really had the chance to cause y’know, covid happened.” Sipping from the straw before offering some for your Pedro since he kept asking you what you got.

“I see that you guys went on your frequent coffee runs, what are you guys up to ne-” Asking a question again, making you chuckle as you thought that it seems like she was interviewing you two.

“-What’s funny, y/n?” She asked when she saw you chuckle. Only responding with a shake of the head, you composed yourself before answering.

“Nothing’s funny, I'm sorry. I just thought that we look like we’re having an interview with all the questions you’ve asked us already. Um, to answer that too, we don’t really have anything planned nex- well I don’t have anything else to do. Not sure about him though.” You explained before turning the camera to let them see Pedro who was humming a song to himself while waiting for the stoplight to turn green.

Tapping his thigh, he turned to you expectingly. Humming a sound of confusion he looks at you before to the camera.

“Sarah’s asking what you have planned next,” telling him, to let him know what’s up with the live.

Confused, “Next? What do you mean next?” He asked, making Sarah laugh at his expression that was telling everyone he was lost, literally.

“By next, I mean, what do you have planned when you get home, silly,” Sarah said, bursting out laughing, making you laugh as well. A sound of understanding escaped Pedro as he turned to drive again.

Still waiting for an answer from him, you leaned across the armrest between you two to lean on his shoulder. Nudging him a bit making him release a hum.

“I don’t have anything planned to do later so we’ll probably just sleep or watch a movie, like always. Nothing new.” He told Sarah, or rather the whole live as if it was just a normal call with a friend. And in doing so, he takes your free hand in his out of habit before kissing the top of it. This makes you look at him with a smile, before turning the live once again.

“What about you? What’re your plans for the evening?” you asked her wanting to talk more. The back-and-forth questioning continued for about half an hour, before having to leave it due to you arriving at your place.

June

Pedro is known to be a huge Instagram user, and ever since being stuck at home his stories and occasional posts have been dedicated to his muse, you. It’s now become a thing that he and your fans await his so-called three-part story every week because of the amount of fun content he has of you or himself.

It varies from the regular shenanigans you guys do or the more calm ones that he has come to appreciate as time passed by. But in this case, the latter is being posted.

Just like how his videos regularly start, this one started with a close-up of his face. From the looks of it, he looks freshly showered and in bed. Your voice was heard in the background but was faint to be heard clearly.

Glancing in your direction for a second, he gets himself comfortable on the bed before deciding to speak 30 seconds in.

“AHHHH Yeah!” His sudden outburst made you yelp and throw a pillow at him. Pedro smiles before greeting everyone, “Good morning, as you know it’s a Sunday. meaning we can all stay in bed and chill and lounge and sleep and do whatever the fu-oww”. You cut off his cussing with a soft, to you, hit on his bare shoulder.

“No cussing,” you softly said, still out of frame, before continuing whatever you were doing.

“Fine fine, so again it’s a sunday and I don’t have anything to do so come prepared, see you later.”

A few hours later he posted his second story just before afternoon hits. Sitting on the couch has played with some filters you’ve saved on his phone for a bit, still, you weren’t seen but you were heard singing something fans were familiar with but can’t seem to think of what it’s called.

“Hello again, it’s me, Pedro. We’re just about to have lunch, my dearest,” he shows you, finally, who’s behind him preparing in the kitchen, “had prepared a simple comfort food of ours, and I can’t wait.”

He raises the phone and zooms in on you moving around the kitchen, your singing seemed to grow louder as it progresses, unfortunately, you were still unaware of the phone recording you.

“I feel badly, about you, feeling badly about me,” your voice was heard throughout the room making Pedro let out a silent gasp in excitement, but at the same time hinting about something not many would know at that time.

“Y/n…” he whisper shouts at you making your singing slowly end. Now seeing the camera you gawked at it, turning to Pedro who was still sitting on the couch.

Releasing a breath, “yeah?” You asked him, before motioning him to come to the table.

He gives you an all knowing look making you laugh and shake your head, before sitting down on the table.

“I know, I know, now come on or else I’ll finish this shit up.”

“Ooo okay bye,” he quickly says ending the second part.

And since it’s a Sunday, something that had became part of your routine is doing self-care on Sundays. This consisted of having a long bath, cleaning out your things, and the most common one and what you’re currently doing, skincare.

Pedro isn’t the kind of guy who would turn down being soothed, so when you first brought up the thought months ago he agreed immediately. Fast forward to now, and here he was again in your shared bathroom phone angled lower than usual, your hand is seen spreading a mask on his face.

“Okay… it’s nighttime, my next favourite part of our Sunday aside from being able to wake up next to her every morning,” he smoothly says with a smirk. Standing up from where he was sitting, he angles the phone higher to show you in a robe now applying the mask on your face.

“ Y/n’s currently applying this green spread-thing on her face like how she did on mine and I think you’re supposed to leave it on for 15 to 20 minutes or so, before rinsing it off,” he explains after he flips the camera and zooms in on your reflection in the mirror.

“ and while we leave this thing on our faces she often does those things to her hair and occasionally on mine- but I don’t really know why she does it to me but she says it’s to keep my hair “shiny and silky and curly”... Her words not mine,” he teases you pushing the side of your hips with his, making you turn to him, hands on your waist.

“Back to the face spread,” he goes back to explaining, now looking at you directly as you slowly let out a smile as he says all the things you’ve repeatedly told him in the past about the product that you’ve used. Your fond look is clearly seen by the camera and will soon make your fans go wild because of the softness (as they normally say) of the moment.

“ Yeah so that’s about it, here’s to a well-spent Sunday to everyone and remember to take care of yourself,” he flips the camera to himself for the last time and pulls you to his chest making you say goodnight as well.

Taglist: @benonlinear @t-stark355 @heyitsme-2 @elleeeee21 @holmesstrange @tagakalat @flyestvenustrap @oldermenaremyreligion @cherryred444 @hobiismyhopeu @ilovehotdadsandshit @djarinsstuff @guacala @avengersheart @pukka-latte @lilvampirina

[buriedpentacles]

Hello, good person!

Happy to see you. I hope you are well.

I came with question about two particular Archetypes.

I saw you putting whole thing into words, what I am really grateful for, you may know my religious sideblog, on which I talk about it sometimes. Throughout my path there were 5 Archetypes I was worshipping/working with, now it came to two, which feels most closely to me. With others I still have good relationship, it's now just honouring and appreciation, rather than working.

Two Archetypes I want to ask about are: The Snake, which is pretty popular, but I want to know your opinion, because you are cool, and, the one I have most absence of information, The Deepsea Anglerfish.

Both are very dear to me, and, while, with Snake it's pretty easy find symbolism and role, with Anglerfish it's just nothing.

What would you say? What ways to connect and honour/worship/work with you would recommend?

Thank you very much for answer. I wish you very good day.

Hello!!

Thank you for calling me cool <3 I'm definitely not but I appreciate the compliment nonetheless ;)

Lets talk about these archetypes!

Starting with Snake because, as you said, they're super popular in myth and folklore and are just very well known spiritually. Snakes are associated with cycles, rebirth, poison, medicine and death (to name a few). This symbolism can vary between species (i.e. King Cobras obviously have a more royal association and venomous snakes are more likely to represent death than say a corn snake).

Snake, as an archetype, is really about transformation and transmutation - shedding skin, cycles, venom -> medicine, life -> death (and vice versa) etc. This is the basis of Snake as an archetype (in my experience).

This symbolism comes from the physical properties of snakes. They're one of the most common phobias in the world (there's interesting theories on why this is, relating to our primate instincts) making them symbols of death and fear, they can be venomous but that venom has been transformed into medicine. They grow and change and shed their skin, literally leaving their past behind.

An animal's archetype, their symbolism and their power is directly linked to their physical forms. With that in mind, let's look at the Deep Sea Anglerfish:

Most well known for their luminescent lure, Anglerfish have a illicium, or modified fin, that is alight with symbiotic bacteria. This lure draws in their prey in the darkness of the abyss. These guys have a lot of diversity but generally show quite high levels of sexual dimorphism with the most notable example being in species with "parasite males" - males are significantly smaller than females and attach to them like a sperm-producing parasite when they encounter one another, and males often die if they don't find a female.

When we look at these characteristics in the species, we can start to piece together the symbolism and archetype of the animal. These amazing fish are simultaneously representative of a light in darkness, unseen truth etc and also tricksters and manipulation. They're a sign of obsession and death, as well as survival against all odds.

If I, personally, were to work with Anglerfish, I would look to them for knowledge on finding hidden truths but also on finding what I need and getting by in difficult times. I would work with them perhaps as a trickster-hunter, as a spirit that knows darkness so well they would be blinded by any light that is not their own.

I've already rambled way too much so I'll wrap up!!! I'd say that for working with either of these Archetypes, the ways of connection are not too different from any other Archetype:

Create: draw, paint, write poetry etc that explores and celebrates these archetypes and their complexities

Read, watch documentaries etc, learn as much about them as you can! Understand their tangible forms and you will understand them better spiritually

Protect their physical, individual forms if you can! Look at how to protect native snakes, sign petitions to stop deep sea trawling etc

Include them in your life and practice as often as is sustainable for you!

Sorry this has got so long but please drop another ask or dm or whatever for other questions or futher discussion because I LOVE this topic!!!

[doin-just-fine]

Hiya!! I saw you were inviting people to ask you system stuff, so as a questioning/newly discovered plural I have a couple questions!! If you're uncomfy answering these please feel free to skip any or delete this ask! I know they're potentially quite personal.

How did you find out you're a system?

What does internal communication look/feel like for you?

How do you personally handle self doubt?

The People Wanna Know:

🛸 Hello!! Thank you for submitting this question! I know as a newly discovered system reaching out about system things can be scary!!

For you're first question, the initial "discovery" was after I had gone off my ADHD meds for a week due to the shortages that were/are happening. I have been medicated for my ADHD since I was 8 and hadn't had a break from my meds greater than a day or two since that age. Let me set the scene, I'm finally living on my own, dating a system, and under a lot of stress from other things in my life. I start questioning if I'm a system just a little bit, more of a check in with my psyche and less of theres evidence pointing me here. Then BOOM no meds for a week or so. As I start questioning this and checking in (something I have done before quite a few times since learning and researching about plurality off and on the past 5 years) I notice that theres a really loud voice telling me horrible things about myself every time I try to think and check in about this. At the time this was a very uncommon thing for my mind. As the week progressed the voice and it's emotion got more and more distressing each time it piped up but I kept pushing back against it until it almost felt like a bubble popped. I was fighting the rude voice and suddenly I got a wash of this voices name/identity. It felt like a voiceover layered with different ways of identifying with the name Cloud mixed with telling me off. Ex (tw: aggressive language ): "You're a fucking idiot" "This is stupid" "Dumb ass" "Fuck You Fuck You Fuck You" ((Bubble Pops)) "cloud" "You're a fucking idiot" "name-" "This is stupid" "You're just lonely" "name: cloud" "You're not a system just stop" "i am cloud" "Fucking idiot you're so stupid" "Fuck off fuck off fuck off fuck off" "cloud" To be clear, it was more like the bubble popped and suddenly a new sense of identity started transmitting to me. Before just his words where being projected to me almost like over a loud speaker and then suddenly I was sharing a consciousness with him. This interaction was able to happen because my meds create a bit of a barrier that makes communication more difficult and therefore easier to hide the plurality from me. Once my meds were out of my system it made that negative voice louder and pushing against it easier until everything gave way.

Plurality is covert, meaning it doesn't want to be discovered and will do what it can to stay hidden, thats why gatekeepers exist and why denial spirals happen. You're brain doesn't want you to acknowledge it because then that means you are going to acknowledge what it has deemed unsafe memories, emotions, thoughts, feelings, patterns, ect. It also takes practice to navigate and communicate in your system and you won't be able to be sure of things right away. Things will change as you understand them better. For you're second question about communication I will be referencing how our varying levels of "fronting" works and to avoid making this response incredibly long I will direct you to the original post we first explain it in. We mostly feel each others thoughts rather than hear them. The only time I can every "hear" someone else's thoughts is if they are right next to me and/or feeling something very strongly. Usually if we want to "talk" to each other we talk out loud so everyone can hear what's being said and respond, or we right it out. But usually we rely of deciphering feelings. I can hear my own thought in my head but no one else's usually but they can seemingly hear mine. So I can talk to them in my head and then try to feel what they're emotional reaction is to what I'm saying and decipher their responses. It's a lot of yes or no questions or statements. like playing 20 questions. I can try to expand on our communication more if anyone would like me to. I do plan on making a post about it at some point.

As for your last question that ones very hard. I'm lucky that I told my therapist and she validated me making me feel clinically seen even without a formal diagnosis. She is far from being an expert or specialist but just being told by a medical professional "hey you're valid" was enough to take away the MAJOR denial feelings we would get. Early on it's gonna be very common and very hard. I had a could people go quite when I was first learning because they felt that me just wrapping my head around clouds existence alone first might be a better plan that 3 new people. And even now, it isn’t gone. It rears its head now and then especially because we are an atypical system so a few things that people use to fake claim kinda apply to us and we get worried we’re mistaken. If you have trauma, leaning on that when you have a denial spiral can be helpful like reminding yourself it makes sense for your brain to operate this way. If you don’t have trauma right down moments that feel particularly real and plural and when you start spiralling read those moments and try to remember how real that felt.

I hope this was helpful let me know if you have any questions or need clarification!!

REMEMBER: You're gonna be ok. You're gonna figure it out. Be kind and gentle with yourself and others. Asks are open. Have a nice day.

[deadbeat-motel]

Just saw and commented on your new sinner designs, LOVE them all so much!

I do have to ask because your Deadbeat Motel lives rent-free in my head at this point, already a much better execution than HH IMO. Would Charlie and Valerie be tryna redeem Crymini, Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb- and possibly Husk and Nifty- or would their main focus of redemption still just be Angel Dust?

And one more question, does our silly awkward transmasc anglerfish king Baxter come into this story at all?

Ah! I'm really happy to hear that since I've been using this as an exercise in writing and character-building. Plus It's genuinely the only way I'm able to enjoy HH as I'm fixing so many big issues that I have about it wasting the potential of some genuinely amazing and creative concepts. (AngelDust, Charlie and Nifty come into mind)

Also, I'm really glad you asked (since looking at my schedule, it might take me a while to finish everyone's rewrites and redesigns) So here's the answer to your question (and a sprinkle of trivia about Deadbeat Motel):

Charlie, Redemption and the Sinners:

Charlie and Valerie will be focusing on redeeming Every sinner of the motel, including Alastor (who in this rewrite, is not a patron of the hotel but a powerful overlord who was roped into this project because of Lilith's meddling).

The sinners and Valerie all have varying degrees of faith in this project (A little spoiler-y but who cares, I'm not making an Amazon show.): > Valerie is in this project because she too wants to know if there is a chance for a sinner (maybe even her) can find some way to become good enough to be accepted in heaven. Despite having been taught to know that the answer is "no.", Charlie has taught her to believe in what others think is impossible. > Angel Dust is honestly only here because it's the first place that feels safe for him. He doesn't believe it's possible to redeem him but he's happy enough to have a place that Val can't find some way to ruin. > Despite his pessimistic outlook, there's a part of him that would want redemption to be possible. His son died fairly young and was in heaven, so far out of his reach. If redemption is possible, then maybe he can see him again. > Nifty is indifferent, to her, it was all grown-up talk she wasn't interested in. Redemption? Blegh, if it was a boy, it would most certainly be one she would stray away from. > Cherri Bomb doesn't care about redemption and frankly thinks it's impossible, she's just here because no other Women Group wants her and this is the only one that wants to accept her that has only 3 men. Even if it's possible, she doubts that the people she hurt want to forgive her. > Crymini doesn't even fully understand why she's here and hates hell. She's just in this project because she thinks she deserves to be up there in heaven. She doesn't believe she needs to do any kind of redeeming. > Alastor has absolutely no faith in the project and that he can be redeemed, he thinks it a waste of time as he knows that even certain people belong in hell (Overlords like himself for example. Humans who earned that spot in hell for their Heinous sins while they were alive.) He's only here because he struck a deal with Lilith to look after Charlie. > Pentious...... I'm still working on her

If I had to rank them from Most redeemable to irredeemable, It'd be: Crymini -> Husk -> Pentious -> Nifty -> Angel Dust -> CherriBomb -> Alastor

Oh! and to be true to the name, they are actually running a small motel instead of the grand hotel we see in the show proper. It makes it feel a lot more tight-knit.

Baxter:

To be real honest with you, I have no idea how to write Baxter into this since There's not much I know of the guy and I try to not have duplicates in this rewrite. The mad scientist role already belongs to Pentious. I might make him Pentious' partner in crime, and possibly make Cherri Bomb feel somewhat threatened that some person may have her snake's heart before she does.

Also, Baxter is the one character I might not want to redesign because miraculously, this is the first Vivziepop design that I have absolutely no problems with. I don't even mind the little bowler hat. It's absolutely adorable!

[columbidae-creature]

Entangled in the campus trees (dark-eyed junco hearttype)

(little thing I wrote a while ago and figured I'd put it here! sorry if it's not that good, I am always and forever still just learning how to write)

It is January. The winter has been long, and it will be longer. This is no time for the migratory warblers, for the spring-time thrushes. Not now, not here, in a Canadian January with disconcertingly little snow and a square of bare trees, fractalling against the grey sky behind the concrete and glass buildings. I walk circles beneath them, the morning after trying to hang myself, feeling more nauseous than I ever have before in my life. I am two hours early for my classes, as that was the only time I could convince someone to drive me to school (because I didn’t trust myself to cross the bridge by myself). I walk in circles around those trees. I look up, I see the juncos.

A suicide attempt is not a memento mori, but a memento vivere. A reminder of living, not of dying. Sitting on your bedroom floor, realizing what just happened. Feeling the whole of your life stretched out in front of you and it is just so long, and you have to live it all. Watching the dark-eyed juncos forage under the bare trees, the little flash of white on their tails, the tilt of their black heads on small brown bodies. 

A dark eyed junco is not an answer or a question or a demand, it is a species of medium-sized new world sparrow with a round head, dark body, and a notably long tail. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) The website All About Birds describes them as “neat, even flashy”. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) Their appearance varies greatly by region, but where I live, they wear beautiful brown feathers with black heads, perfectly camouflaged for our dense forests. 

While dark-eyed juncos in most places migrate from the south to the north to breed, where I live, they stay all year. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)  I first read about them in a bird ID book I was given as a child. I always had a special interest in birds but I didn’t pay much mind to them, these small, dull sparrows. I always mixed the sparrows up with each other anyways. But slowly, as I got older, something started to change. I saw something in those tiny wings and glittery eyes. 

As a pigeon, in a way I feel a connection to all birds. I can relate to the twist of feathers, the arrowed wings, the exaltation of flight. Much like I’d assume mammals relate to plush fur and sharp claws, to curling up in a warm den. But the juncos are different. I feel, as if on that day, under those trees, some little tether was cast out between me and the birds, and now, wherever I am, wherever I go, they are there, these little reminders of some fragment of me, some little messenger of my soul.

The world of a bird is a vivid one. With the ability to see UV light, with the smallness of one’s body and the vastness of a trembling world, and the unique verticality of one’s place within it, constantly moving. The barrage of cars and light and people and buildings and trees and insects and colour and noise and- many a time have I found myself dazzled by it, absolutely destroyed by it, lying in my bed in the mid-day, feeling the world rotating around me as if through some extra sense I couldn’t understand. I see the sparrows dive through it. Catching all the noise and nonsense on their soft feathers. I feel as if I need to be taught to die, to be taught to live, to face light with bravery. I think the birds know this.

Birds are creatures of solace. They each have different reliefs to give. Robins show you how to find the good in bad situations. Pigeons remind you to love humans, to find strength in community and compassion. Woodpeckers tell you that there is no clear difference between a home and a tree (unfortunately they always tell me this when I'm trying to sleep). Gulls teach you how confidence will carry you a lot farther than you think it will, and to always (loudly) advocate for your needs. Geese teach you to protect closely the ones you love. Cormorants, the value of precision. Song sparrows remind you that music is your birthright and that all you need to make it is your own body. I could go on. 

There is, I think, no problem that cannot be helped, even just a little, by sitting and watching the birds. Different people, at different times, need different birds, I needed the juncos, pulling thin strands of soul through the bare trees. Wherever juncos are, I am there, just a little. A part of me will never leave those campus trees, as long as there are juncos. They have bound me there. Attached some fundamental aspect of my living up there in those branches. And it’s too high for me to pull it down.

I don’t regret my attempts. I don’t fit into that narrative I hear all the time, that once I did it, once I saw the view, once I felt the cold waters of death pass over my head, I instantly knew that I didn’t want it and would do anything to live again. I don’t think most people fit into it, though I often see it offered to people like it’s some kind of magic answer to their troubles. I can’t offer happy endings, I can’t offer promises or cures. For myself, for you, for anyone.  Answers, questions, demands. I can tell you what happened, at least as much of it as I am comfortable, I can tell you of the sparrows in the winter trees. 

I can tell you memento vivere, you have lived. All the way until you die, you will live. You cannot undo the living that has come and gone, your life is a story of living, no matter how it ends. They lived, I lived, you lived. This is a neutral thing, and no guarantee or command for the future. Only you can decide what to do with that, only I can decide what I will, and I can only hope I will be given the space, and trust and grace I need for the decisions I make, every option an imperfect solution. The grace given to me by those juncos. 

You will, as consequence of your living, leave behind  some debris. Some keys and books and inside-jokes. I am fascinated by these things. Every life lived well leaves something behind to be sorted through, some remnant of the person ghosting coffee shops and bedrooms and parks. For me, one such thing is the juncos. Long past my lifespan, however it ends, I feel I will linger like dust between their feathers. Gleaming on the light in their eyes. Their tiny voices, small but insistent, over and over, “remember, remember, remember, you must live. Both a triumph and a terror.” The sharp and compassionate call of the birds.

Work Cited

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Dark-eyed Junco.” All About Birds, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dark-eyed_Junco. Accessed 16 August 2024.

[kimmiessimmies]

Just a ramble about aesthetics and things

Like most of us, I also saw that aesthetics question going round and since reading it and the responses to it, I've been thinking about it more than I should, which in turn got me thinking about other things Simblr and community related and I decided to share my two cents about it as well.

The question stated in the poll was "How important do you think 'aesthetic quality' is in the simblr community?" and the answers varied immensely. Doing a quick Tumblr/Simblr scroll, the answer would have to be 'very important', because most images showing up are very gorgeous: beautiful colours, great compositions, perfect lighting. However, when I check the tab that shows which posts I have liked, the pattern changes: it's the storytellers who get most of my Tumblr hearts. And then it doesn't matter whether it's part of an elaborate story that's been going on for years with several plot twists, or just a family having breakfast. I like both equally, because both tell a story. Sure, I like a nice Sim picture as much as the next person, but for me, it will always be about the story it tells much more than the aesthetics of it.

The same is true for my own posts: I just want to tell my stories, share my Sims, my town. Yes, I sometimes post picture posts of lots I've built. At first glance, you could say that's about aesthetics more than storytelling. But it's not. Because of the way I play, everything is connected: the story is Honeycomb Valley and everything from the lots to the Sims to the seemingly random things that happen to them are all part of it. Sure, I love creating beautiful lots, but that's mostly because I like realism in my game. I like to see my sims in places that look true to life. And because this is a self-created world, it can look like the best version of that life. 😉

In taking pictures, I try to get the best angle and before posting I run my pictures through Picmonkey to do a bit of basic editing, which is mostly just an auto adjust of brightness and shadows. Literally two clicks and I'm done. I hadn't even heard of Reshade and all those other -shades until a month or two ago. 😄

I read another reply saying how everyone who has a Simblr does so for the notes, because if you're not in it for the notes, why have a Simblr in the first place? This made me laugh. I get the point, but if I was in it for the notes, I might as well leave today. I averaged around 20 notes per post during my glory days and only around 9 since returning after my hiatus. I can think of many reasons why this is:

My posts can seem very incoherent: I can be posting about James Wyler one day and about Luke Bennett the next. These two have never even crossed paths and their stories have no apparent connection whatsoever. I can imagine how this makes my stories and my Sims hard to follow for most.

I don’t post my full stories on here. Reading them requires a visit to my WordPress blog. I understand how most people just want to do a quick scroll, read, like, and move on.

I am and will forever be TS3 player. And we're simply a smaller crowd in the Simblr universe currently.

I was gone for five years.

Now, I could change all of this (except for that last one) and possibly get more followers and more notes. But I don't want to. Yes, of course, I love getting a notification saying someone liked my post. I appreciate the support and the love and it makes me very happy to see there are people out there who like the stories I write, the lots I build and feel connected to my Sims to some degree. So in that sense, I get why someone would say we're all in it for the notes. But I don't care about the quantity. I love those 9 just as much as I love the 195 I once received on my much-reblogged post of The Greenery.

So, I'm not changing a thing. I'm keeping my WordPress blog as my main Sims home because that's where everything connects. Where it does make sense that I'm posting about James on day 1 and about Luke on day 2. Where the story is Honeycomb Valley. Where you can click from a story to a Sim profile and vice versa. And my Simblr will remain a place to just post bits and pieces (and rambles like this) and to stay connected to the ones who are interested in me, my stories and my Sims. I love my 9 notes and I love the 3 people who click on to visit my WordPress blog and read my full stories a little bit extra. 😉❤️

One last thing I would like to add to this already much too-long rant is how much I miss the old Sim community. The days of the forums and the tight-knit online group us Sims veterans were. Discovering and becoming a part of the Sim community back then has meant a lot to me. I miss that. I realise I sound like a grandmother now, reminiscing about the good old days, so maybe it's time to end this post. 😄

Anyway, that's my ramble of thoughts on aesthetics, Simblrs and community. Thanks for reading. 😊

[ctrl-alt-em]

Horse theft is a crime, Delacy

The sun was just barely starting to raise when Silas was woken up by Delacy stumbling around as he pulled his boot on.

“What are you doing this early, kid?” he asked as he rubbed the crick in his neck.

Delacy looked at the window. “It’s not early. It’s morning.” He put on his hat. “I’m heading to the stables.”

Silas groaned and got out of bed. “Why are you going to the stables?”

Delacy smiled. “I’m going to get Humble Ned ready and bring him to the station.”

Silas raised an eyebrow, “Humble Ned, a horse, is going to get on a passenger train with us?”

Delacy nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! I saw Arlo, the train ticket man, last night after me and Garnet left the doctor’s office. He said that a lot of the trains have horse cars so I’m gonna buy him a ticket.” He pulled a crinkled advertisement from one of his pockets. Across the top it read ‘KEYSTONE PALACE HORSE CAR COMPANY’, in the middle was a drawing of a livestock car with a clerestory roof and a horse being loaded onto it, and in smaller print at the bottom ‘5 cents per mile per horse. Limited to 12 horses per car. Number of cars varied by train. Feed can be provided by owner prior to departure or purchased from car supplies.’

“Uh huh, so you’re actually planning on taking the horse with you?”

Delacy tilted his head. “‘Course, he’s coming. Why would I leave him here?”

Silas dragged his hand over his face. “Because you never actually paid for the horse and you didn’t win that bet neither. You just shot the man in the leg. The only reason you haven’t been hanged for horse theft is the lack of a sheriff or marshall in town.”

“If there’s no sheriff or marshall to stop me, why can’t I take Humble Ned with me?���

Silas gave the boy a stern look. “Because theiving is a crime and I’m not gonna be traveling with a kid that thinks shooting people will get him whatever he wants. If someone stole your gun from you and said there wasn’t anyone here to enforce the law so why not take it, would you be fine with that?”

Delacy glared at the floor and pouted, “No one better try to steal Rooster.”

“And you shouldn’t steal Humble Ned. Hell, you got a fortune on you now. We’ll head over there and you can pay him $200. Tell him you got the money plus some now that your job is done.”

Delacy gasped, “But he said the horse was $150! Why the hell would I give him $200?!”

“You shot him in the leg, Delacy,” answered Silas, “There’s not a lot of men who will let that slide just because you're a kid. Paying him off is the easiest way to make sure he keeps quiet and doesn’t decide to cause trouble for you or us later on.”

Delacy thought about it for a moment. “Why can I just shoot him dead then?”

Silas rolled his eyes upwards. “That’s murder and will also get you hanged.”

“We killed those other guys for money,” said Delacy, “How’s that different from killing the stable owner for Humble Ned.”

Silas was ready to go back to bed and the sun wasn’t even fully up. He took a deep breath. “Those were bad people who liked hurting good people. No Deposit Bill is an honest man trying to make a living. The only thing you think he’s done wrong is have something you want. Understand?”

Delacy crossed his arms. “What if he’s not an honest man? What if he’s done bad things we just don’t know about?”

“You can’t shoot a man for something you don’t know. Maybe he is a serial killer, maybe he’s a saint. Unless you have some proof of his wrongdoing, then that’s not justice. It’s just killing for the thrill of it.”

“I guess,” he said with a pout.

Silas shrugged. That’s probably as far as he’s gonna get with Delacy today. “Good, then let’s head over to the stables and see if Bill’s around so you can make things right.”

Delacy scrapped his boot on the floor. “Okay,” he muttered and followed Silas.

The two told Nate where they were going and headed out. The town was as quiet as ever. The sun was starting to rise and the night chill was slowly lessening.

No Deposit Bill was in the corral, putting out a bail of hay as the two walked up to the fence. Silas tilted his hat so he couldn’t see the horses inside the corral.

“Mornin’,” Silas called out. “We have some business if you free.”

The man looked up, caught sight of Delacy, and immediately started limping towards the stable as quickly as he could.

“Goddammit, man, get back here. The boy is here to pay you, not shoot you!”

“Do you think I’m stupid enough to fall for that again!” He yelled back.

“It’s true! I’ll hold his gun if you just come over here!” yelled Silas. “We don’t have time for this nonsense.”

“You didn’t say anything about…” started Delacy. Silas quickly slapped his hand over his mouth.

“Behave, Delacy, or that horse stays here.”

Delacy scowled but stopped struggling.

The stable owner had stopped. He eyed the two uneasily. “Alright. Take his gun then and back up.”

Silas held out his hand. “Delacy.”

The boy begrungently unholstered his gun and handed it to Silas.

The stable owner watched closely. He took a few steps forward. “What is it you want, boy? Come to ruin my other leg?”

“I thought about it but Silas said that was wrong,” Delacy said with a shrug. “He says I have to pay you for Humble Ned and your leg. So here.” Delacy rifled through his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills.

Bill walked up slowly, looking between Delacy and Silas for any signs of movement. He stanched the bills from Delacy’s hand and back up. His eyes widened. “Do you know how much this is, kid?”

Delacy shuffled his boots in the dirt and shoved his hands in his pockets. “200 dollars. Silas helped me count it.”

“It’s 150 for the horse and 50 for you not to go saying there was any ‘miscommunication’ between you two initially,” explained Silas a nod, his spare hand resting his own gun. “Should be more than enough for your troubles.”

Bill looked between Silas, Delacy, and the small fortune in his hand. “Are you folks leaving town today?” he asked Silas.

Silas nodded, “First train this morning.”

Bill shoved the money in his pocket. “Take the damn horse and get out of here. As long as I don’t see the boy again, I’ll consider us even.”

Delacy took off running towards the stable.

Silas nodded at the man. “Much obliged.”

Bill turned away with a dismissive wave and a grunt.

Silas waited across the street from the stables. Delacy walked out leading Humble Ned who had a bridle and saddle on him

Silas raised an eyebrow, “Please tell me you bought that saddle.”

“Victoria let me have it from her stable.” Delacy frowned and wrinkled his nose. “I don’t have to pay her for it, do I? She said I could keep it and then she tried to kill us.” Beneath Delacy’s shirt, the top of his bandages could be seen.

“Nah, if anything we should have taken more,” answered Silas, patting the boy on the back.

Silas stood on the opposite side of Delacy from Humble Ned and tilted hat to block his view again. He was willing to tolerate the beast but that didn’t mean he liked him.

Delacy led Humble Ned and Silas to the train station to wait for the others to join them. The clock above them showed 8:00. “Delacy, why don’t you hitch up Humble Ned and go buy our tickets?”

Delacy smiled and nodded. He took his horse to a hitching post.

Silas collapsed on the bench and lowered his hat over his eyes. After a while, he noticed Delacy wasn’t back yet.

Putting his hat back on right, he glanced around for the blond boy. Over by Humble Ned, Delacy had started braiding the horse’s mane.

“Delacy, what are you doing?”

“Braiding his mane,” he answered without looking away.

Silas raised an eyebrow. “I see that. What I meant is, why?”

“I want Humble Ned to look good for his first train ride,” Delacy said, moving on to the next lock of hair.

Despite himself, Silas couldn’t help but grin. He relaxed back on the bench, listening to Delacy tell his horse about another horse named Buckthorn.

[seb-secretsofanangstywarlock]

About me

Hello everyone! I am Sebastian, and this is my Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch fan blog

Above this text is a picture I drew of Sabrina, I hope you like it

I've noticed there aren't many fans of this show, especially on this site, and if I'm being honest I understand, the show isn't as good as the other Sabrina Teenage Witch shows (at least from what I have heard because I haven't watched any other Sabrina shows).

But I'm also quite surprised by this because Tumblr has also showed love and interest in other media that isn't considered good such as The Lorax (2012), though I guess the Lorax was a lot more popular that this show and definitely made more money

Anyways so I've come to answer some questions that you may have about me and this blog, if you have anymore questions comment them and I'll answer them in another post

Here is the Q&A

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Q: why did you start this blog?

A: I want to find other people who are interested in this particular show, and also introduce people to it so we can start our own little fanbase

Q: why do you like this show in particular?

A: this is for many reasons, I remember watching it a lot on Pop as a kid, Pop is this british TV channel that often shows cartoons for kids, it showed a lot of well known shows such as My Little Pony and Pokémon, but it also showed lesser known shows such as Sabrina: Secrets Of A Teenage Witch. I was about 7 when I first saw it, I think the first episode I saw was the Valentines day episode with all of those evil roses, I wasn't obsessed with the show or anything but I liked it and would gladly watch it if it was on

Then after I grew up and stopped watching TV channels like Pop, I sort of just forgot about SSOATW, I actually did forget about most of the episodes I watched with only a few select scenes lingering in my mind (an example was this scene of Shinji yelling at Sabrina, though since he literally does this in every episode I don't know specifically which episode its from)

That was until a few months ago when I saw an account on TikTok (I'm not exactly the biggest TikTok person btw, I just use it when I'm bored), this account posted songs from TV shows and movies and was basically one of those "nostalgic memories unlocked" type accounts, and one of the videos they had posted was the intro song to SSOATW, I was like "Hey I remember this show!" And I listened to the intro, the intro was surprisingly a tune and I liked it

I searched up the longer version of the intro on YouTube to listen to, and thats when I found that the entire series could be watched for free on YouTube, long story short I decided to watch it and yeah, its not the best thing in the world, and you could blame it on my nostalgia, but I actually enjoyed most of it, I really like the character Shinji, he is so cartoonishly mean to the other characters and is emo, and I'm a bit surprised he hasn't become one of those "Tumblr sexymen"

I also really like the style of the Witch World, yeah certain parts of it look like an old PS1 game, but I love the outfits of the Witch characters and the architecture of the school, and I honestly wish that they showed more of the creatures in the witch world, the only ones that really get much attention are the trolls, who I admit are sometimes funny but I found creatures such as the Ice Giant more interesting

Is the animation good? Nope. Is the writing good? It can vary. Is the story interesting? Sometimes. Are the characters interesting? They can vary. Is the intro song a bop? Hell yes.

So overall I don't really understand why I like Sabrina: Secrets Of A Teenage Witch so much, considering how mediocre it is (its not as bad as some other shows but still, not on Avatar The Last Airbender type level), but at least I'm having fun! 👍

Q: what will you be posting on this blog?

A: mainly fanart, reviews on certain episodes and the occasional fan fiction, mainly about Shinji because he's my favourite (not that I don't like the other characters too, I just find Shinji to be the most interesting)

Q: who is your favourite character?

A: well you've probably already guessed its Shinji, I just think he's really funny, I wish the show had delved more into his relationship with his mother (who is the main villain of the show) and made him less of a one note bully/rival character, but I guess thats sort of the appeal of him, he's stupid and acts all tough, and while he does have potential in magic his cockiness often gets the better of him

Q: who's your least favourite character?

A: I don't really hate anyone from SSOATW (at least not like soul crushingly hate), but one character I dislike is Jim, he didn't do anything that annoyed me, but thats the thing, he hasn't done anything in the show to make me feel anything! He has zero personality and is just the generic love interest guy, I don't get why Sabrina wants to be with him so badly. According to fans of other Sabrina shows, Harvey is actually Sabrina's love interest in the other shows, I would've liked that better, because yeah, Harvey's a nerd but he's got a personality, and there's nothing wrong with being a nerd!

This is honestly a problem I have with a lot of the other human world characters too, Sabrina's best friend Jesse has more personality than Jim, but there isn't really much we learn about her other than the fact she's Sabrina's best friend and is one of the only humans who knows she's a witch. Sabrina's aunts are quite fun but we don't know much about them either other than they're also witches, they own a bakery and they take care of Sabrina. Amy and Harvey are probably the more interesting characters in the human world, with Amy yeah she's the stereotypical mean girl and can be annoying at times, but at least she has personality and actually makes me laugh sometimes

Q: how do you think the show could've been improved?

A: there are many aspects in which the show could've been improved. One is the animation, but I'm not a master in animation so I don't exactly know how they could've improved it. Meanwhile I do know how to write and I have been writing stories since I was a toddler. First of all we need to make the human worlds characters more interesting, either give Jim an actual personality (maybe he's really shy, or he acts over confident to cover up the fact he is shy, or he's friends with Harvey because he's also a nerd and shares his nerdy interests) or get rid of Jim and make Harvey the love interest.

With Jesse, we could hear more about her interests, in the episode with the ice giant she directed the school play, maybe we could show more about her interest in theatre, maybe she aspires to write theatrical productions when she grows up. With Amy we could make her a bit more like Cleo from Monster High (at least in G1), still one of popular diva girls and has a bit of an attitude but still cares about her friends, she partook in the school play Jesse directed, maybe she and Jesse are also quite good friends because Amy aspires to be an actress when she grows up which connects to Jesse's interests in theatre.

When it comes to Sabrina's aunts we could learn more about their backstories before Sabrina was born, we could learn about their lives in the Witch World, maybe one of them used to be terrible at magic and was bullied about it, maybe one of them was very good at magic and was at the top of every class but because of this more pressure was put on them and they were met by jealousy from their peers.

In the witch world we don't have as much problems when it comes to the characters not being interesting, but there are still things we can take a look at. For example in the ice giant episode we learn that Sabrina and Ambrose are cousins, I wish the show had delved deeper into their relationship, and maybe Sabrina's relationship with her other aunt and uncle (wait, does Sabrina have many aunts or maybe Zelda or Hilda is secretly Ambrose's mom? I doubt it but its an interesting concept)

We also learn that Ambrose sort of has issues with his parents seeing as they sort of traumatized him as a child when they threatened to feed him to the ice giant when he didn't eat his food, these issues with his parents are never brought up again

Speaking of parents, like I mentioned before I wish we learned about Shinji's relationship with his mother Enchantra more, yeah we know he's a mommas boy and despite claiming to be his "Own Warlock" he follows nearly everything she says a lot of the time, we also see she doesn't really treat him that nicely which maybe lead to the psychological issues that causes him to literally belittle everyone around for no reason other than to feel superior, maybe this is his way of coping with his mom always asserting her superiority over him.

In the episode chariots of fear Shinji actually learns to work with Sabrina during the 10,000 steps trial Enchantra sends them on, yeah he bickers with her during it but it was cool to see them work together and it could've led to him getting some character development, and I also wish we could've seen more of his opinions on his mom wanting him and Sabrina to get married despite the fact they don't like each other

Lets talk Zanda and Wanda, I think they're twin sisters? I'm not entirely sure, they might be twins but they could also be best friends who happen to have similar names. I wish they had gotten more fleshed out characters, they seem to be one of those "opposites attract" type of friendship, seeing as Zanda is red, tomboyish and more wild while Wanda is blue, feminine and more chill, and I like that sort of thing. I wish we could've seen how their differences affect their friendship and how they manage to get along so well despite being so different, but hey its not like they're as bad as the human world characters.

Veralupa I think is one of the better witch world characters alongside Ambrose and Shinji, she's half witch half werewolf and I think she's very charming! I like how she and Sabrina have a special bond because they seem to be the only 2 half witches in school, she's funny, kindhearted and has a quick temper, she's definitely in my top 5 favourites. My only problem is that I wish we could hear about her struggles of being half werewolf half witch, maybe the witch side and werewolf sides of her family don't get along and she's sort of stuck in the middle because of that. But like Zanda and Wanda, she's 100% not as bad as some of the human world characters

I think Enchantra is an entertaining villain but I wish they could've explained her motive better, like how does Shinji and Sabrina getting married make it so she can combine their powers and steal it from them? How does she even know that them getting married will do this?

Finally it comes to Sabrina, I like Sabrina, I think her being half witch half human is interesting, I like seeing her relationships with the other characters, I think her voice actress does quite a good job and I think her design (both in her human clothes and witch clothes) is adorable. But I wish she was given more flaws, it seems like Sabrina is absolutely perfect in both worlds. In the Witch World she's top of her classes in magic, everyone at Witch school is her friend (except Shinji, but that doesn't really count because no one at Witch school really likes Shinji), she's always able to escape any and all dangers without any lasting consequences, in the Human world everyone also wants to be her friend (even the mean girl rival/frenemy Amy is her friend in a way and isn't as mean to her as Shinji), she doesn't seem to do bad at Human school, her Aunts take good care of her, she lives in a cool bakery, the guy she likes probably likes her back, she rides a cool pink scooter, and everything always seems to go her way

Its not like Sabrina is insufferable or anything because like I said before I like Sabrina, but I wish she was given more flaws than just "being clumsy and awkward". Many people would probably describe her as a Mary Sue type character. The show often describes that Sabrina struggles with being half human half witch, but thats only really brought up in one episode where Sabrina expresses frustration of having to go to multiple hours of Witch school and then another multiple hours of Human school which would obviously leave her exhausted, but like Ambrose's parent issues, this is never brought up again. I wish we could see how Sabrina is frustrated feeling like she can never spend time on herself or her hobbies because by the time she's finished with Witch and and Human school at the end of the day she's too tired to do anything but sleep, making her feel like she doesn't have any real purpose, but no the show sort of just glosses over this

One last thing I'd like to comment on about the show is the magic. I get it, its just a kids show and not many kids really think about the magic system when watching a show about witches and warlocks, but the magic system in this show makes zero sense. Its the type of magic thats only acknowledged when its convenient, and then in a later episode when that same type of magic could be useful in a situation its completely ignored! I also wish that there were different types of magic that the characters could succeed and struggle with (for example maybe Sabrina could be excellent with wand magic but is absolutely terrible at spoken spells)

Q: who are you as a person

A: hi I am Sebastian, I am good at art, writing and other such things. I have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I love Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch, Jojos Bizarre Adventure, Gorillaz, Minecraft, Sonic The Hedgehog, Monster High and Resident Evil (Though obviously I will mainly post about Sabrina). I love goth, emo and scene kid fashion and music (I often draw this type of style too). My favourite Holiday is Halloween. I am from England (yeah the place where we drink tea and eat crumpets and stuff 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧☕☕☕☕). And my favourite colour is green

Q: are you a boy or girl?

A: I am a boy, I know my name Sebastian is primarily a male name but people have gotten confused about my gender before (I assume this is because I present more feminine interests) so I want to make it clear I am male

Q: how old are you?

A: I'm not comfortable sharing my age but when it comes to people interacting with my blog I'd say its not completely inappropriate for kids, but not exactly for little little kids, I do swear sometimes and on very rare occasions talk about inappropriate subjects (though I never go into graphic details or post anything surrounding these subjects entirely and I always put warnings beforehand)

So yeah, that's about everything I can think of, if you decide to stick around I hope you enjoy! And if you don't thats fine, I hope you have a nice day

[braveclementine]

Answers

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs, which consist of Penny Fury, Elizabeth Nelson, Elijah Chan, Katya Venice, Violetta Moscow, Lan Le, Josh, Trang Tien, Ahni Jallow, Mai Ito, and Ghaida Kashual as well as other OCs that will come up throughout the story.

🌰💄 𝓢Ⓣσ𝐑𝕪 💧🥜

"Okay." Elizabeth sighed, sitting down across from the Gods- and singular goddess. Loki looked the most nervous of them all, though Hogun and Fandral had identical looks of worry. Thor looked more like a sad puppy dog than anything else. Volstagg was snacking on peanuts that he had probably gotten from the party so he was happy. Sif on the other hand, looked rather guarded. 

"My first question," She said, crossing a leg over her other one, looking nervously at Heimdall, before scanning the others. "Did any of you. . . did any of you make the connection? I mean, besides Heimdall." 

"No." Thor, Fandral, Hogun, and Loki all said together, though with varying degrees of conviction and level. Fandral and Hogun were solid whereas Thor sounded confused and Lokis' was a whisper. Volstagg looked up and then shook his head before continuing to eat. 

"I admit." Sif said softly. "There were a few times I thought you were similar. But as I thought you would have aged faster, I thought maybe you could be a relative. That Eslanda. . . that you had a family and perhaps you were a cousin or a niece. But at other times, I knew I really didn't know Eslanda at all, so I thought it was just a similarity in your features. But I never really thought about it to much." 

"Why not just ask Viden?" Loki questioned. He wouldn't look at her and she was worried about his feelings towards her. What if they had changed? His black hair hid his face, she couldn't see what he was thinking. 

But she gazed at him solidly. "Because I trust all of you to tell me the truth." 

Loki looked up at her at that. His blue eyes gazing into her brown ones. She hesitated and then asked, "Have your feelings for me changed, Loki?" 

Loki continued to gaze at her, as though he was putting a guard up. As though he was trying to see what answer she wanted to hear so that he could say it. But she wouldn't let her guard down. She needed the truth. 

Loki finally looked away. "I thought they might. I thought. . . if Eslanda ever came back I could be a better father. But knowing that she's you, knowing our past. . . no. I love you like you could be my w- I love you romantically." He quickly stuttered over whatever he was previously going to say. 

Elizabeth relaxed, "Good. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if you had fatherly feelings towards me." She put the slightest smile on her face, relief flowing through every fiber of her being. 

"Good." Loki whispered, the slightest smile on his face. 

"Something I don't understand," Elizabeth said, looking at Heimdall, "Why did you never see me as a daughter?" 

She forgot how much she missed his voice when he answered, "Because I knew we were destined to be in love. And I would not let myself ruin it when I knew you were the only one for me." 

"But my mom was your soulmate." She said shakily. 

"Your mother was complicated. She was reborn every 100 years, always with a different soulmate. Usually Asgardian. They always outlived her. They would always think when she was old enough, they would be together again, but she always left them. Always moved onto the next one. I was no different. She was my soulmate a millennium and a half ago." 

"So she was a player?" Elizabeth asked with a twisted smile. 

"No." Heimdall said softly. "She. . ." It was the first time she had ever seen him hesitate with an answer. 

"She saw life very differently." Sif said, "Her and I were friends for some time. She viewed life like a Midgardian. Like she only had so much time. I told her that she could've had all of her soulmates, but she refused. She said that each life was a singularity. She. . . well she did leave a lot of broken hearts behind." 

Elizabeth didn't know what to make of that. She couldn't imagine dropping a soulmate, even if they weren't a soulmate in the next life. But then again, she was in love with so many people who weren't her soulmates, it was just to different. 

She looked at Loki now, "Why the ability to see ghosts? Why give that to me?" 

Loki sighed, leaning forwards, addressing the floor. "When I was studying magic, I came upon a prophecy. One day, Asgard would fall into fiery ruins. I feared for the people I might lose, my mother, perhaps soulmates that I hadn't met yet. I thought I would- or Heimdall would at the very least- keep you safe. That you would always be there. So that when the day came, you would be my way to communicate with the ghosts." 

Loki hesitated and then said, "I tried it on myself first. I knew it was an experiment, something I wouldn't have done with a kid originally. But it didn't work with me. So I did it to you and I'm sorry." 

Elizabeth shook her head. "My mom said I was a goddess. How is that possible, if I'm half Midgardian?" 

"You still have Asgardian blood." Heimdall said slowly. "Think of it like biology. If both parents have brown eyes, then brown eyes is the dominant gene, but blue eyes could be a recessive gene. Same with pigmentation, take Penny for example. Both parents have the dominant gene for dark pigmentation, but a recessive gene for light skin. Therefore, due to genetics, she's albino. It's the same with you and your blood. Asgardian blood will always take dominance over other blood." 

"Even other. . . alien I guess blood? Jotun, for example." Elizabeth asked hesitantly, looking between Loki and Heimdall. 

"Asgardians are the highest race on the chain." Heimdall nodded. "So yes. But Jotun would still be higher than Midgardian, but lower than Asgardian." 

She nodded, wrapping her head around it. "And I'm the goddess of love?" Her voice sounded so skeptical. "So what about my water and ice powers? My super strength? I don't understand it. Like, with the ghosts and the future seeing, those were physical experiments. But for the ice and water. . . there's nothing in my memories." 

"That may be a mystery only Viden can tell you." Heimdall said. "But as for answering without you asking him, I truly do not know." 

"It could have been an accident." Loki hypothesized. "Perhaps if you were exposed to any of the infinity stones HYDRA had at the time. But I do not know." 

Elizabeth nodded once more. "Do. . . do Odin and Frigga know who I am?" 

"No." Heimdall said. "The King. . . I thought it was better for your safety for him not to be aware and the Queen does not keep many secrets from the Allfather." 

"Safer?" Elizabeth questioned quietly. 

"He has gotten over his prejudice of Asgardians finding soulmates who are not Asgardian. But, there is still the talk over children. You are not a soulmate of Lokis' or Thors', even if we love you." Heimdall answered slowly. "I am not sure what the Allfather would do. If you ever wish to reveal yourself however, that is your decision." 

Elizabeth was quiet, thinking. She wanted nothing more than to go and behead Odin, like he had her mother beheaded. He had tried to have her killed too, until Queen Frigga had stepped in. 

"How much did you see of this future?" Elizabeth asked Heimdall directly. 

"I saw two main outcomes." Heimdall said. "I saw one where many of your friends like Lan, Mai, Ahni, and Josh died. And later that road would lead one way. And I saw one where all of them survived and the path went another way." 

"But they're alive." Elizabeth said quickly, trying to think back to how Josh and Riri had been sitting on the couch together while Violetta, Lan, and Katya had been holding each other tightly, where they must've been watching her memories. 

"Yes." Heimdall nodded. "Everyone is safe and alive." 

"Except Jay." Elizabeth accused, looking at Heimdall directly. 

"I could not see a future where him living would keep the Avengers together." Heimdall admitted. "Everytime he stayed alive, he would keep Trang away. And Tony would unfortunately pull away and the tower would slowly unravel. It was. . . an unfortunate sacrifice for the happiness of everyone else." 

Elizabeth was silent at that. Jay had lost his life for the benefit of everyone else. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. 

But Trang and Tony were happy. So happy. And they had Daisy now, a little girl that. . . would she have existed still? Jay would not have been happy to raise another mans' child. Perhaps Heimdall was right. 

"Anything else?" Loki asked softly. 

"Only one." Elizabeth said, addressing Heimdall again, "I thought I would be mad. That you stayed away while my memories were gone but. . . seeing my own memories and how I had reacted with Bucky, I can't blame you. I would have done the same so. . . I'm not angry but. . . please, Heimdall, I need you in Mateos life now." 

"My Goddess, I have no plans on leaving his life." Heimdall answered solidly. "Or yours if you so choose to continue with us." 

Loki's eyes flickered to Heimdall, but he said nothing. 

"Thank you." Elizabeth said softly. "I'll speak with Wong and Stephen now." 

Heimdall got up and the Gods all trailed out. Wong and Stephen came in, sitting on the same couch they had just left. Stephen looked confused while Wong looked composed. 

"Where do you want to start?" Wong asked. 

Elizabeth licked her bottom lip. "It's. . . my magic. . . it's bad?" 

Wong shook his head. "No magic starts out bad, but uncontrolled. Your magic was strong, especially for a child and very uncommon. I admit, I was shocked she did not want to train you immediately. But she was also the wisest of us, and she could see the future, so I respected her decision." 

"You said I could learn magic though, when I met Elijah for the first time." Elizabeth said slowly. 

"Yes, but I wanted it to sound like an offer." Wong admitted. "Your magic was condensed, the signal was mixed. And you had new powers that weren't magically related. I was concerned and while I wanted to offer, I did not want to force you into it. You never came, so I thought I made the right decision." 

Elizabeth nodded slowly. It was true, it had been her choice not to go to the Sanctorum. Even after the years of  knowing Wong and Stephen. 

"What was this prophecy or whatever around me?" Elizabeth asked. 

"It wasn't exactly a prophecy." Wong answered. "But the Ancient One used to say that Strange would be the best of us, but you would be the  most powerful. It wasn't much of a prophecy." 

"So it's my destiny to learn magic." Elizabeth stated. 

"We choose our own destiny's. You shouldn't feel this is something you must do because the Ancient One has decreed it." Wong said sternly. 

It was quiet for a moment, the three of them sitting in their own contemplative silence. Then Elizabeth said slowly, "You said I have a magical aurora?" 

"Yes." Wong nodded and stood up, "May I?" 

She only nodded in answer and Wong sat next to her. Elizabeth turned her body to face him while Stephen leaned forwards on the couch. He couldn't feel any sort of magical persona, whatsoever. It was as thought it was hidden- and maybe it was. 

Wong lightly took her hand in his, moving his hand around hers, before hers and his aura flared up. The smell of sour lime and some sort of spice like ginger filled the air and Stephen stiffened. 

Wong hadn't been as truthful as he could've been, Stephen realized. The ability to smell a persona aura was something that only the most powerful of sorcerers could bring out. Every human on Earth had an aura. An outline that, if they could see it, could be a multitude of colours or a single colour. If it was a single colour, it meant the aura was more pure. Single colours were exceptionably rare. It was shown when Ghaida's eyes turned orange when communicating with Viden, that her aura was pure orange. 

The colour and the smell and the purity did nothing towards power. It just gave each human a different. . . mystical fingerprint perhaps. 

And the most powerful of them was Elizabeth. The only Sorcerer in history to bring out their auroras. Hers was a light green colour- hence the lime smell. And Wong had a brown aura that was mixed with hints of yellow and orange and red for the ginger smell. Stephen lifted his hands, but her power had not come over him. 

Wong hadn't been literal when he'd said that Stephen had felt her power once before. Stephen had never felt her power. But, if he were to feel it, it would be a recognition of recognizing the most powerful amongst them. Like a person he knew but had never met. It was a strange concept and he hadn't thought he'd meet them in his lifetime. 

And yet he'd been living and sleeping with her for years. 

"Stephen." Wong said and Stephen stood, coming over. He held out a hand, which Elizabeth took and Stephen felt the power. 

His body radiated in shades of blue, dipping into greenish blue colours and also pale whites. There was a smell of (was that honeysuckle?) joined the other two smells. 

"Now control it." Wong murmured and Elizabeth closed her eyes. It took a moment, but they all felt the energy leave and Elizabeth looked drained. 

"You alright?" Stephen murmured softly. 

"Yes." Elizabeth breathed, looking a little shaken. It was silent for another long moment and then she nodded. "I should talk to Clint. Stephen, can you stay behind for another second. Wong. . . thank you." 

Wong nodded, squeezing her hand, and then moved away. He didn't go through the door, opening up a portal to head back to the Sanctorum. 

"Yes?" Stephen asked softly. 

She just shook her head and then wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His heart thudded in his chest and willingly wrapped his arms around her. He felt a little calmer now, feeling her against him. He kissed the side of her head and heard her sigh in content, hugging him tighter.

"I don't know what you plan on doing." Stephen murmured quietly. "But you would be trained by five Sorcerer's usually. The head of each Sanctorum and then the Sorcerer Supreme. So, really four since I'm the head of the New York Sanctorum and the Sorcerer Supreme." 

She smiled a little, kissing his cheek. Then a light came into her eyes and she said, "Loki and I don't have uh. . ." She hesitated, trying to find the right word, "We still love each other romantically. If you or Tony were worried about that dynamic." 

Stephen relaxed a little. "I was a little worried. He had been worried about her- well you I suppose. His daughter and if she would come back with a vengeance. He was very honest when he said he wasn't a good father. But perhaps that was for the best." 

"Heimdall obviously thinks so." She mumbled to herself, then looked at him and sighed. "Well, I should talk to Clint. I'll see you tomorrow Stephen." 

"Good night Elizabeth," Stephen whispered, squeezing her one last time, got up, and left the room. 

"Hey." Clint said, swinging out of the vent quickly as the door shut. He seemed nervous, but Elizabeth just grinned. 

"Hey trouble." 

She got to her feet, approaching him, wrapping her hand around his, sliding her fingers over the metal of the sling ring. "I saved your bird butt." 

Clint relaxed with the teasing. "You sure did little bird." 

Elizabeth hesitated, "Did you. . . know? Is that why you called me the same nickname?" 

"No." Clint mumbled. "It. . . I didn't know it was you. I never put those dots together. But, I thought you were similar. And I thought that you were dead. Or well, the girl who saved me was dead. But she's not, you're not. You're right here." Clint whispered, pulling her into his arms. 

She melted into them, letting him hold her. She was glad that- so far- there hadn't been to much of them pushing her away. That was what she was afraid of the most. Along with. . . no. She would ask Wanda later. 

"Are you okay?" Clint asked as he pulled back, gazing into her eyes. He remembered them now. The mischief the two of them used to get up to. And other events that weren't seen in her fleeting memories. How one time, the circus hands had worked her so hard, she'd fallen from the tightrope. He thought that she would die, hitting the ground that hard. But she'd only broken her arm and he'd been so relieved. 

And they'd wanted her back on the rope the next day. 

And then the church. . . he didn't want to think about the church. He was glad none of those memories had been shown. 

He squeezed her tighter. 

"We're here now Clint." She whispered softly, looking up at him, as though knowing where his mind was. "We made it here." 

He nodded, his forehead pressed against hers. 

She pulled away slowly. "Clin-" 

"Do you still love me?" He asked softly. "Us? Or is it- is it only Bucky now? Is he going to be the only one you can love? I mean, he's always been your favorite regardless so I guess I'm just not sure where that leaves the rest of us. And I don't want to lose you, but if you can't love us then that's fine too because-" 

"Clint." She whispered, squeezing his hands and he cut off his rambling. "I don't know what the future holds. But I know this much, I love all of you and not just Bucky. I don't. . . there are things I will talk to all of you about tomorrow. But no, you're not going to lose me." 

Clint nodded, clearly relieved. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that so soon. I-" 

She cut him off with a kiss and he relaxed completely. She smiled, pulling away slowly. 

"I have to go talk to Bucky." She whispered softly. "I'll see you at breakfast trouble." 

He watched her leave the room, and then headed upstairs to his loft, wondering what decision she would be making, in the morning.