#i originally intended to just add in the tags but then i got really into it

[the-troll-book-of-mormon]

i wanna add that as soon as davesprite becomes davepeta and loses the sword of forced heroism/masculinity, they are immediately ready and eager to jump into action. davepeta being the one who ultimately brings down lord english in the epilogues really solidifies that the issue is not heroism or masculinity itself, but being forced into it. as soon as they were free from expectations/destiny and allowed to be whatever they wanted, davepeta chose to be a hero. they could have been irrelevant like most of the sprites were, and nobody would have cared, but they didn't. davepeta wanted to fight lord english, and not because they were "supposed" to.

what it says to me is that dave likely would have become a hero independently, if he'd been allowed a choice, but because he was violently forced into that role, it ultimately destroyed him. notably, the version of dave that did fight lord english had his head bitten off, before the villain who is the embodiment of toxic masculinity was finally defeated by the first nonbinary character in homestuck. like holy shit.

anyway, i think it says a lot about dave's relationship with his gender. maybe dave's Cool Guy presentation is what he'd choose in a different environment, but because he had no choice and was forced to perform masculinity for his survival, it's destroying him.

Pondering the sword as a symbol, in the context of Davepeta's arc. In the author commentary, it is said that the unbroken sword is representative of "The fully manifest, wholly embraced heroic arc. Suppressing reservations, answering the call, putting the tough training to use, despite the cost to oneself."

How fitting then, that Davesprite is impaled with one. This is an extremely obvious cost but also presents the question: what does all that really mean if you aren't the hero anymore? Post-retcon, they become part of Davepeta, their life and self are again irreconcilably changed when they become themself. I have an angle to look at this from. Dave connects their relationship with heroism, and thus the sword symbolism, to his relationship with masculinity.

"living up to the storybook idea of what a hero to me feels almost interchangeable with living up to societys snapshot of what a hard manly dude should be"

Fascinating in the context of Davepeta being nonbinary, and additionally, not wielding a blade. The dichotomy of broken/unbroken swords left behind for something new.

[thinkinonsense]

Bewitched: The Rake and The Risk

˖⋆࿐໋ james logan howlett ✦ bridgerton au series

bewitched masterlist

chapter two

cw: flirting (mix of 1800s and modern day), jealousy, old time thoughts of women and marriage, james is a slut

pairing: viscount!logan howlett x fem!reader

a/n: sorry this is later than intended! i try to aim for a new chapter every friday but college is kicking my ass right now. next chapter will be longer!! also!! if you want to be tagged for the bewitched series please comment on the original bewitched masterlist post linked above this<3 there are so many of you lovely readers who want to be tagged and i need a more organized way to find everyone to add. sorry for the minor inconvenience. i appreciate every one of you!!

main masterlist

in all the twenty-nine years of knowing james howlett, lady chamberlain never would have pictured him coming to her home to ask about the eligible bachelorettes of the ton.

"what do you want to know, my dear?" lady chamberlain asked, sipping a cup of tea as the two of them sat in the living room.

"i am coming to you because as you know, my mother is expecting me to wed sooner rather than later and i was wondering whom might be the best women to seek out this season." james said, lying through his teeth.

if james really wanted to know who the best women this season were, he would've just opened the latest issue of lady cavanaugh. both of them knew this but it was more fun for lady chamberlain to tease the viscount.

"hm.." she smiles. "anyone in particular?"

"no."

the lie falls with ease. too much ease but lady chamberlain sees right through him.

"well, i did take note last night that the only lady you danced with was lady worthington's niece." she remarks slyly.

"the french girl?" he asks, playing coy. "i think i remember her."

lady chamberlain wasn't going to play games with the boy in front of her.

"i would hope so, you seemed quite fawned of her."

"i don't know if i would say that much."

"hm, so you don't want to know who she's planning to attended the mask ball with?" lady chamberlain smirks, knowing she's got him hooked.

everyone in the ton looked forward to the queens mask ball each season. it was the perfect way to help break the usual ice of finding 'the one'. that's where most couples tend to meet for the first time.

"let me guess..." james rolls his eyes. "prince harrison?"

lady chamberlain shrugs, placing her tea cup back on the dish. "the two of them talked quite a bit after you stormed off. she seems quite smitten with him."

"it's the first ball of the season. she has plenty of time to look for a better husband." he scoffs.

"well, dear... there are people who search their whole lives for something that's been right in front of them the entire time."

the elderly woman's words rang true in the room but james was far too in denial to notice them. instead, his ego was eating him alive. why would you not jump at the opportunity to be with the viscount?

˖⋆࿐໋

this afternoon was the queen's annual tea party. all the ton's debutantes gather to make friends and share their predictions for this season. anxiously, you paced the cobblestones outside, waiting for the carriage to pick you up.

"dear, it's not lady-like to pace back and forth." your aunt calls out from the doorway.

"my apologies," you reply, not stopping your feet.

"you're snagging the hem of your gown!"

thank heavens that the carriage was approaching. she waves you off, wishing you luck on your first adventure alone in the ton, wishing desperately she could join you.

your goal today is to make at least one friend. you'll even settle for an allied.

once you arrive at the queen's castle, you step inside. covered in soft pastels, flowers, and butterflies; you immediately feel calm. everyone is chatting and sipping tea at the tables. you sit down in the first available seat.

"you're the diamond, correct?" someone whispered next to you asks.

you turn your head to see a blonde girl to the right. she's wearing a soft yellow dress that doesn't quite fit her right.

"correct." you nod, offering the girl a smile to which she returns.

"shouldn't you be sat with the queen?" she asks, nodding to one of the beautiful girls surrounding the queen.

"probably but this was the first seat i saw." you joke, sipping on your tea.

the girl laughs with a small nod and introduces herself. her name is bridget and her father is a jewelry maker for the queen.

"i saw you dancing with the viscount last night at the ball." she smiles. "do you fancy him?"

almost choking on your tea, you shake your head.

"no, no, no. i don't fancy the viscount." you state.

bridget hesitates, watching your body language closely. the pressure gets you to speak up again.

"why do you ask?"

"because the viscount is a major rake."

the word rake rolls off her tongue with pure disgust. you'd never heard someone with such respect as a viscount be called something so dishonorable. rakes were known for their ability to seduce and lead on women with no promise of marriage.

"but he talks of his desire for a wife?" you question, more to yourself than to bridget but alas, she answers anyway.

"only because his mama is practically begging for a viscountess." bridget whispers.

you suppose this made sense due to the fact that most rakes never even intend to wed and after your conversation with james last night, he made it clear that marriage was not something he craved.

"trust me, you aren't the first lady to attempt to tie down the viscount. well, at least you have a shot since you're the diamond this season and all." the blonde girl rambles.

"oh, heavens no!" you repeat.

"hm, that's sad..." she sighs. "he is quite handsome."

"most definitely but i intend to wed for pure reasons."

"if that's truly the case, stay as far away from the viscount as possible."

˖⋆࿐໋

for the rest of the afternoon, bridget's words stuck to the front of your brain. if james wasn't so intolerable, perhaps he would make a good husband to someone.

once everyone finished with their tea, you decided to go sketch in wisteria park. the weather was beautiful outside and gave you the perfect inspiration needed to work on a new piece. normally, you would only draw on the sides of the letters written to your father back home. no one was more supportive of you than your parents. in a world where women mean nothing more than their wombs to society, it was rare to have parents who let their daughters have dreams.

sat on a patch of grass near the small pond, you set up your quill, small tray of paints, and paper. in the area where you decided to sit, across from you stood a beautiful cherry tree. as you work on the outline, you can hear footsteps approaching.

"i should've known i would find you here." a familiar voice says.

you don't even glacé up at the person near you, paying no mind to the man who seeks your attention most.

"do you want something, my lord?" you ask, fighting the urge to roll your eyes.

james' head spun every time those last two words fell from your lips, sounding to pretty the way that they roll of your tongue.

"you may call me, logan." he says. "if you so wish."

"logan?" you cock a brow, finally looking up at him.

"it's my middle name." he replies awkwardly.

"hm..." you pretend to ponder for a moment. "that's far too personal for me."

" 'too personal'? how might that be?"

james stands arms crossed against the cherry tree, glaring in your direction. you don't rush to answer his question instead you continue adding details to the branches and trees. he huffs under his breath, clearly irritated your lack of interest in him.

"well, we have no intentions to be together this season and we aren't friends so, there's no need for nicknames and such." you reply nonchalantly.

"you don't know my intentions"

a sweet giggle escapes you. james brushes off the warmth flooding his chest, rather focusing on topic at hand.

"oh, i bet i do."

suddenly, you drop your quill and give him your undivided attention.

"why are you even here, james?" you sigh.

"i was visiting an old friend this morning and wanted a stroll through the park."

"an old friend?"

the words left your lips before you could stop yourself. james was quick to notice the tone shift. he smirks, walking over to you and sitting on the grass to your right.

"mhm..." he hums.

"is she viscountess material?" you scoff, returning to your scribbles.

"and why would you care?"

why did you care? it's not like the two of you really know each other; yet, something about james made your blood boil. perhaps it was how he has a near perfect life and somehow still complains. he has no issues in finding a partner because everyone wants him. if he didn't have his head up his own ass, he would realize that.

"i don't."

"sounds like you do."

james liked watching your face scrunch up at little with dislike for him. how your pressure on the quill increases. how you avoid his gaze. how you pretend he doesn't exist next to you.

"i don't." you repeat. "i just cannot believe that someone like you is complaining about having to take a wife when all the women of the ton are smitten with you."

"someone like me?" james pretends to be offended but he was too busy enjoying this riled up version of you.

"someone who never gone with unmet needs, never struggled financially, never been under minded or overlooked." your words come out sharp but james doesn't let them cut deep.

"look, sweetheart..." he squints those hazel eyes, glaring deep into your soul and leaning in closer than he should've. "you know nothing of my families struggles."

"and you know nothing of mine."

james was so close to you. your noses almost touching before you pull away. being within his close proximity made you feel a foreign warm tingle deep in your stomach.

thank heavens that the park was empty, minus the two of you. the last thing you needed was for someone to see the two of you this close and label you as one of the viscounts mistresses.

"i-i must get going." you stutter, collecting your belongings.

"where are you off to?" he asks.

"i'm supposed to be accompanying lady chamberlain and prince harrison to dinner this evening."

his face scrunches with distaste at the mention of the prince. also, why would lady chamberlain hide this piece of information from him?

"isn't it quite early to prepare for dinner?"

"i must look perfect for the prince." you smile.

but not at james. you're smiling for that no good excuse of a prince who couldn't see that you already were perfect.

"you look fine to me." he huffs.

"it's vocabulary like that, that keeps you from finding a wife."

"and to think it was my insufferable personality that kept the ladies of the ton away."

it's difficult to hide the laugh you want to let out. instead you bite down on your cheek, not giving him the satisfaction of your laughter.

"ha ha ha." you mock dryly.

"do you always have a stick up your ass?"

james question makes your jaw drop. never in your life have you heard a man speak so vulgarly.

"that's no way for a viscount to speak to a lady." you scold. he can't help but roll his eyes at your comment.

"i'm sure that a man has spoken even more colorfully to you."

"what are you insinuating, my lord?"

"that i highly doubt a lady such as yourself still has her virtue." he shrugs.

never has your head spun so fast at a single sentence. you couldn't fathom that a rake like him has the nerve to question anyone's virtue.

"excuse me, viscount howlett but my virtue is none of your business." you rage. "and you have quite the nerve to question it."

"and why's that?"

james was playing with fire but he didn't mind getting scorched by your flames.

"i've heard the stories about you."

"like what?"

"like what you do with the promiscuous women of the night." your words leave a smirk plastered on his face as he watches you intensely.

"don't act so innocent either." james hums. "i'm sure you've had your fair share of promiscuous adventures in france."

a flush of red hits at your cheeks. the last person you wanted to talk about promiscuous acts with is james. mostly because your lack there of. only your own hands have touched you so intimately.

james studies your facial expression before it clicks for him. he shouldn't ask. he really shouldn't. but come on, he has to.

"have you never—" his words come to a halt when there's a ruffled noise inching closer.

"i'm under no obligation to answer you, viscount howlett." you scold, collecting your belongings.

"hm... seems like you've already answered my question." his cocky tone sends you over the edge of annoyance.

"shouldn't you be more concerned with finding a wife rather than my virtue? this season will be over before you know it and you will need to find one sooner rather than later."

james admired the way you spoke with such sharpness. you were shy and reserved but the weight of your words were heavy. there was grace in the way you spoke and he loathed it.

he loathed how perfect you were. how absolutely perfect you would fit into his life. how perfect you would be at being his little wife. only needing to plan parties and open your womb to his child. he would never stop you from your dream of painting either. all he wants is someone who can handle the duties that come with being his other half.

by the time james snaps out of his thoughts, you are long gone. off to get ready for your date with a man who's twice as rich as him and much more likable. the only thing he could do is hope that nothing good comes from this dinner.

──★

i'll tag everyone else who commented in the morning when i wake up <3

tag list: @v3rdee @squishyfruitloop @caswithdasas2021 @espressopatronum454 @brittdead @fake-bleach @blossoming-hotch @hotbisexualmess @imaginecrushes @wh0re4steelblue-eyes @b0nes-n-all @tvdelrey @prettyoatmeal @speedyvoidlove @lunavelha @merrul @bubblegumholland @divinesols @seasonofthenerd @adoredire @gl0wingsl0wtown @imithicwolf @charityjoy22 @sun7lowxr @melsunshine @internetitgirl17 @tsumukei @dolliestprncess @st4rrlighttt @crypticcowboys @mirrorballpalo @princessanglophile @planetxella @battieshroomz @tonyhawkstits @shinyshayminflower @babey-fruit-bat @oraclic @glnnnhaps @criminaly-supernatural @pxrwinkle @im-nowhere-but-also-somewhere @tighrenicotine @midnightvitality @loonalockley @notbaldy420 @squishyfruitloop @summer-343 @reidshearts @marii-ren @fictionalmen-dilflover @brisingamenwearer @pedrohoe04 @taextannie @jrihensjd @tumharisakhi @readerofallthingss @etmoisara @paladinshenanigan-blog @hauntedwombateggmug @i-am-not-a-morning-person-83 @zaggprincess2 @atjlovverr @fallingfromjupiter @cards-and-daggers @reidsworld @imsuperbored @golden-ebony @joyfulpeanutsalad @mysticalmarvelousmagpie @thighridinglogan @pieuui @fanficcrow @alsoprettyinpink @rooroen @barbecuetiddy @potato-painter @milfhunter69sstuff @bel20blog @hypermarvellove @modicum-ofnothing @gemofthenight @laureniswolverine @d3ad2you @goldphish @mxtokko @ovohanna24 @i-voluntears @cherrypieyourface @petrichor-incorporation @csigirl3137 @justannie18 @yxtkiwiyxt @maddielovesurmom321 @madscape @mesopotamism @multifandom-boss-bitch @tecolote2755 @ririkacchi @crownofdecit @snow30285 @lenoradarkstriderr @willybillyletsgetsilly @sleepilysworld @mynatureworld @biiolumii @phantombaby @natlovesu @tumharisakhi @lokiswify @saph-cyare @burntsaltsblog @shedobeclownin @itsjuwulia @hazelwebster @cake-and-umbrellas @aureliusbrutus @loving-barnes @valorant-v @annagraceevanss @opheliaas-stuff @louisymomo @midnightvitality @ricespy123 @livingonsillylovesongs

[yourcutelittlegayfriend]

No More Chances:

Fate's Prologue Assessment

CUT!

Let's review your scrip again, yes?

• Regression is the act of going back or a return to a past.

• You can guess what types of manwha I've reading.

• That's the AU for this fic that I intended for Y/N to have.

• Regarding about their past, I have mentioned that they have been regressing far too many times, reliving a new and yet still old life.

• Answer to why so many resets is possibly because of the 'butterfly effect' or something where even repeating resets can achange the outcomes because of the new actions you perform.

• Y/N might have done something that was different from 'the script' that led to a bad outcome resulting to another reset.

• The past or Y/N's original life is permanent and can never be change.

• Y/N will always come back as the young abandoned orphan of Bruce Wayne, who was neglected and forgotten in favor of his other children.

• Resets can only happen when Y/N is literally killed, Y/N does not have the power to control it, if Y/N want to reset, you know what you have to do, that's the price you must pay.

• Life is precious and if you want to play with it, it'll cost you your own life and sanity.

• I headcannon that death already know about this but decided not to interfer, it's not like you're an actual immortal or anything, I guess you can say you're already punishing yourself by caging your fate in a loop hole.

• Going back to the backstories, everything is a bit blurry but will be revealed by flashbacks (That's what happens when you keep **** yourself).

• Y/N remembers their mother but not her face or voice, they remember moments with them but only the fleeting ones, their touch, the warm kiss on your forehead and the cold hands that touched your bloodied cheek before it drop to the ground.

• Y/N is born and raise as a Gothamite more so on the poorer parts of Gotham.

• It's a bit ironic that Y/N's backstory is almost the same as Bruce if not for a little difference in narrative, A young mother finally earnings extra money from work and took her kid out for some mother and child bonding as a request for their birthday but the night ended with a robber being a little trigger happy and shot the mother in an alleyway grabbing all her money and possesions while leaving the traumatized child to watch their mother's life leave her body.

• Commissioner Gordon arrived at the scene and couldn't help but reminiscent a little wayne boy also sitting on the cold concrete floor of crime alley crying for his parents death years ago.

• Implied that in the next parts that Y/N will become mature and more far off than the other version of her.

• Y/N might be a kid again but they remembered some of their supposed 'ending' and in return gain more than enough trauma.

• It might be a little bit corny or too much but I want Y/N to be a little petty or hateful to the rest of the family in the upcoming interactions.

• Only acting nice and patient around the rest when you face them, they're detectives I know but how are they gonna find out when your fake acting doesn't really matter from the rest of their problems am I right?.

Lil tiny note : I want this fic have a lil angsty with some comedic stuff would that be alright?

That's all I got for now but if any of you guys want to add more traits for your own Y/N you guys can add it down.

Let's take 5!

I'll prepare for your next lines, ok?

〖 = ✧ = 〗

Do you guys want me to tag you on this stuff as well or just on the main story?

[fatratinatophat]

Promised you guys your Scraps and Goob headcanons since that poll won so here they are!

If someone wants to steal these, you're more than welcome to, I'd prefer getting credit if possible. If someone ends up using these for a comic or fanfic or something I'd love to see it so pls tag me or PM me I love reading my silly things :]

Scraps made Goob because she wanted a fellow Toon that would share her interests and hang out with her since the others weren’t really particularly crafty and didn’t share her interests

Goob just randomly showed up in Gardenview one day, both employees and other toons were extremely confused but the company decided to monetize on the free toon. His random appearance is also why he’s not on almost any posters

Goob was originally her height but he ended up growing a lot taller than her, Scraps is not happy about this development

His sharp teeth were also unintended, growing in randomly as he got bigger, Scraps was very confused

She originally planned to make his arms like the rest of his body, but underestimated the amount of fabric it would take to make him, so she improvised with long strips of rubber, poly beads (Makes them heavy) and red and blue felt to make his hands, which is why they look out of place (She intended to replace them, he wanted to keep them)

He couldn’t lift his arms for weeks because they were too heavy, eventually he figured it out

Dog and cat coded, you can guess who’s who

Both get zoomies cause I said so

Scraps WILL sit in boxes and circles on the floor, you cannot stop her

Scraps purrs and kneads when they’re both just hanging out instinctively

Goob is tall, Scraps is short

Goob is extremely clumsy, and this causes him to get rips pretty frequently, Scraps usually sews him up, whenever a spot starts to look too strange cause of all the sewing, she will cover it with a custom patch

Scraps is made of construction paper with her hands being Pom poms, her parts have to get replaced quite frequently, Goob helps her with this

Goob is usually very calm and non confrontational however, if someone is bullying Scraps and ONLY Scraps, he gets slightly violent and will slap whoever was talking to her rudely, this hurts quite a bit because of the poly beads in his hands. Nobody dares to say anything rude to Scraps when her brother’s nearby (Except the rare Shrimpo insult when he forgets)

He has ONLY ever slapped Shrimpo and various Gardenview employees

Scraps has mauled the employees on multiple occasions because they were mean to her brother so they try and avoid him whenever they’re together (Which is almost all the time)

The both of them get put in “time out” whenever they get aggressive towards the employees, where they’re locked in a closet for a couple hours as a punishment. This does not persuade them, it just makes Scraps mad (If one of them is stuck in time out, the other will refuse to work until they’re freed so they never stay in there long)

Goob doesn’t get treated particularly well because of his random appearance (New toon to look after while you’re getting paid minimum wage who’s clingy) so the employees don’t bother taking proper care of him. Scraps hates this and has made it her personal goal to make the employee’s lives a living hell so Goob’s considered the “obedient” one (He’s still a good boy even though the employees suck)

The two of them are basically attached at the hip, rarely ever apart for long periods of time, let alone at all

Neither of them can feel pain because they’re made of craft materials, they can feel what’s happening to them though it just doesn’t hurt

When either of them lose all their hearts in a round, they don’t die they just simply are incapable of moving anymore (Ripped off arms/legs, etc)

Phew alright I’m done, might edit this in the future if I get any better ideas to add but here they are, all the headcanons I have so far for these 2. Can you tell I think about them too much?

Below is ur promised doodles (They’re very low effort they’re not good also do me a favor and pretend I drew Scraps’ head right in the first image, ok?)

[riacte]

subjective + critical (NOT CRITICISM) wild life thoughts (no spoilers for winner, spoilers for finale gimmick)

Sorry for being back again. Anyways after watching Wild Life, I came to the conclusion that it's very... Grian. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. In a way, it's always been very Grian (understandably so because it's his server and he picks the cast)— server wide event that gives everyone an opportunity to be involved, mechanics that toss you around haphazardly, random factor for funsies— I've watched Grian's minigames since HC6 Tag, Demise, etc, and there's a Grian-ness that I can't explain but I feel and recognise with my soul. This isn't Grian crit, I respect him massively for coming up with engaging gimmicks, I loved Demise 1, he definitely changed the scene of Hermitcraft 6, etc.

I previously talked about the experimental nature of Life series and how the emotional investment in Third Life was somewhat unintended. Wild Life is an experiment that's giving the expected results of Third Life— Grian-esque experimental gameshow about hanging out with friends and reacting to insane shit flung at you. The finale gimmick is all of the wild cards (seemingly individually chosen because of fun factor, no wider theme that connects them) together at the same time. It's fun! It's dramatic! It... doesn't have to have a deeper meaning!

Then comes the fandom's Swiftie tendency to connect everything (it's me, I'm the Swiftie), which is an inevitable and fun part of engaging with media. Famously, the LimLife winner symbolism debate. Coincidentally, the first three winners fit into celestial symbols, but it starts to fall apart with Martyn. But we love connecting stuff and making up symbols/blessings/curses, so we stuff Martyn and the following winners in anyway to honour them.

But there comes a point in which hyperanalysing everything sometimes feels like a stretch. This is a natural part of the life cycle I suppose. You can't recatch the lightning of 3L in a bottle, much like how All Stars Blue Bats doesn't hit the same as MCC9 Blue Bats. Wild Life is perfectly entertaining on its own, but to me it feels weird that it's tacked onto the Life series, like it's an afterthought. It has all of the cast so far, we get a lot of nostalgia bait, existing duos, but... it personally, subjectively doesn't feel like The Life Series TM. Like, it sure is A Sequel and Continuation of the plot but it feels like a Beach Episode. It's fun to watch! And... yeah!

And then you start to think. So maybe it's us who've been assigning a lot of Meaning to the first generations of Life series and now with Wild Life, it's finally reached its intended vibe of Fun Experimental Grian Gameshow. I remember someone said "what you're missing in the OG Life series was never there in the first place" and I see that viewpoint, it was like a collective hallucination. I'm gonna spitball if Wild Life was written by the fandom with attempts to "script coherent themes":

Fixed six sessions, first five gimmicks refer to previous five seasons, sixth sessions is every gimmick all at once

Clear "wild life" theme, which would keep the snails and superpowers probably, add possibly Origins, and cast members are encouraged to play into the theme (like BigB this season)

Dice theme, something about rolling 1-6, ties in with people starting with 6 lives

And we got the Gameshow. Individual gimmicks are quirky but don't seem really tied to each other. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you just have a bunch of fun ideas and throw them into a pot. But the fandom expects to have something to work with due to the meta starting from 3L. Even if it doesn't fit perfectly, it's fun to make it fit! That's why we do analyses and symbolism! It's the bread and butter of fandom!

This is where I bring up the Life Seriesification of Hermitcraft, which is probably related in ways I cannot fully explain. The Life series isn't just a fun gameshow, it's a JOB. It brings you clout and views and fandom relevance and fandom propaganda which brings you views and income. The Life hermits have generally become a closed circle, with exceptions like Ren who hangs out the most with non-Lifers. The fandom's desire to connect Life series meta becomes so overwhelming that it seeps into non-Life series stuff, prominently HC, and the non-Life hermits start to get sidelined. Okay, it's more like Life series meta is interesting, so your Lifers become more interesting, so you care about them more, so you care about their HC POVs more. It's a weird reinforcing circle. And if you step out of it for a while (Ren), your clout decreases (Ren), and even when you come back, you kind of.... don't get the same level of mainstream attention anymore even though your personal fanbase is going insane (Ren). (BigB also gets sidelined, although that is a different discussion.)

Anyways it Isn't That Deep and the main reason is probably The Novelty/Interest Is Gone. That and the segmentation of the HC fandom, which I am absolutely guilty of. I don't "need" to post or watch popular POVs because I get to know about them through osmosis anyway. So I end up only "caring" about a few POVs.

I am aware this doesn't make a good deal of sense and I'm sorry for being a party pooper of sorts. This is not criticism, just trying to analyse it through a critical lens.

Life series can keep on being a gameshow. It can be whatever it likes at this point. I'm just sick of it invading Hermitcraft fandom and tilting the balance overwhelmingly in favour of the Life hermits. It's suffocating.

Final reminder to myself, but replace "yourselves" with "Life series fandom":

[gigglemugger]

Shaking With a Deadly Fear.

Fandom: The Evil Clergyman - H.P. Lovecraft, Jeffrey Combs in general.

Pairing: None. Gen.

Synopsis:

Sally Elmer is excited to see her bigger sister Susan Brady again. However, upon arrival, she realizes there's something really wrong with her and that it might have something to do with a certain lover she has taken in the past. Now, Sally must go against the demonic Evil Clergyman for the hope of getting what's left of her sister's soul back.

A.K.A. An entirely TOO long Evil Clergyman, basically sequel fic, that was beamed into my brain after I finished watching the movie the first time.

No comment.

Absolutely not beta read.

THE GIF IS DECEPTIVE. THERE IS NO SMUT HERE. I'M NOT GOOD AT WRITING THAT. IT'S STILL GRAPHIC THOUGH.

Word Count: 12,052.

AO3 Tags: The Evil Clergyman - Freeform, I will gladly go down as the only person in history who wrote a 37 page Evil Clergyman fanfiction, Jeffrey Combs is in this but he's not the main character by far, Yes I am sad as well, I Don't Even Know, Why Did I Write This?Psychological Horror, Family bonding over having a sister possessed by the devil and needing to save her still counts right?, Family, I wonder if this is what H.P. Lovecraft envisioned when he wrote The Evil Clergyman, Of course not this isn't even what the screenwriters envisioned when they wrote The Evil Clergyman, I basically gave the main character a new family and life cause she didn't have any, i don't know how to tag things.

Language: English.

CW: A LOT. This is not my regular fanfic, it's more like an edgier version of what I write nowadays (which is either comedy, character studies, or melancholic horror, or all three) so: Men being gross, graphic depictions of violence, possession, sexual themes, suicide, smoking.

AO3 link.

Work notes (important):

For notes, I'll simply post what I prefaced my word document with, which I recommend reading cause it does clarify some things:

The Evil Clergyman Fanfiction cause why not. I mean, why not. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t write this right now.

Things I’ll add:

1. Name for the main character cause she doesn’t got any.

2. A life and family for the main character. She also doesn’t got any. Poor thing, she just exists, really.

3. Ok, scratch that, apparently she has a husband and her name is… *squints* Said Brady. Is it a typo? Is it supposed to be just Brady, the last name, but they (director? Producer?) said Brady one time and whoever wrote the credits thought that was the first name? Very confusing stuff.

4. Whatever, I’ll keep Said as the name. Anyone who wants to correct me, feel so free to do so. The world is your commentary oyster. Go ham.

5. Oh God, if I keep Said as a name will I have to write “Said said?” Oh no.

6. Her name is now Susan. Said is a nickname. It was the natural thing to do.

7. Ok, apparently no one knows shit about this film, cause I can’t find anything online. Like, what did they intend with this (short) movie other than making an erotic rereading of the original Lovecraft tale? I mean, whatever, works for me.

8. I don’t completely understand the setting of the film. It seems to be a monastery, but also… Not? I’ll just say it’s a tower and that father Jonathan was working at church. At which point does this cross the point of fanfiction to simply just fiction? Who knows?

9. Did Jonathan’s bedroom have a table?? I’m not gonna watch it again to see if it did, I already watched it twice. I mean it’s good, but it’s not that good. The original Evil Clergyman™ has a desk, so I’ll add that. Get rekt Jonathan.

10. Ok. Let’s go girls. *Shania Twain bops in the distance* *Yes this is a songfic now*

I was clearly having a breakdown here and wrote this in three days. Further warnings would be:

There’s a surprising lack of Jeffrey Combs in this fanfiction. There’s possessed-with-Jeffrey-Combs’-spirit-Barbara-Crampton, but nothing too non-PG. I know, I am upset as well. He appears as a character some of the time and he is still very much debated, but unfortunately this is kind of like… Its own thing. Like a weird sequel almost?

Does this still qualify as fanfiction?

This piece is also riddled with original characters I decided to make up for shits and giggles. I don’t know why either, this fanfiction came to me in a vision right after I finished watching the movie and it stuck with me, so I had to purge it. This is also very much NOT beta read, like, at all. I barely skimmed through it after I was done with it, so any mistakes or incongruenties are entirely my fault and likely will never be fixed. I’m sorry.

Proceed with caution all ye that might even read this. You were warned.

(Also, I would like to say that any opinions expressed about Yoko Ono in this fanfiction are not necessarily that of the author’s. Enjoy.)

—

“I became good at pretending. I became so good that after a while the lines blurred between my truth and fiction. And sometimes, when I did a really good job of pretending, I even fooled myself.”

Ruta Sepetys

—

When I walked into the room that day, I hadn’t expected to leave as a monster. I don’t know what I did expect, in the cold air of that deadly tower where we made love every day for two months. Maybe to see him again. Maybe to be free. They told me he— I didn’t want to believe it. I wanted to see with my own eyes and remember what we had. It is a stupid thought in retrospect, considering what I know now, but you have to understand that those two months were the best thing that happened in my life. I know it sounds sad, but I didn’t have it great, not always. You have to be a peculiar type of person to fuck a clergyman, I guess, to look at that life choice and pretend it’s a good one. But Jonathan wasn’t like other men. Jonathan was perfect.

—

Sally was waiting for her sister to come back home. She looked around for the comfort of the window, anticipating, with an anxious heartbeat, for the car to arrive at the door. She hopped on one foot, then the other, then checked the cupboard for more muffins, then the cooking books her sister kept on the white shelves, beside the potted plants. Nothing was enough. She ended up at the counter again.

At present, the place where Sally stood in was a perfectly suburban kitchen. It was immaculate in its tidying and cleaning, thanks to the matriarch of the house, Susan “Said” Brady, née Elmer, the eldest of the Elmer daughters. Sally was the youngest and Sandra was the middle child, and now was finishing her art course at an university. There was a difference of roughly eight years between Susan and Sally, which would put the eldest at twenty-five, nearly twenty-six and the youngest at a measly eighteen, which she loathed with all her might.

“What’s taking her so long?” Sally wondered, supporting her face on her hand and playing with her brother in law’s car keys, a car that was parked at the garage and that she looked at as if it was some sort of demon “She should be here…”

Sally looked at the glistening metal and at the chipped, black top, that was scratched all over and sighed a dramatic sigh that only someone that had been waiting an awfully long time could make sound so incredibly disgruntled and miserable.

“How you holding up, Sal?” a male voice asked and she jumped in place, making her long ponytail move up at an alarming speed “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare yo—Ouch!” he continued, after she playfully hit his arm. It was just David, her sister’s husband.

Her sister’s perfect husband.

“I’m okay,” she answered with a shrug, “Just worried about Said, that’s all.”

“Oh, she’ll be home soon. She had to go to Betty’s house to help her with the baby, these things take time. Sometimes even a whole night. You know how she gets over that kinda stuff, especially now that Betty’s husband died. Saint Susan,” he joked, looking a tad uncomfortable. Sally wondered what it was about, that uncharacteristic smile, but David’s teeth were perfect, so she couldn’t concentrate on much “She had no idea you’d be arriving today, otherwise I am sure that she would have thrown a party.”

The Elmer family was from California, but Susan lived in North Carolina now and Sandra went to college in New York, leaving poor Sally stranded back home. She usually spoke with her sisters over on the telephone whenever she could, and even if San usually had time for her, Susan was a respectful family woman now, a far cry from the unruly teenager that a five to nine year old Sally admired so much.

“I’m so sorry, Sal,” she’d say to Sally, over the telephone, sounding clearly tired enough to pass out right there “I can’t really talk right now, David is having a situation at work and I need to go there to help him, then to church to assist in the fundraiser that I’m helping the ladies with. It’s all a chaos right now. I’ll call you back, yeah?”

“Yeah…” Sal answered in the present, lowering her head and finding herself unable to hide her discontentment from David. Either that, or not wanting to. He lowered his head to look at her better, which made her smile.

“Don’t worry, Sal,” he said, with a smile “She’ll be here in a jiffy.”

—

A jiffy turned out to be fifty minutes more, which Sally used to unpack her things and occupy the guest bedroom, making sure to put up her posters. It was like preparation for college, if she decided to go. She was to stay for one month, and her parents hoped that one month with her best, most responsible sister would be enough to dissuade her of the idea of a sabbatical year. Shrugging that off, she took the next poster in hands. No way would she forget to pin up her Tears for Fears poster, or her Culture Club one. It was a far cry from the Beatles in the sixties, whom insisted in staying black and white for so long they became a stupid fucking band towards the end, just to break up over a dumb bitch.

At least that’s what she heard her friend Brittany say.

“That Yoko Ono woman is the worst fucking bitch there is,” she’d say in the bathroom of their school, when both were sixteen and Brittany hadn’t graduated and gone off to live with her boyfriend.

“Why?” Sally would ask, shamefully coughing through the drag she took of the cigarette offered, the smoke filling her lungs as her system tried to expel it back out. Brittany pretended not to notice. They were close like that.

“Well,” she turned around, her brown hair swooshing around her in a halo, putting her arm on top of the cold, white sink. “Simple,” Sally, engulfed in a white cloud, passed her the cigarette, which she dragged on without any issues “You don’t cheat on your husband and then steal another woman’s man in the process. It’s not even sanitary, for Christ’s sake. You got a dick and you go after another? She probably got a venereal disease,” Sally chuckled at that.

“Maybe you’re right… I mean, cheating is wrong, obviously” Sally said, adding the last part to not sound so dull. She wanted to agree with Brittany because Brittany was older, but, even though she knew she was correct, it just made her sound pathetically young, a toddler by comparison. When Brittany turned again, Sally pretended she wasn’t looking.

“Cheating. Is. Wrong,” Brittany agreed, putting emphasis on every single word with a swing of the cigarette hand, before taking another drag. She blew out the smoke in a circle, to a starry eyed audience “Remember that,” Brittany continued, tapping the cigarette on the sink “My dad went with that dumb bank cashier and no good came to either him or my mom. Or the bank cashier for that matter. It’s all a fucking mess. If you wanna hear my opinion, you find someone you like and you mate for life. Got it, kid?” Sally nodded.

“Got it,” she said, smiling.

“Good girl.” She turned to look at herself in the mirror, “Now, sex is different of course.”

Sally was aware that Brittany had several sexual partners. In fact, everyone in school was. It didn’t bother her, but they needed to meet in the bathroom, something about both of her reputations being in jeopardy if anyone saw them together. Such as high school goes.

“Of course,” Sally answered. “Of course.”

“Sal?!” David yelled, bringing her out of the trancelike state she found herself in and making her realize she had been staring right at Boy George’s face the whole time.

“Yeah?!”

“I think I see Said’s car turning the corner!” in a moment, Sally nearly jumped over the perfectly made bed (with her favorite bedsheets from home, which she insisted in bringing), and ran out of the room, nearly slipping on her socks before the promised land could be reached.

“Woah, there!” David said, catching her at the nick of time, looking into her eyes “Be careful, kid!”

“Got it!” she said, nearly pushing him away, running the remaining distance and opening the door with such gusto David had been certain it might come off of its hinges.

“Hey Said!” Sally began, all smiles, trying to still her ponytail as much as she could, before taking a glance at the woman leaving the shiny silver car, amidst the illuminated trees. On first glance, all was well – Susan hadn’t forgotten her scarf or purse, like she usually did, being so forgetful. Her hair was in place, her clothes were as if they had been put on at that same minute and her countenance seemed serene. But there was something wrong.

Her sister’s face twitched into a smile.

“Hello, Sal,” she said, and the words were so odd coming out, as if it was the first time they were being said. Sally instinctively stepped back “How are you doing?”

“I’m… fine.”

“I didn’t know you’d arrive today.”

“Yeah. My plane, uh, landed three hours ago. David came to pick me up at the airport.”

“Oh, did he? I must thank him.” Sally observed as her sister seemingly drank in the environment she was in – the other houses, perfectly aligned and white, the lawns, the sidewalk, her own well-manicured hands (Susan was always great at painting nails, while Sally was a poor slob). She looked past her, at the blue door, the living room and David, also standing by the door.

“Said?” Sally asked, finally, but not without some reserve, uncharacteristic to her. Susan looked over.

“Yes?”

“Are you okay?” her face twitched into a smile again.

“Of course,” Susan answered and closed the door of the car with an exaggerated bang, which made both David and Sally step back a half inch. That went unnoticed by Said “I’m quite fine, just tired” were her next words.

“I can tell,” Sally answered, determined to seem well-humored in spite of it all. She took to the three steps in front of the house running, even if only in socks, towards her most beloved sister, before opening her arms and engulfing her into a hug. For being in heels, Susan was taller than her at the moment. Sally felt as if seized by a giant.

“You’re so cold!” she exclaimed, feeling her sister’s hand on her neck.

“Maybe you’re too warm; and you shrunk!” Susan joked with a chuckle. That was more like it. Good old Said.

“You’re cheating. I’m not wearing heels!”

“You could be, though, you are a woman now after all,” she smiled down at her, a smile that Sally, quite frankly, had never seen on her sister’s face. She looked into her eyes. Susan’s were blue, she being the only one amongst the three Elmer daughters that had been fortunate enough to inherit their mother’s eyes instead of the “dull brown” of their father’s. Sally hadn’t envied that per se, even though she had grown up hearing Susan get complimented over them. She thought blue eyes made a person look slightly off, maybe evil, which was somewhat of an unpopular opinion she rarely expressed. Her sister, however, wore hers well. It was impossible to accuse her eyes of not expressing anything, they were the very door to her most heartfelt emotions – they spoke when she was sad, they spoke when she was glad. There was nothing she could do to tame such an outburst. It was her very nature to be that way.

That night, however, Sally found her sister’s eyes to be the very cold she never envied.

“Let’s go inside,” Susan said, taking her sister’s arm into hers. She guided Sally there, but the latter made sure to look at the ground instead of Said’s eyes. Her sister’s black velvet heels glanced back at her. Were her stockings ripped? What happened?

“Hello David,” Susan said, breaking Sally’s trance. She was looking at her husband with a smile. “How have you been?” David chuckled, maybe put off by the way that Susan phrased the question. Why so formal all of a sudden?

“Well, I’ve been good! What about you? How’s Betty?”

“She’s wonderful,” was the simple answer. “Dinner?”

While Susan worked in the kitchen, going back and forth amongst the pans, Sally observed her from the couch. She was separated by the dining table and chairs, which made her feel safer. From what, she didn’t know. What she did know was that she should be helping – that’s what good sisters, women, and guests do, after all – but instead she preferred to watch. Almost as if perceiving the fact, however, Susan halted in the middle of the kitchen.

“Is everything okay, Sal?” she asked, not looking at her, but at the sink. Sally turned around fast, burying herself into the couch as if to say she had never known to look in the first place.

“Yeah, of course!” she answered, sounding as casual as possible, completing with “I’ mean, I’m here with you, duh!”

“Oh, isn’t that sweet?” Susan asked, dutifully resuming her activities. There wasn’t a hint of sweetness in her tone, though. It felt to Sally almost condescending, as if she was looking down on her for being a little girl.

“Uh, there are muffins in the cupboard,” Sally decided to say, even if to hear her own voice being echoed “David and I bought them on the way from the airport.”

“Yum,” was all the answer she got. The pans continued moving and the stove was lit up. After ten minutes of mindless television, Sally lifted her head to look over the cushion behind her head and found her sister looking straight at her.

“Dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t you set the table, hmm?”

“Sure.” Obediently, Sally turned the TV off and got up from the couch. She went straight for the lower cupboard, having been in the house before and knowing that her sister liked to keep things at reach. From the other side of the kitchen, Susan watched.

“How was your trip, Sal?”

“Good, thanks!”

“Are mom and dad quite alright?”

“Yeah, they’re fine.” Sally put the plain, white plates over the counter, with the shiny glass cups next.

“Hmm,” she hummed “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your graduation. Things were hectic.”

“Yeah, it’s okay. At least we get to see each other now.”

Susan smiled.

“Yes. At least that.” Sally carried the cups and plates over to the table and began to spread them out, when she spoke up again “You know what, I’ll take care of the rest; will you please tell David dinner’s ready?”

“Sure,” Sally said, turning around and going down the hallway. With each step, the typewriter keys banged louder. David was really going at it, Sally thought. Upon arrival, she knocked.

“Yeah?!” The muffled voice answered from the inside.

“Hi David, dinner’s ready!”

“Already? Said is getting quick!”

“Yeah,” Sally agreed, but not with much enthusiasm. She prepared herself to turn around, when a cold hand slowly closed upon her shoulder, each well-manicured finger leaving a different, subtle feeling.

“Is he coming out?” Susan’s voice sounded behind her, a velvety quality having been added to it. Had she walked there? Sally hadn’t heard a thing. She instinctively looked down at her sister’s heels.

“Yeah, I’m coming right out,” David’s muffled voice answered, his chair moving almost immediately afterwards.

“Good. Let’s go, Sal,” she said and steered her away from the door once more.

“Are you sure you are okay, Said?” Sally asked as they crossed the hallway back to the dining room with David’s door opening behind them. Susan smiled; her arm wrapped around her sister’s shoulder now.

“Of course, darling. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re… different.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know…”

“Oh, Sal, don’t be ridiculous,” Susan continued, changing her tone so fast that Sally’s eyes darted towards her face, mouth slightly ajar “I just had a rough night with Betty, that’s all, and I’m tired. I can’t wait to eat and go to bed!”

“Yeah… But these are the most words you said to me all night. I thought you’d be happy to see me!”

“Oh, I am happy to see you, silly!” she continued, animated, standing in front of her sister now. When Sally looked into her eyes, though, they were still cold “You’re my little sister, I am always happy to see you!”

“Aren’t we all?” David sounded behind them, making them turn their heads “Good little Sally,” he said, flicking her ponytail up. “Shall we eat? I’m starving!”

“Sure, I’ll serve,” Susan said, leaving with David. Sally stood there and looked upon the two of them.

—

Dinner went as all dinners with Said and David usually go. Susan seemed as she had always been: Lively, telling Sally not to talk to Brittany anymore:

“A girl like that is not good. I would know.”

Telling Sally she’s proud of her grades:

“She’s even smarter than Sandra and Sandra was smart! It’s no wonder she’s in early acceptance at—”

Telling Sally she should go to church more often:

“A good relationship with God is essential to all of us, remember that young lady,” but at once Sally noticed her cross was missing. When she pointed that out, Susan looked and stroked her empty collarbone.

“Oh no, I must have left it at Betty’s!” she said, “Oh, I was so afraid the baby might grip onto it and tear it that I had to remove it, you know how babies can be.” Sally drank her orange juice and looked down at her plate.

“You never take that thing off!” David said, his mouth slightly ajar “That’s a first.”

“Yeah, it was a gift from our grandma,” Sally clarified, looking at David “It has “immensurable sentimental value”. It was gifted to her right before she died.” Susan’s smile twitched.

“Yes, well, that is true, which is why I needed to make sure it wouldn’t break, of course,” she took her wine glass and sipped the content of it. Sally nodded. That made sense to her, of course.

“What is Betty’s baby name again? I don’t think you ever told me,” David asked next, finishing her orange juice. Susan finished drinking as well and looked over at him.

“Oh, I think it’s Kayla. Right, sis?” Sally asked, looking up. Susan smiled warmly at her, like a nice hug.

“Yes, of course, Kayla. Little Kay. She’s just two months old, but she’s getting so big.”

Huh.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it, Said,” David said, sounding genuine, or as genuine as someone could sound with food in their mouth. Sally could see her sister’s face contorting to that, that despicable display of speaking with one’s mouth full, even if in trace amounts – as if it was a great offense. That was also strange, of course. Said doesn’t usually care about that kind of thing.

“Yeah, great!” Sally decided to add and then immediately ask to be excused. When allowed, she bid her good nights, saying “I had a long trip and I want to get some rest,” before running for the refuge of her bedroom. Once the door was closed and she was “safe”, she allowed herself to think freely.

Betty’s baby’s name was not Kayla, it was Kimberly. It was not a difficult leap to be made and Susan was allegedly exhausted, but her sister would never make that mistake. Not Susan. Betty was too dear a friend.

Looking back upon the doorknob, Sally verified if the key was on the lock.

“Ok, Sal, this is ridiculous,” she thought to herself, but couldn’t help it. She turned it, at a torturous pace, as to not alert the rest of the house, and locked herself in.

–

When Sally opened her eyes again, she wasn’t in the guest room of the Brady house – She wasn’t engulfed in her favorite bedsheets from home or looking at Boy George’s face as she had been, once upon a time. In fact, she couldn’t see anything in front of her, other than the pale spot the moon seemed to illuminate, from over at the only window. The bricks around the place were gray and there were soft, white curtains being gently blown by the air current.

“Hello,” a male voice sounded behind her, making her jump for the second time in what seemed to be the most Sally had jumped in her life. Turning around, she was faced with a small man, almost her height, with soft looking brown hair. He had green eyes and a charming smile… With a touch of something else.

“Hello…” Sally began, her position indicating her mounting discomfort, one hand behind herself and one foot ready to go at any minute “Who are you?”

“Jonathan,” he introduced himself with a small bow “I’m a… Friend of your sister.”

“Said never mentioned you.” He faced away from her and gave a light chuckle.

“There’s a lot of things Said didn’t mention.”

“Sure…” was all Sally could think to say. Was this a dream? “Where are we?”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter,” he said, with some joviality on the “Oh,” which made his voice higher. His voice was interesting, Sally thought. It was almost soothing, but seemed like could go off and become loud at any moment. He had an interesting way of standing too, very straight and almost controlled “You’re Sally.”

“Yes… How do you know that?” Sally asked, but he simply smiled. He wouldn’t take his eyes off of her. Usually, Sally didn’t mind when a beautiful man paid attention to her, she wasn’t stupid to think that any of them were interested, and truthfully she didn’t know if she was interested in them. It was just a pastime. This time, however, she curiously wanted him to stop “Where are w—"

“I already said that isn’t important.” Sally took a step back at the answer, which sounded much more forceful than his words had before. They were at an impasse now, looking at one another “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Sally didn’t believe that for a second, that man was too strange.

“How do you know my sister?” She asked next, looking at his clothes for the first time “Are you… A priest?”

“Yes,” he began, amused, touching his collar reflexively “A servant of the Lord. No more, no less.”

“Oh, so you know Said from church?” he paused, his green eyes glistening and his smile growing ever so slightly.

“Something like that.” He approached her and Sally instinctively went backwards “I, however, am here for you Sally.”

“For me?”

“Yes,” he smiled “You are very similar to your sister, after all. Did you know that?” he asked, stopping his advances and prompting her to halt too “Except for the eyes, of course, but I feel like you know that. Your sister, she’s… Somewhere else now. Somewhere no one can quite reach. It’s far away. Even I have never been… But I know people who have.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sally asked and Jonathan laughed, making her shrink.

“You really are an ignorant little one. Tell me, did you notice anything strange with Said lately?”

“I’ve only come over from California yesterday or…” she paused, but he picked up.

“…Or was it today?” She couldn’t remember.

“Well, doesn’t matter,” Sally said, finally.

“No, it doesn’t. Time doesn’t mean much anyway. Your sister was stuck here once for a time, but she got out,” he smiled yet again “Oh, she got out alright.”

“I can’t imagine Said being in this kind of place,” Sally said, confident of it.

“You can’t imagine much of what your sister was actually like. She was good at pretending to be something she is not. Tell me, do you trust her?”

“Yes, of course!”

“Yes? Would you trust her even if her skin was a bit too cold or if she forgot her friend’s baby name? Would you trust her even if, against your better judgement, you felt threatened by her presence?” Sally couldn’t answer “Oh, little Sally,” he approached her again and this time she let him “You are still too young, too naïve. One day, you’ll figure it out. You’ll…”

“Sally?” David’s voice spoke through the walls of the strange place, interrupting the other man’s speech. Sally looked around.

“David?”

“Oh, David, David…!” Jonathan said, with scorn she wasn’t expecting, nearly supplicant. He looked at Sally “I must go now. Goodbye, little Sally.”

“Sally?” David slightly shook the young woman and was taken aback by how violently she was brought to her senses, as if terrified of something “Hey, hey, take it easy. Relax. We have breakfast, Said told me to wake you up before going to work,” he looked at her closely “Are you okay? Did you have a bad dream?”

“Yeah… I’m fine, though.”

“Good… Anyway, get up. Breakfast is getting cold,” he smiled at her and then went out of the room.

Sally got up and took a deep breath. It had been a dream, of course. How else could she have woken up in a stupid… Tower? Is that was it was? Definitely looked like one. Like Rapunzel’s, from the book she had when she was a little girl that Said used to read to her when she was nine. Even an unruly teenager has a soft spot for children. What did Jonathan mean by “Your sister is not what she seems” or whatever it was he said? She could only remember bits and parts now.

“Hi Sal,” another voice sounded from the door and she immediately raised her head. There, standing in full, long white nightgown and robe to match, was her sister Susan “Will you come eat?”

“Yeah, as I told David I’ll be right out.”

“David told me you had a bad dream.” Had he? Sally wondered. He was there five seconds ago.

“Yeah, but it’ll pass.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing a good breakfast can’t heal. Off you go, c’mon.” Obliging, Sally got up from bed and followed her sister.

The breakfast table was full. There was orange juice, what seemed to be more than a dozen fried eggs, a pile of bacon, fresh fruit, hashbrowns, waffles, and French toast.

“Wow, Said,” Sally couldn’t help but be shocked “When did you do all this?” Susan shrugged.

“I got up early, couldn’t sleep. I kept hearing this noise in the walls...”

“In the walls? When? What noise?” David asked, fast enough to sound like it was just one question, and Sally noticed, for the first time, that he had been diligently eating while they talked.

“Sounded like rats,” Susan said, simply shrugging “You know how they like to roam walls.”

“We never had rats in this house,” David said, looking at a fixed point of the table “However, I think the Johnsons said something about mice. I should get it checked, kill them while it’s time.”

“Oh, don’t!” Susan said, looking at her husband fixedly “They’re God’s creatures!”

“Rats?!” David interjected “Rats are not God’s creatures, honey. They’re a plague. You keep filling your head with that bible stuff and look at you now. No, we need to eradicate these rats, if there are any, which I’m not saying there aren’t” he raised his hands defensively, before resuming his eating “I’ll find someone to look at it for you and tell us definitely, how about that?” Susan didn’t answer, but stared instead.

“Great!” Sally did the talking, putting her hand on her sister’s arm and then removing it. Still cold. “That sounds great, David.”

“Yes. Great.”

“Good!” David said next, finishing his food and getting up “I’ll put this in the sink for you.” When he passed them by, he kissed his wife on the cheek. Susan smiled at him warmly, but Sally saw when she raised her hand and cleaned her cheek. “I’m off to work now. You two behave, will you?”

“Absolutely,” Susan said, still smiling. Sally smiled too. With a last wave, David closed the door behind him and made his way to the car that Sally stared at the previous night as if it was a demon. Now, she couldn’t fight the feeling arising in her chest: She wished Susan had never come back, as stupid as that sounded.

“So, it’s just us girls!” Susan said, smiling at her too “Now, you should eat. Sit down.” Sally did so, looking at her sister all the way to her chair, which she occupied “Care to talk about your dream, darling?”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“I doubt that. You seem very pale.” Sally instinctively lifted a hand to her face while Susan put some eggs on her plate, “You can trust me, you know? I’m your sister,” Sally’s eyes immediately went to Susan. What did Jonathan say again?

“Yes, I know,” Sally began “I just don’t feel like talking about it.”

“That’s okay. Now, I need to go to church today. Will you be coming with me?”

“Uh, do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Ok then,” Sally said, serving herself of a portion of each thing that was at the table “Said, this is a lot of food. What are you gonna do with the rest?”

“Oh, I’ll pack it and bring over to church too. There’s always people there who need it.”

That seemed like a reasonable enough answer.

In a second, everything was over and Sally was leaving the table to change. She took a glance at Susan’s plate before that, though, and saw the eggs were untouched.

“You’re not gonna eat?” Susan looked down.

“Oh, where’s my head, of course!” Good old Said, Sally thought to herself, going from one foot to the other absently, always forgetting things. Always.

–

“Here we are,” Susan said, parking the car in front of the church. Sally looked over her sister’s body. Yep, it was the same as she remembered from her previous visits “Care to help me carry the boxes in there?”

“Yeah, sure.” They stepped out of the car and it was a second to open the trunk, get the boxes, cross the street and enter. The church was truly fuller than Sally had thought, but it was the weekend.

“Hello, hello!” Susan said to everyone. Sally didn’t know anyone there, so she fell behind. Everyone seemed to adore her sister, but that wasn’t really a surprise. Said was incredible, of course.

“I’ll carry some boxes over there!” she said, indicating what she had in hands with her head when Susan turned. Said nodded affirmatively and soon Sally was off to a nearby table.

Putting the box down, she turned her body back to find her sister, but the latter had disappeared.

“What the…?” Sally said.

“What’s wrong hon?” A woman with short, pitch black hair in a bob cut asked. Sally had not noticed her there. She was carrying a baby, wrapped in a pink towel “Wait, are you Said’s sister?”

“…Yes.”

“Oh, which one?! Sandra…? Sally…? Sally? Oh, Said told me all about you!” She was all smiles now, bouncing the baby up and down “She didn’t tell me she was back from her trip!”

“Trip? What trip?” The woman stopped now.

“Well, that trip that Said told me she and David would take, to celebrate their anniversary! Or something like that,” she didn’t seem sure, but continued anyway “She said it was gonna be a long one, that he was taking all of his weeks off; and then she’d be off to see her family. I had no idea you’d be coming over! Did you come back with her?”

“…Yeah, something like that. Are you by any chance Betty?”

“Yes!” Betty said, excited “She told you about me?”

“Oh yes, she did. She told me all about you. Congratulations on the baby!” Betty waved her hand.

“Oh please, this? She’s just the light of my life. Little Kimmie… I can’t wait for your sister to meet her. She was so excited for her arrival, just as much as me.” Sally went mute for a long second, looking at the baby being bounced up and down. The girl slept so peacefully; it was as if she never found a moment of chaos around her. Sally wondered what kinds of dreams must she be having?

“I’m so sorry, Betty,” she began again, with a tentative smile “Will you excuse me? My sister is somewhere around here, and I can’t find her…”

“Oh, darling, absolutely!” Betty, ever the best said, looking at the general direction of the other groups of people “Tell her when you find her that I said hi and that I am waiting for her to visit me! I’ll make blueberry muffins, her favorites!”

“I’ll tell her, thank you Betty. Goodbye!” Sally said, at once stepping away from the gentle woman and rushing, as much as she could in a church without attracting attention to herself, towards the backdoor. If Said wasn’t around the main hall, then she could only be at the back. With some difficulty she opened the old, wooden door. No one stopped her from entering, so she figured it was fine.

The back of the church was a simpler building. The walls were beige, quaint, and the lights were yellow. All were on at the moment Sally took her steps through the hallway.

“Said?” She asked the nothingness. There was no answer, so she decided to keep going “Saaaaid?” The hallway was echoing her footsteps back at her and the place, for being so beige, seemed almost endless. She could feel a certain brand of loneliness coming from the environment itself. How many priests had roamed this place, she wondered? How many nuns, how many boys and girls?

At the end, around the corner, she started to hear noises. They sounded wet, like someone was making out, hidden away from the world, like teenagers. Feebly, she tried:

“Said?” Her words barely left her lips. She kept going, silently this time, masquerading the sounds of her footsteps by gradually slowing her pace, until…

“Sally!” Susan said, at once separating from the man she had been kissing – or even more, considering the motion he made towards his pants – and moving closer to the wall “What are you doing here?”

“Yeah, you’re not supposed to be here,” the man said, as if he was in any position of chastising her. Sally couldn’t believe it.

“You can’t imagine much of what your sister was actually like. She was good at pretending to be something she is not. Tell me, do you trust her?”

“I wanna go home.”

“Would you trust her even if her skin was a bit too cold or if she forgot her friend’s baby name?”

“Yes, of course,” Susan said, trying to smile at her, even if painfully. The man looked at her and, coldly, she said a simple “Leave.” As if under a spell, he obliged and went away, looking down and avoiding Sally’s face.

“Betty told me to tell you to say hi,” Sally decided to say, defiantly looking within her sister’s cold, dead eyes “She said she can’t wait for you to meet her baby.”

–

Before leaving, Susan did talk to Betty. All Sally did was stand by the church’s front door and observe them, watch as Said gushed over the child. Who was that woman? It wasn’t her sister, that’s for sure. Jonathan had said… Something about her sister being someplace far away. What the hell did he mean by that?

“Ok, all done,” Susan said, coming towards Sally “We can go now.” All Sally did was nod faintly and turn around, determined to get to the car as soon as possible. Once in, she looked only at the road while her sister dutifully drove, also just as focused, at least at the beginning.

“Sal, what you saw at the church…”

“Spare me,” Sally said “I can’t believe you are cheating on David. It isn’t even…”

“What?”

“I don’t know. It isn’t even sanitary,” instead of scolding, Sally got a laugh back. It seemed so out of place she abruptly turned her head to finally look at her sister. Susan had a wide smile on, with all of her teeth showing.

“Would you trust her even if, against your better judgement, you felt threatened by her presence?”

“Stop that, Said,” Sally began, but the woman kept laughing “Said!”

“Oh, I’m sorry Sal. Did your little friend Brittany teach you that sanitary talk? I bet. You two talked about sex all the time.”

“So what if we did? That’s none of your business!”

“Oh yes, why not? Don’t you trust your big sister?” She was still smiling when she turned to look at the road again “We’re almost home. I’m gonna drop you off and go do some grocery shopping.”

“I’m sure. It’s not like you lied before.”

“My life is no concern of yours, Sal. One day, you’ll be old enough to understand what it’s like to have a marriage like mine.” She pulled the handbrake and the sound startled Sally as much as anything else. “Go out now. I’ll talk to you later, darling.” Sally looked at her sister in mute indignation before resigning and opening the car door. With a last smile, Susan said “Goodbye, little Sally.”

“What did you c—” but at the moment she turned around, her sister had already turned the car back on and driven off.

—

Sally got through dinner somehow. Said did come back with groceries and right at the nick of time: David arrived with her and the two shared a passionate kiss together. When they were done, he seemed a little tired.

“Are you okay, David?” Sally asked, observing his countenance. He gave her a weak smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just couldn’t sleep properly last night. That’s all.” Susan looked from one to the other. Sally could tell that she was afraid anything would come out of her mouth, so she kept it shut and excused herself extra early. For one reason or another, David barely argued against that and she was off to bed.

Once the door was closed, she didn’t mind to hide the locking sound this time. She wanted Susan to hear it. Sally wasn’t a child; she knew infidelity was normal. However, she also thought her sister would never cheat on someone like David. He was the perfect man! She said so herself. I mean, she did, right?

“So, you and your boyfriend are getting pretty serious, right?” Sally asked, looking at Brittany doing her make up at the school mirror. They were extra early this time, to avoid a crowd. Last time they wanted to talk, people kept coming in and out and it wasn’t exactly the ideal scenario. She smiled before answering.

“Yeah. Billy and I are gonna move in together after graduation. He’s got a house behind his parents’ and etc. They’re loaded, but want nothing to do with him, etc. Obviously they want nothing to do with me either.”

“That sucks,” Sally said, but Brittany shrugged.

“It’s what it is, kid. Life’s never perfect.”

“Are you two gonna be okay together?” Brittany looked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Sally adjusted her jacket and poufy hair a little in front of the mirror, even though she knew it would never stay that voluminous “You have no money together.”

“Oh, we’ll get by. What did I tell you, kid? Catch one and keep ‘em for life. That’s Billy and me. Never one without the other.”

“Hmm…” Sally said “My sister married young too, she was eighteen.”

“Nobody said anything about marrying, but go on,” Sally did.

“Well, she met her husband when they were both in High School. They seem like the perfect couple, but…”

“But?”

“Well…” Sally looked at her friend “One time she called me, Said did, I mean. And she was crying I guess. Something about David.”

“Did she tell you what it was?” Sally waved her head.

“No. It was the last time she ever even mentioned it. I think she regretted calling me. I wish I had the guts to ask what the hell it was all about.”

“Well, I think he was probably a dick to her. He probably didn’t turn out to be what she expected to be. Maybe he cheated. The usual story.”

“Not David,” Sally said, resolute. Brittany looked at her for a second, red lip liner in hand. Sally thought that, like that, she looked like a worse for wear Kelly Kapowski from Saved By The Bell. Like a Kelly Kapowski that had cigarettes burned onto her skin multiple times, but remained beautiful and incredible through gritted teeth.

“Suit yourself,” it was all Brittany said before turning back to the mirror and finishing her lips.

—

When she woke up back at the strange tower from last night, Sally wasn’t surprised. She looked around with little interest until Jonathan showed back up again.

“Sally,” he said, with that usual voice of his. She smiled at him briefly.

“Jonathan.”

“You’re back.

“Not on my own volition.”

“Oh, I’m sure not. You wouldn’t do that, of course.” Sally crossed her arms “How’s your sister?”

“She’s fine.”

“That’s not what I see.”

“What do you mean by see?” Jonathan lowered his head and smiled.

“I can see you. Your head, I mean. I know everything you know when I appear in your dreams. It’s a… Subconscious thing, of course. I’m not really here. Neither are you.”

“Where are you then?” Instead of from right in front of her, Sally heard the answer from right behind herself.

“Somewhere else…” he whispered in her ear, startling her. She rapidly turned around, but he was gone. In his place, there was a shadow of something else.

“What is that?” she asked, looking closer at the floor. There, a dead carcass of what seemed to have once been a rat was, inside a rat trap. She flew back immediately, in time to hear what seemed to be Jonathan cackling.

“What the fuck is going on?!” Sally asked, almost yelling now.

“Don’t you know, you ignorant little girl?” A third voice asked and Sally looked at its direction, by the illuminated window. There, a man in robes was sitting, his face bloody and mashed in, with an air of unsurmountable sadness “You’re just like your sister, oh…”

“What do you know about my sister?” She asked, approaching the man. He didn’t make a move at first, but upon further inspection, Sally realized he was waving his head.

“Unfortunately, I know all about your sister. I know all about what she and that man Jonathan did in this filthy room for two months, about their desire, their consummation, their screams of unbridled passion.”

“What?!” Sally’s face contorted in an ugly frown “You’re lying!”

“Am I?!” He asked, his voice going louder than she thought possible, making her instinctively raise her hands to her ears “Am I?! Wasn’t she doing the same back in the church today? Oh, dead people see it all, little girl. That Jonathan man… He wants you too. He can’t have your body in its physical form though, she won’t let him.”

“Who?!”

“Your sister! He has her body, he has it, but she’s still in there, in their collective head. Oh, she was supposed to be somewhere else. She was supposed to be in Hell!”

“Sally?” Susan asked, gently shaking her sister “Saaally…?” She asked again, singing the name like a siren’s song. When Sally bolted awake, she smiled “Good morning sleepyhead. David has gone off to work already so I came to wake you up. Have you slept well today?”

Sally did nothing but stare at first, before smiling.

“Yeah, I did. Do we have breakfast?”

—

While they ate, Sally took to observing Susan again. She was humming to herself while spreading some jam on her toast, before biting onto it so hard, the crunch of the bread almost made Sally cry. She didn’t realize she had been so on edge until her hands started trembling. She needed to keep it together. First of all, nothing indicated that her dream was true, after all how crazy was that? Just because her sister was cheating on her husband – who may or may not have been an asshole in the past – does not mean that she is possessed by a former lover. That doesn’t make any sense!

“Darling?” Susan asked, looking at Sally’s plate “You have to eat.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sally answered “Right,” but she couldn’t bring herself to “Hey, can I borrow your car?”

“What for?” Sally smiled.

“I wanted to go to church,” Susan smiled at her as well.

“Sure. The keys are in the bowl, but you’re not leaving without eating.”

“Ok, fine,” Sally said, a semblance of normalcy seeping through as she devoured the eggs and drank the orange juice “Satisfied?”

Looking at her, more like leering, Susan smiled.

“Very.”

—

Sally did go to church at first. There, she stood alone, looking at the stained glass windows, the figures of the Lord, at Jesus Christ on the cross. She prayed for the first time in five years and cried to what seemed to be no one. She couldn’t believe she was actually doing what she was doing. What the hell was wrong with her? If she did everything her dreams told her to do, she would have kissed Brittany and told her not to go with Billy, to stay with her. That would have been a bad choice, wouldn’t it? Should she call Brittany now? Would she know what to do? She had before. She always knew what to do. Saint Brittany.

“Saint Said.” She remembered David saying. This was all wrong. He was suspicious of her; Sally knew that now. He had to have known she hadn’t been seeing Betty, that she had been seeing him. Jonathan. She wondered if David even knew Jonathan.

“Miss?” A male voice asked and she turned around. It was a small, old priest, with a kind face. She immediately smiled, but regretted it. She hated priests “May I help you?”

“Oh, no. I’m just… I’ll be right out,” he nodded his frail head and started to turn, when she gathered enough courage to ask “Hey, do you know a priest by the name of Jonathan?” he seemed to stop.

“Jonathan you say?”

“Yeah…”

“Yes. I know a priest by the name of Jonathan, or knew, rather.”

“Do you know what happened to him?” He looked pensive for a second, less confused about the events, but more pondering whether or not he should share them with the young woman in front of him.

“He went up to the tower of a Church a ways from here and took his own life. He had to do so; He had been excommunicated. They found some… Reprehensible things he had been involved in. It’s not really a subject to share with a woman as young as you…” but as he turned to leave, Sally stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Please. I have to know, it’s… Important.” The priest looked up at her.

“What do you want with this information, miss? Wait a minute dearie, aren’t you Susan’s little sister, Sally?” He looked at her closely “Yes, I am recognizing you now. So similar to her except… Yes, her eyes are blue.” He paused, his expression turning to a resigned one as the small priest decided to tell her everything, in light of the new information, perhaps out of pity “He… He had taken a lover somewhere,” he gesticulated vaguely, slowly, gripped by the immobility of old age “I don’t surely recall. She ended in a mental asylum. They also found another one, but she was already in a much better place. He had left her in a deplorable situation, some said “lying in her own blood.” I don’t really recall…”

“Where is this Church you mentioned?” Sally asked, interrupting in a manner that would have seem rude, if not urgent now.

—

Sally took to her car and drove as fast as she could. It wasn’t really a far away drive. The place stood in a town a few minutes from the one they were in now, more deserted too. There were no people on the streets as she slowly drove up to the only church. By the color of the bricks, it looked like the one from her dream alright. The priest told her only one person was at the church at this time, an old woman who took care of the place.

Sally parked and got out of the car at lightning speed, knocking at the door mere ten seconds after getting out of the car. Minutes later, a face emerged. It was probably the old lady that he had mentioned, her hair and make up matched the description she inquired on.

“What are you… Oh. I’m sorry, you’re not her,” the old lady looked at her from top to bottom “Yes. You are certainly not.”

“Hi, I’m Sally,” she said, still breathing with some difficulty, from the running she had done, ignoring the strange introduction, “I’m Susan Brady’s sister.”

“Oh, I see. Her sister.” The old lady snickered “He’s dead, you know? He can’t keep bringing people in like this. It was unethical in life and it’s even more now in death,” she motioned to close the door, but Sally desperately held it open.

“Please, I have to come in. Please,” she supplicated. The old lady looked at her.

“Did he do it to you too?” she asked. Sally couldn’t understand.

“What?” The old lady, however, refrained from answering. Instead, she gave out this cryptic comment:

“You and your sister truly are alike.” Sally stared at her, mute. The old lady stepped away “Go in. It’s all the way upstairs. I’m hoping to not hear anything strange coming from the walls, other than the rats.” Sally, who was going in, stopped.

“The rats?” She asked and the older woman, closing the door, nodded.

“Yes. There were rats in the walls. Curiously, I haven’t been hearing them lately.”

Sally couldn’t hear anything, but Said could. She was hearing rats in the walls.

“They’re God’s creatures…” Sally murmured to herself, like her sister had done before.

“What was that?” the old lady asked, standing with her hands over her stomach, very proper.

“Nothing!” Sally said and took to the stairs “Thank you, I won’t be here long!” once she was gone, the old lady walked towards the vase nearby.

“That’s what the other one said too. They always end up staying too long in that place. Long enough for the worm to get them… That vermin,” she looked up in time to see the door closing and locking. With a snicker, she finished “They never learn.”

—

The tower was illuminated this time and she could see everything. Sally looked around herself and observed the window, the bed, the empty space and the chair, standing at a strange point of the room. The priest had said he killed himself. Had he jumped from there?

Sally took to the bedroom. All there was, upon first glance, was the bed. It was made perfectly, and Sally suspected the old lady had something to do with it. Looking to the side, however, there was a table full of books. She assumed they belonged to the deceased. Why they were still there was the mystery. Maybe the old lady had a soft spot for Jonathan as well? That would make sense. Sally twisted her face into an ugly frown again. Ugh. He was quite the ladies man, huh?

Shaking her head, she started reading the titles and saw that the one time priest had an obsession with the occult. All of these were about demonic encounters, seals to summon specific demons, what they did and etc. She was surprised he hadn’t been thrown out sooner. Had no one stopped to read what he was researching.

“Sally, you’re here!” A female voice sounded behind her, strikingly familiar to her ears – so much so that she turned around at once – but there was nothing there.

She must be going insane.

“…Susan?” She asked the empty room, rubbing her forearm and immediately regretting it “God, what the hell is wrong with me?” was the next question, followed by quite a loud kick to the table, which shook everything on top of it, from candlesticks to books. She was dreaming of real dead clergymen she had never met, dreaming of also dead rats and now she was hearing voices which could only belong to her sister, who was supposedly at her house, far away. What had become of her life? She wondered, madly, if any boys would still like her if she was insane. She also wondered if Brittany would, back at home, with her boyfriend.

“Sally!” The voice sounded again, but this time behind her. Closing her eyes, as if to wish it away, she realized there was nothing she could truly do. She would either leave now, which was inherently unsatisfying, or she would turn around and see if there really was someone behind her. It was that or the mental hospital. Come to think of it, maybe it was the mental hospital anyway.

Slowly, but surely, Sally turned. There, in full display, was a pale reproduction of her sister Said, in her full glory. She was wearing the same clothes she wore on the first day Sally came to her house, the black skirt and white blouse. The scarf was nowhere to be seen, however, and around Susan’s neck, Sally noticed, were grotesque rope marks.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!” Susan said and took to hugging her little sister, for the first time in a long time. Sally was shocked that she could even feel her. Ghosts weren’t supposed to be huggable. Right?

“Susan, what is going on?” Was all the thoughts that Sally could voice right now. When they broke off the hug, they locked eyes and she could finally see the emotion back into her sister’s blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, Sally. It’s so horrible, I can’t…” She looked away briefly and then went back to her face, with a smile “I’m so glad you’re here,” she repeated, but continued “I kind of wish you weren’t though. This is no place for you. How did you even find it?”

“This priest at church told me that Jonathan lived here before he killed himself. He told me you and him…” Susan closed her eyes.

“Let’s not talk about Jonathan. I wanna talk about you. How are you?”

“We don’t have time! Look, this might sound insane, although I’m not sure how much more insane than that you are here right now when you were supposed to be home, but I think Jonathan has your body,” Sally looked at the pale semblance of her sister and wanted to cry “I think you’re still in there with him too. I think you’re not all here. This man in my dream told me something about that. He had this completely fucked up face…”

“Oh my God,” Susan said and stepped away from her sister, looking at a fixed point “Yeah, I remember…” when Sally looked too, she saw her sister’s glance was upon the chair “I… I killed myself, Sally.”

“No!” Sally said, covering her mouth with her hands “No, it can’t be! You’re here!” But Susan confirmed the fact with a nod.

“I was so foolish.” She raised her eyes “I thought that he loved me, I genuinely thought that he loved me. Oh, it was all a mess with David. I thought he was seeing someone else. When I confronted him, he threatened to leave me destitute and then did even worse…” She shook her head and lowered her eyes “When I… When I met Jonathan, I didn’t know anything about him other than he was kind. At least I thought so, at the beginning. He was working at our church, but slept here. I wondered why he drove so far every day for work, but then he told me it was because of me – that he had seen me with David, that he needed to have me. It all went wrong from there. He apparently had these other lovers… I was just the next casualty. And there was this rat…”

“Yes!” Sally said, approaching her sister eagerly “I saw the rat! He had a weird appearance and he was dead. The rat was dead!”

“I remember that!” Susan said, agreeing frantically with her head “The rat was caught in this mouse trap and…! And I saw it bleed out!”

“Can you leave this place?” Sally asked next, but Susan adamantly waved her head.

“No. I tried.” Sally instinctively looked over at the table.

“Maybe one of these books can help us,” she ran towards the skewed contents of the once kicked piece of furniture and picked the nearest one. Luckily, it seemed to be the most worn “Wow, Jonathan liked to highlight his books, Jesus.” Pages and pages of the book had words circled or crossed or writing, on the margins. Susan stopped by her sister’s side and raised her hand to her neck reflexively. She was still wearing the cross grandma had given her as a ghost.

“Well, I don’t know if you should mess with these things, Sal…” Susan said, sounding unsure “I think you should go back to mom and dad. That’s what you should do.”

“Absolutely not!” Sally exclaimed, indignant “I came all the way here for you, I am not going to turn back now, I want to see Jonathan dead in his grave forever!” She read the contents of the book now “This seems to be what he did to summon the rat. Here.” She showed it to Said, who intently read “It states that you need to bring a certain amount of sacrifices to this specific demon, you see? He brought the designated amount for sure… But the rat’s dead, or rather the physical form of the demon. He died in the middle of taking the last one, which means that it was never fully completed in the first place!”

“But how does that help us?”

“Well, if your soul is still inside of your body and Jonathan is also there, that means that you’re in half, just like I thought, but… It means Jonathan is also in half.”

“Aren’t you a clever girl?” A male voice echoed through the tower. In a second, Sally saw Susan’s remaining spirit had vanished, and Jonathan, the clergyman, was beside her where she once had stood.

At once, Sally closed the book and stepped away from the now snickering man “Oh, Sally, Sally, Sally…” he took a step towards her, then another… “You are so alike your sister. You can’t stop yourself from digging, can you?”

“Go fuck yourself, Jonathan!” Sally said, backing away towards the wall. He couldn’t help but cackle that stupid laugh of his. Sally had enough “I’m getting my sister back.”

“I don’t think so. You know, I loved your sister,” he said, close enough now to put an arm over her head and his face close to hers “I did,” he was whispering now, inside her ear “I loved her body, that is why I took it for myself. You are so alike her, but… Smarter. Younger. Fresher.” He then did something she could have never foreseen: Slowly and delectably he licked her cheek from jaw to eyebrow. Sally pushed him away from her, but all he did was laugh “Run little Sally! Save your sister! You could never have saved your brother in law!” that made her turn.

“What did you do to David?”

“Oh…” He paused and walked towards her, stopping half-way there “Did you really think he had gone off to work earlier that morning?” Jonathan waved his head “Oh, he was dead, right there in his office. You went right by it and never noticed it.” Shocked and muted yet again by the horror, Sally could only step away and run out of the tower as fast as she could, darting down the stairs. Even at the door, she could still hear the cackle in her ears.

“Gone so soon?” The old lady asked, but all Sally could do was nod, before crossing the threshold towards the parked vehicle. Behind her, the old lady uttered a measly “hmpf,” before closing the door.

—

When Sally parked the car outside of the house, night had already fallen. She turned her head to look at the house, illuminated only by the lampposts. David car was still parked at the garage and she cursed herself for not having looked before taking off that morning. She wondered if Jonathan was telling the truth, but it was useless. He obviously was.

She opened the door and stepped outside, closing it with moderate strength. She didn’t want to alert the neighbors, but she didn’t care if Said, or whatever the hell was in her body, heard her coming. She hoped it did.

Taking to the trunk, Sally stuck the key in the hole and popped it open. There, she brought out a brand new axe. She couldn’t bring herself to get a gun, she didn’t even know why she had that now. It seemed like a stupid precaution. She was not, in any sense, going to axe her sister. Still, she took it with her after closing the trunk and with a deep breath, she faced the house.

—

Inside, it was dark, as if no one was home. She opened the door, which was unlocked, and entered with ease, closing it back up. She looked at the kitchen, the living and dining rooms, and at the hallway, finally. Darkness there and nothing more.

“Said?” Sally asked.

“I’m here, Sally,” her voice came from David’s office. Soon, the door opened and a single light could be seen, yellow in tone “Come.” She started walking, wondering how she could have ever thought that was her sister. She couldn’t distinguish her cadence between that of Jonathan’s now – it was the same, through and through.

Sally wondered what she would see in that office, getting closer with each step. She wanted nothing more to end Jonathan, but she was still apprehensive. What did he do to David? Goddammit… Why was this fucking happening to her? She called upon God again for any help. She didn’t know if he could hear her, but she hoped so. The Devil was there, after all. Why not God?

When she finally reached the door, the first thing she saw was Said, sitting on the chair, smiling at her. Then, beneath her, she noticed the body of David, head bent away from her. His wrists had been slashed and there was blood all over the floor, in puddles.

“Oh my God!”

“Hello, little sister,” Susan said, waving a hand full of blood “I wondered if you were going to come back.” She looked down and pointed with her head at the axe “What’s that you got?”

“Can’t you see it? Are you blind now, or what?” Susan’s smile faded.

“That is no way to talk to your sister!”

“Oh, but you’re not my sister,” Sally stepped into the room, confident now in her words and stride, gripping the axe with force “I went to see you, at the tower – or whatever was left of you, Jonathan.”

“I haven’t the slightest idea of what you’re talking about. Who’s Jonathan?”

“Oh, cut the bullshit!” she said, clenching her free fist “I know it’s you in there, Jonathan and not Susan – Or at least not all of her. Did you know that you’re not full? Did you even notice? Or were you incomplete your entire life, so it didn’t matter?” Susan got up from her chair, a frown in place of the usual smile, and approached her sister, who jumped back, axe ready to strike. At that, she halted.

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Jonathan asked. It was him, through and through. Even if the body belonged to someone else.

“Your despicable familiar, that’s what I’m talking about! He died before bringing Said’s soul to Hell, or whatever the hell! She’s still in there with you.”

“That is impossible!”

“Oh, it’s not!” Sally said “I read your stupid book. You should have taken better care of that freakish rat, might have done you some good!” In a fit of rage, Jonathan darted towards Sally and immediately went for her hair, now loose, trying to grip it. Being faster, she dodged and managed to run away towards the kitchen, with him in her tail.

“Come back here, Sally!” He screamed, “Come back, you bitch!” She turned around to face him from the other side of the counter, where they came to an impasse. They shared a look “Oh, Sally, Sally… You might have read a book, but I’ve read thousands. What are you gonna do, huh? Save your sister?” he snickered, looking more and more like the deceased and less and less like Said “She’s dead! She’s dead!”

“So were you and now look at where we are!”

“Give it up, Sally!”

“Never!” she approached her face to his and said, in a low whisper “You’re gonna go down, little man.” With the small, paused reaction that caused, Sally ran around him, going towards the hallway and straight for the master bedroom.

“NO!!” she heard behind herself, but she was too fast to care about it at this point. At once, she closed the door and locked it, being almost immediately greeted with angry fists begging to be let in, making her back away fast “SALLY!! SALLY!!”

“You’re gonna wake the fucking neighbors, Said!” Sally yelled back as the doorknob was frantically assaulted. She didn’t have time for that. Doing an about face, she examined the walls and the floor closely “Now, if I were a nest of rats, where would I be?”

“SALLY!”

“SHUT UP!!” Sally yelled back “I’m trying to think!” she looked down at the floor. She knew what she had to do. According to the book, Sally needed to destroy any remnants of the familiar there might be. Rats proliferate rather quickly – as a matter of fact, so quickly that anyone would have a rat problem in no time – especially with a demon rat running around like that.

So, Sally took to swinging. First, she tried the walls, which crumbled easily. There was no success to be had there, as she came up mostly empty handed and buried in dust.

“Hope that wasn’t a foundational wall…” she whispered to herself and fixated upon the bed “Wait a minute!” she dropped the axe for a second and used all her might to pull one of the poles away. Surprisingly, the frame wasn’t that heavy, and the years of softball paid off in an immense way. In no time, the bed was out and she could see the scratches, even from the surface “Gotcha.”

“You bitch!” the voice on the other side still yelled, almost sobbed “Oh, I’ll get you for this Sally Elmer! I’ll fucking get you if it’s the last thing I do!” Sally paid no attention to him. He was bitter because he had lost. He had never lost so bad, after all.

She bent down and took the axe in hands, swinging at the floor full force. Soon, the room was filled with the sounds of rats. She swung again and it became louder. The screeching was deafening enough to drive anyone mad, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t doing this for herself, but for Said, for her big sister. That was enough.

At once, she was done. No rats were felt at her feet though, which was strange. When she finally opened her eyes to look at the masterpiece, Sally observed the black hole on the floor. There was… Nothing?

A laugh started at the other side of the door, becoming louder.

“What…? There were supposed to be…” Then she had an idea. Bending over, Sally looked within the hole and, gathering all of her courage, stuck her hand inside. Feeling the darkness, she quickly found what she was looking for and pulled it out.

It was the body of Jonathan’s near lifeless familiar.

He hadn’t procreated, he was barely alive.

“You… Bitch… You whore…” he said, amidst blood gushing out. His throat was barely there.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Are you?”

“Let me in, Sally!” Jonathan said, suddenly desperate again “Let me in and I promise you I’ll love you. I promise I’ll cherish you; I’ll adore you; I’ll fuck you with all my might, every day.” Sally contorted her face in disgust.

“Ew! I don’t think so,” she said and, throwing the rat on the floor, promptly stepped on him, ending his misery and hers.

—

The tower had become cold, or at least the wind indicated so. I couldn’t feel anything in the state I was in at that time. All I could do was sit down and watch the old lady tidy Jonathan’s things up day by day, like a sanctuary. I wondered what she’d think if she knew I was there. Most of the time, though, I wasn’t. I looked through the window and recalled the moments of passion I had spent there with him. It wasn’t worth it, in the end, even if I thought Jonathan was perfect.

When Sally came and went, I thought that I had a chance. I saw her leave and my heart sunk, as much as it could. I didn’t want my little sister to die. I sat in that tower for what seemed like an infinite amount of time – not that before it hadn’t, but it seemed even worse, as if the hours were dragging themselves, behaving like years. Goddammit! Goddammit…!

—

Sally opened the door in a hurry.

“Said?!” She asked, kneeling down to cradle her sister in her arms. She was not responding “Said!! Goddammit, Said, wake up! God…!” she looked up at the ceiling reflexively and then at the dead rat, to make sure. Maybe he was still…? But no. He had turned to mush at this point.

Maybe there was no hope. Maybe Jonathan had fucking won, maybe not the way he wanted to, but the way he could. Maybe he dragged Said to hell with him, leaving her the mess to fix, the dead body in the office, her poor sister…

“S… Sally?” Susan’s voice said, strained, and Sally looked down immediately “What? Where…?”

“Said?!” She exclaimed and hugged her “Oh my God, Said!” she raised her head back again and looked into her sister’s eyes. Yeah, it was definitely her “Oh, I’m so glad you’re alive!”

“Yeah, me too…” Said looked at the master bedroom “What did you do…?” Sally looked back too.

“Oh, I had to do some digging for a stupid rat.”

“Oh…” She looked up at her sister “And David?” Sally’s countenance changed.

“He’s… He’s dead. I’m sorry. Jonathan drove him to suicide as well. I think it was his… Way of doing things.”

“Oh, God…” Susan said, closing her eyes in pain “Will you help me get up?”

“Yeah, sure thing.” Together, the two grunted as they made their way from the floor to their usual heights, now completely equal once again. They looked at the mess they were in “It’s not ideal…”

“No, but we’ll figure it out,” Susan said, sounding confident, positive, more than Sally has ever seen her being. She turned to her sister “Thank you so much, Sally. Thank you!” As the sisters embraced again, the rat bled onto the floor and Jonathan, the Evil Clergyman, would never be back again.

He was finally at his final resting place.

[aur0raaura]

Animation Practice

Pokemon Masters EX - The Book

(gif. ver! progress shots below!)

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE REPOSTS FOR THIS ANIMATION I JUST WISH FOR THIS TO GAIN VISIBILITY- the video version never got the chance to appear in the tags and it really broke my heart. I've done anything and this is basically one last attempt. I dunno if Tumblr Support will even help me at this point because of how vague their reasonings have been but...yeah. I'll paste the original text of the video version of this below just incase this actually appears in the tags as intended :') and I'll also add some progress gifs as well so you all can see how this animation evolved over time! --

I won't lie, I did this purely because of how well that loop did and just wanted to do something more elaborate HAHAHAHA-

While this is more on the lines of practicing two characters interacting with one another and not AS smooth as the loop, I feel I managed to nail the vibe of this scene. This was inspired from my chats with my friend and that detail in PokeMas where Hoopa has a tendency of dropping things on Lear's head to wake him up- I mean, if he dropped stuff to wake him up- surely he'd do this sort of shenanigans when he's awake, right?? x'D

REGARDLESS, I did my best and I hope you all enjoy this doodle (I mean...it's not SUPER polished hahahaha) animation.

-- HERE'S SOME PROGRESS GIFS ON HOW IT USED TO LOOK BEFORE IT WAS FINISHED!!

ROUGH animation- You can see this is shorter and A LOT more faster paced- I was trying to figure out how I wanted this to look. You can also see that the dialogue is a tad different!

Clean up!! Here i'm basically cleaning things up to make it a lot nicer and less rough. The timing on this is a loooooooot better and was almost done with the in between frames when I saved this progress gif. Heck- you can see that in both gifs, the desk lamp is VERY different from the final one LOL--

Character flats! Aaah, here's where I was pretty much done with coloring them- but still had to make sure I didn't miss any spots- (i did, in fact, miss some spots.) Animation really is a very, very long project. This one in particular was a month's worth of time and effort. Yet, I'm rather proud of how it came out in the end! I adore how exaggerated their movements can be, and just their dynamic in general. Please DeNA just give us more content about them i implore you--

[rhymeswithchronic]

SO I've mentioned several times now that What This World Has to Offer, as we know it now, is a rewrite of a story I wrote in middle school. But I was thinking about all the things that have changed between then and now and thought it'd be fun to share some of it with you guys! So here we are! Things that are brand new to this story, and things that have been fixed! First things first, the main characters. Of course, the main five characters of What This World Has to Offer! We've got some things to discuss about these particular blorbos. First off, Wilson. In the original draft, honestly, everything about Wilson kind of fell off after Wilbur was introduced. I'm not even joking, I basically threw him aside entirely. I had no backstory or development really planned for him, and some really weird hoop jumping in order to excuse his behavior as the story went on. He fell so far from relevancy that I rarely even considered him when thinking about the group. It was pretty much exclusively Webber, Wilbur, and WX-78. Speaking of Wilbur, why on earth did I choose him? The one character in the entire game with no personality traits or quirks, no story, no concept, really nothing except for the fact that he can vaguely say 'banana'. I was writing WTWHTO when Shipwrecked came out and I really wanted to add one of the characters to the story. I had never really planned on having five characters, and honestly the characters in SW I just felt didn't fit well. So, I, as a normal fanfiction writer, took the character I could have full creative control over. On top of that, I loved the idea of including each of the 'weird' characters from each section of the game, as well as the game's main character (Wilson). WX-78 represents Vanilla. Webber represents Reign of Giants. Naturally, Wilbur represents Shipwrecked. When originally writing WTWHTO, I didn't really have any backstory for Wilbur either. Instead, after I was finished, I started working on The One True Heir, a backstory for Wilbur that was made up on the spot. In the rewrite, I got to explore this backstory so much more considering it... actually existed. You know. Better than the original. I got the name Roselyn, Wilbur's mate, from the character Rosaline from Romeo and Juliet (which we were reading in English at the time) and Elizabeth, Wilbur's daughter, was named after my at-the-time best friend of the same name. Now for WX-78. At the time, I didn't realize people actually headcanoned that they held a soft spot for Webber. Somehow, it was just how their character grew as the story went on. Their relationship with Webber was left a bit more ambiguous, described simply as 'best friends', but as I got older I realized there were times it sounded almost queer-baity, so I decided to emphasize their bond as distinctly brotherly. I was posting exclusively to Fanfiction.net, which didn't have tags, so there wasn't any real way to say to the audience that shipping was not intended. If people wanna ship them, that's up to y'all, but it's not the story's intention. I am much happier with how they see each other in this version, and I feel it is more accurate to how I originally intended it to be. When I first started writing it, I did not intend to write Webber out of character. I simply... didn't know how to write characters that were soft and sweet. At this point, that boy's his own character lol Which leaves the fifth character- Nick!

[shepherds-of-haven]

Quick question cause i been offline for a while, any thoughts one the "stupid" mode you once spoke of? Like is it a cheat? Is it still in a concept form and not making it to game (and omfg im reading this and it sounds so mean in my head but idk how to make it not so i am so sorry, i dont mean to sound rude! I adore you truly!!!)

Hi there, I think the #stupid mode tag answers all of your questions! You're not being mean at all, I appreciate your kind words! :) I'm still planning on implementing it, but I'm only going to put my attention on working on it when the game is either totally complete and published or is ready for final beta testing or something: it's just a small silly bonus, so I'm devoting all my time to getting the game actually finished before diverting any efforts towards stupid mode! (And to be clear, stupid mode isn't going to be anything huge or game-changing: I'm only thinking of it as a dozen more amusing dialogue or gag options that wouldn't be tonally appropriate on a first playthrough of the game, not something that's going to add like a significant amount of new content or hidden routes or anything! It's just more like a "okay, you played through this massive game with these very serious stakes, now that you've got a read on the intended atmosphere and what the original scenes were supposed to look like (and presumably shed your tears or whatever), here's a few jokes or silly options to lighten the mood and make another playthrough feel a bit fresher!" I'm only saying this just so I don't build expectations really high for this planned feature to be like this really monumental thing! It's literally just going to be a few lines where MC's being an idiot and we all get to act like people referring to them worshipfully as the Hero of Haven isn't hilarious)

And yes, the way it'll work is, once you finish your first playthrough and hit "New Game" again, you'll see a couple of new options to toggle on New Game+ mode, stupid mode, or both! Could be a typed cheat word that I'll provide or just a toggle, I haven't thought too much about the visual design yet!

[flowersforbucky]

Do you have any general advice for someone who wants to post their writing but is scared to? I write a lot. But I have never posted on tumblr or anywhere else. I don't know why but I'm so nervous to.

had to add a keep reading link because i ended up rambling way more than i originally intended to 😅 sorry if this isn't helpful or isn't the kind of answer you were looking for but here's a summary of my experience with writing/posting on tumblr and some general tips -

i completely understand being nervous. i feel nervous every time i post my writing. i'm always worried that people won't like it, that it'll flop, etc. when i first tried posting bucky fanfiction about 5 years ago, and when i posted eddie munson fanfiction a couple years ago, just about everything i posted performed really poorly. i had a couple pieces that did alright but for the most part, just about everything flopped. and it was very discouraging, i would let it get to me too much for sure - i'd wonder how other people got their work to get so many notes so easily when nothing i did seemed to help.

so when i started writing/posting for bucky again a few months ago i was really nervous, since i hadn't had much luck in the past. i decided to give it a shot anyway, and told myself that i'm doing this for fun, and if people like what i put out then great, and if not then i wouldn't let it get to me because at the end of the day i'm doing this for myself, because i want to.

everything i've posted for bucky the last few months has surpassed my expectations, truthfully. i don't really know why all of my one-shots have performed so much better this time around than when i first tried to write for him back in 2019 - maybe my writing has improved? maybe i'm just getting lucky and posting at the right times? maybe it's the fact that i write more smut than i used to and the fandom seems to love that? maybe a little bit of all of those things? i'm not 100% sure, but i'm happy to give you some tips that i think work for me, at least.

also disclaimer i definitely don't think i've been doing this long enough or am a "big enough" writer within this community to even be giving advice LMAO but since you asked!!

i usually post on wednesday or friday evenings and i've had good interaction on both of those days, however fridays have been the best and i think i will be sticking to friday evening posts for the most part in the future

i usually post between 7:00 - 10:00 pm eastern time, most often around 9:00 pm - if the time you post doesn't seem to work well, try a different time with the next post

tags tags tags! add the most relevant tags first, and avoid adding tags that are irrelevant. so when i post for bucky i add tags such as the following: bucky barnes x reader, bucky x reader, bucky barnes, bucky barnes x you, bucky barnes smut, etc

write a brief summary for the piece that will draw people in but not give tooooo much away. also always give appropriate warnings

use the "keep reading" feature. to be completely honest, if someone posts something that's 500+ words and they don't use the keep reading feature, i'm instantly going to get annoyed that it's clogging up the feed and scroll past it lol. i personally like to insert the "keep reading" link a couple paragraphs into my fic so that people can read the first tiny bit of it and (hopefully) be interested enough to click the link and keep reading.

don't be afraid to reach out to other writers in your fandom and initiate friendships. i know this can be super intimidating because they usually already have mutuals that they are close with but what's the worst that can happen with trying? most people here love making new friends/mutuals and want to be supportive of new writers, though i know it doesn't always feel like that. not everyone that i've followed/interacted with has followed me back but a lot have!

tease snippets of upcoming fics before posting them (and make sure to add a bunch of tags so more people see) to help people get excited, draw in new followers, etc. pick a few lines of dialogue, or a specific paragraph or whatever, that you're particularly proud of and screenshot/copy & paste it and post it and basically say hey here's a snippet of an upcoming fic! i don't always do this but i like to on occasion

lastly, and this piece of advice won't necessarily help your writing perform well notes wise, but i think it's important to remember: write and post what YOU want to write and post. this is a hobby, this is supposed to be fun, and you are not getting paid for this. if you don't want to write smut, DON'T write it just because it's popular and you feel like you have to. if you don't want to write reader inserts and prefer OCs, then write an OC. if you prefer writing one-shots and drabbles over multi-part series, then write one-shots and drabbles! of course readers are going to have their preferences and that's fine, i have my preferences when it comes to reading fanfiction as well, but it's not your job to appeal to every reader out there. it's your job to enjoy this hobby as much as you can and write things that you're proud of.

[jokertrap-ran]

(光与夜之恋 Light and Night) Osborn’s 5✩ Inspiration: Congealing Azure Light [碧珀凝光] Date Translation (END 5: Heart-Throb)

“If you don’t teach me, then don’t even think about going back. Lemme guess, your little treat must have already been put into the oven, right?”

*Light and Night Master-list | Osborn’s Personal Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Join the Light & Night Discord (＾▽＾)~ ♪ *This 5✩ Inspiration has 5 Endings!! *Osborn’s tag will be #For Night, For Freedom *Requested by anon! Here's the long awaited last part!

✥ Choice: Heart-throb [心动] ★Night★

Where should we start this creative journey of ours…?

⊹ Go to the Kitchen⊹

MC: Since we’re going to be giving it to someone we like, how about we… go to the kitchen and make some tasty food?

Ah Qiang: Yes! I love desserts!

Hearing the words "tasty food", the children instantly perk up, swarming around me. I snuck a glance at Osborn. He was sighing at the taste of freedom.

Ah Qiang guided our little group to the kitchen.

The children all chattered happily the entire way there. However, my ears picked up on a small argument amidst the chattering.

Ah Zhen: Ah Qiang, do you really know how to make desserts?

Xiaodie: I bet he doesn't! All he knows is how to waste food!

Ah Qiang: Who says? I might even be better than you at making them!

Ah Zhen: Why don't we challenge each other then? Boys against girls!

Ah Zhen's suggestion was immediately supported by the other children as voices of affirmation resounded through the crowd. They then formed two distinct groups.

Suddenly, someone tugged me to the side, and I was brought to join the girls. Ah Zhen raised her chin as she stood next to me, shooting the boys a proud look of determination. The boys instantly started panicking.

Ah Qiang: W-We still have big brother Osborn on our side!

Confusion was written all over Osborn’s face as he was pulled into the boys’ group. And I faced a similar predicament, just that it was girls on my side, as we both walked to opposite ends of the kitchen.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Facing the flour, whisking machine, and butter laid out on the counter, I thought long and hard. But, I could only remember how to make cupcakes, no matter how hard I tried. Hence, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

Melt the butter, then add the sugar and flour. The whisking machine whirred as it whisked the mix. Soon, a golden-yellow batter was produced.

I poured the batter into small paper cupcake cups and was just about to put them all into the oven when Ah Zhen walked up to me.

Ah Zhen: And who are you going to give these cakes to, big sister?

MC: To everyone, of course. Because you’re all precious friends of mine.

Ah Zhen: Huh? But Big Brother might get sad if you don’t make him a special gift.

I’d originally intended for him to eat the cupcakes with the rest, but now that she puts it like that… I froze, feeling slightly awkward about it.

MC: He probably wouldn’t… “Sad” doesn’t really exist in his dictionary, haha.

However, she held up her hands and wiggled her fingers.

Ah Zhen: Trust me, big sister! I’m a powerful witch who can read the minds of others!

She then winks before leaving, causing my thoughts to drift to Osborn, who was working in the other kitchen.

MC: He’s neither good with children nor at cooking. He must have it hard…

Yeah, maybe I should make a little something for him. He is a “big kid” after all.

Since I only had a limited time to work with, I decided to go with Madeleines.

However, I had only made them once in my life. I quickly searched up the recipe on my phone and quickly melted the butter and put in the baking powder…

My actions unwittingly sped up when I thought about the look that’d cross his face upon receiving the Madeleine.

Once it was ready, I quickly placed the batter-filled molds into the oven as well.

A wave of relief washed over me as soon as the oven started up.

MC: There! It’s so hot in the kitchen. Maybe I should go out for some air.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

The long corridor was empty, save for the children’s laughter that came through the door.

I was happily imagining how the finished cake was going to taste when a door on the side opened, and a hand darted out, pulling me in.

MC: !!!

Osborn: Don't scream. It's me.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Shocked, I shoot him a baleful glare, only to find him looking a little panicked.

Osborn: Quick, teach me how to make a Tiramisu.

MC: Pfft… I knew it!

I was mid-snicker when Osborn approached me threateningly.

Osborn: Quickly! That demon’s waiting for me. A Tiramisu is hard to make, okay!?

MC: I genuinely recommend that you make something simpler instead.

Osborn: You think I didn’t tell him that? Of course, I did! But no, the kid insisted on a tiramisu because it had some sort of special meaning behind it.

MC: Well…

I suddenly remembered the allusions behind a Tiramisu.

MC: Ohhhh! Is he giving it to someone he likes? Wow, never saw that one coming.

Osborn: The kid called “Ah Qiang” wants to make one. He doesn’t know how, so he’s been pestering me about it.

Osborn: I searched up several tutorials on my phone, but there were some things I couldn’t understand, so explain them to me, please?

He held up his phone before me, but I turned away.

MC: But we're opposing teams now. Wouldn’t I be betraying the girls if I were to teach you how to?

Osborn: Oh? So you're not gonna teach me？

MC: No-pe.

I grinned triumphantly. Oh, dear Osborn, you finally got your just desserts!

He probably hadn’t expected me to reject him so brutally, for he rubbed his forehead, seemingly at his wit’s end.

Then, he freezes. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he put both hands against the wall, caging me within the small space.

Osborn: If you don’t teach me, then don’t even think about going back. Lemme guess, your little treat must have already been put into the oven, right?

Osborn: Who knows what will become of them if a certain someone isn’t there to retrieve them in time?

MC: ...Osborn?

Osborn: Hm?

MC: Are you dumb? All ovens come with a timer.

Osborn suddenly stiffens as the realization hits. His eyes flit around awkwardly.

But something soon clicked in his head, and the smile returned to his face once more.

Osborn: Well, don’t you still need to adjust the temperature?

You freeze at that. Didn’t the recipe say something about turning down the heat somewhere through mid-bake?

Now it was my turn to be shell-shocked.

Looking at the muscular arms caging me in on both sides, I realized that I had absolutely no chance at escape. Hence, I shot him a flattering smile.

MC: Fine, fine. You win, boss man. Leave my cake unscathed!

Osborn: And why’s that?

MC: Because… the happiness of many kids are at stake! Do you really have the heart to rip their smiles away?

Osborn: Absolutely.

I stared him down for a long while, refusing to back down, but I eventually backed down in defeat.

I took his phone and quickly warned him in hushed tones.

BANG! Suddenly, the door slams open.

I panicked for a moment, wanting to hide myself out of guilt. However, there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide in this empty room.

Ah Zhen was standing just outside the door when she spotted us both. She suddenly pointed at us with a shaky finger and a shout.

Ah Zhen: You two! What are you two whispering about!?

MC: N-Nothing! Hear me out-

Ah Zhen: La la la, I can’t hear you!

She covered her ears, shouting as she ran out of the door. We could hear her loud and clear despite the distance she’d put between us.

Ah Zhen: Big sister got seduced by big brother! She has betrayed us!

My face flushed red, but Osborn only quietly smirked beside me. I swiftly smacked him on the chest in anger.

MC: This is on you!

Osborn: So you were seduced by me? My, I couldn’t tell.

MC: As if!

Osborn: Who knew that kids had such sharp eyes?

Pushing him away, I swiftly made my way out.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

The girls all turned to face me with looks of betrayal the moment I got back to our kitchen. It took me a long time before I finally got them to believe me, albeit reluctantly.

A delectable aroma wafted from the oven. I pulled open the glass door and looked inside, only to have my mind blown. 

The cupcakes turned out perfectly white and plump, giving off an enticingly sweet aroma. On the other hand, all the Madeleines that I'd baked had turned into unidentifiable charred lumps.

MC: I really shouldn't have baked them together… I don't think these have any chance of being saved.

I was in the middle staring and lamenting at the product of my wrong choices when a curious head popped up beside me. It was Ah Zhen, who'd followed the delicious smell all the way here.

Ah Zhen: These cupcakes smell so good! What's this though? Chocolate cake?

She reached out and was just about to touch it when I quickly pulled her away.

MC: Uh, those are burnt cakes. They taste terrible, so don't touch them, okay?

Ah Zhen: Oh…

Ah Zhen nodded and left obediently. With the time limit close at hand, I quickly placed the cupcakes into a basket, ignoring the Madeleines that had been burnt into charcoal.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Soon, everyone gathered at the Orphanage’s small lawn with their own baskets of food in tow. 

It was now the peak of the morning when the sun shone the most comfortably. The gentle breeze carried the refreshing scent of the grass and trees alike. We laid picnic mats on the green and lush lawn

The girls were the first to show their creations— An array of colorful and cute cakes, bread, cookies, and sweets.

I took out my cupcakes to add to their brilliant array of sweet creations. Everyone quickly rushed forward and swiped all of the goodies clean once they heard that they all had a share made for them. 

The girls felt confident enough that surely, they’d won this round. They then urged the boys to show their creations too.

Ah Zhen: What did you make, Ah Qiang?

Xiaodie: Which one’s big brother’s? I wanna see it!

Unfazed and unaffected by everyone’s watchful gaze, Ah Qiang and Osborn both produced a beautiful pink-colored box.

Ah Qiang opened his. Inside, was an actual tiramisu. Although it wasn’t very pretty, we could all tell that he’d put in lots of effort. 

They succeeded in making it! I turned to look at Osborn in surprise and just so happened to meet his eyes. He shot me a sly wink.

Xiaodie: Whoa! Cake! It looks really good… Can I eat some!?

Ah Qiang: No, you can’t! This one’s for Ah Zhen.

Ah Qiang bashfully lowered his head in apology, his voice growing smaller along with it.

Ah Zhen smoothly caught the verbal ball while the others gave an envious gasp.

Ah Zhen: Thank you. The witch shall grant your wish.

As Ah Zhen tucked the box safely under her own cloak, the other kids turned their attention to yet another one of the many boxes.

Xiaoqiu: And who are you going to give your cake to, big brother?

Osborn immediately shifted his seating posture into a rather awkward one as he placed a box before me.

Osborn: Try it. I can't vouch for the taste though.

MC: It's for me? Thanks.

I opened the box to see a piece of tiramisu within…

However, Ah Qiang’s tiramisu was decorated with one blueberry, while Osborn's was garnished with a layer of yellow-coloured lemon-flavored fudge.

Xiaodie: Huh? Why's it… the same type of cake?

Xiaoqiu: And what do you know? Ah Qiang likes Ah Zhen, and big brother likes big sister! Of course, their cake's the same!

Osborn’s eyes fall upon me. There was nowhere to hide; my panic was bared in front of him in all its entirety.

Osborn: This thing’s way too complicated to make. After I finished helping Ah Qiang make his, I didn’t have time to try making anything else, so I just went with the same thing.

MC: Oh…

I felt too embarrassed to face him for a while, fixating my eyes on the tiny piece of tiramisu.

Despite it being cut all crooked, and its top layer not being completely coated in cocoa powder, the thought of Osborn putting in the effort to decorate it despite being as clumsy as he is makes my heartbeat race.

Reluctant to speak, I placed it on the ground and snapped several pictures, but it still felt like something was lacking.

MC: Osborn, can you hold it and let me take a picture?

Osborn: More pictures? Snap too many and I might just eat it.

I quickly snatched the cake back and took a small hesitant bite.

Osborn: How’s it?

MC: Hmm… Yummy.

Osborn: What’s with that sigh of relief? Are you really that untrusting of my skills?

MC: Ahaha, of course not~ It actually looks pretty good for your first time!

Osborn: I knew it wouldn't be so bad.

Osborn: Everything turns out fine as long as I’m serious about it.

He smiled and extended his hand towards me with a proud look on his face.

Osborn: Alright, where’s mine then? I’ve been waiting really long now.

MC: Yours?

Osborn: Yeah. Where's my return gift?

I then recalled the plate of charred Madeleines and averted my eyes in guilt.

MC: Everyone has their own cupcake. Didn’t you already eat yours?

Osborn: I don't get a special one?

Osborn moved closer, his eyes bright with anticipation. Faced with such a look, I found it hard to voice the “no” that was lying on the tip of my tongue…

Ah Zhen: There’s something! Big sis (y/n) prepared something for you, big brother!

Ah Zhen’s voice cuts through my thoughts as she magically procures a box from under her cloak under everyone’s curious gazes.

Ah Zhen: Here it is! I knew that you’d be unhappy if you didn’t receive any gift, big brother!

Ah Zhen: So this clever little witch has brought it out for you!

Osborn: I see now. Thank you, clever little witchling.

A bad feeling niggles at me, starting to make itself known. However, before I could react, Osborn had already snatched up the box!

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

The box was nicely wrapped up in a gold-colored cloth with a floral pattern. He weighed the box with a thoughtful look before facing me with a smile.

Osborn: Now what goodie did you make, and why don't you wanna let me have some?

MC: You won't want to eat it. Trust me!

I quickly reached out to grab at it. There was only one thought in my mind- I can’t let Osborn open it!

He simply got up in the face of my advances and walked a couple of steps away. He undid the cloth covering it and opened the lid of the box.

I quickly chased after him and tried to grab the box again, but he only stretched his arm out before turning around and lifting the box higher in the air. The smile he had on his face oozed with smugness.

Osborn: Now that you’re trying this hard to reclaim this, you’re only making me even more curious.

I circled around him, frantically jumping in an attempt to nab it from him.

But no matter how hard I tried, all he did was dance out of my reach. I was out of breath after a while of hopping about.

Taking advantage of how I was out of breath, Osborn rounded back to the picnic mat and seated himself. Then, he placed the box on his lap, and…

MC: Wait, no! Don’t open it!

Before I could finish, he’s already pried open the box.

My black Madeleines, charred beyond all recognition despite the effort I took to bake it, was out in the open for everyone to see.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Osborn's hand stilled. He looked slightly shocked at the sight.

Osborn: This is… food?

MC: It was meant to be… edible.

MC: I wanted to make them for you, but it turned out to be a failure…

I was ready to slam the lid back down on the box when Osborn swiped a piece of it right under my nose.

Osborn: Still gonna try it.

MC: Wait, no- Hey!

Seeing that he was about to put the black, charred, failure of a thing into his mouth, I quickly reached out to stop him.

But all he did was shimmy a little to the back to completely slip out of my reach.

He narrowed his eyes in mischief as he leaned backward.

Osborn: You've put so much effort into it, it's only fitting that I try some.

Saying so, he put it into his mouth.

It was for a fleeting moment, but I didn't miss the slight furrow of his brow.

MC: How does it taste…?

Osborn: Hm, definitely something I'll never forget in my entire lifetime...

MC: ……

Osborn: But having room for improvement isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Osborn: I’m very patient when it comes to deserts tailored especially for me.

Osborn: I’m looking forward to your next one.

The cheery laughter of the children seems to recede, leaving only his low voice in the background along with the sweet aroma wafting out of the box of treats.

He gently pats my head and gives me a smile overflowing with warmth. I nodded in slight embarrassment.

Osborn: It's a deal then.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

✥ Choose your Ending:

END 1 | Choice: Do Nothing [都不做]

END 2 + 3 | Choice: Approach [亲近] ⊹Touch⊹

END 4 | Choice: Listen [倾听] ❖ASMR

END 5 | Choice: Heart-throb [心动] ★Night★

❖☆————— ⊹ For Night, For Freedom⊹ —————★❖

Previous Part: Prologue

[ymnfilter]

Hey I'm new and I'm a huge doctor who fan, You do not know much of a shock it was to go on to the Rose/Doctor tag and just see a basically a 100K story I got so excited! Until I realized it wasn't complete, So I'm jumping on here before I get by hopes up too much—because unfortunately I read the one shot where the doctor is a simp in all regenerations And I adored it, Like normally in these stories when they meet out of order Rose is the one falling in love and he's the one with all the info Which adds a difference to them power dynamic that I never liked. But I love the twist on it. And I always adore the doctor as a simp for Rose in any context! is this just you reposting an old story that you don't intend to finish or reigniting an old passion for an old work? And please don't take this the wrong way, I am in no means trying to be nosy or pushy. And I'm truly sorry if this comes off that way! (You can't really get tone from text, So I'm always a little bit nervous when asking these questions) Thanks for answering if you can! 😁

Hii!!! It has been a while since I've been able to go on either ao3 or tumblr. (Life got in the way big time 😬😬) When I logged in yesterday, I saw that there were a bunch of messages asking about my dw fics, daffodils in particular,

I honestly thought, at the time, that deleting those fics was the right thing to do. I had given up on becoming a writer, and i did not want any reminders that would make me feel bad for giving up.

It was such a stupid decision, especially since I did end up writing again, and now am alhmd writing professionally.

There were wayyy too many asks in my inbox for me to answer them all, and some were so old that I would just feel awkward replying to them all. So, instead I mass uploaded all of daffodils that I had saved on my drive.

I do miss writing for the dw fandom, but I am also currently working on an original fiction that takes up most of my brain space. I remember daffodils in particular took a lot of time to plan and write. I cannot definitively say if I will update it or not. I'm sorry I can't give you a straightforward answer.

Though, I will say I did leave the fic on a good enough note that you won't be frustrated by a cliff hanger or anything like that even if it takes me a while to update.

Again, thank you for reading my fics!

(To all the people who did write to me about the fics, I am so sorry if it felt like I was ignoring you. I saw most of the submissions just yesterday and the first thing I did was reupload daffodils. I will also reupload all the rest of the fics in due time. Thank you for reading. You guys have literally made me the writer that I am. I love you, and though I could not answer you all individually, just know I read every single one of your asks, and I will try my best to be a lot more active on here from now 😘😘)

[cosmicalart]

An Ask Game for Writers to Procrastinate Working on Your WIP(s)

Thank you @valeffelees for tagging me, I've seen this going around and been in the mood for ask games so this is great.

🦈 Tell us the name of one of your WIP(s)

Baz to The Past

🍄 Describe one of your WIPs in the format of “___ + ___ =___”  

witness protection + freedom = runaway simon

🌍 What tags or warnings will your WIP(s) need if you intend to share it?

Gonna answer this with my original story as most of my fics don't really have warnings. Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sexual violence, eating disorders, homophobia (historical and modern), gore, body horror (in the monster sense), domestic abuse, abusive relationships, PTSD, generational trauma, and suicidal thoughts. There's probably a lot more as I work on it, this story starts out very dark, everybody is fucked up, but a lot of the story is about the characters dealing with these things and recovering so its suppose to end on a much happier note

🧭 An alternative title to one of your WIP(s)?

No idea lol

⚠️ Which WIP you’re most likely to finish or update next?

Baz to the Past, everything else is still in just the brainstorming/plotting stages, but I'm still slowly working on BTTP

💾 What is the document of your WIP called? (Not the story title, but what you’ve saved it as.)

Time travel fic (thats what my outline for Baz to The Past is called lol)

🖍 Post any sentence from your WIP

(This is from a different time travel fic)

The window had lost its chill after the first hour, my breath leaving a permanent fog. By this point, I couldn’t focus on the scene passing by, the vibrations of the glass against my head coupled with the radio had a headache building behind my eyes. And yet, I didn’t care enough to move at the moment.

♻️ A scrapped idea for your current WIP

Had a character in my original story I was gonna have be a lesbian but scrapped that for her to be alloaro as it felt like it fit her character more (plus being somewhat aspect myself I wanted to add some rep)

🤔 What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

Paranormal youtuber snowbaz

🤡 How many WIPs are you actively working on?

Actively, 3. In total I probably got like 8 in some stages of progress

🛠 Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

Chapter four of BTTP, when simon and Baz come back from dinner

❤️ Not a question, just a second kudos to send.

Hell yeah

This was really fun. Apologies for any duplicates, idk whos done this or not, and no pressure to do it.

@letraspal @kianlime @thewholelemon @that-disabled-princess @cultofsappho @krisrix @larkral @ionlydrinkhotwater @facewithoutheart @martsonmars

[quickspinner]

A Refresher on the Weekly Roundup

Apologies for the fact that I am once again a Wordy Bitch and over explainer, but I appreciate anybody who reads all my word vomit.

Some asks I got a while ago reminded me that not everybody has been here since I started the roundup, so here's a quick refresher on what the roundup is, why I do it, and some notes on how things have changed from when I first started.

I believe, and have always believed, that if you want other people to comment on/promote your work, you need to be willing to promote theirs, so I've made it a point since I started in this fandom to reblog all the lukanette content I can find. This blog is not curated; there's no grading rubric, I just reblog everything and let readers judge what they like and don't like. I've also always tried to drive traffic back to the authors rather than to my page, I didn't want anyone to think I was trying to steal their views or anything. There have occasionally been things that I...just didn't feel right about, but that is very, very rare, and I have made it a practice to reblog everyone's work, regardless of any personal beef I may have with them. Unless they have blocked me or forced me to block them (which so far has not happened), in which case I cannot reblog, I go ahead an reblog.

I started the roundup in 2020 (I think). Originally, I had just noticed that things posted to tumblr over the weekend tended to get less notes, so I started doing a Weekend Roundup on Mondays just to shine a light on those fics. I had maybe 400 followers at that point and I figured I could get at least a little boost for those weekend fics. It honestly never occurred to me at the time that anyone would be bothered by having their fics promoted, but someone messaged me upset that I had included their fic, which they published on Monday, because they had been specifically trying to avoid being on it by publishing on Monday. They had their reasons but honestly I felt like those weren't my business, and if they didn't want to be included, that was fine, so now I include a disclaimer that anyone who does not want to be included can message me and let me know and I will comply, no questions asked.

Some people on discord indicated that it would be useful for the roundup to include the entire week of fics, so I started doing a Weekly Roundup instead of the Weekend Roundup. I've been doing the roundup the same way from the beginning, and most of the reblogs on LBSC the same way - the link is always back to the original post and not my reblog of it, and readers are expected to check the tags of the original post. If subject matter has trigger warnings or something that might be controversial/upsetting, I generally put a reminder to check the original tags on the fics. I can see that I don't actually have that statement in my pinned post or the What Is the Roundup Link, so I'll try to remember to add it sometime this week.

I only pull links from and link to tumblr, unless someone sends me a message asking that a link to another platform be included. Content is a bit slow right now but there were quite a lot of links per week in the beginning so I had to set some boundaries to keep myself sane. This is a tumblr blog and it made sense to me to boost other tumblr blogs, and not to try and become some kind of clearing house for content across platforms. I'll happily reblog anybody that does that, but I don't have that kind of time or commitment.

I used to read everything I reblogged. I used to do my best to leave comments, either in the tags or on AO3 or whatever I could do. I regret that I just can't do that right now. I'm not intending to slight anyone by reblogging with only the quickroundup tag, I am just really struggling in general right now and I don't have the emotional bandwidth to immediately comment on everything. I do sometimes go back and comment when I can, but I don't want anyone to be forgotten or left out, so it's easiest for me to reblog immediately whether I can comment or not, so that I don't forget to go back and reblog it later.

I'm familiar with most of the Lukanette authors by now, so when someone I know posts a fic I don't generally have to read it to know that it's Lukanette if it is marked Lukanette. If it's a new author or someone I am not familiar with, I will at least skim through to make sure it is in fact Lukanette endgame. I haven't had any complaints so I don't think I'm accidentally reblogging Lukanette salt in disguise.

There is some grey area in what constitutes endgame; I will for example reblog breakup or character death stories, mutual pining stories, and others where the characters don't necessarily end up together. My personal rule is, if they aren't together, you wish they were. If it feels at the end of the story like "this is the way it should be" then I don't really think of it as Lukanette. If it feels like "this is a tragedy" then yeah, I still consider it Lukanette endgame, even if they technically aren't, and will include it in the roundup. However I do not in any way consider myself the final arbiter of what is or is not Lukanette endgame, you are welcome to define it differently, I'm not going to tag police anyone and I'll probably ignore anyone who tries to tag police me. However I do try to include warnings when things might not fit the strict definition of endgame so people who want to avoid the angst, can.

At the end of the day, I am just trying to spread the most Lukanette content I can to as much of the audience looking for it as I can find, and I'm not going to nitpick what that means or how it gets done too much, because honestly, it's enough to keep up with without making it too confusing. Nobody has to agree with my judgement or my way of doing things, and anyone who wants to do it better/differently/with more rules has my hearty endorsement to do so.

[livebeginning]

Kastany's Raphael Prompt List

Hello! So, I have a ton of smutty ideas for Raphael, originally for my Pretty Little Pet fic, but I've come to realize that I don't have the time and energy to write all of them or fit them into my story.

So I'm releasing my ideas into the wild, hoping someone else will pick them up! If you use any of these, credit isn't necessary but appreciated, and of course I'd love to read your stories :) I'm Kastany on AO3, if you publish anywhere else tag or mention my tumblr main @deadending

Most of these prompts are made with sub!Raphael and my male OC Mio in mind, but obviously you can substitute your own OC, Tav, reader or maybe even another character, like Haarlep. Speaking of Haarlep, some prompts will mention them specifically.

Pretty much all of these are NSFW/18+ and most of them involve some form of BDSM. They're intended to be consensual but can be made dub-/non-con if that's your thing. I also added some uses for spells and potions found in BG3.

I'll probably add more in the future, so check back sometime!

Raphael getting spanked - He might be indignant at first but is a moaning mess by the end of it

Impact play - Raphael definitely has a collection of whips, canes and other implements for causing pain. Give him a taste of his own medicine and punish him. Remember that BG3 has healing potions, so Tav doesn't have to hold back!

Degradation - Call him a slut, whore, a tease, not even worthy of Tav's attention. Maybe use the fact that he's a mere cambion (not even a real devil!) to really humiliate him

Temperature play - Raphael is used to the heat of Avernus, which makes him more sensitive to cold. Use ice cubes or spells to make him shiver

Sensory deprivation (with Haarlep?) - With or without the help of spells (e.g. blindness, silence, hold monster), make him extra sensitive to any touch Tav deigns to give him. Especially fun in combination with Haarlep, where Raphael doesn't even get touched directly, only experiencing the ghost sensation of Haarlep's pleasure

Dress up - Raphael definitely has a giant closet and when Tav discovers this, they want to play dress up with him. At some point they discover Raphael's collection of lingerie, corsets, maybe even high heels and of course want to see him in those too

Waxing - Raphael has lovely chest hair hidden behind that fancy doublet, now remove it in the most painful way using wax (or other methods!)

Dumbification - It's hard being the smartest person in the room all the time. Give Raphael some relief by removing some of those brain cells (maybe with the help of some spells like Confusion or Hypnotic Pattern?) and letting him focus on what's really important - being Tav's dumb little sex toy

Deep throat training - Using a dildo or strap-on Tav helps Raphael get rid of that gag reflex. As a reward he gets to enjoy the full length of Tav's cock

Genital change - Maybe Tav has a preference, Raphael just wants a change, or he's always been like this. Either way, Raphael has a pussy now. Haarlep could join for some double penetration fun. Or perhaps Tav already has two cocks to fill up Raphael?

Loss of Power - Tav has nice gift for Raphael, a necklace/collar/ring. Unfortunately for Raphael, he didn't realize that it would bind his powers before putting it on, so now he's powerless and only Tav can remove the item. Which they will only do once they had their fun!

Tying his wings together - Using ropes, spells, or maybe chains. They've got spikes a the bottom, if you were to put cuffs on each on them and chain them together he couldn't open them anymore

Suspension - Let him dangle from the ceiling and writhe in his binds. Maybe display those pretty wings of his and turn him into a piece of art

Hidden statue - With the help of some spells Raphael replaces one of the many statues in his own house, on display for all the debtors. Maybe they know it's him, maybe they don't

Candelabra - Attach candles to his horns or have him hold them up while Tav reads a book. Maybe suspend him from the ceiling as a chandelier!

Public humiliation - Raphael has an important meeting and he arrives there at the end of Tav's leash wearing (almost?) nothing. The other party may or may not want a taste of Raphael's new found willingness to pleasure them. If you want to preserve Raphael's dignity, simply erase the other party's memory after everything's done

Haarlep's reward - Tav has Raphael pleasure Haarlep for once. They deserve it after putting up with Raphael for so long. Maybe they want a full body massage, a blowjob, every inch of their body worshiped, fucked by Raphael for once or all of the above. You decide if Haarlep has Raphael's form during this or they don't want to share the sensation with him

Tail bondage - Make Raphael use his own tail to tie up his hands and arms

Cut his wings - Imagine those wing membranes are very sensitive - now take a knife a carve them up in pretty patterns. Don't worry, afterwards you can heal them with potions, no lasting harm done!

Spells & Potions

Mage Hand - Having an extra hand is always useful. Maybe make it invisible for that extra surprise effect?

Shocking Grasp - For pain/electrocution play

Sleep - For somnophilia. Raphael can wake up when Tav fucks him or we can pretend Sleep has a stronger effect and Raphael stays asleep

Blindness - As alternative to using a blindfold, so Tav can still see those pretty eyes!

Enlargen - Especially fun if Tav is usually smaller than Raphael. Now they can toss him around for a change

Invisibility - Not knowing where Tav is gonna touch him next can be exciting. Maybe combine with a mirror so Raphael can fully see himself come undone? (We're gonna pretend Tav can keep the spell up while they fuck)

Silence - More effective than any earplugs

Hold Monster - Keeps Raphael from moving around so Tav can do whatever they want to him

Planar Binding - Full control over Raphael!

Telekinesis - Throw him around a bit

Potion of Cloud Giant Strength - Usually weak Tav surprises Raphael by suddenly being able to manhandle him

[liminevator]

⚠️ ~ WATCH YOUR STEP - MIND THE GAP ~ ⚠️

[You are now entering the Liminevator, we hope you enjoy your stay]

(Info under the read more)

Hello hello and welcome! This is a blog for a little side project I ( @nnugatoryextravagance ) have been working on that's tangentially connected to my primary oc project.

The Liminevator is a machine that was built by a man named Professor Katzehund Schrödinger, that was originally intended to be for having a safe way to find out the truth about the strange reported phenomena of people slipping from this reality into another with no way to return, not only was this found to be absolutely real but of course something also went horrifically wrong in line with it's creator's declining mental faculties, as a result The Liminevator we now know was born, a dubiously self aware machine that has become its own little divot in the unstable framework of the Crafengoverse and has made getting lost outside of reality easier than ever before, once you enter the doors to the lobby, weather on purpose or by mistake, you'll only be left with two directions left to go: up, or down. Watch your step and mind the gap as you head inside, we hope you'll enjoy your stay, you have an eternity to settle into after all.

-- -- --

This intro post will also serve as a sorta guide for how this blog works

First, there's the levels system for how the floors are categorized

Second, there's a list of basic terminology thats used a lot

Third, there's what the tags are for (don't worry, there aren't too many):

"💔 - Characters" - This tag is for posts about the different denizens located within the bounds of The Liminevator

"🛗 - Floors" - This tag is, well, for posts that're about the floors of The Liminevator

"⚠️ - Anomalies" - This is a blanket tag is for the various animals(?) and things and such found around most floors, whether or not they're just harmless critters or violent beasts is further distinguished by:

"🐾 - Friends" - For anomalies that are safe for denizens or are helpful in some way

"🦴 - Foes" - For violent anomalies that cause active harm to denizens

"🧀 - Fiends" - For anomalies that don't neatly fall into the Friends or Foes categories

"🪄 - Objects" - A tag usually paired with the above three to specify anomalies that don't show enough signs of vitality to be a sort of animal or are very blatantly just an anomalous object of sorts

"💊 - Other Phenomena" - File entries that don't quite fit other categories, wether it be things like illnesses, denizen biology, elevator events, metaphysical phenomena, anything really

--- [Media tags] ---

"📖 - Stories" - a tag for short stories about the elevator denizens (that isn't part of a database entry) either by me or others

"🍿 - Etc" - Miscellaneous posts

"🎨 - Art" - and a tag for any art (that isnt part of a database entry) either by me or others

And thats all of them for now, I may add more tags as I need them but :]

(For the sake of filtering, tags for certain common triggers of things will be formatted like [bad thing] tw)

-- -- --

OOC: (One more important note and a bit more of a personal anecdote about this project, while most of it is primarily my usual worldbuilding shenanigans given a silly twist, many aspects of The Liminevator exist as a way for me to come to terms with the multitudes trauma I've experienced (most obviously with the elevator denizens themselves of course, even sometimes through how I got the characters to begin with), hell this whole thing was born not long after an event with a now ex partner that left me deeply re-traumatized and I have been using it to help me recover from that and distract from ongoing issues, like my health and etc.)

(There will be heavy themes of unreality, occasional unsettling imagery or descriptions, characters with mentions of disturbing events in their past, characters doing awful things to eachother thanks to the perceived idea of zero consequences, and whathaveyou. Everything I ever mention will be tagged accordingly however so don't worry, but if I do mess up please let me know and I will rectify it asap. All I can hope for is maybe this project might be able to help someone like me out there too <:] or at least inspire someone to do something cool)

[A little addendum, yes the project was obviously inspired by the game Regretevator, but it's not based on it, this idea was rattling in my head for a long time and was inspired by a buncha other things too- I just wanted to make that a bit clearer just in case because I've already been asked about it]