#i think he's a pretty late bloomer when it comes to demonic stuff so he's kinda in. teething phase 2 since his fangs are growing in

[happi-tree]

AGAUDO2ORHW9DJWOEKQNR91O3QOFNQORNWOIQ9SMO3 OMG TJNANK YOU FOR THE SNIPPET I LOVE IT HFIG93O3K3RUR04 i imade ungodly screechign jnoises readijg that tjank you i lovve it

TEEHEEHEE Happy to be of service!!! 🥰🥰🥰 Glad you enjoy it hopefully I can just. Power(!!!) through and finish this thing I'm so close to the end of this chapter good lord. Please universe I am begging 🙏

[everlune-evotide]

Bingo template made by @hyba

Almost a blackout but not quite! I guess I don’t do 100% evil characters, and I have clumsy characters but none are hopeless.

Time to briefly talk about all my OCs listed here

Magic Wielder: Waverleigh Hawthorne

I have a lot of magic wielders tbh but I picked her because I’m biased lol she is the daughter of a wizard/bard father (see: Barlin) and a sorceress mother (Aracelle), and her and her siblings are in an unspoken rivalry of who’s going to be a sorcerer and who’s going to be a wizard. Wizards are usually looked down upon by sorcerers. The family is supportive and loving but when Waverleigh doesn’t get her innate specialty power she’s pretty disappointed. Except she’s a late bloomer and her darkness powers come in full force and she can’t control them and she almost hurts people she loves AND embarrasses herself in front of her crush, Alias. She eventually goes on to travel with her crush and use her powers to help with his performances (he’s a horror bard lol).

Mischief Maker: Glace Stonebriar

He is the son of a prince, born into a royal family of prim and proper and he is bored by it. He doesn’t want anything to do with sea elf politics so he decides that he’s going to do his own thing. He steals his father’s display weapons just to prove he can, on multiple occasions (he puts them back). One time he cut off half his ear by accident with a sword. He doesn’t have an accent normally but he has given himself one. Kinda British I guess? Anyway he eventually runs away with his adventurer grandpa and they become privateers. Then he loses said grandpa and has to go find him.

Cursed: Zereus

Zereus studies curse magic, and there are consequences to this, consequences that drive him a bit mad. He leaves home to continue this study, finding religious artifacts, learning curses are connected to blessings, stuff like that. The land of Jernoctrr is cursed due to some crazy curse magic used during the war, and it’s spreading to infect the other lands. Zereus learns how to stop it, but in order to, he has to absorb the curse himself.

Food lover: Marley Hawthorne

Oldest son of Barlin and Aracelle. He’s a sorcerer that can conjure up basically anything out of no where. The possibilities are endless. He uses it to make sandwiches. This pisses his wizard twin Ignatius off to no end.

Inhuman: Xander

Xander lives in a world where demons have risen from hell and have began infecting creatures of earth, creating monsters. This is usually animals, but when a demon possesses Xander’s father and takes advantage of his mother, Xander is created. He’s mostly human except he has big black wings. He’s on the run his whole life, but meeting Dakota changes everything.

Bankrupt: Axel Hawke

Axel’s from Mars which is just a mining colony planet. It’s not a thriving community for the most part, and almost everyone is poor. Axel spends all his money that he’s saved up all his life on a broken down freighter ship and gets him and his best friend, Logan, out of there. They’re broke for a very long time, just scraping by on odd jobs. Axel borrows money from people he can’t hope to pay back and gets in a lot of trouble by doing this.

Morally ambiguous: Varian Drake

Varian is a Variant, the perfectly constructed heir to take over Brillig, a billion dollar science corporation that makes supervillains and has demonized superheroes. Superheroes have been forced to go underground. A group of three teens work for one of the most powerful superheroes (idr his name or what he does, it’s been forever since I’ve worked on this, I’m so sorry). The kids have been forced to come out of hiding when he goes missing. These kids break into a Brillig facility, thinking they know where their “dad” is, and instead they find an experimented on girl named Lunaura that they rescue. Varian gets intel on this, and infiltrates their base to get more intel because the hero they’re trying to find threatens the existence of Brillig. But Varian starts to genuinely become friends with the group (and fall for Project: Luminosity—Lunaura), so he becomes super conflicted. Once he’s found out he goes back to Brillig but he feels awful and has to decide what he’s going to do: follow in his father’s footsteps, or take him down like the true variant he is.

Nature dweller: Cerelia

Cerelia is a steam genasi Druid. She wants nothing more than to be a botanist, and grow all sorts of species of plants to study them. Except she has the complete opposite of a green thumb, and often destroys her own work on accident.

Liar, liar: Rosalind [REDACTED]

She’s the daughter of two of my Vespyr crew members (don’t want to give that away right now lol) and she’s a wild child. Mischievous, always getting up to no good. She ends up running away as a teen and becoming a spy of sorts, which requires a lot of lying to get out of trouble. Or, you know, into it.

Musically gifted: Barlin Hawthorne

Barlin is a traveling merchant wizard/bard. He has learned how to play all sorts of instruments over the years, and really enjoys playing obscure ones. That’s it, that’s the character intro

Annoyingly perfect: Justice Wells

Since Shane and Raelynn are married I don’t mind saying they eventually have a little girl. However she’s born without being able to use her legs, and she’s very weak and fragile with brittle bones. Even a simple cold could kill her. Her best friend, Kai, helps her in whatever ways he can. All she wants to do is walk but a fall could break a lot of her bones. She has a very good attitude about her disability, and doesn’t let it get her down, and even gives the glory to God. But as a preteen, Justice undergoes many surgeries to get a super strong mesh placed around all her bones, making her a super soldier. And then she’s playing every sport (which ends up controversial because she’s enhanced): soccer, martial arts, gymnastics, dance. Whatever she can excel at she does, and she’s humble about it. She soars above Kai’s skill level and he’s happy for her but he’s also envious of how “perfect” she becomes. She does still have flaws but a lot of people wave them off because of Justice’s past…she doesn’t let them. She wants to be held accountable for when she messes up. Luckily her parents have always held her to a high standard. It’s difficult for Kai because he starts living in Justice’s perfect shadow.

Influencer: Mercedes ��Mercy’ McKinley

Mercy has her own fashion line so of course she advertises it online through being an Influencer. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, whatever. She’s got thousands of followers that watch her fashion content where she styles outfits, shows her process in clothing making, etc. she has brand deals for beauty as well and works with other smaller fashion companies.

Good-hearted: Jasper Clearwater

Jasper has always had a loving, selfless heart. She just wants to be friends with (almost) everyone, and she wants to help in whatever ways she can. When she meets Echo, she wants to help him with his trauma, and he finally lets her in. She stands up to bullies, even if it makes her anxious. She advocates for her friends always. If something involves her friends, this normally shy girl has a voice about it. This good heart gets her into trouble sometimes because she prys too much, she pushes too much and it makes people uncomfortable and angry. When he friend group breaks up, she has a lot of work to do and a lot of pushback to deal with.

Athletic: Dakota Gordon

Dakota is a military brat. She loves guns and working out and wants to be in the military once she gets out of high school. She’s in powerlifting and ROTC. She also loves nature and hiking and camping and she will sketch things she sees. She has no problem going on the run through the wilderness and mountains of Arkansas. Mackenzie and Xander teach her more combat related stuff along the way and she gets pretty skilled at it. She’s just very capable and healthy.

[papofglencoe]

Re: you mentioning you vibe more with Kurt Cobain as you get older.

I totally get that. I don't know if I was ready for Nirvana when I was twelve- fourteen. I liked their music but I didn't fully get the vibe (I was a late bloomer spending probably 98% of my free time reading) and now I’m like damn, I wish I hadn’t been an actual child while Kurt was alive. Because goodness that cynical outlook fits pretty well on me too.

The memory that stands out the most to me when Kurt died (I was fourteen) was feeling this great loss, like I was in mourning for our generation because we’d lost someone special- even if I didn’t get all of the specifics at the time and just casually enjoyed In Bloom or Smells Like Teen Spirit on MTV.

Also, I’ll never forget speaking up at home, expressing how sad I felt about his passing, without really being able to express why, and my asshole stepfather (no longer in the picture) making some sort of remark about how he deserved it or he was glad or something along those lines. I heard the sentiment mentioned by more than one person at that time. It made me angry then and it still does to his day.

All that from a “good” evangelical, of course.

(I'm not bashing Christianity in general, I want to make that very clear. Just the particular type that refuses to see further than the ends of their noses)

Anyway, thanks for letting me dump my completely unsolicited emotions on you <3.

Man, your (ex)stepfather was an asshole! I'm so sorry he made things worse for you by subjecting you to heartlessness instead of sympathy. (As if his generation hadn't lost their share of culturally significant people far before their time... not to mention, oh, Jesus).

I was in the same boat as you. Too young to grasp the full genius of Nirvana at the time or to understand what it was that Kurt was doing with his music. I remember watching Woodstock 94 with my older brother through the static and garble of some semi-pirated version of HBO on our TV, but it wasn't until I started high school that I actually gave a shit about contemporary music. When I was 12 I was listening to old Motown, Doo-Wop, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, etc. Stuff more appropriate for my parent's generation than ours. lol. So I was a little late to the game, and too late to enjoy Kurt before the enjoyment was mingled with loss.

I remember the day he died, though... I remember my best friend getting on the bus that morning, dressed all in black, her face stained with tears, and maybe she got the full gravity of the situation or maybe it was in some ways performative grief, but I really didn't understand then like I do now as an old woman the tragedy of a 27-year-old man ending his life to escape the demons hounding him (or just how horrific those demons were). He seemed like a grown adult to me at the time he died. I know now he was still in many ways a child. So young. So fucking young. When you're a teen you think 27 is ancient... like it's time to pack it up and move to the retirement home. But in time, with wisdom, you come to realize that you've just begun living at 27. He had just started living when he chose to die. He'd just had a baby girl... just this little nugget of a girl, and he bailed on her. As a parent now, that makes my heart ache.

Kurt was the essence of a depressed person, you know? Brilliant, funny, playful, sarcastic, wry, gentle, creative, vulnerable, but completely overwhelmed by the soullessness and cruelty of the world around him, exhausted, saddled with chronic pain, pissed off, frustrated, desperately wanting to stop hurting the people he loved, desperately wanting to stop being hurt, and I just... did not understand at 12 what a life with depression would be like, how hard it was for him with the added burdens of addiction and the savage cruelty of fame and the press in the 90s (people quite rightly have taken the magnifying lens to how the press mistreated Britney Spears, but there are so many others out there, like Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, who were literally picked to death by the media).

Don't you wonder what Kurt would be like as a 50 year old? Would he be an old curmudgeon the kids "Ok Boomered" all the time? Would his hard edges be worn away like driftwood? Would he have gotten softer, quieter? Would he be angrier? Would he still be laughing at all of us? Or would he be ripping his hair out (would he have any left?), tired of the ridiculous bullshit that's only gotten more ridiculous and more bullshitterific?

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 16

Into the Woods

We rejoin our Bad Kids (minus Riz, who we’ll get to in a bit) who are still on the Goldenrod while chaos happens around them. Fig adds to the chaos by successfully (with a 30!) pretending to be one of Goldenhoard’s minions to no real plot significant effect. I just feel the need to mention every time Fig rolls a 30+. The kids get Gilear out of his hiding place--a sarcophagus--right before it’s launched out as ammo. His safety proves short-lived however because, when Ayda pings that Riz is no longer on the same plane as them, Fabian recklessly sails the Goldenrod directly into Riz’s last known location, instantly killing both himself and Gilear. So he’s for sure back to his old self. 

Kristen brings them back up and passes some heals out generally while she’s at it. Meanwhile, with a Nat 20, Adaine fully Oracles out and knows exactly where Riz was being held. There, they find a smear of blood (which they taste???? even though they know the disease is communicable by blood???) and Riz’s briefcase, but no body. Plus Tracker smells Celestial energy and Ayda senses conjuration magic. But all that subtle sleuthing is made pointless by Kristen getting a Nat 20 (of course) to just stumble into the next room and find a room full of footage of exactly what happened. Wild. 

Bill can’t get them to where Riz is. The best he can do is get them to the Astral Plane. Fig remembers to check on the stuff she stole from Vraz. Baby just got a to-do list but Fig conveniently grabbed a scroll which will create a portal back to Arborly. Then, they cast Zone of Truth on Goldenhoard who gives them this information before they get to the Astral Plane:

Arianwyn was never working with him.

He repeats what we already knew about the NK giving him a coin as part of them working together in the past. He adds that his money being spent would mean it would come back to him 5 fold and also increase the spread of the NK’s power. 

He thinks the NK is a creep and says he never talks and only appears in weird dreams. At Fig’s prompting, he says he does look a lot like the skeletal figure in Adaine’s Scry on the Shadowcat. He also says he never dealt directly with the Shadowcat and can’t see her in the photo. However, the Shadowcat did put him in touch with Aelwen. 

The NK had more followers in Elmville but Goldenhoard doesn’t know who else was because he refused to join the Shadowcat network, which was a requirement. (I wonder if they include whoever the couple in Sandra-Lnn’s past was)

He let the NK have Sylvere when he was taking over the world because he didn’t care about it. 

Meanwhile, our little Angel Riz is en route to heaven with his dad who is happy-shocked to see him. Pok calls in that he’s coming in with a “good aligned, possible CI,” and it’s immediately clear based on the reaction of the person on the other side of the call that Pok talks about Riz all the time in glowing terms. They arrive in heaven and Riz sees that he has a little chair set up at a copy of his grave so he can sit and listen when Riz and Sklonda come and talk to him. Ally is almost crying. Lou is almost crying. I’m almost crying. 

Heaven--or at least this version of heaven--is set up like an office but outside. I’m picturing the classic Window’s XP background. We learn that Pok is a part of a special force called the Lower Planar Recon Task Force. Basically, it’s full of traditionally evil aligned races (like goblins and gnolls) who are perfect for infiltrating places like Hell. We also see that Pok has a plaque for getting his death avenged by his son.

Anyway, we see where Riz gets his attitude from when Pok kicks puts his gameface on (“Clues first, friends later.”) and has an extended puzzle solving scene with Riz (sprinkled with some father/son stuff). Highlights:

Heaven actually didn’t know about the Kalina=Disease thing. Riz and the gang cracked that for them. Kalina doesn’t ping a Detect Good/Evil but Pok thinks she would ping a Detect Poison/Disease.

He started seeing Kalina about 22 years ago after a mission with the Third Ring (see below). No, he didn’t cheat on Sklonda. If it happened via sexual contact, it would have been pre-meeting her.  

Kalina can’t pick things up but she can create the sensation of weight and substance by hijacking your nervous system. So, to his knowledge at the time, Pok had touched her.

He was introduced to Kalina by someone he already knew and trusted from the Third Ring (Falinel government agency). 

Kalina doesn’t have godly intelligence or omniscience. The way she blew her cover was accidentally mentioning seeing something firsthand she would have had no way of seeing (a river being in a certain place). He didn’t call her out then but he clocked it and started looking into her extra-governmentally.

Kalina got Sklonda her job in Elmville--which directly put Pok in the path of Goldenhoard, who ate him. He also strongly suspects that he got Pok’s citizenship revoked--an action that allowed Goldenhoard to harm him.

Pok thinks that, despite the Bad Kids’ focus on the sex aspect of the Shadowcat plague, it’s a lot more general than that (see eg: the life transference spell moving it from Sandra-Lynn to Tracker). 

Father/Son Interlude #1: Riz mentions that all of his friends are super horny all the time and he’s not about that. Pok says that he was a super late bloomer so it’s fine if he’s not into that now or if he’s not into it period--though he selfishly does want grandkids. 

Father/Son Interlude #2: Pok also shares a story about his own relationship with his superficially distant but actually loving 1st gen immigrant dad the twin theses of which are “People show love in different ways,” and “Work is an act of love,” a sentiment that workaholic Riz appreciates. 

Most demons can see Kalina. 

Pok was in hell undercover to try and figure out how devils had been successful in keeping Kalina at bay. He showed up in the Bottomless Pit but he was trapped there for a while--presumably because Gorthalax was in a gem at that time (also Riz mentions for the first time that Sklonda is dating him which he takes OK). 

Pok has a new body so Kalina can’t tap into it. Kalina must have learned where Pok was because Sklonda infected Gorthalax once they started dating and she got the info from him. And since Kalina spurred him to come rescue Pok than she probably wanted him to blow his cover. 

Kalina avoided having her picture taken. Once it was taken, she wasn’t able to do certain things she was able to before.

Pok says that Riz probably won’t be able to visit him again without pretty powerful magic, but Riz isn’t too concerned because he has some pretty powerful friends. And, with that, Pok offers to hire Riz as a consultant for heaven which, you can imagine, he is very here for. He takes his son to get suited up. 

Back with the other Bad Kids, they look at the assorted things Bill has looted and find some Holy Water, which they pocket, and a birthday present for Fig, which she is pretty easily convinced to open early. It’s a sick new bass which doubles as a literal axe (OK, not an axe, it has serrated edges, I just like the idea of an axe-axe) and can shatter rubies. They then say bye to Bill and get back to Arborly (with the Hangman who is still knocked out, but not destroyed like before).

The group collectively decides to leave Gilear in Arborly for both his safety and the safety of Kristen’s high level spell slots. Adaine takes some of his blood so she can Scry on him if necessary. Sandra-Lynn and Gilear exercise their parental rights to make their daughter feel awkward about her love interest. Speaking of said love interest, we learn what Ayda was working on in secret: a spell for Adaine! It’s called Adaine’s Furious Fists and it essentially lets her magic punch people. Adaine can punch people now! I mean, she’s been doing it since S1 but now she can do it effectually! Love that for her!      

Back to Riz. He’s in with an angel called Isosceles (think quasi-eldritch horror Biblical angel, not Halloween costume angel) who is like the Q of the squad. Riz gets hooked up with some new gear:

Trick bullets (like how Green Arrow has trick arrows)

A grappling gun attachment for his gun

Arcadian Watch: Equipped w/ a saw, laser (1d4 radiant dmg) and lockpick 

Seraphim Vest: Basically a wingsuit (temp fly speed of 40 but only laterally and down, not up)

Gregorian Tie: Equipped with a spy camera 

Once he’s suited up, Pok calls up a door that will get Riz back to the moment in time it was called. But, since they’re in no rush now, he asks Riz to take a walk with him and fill him in on some of the boring, mundane, unimportant stuff he missed from RIz’s childhood. It’s very sweet.

Afterwards, Riz pops back up in Arborly and everyone is super happy to see him. Riz almost blurts out what he learned about his dad but wisely moves the conversation to the Van where he tells them everything except the personal family stuff. Based on the info from Riz, Adaine thinks that Kalina was probably introduced into eleven society a couple hundred years ago by Landrynn Lear (fake cleric spreading the Kalina virus they learned about a few eps ago) so it’s not super weird Aelwen and Arianwyn would have been working with her. It’s less weird than Pok working than them. 

Kristen latches onto the part about the picture being taken of her taking away some of her power and they all do checks to puzzle that out. Adaine (with Arcana) realizes that Kalina has to maintain herself in all these people all the time and, if a picture is taken of her--has to make it so that she can be seen by all of those people at all times which is a permanent spell effect which is-as we learned earlier this season--very hard to pull off. Her not being able to do certain things once the pic was taken was probably just her losing power from the strain of this extra magical effect (my takeaway: don’t let her destroy that photo--or, use it as a bargaining chip). Kristen (with Religion) thinks the 4 transubstantiations (familiar to plague and spellbook to curse and so on) are curses which overlap and create synergy (my takeaway: take them out one by one and watch them exponentially drop off in effectiveness). Gorgug (with a Tinkerer’s check) surmises that the way to take the most pics of Kalina and weaken her would be to take a video of her and broadcast it to as many people as possible.    

Gorgug also has another thought: He wants to know if them having and spending their cursed money is actively endangering him. At the prospect, he decides to give all of his money away to the Tinkerer’s Hall (without telling them it’s dragon money, which means the curse won’t get passed on). Kristen, Fig, and Riz follow suit, much to Fabian’s shock and horror. Adaine opts to keep her money since she has no caring family to fall back on. 

They also--I’m just gonna bluntly say this insane thing that Ally conceived of--have another shrimp party which they livestream in hopes that it will go viral, gain a following, and then when they have video of Kalina, they can get lots of people to watch it. And you know what the craziest part is? It’s not a bad plan. It’s c r a z y, but not illogical. To quote Mr. Lee Mulligan, “The charity shrimp party goes super viral.” Amazing. 

The next day, Adaine brings back Boggy (who poofed in the last fight) as an owl so he’ll be a little safer while in Sylvere. Don’t worry, he’s still spherical as ever. The Hangman (now healed) stays behind, as does the Van--but they do take it actual gem out and take it with them. Baby is there and does come with them. Ayda and GaF also come at Fig’s request.

Fig is able to open a passage into Sylvere and they can instantly feel the ambient badness. They decide to start looking for the three things they need to make the Kalina Vaccine: Starmoth chrysalis, Herrowgray nectar, and Lundgreen pollen. The jocks and Boggy go for the chrysalis, Sandra-Lynn, Fig, Adaine, and Ayda go for the nectar, while Kristen, Riz, and Tracker look for the pollen.

The boys don’t find anything but, suddenly, there’s an image of a super creepy witch’s cottage in the gem, and Zathriel (the Celestial inside) bugs out before the gem goes dark. And Ragh is suddenly gone.   

In her group, Sandra-Lynn flies off on Baxter in search of the nectar but the flapping noises that should be happening suddenly stop. Ayda offers to fly after her but then also becomes distressed, asking why they’re in a house (the others can’t see it) before also vanishing.  

Kristen, Riz, and Tracker are looking around stagnant water for the pollen and they see Kalina’s reflection in the water. Kristen starts to film her on her crystal. Kalina (who they can all see at the same time for once) says that in Sylvere, nightmares are real, something demonstrated when Tracker fully wolfs out without the presence of an actual full moon. Kristen tries to Dimension Door out but they're too far in. They try to subdue her but Trcker vanishes into moths (?). Kalina says that Tracker is chasing down what she thinks is Kristen to kill her (which would make sense as being her nightmare). She says that she said she’d kill them if they got into the forest and here they are. She does a little damage to Riz to underline the statement and Riz starts recording her secretly. Kalina is doing small bits of damage (like 1-4 I think) but it’s enough that it will kill them before they have the chance to make tinctures. 

The jocks find the chrysalis and then look for the others. Fig tries to use Ada’s feather to find her but, like the sapphire, it’s dead. Through Boggy, Adaine can see the jocks are flipping out and find the nectar and go find them.

Kristen casts Greater Restoration of Riz and tells him to find Tracker. The attacks stop on Riz and double on Kristen. She’ll be dead before she can employ any kind of healing mojo than can help significantly and the other healer is MIA. Everyone is running to find each other and then they suddenly hear, emanating from every corner of the forest creepy laughter and they all see a crowned skull. Concerning! 

Detention

Fabian for Crashing the Goldenrod

This was almost like the ribbon dancing sequence except Kristen had something to potentially gain from that and this was an absolutely insane course of action for no particular reason. 

Honor Roll

Kristen for Using Her One Greater Restoration on Riz

What a quintessential healer move. Having one heal and giving it away to your party member. Listen, she may have rejected Helio, but he picked her for a reason. Girl is a BAMF.  

 Random Thoughts

“You can't make these things up. You can. We did.”

Actual Crazy Person Bill Seacaseter: I had to kill Gilear as a matter of course but I love Gilear!

Bill tells Gilear to kill any man who looks askance at Hilariel. Fig (mirroring a comment to Bill from last season) questions what he should do if any woman looks at her. An enthusiastic, “Dealer’s choice!” is the answer.  

"If you die in hell do you die in real life?"

Is the message of this season just “Vaccinate your kids”?

Fabian offers to threaten someone who’s bullying Gilear. You know what that is? Growth.

Bill brought the Bad Kids to the Astral Plane but they wanted to get back to Arborly ASAP. I wonder if there was something Brennan expected them to do there and they didn’t.

Fig ripping the scroll was wild but, honestly, I might have thought that was how it worked too. It’s for sure a thing sometimes. But, in a similar vein, very concerned Fig is going to accidentally shatter Gorthalax’s gem prematurely with that bass. Feel like she’s not 100% clear on how that works.   

“I don’t have a crush one anyone. I just want to be rich.”

Riz took over from Adaine this episode in unpacking my high school experiences, lemme tell you.

Wondering where Baron fits into all this. It seems like the kind of effect that Sylvere would be able to produce but he wasn’t in Sylvere when that happened and I feel like that wouldn’t be Riz’s nightmare (unless it represented anxiety about his not dating or s/t like that). What was that about? Who exactly caused it and with what ability? Is that just a standard demon power?

Not important but last week when Brennan said a halo formed around Pok he distinctly motioned around his head and not over his head so I felt happy to have interpreted that correctly when he said this ep that the halo was one of those you see in old pics of like the Madonna and Child and not a modern-traditional angel halo.

The idea of a lower plane task force is extremely dope from a world building perspective. Like, that makes total sense. 

“Don’t even talk to me until my death’s avenged.” I knew that was going to be a real mug as soon as it was said. 

The stuff with Pok and Riz was so unbelievably sweet. Him having a chair set up to listen to his family talk at his grave? Him clearly being the proudest dad and talking about Riz all the time? Him wanting to just talk about unimportant stuff with Riz because it’s his important stuff. Ugh, my entire heart. And Riz immediately reverting to full, “My dad could beat up your dad,” mode. I love them so much.  

I feel like Siobhan took coming up with a spell for Ayda as an actual out of game homework assignment which she should because Brennan *will* let her do it and then Ayda will save the party with it. That’s how D&D works baby I don’t make the rules. Hit me up with your best ideas.

Adaine actually asked Gilear for some of his hair in order to Scry on him and he’s the one who offered blood instead because he couldn’t spare any more hair. Feel like there’s gotta be a spell for that

Siobhan just casually says the phrase, “Mycelium web,” once again just being Adaine.  

Couldn’t Kalina just say, “Screw it,” and stop showing up in pictures if the strain gets too much? Like, if your cover is blown, it’s blown. Or is it set up in such a way that it’s gonna screw her before she has the chance to turn it off?

It’s funny that Zac is playing such a low Int character because he’s actually figured out a lot of stuff this season and he’s the one who remembered that dragon madness won’t get passed on if the person who gets the money has no knowledge that it’s dragon money. I wonder if we’ll get to see him play a non-Himbo next season.

Adaine, predictably, has no social media presence. Speaking of social media, I love the naming convention of just sticking the word “fantasy” in front of things like Twitter and Google--as in, “You guys are all over Fantasy Twitter.” Like, why even complicate things? You know what this is. 

Goodbye card for Gilear: Outside--Gilear I need you/Inside--to get me a cortado.

I had a stray thought that Riz could possibly use the door to come back after having done angel training for like a month but (1) that’s a little meta-gamey and (2) they were making an exception for him to be there that short time as it was. Anything else probably would have been pushing it. 

Is Pok’s heaven affiliated with any deity or is it just where all the good workaholic secret agents go? To me, it seems like it liaises with all the other heavens more than being it’s own main heaven, you know?

Oh man. Ayda disappearing and Fig clutching her powerful feather, begging her to come back after indirectly putting her the situation she’s currently in? Heartbreaking dude. 

I wonder why the people who disappeared disappeared beyond just getting rid of the NPCs.

Edit: Forgot to mention the part where Kristen rolled a -1 with her trash Dex so Ayda had to give her a portent roll to not instantly blow everything. 

The Bad Kids are in a very precarious position right now. If I trusted Kalina to be someone of her word, I might try to bargain with her--destroy the picture in return for letting us leave. From a DM standpoint, I think it’s probably a good time for an Abernant Ex-Machina. They’re in the forest too as far as we know and they gotta come back into the story somehow. This could be the time. 

Everyone going off about how Riz is a little angel and he could have told them if he was a Celestial and how much he loves Gilear while he’s not in the scene and can’t say anything is peak D&D. 

Bill Seacaster saying a bunch of insane nonsense and then Adaine being like, “Nice seeing you Mr. Seacaster,” is also peak D&D. 

This episode, Adaine, Fig*, Kristen and Brennan (as Sandra-Lynn) each rolled a Nat 20. Adaine and FIg each rolled one Nat 1 that was canceled by disadvantage and Riz rolled one Nat 1 that stuck. 

*I actually am not 100% Fig rolled at Nat 20. Kristen did for sure but I don’t have a Tally for her so I might have flipped those by accident.  If you happen to know for some weird reason, lemme know. 

[phoebehalliwell]

I cannot wait to read the stories you write for Sheridan and Warren & Dency! I can feel the love you put into them. They feel for realistic and I wish they were canon!! 😭 how do you think Dency would be if she ever got to meet the bros? (As they’re like the best non-canon characters ever?) Also, Dency has only one friend in magic school? Poor Dency :( For some reason, when I read your little Dency holiday headcanons I could totally see he being a teacher at magic school?? ✨✨

i think a dency/warren/sheridan team up would easily be one of The most chaotic things to ever rock the magical community both are the first borns of their respective generations so both are pretty power loaded But one of them is really knowledgeable in the magical and how it all works and all that and the others were raised by a guy who has frosted tips. i my writings warren and sheridan were not like raised with really any magic they were given a spell to unbind their powers but everything else was just a sorta figure it out of your own thing i think with their active power it was really just like a figuring out what works at what doesn’t like that was p self explanatory and when it comes to like everything else. they just fuckin. try things. see what sticks. as i think i’ve mentioned before sheridan’s in a band that’s his thing and the lead singer / his friend is like a witch practitioner who does not know magic is actually real in fact okay so the majority of people in the band are witches that’s their shtick sheridan pretends not to be bc well they’re all practitioners he doesn’t want to do anything they do but then have you know actual magic happen so he’s like yeah hahaha i don’t believe in magic / i don’t wanna practice magic but basically every single spell they know they’ve learned from sheridan’s friend or alternately warren looking it up on youtube or like indie witch blogs and they work that’s undeniable but they are kinda hack jobs and like they’ll make their own potions and stuff using the knowledge they have but like. like they’ll microwave potions. they have no access to magical ingredients. they’re definitely not operating at full potential. that being said i do think a large part of magic is the intent behind it so like they’re no good at spells or writing them nor do they have the power of three but they’re still p powerful witches and everything they do they do with their chest so like it works. dency on the other hand is a magic whiz so i think in that team up like when it’s time to make a potion they’d be making it either at dency’s apartment or in magic school and i think the twins would like socks: knocked off like they had no idea how powerful magic could be and just how powerful they are like in general. i also think they’d both be pretty hyped to be related to the antichrist bc like that’s kinda cool as hell (they also definitely have no the source is/was who cole was they’re not even aware of the charmed ones so dency does her best to explain in layman’s terms the antichrist part was about the only piece of information they retained). i also think like dency grew up with the charmed ones she also grew up hearing stories of her namesake and also being raised by a cupid like she really feels and understands all the love in between the halliwells so i think she’d really be like the one to introduce w&s to you know their magical side like bust out a photo album of prue and tell them the stories she knows of her both warren and sheridan have premonition i think like very limited occasional retrocognition but i think like when you know learning about their mom and seeing all their personal items of her they would get a flashback maybe even like a prue highlight reel and uhh they don’t cry often they’re too glib for that but um yowch :’) i also think dency would help them start their own book of shadows i think dency has one of her own that she made with her roommate it’s leather bound but probably has like witchcraft for sexy bitches!!!! embossed on the cover bc it’s not meant to be an heirloom it’s just something for the two of them that dency will later add to the halliwell book of shadows. (a note on dency’s roommate bc idk if i’ve mentioned her before her name is dove she’s an only child and she comes from like a really rich family who lives in marin county right across the bridge she’s probably from like ross or something and she has no active powers. she can scry she can make potions she can cast spells she was the standard mediumship but she has absolutely no active powers. her parents also have no magic and presumably neither does her grandparents in fact there seems to be zero magic in her bloodline at all and yet here she is, a witch. and everyone sorta thought she was a late bloomer at first and dove like really really wanted to have an active power like she tried So Hard and yet nothing. so i think her andy dency both sorta bonded from being the outcasts in magic school and that’s why they became homies i think they both received the nicknames of dud and devil initially to bully them but they ended up just calling each other that people also stopped calling them mean names after someone called dency devil in the third grade and dove bit them and the whole thing develoved into a lord of the flies magical battle to the death between eight year olds. both dove and dency got suspended for a month, in that month the charmed ones still trained dency from home and dency begged them to bring over dove and train her too bc she only got suspended bc she was defending dency so that really solidified their relationship. the book that they share is really more of dove’s creation tho bc dency is very dyslexic and cannot spell and dove’s a bit of a control freak. the book also does not look like the halliwell BoS bc dove really tries to make the text as legible as possible so dency can read it when she’s not around. their book definitely looks like a bujo.) but that’s not the point the point is dency like helps warren & sheridan build their own book of shadows they were vaguely aware of the concept as the lead singer friend has a bos that she made in like a moleskine notebook however these guys tend to just keep all the information they need in their notes app. but yeah i think these guys would also just really love having someone to Talk To about magic especially someone who they can just like Ask Questions without having to dodge any language or make things seem less specific i do think they also know dency’s probably more powerful that them maybe not by raw power but she’s definitely a more skilled witch than them And Yet In Spite Of That they’re still two years older that her and do sorta shift into big brother mode (a setting they didn’t even know they had!) whenever it seems like dency’s gonna do something really dangerous like these guys were born in 2000 and dency’s in 2002 and it’s really barely a split but like still!! watch out!!!! which dency finds hilarious and tbh they find pretty funny too bc they’re not like great role models (well, sheridan isn’t, warren is studying to be a teacher for like elementary school (or he’s studying hotel management bc i think that’s be funny) so warren does seem more professional/responsible he has less tattoos than is brother but that’s definitely a con bc he is just a stupid and reckless as his twin) but yeah they like really try to fill their Responsible Shoes and be Big Brothers to dency. and then i guess since i’ve brought up teaching here i will answer your final part about dency and teaching i think the halliwells really run magic school i have said in a post many moons back lemme see if i can find it yeah no i can’t okay so i think in ye olden days the elders decided that they need to make magical schools to bring in young witches and train them in powers of good so like every elder at the time picked a location like a source of power and made their own school and the majority of them are named after their founders however i think the elder who made magic school was the captain holt of the elders which is why magic school is entirely beige and called “magic school”. i think he didn’t believe in naming the schools after the elders bc the point is not to glorify the elders to point is to uphold and train good magic. anyways that mentality faded i do think gideon ran magic school for a good chunk of time but did not exceed the amount of time the founder ran it so it was never like His magic school but i think once the charmed ones came along they really started making changes and making it practical something gideon did not do bc he’s an idiot (i’ll tell you what i will link the funniest ask i’ve ever received) and i think you know paige starts recruiting witches especially those without connection to magic to come and learn at magic school and since the charmed ones frequent it so much i do think a lot of witches who might have gone somewhere else or to a more local magic school do try to get into magic school and i think in the magical community is does end up getting dubbed like halliwell academy or even charm school where like almost no one calls in magic school anymore and if they were to get school hoodies it would say like halliwell academy on it. i think piper finds it all embarrassing i think grams does not shut up about it. so yeah i think magic school really is a part of the warren line at this point i think i could definitely see gen2 take up the mantle out of everyone i think most likely to be a professor would be henry jr. i think wyatt would guest lecture i think peyton also has a high potential in regards to dency specifically i’ll tell you what i’d love to see is okay. demons warlocks darklighters they don’t play by the same rules as light magic like “forbidden love” all that fuck that everything’s forbidden what’s an outside relationship to them and we’ve seen in the show like with the manticore baby and even in s1 i’m like 90% sure that darklighter goal was just to knock up daisy the point i’m getting at is a i think there are a lot of kids born of dark magic who just have no clue who or what they are especially if they are raised away from their magical parent and people like paige can’t find them bc they don’t get whitelighters bc they’re not witches but i think having dency find them and like bring you know the children of dark magic to learn i think that’d be a really cool thing i think it’d be a major controversy bc a lot of families would be extremely hesitant like opening up their vast wealth of knowledge to y’know evil beings and yeah i think it’s be fuckin weird if you were born half-demon and find a vanquishing potion for yourself in your textbook like ouch! but i think it’d be really interesting to do. that being said i think i’d slate that for later in life for dency where i have her at now she’s an investigative journalist (also elise is her godmother fun fact) and i think i’d really want to give her a lot of growth and knowledge before she does that But i think it’s be really cool to do

[rogueariadne]

To Have A Villain’s Quirk

SEVEN: NOT THAT CLOSE

Over the rest of February and all of March, their training didn't slow down, but with school not in the way too much, Kaida and Izuku found more time to hang out. It was usually them just walking around town, catching hero versus villain fights, or even going to the local mall, or shopping districts. They even hung out at each others houses once; Kaori loves him. But even after all that time spent together, they both still couldn't bring themselves to tell the other the truths behind their quirks. For all Kaida knew, Izuku was just a really late bloomer. And all that Midoriya knew was that Kaida's eyes changed and she gained tails when her quirk was activated. When April finally rolled around, Kaida couldn't keep her heart from feeling like it was going to burst from her chest. She looked at her new uniform, turning and twisted in the mirror. It felt strange still. She pulled her hair over her shoulder, fiddling with it before pulling it into a half-up-half-down-do. Satisfied, she nodded, nearly jumping out of her skin when her other yelled up to her.

    "Kaida, let's go! You don't want to keep Midoriya waiting, do you?" She rolled her eyes, stuffing her things into her bag, swiping up her shoes as she nearly tumbled down the stairs.

    "I'm coming! I still gotta grab my lun-" She was cut off by Kaori shoving a small lunchbox in her hands, pushing her to the door where Izuku was waiting. He just looked like he was trying not to laugh.

    "Already packed it, now go." Kaida nodded as she quickly slipped on her shoes, giving her mother a quick hug. "And Midoriya, please make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble."

    "Ah, of course, ma'am!"

    "Don't worry, mom, we look out for each other." With quick waves, they took off, weaving through the civilians on the sidewalk. They didn't have to take the train anymore so the quickest commute was for them to walk. Or run, in this case. They were a little behind. Not too long, they came upon the huge building that was UA High School. Continuing to run along the grounds, they sprinted through the building to find their class room, 1-A. From what they heard, they allowed one extra student this year, so one of the classes had an extra student. And they heard that it was their class.

    "Come on! Where is it?" She groaned, skidding to a stop after Midoriya quickly pointed it out. They stared up at the gigantic door, blinking in awe. "This thing is huge..."

    "Think there's giants here?" The boy asked before gulping. "Okay.. The most promising students in the country are waiting behind this door." She watched his little freak out before laughing a little bit. She knew what he was thinking of.

    "Hey, don't worry, maybe they're in a different class!" She grinned, watching him nod.

    "Yeah! Maybe everyone here is nice!" He carefully opened the door, only for them to be met with the same boy from the auditorium lecturing a certain human bomb. They stood in the door way, watching the scene, Kaida blinking as she looked around the class for an empty seat. There was one off to the side while the rest of them seemed to be in a better order. Looks like it was an uneven class after all. She decided she'd take one for the team and take the extra, leaving the green haired boy at the door to take the seat against the wall but closest to the front. She ignored their back and forth as she set her bag down beside her, sitting. She was glad that everyone was too busy watching the two fight for them to notice her walk in, only for them all to notice Midoriya at once. She was sure the poor boy was going into shock. She watched them with a small smile on her face, glancing to the side to see Bakugo catch her.

    "Of course, you'd be here, too. You'll follow that idiot anywhere." He growled at her. She sighed, giving a defeated smile.

    "Good to see you, too, Katsu-"

    "What have I said about calling me that?!"

    "Hey! I remember you!" A different voice called out, cutting off their conversation. A different blond jumped up from his seat with that same big grin on his face. "You're that girl that took down all those robots like it was nothin'! Kai...uh, Kaida, right?"

    "Hah.. uh, yeah.. That was me.." She said weakly, starting to sick into her chair with a pink face. Now, everyone else's eyes were on her. His dumb loud mouth. The class quieted down as they all heard a new voice.

    "If you're just here to make friends then you can pack up your stuff now." All eyes were on the yellow bag of a person outside the door, just lying there, but startling the three by him pretty badly. "Welcome to UA's hero course."

    Kaida stared at the man as he stood up and stepped out of the sleeping bag, confusing the hell out of her, but also feeling pretty grateful for the attention to be gone again. "It took eight seconds before you all shut up. That's not gonna work. Time is precious. Rational students would understand that." He sounded like a dick, but also looked super tired. She didn't blame him for not having patience, but maybe he shouldn't be teaching kids. "Hello, I'm Shouta Aizawa. Your Teacher." Everyone gasped at that, myself included. He just looked... homeless? Not cut out for teaching.. or superheroing?

    "Right, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside." He handed out the P.E. uniforms, Kaida feeling a little disgusted but nevertheless, it had to be done.

                                                                     *

    "What? A Quirk assessment test?" If she was right, that meant they were going to all have to use their quirks to the full extent. She was glad she had coffee this morning before she left, she might have to get some after this too.. She really needed to be careful using it.. She had extremely good control over her quirk but.. She felt like she looked like a monster. The black and red eyes, the scaled tails. Come on, they were called demon tails for a reason. Not to mention, she ate human flesh.  Before she could get too deep into her thoughts, Uraraka chimed in about orientation, which Aizawa immediately shot down. Well, he was right. She didn't care much about orientation anyways, they were here to become heroes, after all.

    "Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit." The look he gave the glace sent shivers down a few of their spines, including Kaida. Just what was he going to do? "You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives. But you never got to use your Quirks in physical exams before." He was right, it's how she's kept her quirk hidden for so long.. "The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn." This man was harsh. But they were high schoolers now, training to be heroes. They needed to learn how the real world worked.

    "Bakugo, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam." Everyone's attention turned to the boy in question. Of course it was him. "What was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in Junior High?"

    "Sixty-seven meters, I think." That sounded about right. She remembered some of their classes together. He could still throw pretty far without using his quirk.

    "Right, try doing it with your Quirk." Bakugo nodded and stepped up, taking the softball from the teacher. "Anything goes, just stay in the circle. Go on. You're wasting our time." She had to hold back a snicker but crossed her arms as she peaked her head around everyone. She chose to keep her spot more towards the back. It was the most she could do to keep from being picked to go first with things. But it slowly became more clear that she would have to participate in every single one of the tests. In front of everyone.

    "Alright, man, you asked for it." Bakugo stretched, sounding cocky as he positioned himself. Her eyes widened as he threw the ball as hard as he could, his quirk causing a rocket like scene. And, did he scream 'die!'? Honestly, scary.

    "All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero." He held up the device in his hand, showing the distance of Bakugo's throw. Kaida's eyes widened. There's no way she'd be able to reach that far. She could use one of her tails, maybe.. They had more strength than her arms did. She heard Kaminari speak up beside her, obviously very intimidated.

    "Whoa, seven hundred and five meters, are you kidding me?!" He leaned back a little to look at the maroonette. "I don't think most of us here would be able to get that far." Kaida shook her head in agreement, eyes wide as everyone started to at least get a little excited. She wasn't looking forward to it.

    "So, this looks fun, huh?" The class quieted down as Aizawa spoke. "You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and play time? Idiots." Kaida flinched, standing up straighter. "Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential.  Whoever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately."

    "Huh?!" Even Kaida joined in, shocked as she took a step forward. He couldn't do that? Could he? They all rightful got in, he couldn't just expel them! She couldn't help but look at her friend near the front. Midoriya was going to be singled out by everyone. She knew how much trouble he had with his quirk, she just hoped he'd be okay.

    "Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs. Understand? If that's a problem, you can head home right now." Kaida clenched her teeth. No way! She made it this far, she wasn't going to let this knock her from the game. It was her time to shine.

    "You can't send one of us home! I mean, we just got here!" Uraraka called out, upset about what was said. "Even if it wasn't the first day, that isn't fair!"

    "Oh, and you think natural disasters are? Or power-hungry villains? Hm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No, the world is full of unfairness. It's a hero's job to try to combat that unfairness. If you wanna be a pro, you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So, go beyond. Plus Ultra-style." He beckoned everyone, and Kaida felt her power flowing through her at his next words. "Show me it's no mistake that you're here."

    He was right. She had to show him, to go beyond, go further than she had before. She needed to be able to push her fears aside. She was going to push her fears aside. "Now then. We're just wasting time by talking. Let the games begin."

                                                                     *

Test 1: 50-meter dash

    Thanks to Kaida's natural speed, she reached: 4.52 seconds.

Test 2: Grip Strength

    Using her rinkaku, away from everyone, she reached: 254.0kg.

Test 3: Standing Long Jump

    Cleared sandbox.

Test 4: Repeated Side Steps

    Didn't trip once. Of course, the little grape boy had an advantage.

Test 5: Ball Throw

    Uraraka went first, throwing it all the way into the atmosphere, so Aizawa had to get a different ball. She did release it but they weren't sure where it landed. Next, was Kaida.

    Kaida didn't look forward to this one, since she was standing in front of everyone. She held the softball in her hands, closing her eyes. Did she really want to do this? Yes, she needed to. So, ignoring her trembling body, she released the one tail, tossing the softball up and catching it with the appendage. She took a small step back, ready to brace herself for the force that she was going to unleash. She let it lash out, throwing the ball a good distance. The tail dissolved as she watched it hit the ground.

    "Five hundred and sixteen point seven meters. Good." She nodded and walked away, being greeted by Kaminari and Midoriya.

    "Wow, that was amazing! I don't think I've really seen you use your quirk like that, Kai!" Izuku grinned at the girl while Denki slung his arm around her.

    "Really? You should've seen her during the exams. She was super fast, and strong!"

    "I would've loved to see you in action-"

    "Midoriya, it's your turn, come on." Midoriya swung his head around to look at their teacher, nodding quickly and running to the circle after taking the ball from Aizawa. He glanced at Kaida, who gave him a thumbs up. She watched him nod and turn away, her feeling like a proud big sister. Of course, there was still that unnatural weight on her shoulder. So, while Midoriya was figuring out what he was going to do, Kaida picked the boys hand off of her shoulder and dropped it back by his side, raising a brow at the blond.

    "What? I thought we were close?" Denki chuckled, raising his brows back as he rested a hand on his hip. He tilted his head closer to hers and she quickly, but gently, shoved him a few feet away.

    "Not that close." She could hear him pouting as she turned her attention back to Aizawa basically being an asshole to the poor boy up at the plate. Calling her best friend a liability and calling him out.

    "Sorry Midoriya. With your power, there's no way you can become a hero." Kaida rose her hands to her mouth. That was uncalled for.. He shouldn't have brought him down like that, he could've been a little easier about it. Aizawa didn't know what Midoriya had to go through to get here. "I've returned your impractical Quirk. Take your final throw. Hurry and get it over with."

    Kaida watched her best friend look so beaten down, her taking a small step forward. She wanted to comfort him, she wanted to tell Aizawa off, she was angry. And Bakugo wasn't helping. She could see the boys mouth moving, he was talking to himself. Probably trying to figure out the best course of action. She believed in him, she was just worried he was going to hurt himself. She could see the look on his face. He was going to do something. So, when he finally threw the ball, she realized what he was doing, a big smile coming to her face. He broke his finger, but it was enough to throw the ball. She clasped her hands in front of her chest, her grin never going away as he turned to look at their teacher.

    "Mr. Aizawa. You see? I'm still standing." He had the same grin on his face. The one he wore when he proved someone wrong, when he was doing his best.

    "Good job, Izu!" Kaida shouted, pumping her fist in the air. He had come such a long way from when they both started. He looked at the girl, smirking with tears in his eyes.

[at-least-theres-wine]

About Me.

*gulps generous amount of cab sav*. Okay.

Before I embark on the purpose of this *gulp* dating blog, let me first tell you a little bit about who I am in regards to my dating history. Guys, I haven’t even talked about this stuff with my closest friends… so feel honored. You, of course can always skip this nonsense and go straight to the juicy dating stories. 

First Story Here: 

https://at-least-theres-wine.tumblr.com/post/184536689978/date1sitswhilespees

As for me, I’m currently enjoying my 28th year. I’ve only had two serious boyfriends. I can literally count the number of guys I’ve been on dates with on my fingers. And really, I haven’t been in a serious relationship with a guy in basically 5 years.

You’re like what a 28-year-old WOMAN really? Look… I know.

Why? I don’t know, but that’s the question that people wonder right? Like a, “what’s wrong with her” type of situation. I’m a nice/smart gal. I’m not ugly, in my opinion. I take care of myself. I eat green stuff, do the occasional squat, run off the carbs and tequila. You know, do what the beauty bloggers say. Could I be psycho? It’s a definite possibility. However, in my opinion I’m just a normal lady.

Here’s to the maybe “whys”:

First: I’ve been a late bloomer my entire life. My inside says 28, but my face still says 18. When I was 16, I looked 10. It’s not fun being a 16-year-old in a 10-year-old body with a bunch of fully developed hormone-demons let me TELL you. And I swear if I hear one more middle-aged woman say, “you’ll enjoy it when you’re older”, I may internally combust *intense side glare*. I never went through the “boy crazy” phase either. Honestly still waiting for it. I don’t mind being friendly/joking around with guys, I have a brother after all. What I’m saying is my flirtation skills are basically rated at 4/10.

People who aren’t familiar with me also love to tell me, “oh you’re just shy”. But fuck that as well. I’m not. I will say I’m particular to who I share myself with.

Second: I hate dating. Trust me, it’s not like I don’t find the idea of dating attractive. I do. It’s just rare that I get those romantic feelings, and I’m terrible at faking my emotions. I would rather spend my time alone than with a guy I hardly know that I have to force myself to talk to. If a gentleman comes up to talk to me at a bar, I become instantly un-charming. Maybe I’m uncomfortable with that sort of attention on me. But hey, I am a fantastic wing woman.

The boyfriends: (I know right? They did exist.) The two of them are on completely opposite spectrums of the “feels”. Meaning, one I loved and one I didn’t. Simple.

The one I loved so so deeply. Love as in, I would lay next to him in bed, stare at those broad shoulders and literally want to absorb into him. I wanted to wake up every day to make him smile, and honestly I kind of forgot about myself. I was a mess when he broke up with me after 4ish years. He didn’t love me the way I loved him and deep down I always had that feeling. It was hard for a girl to accept, but I think we all need to go through some sort of heartache to understand ourselves better.

The second, and *gasp* the last bf I dated started in my senior “party” year of college and went into my dark transition year out of college. I didn’t truly love him for who he was. I enjoyed him - waited for myself to have those strong feelings. They never came. I could see I was becoming exactly what my first bf was to me. A cold-hearted emotional user. It was a comfortable relationship, but I was being selfish and that wasn’t fair. So I ended it. From that point on I promised myself I wouldn’t enter a relationship until I felt that I could truly devote myself to that person and vise versa.

Whoa too intense? Moving on.

My career: Long story short. Ever since my father died my mother has instilled into me to never rely on ANY man to give you things. Even the ones you love. Life is unpredictable. Thankfully my mom was smart about her money and career, so my brother and I were pretty well off for surviving with a single parent. My father was an incredible human as well. I’ve focused a lot on myself and my own career to make them proud. It makes it hard to direct any of my priorities on a man because my focus on that.

SO, skip to the purpose: Finally…

People keep telling me to “give it a chance” (ahem “it” I mean men..). I’ve worked so hard on the other things I’ve wanted in my life. So why shouldn’t I take to same stance in dating right? But I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to men if I’m being honest. Who wants to be vulnerable? Omg vomit.

Just like other goals we set for ourselves there must be something to hold us accountable. I spoke with a friend, and she suggested I try for at least 1 date every 2 weeks. Easy peasy?? We’ll see. Baby steps people, baby steps. My dating apps are officially loaded. My friends know I’m on the man hunt. I am as ready as I’m going to be. Plus writing this blog will hopefully be the cause to hold myself accountable to stick to this dating regimen. If it all goes south, at least there’s wine.

OH HEY GUYS! If you stuck through it to this point, I applaud you graciously. This is the end. End of the beginning of my story. Pour yourself another glass of wine girl (or boy) you deserve it!!!

Stay tuned for my first dating entry. It’s a real doozy. Like seriously, grab the whole bottle.

Enter:

“Sits While He Pees”

[wolfsgravity]

I wrote a weird Hurt/Comfort type short fic with my S/I and Howl.

It’s like 2.6k words, which is pretty long for my attention span lmao.

We’re at a household dinner, all of us eating together. At one point when we’re all nearly full, Calcifer makes a simple comment on how long days can seem sometimes. I duck my head, assuming it’s at least in part my fault, and murmur a quiet, “Sorry you’ve got to make up for my magical inadequacies. I know shooting down my dumb magic all day must get tiring.”

While most of the table exchanges looks of pity, Calcifer fire-shrugs with a little smile. “Actually, your magic is hardly ever a problem anymore. You’ve made a lot of progress since we took you in, and I can tell you’ve been working hard by how few pings go out nowadays. Howl’s a great teacher, but you’ve learned fast for a late-bloomer.”

Howl especially notices the beaming smile that grows across my face. How I sit a little taller, like a weight has been lifted. He sees a faint shimmer in my eyes before I rub my face, muttering an “Oh shucks, you don’t need to say all that”. All the while, his heart swells with… pride?

As conversation goes on, Howl is contemplative. His eyes are casual, but he finds his attention drawn back and forth between me and Sophie. He’d only known love as he’s felt it for Sophie, but what he suddenly realizes he feels for me is eerily similar, yet holding its own charm. In a sudden movement, he stands, bringing the chatter to a stop as he silently stalks away.

Calcifer is the first to break the momentary silence. “I haven’t seen Howl storm off like that in a while. But I guess that’s his capriciousness as always.”

But it sticks with me. And Sophie as well.

The difference between Sophie and I is that she’s task-oriented. I tend to wallow. So as she busies herself with cleaning dinner and bustling upstairs to check on Howl, I help as much as she allows before heading off to my own room. As I lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling, those thoughts of being ruinous return, though this is the first time in a few months I could even justify such thoughts. What if Calcifer missed a ping? Have I ruined my own happy home? No. Give it time. Sophie can help him.

Two more days pass, and Howl is physically and emotionally absent. Most time he spends in his own room, coming down for sporadic meals. Calcifer seems to think it’s only a spurious mood, Sophie is busying herself with housework, and the other members of the household go on as usual, perhaps sharing glances when Howl appears as if to say Let’s not ask.

Sophie visits him, getting no real answers from him as to the source of this mood. He’s sweet as always to her, but she sees the gears turning behind his eyes. Finally, during the third night, she decides to get more to the point. She sits next to him on his bed, and as he lays a hand on hers, she simply states,

“You will tell me what’s been on your mind.”

Howl sighs. As if by compulsion, he begins to open up.

“Sophie, I know I’ve been moping, and I do wish I could stop. But..” he pauses, “it’s about Remington.”

“Are you worried about their magic progress?”

“No, no, it’s not that.” He chews the inside of his cheek and looks into one heavily patterned wall of his room. “You know how I love you so deeply, Sophie?”

“Of course, Howl. I’d never doubt that for a second.”

“I’m.. scared. Because, though I love you no less, I think.. I may have fallen for Remington as well. And I don’t wish to send them away, but I may have to.”

Sophie, of all things, laughs quietly.

Howl groans, gripping her hand tighter. “This is a very serious subject, Sophie. I don’t want to lose the life you’ve helped me find through your love and devotion. I just… can’t bring myself to tell Remington to leave.”

“Then don’t.”

Finally, Howl looks at Sophie’s face again, seeing a gentle stare in return. She leans forward and kisses Howl, his shoulders relaxing from the highly tense state they were stuck in.

She leans her forehead against his and smiles easily. “I love you, Howl. You’ve grown so much since I got you your heart back. I appreciate your concern for me, I truly do, and it cements further how confident I am in us. Remington is a lovely person, and I’m happy with them being here however you’d like them. I trust you to never lose your love for me, and I would hope you’d trust the same of me.” Then she grins, “Anyways, maybe having two of us would make you less of a handful.”

Howl blinks owlishly as she speaks, heart racing with two kinds of love in a wonderful dance. Slowly, he smiles and kisses Sophie deeply. “You truly are an angel.”

What they don’t know is that the very apprentice they’re talking about has packed what they could in a heavy backpack. I don’t know of this conversation, all I can think is I somehow ruined everything again, and to save the house I’ve come to love, I must leave. I tiptoe my way to the main exit, not even caring where the door will lead me. I hear a quiet question from the hearth.

“You’re blaming yourself, huh?”

Calcifer looks open but sad. His flame is small, as the house can rest at night, but he’s awake as ever.

“I’m tellin’ ya, he used to have these moods a lot, so I’m sure it’s not you, kid.”

I sigh, the sadness of this whole situation clawing at my throat. “Calcifer, I can’t.. I can’t stay here if there’s a chance I’ll ruin your happy family. Intentionally or not.”

He pauses and, his voice barely audible over the crackle of his own fire, says, “This is more than fear over your magic, isn’t it?”

I don’t answer, eyes threatening to spill over.

“Remington, I wish I could say something comforting right now, I really do. But I’m not blind, your… affection for Howl… can’t work out. And I can’t even say I wish it could.”

I whimper. “It’s pathetic, I know.”

“Not pathetic, but definitely sad. I haven’t had access to his heart since all that stuff went down almost 2 years ago, but when I did.. the way it beat for Sophie was unmatched. I don’t think that would ever change, nor do I want it to.”

“I don’t either,” I admit, tears falling in the dim light, “I love this place so much. I just… don’t want to stupidly ruin that for you guys. So I have to make my own way out there.”

Calcifer sighs, sinking into his embers a little. “I get that logic. Just know you’ll always have a home here with us.”

I hiccup as the reality of my choice washes back over me. I nod. “Thanks, Calcifer. Tell everyone I love them, okay?”

“Sure thing. Stay safe.”

With that, I tread into the darkness.

As the morning rises, so too does the household. Howl, bright and early, whisks down the stairs, in better spirits than the last half a week. Calcifer looks mildly uncomfortable as people gather in the kitchen for breakfast.

“Where’s that apprentice of mine?” Howl muses, sending Sophie a small smile, reinvigorated from their talk the night before. He wanted to get a little bit of magic practice in for them before he broached the topic of his absence with them.

Calcifer shifted amongst his fuel. “Remington, uh.. left.”

The room, despite the fire demon’s presence, runs cold. The ex-witch and the child both dip their heads sadly. Sophie’s face holds shock and fear as she keeps her gaze on Howl, who froze on the spot.

“They…left?”

“Yeah, erm… they were worried about the energy in the house… thought it was their fault. So they left.”

Sophie quietly piped in. “You didn’t try to stop them?”

Calcifer shrinks and squirms under the stares. “I did, but they wouldn’t listen. And I didn’t wanna keep them prisoner by closing the door to them. They did want me to pass on that they love all of us.”

Howl looks at Sophie, a confused and broken look on his face, and she hurries to his side. “Follow them.”

“The castle has moved, I wouldn’t know—“

“They are your apprentice, Howl. They don’t know how to cover their magic’s tracks, if the Witch of the Waste could track you using what little magic hints she had, I’m sure you can find the untrained magician. Go clear up this whole misunderstanding!”

He nods, life slowly coming back to his eyes as he strides to the door for his cloak and hat. The whole house watches in silence as he mutters to himself, a magnifying glass appearing in his hand. “This will help me find the traces of their magic.”

“Good, bring them home, okay?”

“I will.”

The two kiss and he departs.

He finds me after a day and night of searching. I truly wasn’t trying not to be found, but I traveled tirelessly by foot to reach some kind of field filled with grasses that reached hip-height at this time of year. There is a torrential rainstorm overhead, and though there is no thunder nearby, Howl feels a prickly static filling the air. Through the seeing glass, he can see massive swirls of yellow, pink, and purple energy surrounding the figure of his apprentice in the distance.

He tries calling my name a few times as he wades through the wet grass towards me, but my back is towards him and the rain is loud around us. He’s a few yards away when he finally gets my attention, the tension in the air lightening fractionally from my surprise as I turn around.

Howl stops his forward motion once I turn towards him, holding his hands out in gentle supplication. “Come home, sweetheart, let me explain everything when we get out of this storm.”

I wince visibly when he speaks, looking down and away. My voice carries flatly over the sound of the rain. “I figured out what I need to do, so please don’t stop me.”

The wizard tilts his head, taking a step towards me since I’m making no moves towards him. “Whatever you need to do, I promise we can all help.”

With a steely glare, I bite out, “I’m going to make a deal with a demon.”

Almost as though on cue, a distant roll of thunder can be heard. Howl’s face pales. “You— No! Absolutely not!”

I scoff, turning away from him and beginning to walk. “You can’t stop me, Howl.”

The air begins to thicken again, and real fear settles into Howl’s frame. He tries to run to close the distance between us, but finds himself fighting the grass for each step. He manages enough speed to almost get in arm’s reach, but as he reaches out, I yell, “I’m not going to stop, so cut it out!”

His heart drops as, mid-stride, I begin shakily lifting off the ground, breaking into a heightening sprint.

“Remington, please come back down!” He starts his own ascent into the downpour, but I’ve made my upward motion too uneven and unstable for him to keep up with. “Please, you’re not ready for this kind of levitation!”

“I don’t care!” I all but scream, tears starting to mingle with the rain pouring down my face. I stumble mid-air as my emotions nearly overwhelm me, but I keep my mad scramble up towards the clouds.

The wizard panics, feeling very real fear for me. I’m too high to fall safely, and he isn’t sure he could catch me in a pinch. “Remington, come back! Your heart is too important to barter away like I did!”

He hears a harsh laugh, followed by me mumbling, “I don’t fucking want it.”

At least that got me to stop, wobbling high up in the air. He makes his way closer to me as he keeps talking. “I know the idea of control and power for a quick deal is tempting, but you’ve been making such great strides on your own. Look at you! You’re flying so soon! I can’t just let you do something stupid like giving your heart away,”

I look at him, eyes puffy from crying, looking defeated. “I’m already pretty stupid with my heart, but at least this way, I’d be making the choice myself.”

He pauses, eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

A sob wracks my body and I falter in the air, Howl shouting in alarm before I right myself and make another step upwards. “It doesn’t matter anymore, so I’ll tell you. I love you, and I hate myself for it.”

“Remington, I love you too, so please come down before you fall and we can go home—“

“I mean it, Howl.” I sniffle, “I love you more than I should. You took me into your home and I fell in love, and I’d rather sell this stupid heart than even imagine ruining your happy home.”

Howl smiles at me, the last expression I expect in the moment. My feet pause mid-step.

“I mean it the same way you do. I don’t know when it started, but I realized it when you were relieved of your worry of being a burden, even if it only lasted a short while because of my tantrum. I love your smile. I love how dedicated to your studies you can be. I love how Markl looks up to you and works that much harder for it. I love the way you toss things from one hand to the other—“

“No you don’t. You said that gives you a heart attack.”

“Because you did it with artifacts, without looking at what your hands were even doing. But you haven’t dropped a single thing doing that, and sometimes I see you looking at your hands afterwards like you’re proud of their dependability. I love seeing you gain confidence in yourself, and it makes me happy when it sticks instead of you devaluing yourself immediately.”

He finally reaches me, his hands cupping both of mine. My magic steadies beneath me at his touch.

“Sophie and I spoke about you, and we both want you to stay. I love you, and I’m so glad to hear you say the same. So let’s get down from here and go back to the castle, okay?”

I sniffle, calm now, but beginning to tire now that all the emotions came out. Slowly, I nod, forcing myself not to look down now that I think about how high up I’ve gotten. The rain lightens as he guides me to the ground, the both of us drenched, but smiling as we glance at each other. He leads us back to the castle, the path suspiciously shorter than it took to get out to the field in the first place.

As we step through the door, Howl calls out for Calcifer to get a bath ready, then looks at me and says, “You go first, I would hate for you to catch cold from all that.”

I silently nod, completely tuckered by now. Howl softly kisses my cheek, causing warmth to bloom where his lips touched my skin. There’s a commotion as everyone comes to greet us, but Howl fields them all as I make my way upstairs, given enough energy to warm myself in the bath. He’s waiting outside my bedroom door as I round the corner to go to bed, a warm smile on his features as he regards me.

“You seem happier now.” He states, making me smile. I give a small ‘Mhmm’, my eyes heavy with sleep. He wraps me in a comfortable embrace, my arms snaking around his back. “We have much to talk about tomorrow, but I wanted to see you before you retired tonight to tell you I love you. Sleep in as long as you’d like, you used a lot of magic today so I’m a little surprised you’re still standing.”

The hug ends naturally, Howl and I smiling at each other. Swiftly, he leans in to sweetly kiss my lips, before he says a ‘Goodnight’ and walks away.

I smile, a dopey look in my eyes, as I tiredly shuffle into my room. I unceremoniously dump myself onto my bed and almost immediately fall asleep.

[baratron]

okay but how this: trans!goldie (or maybe you could flip the tables and make it trans!taker). IMAGINE.

OK, I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to trans characters (or trans stuff in general as I’m a huge cis baby and can’t even begin to understand how dysphoria and the like works) but this concept is REALLY NICE and I’ve been thinking about this the whole day.

Pls, follow my thoughts on the concepts I thought about the most: (under a read more because it got longer than expected and because I don’t want to make any trans follower or individual uncomfortable with my innacuracies about gender and such, I’m just a simple gal on the nets)

Trans!Taker would truly go out of his way to look and come off as “as manly as humanly possible” and as big and bulky as he could. He’s glad he’s already naturally tall, so at least that’s one problem out of the equation. He focuses on becoming bigger, bulkier...

But we can go deeper and and also focus on the more mental and emotional aspects. He’s just a sheltered kid from the countryside. Young Taker is confused as to why he thinks his boobs are wonky and weird, and why he feels more comfortable in pants. The people on his small town give him weird looks. "Why can’t the girl from the parlor be like other girls?” they say, and eventually Taker is fed up, flees town and looks for solace in wrestling, where he can be as big and burly and brute as he want, and no one needs to know he was ever DFAB. The main reason why he feels the need to be covered 24/7 (gloves included to hide his less than manly hands) is so that no one gets clued into him not being a “he”. He tries to pass as much as he can, because it’s the only way he feels truly comfortable.

Bearer is one of the very, very few who know of his “original” gender, as he knew Taker when he was a kid. But Taker trusts Bearer not to tell on him to the people in the roster. After Bearer’s betrayal though, he’s not so sure. He’s always scared of his former guardian telling others who he “really is”, and he begins to turn more aggressive, and darker. If you are mean and dark, no one’s going to mess with you, no matter what. Ministry was more of a defense mechanism than anything else. At some point he sobered up though. He likely had a serious conversation about this with his brother, the only person that, despite everything that happened between them, was the only person taker knew he could confide on proper.

Kane just tells Taker he should do whatever the hell he wants. As a Demon, he thinks human notions of “fixed” genders are dumb and if Taker wants to change, heck, change! He doesn’t owe anyone any explanation on that!

Slowly, he begins going into treatment, is ecstatic when he starts growing REAL facial hair, when his voice gets deeper more easily and he doesn’t need to concentrate so much before speaking (which makes him more talkative in and out the ring). At American Badass, he’s at the best spot ever. That’s what he wanted to to be and look like all along, and he’s just really happy and just living the dream. Friends are proud of him

Trans!Goldie at the start is a little less chaotic and bumpy than Taker. Dusty thinks it’s a little strange his baby girl wants to a be a boy, but because he’s Dusty, he tries his best to be understanding of the situation. Buys his “new son” clothes he might like, lets him cut his hair short... Dusty even manages to, when his son gets older, to put him into the wrestling scene. Maybe if his son dukes it out, it’ll be good for his development as a man? Dusty isn’t sure, but is kinda happy when his son decides it wants to use the name Dustin in ring.

Dustin is happy that he’s in the ring, being treated like one of the guys (everyone rules out the bumps on his chest as “moobs”, since he’s chubby like his dad, and don’t really ask any questions), but Dustin feels like something is a bit off. Like, it’s fun being in the ring and all, but he doesn’t feel like his own person. He just feels like  a weird carbon copy of his dad, and it’s not that he’s pursuing. he wants more. Thus, Goldust is born.

Goldust is relieved that he has a weird and eccentric character now, because he can let his more feminine mannerisms (and clothing) slip here and there, and no one will bat an eyelash. Is just Goldust being Goldust. Goldust likes being a guy, but he also appreciated feminine traits, and doesn’t really like the fact he had to bury those deep inside him when he was wrestling as Dustin. Now his gender is more flexible, and he’s quite happy.

But this flexibility gets a little too lax at some point, which leads to his whole identity crisis during the time he’s with Luna. Luna doesn’t really help with the confusion either. Not because she’s a bad person, but because she’s also outside the gender norms, which, for someone like Goldust who was still trying to find himself, is just confusing.

At some point he leaves WWE, goes into smaller promotions, slips back into being Dustin. Suddenly, he just... needs to a normal guy. he’s tired. He needs some time to settle down his emotions and thoughts. Eventually start some treatment, maybe? When he’s ready, most likely.

When he returns, and pairs with Booker, Booker pushes him into seeking what he wants, and Goldie starts treatment proper! Finally, he found himself!!

Extra MTF!Goldie is a truly beautiful concept, let me TELL YOU. Please, take Dustin Rhodes, who’s literally a shadow of his dad and is just... not down for that. Not just because living in someone’s shadow is aggravating, but because Dustin doesn’t feel like the “manlish cowboy country look” is what he likes. He would rather pursue wigs and corsets, beautiful lingerie sets and perfume. Glamour and glitz. Looks at himself in the mirror, thinks women’s clothing look nice on him. Flattering even. He never felt flattered like this.

Goldust comes up, along with a new pronouns. Now Goldie is a star. She understands the process of going to what she was to what she wants to be takes some time. The lack of of a more feminine body bothers her some, but she makes do with make up and clothes, expensive perfumes and behaviour. Her sexuality is still as bisexual as ever, but she feels like it’s suddenly easier to approach guys now, even though a good deal of them are pretty grating, and treat her like a man in a drag, which offends her very much. Marlena supports her though, it’s what matters.

At some point though, Goldie becomes confused. She’s a volatile individual, and isn’t sure if the change is what she truly wants. TAFKAG comes around at this time, because she’s trying everything. She becomes too chaotic, Marlena can’t handle it, leaves, which just causes Goldust to go even more berserk. Sexuality and gender are lost on her, she has no idea what she wants.

She vanishes for a while, likely to do some soul searching. She needs to sort things out. When she comes back (around the Booker+Dust era) she’s sorted. She’s more mature and understands where she wants to go with her body and gender. She realizes she’s a bit of a late bloomer in that aspect, but is glad she had the time to truly realize what she desired. She starts going into treatment, her and her brother are a cool mixed gender tag team that people enjoy watching. Things are good :3

[feralbangtan]

Paranoid: Part 1

Member: Jeon Jungkook (BTS) Genre: Angst AU: Witch/soulmate Word count: 3.6k Series Masterlist

Jungkook

My palms are sweaty and it’s only because one of my worst fears has come true. I knew everything that was happening around me was some type of sign that something bad was going to happen. I only found out what was going on when my parents started complaining about the smell of sulfur in the house and things randomly catching fire or levitating off of whatever surface was around, I knew after they threatened to start a search for the sulfur smell I had to run away. So here I am, in the middle of the woods, hoping to find some sort of shelter, but the thing was, I wasn’t going anywhere, my mind was racing a bit too fast for my brain to tell me to run. I had all sorts of things running through my head, like if I was going to be caught by a witch hunter or if I was just going to die because I had no protection from anything out here. I ended up lying down on the ground to try to calm myself down. I, Jeon Jungkook have discovered I am a witch. Traditionally males would be considered wizards, but from what I understand from all the classes I was put through, it doesn’t really matter, but other than the fact that to humans witches smell like sulfur and that they are supposedly bad, that’s all I know. I put my hands to my face and laid on the ground for a few minutes to clear my head, but it did last long because all I could smell is the scent of strong lavender, it enticed me. I had gotten up to see or go find who or what exactly was causing the lovely scent. I followed a little path through the woods and the longer I went down it the stronger the scent of lavender got. I knew I was at the end of the path when I found a small house sitting there quietly. I ran in through the open gate and knocked hurriedly on the door. It was a few minutes before someone answered, but when the door open I was greeted by a young woman who looked like she had just woken up.

“You’re not Jimin… what do you want stranger.” She said as she rubbed her eye.

“Um… I need help.” I said.

“What kind of help?” She asked with a displeased look on her face.

“I-I uh found out that I’m a witch and I don’t know what to do.” I said with a stutter.

“Listen, kid, if you took one of those internet tests that say if you’re a witch or not, leave, those tests are bullshit, the internet lied, you aren’t a witch, leave me alone.” She said as she tried closing the door on me.

I stopped her from shutting the door quickly. “It wasn’t an online quiz, my parents have been complaining about the smell of sulfur in the house, when I’m around somethings start levitating, and when I’m angry shit catches fire, please help me.”

“…When did this start happening?” She asked before she bit down on the tip of her tongue.

“Three months ago.” I answered.

“If you’re a witch, then you’re a late bloomer kid.” She said with a chuckle.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“Normally you know you’re a witch when you’re like 14 or 15, but from what I can tell, you’re at least 20 and still have no idea what you’re doing.” She said with a smirk.

“So you don’t believe me?” I asked in a shocked tone.

“Oh no I believe you, I saw you walking towards my house and there was literally a little trail of fire behind you the entire time, I believe you. Now get in here before a hunter comes by because they can smell you.” She said as she pulled me inside.

“So you basically wanted to give me shit before you just let me come in?” I asked with a slightly angry tone.

“Yeah, a little bit, chill kid.” She said as she picked up a cup off of her counter.

“I’m not a kid.” I said as she started pushing me to her living room.

“You still live with your parents and you’re like 20, you’re a kid.” She said as she sat down in a living chair.

I didn’t retort back at her, I just sat down on the couch and tilted my head back to rest my head on the back of the couch. I watched the witch who had let me come in as she did various things. All of it seemed interesting, from her reading a book and stirring her drink with a spoon by using her powers and her finger to direct the spoon to her starting a fire in her fire place with a snap of her fingers. It’s really quiet in here, she hasn’t said a word to me since she started reading her book, but I think she was trying to entertain me by making things by me start levitating and moving around, but that all stopped for a moment, at least I thought it did until a stuffed animal came to a halt in front of my face and was just staying there. I looked at it and I hadn’t realized she put the book down for her to start making the stuffed animal dance for me. It made me laugh, just watching the little toy dance, she seemed to get a kick out of it too because she was giggling about it, but she made it drop in my lap after awhile and directed her attention to me.

“I never asked, what’s your name?” She asked as she crossed her legs Indian style in her chair.

“My name is Jungkook, and you?” I replied.

“Y/N. I have a few questions for you.” She said before she took a drink out of her mug.

“Um, okay, throw them at me I guess.” I said with a slight shrug.

“How much do you exactly know about witches?” She asked.

“Well I know that to humans witches smell like sulfur and that witches tend to have some sort of demonic type animal with them.” I answered before I sniffled a bit.

“Okay, the sulfur thing is true. The demonic animal thing is not. They taught you about warlocks instead of witches. You need to know a bit more because you’re not gonna get too far with that knowledge.” She said as she got up from her chair to come sit next to me.

“Wait there’s more?” I asked before I moved over to give her room on the couch.

“Yes there is, for example, we have scents that only we can smell.” She answered as she sat on the couch with her back facing the arm of the couch.

“Scents?” I asked.

“Yes scents. If you’re a weak or a very young baby witch, you’d smell like lemongrass. The average witch smells like vanilla. Powerful witches have a strong smell of lavender, and some of the most powerful witches smell like peppermint.” She said with a small smile.

“If that’s so, what do I smell like?” I asked as I looked over to her.

She got a wide smile and her eyes went from a green to a bright amber. She stood up on her knees and put her nose to my neck. She sniffed me and I almost pushed her away, but then I remembered that I was the one who asked for this. She moved back slowly and she had a shocked look on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a panicky way.

“You scent is peppermint, I figured you would have smelled like lemongrass or vanilla, but… what the hell.” She said slowly.

“Wait, I’m a very powerful witch. You smell like lavender to me, but like… how.” I said.

“I swear, if you go on a power rant I will set you on fire.” She said as she pointed at me with her index finger.

“I wasn’t going to, but thanks for the warning.” I said.

“So it’s obvious that you weren’t born a witch because if you were you would have known since you were little, you’re not a half witch because half witches can never have the smell of peppermint, late bloomers aren’t common… so what the hell made this happen so late?” She asked.

“I have no idea.” I said with a shrug.

“We’ll get on that subject more later. Now if we eve need to go out in public, we have suppressants for the sulfur thing, it’ll take it away so that way we don’t get found out, by humans or witch hunters.” She said as she made her mug float across the room and into her hand.

“What do you go out in public for?” I asked.

“Food. Socialization. To fuck with people by making shit happen around them. It’s not like Tokyo Ghoul man. I don’t just don’t have a human shell and then eat humans. I eat normal food like everyone else in this world.” She said with a small huff.

“If witches are just like humans, then why are there witch hunters and executions of witches all the time?” I asked.

“Humanity is fucked. People think that just because we have magic that we’re all evil and want to kill everyone, but really that’s only like 12% of us, the other 88% of us just try to live our lives and make good happen, but because of the 12% of those witches, most of us suffer through life and get killed because of them.” She answered with a sigh.

“Oh…”

That’s all I could say to her.

“We get reincarnated sometimes. Like I’ve died twice, but I was reincarnated both times, fun times.” She said with a light chuckles.

“Wait how many times can you get reincarnated before you’re completely dead?” I asked. I was actually really curious.

“No one really knows, some only reincarnate once and once they die, they’re dead. Some get like 30 before they completely die. It just depends on how well you treat yourself.” She said as there was knock on her door.

“Cool…” I trailed off.

I watched as she walked to the door, she greeted the man at the door with a hug and let him come in.

“Whoa, who’s that?” The man asked.

“That’s Jungkook, be nice to him Jimin.” She said as she sat back down next to me.

“Okay, but why is he here?” Jimin asked.

“I guess he’s a late bloomer, found out he’s a witch and ran away, he found me and I’ve been telling him stuff he didn’t know, which is pretty much everything.” Y/N answered for me.

“Oh… so I guess we’re not going out to go mess with people today.” He said as he rubbed the nape of his neck.

“I mean we could, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know how to control his powers, and there’s no way I’m leaving him here by himself, so maybe next week Jimin, I promise.” She pleaded.

“Alright, fine. I’ll see you next week then.” He said with a wave.

The raven haired man walked out of the house and the next thing I knew he was an actual raven and he flew away. I looked at Y/N and she laughed at my facial expression.

“That was the next thing I was going to tell you. Some witches can turn into animals, I think that’s where the demonic animals thing comes from.” She said while she was trying to calm down from laughing.

“Can you turn into an animal?” I asked.

“Nope, I’m not cool like that, my parents can, but I can’t, not everything is passed on to kin.” She said.

“How do I know if I can?” I asked as I stood up from the couch.

“Well, do you have a tattoo like mark on you?” She asked as she started gathering miscellaneous things.

“Not that I know of.” I said as she started walking towards her back door.

“Then you probably can’t. Jimin has a feather silhouette on his arm, and he’s a raven. My brother Taehyung on the other hand has a deer print on his stomach, but that’s just because he got the power and I didn’t.” She said as she threw the items up in the air and made them go somewhere in her back yard.

“If you did have the power, what animal do you think you’d be?” I asked as she grabbed me by my ear to get me to follow her.

“Ignore me pulling on your ear. I’m pretty sure I’d be a doe, most of my family is a deer or doe… except for my aunt Petra… she’s a robin.” She said with a chuckle.

“I guess that’s a good inference, but my question is… why the hell are we out here?” I asked.

“I’m going to help you control your powers, or at least figure out what powers you do have, fire is an obvious one.” She said as she stood me in front of a table full of items.

“Well yeah, I could have guessed that.”  I said in a cocky tone.

“I can still set you on fire you know, I’d knock off that little attitude of yours so I can help you and not kill you.” She said as she flicked my arm.

I gulped and she smiled at me and then stepped aside to give me room.

“Alright. I want to see exactly what powers you have, you’d probably want to know what powers you have too, so let’s to it. I want you to try blowing that cup over and on to the ground. Think about wind, that’s where the power should come from. It’s like the Force, but with wind.” She explained to me.

I stood there for a minute and listened to myself breathe. I lifted my hand and thought about wind and knocking the cup over on to the ground. I had my eyes closed and I was trying to concentrate on doing it.

“Don’t strain yourself on doing it.” I heard Y/N said softly.

I just loosened up a bit and let the same thoughts run through, I had my eyes open this time, and I saw it, I felt it. A gust of wind was pushed from my body, it looked like smoke coming out of my hand, but when I saw it knock the cup over on to the ground I smiled and jumped around in the spot I was standing on.

“Good job Kook.” Y/N said as she patted my shoulder.

“Did you just call me Kook?” I asked.

“Yeah sorry, I’ll stop if you don’t like it.” She said as she took her hand off of me.

“No, I liked it, don’t worry. What’s next?” I replied with a grin.

“Next is water. For the sake of not getting everything wet, just use your finger for this one, or we’re gonna have some problems. I think it’s obvious what you should think about for this.” She answered.

“What’s my target?” I asked.

She snapped her fingers and before me was a line of fire. “This is your target.”

I smirked at her and basically did the same thing as before, but only with my finger and thinking about water. It was interesting to see water come out of my finger; I out the fire out quickly and Y/N clapped for me for doing a good job.

“Wait can I drink the water?” I asked.

“You can, I mean if you’re ever on a deserted island and you need water it comes in handy, but food is a different story for that situation, there are no food powers sadly.” She said as she came to stand in front of me.

“What are you doing?” I asked as she made me look into her eyes.

“Telepathy test. What am I thinking?” She said as she grabbed me by my chin.

I looked into her eyes and it was almost like breaking down a wall, but once I did her thoughts came into my head.

“Why are you thinking about chicken?” I asked with a chuckle.

“I’m hungry… I could ask you why you’re thinking about my boobs, but I’m not going to.” She said as she slapped my check lightly.

“Going from that I’m assuming you have the same thing.” I said.

“Yeah I do, stop being an idiot. We already know you have some type of fire power, but you see, I wanna see exactly you can do. If it gets out of hand, we can both put it out.” She said.

I stepped back and began the whole process, I ended up making a decent sized fire on the ground, but then I tries to control it, that part was fun. I made it turn into various animals and other things, Y/N had a smile on her face as she watched me. She let me mess around for awhile, but soon enough she started putting it out and I ended up helping. When it was completely went out we went back inside, it was sunset when we went inside and the next thing I knew when we were inside Y/N was pulling food out of her fridge, and heating them up with a snap because I guess she can do that. She brought food out for the two of us and sat down with me so we could eat.

“I want you to explain to me why it took you so long to run away from your parents because of the whole witch thing.” She said before she started eating.

“I wasn’t sure at first, I just thought that it was something else wrong with my house, but when it started happening at school and in public, I figured it out. I just stayed there with the constant feeling of wanting to run away because of the danger of living with it and possibly being caught at any moment.” I said as I pushed my food around a bit.

“…Jungkook, did you possibly have a girlfriend before all of this started?” She asked with a look of possible realization on her face.

“I did have a girlfriend. We broke up because we kept fighting about random things and it wasn’t good for either of us, why?” I asked before taking a bite of the food.

“If you had sex with her I know exactly how this happened, because I think I remember this little bitch who was bragging about turning her ex boyfriend into a witch.” She said as she put her utensils down on the table.

“Yuri wouldn’t do that. However we did have sex before we broke up, I remember it was a bit weird because there was some random poking I felt when we did it, I didn’t feel any different afterwards, but I found a really big red spot on my back afterwards, I didn’t think anything about it though.” I said as I looked down at the floor.

“Yuri huh… I know her, she was the one bragging about it when she came to a witch council meeting, and the time frame is correct. I know what she did, it was a sly trick she pulled on you.” She said with an angry sigh.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Yuri is one of the 12% of evil witches. She claims to be innocent, but is actually the daughter of some warlock that fucked everything up for us back with the Salem witch trial bullshit. What she did got her killed by the witch council, she only wanted sex with you to plant things into you making you become a witch, that’s the poking you felt. The red spot you found, that’s probably where she poured some type of transformation potion on you, because that’s how transformation potions work in real life, this isn’t Harry Potter bullshit, this is real life. I’m sorry that Yuri did that to you though, now you get you live through hell and hope to not get killed by witch hunters.” She explained as she stood up from her seat.

“I can’t believe it.” I said as I put my head down on the table.

“I’m sorry.” She said as she rested her hand on my back.

“It’s not your fault. Now I really can’t go back home.” I said.

“I can let you stay here, but why can’t you go back home?” She asked as I picked up my head.

“…My parents are witch hunters.” I answered.

The look on her face went to a shock, and she covered her mouth and backed away a bit. “You’re defiantly staying here.”

“Thank you.” I said as I stood up.

She walked over to me and brought me into a tight hug, I let her do it and I hugged her back. After we both finished eating, she showed me to the room I’d be staying in, it was small, but I could live with it, I had a place to sleep and live. It was around 10 o'clock when Y/N had said she was going to bed and that we would be going to the witches council tomorrow for me to be a registered witch in the community. I just said okay and told her goodnight as she went into her room. It was another half an hour before I went to bed, even then I rolled around for a bit, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. It wasn’t too long before I fell asleep facing the wall, everything around me seemed calm and like I was actually safe here, I think I’ll be okay here.

[goron-king-darunia]

It won’t let me reblog the post

So I’m going to answer it here instead!

goron-king-darunia

Cute perve Richter who is a shameless flirt. I did that with him in a fic I’m working on, but it’s just with Emil. XD Shy Tsundere is always a classic Richter, and it’s fun to see Shy Richter and Shy Emil just tripping over themselves trying to flirt with each other and not quite knowing how. I also love seeing many different Richters with many different twists. I love seeing other interpretations, even if they are so far off canon it’s almost not Richter. (I love the in-character canon stuff too, but sometimes it’s fun to see wildly different Richters.) I LOVE THAT COLETTE SEES RICHTER AS A FRIEND EVEN THOUGH HE KIND OF TRIED TO KILL HER. It’s also funny that we’re sharing this headcanon of such a non-judgmental Richter when his name literally means “judge”. Like, in-game, he only really judges Ratatosk and it’s because Ratatosk killed Aster. Other than that he’s pretty… chill and not too judgey. FOR REAL. The creators love to torture him. I would have loved for a cutscene where someone randomly mentions the Friendship Colonel nickname and then you later see him with that title. That would have been great. LOL, I have a friend who is very much like Richter and she actually once said to me “Sometimes I wonder why we even became friends.” And I just laughed so hard. (She later apologized but I still think it was funny and I agree that us becoming friends is so weird.) My friend group also had a moment where the Richter friend laughed and we all just… stared because “Holy shit, Richter friend has a sense of humor.” And this was before the game was even made! XD My friend is the original Richter. But I can see how having someone like Richter for a teacher would be kind of… a pain in the butt. XD

hannikka

YES, i didnt knew how to exactly explain it but this summarizes one of the reasons of why i love shy tsundere richter very much “ t’s fun to see Shy Richter and Shy Emil just tripping over themselves trying to flirt with each other and not quite knowing how” that is just adorable, and i would love to see shy tsunder richter when he was a child(i think we all would love to be able to see how richter looked as a kid)

i actually would like to see him being out of ginnungagap and colette approaching him in a familiar and very friendly way, and he would be like"what the hell is wrong with this child…?“, and colette would just talk to him as if they have been friends all their life, and as their conversation progresses richter understand less and less what is happening” she is far to happy to see me, is she even aware that i tried to kill her:..?“

i think the only people he judges harshly are, ratatosk, perhaps alba(i don’t remember very well T_T), and himself, but other than that, he is quite chill

there are some people you just wonder "how i befriended this person?” and they are usually quite lovely persons, i actually have a friend who blatantly was like"when we were childrens i disliked you quite alot :D", and i was not expecting that, and while my heart shattered i remember that i didn’t liked her either at that point in time XD, so late i said the same thing she said (as a random fact, not as a hurtful thing D:)and she(she  has bad memory)was"you…disliked me…in chilhood? T_T) and i was like"you sort of…admitted that last week? O_O", it turns out she didn’t remember it so my poor friend was quite sad, and so i had to reassure her that we were fine, if she was like a tales charachters, i think  she would be the lost daughter of richter and collete

YES. I would love to see Richter as a small child. Interacting with his parents. I would love to see, like the first 7 years of his life! Was he a fussy baby or a calm baby? Did he learn to walk and talk early, or was he a late bloomer? Did his mother make him cute knitted clothes or did they buy clothes? Did Richter’s dad make him toys and blocks? Did his mom and dad play tag with him? Did they have a family pet? Where did they live? Did Richter grow up in the city or the country or in the wilds? Was Richter a strong and manly boy who was very confident before going to Sybak or was he a shy mama’s boy who didn’t like anyone until Aster? Did his parents know he had bad eyesight or was Aster the first to notice? Did Richter run around and play a lot or was he more of a scholarly indoor child who liked to read and draw? Did he have a formal education or did his parents home school him? Did he even get schooling outside of Sybak at all? Did he ever have childhood friends? Did his mom and dad tuck him in at night? Did he need a nightlight to sleep? Did he have a teddy bear? Did he like blocks and wooden swords or was he more interested in stuffed animals and dolls (or both?) Did baby Richter suck his thumb? What was his first word? Richter’s parents supposedly died shortly before he wound up at Sybak. How did they die? Did they tell him to go to Sybak or did he go on his own? How did Richter learn how to fight with a sword and axe? He must have learned before Sybak because they wouldn’t give him weapons there. I also have adulthood questions. We know where he gets his glasses but where did he get his jacket and gloves? And where the hell did he learn his fashion sense? Clearly no one at Sybak dresses like that. What got him interested in meteorology? Did he ever think to bring his parents back when he made the deal with the demons to bring Aster back? What’s his favorite food, even though he can’t cook? Does he like herbs because they remind him of home? Does he prefer tea or coffee? (I think SO MUCH about Richter. I have so many questions. XD I guess that’s what’s fun about writing my own stories about him, but I would love some more details from the game. XD) I also just... have a deep and burning need to see a small innocent 4-7 year old Richter. Tiny baby boy. SHOW HIM TO ME BANDAI-NAMCO! SHOW ME! YESSSSS. Colette just talking to him like they have been friends since they were kids and giving him a cake like “Welcome back! You must be hungry! You’ve been gone a long time! Want to come sit down? Do you need somewhere to stay tonight?” Richter just... so confused and like “This is all very nice of you and I appreciate it but... do you even remember what I tried to do to you? I... I didn’t want to kill you exactly but... I tried to kill you for your Cruxis Crystal. Aren’t you, y’know, mad at me or scared of me?” Colette just being like “Nah, you’re not the first and I understand why you needed it! How about some clean clothes? I bet you haven’t had a nice bath lately! Want to go pet some dogs?!” I love Colette so much, she’s such a sweetie. XD Yep. Ratatosk, maybe Alba, and himself. With everyone else he’s more like “I find that specific behavior annoying and I would rather they didn’t but whatever. If it’s them it’s them.” Oh gosh. XD Colette and Richter would actually be a pretty cute couple~ XD They would have the sweetest kids. I still ship Colette and Lloyd, but if Colette was going to be with anyone else, Richter is a decent candidate. XD

[orionsangel86]

Round two of the “Hold My Beer” Great Meta Scavenger Hunt

For this, our honorary Misha Collins figure and Scavenger Hunt queen @elizabethrobertajones has asked us to rank all 12 season openers OR all 11 (12 if you are feeling super ambitious) season finales by a theme, character, concept etc of your choice.

I figured I might as well make this super difficult for myself and go with three D’s for my theme. Being Doom, Death and Destiel. I’m also picking finales over openers because, well finales usually have more of the three D’s in general. Doom is based on how bad the situation is for the world at the end of the episode, Death is based on the deaths in the episode and the emotional punch of those deaths, and destiel is based on how much destiel (or the ground work for destiel) there actually is in the episode. I’ll give each episode a ranking out of 10 for each ‘D’ and then average it out for my final scale… and try not to be intimidated at adding maths into a meta post. Ha. 

I should apologise for submitting this so late, but Lizzy did stress there was no real deadline and I have always been terrible at deadlines anyway.

Under the cut as this is loooonnngggg. Enjoy. :)

Season 1, episode 22.

DOOM – John is possessed by Azazel, but he gets over it, Azazel gets away, and the Winchester’s get pretty upset about this. Meg gets exorcised though so actually doom wise there is less of a threat by episode end than there has been all season. Azazel is on the loose but the Winchesters still have the colt. Very little doom. 1/10.

DEATH – Ah to remember the days when the Winchesters actually cared about the meat suits the demons possessed… Oh how things change. Meg is exorcised and the actual human Meg dies of her injuries (did the demon just keep using the name of the girl it possessed? That one always confused me) John almost kills Dean but doesn’t and marks the first in a long line of people in this season who overcome possession to save Dean thanks to their undying love for him (and yet the boy still thinks he is worthless). Big car crash at the end leaves us with a cliff hanger wondering if the Winchester’s are dead but its such a normal way to try to kill them that we all know it aint gonna stick. 3/10 for attempting to scare the audience into thinking the Winchesters can be killed by a TRUCK. Pfft.

DESTIEL - I miss Cas. Did I mention I’m a Cas girl and think his presence makes this series infinitely better?! Still, what we do get in this episode is a Dean who admits that he lies and Azazel mocking Dean’s personality as always hiding the truth, the pain… etc… So we start to get some good insight into Dean’s character, we know by this episode that Dean hides A LOT and puts on a performance all the time. We know that the tough guy macho image he tries to portray is in no way near the real him. But I’m scraping the barrel so it still only gets 1/10 for the barest glimpses into Dean’s true self and the hint that he is hiding a lot more.

Season 2, episode 22.

DOOM – One dead yellowed eyed demon, one demon deal for Dean and a whole lot of evil unleashed upon the world. We got some good levels of doom here, even if Azazel is gone. At least John Winchester managed to crawl out of hell and disappear off… somewhere… do we ever find out what happened to John Winchester’s soul? Maybe he decided to hang around on earth haunting some poor unsuspecting bystander. For that reason and all other reasons above, I’m ranking this a 4/10. They were still just ordinary demons that were unleashed after all… and that was a weird sentence to write.

DEATH – Well, that was emotional. We get some pretty stirring speeches from Dean over poor Sam’s corpse, but he comes back. Of course. So it doesn’t really count unless we are counting deaths for emotional impact rather than if they STAY dead. Dean shoots Azazel in a very therapeutic moment for him, and also threw his own life away to save his brother. Also this made me chuckle: “Dad brought me back, Bobby. I'm not even supposed to be here.” Oh Dean. You’ll get used to it. Happens all the time. I’m also adding a point for the death of Ash last episode because damn. I liked Ash. Besides, technically this was a two parter. 6/10 for emotional impact and because they finally killed the bad guy.

DESTIEL – Well, there isn’t much I can really say as one half of this love pairing isn’t even here yet. But, on Dean’s side we are getting more and more hints into his now glaringly obvious bisexuality. I’m using 2x21 here because as said above, this is a two parter. Dean identifies Ash by his watch which tells an interesting story (I’m not gonna get into the Dean x Ash stuff here and instead direct you here for that glorious analysis) and also we got Lily who was a Dean mirror who lost everything thanks to Azazels influence (like Dean at episode end) and lost her life because of her inability to accept the situation she was in (like Dean at the end of this episode). So, for that reason I’m rating this a 2/10.

Season 3, episode 16

DOOM – Not so much in terms of doom this episode, Lilith was already out and doing her thing, We all still think Ruby is a good guy, the world is no more broken than it has been all season. 3/10

DEATH – Oh Dean. As Dickens would say he is as dead as a door-nail, and then go on about why a door-nail was considered a good simile for death. Perhaps the Horseman Death could answer that question, but I digress. Dean is dead, and Sam is very sad, and there is seemingly no hope now that Dean is strung up in hell. Sad times. This was probably my favourite death of the entire series, simply because it was still early enough for us to actually believe it. How on earth was Dean supposed to come back from this? His soul is literally strung up in hell. Therefore, 9/10 for an epic death scene.

DESTIEL – Still no Cas, and very little in terms of bi-dean analysis unfortunately. I’m giving it half a point for the eager anticipation of Dean’s hell rescue though and the wealth of fanfiction that came from that… 0.5/10.

Season 4, episode 22

DOOM – So much doom! (for the time – nowadays Lucifer just leaves us feeling kinda meh) The release of Lucifer! The breaking of the 66 Seals! The angels are up to no good! It’s the apocalypse! AHHHHHH DOOM ALL THE DOOM! END OF THE WORLD DOOM!!! For that reason I am marking it 10/10 doom wise.

DEATH – Bye bye Ruby. You were a manipulative bitch and I loved you. Hated the way you died though. Never like the idea of having a woman held back by a man whilst another man stabs her… it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth regardless of whether she was demonic or not. Also bye bye Lilith. Your death was actually pretty cool. You went out laughing. BUT NO! Not CAS! Cue Castiel’s first death scene and let me tell you it was explosive. Heh. Sorry. Basically 4 seasons in and this was my FAVOURITE season finale so far. Yeah so no Winchester brother died, but Castiel stole her hearts from his very first scene and having to watch him die after getting our hopes up like that was just cruel. It was emotional, especially the way he died for DEAN. Because of DEAN and… well I’ll get on to that. 8/10 on the Death rating.

DESTIEL – HERE WE GO FINALLY. So who started shipping destiel at THIS point? I was a late bloomer (a 6x20 shipper) but I was picking up on things here and on my many many re--watches of this episode I find it impossible not to see the whole scene in the green room as overly romantic. We had major heart eyes from our star crossed lovers, we had epic speeches about choice and freedom and humanity, we had one fallen angel statue and one soon to be fallen very real hunky angel man, we had Dean getting bodily pressed into a wall by said hunky angel man in a very erotic display of power and disobedience. Basically every DeanCas scene in this entire episode had me drooling. It ended with Cas giving everything for the man he lo- liked a lot, I mean pfft… its not like giving up everything you’ve ever believed in and fought for and known your entire long existence for one guy is a big deal or anything… right? Totally platonic right? I’m rating this one as an 9/10 on the destiel scale… I’m not quite sure another season finale can come close… top marks are reserves for an actual canon love confession.

Season 5, episode 22

DOOM – Well. What can I say about Swan Song? The apocalypse was stopped, Lucifer defeated, the horseman put in their place, Death off eating pizza in another galaxy… it all turned out okay doom-wise. The episode packs a big punch, but its an emotional punch rather than a “WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE” punch, so actually, this finale is quite understated when you rank it against the rest. Low doom score. 5/10 doom.

DEATH – Death is rampant in this episode, but he’s getting sloppy because it doesn’t stick. Sam sacrifices himself for the world. It’s emotional. Bobby dies, Castiel dies, Dean nearly dies, Adam dies, Michael and Lucifer get thrown in the cage, lots of death but none of it stays dead! Come episode end all the folks that matter are alive and walking around topside like it’s no big deal. But it still gets points for ending on a mystery and for Dean still believing his brother is dead and being all sad about it and for the audience being all worried because WHAT IS WRONG WITH SAM? But he still isn’t dead. 7/10 for Death.

DESTIEL – I’ll be honest with you all. I think Swan Song is totally overrated. I prefer Lucifer Rising. Like waaaay prefer it. I’m biased of course because of Destiel. In this episode there were a few moments. Dean saying “Aww, Ain’t he a little angel” when Cas is asleep in the back seat is one of them, The car ride at the end. Dean’s pain is evident at everything he has lost but his need for Cas right then, to me at least, is obvious. He just couldn’t bring him to ask Cas to stay, so Cas left. It is a sad ending that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. 5/10 for destiel.

Season 6, episode 22

DOOM – Well, this is what happens when you bottle up your feelings rather than confessing your undying love for someone. Oh Cas. Why couldn’t you just TELL HIM THE TRUTH! The absorbed purgatory souls turn Castiel into a crazy power hungry God and it is very very bad. Well, if you are homophobic, or republican, or a member of the KKK… or basically Donald Trump and therefore all of the above…otherwise honestly, Godstiel really wasn’t all that bad. We could probably do with a Godstiel in our world about now… *Oh gosh shhh now that’s a terrible thought I totally don’t wish that on anyone…ahem.* So I’m giving it a low doom score. Bring Godstiel to our universe 2k17. He will sort shit out. 5/10

DEATH – I am still mourning Balthazar. This one hurts hard because he doesn’t ever come back. L Also Raphael but really I didn’t care. He needed to remove the stick from up his ass anyway. 8/10 because Balthazar won’t be forgotten.

DESTIEL – In the afterglow of 6x20, we suddenly have our destiel goggles glued to our faces and it only makes this episode so much worse. They are actually in post break up hell here and Castiel has completely lost his way. Dean’s heart break is clear to see, and his line “I know there's a lot of bad water under the bridge, but we were family once. I'd have died for you. I almost did a few times. So if that means anything to you... Please. I've lost Lisa, I've lost Ben, and now I've lost Sam. Don't make me lose you too.” Makes me shed a tear. For all the break up trauma 7/10.

Season 7, episode 23

DOOM – Season 7, the world went to hell, Leviathans wanted to eat us (well mostly America but I assume some of them travelled overseas to annoy the Europeans…) But in the end Cas stepped up and helped save the day. Dick was vanquished and although leviathans still roamed the earth they are apparently useless without their leader. So doom levels are fairly standard. Kevin was abducted by Crowley and his minions though and Dean and Cas zapped to purgatory where they will have to face all kinds of DOOM. So on a worldwide scale not a lot of doom, on a personal level for our characters? Lots of doom. 7/10 to average it out.

DEATH – We say goodbye to the Leviathan King and with him goes all the dick jokes of season 7. It’s probably a good thing to be honest. That many dick jokes should not be allowed in one season. We also say goodbye to Bobby’s ghost. It was emotional. I still wish Bobby had never died. L Technically not a death so much as a ‘moving into the light’ moment, it still struck a chord. Other than that we also have a sort of death for Dean and Cas getting sent to purgatory though since they are still together we shouldn’t really be counting it. Death rating is 6/10 and that’s all mainly for Bobby.

DESTIEL – Ah 7x23 was good on the destiel front. ‘Tis the episode where Castiel turned up naked, covered in bees… kinky. It’s the episode where Cas was Dean’s “Boyfriend first” and of course, the episode of “I’d rather have you, cursed or not.” We got longing looks and confessions of forgiveness and basically it was great. 8/10

Season 8, episode 23

DOOM – The Angels are falling! Hell is still open for business! Metatron is a massive dick and I am in tears by the end of the episode every. Single. Time. I’m not even getting into it more than that. This is my favourite season finale. I love every second of it. Doom wise it’s pretty epic 8/10 doom score

DEATH – OH NO SAM DON’T YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT! L Poor Sammy. Seriously though this was HEARTBREAKING and even though Sam doesn’t die he is in a pretty awful state by episode end and it was so fucking emotional I can’t even deal with it. Hence a death score of 6/10 because SAaaaaaaaammmmmmmmm.

DESTIEL – “This is it? E.T. goes home?” The cupids bow, the two gruff men falling in love right in front of a confused and amazed Dean, the cupids bow on the TV shooting at both Dean and Cas? The arrows in the back of the Impala. The climax of the angel fall spell and the one of these is not the same as the others ingredients theory. Us meta writers screaming at our TV screens because it ALL adds up to destiel. It ALL points to Cas being in love with Dean. I love this episode. 8/10 for all the symbolism and Dean’s utterly romantic and longing looks at Cas in the bar.

Season 9, episode 23

DOOM – Does Dean being a demon count as death or doom here? Both? Both is good. Dean Winchester unleashed as a freshly born knight of hell. That doesn’t sound good for the fate of the world in all honesty. However, heaven is basically sorted and Metatron has been put behind bars so this episode doesn’t leave us in such an apocalyptic state as previous season finales have. Therefore it gets a doom score of 5/10.

DEATH – Oh Dean. Why did you follow Crowley. Why did you take that mark? Why did you think you could face Metatron when he was all powered up on tablet? Simply put “I’m proud of us” and Cas’ face when Metatron shows him the angel blade covered in Dean’s blood. Those two moments alone give this a high score in the emotional stakes that mean a Winchester has once again dramatically died in a season finale. It loses two marks for the black eyes since once again right out of the Princess Bride Dean was only mostly dead. 8/10

DESTIEL – I have one thing and one thing only to say right here “He’s in love… with humanity”. Cue a million fangirls all over the world screaming at their TV/Computer screens at that very dramatic pause. Thanks Metatron. I didn’t know Dean had a new nickname. 7/10.

Season 10, episode 23

DOOM – Thanks to Winchester toxic co-dependency we have a primordial chaos goddess on the loose, intent on nothing but absolute universal destruction according to Death. So yeah, pretty much the ultimate DOOM. Since this episode was just a whole barrel of WTF I’m marking it down 2 points. Because I’m bitter. So sue me. Otherwise 8/10.

DEATH – Again with the whatthefuckery. YOU CAN’T KILL DEATH DEAN THAT IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. This was NOT a Death I was willing to accept and I still am not willing to accept it a season and a half later. Death is fucking with you Winchesters so he can jump out at you both and give you a fucking heart attack later on. You would probably both deserve it. 5/10. Not happy.

DESTIEL – So after the horrifying end to 10x22 with the brutal reverse crypt scene, Dean is haunted with guilt over what he did to Cas, but it is no homo’d to the max thanks to Rudy or whatever the fuck his name was I didn’t even bother to look it up or re-watch (did I mention I really didn’t like this episode – except for Death) I suppose I’ll give it a point for Dean’s dream in the deleted scene and a point for the flash of Dean in the mirror (fuck you Rudy I’ll pretend you weren’t there) and a point for Cas’ “Everyone loves something” about Rowena because yes Cas we know you are in love with Dean that was practically established canon in 9x23. It gets a 3/10. I hated this episode.

Season 11, episode 23

DOOM – In a Supernatural first, we get a relatively happy, healthy ending to the big bad story. Dean gives Amara and Chuck some sibling counselling and they go off to spend some quality time together. In a big twist, Amara thanks Dean by giving him “what he needs” which turns out to be Mary Winchester. Human. Alive. Still in the white nightgown she burned in. At the same time, Sam gets taken out by a posh British lady from the men of letters. There is, amazingly, no real doom for the world and only a slight threat for Sam. 3/10 because I care about our beautiful moose baby and his doom matters to me.

DEATH – None. Zilch. Not a single character dies in this finale and this is a shocker. It’s also really satisfying. One formally dead person actually comes BACK. This is probably the most hopeful positive season finale we have ever had on the show. Impressive really. Sam’s unknown threat at the end gives it 1 point. Even though we all know that Sam isn’t dead. He may be in somewhat doom, but he definitely isn’t dead. 1/10

DESTIEL – My heart breaks for Cas all throughout this season and it wasn’t quite the satisfying resolution we were hoping for. Still, the beer run car scene was therapeutic in a way. Though Dean calling Cas a brother got mixed reviews. Some calling it “the end of destiel” which I think is incredibly over dramatic. I prefer to linger on Cas’ utter disappointment at being called a brother. Since, as I have previously mentioned, Season 9 pretty much canonically established Cas’ romantic love for Dean. However, the hug at the graveyard and the “I could go with you” bump up the points for this episode. Cas’ whole demeanour throughout screams of heartbreak and no one can possibly deny his devotion and love right now. I just wanna see more return from Dean on this. 6/10 for the mixed reviews.

Season 12, episode 23

Hasn’t aired yet, so I am totally making this up based on season themes and the mid season finale. Following Season 11’s breaking the spell of DEATH OR DOOM in the season finales, I reckon Season 12 will follow this trend and will not unleash a new bad evil or apocalyptic event OR kill anyone off in a tragic Death scene. Instead, Season 12 looks to be heading down the route of addressing the past, resolving the issues and dealing with smaller conflicts in general. Where Death is concerned, other than ‘bad guys’ I do not think we will get a major death in this finale. So far I do not see that foreshadowing for either brother… or for Castiel or Crowley at this point. Times change but I’m keeping optimistic. So to continue our theme:

DOOM – I doubt it. I don’t think the show will go ‘big’ again before they decide to end and therefore the themes and disaster storylines will be kept more subtle. Perhaps we could get some larger threat from the Grand Coven, or from the British Men of Letters… But lets just say I doubt that we will be unleashing Cthulhu any time soon! 5/10 for potential threats from human/witch groups but no apocalyptic disasters that I can see.

DEATH – Again I doubt it, Dabb broke the constant pattern spn had in place of an alternation between death and doom over season finales with season 11. I am expecting something completely different for the season 12 ending that will be unexpected in a different way (the way Mary was unexpected in season 11). The four main characters won’t get killed off and the supporting cast is unlikely to die in a finale. Perhaps a couple of BMOL will perish… I’m predicting a 4/10 on the Death scale.

DESTIEL – I’m gonna be super hopeful here. We have two episodes (possibly three) in the second half devoted to exploring Castiel as a character. Dabb has always been a Cas fan and we KNOW as I have mentioned before, that one of Cas’ defining characteristics at this point is his utter devotion and love for Dean. I am also hopeful that Dean’s pining story arc that started with the confessional scene in 10x16 will continue and reach a sort of climax in season 12. Therefore, I am gonna give this a rating of 8/10. I expect progress. I don’t expect a straight up confessional, I don’t expect a kiss. I would LIKE textual confirmation that Dean is bisexual at some point this season. I would also like textual confirmation of Castiel’s love for Dean. Something like another angel or Crowley or Sam maybe just straight up saying “You’re in love with him aren’t you?” and Cas just sighing and nodding. Yeah. That’s all I want. I don’t think its asking for much.

Okay so the final averaged scores for DOOM, DEATH and DESTIEL are:

1x22 – 2/10

2x22 – 4/10

3x16 – 4/10

4x22 – 9/10

5x22 – 6/10

6x22 – 7/10

7x22 – 7/10

8x23 – 7/10

9x23 – 7/10

10x23 – 5/10

11x23 – 3/10

12x23 – 5/10

Which according to my own odd analysis, makes season 4 the best all around season finale of the show.

*Goes and lies down for days because that took far too much brain power*

*Eagerly anticipates next challenge*

[wavenetinfo]

How rare it is to find a romantic comedy about a middle-aged couple in this day and age of American cinema. The marriage at the core of Azael Jacobs’ “The Lovers” is so authentically rendered to the audience that many of the scenes come off as painfully real.

“The Lovers” is about those who love, but also about those who discard love. The couple at the center of this tragi-comedy are Mary (Debra Winger) and Michael (Tracy Letts), both pursuing seperate affairs and all, but having given up on their marriage. Don’t be discouraged by the morose nature in which I describe “The Lovers,” for it springs surprises of hope and healing in its tightly-knit running time o 94 minutes, that no writer should reveal.

The film is a scathing, but humorously authentic take on the state of true love and being faithful to one another. Its young writer-director, helmer of the vastly underrated “Terri,” is asking tough, everlasting questions about what love means and if it could ever be realistically sustained trough a lifetime. The film implies that middle aged couples can be, and are, as sexually screwed up as any younger couple in their mid-20s.

Debra Winger is at the center of these sustained, depth-filled questions. She gives one of the very best performances of her career as Mary, a woman filled with disappointment, wounded by a lackluster marriage and on the brink of telling her spouse she’s had enough. There’s an abundance of passion and wit in Winger’s tour-de-force performance. Unpredictable, intense and filed with abundant wit, Winger shows a vulnerable side to her art by opening herself up to a role that Jacobs had specifically written for her.

She spoke to me about the film and what it means to have such a depth-filled, female role come her way at this stage of her career, a role which, as I cross my fingers, could land her a fourth Best Actress nomination.

It’s a pleasure meeting you, despite this little hiccup we just had on the phone. What was that music as we weren’t being put on hold!?

Hello Jordan, did you have the same technological glitch there? From my perspective I was stuck in what sounded like, you know the music you have no control over when you’re on hold, it was sort of like an elevator between a piercing place and a tattoo salon, the kind of music they would play in a place with that hybrid.

I think that’s what I was listening to as well

So we’re already on the same page here [Laughs].

Well, I have to say, loved your performance, loved the movie so it’s very exciting to talk to you about this. So I presume you still have offers to act in movies. What made “The Lovers” the right movie for you? Did it come at the right time?

I had met [director] Azael Jacobs before, so I knew him. I had written him a letter, I had asked him if he ever had anything where he felt like somebody like me could be in. So we kept a relationship where we spoke a couple times a year. At some point the script arrived and I knew that I really wanted to work with him.

Oh really? So you write notes to directors often? Or was it just Azael?

I wouldn’t say often, but I have been known to drop the occasional fan note.

Any other directors you would be allowed to name check in this interview?

Oh, I think I’ve written notes to Paul Thomas Anderson, I think I’ve written notes to Mike Leigh, Olivier Assayas, yeah I’ve written some notes [Laughs].

You definitely have good taste

So you like the film. You sound like a younger person.

Yeah, I loved it. I got married a year ago, so it still feels fresh.

So this movie didn’t depress you?

No, because I know all about the territory that I’m getting myself into.

Yeah, that’s true. You don’t have to be married to know that the institution creates some traps. I remember the first time I got married around 31 years ago. The first movie that we saw, oh shit can’t remember the title, but it was Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Nora Ephron wrote the screenplay about marriage, and it was so depressing and it was like everybody hated each other, marriage was horrible and I was like this is not a good honeymoon movie.

Are you talking about “Heartburn”?

“Heartburn,” yeah, but I feel like “The Lovers” is a cautionary tale and I think in my life, as far as love is concerned, because I do love love stories, always liked to tell love stories, I find them mysterious and the question about how to make love stay is a lasting question and I like to keep asking it and I think cautionary tales are a good thing.

Well, I find the movie is, in the end, not that depressing because it feels almost hopeful, it gives you hope!

I agree.

It also explores all the strains that eventually develop in marriage and how to defeat those demons.

Right, and how easily we could fall asleep and how we don’t even notice it because it just seems more convenient not to confront it. And also I have this whole theory going in that good writers don’t even realize it, they’re writing on such an intuitive level, that when the actors start pulling it apart and inhabiting it, things come out. And when we got up to Santa Clarita, where it was shot, and I saw where we were going to shoot, this suburban middle class neighborhood, I was like, man this is a whole sector of America that is white-knuckling it right now, you know? And it’s a luxury to afford to divorce. You’re not getting along, your relationship isn’t going well, “oh let’s get two apartments, pay two electric bills.” People don’t realize what a privilege decision that can be.

Oh yeah, completely agree with that. That side of the story is never tackled.

So, I was very interested in the socio-economic side of it in that, you stay in the same house, you kind of avoid each other, you try to find some happiness wherever you can, then one day you wake up and you’re like “wait a minute, this is my life?”

I know a couple that’s in that situation. They’re pretty open about it as well.

Yeah, well it moves to that stage if it doesn’t move to the other stage, which is where “The Lovers” is. I think it also is a timing thing. You could do that for a while, but when your kid goes off to college and you’re left with this glaring lie in your life, it��s pretty hard to realize that you’re not doing well. We forget how tentative we are, we’re only here for a little while.

That moment of finiteness. But, yeah when the kid goes to college you both just look at each other and you’re like “Ok, I have to be with YOU now?”

Well, you know, if you’re doing this whole sneaking around and cheating thing just to keep the structure of a marriage which is somewhat familiar to a child, that tends to fall apart, plus, for the most part, you find out that he’s known all along anyway because as we know when we have a baby they are totally vibratory creatures, I mean they pick up on everything and it doesn’t matter what they “know or don’t know”, they know it in their bodies.

The chemistry that you have in the movie with Tracy Letts to showcase these details is quite incredible. I know him mostly as a playwright, what was it like working with him?

Yeah, he’s been a sort of late bloomer to movies and, as he would tell you, usually plays the guy in a suit ordering the drone strike. For him, I think he was kind of lit up by the role itself. You know, being able to be in that situation in a film, I mean, I’m sure he’s done it on stage, but I was just so delighted because he was just so available and for me, I say yes to a director, and I mean YES. I show up and if I’ve said yes, I’m pretty much willing to explore anything. If you make yourself available you don’t really have much protection and that can be super painful, not in a physical way, but it’s like any other situation in life, movies are no different if you’re doing it right, so I don’t have a craft that allows me to go in and protect all my corners and, sort of, nooks and crannies and give an honest and open performance. I have to be in a trusting environment and I think Azael created that and I think Tracy was just so up for that, that’s how he looks at having a scene partner. We hit it off and we used that feeling and we ran with it and I think that when you’re younger you mistake that feeling in life and that’s when so many actors screw up [Laughs].

A whole bunch of stuff happens

Yeah, a whole bunch of stuff happens in a movie because you’re emotionally available and, in this case, the right exact thing happened. You know, we’re both happily married to other people and we just access that part of ourselves that would have probably gone wild and off the rails years ago.

How long was the shoot?

24 days.

That’s fairly …

Shocking. That was shocking to me. I mean, I come from a world where we shot almost three months on a film. I’m telling you, it was rollicking, I don’t mind it, but I think that a few more days would have been nice.

That’s actually a very common thing for an actor to tell me these days, that the shoot was way too short.

Well, because independent films now are just, you know, shot out of the canon. There’s usually not a lot of time for preparation, I was lucky enough to have some time on this, and you’re working, you know, 14 hour days, and you’re driving yourself to locations. I’m really hoping that the business is finding its watermark because when the bottom fell out of the independent film business it was just so shocking that all that could be made was a 500 thousand dollar or a 500 million dollar film and we’re starting to see the advent between a $1M movie and a $30M movie, which we haven’t seen since, I don’t know, the late ’70s early ’80s. I made one called “Mike’s Murder,” sort of at the beginning of the independent film boom and then, of course, “Big Bad Love” was at the end of it, so I think we just have to find this place where we can make right-sized movies that good actors want to make and you don’t have to sit for five hours and have to play a superhero’s movie or a purple Amoeba from another planet, but that you can tell some stories that we need to hear. Hopefully the budget can come up a bit from this one and give you a little more time so you all don’t fall under the weather and we can make some movies.

I guess this is a little better than shooting “Sheltering Sky” for, what was it, five months?

No, I don’t think it’s better. That was a transformational experience. I had my kid with me, I had my whole life with me, I loved that shoot, I have no complaints about that shoot. I don’t think every movie should be five months. I do also find that the experience of making “The Lovers” was transformational for me because, at my age, to be able to tell a story about the vivacity and the connection into life that I feel inside, it so rarely finds a place in society to live. You know, we like to put older people in a box and keep them separate and believe that it’s never going to happen to us. I’m here to say that at 61 it’s a really vibrant time.

I’m sure you’re always searching for those opportunities

I am, I just don’t think that they’re written for the most part.

    1 June 2017 | 5:24 pm

Jordan Ruimy

Source : Awards Daily

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

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