#its like they need to redefine me in their minds or something like that

[arospecsyourblockdudes]

the thing abt being a transhet dude is like i get actually upset at jokes like making fun of straight dudes sometimes which i Know is like kinda lame but like. being who i am i never know how to interpret it as anything other than that queer people would see me as like better/more queer/more human if i closeted myself and identified as a cis lesbian again. which would make me miserable. and it is stupid cuz ik no one ever thinks about it w transhet people in mind but like idk maybe they should. cuz what the hell do you want from me like i just dont want to be seen as deserving of mockery cuz im a dude who likes girls

[storiesbyrhi]

Witch!Reader x Bat/Vampire!Eddie Munson Series Masterlist The Grimoire The Timeline

Warnings: canon typical violence, horror genre typical violence/some infrequent gore, swearing, animal death, no beta, death in childbirth (mentioned, not described), abusive parents, suicide, spiders/bugs, grief/mourning; light smut; warnings updated each chapter.

Synopsis: No witch has stepped foot in Hawkins since 1845, but when Vecna opens the ground and poisons the town, a voice begins to call to you. Have you been brought back to this cursed place to heal the townspeople’s wounds, to save a hexed bat that always finds its way to you, or to redefine your history with a reunion 150 years in the making?

Chapter Summary: You are wide awake. 2340 words.

1986

Every day Eddie watched the jar. He watched how the moon water moved, alive and with a viscosity different from regular water. He watched the apple slices dry and the sprigs of lavender go stiff. He thought if he watched closely enough, he’d see the magic working, but he never caught a glimmer of craft.

When it was time, you let him plant the enchanted seed in the new coven neighbourhood. Your home would grow furthest out, close to the shade of the woods. A spell later, you were traveling back to Forest Hills to begin packing the trailer up.

It had been months since you’d moved in, therefore you had accumulated a lot of items.

“Do you need all of these?” Eddie asked, holding up one of five shoeboxes, all packed with feathers you had found. “And is this a normal amount of feathers to find? What is wrong with the birds in Hawkins?”

“Yes and no and a lot. I told you that if you are gonna help, you can’t question every single thing you pick up,”

“I��m doing no such thing,” he rebutted.

“Eddie, you told me to cull my jar collection,”

“I stand by it. There are too many. You can collect more,”

“I use them! Frequently! And I don’t just keep any jar. All the ones I have are, like, uniquely shaped or extra sturdy!” you whined. “Asking a witch to not collect jars is just…” You shook your head, not able to find the words to express the atrocity.

Eddie smiled at you softly. “Perhaps I am not the best helper,” he conceded. “Perhaps my time would be better spent doing something else,”

“Something else like use your vampire speed to clean the bathroom, or something else like turn into a bat and sleep?”

An hour later, Eddie was asleep in one of the boxes containing clothes, and you were wrapping more empty jars in bubble wrap.

…

A monument to witchcraft and love. That’s what Eddie thought when he saw the house. It had the glorious drama of Ev’s Victorian home and the softness of the other witches’ cottages. Expansive stained glass windows. Detailed architraves, the wood so dark it appeared black. Red brick. A single-story structure, but the dome of a conservatory was visible over the roof. It extended back into the woods, settling into the landscape as if it had always been there.

Eddie thought back to all the places he had lived in. The house his father’s rage felt the brunt of as much as he did. The farm he came into adulthood on. The colony caves. The cold and lonely hotel rooms. The trees above Forest Hills. He’d never had a home, apart from your arms, but there it was. Real and in front of him.

The sun was setting over the valley as Eddie stood before the house. You’d seen it early that day, doing your final checks before okaying the move. It was your magic the house grew from, so naturally you were less awestruck by it. The floorplan and aesthetic had been born in your mind. Still, it was a beautiful thing.

“Think it will do?” you asked Eddie, coming to stand beside him.

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. “It’s…” How many different words were there for ‘home,’ he wondered. What language could fully communicate the depth of emotion?

“Enchanted seeds create homes, not houses,” you told him as you walked towards the front door. “Come and see.”

Eddie followed, almost expecting something to happen as he crossed the front door threshold. Once inside, Eddie clenched his jaw. It was more perfect than he could have anticipated.

The furniture was plush and comfortable, an eclectic mix of antique pieces and modern amenities. Bookshelves stood tall and waiting, ready for the library to arrive. Potted ivy trailed up and around curtain railings and along the walls.

“You never got to see my place in the Catskills. A lot of the furniture comes from there. The rest comes from the seed… It’s the kind of magic that makes me wish we could study it, you know? I want to know the science of it. How does it work?”

“It seems to me that part of the power of magic is in the unknowing,” Eddie replied, as wise as any of the Witches Who Came Before.

“It does appear to be the case,” you agreed.

For a while, you let Eddie wander aimlessly through the house.

He marvelled at the bath, huge and round, like a pond and definitely big enough for two. A huge wardrobe door that opened into a secret library. The conservatory full of thriving plants, flowers, herbs, and other living things Eddie did not have a word for. Every window a different shape but never square. Strange detailing like cat shaped doorknobs and pink quartz basins.

Eventually, Eddie sat on the end of the huge bed, its four posts grand and its linen crisp. He looked over at you and held out his hands.

“Come.”

You walked to him, taking his hands, and standing between his legs. Eddie looked up at you with those sparkling brown eyes, the adoration radiating from him.

“It’s an irrational idea, this fear I have that I’m dreaming. That I am still cursed, haunting this town until the end of time. But a vampire cannot dream. The cursed cannot dream. But still…”

Gently, you let go of Eddie’s hands and leaned into him, snaking your fingers into his hair as he pressed himself into your body, wrapping his arms around your waist.

“You are wide awake. Alive… kind of… But definitely here. With me. In our home. Soon-to-be, with our friends. Our family. And just in time for Halloween.”

He purred a happy sound, nodding into you. “A witch’s favourite holiday?” he hazarded a guess.

“Hmm, not all of us. Most of the witches I’ve known tended to find more obscure holidays to worship at the altar of. New Years is a big one, too. Alas, I am but a cliché All Hallows witch,”

“With much respect, I see that,” Eddie said. You laughed, shrugged. He looked up at you again. “You did fall in love with a vampire, after all.”

…

Far away from the rest of the world, you and Eddie spent almost a week settling into the new house. Grimoires were catalogued into one of the three library rooms. Dandelion puffs were jarred and shelved. Every trinket found its home.

Eddie tested the rainbow light that flooded the rooms, discovering that in the magic there was safety. Sunlight that filtered through the windows did not burn him. He could be free and at ease.

You explained to Eddie the importance of representing the elements within the home. Earth in the plants, wooden carpentry, and the grounding crystals. Fire in the candles, ever-burning incense, and roaring fireplaces that only ever emitted the exact level of heat you wanted.  (“In summer, the flames burn cold,” you told Eddie and watched his smile grow.) Water in the mirrors, seashells, and small fountains found in the glasshouse room. Lastly, air in the wind chimes, feathers, and windows that could remain open without upsetting the temperature inside.

During the day, you began work on your garden, creating flower beds in the shape of pentagrams and sewing seeds. Borage for the butterflies and bees, primrose – I can’t live without you; angelica in case you need to break any future hexes; and yarrow, amaryllis, and polypodies.

One evening, just before sunset, you found Eddie rummaging through the apothecary pantry. As you entered the room, his manic smile told you he’d had an idea.

“What’s the story, morning glory?” you asked him, perching on a stool.

Eddie sunk to his knees and shrugged. “The fires are out… The Shire is no longer burning,”

“The Shire being… Hawkins?”

“Yes. And us. We’ve sailed to the Undying Lands,”

“You’re really making Tolkien your whole personality, huh?” you joked.

Eddie smiled up at you. “Until the next book… But what I’m saying is, now that we do not have a battle to prepare for. No conflict upon the horizon. What do we do with all of eternity?”

“Oh… My plan was to eat a lot of Meg’s cinnamon rolls… Try to get Steve Harrington to stop haunting Mel… Maybe work on a spell to make myself teeny tiny so I can ride around on you when you’re a bat…”

“Wait, seriously?”

You gave him a sly smile. “Maybe,”

“Well, I would love that… But, I was thinking a little more introspectively. Back to things we have thought about before. Like, why I am the way that I am… What that means…” He ran a finger along the leaves of the mimosa pudica plant beside him. The leaves felt his touch, curled inwards on themselves. It was one of Eddie’s favourites, the way it reacted to the world around it.

“Any new insights?” you asked softy.

“No… But… If I believe in you and in your magic and the way you make sense of the world… then I… I have to do something,”

“Do something?”

“We get back what we give, right?”

“Yeah,” you agreed. “It’s not always obvious or direct. Or timely. Or even equally fair… But, yeah… There is definitely something like the concept of karma at play. And even if there isn’t, living as if there is can only be a good thing,”

“Then I must show more grace… and gratitude… Even if I am a monster, maybe especially because I am… I can give goodness too.”

Without thinking, you slid off the stool and joined Eddie on the floor. “You already do. You don’t owe the world anything.”

Eddie smiled, first a small soft thing, almost sad, but then it twisted into something else. Ear-to-ear and full of teeth. “I owe it more than one life,”

“But if we count all the lives you have saved. Both by killing what plagued this town, and by preventing deaths at the hands of bad people-”

“Morality cannot be simple addition and subtraction. There is no math that can quantify goodness or righteousness. You know that,” Eddie cut in. He watched your face, saw the pensiveness blossom across it. “Don’t worry, my little witch, my plan is not as life-or-death as this all makes it seem… I just want to do something good for your friends,”

“Your friends,” you corrected quickly. “They’ll be your friends too. Your family. You’re part of this coven.”

Eddie reached out to cup your face in his hands. “Your coven is yours. But I will take the friendship. I have years of loneliness to make up for,”

“Then what-”

He cut you off again, this time with a kiss. You brought your hands up to his shoulders, draping your arms around his neck. Eddie pulled you into his lap and you curled into him like the leaves of the mimosa.

His mouth kissed and sucked at your neck between sentence fragments. “I’m-” kiss “going-” kiss “to plant-” lick “them-” kiss “flowers.” His punctuation a kiss that wanted to be a bite.

You were hardly listening to his words. His words and ideas and introspective musings could all wait.

Eddie laid you down on the floor, the smell of the oak still new. You arched your back and pulled him down by his collar.

“Bed,” you mumbled into his mouth.

“Why build a house if we’re not gonna use it,” he answered.

One hand splayed next to your head to keep him up, the other tickling its way under the hem of your skirt and up your thigh.

“Besides,” Eddie said. “Doesn’t feel like you can wait.” He was sliding your underwear off, throwing them across the room. He rested a hand on you, sliding an index finger through your slickness.

“I can’t,” you agreed, breathy and impatient. “Now. I want you now.”

Eddie didn’t have to be asked twice. With his pants still hanging from an ankle, he was fast to set up and slow on approach. You felt the tip of him follow the path made by his hand, gathering wetness, and shooting electricity through your body.

You melted into jelly beneath him, bliss written all over your face. Eddie loved you like this, pliable and prone to tears of ecstasy.

He held himself back, keeping his pace slow and steady. His vampire muscles screamed to go faster, to rail you into next week, but he liked pulling you apart. Liked how you unconsciously uttered strings of words like ‘full’ and ‘please’ and ‘can’t.’ Liked when you clawed at him to come closer, bit down on his shoulder.

“I love you,” he told you, mouth on your ear, tongue licking. “So. Fucking. Much.”

There was a seemingly endless amount of ways Eddie had learned could make you cum. Talking to you was a favourite for you both.

“You’re so perfect, so perfect… You feel so perfect… You’re so warm and soft and I… I want to eat you whole…”

Your response was in the pooling tears and the nodding and the slack jaw. The begging, “Please. Please.”

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” It was all it took. Your orgasm exploded moments before his. Eddie’s thrusting getting harder and faster for the few seconds he took to follow you. He had to grind his teeth together to stop himself from ripping into your neck.

You kept your eyes closed, not aware of your surroundings. When you felt Eddie’s arms slide beneath you, you smiled and hummed. He carried you to your new bed, cleaning your skin with a warm washcloth before curling himself in behind you.

With the last of your day’s energy, you tangled your fingers through his, falling asleep happily.

As Eddie listened to your breathing find its mellow night rhythm, he saw a vision of you in his mind. Hands full of flowers and foliage. A coven of audience. Glorious and beaming. 

End Note: I made a small Pinterest board with inspo for their house - click here to view.

I hope you are all as well as any of us can be at a time like this. I hope this story continues to provide comfort, escapism, and fuel for daydreams. xo Rhi

Fic Taglist:  @paranoidmunson  @idkidknemore @paprikaquinn @stardustworlds @loz-brooke @wyverntatty @vintagehellfire @dark-academia-slut @scarletwitchwhore @becks1002 @mrsdollardog @heyndrix @luceneraium @rosaline-black @devilinthepalemoonlite @goldencherriess @iamwhisperingstars @wiltedwonderland @blueywrites @breezybeesposts @jadehowlettthewolf @spikesvamp79 @foreveranexpatsposts @tortoiseshellspells @wingedpeachjudgegiant @stardustmunson @live-love-be-unique @fangirling-4-ever @reanimated-alice @b-irock @gh0stlybunnie @myown-worstenemy-2003 @woozzz @cyberxlust @hiscrimsonangel @buckysbarne @m00nlight101 @word-wytch @spicysix @briasnow-blog @goth-cowgirl-03 @moviefreak1205 @pastel-pillows

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[ourloveisforthelovely]

The Words "Best Friends" Become Redefined (one shot)

Regulus Black AU

Summary: You had been Regulus' friend since childhood and now his mistress. The war had changed many things, Regulus among them. Now its time to decide if you should put your self-worth over missing someone who was gone.

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M

Song in Chapter: Fast Car by Tracy Chapman 

_______

You lay in satin sheets watching Regulus dress. The clock on the wall read 11:30 pm. As usual, Regulus was done in less than an hour. It seemed, lately, that when the two of you met up for sex it wasn’t lasting as long as the time before that. Every time it seemed once Regulus got what he came for he was done. That was it, goodbye the end

Taking a breath, you looked back to your friend, lover, whatever Regulus was to you. Your heart ached as your eyes reached the dark mark on his arm. Regulus’s choices that been the frequent topic of all of the arguments that the two of you had. Had someone told you a year ago that this would be the predicament that you would find yourself in, you would have punched them. Never in a million years would you ever think that your best friend…the best friend that you had since 1st year…the man that you loved would ever be one of them. Yet, here he was and here you were trudging along after him.

You weren’t completely sure where the lines between friendship and lovers had blurred. Sleeping with Regulus had started months maybe a year ago. Sex was all that it was. Regulus had never once made a mention of making things official. He never even said anything romantic to you unless it was about how tight you were or how perfect your tits were.

Yet another thing that I never thought would happen with Regulus…

Regulus acting like you were some common piece of ass was something that never crossed your mind. When you began sleeping with Regulus, it was to provide him comfort. If you were comforting him, he wasn’t chasing someone else for comfort. You were providing him with what he needed and maybe, just maybe, he would reward you with what you wanted the most.

Keep dreaming. He would never date a Lupin in the open.

You frowned at the thought. Was there something wrong with your family? No, not in your eyes. In Walburga and Orion’s eyes, however, you were trash.

“Stop looking so god damn depressed, will you? It makes me wonder why I bother coming to see you.”

You looked up at Regulus’ harsh words. That’s another thing. Regulus was nothing like himself. He wasn’t your funny, thoughtfully caring best friend. Now he was cold, cruel, and hurtful. Yet again, you wondered why you trudged after him begging for a moment of his time. Were you afraid to let him go? Yes. You could easily admit that. Even with his cruel words and volatile temper, you weren’t prepared to let him go…at least not yet.

“I’m sorry, Regulus. This war…everything is so messed up. Can’t you stay tonight? It's late and we haven’t gotten to spend much time together in a long while.”

You said, before letting the sheets drop from your chest. Maybe seeing your bare breasts would be enough to appease the beast within Regulus. You were, after all, the one who comforted him when he needed it.

“I don’t have the time. Nothing is messed up. The dark lord will win soon enough. You need to stop being such a whining wimp.”

Pressing your lips together, you took a few moments before speaking.

“Is all that you have to say to me negativity? Is nothing that I do, outside of bed good enough for you?”

Regulus finished buttoning up his shirt. He knew that he was being cruel to you but did nothing to stop it. In Regulus’ mind, if he kept you pushed away he was keeping you safe. You wouldn’t be seeing the horrible things that he was doing or what his family really was. What he didn’t see was the foundation of your relationship beginning to crack and fracture.

“I’ll say anything to get a piece of your ass.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Is falling in love so bad? You make it sound so dreadful.”

Regulus moved to fix his bed-ravaged curls.

“Love isn’t real, Y/n. It's some made up emotion to woo silly little girls. Besides why waste your time? It’s shit. I don’t want someone whining after me wanting things that I don’t want. It sounds like a nightmare. Waking up to the same blasted person day after day…listening to them bitch because you don’t live up to some fairy tale being that one’s mind created. I would rather off myself.”

Had Regulus been paying attention to you at all; he would have seen how your hopeful expression fell to sadness.

“I thought that you loved me once upon a time.”

Regulus chuckled before turning to look at you.

“Poor little princess. I suggest getting over yourself or I’ll find another girl to keep me company. While whoever she would be wouldn’t please me as you do…it would be nice not to listen to your whining.”

You stood up and began searching for your own clothes. If this was how Regulus wanted things to be then you would just go home. You would go back home to your own friends. Sirius, Remus, James, and Lily never treated you like this. You weren’t just an option to them. They didn’t threaten to replace you when you were sad or questioning your worth. No, not your friends. They would instead go out of their way to make sure that you knew how much you were valued.

“Do whatever you wish then.”

You replied. Regulus tugged on his wool coat bore, again, rolling his eyes.

“Y/n, if I didn’t care about you then I wouldn’t be fucking you bare risking everything just to be close to you. Lucky for us, you're the smart one that thinks to use birth control potions…we would be really fucked.”

You turned to look at Regulus one last time. Something told you that this would be the last time that you saw him. This would be the last time that you lay in bed savoring how he made you feel. This. Was. It.

“So lucky for me to go home with your come dripping down my thighs. Goodbye, Regulus.”

You walked from the hotel room without another word. When Regulus didn’t come after you, that spoke volumes.

This was it.

For the next few weeks, you avoided Regulus like the plague. He had been sending owls requesting to see you. In Regulus, mind everything was fine. The words exchanged at the last meeting clearly meant nothing and you would be ready to entertain him as soon as he was free.

You never responded. With each owl’s arrival came a letter with cold scathing words, insults, and whatever Regulus thought would con you into seeing him. You had nearly given in when he sent a letter along with an emerald bracelet.

Now he thinks bribing me will work.

You thought before tying the little box back to the owl’s leg and returning the gift to its sender. Had it been a few weeks ago, you would have been thrilled with the bracelet. This was Regulus showing some emotion other than only an interest in sex. Now, however, you wanted no part of it.

Heartache…

That was the one emotion that you had. Your heart did ache for Regulus. It ached for your Regulus…your best friend. This new one sucked. You craved your best friend…the best friend that you would probably never see again.

“Hey girl, hey.”

Sirius’ voice pulled you from your thoughts. You looked up from the owl that was now flying away as Sirius came in and sat down.

“Hey boy, hey.”

You replied, earning a smile from your friend. Sirius put his feet up on the table. The two of you knew that Remus would have a fit if he saw Sirius with his feet on the table but he wasn’t there.

“Now that is a greeting. So, I was coming to see if you wanted to come out to the pub? Remus, James, and Lily will meet us there. It will kind of be like old times before the world went to shite.”

You leaned back into the sofa before nodding. Going out sounded nice. Seeing your friends was just what you needed.

“That sounds great. I need a drink and some shitty bar music.”

Sirius smacked his hands together before standing up.

“Let's go!”

Half an hour later, you sat in between James and Remus while Sirius was having way too much fun listening to Bon Jovi. Taking a drink of the fire whiskey that Remus put in front of you, you slowly were beginning to feel like your old self.

“This is some good stuff.”

Remus commented downing the rest of his drink and signaling for another. You turned to your older brother and smiled.

“Shame on you for encouraging your baby sister to drink booze.”

Remus chuckled.

“We can all have crazy nights every once and a while. Besides, I think we all need it.”

You couldn’t agree more. In the past month, the order had suffered some big setbacks. Dorcas and Marlene both had died while the Longbottoms were now out of their mind courtesy of Bellatrix. All in all, it had been the biggest shittiest month of your life. Losing friends and your lover definitely topped most of the other bad things that you had been through.

“I can drink to that.”

You said while Remus downed his other drink. Sirius sauntered over and held his hand out to you.

“Are you proposing to me or something? If you are, you have the wrong Lupin. My brother is off looking for another drink.”

Sirius snorted. You couldn’t help but feel some joy at the smile on his face. It seemed like it had been forever since Sirius smiled last. You hadn’t realized just how much you had missed his shitty jokes and weird humor until it wasn’t there every day.

“I know which Lupin you are, sugar bean. I am merely requesting that you dance with me because no one else will.”

James helped you stand up and shoved you toward Sirius.

“Go dance with him before he asks me to. I’m too drunk and will fuck up his nice shoes.”

You stuck your tongue out at James before going out with Sirius as a slower song came on. Wrapping your arms around Sirius’ shoulders, you lay your head against his chest.

He feels like Regulus.

That thought alone made your heart freeze. You hadn’t realized just how much Sirius reminded you of Regulus. He held you the same, had the same cologne…and the song on the radio playing definitely didn’t help… Oh, god…

So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car, speeding so fast it felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us and your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder. And I-I had a feeling that I belonged. I-I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You didn’t say anything but you were two seconds short of having the biggest panic attack of your life. Thankfully, Sirius’ voice stopped you.

“He’s an idiot.”

“Who?”

You asked, looking up at your new best friend curiously. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

“My brother. He’s an idiot for treating you like trash and letting you walk away. You were the best thing that has ever happened to him and he blew it. It was all him not you.”

Your eyes widened. Sirius knew…SIRIUS FUCKING KNEW!

“I feel like it was all my fault in some way. I miss him, Sirius. I miss him so badly.”

Sirius was frowning as he tucked your head under his chin.

“I know, kid. I miss him too.”

You were quiet for a few moments as you fought the tears that were beginning to stream down your face.

“Don’t tell Remus. Please don’t tell him…or the others. I’m not ready for them to know.”

Sirius was quiet a moment as his eyes locked on Regulus across the room. His younger brother was watching them with a death glare on his face. If Regulus started throwing hexes, Sirius wouldn’t at all be surprised. Sirius gave Regulus one final glare as Regulus turned and walked out of the bar in a furious huff.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t heard anything from you.”

Sirius replied. You didn’t need to know that Regulus was there. In Sirius’ mind, all that you needed to know was your friends had your back and always would.

____

@amelie-black @jessyballet @knreidy1 @justfinishthis @georgeweasleydumbhoe @acciosiriusblack @siriuslyceleste @mimisparkle12 @teletubiswszpilkach @darkenwolfie @ell0ra-br3kk3r @livshifts @stelleduarte @millies0bsimp @coffeeaddictednymph @readtomeregulus @daddyslittlevillain @rogue-nyx88 @panpride @saramaple @missgorldafirst @f4iryluvy @s-we-e-t-t-ea @taylor-will-be-the-death-of-me @buttercup-beeee @gugggu6gvai @jag9000 @quinis @yousmellllikecaca @mentally-unstable-hoe @criminalyetminimal @haroldpotterson @padf00ts-l0ver @goldensunshineshit @aurorasnape12 @ad-astra-again @rubyroscoe1 @rubyroscoe1 @spideyxalmighty @lucasfilms77 @marichromatic @dumybitch @lostarc24 @play-morezeppelin @ravenhood2792 @un-lovesherself @melaninnbarbie @brokencasbutt67-writer @authoressskr @moldy-old-boot @hankypranky @summer-novak @shaylybaby2032 @emiwrites3reads @knight-of-gleefulness @untoldshortsofthefandoms @shitfaceddaniel-blog @li0nh34rt @tas898 @deanwherescas @sprnaturallover @wontlookaway @mycuddlycorner

[hiraeth-nostalgic]

SO (sorry i was gone i'm back to YAPPING)

who the FUCK is out here thinking reki had absolutely NO growth through the first season of sk8??? I saw a post talking about how even though he is the main character we "never see any development" regarding him and i just need to tell people who believe that: you are wrong.

Listen, reki is the main character™ so let me recount some things for us all.

first thing that comes to mind: when he is experiencing the jealousy that comes from the insecurity of being left behind, but he still shows up to see Langa race Joe. He still calls out to langa, and we see that even though he was insecure and feeling left behind he STILL came to support someone. he then sees that video talking about the guy who created the track shoes that were being worn and thinks it's stupid. that if he can't be at the top of skating, he shouldn't even skate anymore. he should just give up his dream bc a couple people are better than him. He has the talk with his manager that even if you aren't the MOST talented that doesn't mean you can't be involved and Reki still isn't quite there yet. I believe it was Joe who reminded reki that they are all on different levels and reki gets pulled into the beef with Adam. NOW the beef with Adam we see Reki trying to bridge the gap. He wants it so bad. it's not that he's not a great skater, because he is, but i think it comes from the general lack of self-love/self-confidence that held him back for a couple of things. HOWEVER he avoids Adam's moves, he literally JUMPS off the side and FLIPS (something he had never done before!) reki NEARLY wins and he would've if his board hadn't snapped!!! He embarrassed Adam!! something no one else had done!!!

the second thing: We see Reki become okay with not being the absolute best of the best and how he is a great skater, in his own way. (this starts to show in the race with Adam and then at the end we see it REALLY show) sure it may take him a little longer to learn a trick or something but he still learns it. he still loves skating. he redefines his LOVE of the sport not because he's the best of the best but because he actually has a support system in skating instead of before when he had no friends who shared the interest (you know, aside from a previous friend who could no longer skate) and its the story of even if you aren't as great as someone else you know, its still okay to do things for FUN and hanging out.

like this idea haunts all of us. for example: singing? most people are fine singers!!! but because they don't sing like Beyonce or Billie Eilish, suddenly they shouldn't sing for fun bc "they can't make a job out of it" like, the same for reki. Joe, Cherry, and Shadow are all adults who have lives outside of skating but for a CHILD it's the only thing for them at this point in their life, they are still trying to figure out who they are. its crucial to teens. Reki's not getting on a national team, he can't build a career out of actually skating so does that mean he shouldn't enjoy it? no!!! he works at the skate shop, he's really talented at building the boards, designing them, and understanding what will help individual people the best!! that's more than anyone else in the S community that we see actively skating.

Anyway, reki has so much growth in not only his skating but in his mental health but because it's not as flashy as Langa's or Adam's, people overlook it and downplay it.

[determinate-negation]

im not jewish myself so i could be very wrong, but the current situation in palestine and gaza and israel seems like itll be bad for jewish people and antisemitism the world over. it seems like a lot of antisemites could use the world's response to israel as an excuse for antisemitism/"proof" that jews control the world or something. furthermore, israel calling anti-israel/anti-zionism stuff antisemetic i think could confuse well meaning but ignorant people on what is or isnt antisemetic. also, it seems that some people (mainly tumblr bloggers cause thats the only social media site i use (unless youtube is social media)) are using it as an excuse to be antisemitic while pretending to be propalestine.

wanted to hear your thoughts on it cause afaik your jewish and im like 90 percent sure youve talked about something like this before, if you dont mind.

ive been making and reblogging a few posts about this that generally sum up what i think because yeah

this is just actually so awful. we do not need to ontologically define our safety and identity and very existence in relation to a genocidal ethno nationalist state that is being propped up by the forces of american imperialism. it is so morally wrong and were choosing to side with an oppressor that doesnt actually have any commitment to us and supports israel for political economic and strategic reasons, rather than siding with oppressed people. also israel and pro israel organizations puts a lot of effort into redefining criticism of israel as antisemitism, and you can see reflected in everything the ADL puts out (more info here) and also the IRHA working definition of antisemitism that has been critiqued for this. i havent seen any antisemitism on tumblr in particular, but i think thats just bc of who i follow. in general the the radical right always is quick to capitalize off of how tightly controlled news on israel is and the left needs to have the real analysis. i also have seen instances of increased antisemitic attacks, in tunisia, france, and germany, and its really terrible but im glad at least to see a lot of organizations and popular pro palestine people denounce it and tell people that jews arent equivalent with zionists and this isnt a religious conflict, SOMETHING THAT ISRAEL IS ESSENTIALLY ARGUING THE OPPOSITE OF by the way. the us government and us media's relationship with israel is literally dangerous to us. but also, israeli politicians have connections to european neo nazis and shit. they benefit from jews in the diaspora feeling unsafe and being persecuted because it means people are more likely to settle in israel

[love-thisbe]

- alex claremont diaz birth chart.

hi guys!! this is my first post ever here!! i posted a thread of alex's birth chart on twitter and i decided to bring it here as well since i love astrology, and i don't see a lot of people talking about firstprince's birth charts. thank you casey mcquiston for also being into astrology and giving me this amazing gift of knowing at what time they were born.

just a few notes before we begin:

- im sorry if there’s any typos, english is not my first language

- its ok if there’s something you don't agree with, astrology is not 100% correct and some things might not apply

- im planning to do henry's birth chart next, so let me know if you want that!

anyway let's start!!

sun in aries

the sun represents your will and purpose, your sense of vitality and your evolving higher self. in the sign aries it is cardinal-fire, and rules the head. the ruling planet is mars. aries people tend to be energetic, forceful and outgoing. alex is good at getting things done, although might prefer starting to finishing. like the energy of the first rush of spring, alex moves into the world in a headstrong, pioneering way. alex is likely to rush into things before reflecting, and may also be impatient or unwilling to sit back and allow events to mature. he has great vitality and a tremendous need to be physically active. he has a strong will, and is self-centered about pursuing it, so that he may try to dominate other people until he learns to be more subtle about getting his way. he also has an acute need for love and affection. he benefits from self-discipline, so that he can channel his abundant energy more constructively. 

the sun in the ninth house represents a concentration of the vital force of abstracting and understanding universal truth. alex is strongly invested in creating for himself a philosophy as his personal vision of life as an interconnected adventure or journey. he willingly study the various meanings ascribed to life that are visionary in nature, involving patterns that interplay or holistic forms. he uses his higher awareness to look for pieces of life’s mysterious puzzle and then organize his perceptions to connect them within a broader picture of reality. in addition to his voyage through his own inner landscapes he enjoys adventuring by traveling to foreign lands and learning languages. he is also drawn to be an observer of other’s ideas and experiences. he loves to study and reflect back into society anything that people have gathered and learned. his nature is to eliminate the extraneous from hidden truths and reveal their essence to those around him. alex is at his best when he has a range of areas of interest to experience and absorb into his mind and body, in order that he stretches out his visionary vistas and make them more concretely available to others as he lucidly explores the outer reaches of his perceptions.

moon in aries

the moon in aries gives an ardent nature with inclinations to impatience, independence and impulsiveness. with this placement, alex has a high energy level. he also has a strong competitive streak, which, together with his attack first attitude, may conceal subtle feelings of insecurity. his emotions are keenly felt, direct and spontaneous. he may have to guard against a quick temper. he should also guard against a tendency towards a too hasty reaction to situations, rather than a more carefully reasoned approach. he is more comfortable thinking of himself as strongly independent with great physical daring and courage.

the moon in the ninth house represents an emotional sensitivity in the area of higher ideals and visionary philosophy. he may be something of a dreamer and tend to romanticize his emotions. his philosophy is based on his feelings and sensitivity to his ideals regarding the superconscious realms. he constantly studies his experiences to redefine his own philosophy about life, which may be the basis for his own vision of religion. his philosophical attitude may seem difficult for other people to understand. he may suffer from a utopian ideal of wanting to feel good all of the time which can cause his suffering. alex tends to be a dreamer yet his dreams may reflect truths about reality when he is in tune to his higher awareness of consciousness. he loves travel and is likely to take many journeys. he is constantly trying to maintain his ideal emotional state of being. he is a natural teacher. alex has a strong need to share his philosophy of life with other people. in this way, he can share his refined imaginative and creative insights and show others how to refine their inner visions along with him.

rising in leo

leo rising people are dramatic, extroverted and assertive. their ruling planet is the sun. they have great energy, courage and honesty, and are very creative, self-confident and perhaps a bit self-indulgent. they expect to be the center of attention, and often are. even so, people tend to forgive them for their excesses, sensing in them the incurable romantics. they are likely to have a leonine appearance, with a thick mane of hair and a dramatic flair to their clothing and appearance. they also enjoy the warmth of the physical sun. they are determined and usually get their way when they really want to. they also possess great integrity, and are natural leaders. leo people are very proud, and their challenge is not to be arrogant or egotistical, but rather to develop humility and compassion, and to learn detachment in the gift of their affections.

mercury in aries

mercury in aries gives a forceful impetuous and impulsive mentality. witty, inventive and quick, alex takes up new ideas with enthusiasm. his intuition is keen. he tends to be impatient with with opposition and delay. he may also be very sensitive when it comes to visual or auditory sense impressions. he may have a tendency to exaggerate, or to argue. he has considerable mental energy, and a need to assert himself in his thought process and his communication with others. it benefits him to learn concentration, for with control his abundant mental energy is vastly more useful.

mercury in the ninth house represents a strong mental connection between his inner awareness and the natural laws of expanded perspective: higher learning, philosophy or religion. he has a keen-witted and idealistic mentality, with great powers of logic and deduction. he enjoys a wide range of studies, through reading and travel. he is also naturally inclined to teach what he perceives and discovers, for his idealism is strong. he is very direct in thought and expression and will say exactly what is on his mind, giving him a reputation for lack of tact. he may be subject to visualizing grant possibilities and centring his perceptions on the larger issue, rather than on the details. his thought process is better suited for exploring and advancing his position on a particular topic than for cautious investigation of every angle. he is the consummate student and teacher of life, at his best when he can exchange ideas with others and constantly expand his perceptions.

venus in aquarius

venus in aquarius gives a calm and detached nature. he is idealistic, even revolutionary in his outlook, and wants to see a better society emerge from the vagaries of the present day. he is an admirer of symmetry and elegance, with an enthusiastic appreciation of artistic form in music, poetry and painting. he functions well in friendships and in groups, but he may not always be happy in intimate connections with significant others. his love is broader and more general, and he may be given to spiritual or philanthropic activities rather than to close personal relationships. he may go through many changes in his love life, being very open to new influences that suddenly comes up for him. he benefits from deepening and more fully expressing his affection for one person in particular.

venus in the seventh house represents a strongly felt connection to partnerships with others. relationships are important to him. he is also inclined to be “young at heart”. he feels at his best when acting in concert with another person, especially an intimate partner, then his natural gifts of grace, diplomacy and charm comes to the core. what is nice on his own becomes really nice with another. he has a gentle personality, very considerate and kind. he also has refined aesthetic and artistic sensibilities, and a keen sense of color. he has the potential to excel in many professions, including legal work and diplomacy. he tends to idealize his chosen love partner, and he benefits from the realization that the true source of grace and beauty in his life comes from within his own nature.

mars in aries

mars in the ninth house (or sign) gives you a friendly and optimistic nature. he is likely to lead a physically active life, and is fond of sports and gambling. he is idealistic, outspoken and honest with his opinions. he is also likely to be spontaneous and even a bit impulsive. he can be scattered in the application of his energies, and will perhaps benefit him to work at becoming more reliable. he has a great propensity for learning. his energy is most naturally invested in adventures of the higher mind: travel, education, perhaps publishing. he likes many different pursuits, and has a kind of haphazard way of going about things that can get him into trouble. he may tend to miss the details, by fixing his gaze on “the big picture”. he also can be dogmatic at times, when he gets to carried away with his own point of view. he profits by learning to slow down his enthusiasm and focus on his concentration on reachable goals.

mars in aries (or the first house) gives an independent and positive nature, and outwardly directed and ambitious orientation. he possesses great strength of character as well as an inordinate degree of self-assertion. he is a formidable adversary, tending to react aggressively when threatened. he is extremely courageous and enthusiastic, traits that will take him far in life, but he may need to work on a tendency of being quick to anger and he can behave impulsively at times. he may also cause trouble by unwilling to give way and make concessions, especially if mars is afflicted in his charts by planetary aspects. it benefits him to learn the art of compromise. he can also benefit from cultivating patience and tolerance to offset his occasional short temper. he will gain in the long run when he practices self-control and displays a great degree of unselfishness in his dealing with others.

jupiter in pisces

jupiter in the eighth house (or sign) gives him a shrewd and careful personality. he can also be somewhat secretive. he has good judgment, and a constant sense of what is important to him. his focus is excellent, and you make a good worker because of it. he has an innate sense of who he is and where he wants to be, and that is usually where he will be found. alex is passionate and sensual and very tuned in to other people. he has the gift of observation. he is fond of the occult, and he can possess the powers of a healer or mystic. he will likely go through many changes in his life in search of a deeper connection to his own higher power. he should beware, though, of being overly self-indulgent.

jupiter in pisces (or the twelfth house) gives him a quiet and unassuming personality. he is good and kind, very considerate of others, and is friendly and easygoing. he needs to feel an emotional resonance in order for his work to be satisfying to him. he has his own personal code of conduct to which is his truth, no matter what public opinion may be, or convention may dictate.he may suffer in his life from being overly sensitive to the needs of others, or seek to retire from the casual cruelties of the world at large, so there is some danger of escapism. he is content to do what he does because is helpful to other people. he often appear more at home in an imaginary universe of his own design than concrete reality and benefits when he pay some modicum of attention to the nitty-gritty details of life that surrounds you as well as to the secret world of your dreams.

saturn in aries

saturn in the ninth house (or sign) gives an educated and philosophically active mentality, with a deepening and a concentration, or a blockage, in the area of higher learning and expansion into new horizons. he is courageous in expressing his opinion, has a keen intuition and makes a good teacher. his early beliefs may be characterized by adhering too strictly to a dogmatic and rigid set of principles, but he grows into a more mature wisdom in his later years. he likely has a need for physical exercise. he makes a good teacher, and may also feel a calling to work with the disadvantaged. while open and honest, and intent on expressing his point of view, he may also doubt himself in this area, seeming indecisive or rebellious. his goals are mental and spiritual, rather than material, and he may search for a new framework of moral or spiritual values, than adopt existing outworn belief systems. his lesson is to eventually come to the realization that the true source of moral and ethical valuation lies within himself.

saturn in aries (or the first house) gives a deepening and concentration, or a blockage, in the area of self-confidence and self-expression. with this placement he is likely to be reserved. he also has good reasoning power. he desires to better himself, and is eager for success in the world of tangible results. the purposeful expression of his expressions of his will may however be inhibited by subconscious fears, preventing action. this is a cross to bear, but he can definitely overcome this tendency with persistent effort over time. he may appear shy or stiff, or self-effacing, or he may overcompensate through defensive or argumentative behavior. he may at times strongly assert himself, seizing control of situations. he may also suffer from headaches. he possess a powerful desire for freedom of expression that does not easily find is realization. his lesson is striving to overcome any fears he may has in expressing himself, and thus come to a better understanding of who he is and what he can achieve.

uranus in aquarius

uranus in the seventh house (or sign) gives an individual who is independent and original in the expression of artistic impulses and relationships. he is a lover of harmony and beauty, and he express this love in his own unique manner, he does not subscribe to a conventional sense of aesthetic, but is always breaking new ground. he is idealistic and philosophical, and he has a restless interest in new forms of stimulation, there can be problems with marriage in that partners may find him alternately affectionate and uninterested. he is likely to seek a rather unconventional relationship, which allows room from growth on both sides. he needs more space in the relationship the most, and search for a partner who understands that, and has his or her own unique perspective. he may also bring new concepts of the area of partnership. part of his purpose in this life may be the transformation of the partnership energy into a new mode of being that can serve his own interest as well as enliven and invigorate his partner.

uranus in aquarius (or the eleventh house) gives a clever individual who is idealistic and also highly unconventional. he is humane and concerned with the progress of mankind. he is likely to associate himself with groups and associations having as their goal the betterment of society, and he can also have conflicts with such groups, depending in part on whether there are stressful aspects to uranus in his natal chart, he has his own unique point of view and his role in the group may often be to throw the monkey wrench into conventionally and simple-minded lock step with the group concept. because uranus is the most changeable of planetary influences, he may also experience changes in his own goals or group affiliation over time. he has a strong urge for personal freedom, and is attracted to the pull of new horizons, and this can impede the formation of stable alliances. his challenge is to make available to others, through collective action, the progressive ideals for social reform that he feels so clearly within himself.

neptune in aquarius

neptune in the sixth house (or sign) gives a mentally creative personality with a tendency to be critical at times. with this placement he can become confused over details. he may have problems with responsibility or feeling that he must be of assistance to others, no matter how he is feeling about it, or he could experience his work as frustrating and ultimately dissatisfying. or there may be an unconscious tension between his rational mind and his innermost feelings, such as psychosomatic illness not properly diagnosed. on the other hand, the ideal of service he aspires to, both to other people and to his own highest purpose for himself, may led him to a significant mission in his life. he could achieve greatly in the helping professions, possibly with a specialization in alternative medicine, and especially if neptune is well aspected by other planets in his chart. he benefits by getting away from too great an involvement toward the broader ideals of service to humanity and personal transformation.

neptune in aquarius (or the eleventh house) gives a visionary personality with altruistic principles. he is popular, and may have a wide circle of friends. on the other hand, he may have problems to be worked through with deception in friendships, or confusion regarding friends’ true motives, or issues of using social interaction to escape his responsibilities. he has a highly developed social sense, and a strong affinity for groups expressing spiritual ideals. he may need to clarify his goals. he has a tremendous and positive vision of his own possibilities and those for society at large, but if neptune is no well aspected in his chart, he may have difficulties to work through regarding the practical fulfillment of his visions and plans. at his best, he is compassionate towards others, making significant contributions toward the creation of a more loving world, based on humanitarian ideals of universal brotherhood.

pluto in sagittarius

pluto in the fifth house (or sign) gives a tremendous desire to be recognized and admired. alex may feel compulsion toward self-aggrandizement, or have underlying feelings of insecurity leaning to self-centered and ego-oriented behavior. he is an essentially dynamic and charismatic individual with a strong need to make an impact on the world around him. he may find much to admire in the acting or artistic professions, and find his own creative outlet there, although he is likely to go through many changes and challenges in putting himself forward in a way that truly serves as an expression of his highest purpose for himself. his desire for personal reputation may also be thwarted, but this can lead to benefits for him, by forcing him to re-evaluate his need to achieve. transformation in this area is quite possible, as he learns how to work with his personal power in more constructive ways. by embodying the more positive form of his creative energy, and thereby expressing his deepest truth, he can perform an important service for himself and society.

pluto in sagittarius (or in the ninth house) gives alex a thoughtful personality, with a focus on deeper understanding. with this placement he may work to constantly discover and rediscover the meaning of his existence. he may be concerned as his life unfolds with religious or ethically based belief systems, and he may attempt to coerce others into accepting his own viewpoint oe become a zealous spokesperson for your particular philosophy or cause. as he arrives at conclusions regarding his own personal code of ethics he may feel called upon to express these beliefs to others, but he benefits from avoiding dogmatic discourses that are unlikely to sway anyone else’s opinion. his ultimate mission is to find inside himself the motivation for his method of seeing the world around him, to penetrate into his own hidden agendas and find a more holistic worldview based on direct experiences. his personal understanding will undoubtedly undergo radical transformations in the course of his life, ideally these will progress toward developing his own unique ideology based on a more conscious understanding of his own process rather than on socially accepted belief systems received from others.

chiron in scorpio

chiron on the fourth house (or sign) represents issues with the vital force of self-nurturing and taking care of those closest to yourself. with this placement alex has a strong drive, even a compulsion, to be centered in home and family, but this desire does not easily find its fulfillment. there may have been painful episodes in connection with early family life; perhaps he had trouble getting settled down to enjoy the comfort that a safe and secure home brings to a child. as a result, he may be even more motivated to having this firm base of security in his adult life than others tho whom it is second nature. he may alternate between over-identifying with his family or under-identifying with them, or he may find himself constantly thwarted in finding this important level of security as he goes through life. on a more symbolic level, he is also painfully challenged in finding his own center in a psychological sense. because of the inherent insecurity of his inner world he may struggle to find himself, and becomes easily influenced by others due to lacking his own clear sense of self. without this base he is more easily unbalanced, and he may find that he moves in many different directions emotionally, as the wind blows. he may long for a more secure and comfortable sense of who he is, independent from other’s opinions, a place where he can truly be himself. part of the problem with connecting to his inner self and externally with home and family, is that the conflict you feel may be largely unconscious in nature, running on autonomously as a result of long-buried experiences too painful to recollect and consciously examine. he may have difficult times with issues regarding home and family as he goes through life, until he can become more conscious of these influences, and less easily overtaken by them. there may be conflicts with his mother or other primary parental figure, that needs to be worked through, as he really begins to get in touch with his blocks and difficulties in these areas. once he begins to nourish himself and to provide his own parenting, rather than depending on the external world to provide comfort and security, he can come around to being a source of inspiration for others as well as himself.

chiron in scorpio (or the eighth house) represents issues with one’s vital force and transform and to regenerate. with this placement alex has a strong compulsion from intimate connection with other people that does not find its realization. he is likely to have been wounded in his sexuality in some fashion, possibly through early experiences, either physical or emotional. as a consequence, being close to other people becomes both desired and painful. he may hold the prospect of closeness with others with some carefully engineered defenses, such as retreating from expressing his true feelings by means of clever dylanesque obfuscation or perhaps by using other people before they have the chance to use him. if he retreats into cleverness and mental gymnastics rather than risk staying with his actual emotion, he leaves these feelings unexpressed, and continues a process of being out of touch not only with the intimate other, but with the deeper part of himself as well. his journey of discovery of his true emotions, the poignant and vital basis of his inner life, is ultimately the most important one for him, and provides rich rewards as he begins to consciously experience these inner depths of his being, over a period of time. in this journey he will re-connect to his own long buried emotions, and through this process to others as well. as he begins to find himself and his power, and is truly able to work with other people, he may be able to provide a sense of hope to them in their own individual journey as well, through the increased consciousness he has gained.

north node in virgo

lunar north node in the second house (or sign) south node in the eighth house or sign. this placement gives a personality somewhat focused around the issues of money and material possessions. in a previous period, or a past lifetime, he was concerned with the utilization of the other people’s resources rather than his own. he also may have gotten involved with occult practices, or engaged in a deep and even taboo relationships with others, factors that shaped your past, and the residue of which still colors his present life experience. now, in this lifetime, he must learn to marshal his own forces and be a resource to himself. he is in the process of clarifying his values, based on a new feeling of independence, having come through the fires of hell, as it were, in order to establish a more stable and lasting sense of self-worth.

lunar north node in virgo (or the sixth house) south node in the twelfth house or sign. this placement gives a personality with a great desire to be of service to other people. in the past, or in past lives, he was dreamy and unfocused, and paid little attention to detail. he was in the process of connecting to his higher self, journeying back into the cosmic realms within his own mind. now his focus must shift to the details of daily life, in a constant effort to improve himself, to serve himself and others, and to remain alert to the myriad mundane details of life that do not leave much time for daydreaming. this is a difficult transition to make, but necessary if he is to fulfill his destiny, this time around. since he feels a close kinship to the spiritual world, dealing with every-day details sometimes may seem boring and unsatisfying. as he works through these challenges, though, he comes closer and closer to an understanding of how dealing with everu-day issues really does connect him with the world of spirit, still operating at the core of his being.

midheaven in taurus

the midheaven, or MC (medium coeli) is usually but not always the same as the tenth house cusp. symbolically, the midheaven represents you individuality, the outward expression of your energies, it can also be referred to as ego identity, and has a strong connection with public life and career, symbolized by the tenth house. the midheaven also represents your aspirations and ideals. together with the ascendant, it represents personality in interaction with the world.

the tenth house symbolizes public life, authority, career issues, and also represents the mother, or perhaps the opposite-sex parent. as standing opposite the fourth house, the tenth house represents how the foundation of the personality is made manifest and concrete in the world. the birth chart is often divided into four seven-year periods, one per quadrant, cycling each twenty-eight years of life, and the tenth house is reached at age 21, te age of legal adulthood. planets in the tenth house will indicate what the energies and challenges are for your career, also how your mother (or perhaps father) was experienced.

taurus midheaven individuals achieve success when they openly express their own values. their career needs to reflect those values, perhaps by building something that furthers what they feel is a worthy principle. they access the strength and serenity of letting others know where they stand.

and that was it!! please rebloge it and let me know your opinions :D xxx

[frostyreturns]

It's so sad that feminists have made life so much harder for sexual assault victims. In a world where sexual assault means sexual assault it's so much easier to give victims the benefit of the doubt. But in a world where sexual assault means "Both people consented but both were drunk" or "Everyone consented but she regretted it in the morning" or "Everyone consented but there was a perceived power imbalance" These are all things feminists claim is rape and have been teaching young women counts as rape...so knowing this when a woman comes forward and says I was assaulted...it carries the implicit...ok but what do you mean by assaulted.

I'm saying this because it looks like about 5 members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior hockey team are about to be arrested for sexual assault. Now could they all be guilty of assault absolutely and in that case I hope they all face the severest consequences...but already there are details that have me wondering.

case was closed shortly after investigation in 2019 and was reopened in 2022. Was it closed because they determined nothing illegal happened and reopened because someone with a different ideological bent got wind of the case?

Case centers around not just a criminal investigation but a lawsuit of hockey Canada who already paid out a settlement but a lawsuit is seeking millions alleging that the organization needs to pay financially for cultivating a culture where assault is ok. Anytime someone goes after a big organization seeking money for something they have to make up a bunch of bullshit to connect to an incident tells me someone is just after money. Were they assaulted...maybe but if they were it has nothing to do with the organization they played hockey for.

Victim claims they met the players at a bar/club and went back with the players to their hotel and initially engaged in consensual sex. Now is it possible for a woman to consent to one thing and then a bunch of things they say no to happen...and its still assault...absolutely. However the fact that they chose to go with the players and decided to have sex...means we now have to get into murky territory where lots of people have different and often very wrong ideas of what consent is.

The complaint filed makes specific mention that she was intoxicated the wording makes it sound like the players were not drinking but were getting this woman drunk to take advantage of her...when what more likely happened is they were all partying and drinking together. The fact that her being drunk is so important to the case again makes me wonder...are they operating under a definition of sexual assault where consensual sex is rape because she was drunk and couldn't consent...but the drunk males she had sex with were capable of consent and therefore guilty of sex crimes.

Do we know what happened no, it's totally possible that a bunch of drunk entitled hockey players took advantage of someone and did some shit without thinking and should face the consequences...but it's also possible a young woman who gets drunk and decides to fuck a hockey team regrets it the morning and decides to spin it to her friends/family/herself as an assault to feel better about her decisions. Both happen all the time. But these are things we have to keep in mind when people are accused of rape. And the doubt placed on people who come forward should lay solely at the feet of feminists who work so hard to redefine words and make the world rapier than it is because it suits their victimhood agenda.

It's also a reminder for everyone that casual hookups are a terrible idea.

[aestherians]

Identifying "With"

The following essay is best understood if you have read these posts beforehand: - https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/657145929223307264/ - https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/672387556530405377/

Word count: ~1800 Estimated reading time: 6-7 minutes

There are some characters that are "literally me" in the sense that their journeys, their personalities, their trials and blessings, and their fears and comforts match my own to an often-uncomfortable degree. We are like twins separated at birth, like doppelgängers in everything but appearance, or like soulmates that were never supposed to meet. They are not kintypes. I don’t feel like I am these characters on any level. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that it feels as if these characters are me. But identifying as something is not the be-all end-all of identity and there is a lot of room for different relationships and identity facets outside the scope of kintypes.

Part I: Defining Otherheartedness

I won’t appoint myself as the arbiter of what is and is not a hearttype. I don’t think any one person can define “otherhearted” in a way that accurately represents every person who uses the term. Otherheartedness was originally coined with only real-life animals in mind, and as having an element of voluntarity, but these traits don’t describe most of the otherhearted folks I’ve talked to. To some users in the original coining thread, otherheartedness was also used as a psychological alternative to the (at the time) more spiritually minded therianthropy.

I can see some benefits to this vagueness. It would be helpful to have a term that functions as a catch-all for any identity that doesn’t fit into other categories, and which can be interpreted in many different ways. But I don’t think ‘otherhearted’ is the best candidate for this.

We’re in a bit of a hey-day of new identity terms being coined. Both widely useful terms like endel, othervague, and constelic, and more individual terms like folcintera and fictanthrope, have all been coined within the last year. Many more terms have been proposed, most of which have fallen to the wayside. The community thankfully self-regulates like this: If a term isn’t useful, no one will use it. If people use a term, there must have been a need for it.

I don’t think ‘otherhearted’ was intended to have a prescriptive definition like all these new terms do. That is, the definition given by its coiner was intentionally left up to interpretation, and its coiner didn’t correct people when they used the word in a way that strayed from the definition. Which contrasts with the very prescriptive nature of most of the terms being proposed these days.

I’m usually more of a descriptivist, i.e., I believe language is defined more by its usage, than its dictionary definitions. But in a community like this, which concerns itself with defining identities and ontological phenomena, I don’t think language descriptivism is very useful. After all, descriptivism is what led to the redefining of ‘kin’ that has happened on TikTok, as described in my previous essay.

It’s too late to prescribe a definition to otherheartedness. It was coined more than a decade ago and is so widely used nowadays, there’s no way a new definition would gain a foothold. But we can observe how people use the term to describe themselves and try to narrow it down to its essentials. To do so accurately and in-depth would require an essay of its own, but, in short, the only part of the original definition that I see people use today is “identify with.” The original definition included four other qualifiers: Identifying as fully human, specifically identifying with an animal, the identification being similar to a totem, and the otherhearted experiencing shifts as a way to become closer to the animal in question. Aside from the ability to experience shifts (though not necessarily as a way to connect with a hearttype, usually just as a side effect of being otherhearted), I don’t see the other qualifiers being used at all today.

So, we’re left with the very vague “to be otherhearted is to identify with something.” In and of itself, I don’t think this concept is worthy of its own term. Every individual on Earth identifies with something: Family members, job titles, personality types, fashion movements, colors, songs, stories, traditions, and so on. We want ‘otherhearted’ to be a useful descriptor of an identity facet, not a vague word to cover the breadth of the entire (non)human experience.

The real questions then become: How can we understand the phrase “identify with,” through the lens of defining identities/self-perceptions? And how can it be understood in a specifically alterhuman way?

The most straight-forward answer is that your identification with something has to be strong enough to impact your sense of self. In fact, I would say whatever you define as a hearttype has to be inseparable from the way you conceptualize your identity (of course without being something you actually identify as, as that would instead make it a kintype). For example, your hearttype could be something that has affected your development as a person, affects your personality, has altered your course in life, and/or influences your actions. To count as an alterhuman phenomenon, the identification would have to be somehow outside of the scope of what’s considered a “normal” human experience, but that I will leave up to interpretation!

Part II: Synpaths, vaguetypes, and paratypes, oh my!

Delving into the background, meaning, and use of otherheartedness might have felt like a bit of a digression but it was, unfortunately, necessary. Most of the following identity words were created prescriptively, so examining them will be quicker.

Synpath was created in 2015 to describe “something you identify with on several levels.” It’s the broad and vague term that ‘otherhearted’ could have been, encompassing everything from concepts to animals to characters. It’s meant to cover things that resonate with you, things you relate to but which aren’t necessarily a strong part of your identity, things you share a lot of traits with, and more. In this sense ‘synpath’ is a bit of an umbrella term. It can cover a multitude of experiences, the same way ‘otherkind’ can include anything from archetypal therians to original character fictionkind. In practice, it’s mostly used as an alternative to the -hearted suffix, usually just because “[name] is my synpath” rolls off the tongue a bit better than “I am [name]-hearted.”

Othervague is, similarly, an umbrella term, though in this case it was created to encompass every single identity facet/relationship that doesn’t fit neatly into any previously established categories. The term is inclusive of those who simply don't wish to bother with specific labels and definitions.

Paratype is a monster of my own making. I came up with it in 2018 and have yet to write a coining essay, but it basically includes every connection and relationship you have with something, that only exists because of your pre-established identity. For example, I have hearted-like feelings for bulls, but these feelings only exist because I am a bison. If I weren't a bison, I would not feel connected to bulls. Ergo, my bull connection is an off-shoot of my bison theriotype - bulls are a paratype to my theriotype. This also includes hearted identities; I am unicornhearted and feel connected to okapis because of it.

Comfort characters are just what it says on the tin - characters that bring you comfort. Beyond that, it's very vague. A synpath can also be a comfort character, as can a kintype or hearttype or any other type of identification.

Kardiatype is a word for a past life that had a profound impact on your personality and/or core identity, and which still affects you to this day, but which is no longer something you identify as.

Experience-taking is the process of taking on traits of a character as you read/watch/play through their story. It's often the cause of cameo-shifts and tends to fade away after a while, though it can cement itself into a more permanent type of identity, such as a fictotype or hearttype.

Constelic refers to people who adopt (and may discard) identities throughout their life with relative frequency Constels (the identities that are adopted) can be of varying intensity and presentation, from something as personal as a kintype to as separate as a comfort character.

Clicking is when you strongly relate to something, which is a purposefully vague definition. It was coined as a potential replacement for kin-as-a-verb.

Part III: Umbrellas are the mothers of invention

As I mentioned in the introduction, I experience another type of identification-with, which I feel is distinct enough that I don’t want to just lump it under an umbrella term. You thought you were reading an analysis essay? Ha! This was a coining essay all along >:)

As with all words, you can choose to use this or not. It's an opt-in label. If you'd rather refer to these types of relationships as synpaths, hearttypes, or any other previously mentioned word, you're more than welcome. But I feel like the identity deserves its own word, and not just be lumped in under the synpath umbrella.

I've decided to call this type of identity a "simile", which is typically defined as "a figure of speech comparing two unlike things" and its synonyms include metaphor, analogy, and likeness. In the context of alterhuman identity, similes are all about self-recognition through the other. They are characters, animals, themes, objects, and concepts that cause you to recognize traits that already existed within yourself. Rather than affecting your sense of self, as kintypes and hearttypes do, similes merely reflect what was already there. Looking at your simile feels less like looking in a mirror and more like looking at a portrait - a representation - of yourself. The character (if the simile is a character) can be used as a representation or a metaphor for yourself.

This is quite different from a hearttype - in a way, kinda the opposite of a hearttype. My hearttypes are just as integral to who I am as my kintypes are. I wouldn't be the person that I am if I weren't unicornhearted or spiderhearted or Tarzan-hearted. These other character relationships, my similes, don't affect who I am as a person. Instead I feel an identification with them because of who I was prior to knowing about them, and I wouldn't be a different person if they weren't in my life. Basically: Hearttype: "Feeling this relationship has led to the person I am today" Simile: "Being the person I am today has led to feeling this relationship"

In other words, this is what a simile is:

Lastly, a quick copy-pasteable definition: A simile (in the context of alterhuman identity) is a character, animal, concept, or object, which reflects or otherwise represents who you are, without actually being a part of your identity. A simile may be described as a metaphor for who you are.

[foreigndivinities]

besides the brilliance of the portrayal of logan's death as inevitable yet shocking in its suddenness and the way the camera solely follows the siblings' perspective miles away from the plane, only showing the audience the body over half an hour into the episode so we're kept in the dark just as they were, what hit so hard in this episode is how real the depiction of sudden loss of a loved one was. the shock and panic at realizing that this is happening, that something devastatingly lifechanging is occurring on what previously seeemed like an ordinary, insignificant day with no pause button or alternative outcomes available. / the only words and sentiments coming to mind being about the love - "i love you; nothing else matters at this moment." the pain and the heartbreak you have caused me has been left at the door for the timebeing because i love you. / the realization that you're not ready — how could you have prepared for this? you need more time — but there is no time, it's up. you have spent all the time you would have ever spent with them now — every minute would have totaled up to a definite sum by this moment, no longer an increasing tally — but you should have had more time, yet there's nothing you can do to change that fact. / the constant reevaluation of "is this real? is this actually happening?" / the temporary acceptance. / the waiting and the walking around wherever it is you are: a boat, a hospital, your house. / the attempts to gather your thoughts with your family, piece together the events. / the phone calls and documents and legal business to manage. order that demands to be made amidst all this chaos. / the emptiness that's slowly carved a home into your chest, your guts, and the weight of your grief pressing down on you, staying with you even after the tears have dried and the lump in your throat has dissipated. / the body being wheeled out, you and your family's eyes in dilemma between fixating on or averting from it. / the overwhelming sense of your entire life having been permanently redefined, now split into before and after, with them and without. / but also the normalcy. the way strangers float around ordinarily, the world carrying on as it always would despite the irreversible change you've just suffered, the flipping of the axis on which your life turned. because for everyone else, an insignificant day has continued to be an insignificant day. but for you, it's a matter of relearning how to live. how to carry this unshoulderable boulder of grief with you time after time until you can once again experience a truly ordinary day unsaturated by any loss or grief

[linuxgamenews]

Get Ready for Great God Grove: A Unique Puzzle Adventure Game

Great God Grove funny puzzle adventure game has Linux support in sight with Windows PC. Thanks to the skilled LimboLane development team for their exceptional work. Due to make its way onto Steam. So, I just got wind of this new project from LimboLane, the creators of Smile For Me. They're releasing Great God Grove in 2024, and it's shaping up to be something really unique. And, there are sights on native support.

...we're "interested in making the game available for Linux pending our development schedule. The game is built in Unity.

LimboLane, the creative minds behind Great God Grove, are hard at work developing the title using Unity, primarily focusing on Windows PC. They're also working on native Linux support. As for the release schedule, it's still being finalized, so a day-one release is possible, but it's a bit early to confirm that just yet. The world's on the brink of chaos, the top god's lost it, and everything's going awry. In this madness, you're the mail carrier but here's the twist: your job is very important. Since you're the one keeping the lines of communication open in a world filled with humans, deities, and a bunch of eccentric characters.

Great God Grove Reveal Trailer

Now, every once in a while, the gods have this meeting to delay the end of the world. But this time, things are totally out of control. The god who's supposed to be all about communication has started fights and then just left. With the so-called King gone and the deities in a mess, there's a huge rift in the sky that needs closing, or else it's game over for everyone. Here's where Great God Grove gets even more interesting. Your tool? The TRUSTY MEGAPON. It's not your average postal gear; think of it as a mail-cannon that sucks up dialogues and shoots them back out to solve puzzles. You'll come across around 60 different characters. Each has their own stories and issues. Your job? Listen to them, understand what's going on, and then deliver the right messages. It's all about making connections and seeing how your actions impact their reactions. The gods in this world are anything but ordinary. You've got a deity for TEAMWORK, one for LOVE SONGS – Great God Grove gas a mix-up that makes you wonder who's really running the show. Now, get ready for a vivid, expansive world with eight unique gods, and gameplay that switches between third and first-person views. There's a lot to explore and discover. Think you're ready for godly crushes, pumpkin fights, and puppets cooking? But there are things even you might not be ready for – like Grovekeeping and Godbossing. And let's not forget the very survival of the world is at stake. This funny puzzle adventure project isn't just another addition to your library. Great God Grove is a deep experience that's due to redefine how we interact with storytelling and world-building. So be sure to Wishlist it on Steam, due in 2024 on Linux and Windows PC.

[leviathanswingman]

killing me softly (with his song): chapter 4

Pairing: DiaLuci

Words: 4442

Chapters: 4/? Chapters 1 2 3

ao3

Lucifer awoke feeling calm and relaxed. His lashes were brushing against his cheeks as he furrowed his brows and let out a big yawn. He didn't feel like getting up just yet, the weight of his responsibilities for once nothing more than background noise.

The slightest hint of honey and smoke was filling the room and he breathed it in curiously. It was a familiar scent that surrounded him wholly. There was a warmth in his body that started from the pit of his stomach and spread out accordingly, stretching down to the tips of his toes and up towards the top of his head.

For a moment, Lucifer was able to push the worries that had been plaguing him the past few weeks aside. It was rare for him to get to sleep peacefully. Usually, urgent matters such as going to sleep and staying asleep were a struggle he could not commit to.

For a moment, he considered keeping his eyes closed, but as he adjusted his position, something tickled against his nose. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of familiar skin pressed against his cheek. The warmth he felt was coming from another body pressed intimately against his own. There was no reason to question who it belonged to. After all, he knew only one person who continuously dared to redefine his boundaries in such ways. 

He paused shortly, held his breath, then breathed out slowly. He was calm, he was collected. Sleep was still heavy on his mind and the comfort he felt was too alluring to deny. 

Last night’s memories were still vivid in his mind. Reluctantly, he had come to accept everything that had happened. After all, he couldn't use his illness as an excuse for his actions much longer. 

Amid a Hanahaki attack as intense as last night's, he wouldn't have allowed just anyone to stay by his side. Lucifer had never shied away from kicking people out when needed. His willingness to keep Diavolo by his side was an admittance of weakness that was telling, and he felt like a fool for being so obvious.

Despite everything, Diavolo had stayed and helped, holding him through the worst wave of it. Oh, how he dreaded the thought. Had he not always considered himself a man in no need of reassurance?

Scratch that. As Lucifer raised his head he realized Diavolo was still holding onto him. Diavolo's left hand was resting at the back of his neck, warm and comforting, cradling him as if he were someone in need of shelter.  

He looked at him, considered the way his head was bent towards his chest, almost tucked under Lucifer’s chin. His right hand was pulled against his heart, Lucifer's own safely tucked away beneath it. Their legs were entangled and it was difficult to tell where Lucifer ended and Diavolo began. Suddenly, it felt far too difficult to pull back and reestablish those boundaries he never wanted in the first place. He did not want to stay away any longer. But if life in the Celestial Realm had taught him one thing, then that would be that everything came at its price. Demons like Lucifer did not simply stumble upon happiness.  

He'd never known how frightening it could feel to be cared for by another person. It was a thing of no permanence, he was aware of that. 

So, still caught up in the afterglow, Lucifer allowed himself a moment of selfishness as he let his eyes roam over Diavolo's sleeping form that was pulled so close to his own.

He was still fast asleep, his hair sticking up in strange angles. For a moment, Lucifer just stayed like that, lying on his side, watching the slow rise and fall of Diavolo's chest as he fought the urge to brush the stray strands of hair out of his eyes. Even in his slumber, Diavolo looked content enough, his undeniably handsome features relaxed. Lucifer let out a deep sigh but did not move. 

A daunting thought crossed his mind and he dared to wonder what it would be like to have all of this - no repercussions, no dangers, just the two of them, together in bed. For a moment, he imagined what it would be like to have the right to let his touches linger. If only Diavolo wasn't destined to be their king. If only Lucifer didn't have to carry the weight of his family’s past on his shoulders. 

Right. He shouldn't forget himself, he should know his place. He had been acting quite uncouth these past few days. It was time to stop this foolishness. 

All Lucifer needed were cold hard facts. Diavolo hadn’t helped him because he loved him. How daring of a thing it would be to assume so. He had acted out of a misplaced sense of responsibility. Due to the nature of their relationship and their contract, they were bound to one another. Quite obviously Diavolo needed his right-hand man and wanted to make sure that he was doing okay, so helping out in such a dire situation had come quite naturally to him. 

Suddenly, Lucifer felt a familiar pain in his chest and fidgeted a bit to alleviate the sting. There it was again. Of course, it had never left to begin with, had only stayed dormant to strike in the most unfitting of moments.

Still, Lucifer had a theory he needed to verify. Slowly, he pulled himself closer, his eyes never leaving Diavolo’s resting form, ready to pull back at the slightest stir. He reached out and allowed his fingertips to rest against the slight stubble on his cheek. As expected, he noticed how the vines hurt a little bit less.

This couldn’t be healthy for him in the long run, he was aware of that. His theory had been correct; it seemed like Diavolo's presence was suppressing his aches. But Lucifer knew better. There was no way this pain relief came without a price.

Like your brothers, you are a fool after all, Lucifer found himself thinking as he ruminated over his situation. Still, he was frozen in place, unable to walk away.

He suppressed a groan as another sharp pain ran through his lungs. A few petals were making their way up his throat; bloody and wet. Diavolo was still fast asleep, yet his hand tightened around Lucifer's reassuringly.

Contrary to popular belief, Diavolo was a very heavy sleeper. Once asleep, it was almost impossible to wake him up again. On several occasions, Lucifer had been forced to team up with Barbatos to drag their future king out of his silken sheets. And oh, how kingly he had looked, his hair disheveled and expression surprisingly grim as he ran the palm of his hand across his face. It had taken quite a toll on Lucifer to keep the corners of his mouth from curling upwards at the sight. He would never admit out loud that it had brightened his day to see Diavolo look so unkempt for once.

Now, upon sensing movement, Diavolo instinctively tightened his grip on Lucifer, pulling him flush against his chest. They were close enough for Lucifer to feel his warm breath tingling against his throat. He imagined being allowed to ghost a kiss over the nape of his neck.

Still, no matter how much he longed for it, he wasn't meant to be held by these arms.

These arms were destined to hold greatness, were destined to support someone worthy. After all, it was difficult to deny that one day, Diavolo would have to marry to ensure an even brighter future for the Devildom. Lucifer was prepared to stand by his side once it happened, and his spine would be sturdy and his smile would look a tad bit too agreeable. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and once again, he became too aware of what they must look like to an outsider. They were scandalously close, far too entangled to be pulled apart again. 

To him, the situation was nothing more than that, pure in its intentions, but what it would look like to the visitor waiting patiently for permission to enter, he couldn't fathom. Lucifer had two choices: he could either hide his face in the crook of Diavolo's neck, hoping to stay anonymous, or he could face the visitor, bold and unapologetic. Both options sounded incredibly humiliating. 

Lucifer lifted his head, prepared to face the visitor head-on. After all, he was no coward.

After two precise knocks, a man entered the room, his body sharp like a knife in the room’s low light. Barbatos, holding a candelabra in his left hand, had stopped a few steps away from the bed as the candle illuminated the scene in front of him.

“Good morning,” he said quietly. “Lucifer, how have you been faring?” 

Diavolo continued to snore peacefully and Lucifer found himself unable to move. The best he could do to preserve his dignity was sit up slightly. Diavolo let go of him, only to lock his arms around his waist instead. Lucifer carefully avoided Barbatos’s gaze, not wanting to know what he would find there. “You knew I would be here?”

“I never took note of you leaving, so I took an educated guess.” He fixed Lucifer with his ever-knowing gaze and he felt his cheeks redden beneath it. 

“Is there anything you wanted?” Lucifer asked, embarrassment hot on his cheeks.

“I came to wake the Young Master, but seeing the situation you're in, I suppose there is no need for that just yet,” Barbatos answered smoothly. “Since you are already here I would like to inquire about the state of things. I take it you haven't made a decision just yet?”

“Don't be ridiculous. What decision is there to be made? Have I not explained thoroughly enough why I cannot do that? Who am I to jeopardize his future with my truth.”

Barbatos observed them for a moment, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly. It was quite the sight: Diavolo, still fast asleep, holding onto Lucifer’s waist with a firm grip; Lucifer, propped up on both arms, looking positively disheveled.

Barbatos let out a short sigh. “It is tiring, is it not?” he asked, holding eye contact with him. “How much longer do you plan to keep up this charade?”

“I don't know what you could possibly be getting at. We both know Diavolo will eventually have to get married. What right do I have to selfishly pursue a relationship that is doomed to end? I am unwilling to pursue any other choice. Staying his loyal subject is the only viable option,” Lucifer growled, not caring about keeping his voice down. 

Barbatos fixed the two figures on the bed with a solemn gaze. “And how has that been working out for you? I am the Young Lord’s servant in the same regard, yet it has never crossed my mind to share a bed with him as you do right now.” Barbatos cleared his throat and turned away, facing the door. “A decision needs to be made. We will have to be able to rely on your aid with the preparations. It is undeniable that your constitution has been unpredictable. If you still plan on doing your job, I would urge you to sort yourself out. I know he,” he waved in Diavolo's direction, “ would not care. If it was up to him he'd keep you by his side like this forever, but to me it seems like you are sending mixed signals.”

Diavolo's hand suddenly clenched around the fabric of Lucifer's shirt. Quickly, Lucifer checked whether the demon prince was still asleep. His eyes remained closed and his chest continued to rise with the calmness of sleep.

He let out a deep breath and felt a petal flutter past his lips, landing near Diavolo's face. The demon prince scrunched up his nose in irritation.

Barbatos opened the door and turned back around one last time. “I understand you are not in the mood for more idle chatter. Alas, I shall leave you to your thoughts. Allow me to give you one last piece of advice. That petal… it has quite the curious color. Perhaps you would benefit from studying its meaning.” Barbatos’s hand was already on the doorknob. “When Lord Diavolo awakes would you be so kind as to tell him to come see me? There are certain issues to be discussed.” With one last courteous nod, he left the room, quietly closing the door. 

Concerned by Barbatos' last comment, Lucifer quietly glanced down at the petal that was still lying on top of the sheets. He picked it up, turned it this way and that way as he inspected it. Although it still had to have come from a rose, its color was different. The petal wasn't white, but blue instead. Lucifer had no explanation for the sudden change. The only thing he knew for certain was that new petals could only mean more misery for him to bear. 

Quickly, Lucifer slid his hand across the bed in search of his DDD. As soon as he found it, he researched the meaning of those petals.

Blue rose petals rarely occurred naturally in the human world. They often represented secrecy, the impossible, or the unattainable. In the Devildom, most people associated them with Lucifer, their color the very representation of Pride. He almost had to laugh. It couldn't get any worse than this.

When he put the phone down in exasperation, he dared another look down at Diavolo's sleeping form and was met with golden eyes mustering him curiously.

How long had he been awake?

Diavolo fixed Lucifer with an intense stare. He still hadn't eased up on his death hold, so they were still mere inches apart.

“What do they mean?” Diavolo asked suddenly, his voice still heavy with sleep. “The blue petals, I know I haven’t seen them before.”

“It should hardly matter,” Lucifer replied quickly.

He averted his gaze, focusing on the swirly pattern of the wallpaper to calm his breathing and collect himself again instead. “How long have you been awake for?“ he asked carefully, dreading the worst. “If that was all it took to rouse you, Barbatos and I must have been doing the wrong thing for decades.“

“I did not want to disturb your conversation.”

“So you decided to eavesdrop?”

“I would hardly call it eavesdropping when both of you were aware of my presence. Lucifer, about your topic of discussion…”

Lucifer swallowed harshly, feeling his defenses going up. “What about it?”

“I had hoped Barbatos’s words of wisdom would be enough to sway you.” Diavolo sat up as he spoke, finally untangling himself from Lucifer. “Yet it sounds as if you have made up your mind. How long do you think you can keep up this charade? There must be a way to convince you.”

There were more pressing questions Lucifer wanted to ask.

What were you thinking? What are we doing?

Still, they were questions he couldn't ask without offering a piece of the truth he feared Diavolo had already figured out. He pressed his lips together so he wouldn't voice them.

Apparently, Diavolo had lost all willingness to keep up a playful front. There was a calculating expression on his face, almost as if he were searching for the last piece of the puzzle that would finally make him understand Lucifer's uncharacteristic defiance.

“I will be just fine,“ he grumbled in response, his expression stoic. 

Diavolo grabbed his hands, holding them between his own. Lucifer despised that he didn’t want to push them off.

“Out of nothing but spite? Not even you can do that. Hell, not even I would be able to!” His tone was turning heated. “Forgive my selfishness, but will it truly be worth it if it means losing you?! I need you. Your brothers need you.”

For a split second, a rare look of hurt slipped through the cracks of Lucifer's poker face. He shook off Diavolo's hands, reached for the box of tissues on the nightstand and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Holding the tissue to his mouth, he coughed multiple blue petals into it before letting it disappear into the pocket of his pants.

He threw Diavolo one last, indecipherable look. “I will make sure to eradicate these pesky feelings. Not much longer and they will be nothing but a fleeting afterthought. Thank you for your hospitality. From now on, I won't inconvenience you anymore,” he stated coldly as he slipped on his dress shoes, distinctly avoiding Diavolo's confused gaze.

“Lucifer, that is not what I was…”

Lucifer smoothed down his clothes before turning towards the door.

“I would like to return to the House of Lamentation now.” With one last look at Diavolo, he pressed down the handle.

“Barbatos asked to see you. But you heard him just fine, so I suppose there's no need for me to tell you twice. If you'll excuse me now.” The door fell shut behind him.

Lucifer was walking down the hallway at a hurried pace, feeling distinctly like he had done something wrong. Remembering Diavolo’s hurt expression did not help the guilt he was feeling. His way back to the House of Lamentation was one without rest. 

He had been an utter fool. Of course, Diavolo would have overheard his conversation with Barbatos. It was uncertain when he had started listening in, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out the truth one way or the other. Though he sometimes had his dense moments, Diavolo certainly wasn't dumb. Perhaps he had known all along.

Lucifer felt all his composure, all that control he knew to lean on, slipping through his fingers like sand. His lungs weighed heavily under that truth, spores and roots choking him much more violently than before. The warm Devildom wind hit his cheeks and he didn’t dare breathe in. 

As soon as he set foot in his home, Lucifer made his way to the next bathroom he could find. The flowers in his chest had been teasing and taunting him the entire walk and it was time to get rid of them.

The bathroom looked empty enough. Luckily, the House of Lamentation had plenty of them. Due to the sheer amount of inhabitants, the downstairs bathroom now had multiple stalls built in.

As soon as Lucifer locked the door he leaned over the toilet, one hand braced against the stall to steady himself until he managed to flush all things unsaid down the pipes. He used a wad of toilet paper to clean up the trail of saliva and blood that had dripped down his chin. Thankfully, it hadn’t sullied his clothes.

For a few more moments he stared at the rose petals that were left over, almost clogging up the pipes. Lucifer mustered the blue-white mess, his chest void of emotion. As he was still bent over, his bangs fell into his eyes. He tried to brush them away with his forearm, only for them to fall back into his eyes again. A staticky sort of frustration ran through his bones and suddenly, Lucifer smashed the hand that'd been holding him up against the stall. With a loud cracking noise, the wall gave in, shaking violently as bits and pieces dropped to the ground, leaving the ragged edges of a huge hole behind.

His breathing was uncontrolled and labored. Lucifer mustered his hand, noticed the little cuts that quickly changed from open-white to red gashes. His bangs were still obscuring his vision, but at least the throbbing pain was distracting enough to clear his mind a little. 

Suddenly, a loud shriek emerged from the neighboring stall Lucifer had just punched a hole through. As he looked through it, at first he couldn't make out anything that could've caused such an ear-piercing sound.

Irritated, Lucifer stuck his head through the hole to get a better look. He looked around more carefully before peering down.

Below the hole cowered one of his brothers, shielding his head with both of his arms as he reluctantly looked up. Dust and wood chippings fluttered down his head.

Lucifer cursed inwardly, pushed his hair back, and quickly schooled his expression into something more appropriate. 

“Leviathan. What are you doing here?” he asked calmly. 

Leviathan stared at his older brother for a moment, his big orange eyes never wavering. That wandering gaze of his made Lucifer shiver. He was quite aware of how considerably unhinged he must look at the moment. It would be foolish to assume Leviathan hadn’t taken notice of his uncharacteristically unkempt appearance. 

“Uhm, this is a toilet, so… Wait, are we supposed to act like that just didn't happen?” When he didn’t receive an answer, Levi quickly nodded his head. “ Okay, uhm… So, Lucifer! Crazy to see you here! Is there anything you wanted from me?” His hands were moving at a rapid pace and sweat was pearling down his temple. Levi straightened his spine and finally propped himself up. Quickly, he tried to dust off his pants but failed miserably in doing so. He took a few steps back to lean against the wall opposite the hole.

“Why would I seek you out so I could talk to you in the bathroom?” Lucifer asked quizzically as he leaned forward, resting one arm on the frayed edges of the newly formed hole. 

Levi cleared his throat. “Well, in the graphic novel 'My Heart Keeps Racing Whenever I Look At You But We Are Childhood Friends Who Are Cursed to Stay Five Feet Apart From Each Other So I Couldn't Possibly Love You!' the main character and his best friend always meet up in the bathroom during their lunch break so they can discuss their-”

Lucifer interrupted him before he could end up stuck with another one of Levi’s infamous rants.

“Leviathan-” He had to pause as a coughing fit shook his body. 

His little brother immediately stopped talking. Hearing Lucifer use his full name never promised much good. ”Y-yeah?” he asked, but then remembered the situation he had somehow gotten himself into, a situation so peculiar that it almost reeked of dramatic potential. For a moment, he mustered his surroundings in confusion. 

“There's a hole in the wall,” he mumbled, barely suppressing the unyielding urge to meddle. He raised his head again and faced his older brother. Based on the evidence he had gathered, there was only one conclusion to this mystery. “There's an almost comically large hole in the wall, the only suspects in this case are me and Lucifer. There's no way I'm the perpetrator, except if you consider the possibility of an unreliable narrator, which I don't think I am, so there's only one possibility left,” Levi mumbled as he pointed at Lucifer. “You're the only one!” For a moment, he felt quite cool and accomplished until he was faced with Lucifer’s blank, unblinking stare. They were both quiet until Lucifer cleared his throat.

“Now that we have established that it was indeed me who put the hole in the wall, I would suggest you forget what you just saw.” He wasn't in the mood to deal with his brother's shenanigans. 

Levi took a small step towards the hole and stuck his neck through it, peering past Lucifer. “Yeah, sure, I mean… wait, what’s that?” he asked, pointing towards the toilet overflowing with petals and rose buds. “Huh?”

His eyes dashed from the toilet to Lucifer and back again, traveling back and forth over and over again. He looked short from hyperventilating. “Huh?! Those petals… it can't be! It makes no sense, but it has to be…”

All of a sudden, Lucifer slammed his hand flat against the stall and put his head through the hole he had created minutes prior, forcing Levi to retreat. “I hate to repeat myself. You saw nothing. If you did, I will not hesitate to burn your whole Ruri-chan collection to a crisp,” he threatened, his eyes gleaming dangerously in the sub-par bathroom lighting.

With a loud bang, Levi’s back hit the stall as he took several steps back. He clenched his shirt and panted heavily. “You wouldn't!” he exclaimed, eyes desperate.

Instead of giving an answer Lucifer simply stared at him, a small smile slowly starting to spread over his face. “Oh? I wouldn't, are you certain?”

“You're smiling. Why are you smiling like that, this can't be good. Don't look at me like that, Lucifer! Please spare my Ruri-chan collection, she's the only one I have left! Okay, maybe I also have Azuki-tan and Rachel-chan and Henry! Still, you wouldn't want to be the reason for your own brother's demise now, would you-”

Lucifer grabbed the edges of the hole with both hands, ignoring the way the sharp edges were digging into the palms of his hands. “Stop it. Come here,” he growled, staring at his brother intensely.

Levi didn't move one bit.

“Come. Here.“

“Only if you promise to keep my collection safe!” Levi exclaimed bravely, making Lucifer sigh. 

He forced himself to visibly relax. Perhaps he had acted too harshly. After all, it wasn't Leviathan who had wronged him. “Calm yourself. As long as you keep your mouth shut, neither you nor your characters will be in trouble.” When Leviathan’s shoulders sagged in relief, Lucifer continued. “As your older brother, I am asking you to keep this private affair between the two of us. Surely, I can depend on you?” He reached through the hole and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. All in all, it was a peculiar and somewhat awkward situation. Neither of them knew how to react. Lucifer squeezed his shoulder with too much force and the look in his eyes was too harsh to be considered friendly.

Levi avoided his gaze and worried his lips. 

Another moment passed and Lucifer finally pulled back again. With one hand, he began to massage his temple. “Now leave. The next few days, I will be very busy. Tell the others that it would be in their best interest to stay out of my way for once.”

“And Leviathan? Remember our agreement. No word of this.”

Levi mumbled a quick goodbye while he was already in the process of actively fleeing the scene, too startled to remind his brother that technically, he hadn’t agreed to his request just yet.

Quickly, Leviathan made his way towards the music room. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be the last to arrive. After all, everyone except for Lucifer was going to be there. 

[storiesbyrhi]

Witch!Reader x Bat/Vampire!Eddie Munson Series Masterlist The Grimoire The Timeline

Warnings: canon typical violence, horror genre typical violence/some infrequent gore, swearing, animal death, no beta, death in childbirth (mentioned, not described), abusive parents, suicide, spiders/bugs, grief/mourning; light smut; warnings updated each chapter.

Synopsis: No witch has stepped foot in Hawkins since 1845, but when Vecna opens the ground and poisons the town, a voice begins to call to you. Have you been brought back to this cursed place to heal the townspeople’s wounds, to save a hexed bat that always finds its way to you, or to redefine your history with a reunion 150 years in the making?

Chapter Summary: Life goes on. 2994 words.

1986

The calendar looked the same as it had five minutes ago. Yet, you found yourself back in front of it, staring at it silently. If Eddie was home, you would have pretended you were at least there to get something from the fridge the calendar was stuck to. But you were alone to space out and look at the numbers and lines as if they meant something different.

A knock at the trailer door eventually pulled you away from the month of October.

“Oh. Hi!” The boy looked shocked to see you.

“Hi, Dustin…”

“Sorry. Hi. Um. Hi,”

“Hi,”

“Hi. So… How are you? How have you been?”

You looked him up and down. He was as you remembered him, though less sad, but not entirely happy yet either. You stepped aside. “You wanna come in?”

Dustin looked around Forest Hills with hesitation. Neighbours were out enjoying the cooling breeze. The heat of August was gone, September had just finished ushering in just a taste of what October would offer.

“Lots of witnesses seeing you come in. You’re safe,” you told him.

The kid looked back up at you. “Is the…”

You knew what he was asking, but instead of putting him out of his misery, you just raised an eyebrow.

“The vampire. That’s what he is, right? Nancy and Robin told me-”

“He’s not here,”

“Oh. He’s out? But it’s daytime?”

“Yeah. I can turn him into a bat. He’s immune to all that when he’s the bat,”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Are you a vampire expert now?”

“I mean… I am an expert in a lot of the, you know, monster type situations that happen here,” Dustin countered, putting his hands on his hips.

“So I hear. Come on. What do you need?”

Dustin followed you inside the trailer. “I, ah, love what you’ve done with the place,” he quipped as he drew a smiley face in a pile of dirt on the kitchen bench, then picked the leaf next to it up, spinning it between his fingers.

“Don’t touch that!” you squealed too late, grabbing Dustin’s hand and healing him before the Dendrocnide moroides had a chance to take effect.

Dustin’s eyes were wide, the panic sweeping across his face. “What was that?! Am I gonna die?!”

Letting him go, you examined his hand. “No. You just would have been in a lot of pain,”

“Like poison ivy?”

“No, like an excruciating pain that feels like being burned with acid. And it can linger for months. Flare up after years,”

“And you have it just laying around?”

“Well, Dustin, it has no effect on me or Eddie. And I don’t get a lot of visitors.”

He nodded sheepishly. “Sorry… Sorry. I didn’t mean to- I’ll… keep my hands to myself,”

“For the best. But the couch is safe. Sit.”

Dustin sat, picked up a throw pillow and hugged it to himself. He said nothing and avoided eye contact.

“Can I make you a cup of tea?” You added, “Not magic tea,” before he could ask.

He nodded.

You brewed chamomile and honey, took a mug of it to Dustin, and sat next to him with your own. “So, put my mind at ease; no new monsters for me to worry about?”

“No. Nope. Hawkins is… safe,”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

Dustin laughed out a strange cackling sound.

“…Dustin?”

“Sorry. No. No more monsters. Nancy and the others keep telling me it’s done. Finished. Even El says so…”

“But you don’t believe them?” you asked gently.

“I want to. I want to be happy that everything is going back to normal. But…”

“You’re scared. I get it. I really do. I know what it’s like to have the war end and be left to… you know, live. It’s hard. But he’s gone, Dustin. Whatever he was. There’s nothing left here of him. The gates are closed. There’s no way between there and here,”

“But what if there’s someone else? What if there is another way? Not now. But one day. What if we all grow up and have kids and they have to do this all over again?”

Dustin’s hands had begun to shake. You placed the mugs of tea on the coffee table and took his hands in yours.

“If we get stuck mapping out all of the ‘what ifs,’ we never get to move forward. And there are no guarantees. We don’t know if Hawkins gets to be safe forever. We can watch over it. We can hope. But other than that… We just have to figure out how to be okay.”

The boy nodded, tears rolling down his face. You pulled him into a hug.

“I miss them. I miss Steve,” he cried.

“I know. The grief never goes away. It becomes easier to carry though,”

“Can you make it go away?”

Clenching your jaw, you shook your head. “It’s better to remember. You don’t want to forget what love felt like. You don’t want to forget them. If this grief is the price, we have to pay it.”

You held him until he could take a shaky but mostly controlled breath.

“Do you… Do you know if you’re staying in Hawkins?” Dustin asked.

“Ah, yeah actually. Something about being here feels right,”

“If something happens then…”

“I’ll be here. For you and your kids,”

“Are you like, really old?”

You laughed. “Yes. I am. And, I have some other really old friends coming soon too. There’ll be a few of us to keep watch,”

“More witches? Or vampires?”

“Witches. Eddie is the last of his kind.”

Dustin nodded, considering the information. He wiped his face on his sleeve and picked up his mug. He liked the tea; you could tell.

“You can always come here, Dustin. Maybe not literally here here. But to me,”

“Where are you going?”

“Well, can’t have a coven of witches sharing a trailer, can I?”

Dustin smiled wide, toothy, and happy. “A coven?!”

“Yep. My very own,”

“They can come too,”

“Come where?” you asked.

“That’s why I came, actually. But being here reminded me of… Steve…” Dustin fished a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to you.

When you unfolded it, a black cat with bright green eyes greeted you. It was carving a jack-o-lantern. “Black cats can’t wait to meet you… Golden pumpkins agleam… Owls and bats guide you… To our party Halloween,” you read. A place, time, and date were listed.

“Will and his family are throwing it,” Dustin told you.

“To be honest, I’m surprised all your families decided to stay. Long ago, when my kind fought an enemy here, we left once it was done." 

Dustin shrugged. “Most people don’t know what really happened. Government handed out some pretty big cheques,”

“Most towns are built on graveyards, I guess,”

“Well, on that cheery note…” Dustin stood.

“You’re okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I guess… You should come to the party. And your… friends, if they’re here,”

“What about Eddie?” you asked, almost just for fun.

Dustin walked down the trailer’s steps, looking back at you. “He’s one of the good guys, right?”

It could have been a coincidence, but it was far more likely to be Eddie’s sense of drama. He came swooping by Dustin and you, landing on the coffee table between the mugs of chamomile and honey. You rolled your eyes.

“Is that…?”

“Yes. King of theatre himself.”

Dustin looked at the bat. “Um. Hi. You can come… to the party… but maybe… not like that.”

Eddie chittered and you knew the demand. You cast him back.

“Jesus, man!” Dustin screeched, shielding his eyes. “A little warning!”

You and Eddie both smiled stupidly at each other.

“I think that’s a crime! Public indecency!” Dustin continued as Eddie casually strolled naked to the bedroom, avoiding the burst of sunlight from the open door.

“He’s in his own home,” you shrugged.

“Fine! Child endangerment!”

“Yeah, he’s got you there,” you said over your shoulder.

“I’m going now,”

“Bye, Dustin,” you farewelled.

“Goodbye, Dustin! Nice to meet you, Dustin!” Eddie yelled.

Dustin was on his bike and on his way out of Forest Hills before you even closed the door.

“To our party Halloween,” Eddie read, picking up the invitation. “Well, that’s cute,”

“It is. They’re resilient, aren’t they?”

“All humans or specifically yours?”

“All of them, I guess, but these ones in particular. They just keep going,”

“They do… Will you be attending this celebration of All Hallows Eve?” he asked, letting his voice dip into a Vincent Price impersonation.

“I don’t know. Halloween is so far away. I have so much to do before then,”

“Speaking of, I scouted the whole area out near the forest gate. Not a house or paved road in sight,”

“Yeah? Cool. It might work then…”

…

It would have been a harder task if Hawkins had not recently had major groundworks and construction happening.

“We had to map out everything from here to bloody Fort Wayne!” the woman at New City Hall, Nell, had said. “So, you came at the right time. Now, which part did you want to know about?”

“Over here,” you pointed to a map Nell rolled out. “Near this forest, then out beyond that,”

“Oh, jeez, honey. You don’t want to be heading out there. Nothing good out there,”

“What do you mean?”

Nell sighed. “Well, Merrill Wright was all set to buy some of the land. Expand his pumpkin patch and whatnot. But after all that hullabaloo with the poisoning, then the earthquake… Don’t think he’s thinking on expanding. Take a lot of work to make that land good again… But… Looks as though you’ll be wanting to talk to the Klines…” The way her sentence tapered off suggested talking to the Klines was going to be a difficult task.

“They own all of this? One family?”

“Klines have been in Hawkins as long as Hawkins has existed. Guess they just… claimed it at some point.”

You couldn’t recall any Klines from before, when Hawkins was referred to as ‘the flatlands.’ Rightfully, the land belonged to the Native American peoples, those that coexisted with the land before British and French rule. How the Klines came to own the land was probably another lesson in displacement and colonisation.

“Where can I find them? The Klines?”

“Ah, well, Larry Kline is…” Nell covered her mouth and whispered the next part – “…in the slammer.”

You nodded and tried to look scandalised.

“He had some shady dealings with some… Let’s just say… unsavoury characters. Some bad comrades, if you catch my drift,”

“No!” you hissed, as outraged as Nell expected you to be.

“I know! Poor Winnie… When it all came out, she found out he was cheatin’ on her too. With his secretary no less! She moved right after. Not sure what happened with the land… Probably still sitting in Larry’s name… Maybe the government took it when he was locked up?”

Following Nell’s directions, you drove across town to a law firm that had once represented Larry Kline. They confirmed that all the land his family once appropriated now was property of the U.S. Government.

“And that’s a good thing?” Eddie questioned when you returned home and filled him in on the findings.

“It's... good and bad. Either they won’t sell it privately, and we just use some stronger wards and protections for now. Or, they do sell it to us and we can return ownership to the Native Americans and ask permission to base our coven there,”

“Can’t you just… make them… sell it to you?”

“I mean…”

Eddie knew what the debate in your head was. “A good witch wouldn’t make them,”

“Probably not, no… But, I don’t know if I am a good witch anymore, right?”

“Right. You’re better. You don’t tie yourself to archaic notions of a moral right and wrong,”

“Sure… I’ll think about it. They might do the right thing themselves,”

“They? The government? Of the United States of America? Have you fallen ill?” He pressed his palm to your forehead. “Are these visions from another dimension plaguing you?”

You laughed and pushed him away. “The drama never ends,”

“I prefer the term showmanship. The showmanship never ends,”

“Okay, showman, well let’s get the cards out and see what they say about magically forcing land back, yeah?” An hour later you were laughing at Six of Pentacles and The Chariot. “Can’t get any clearer than that!”

…

The room you were led into was sterile but still had a thick air of toxic masculinity. A family photo of the man, his wife, and children was up high on a bookcase. Dusty and never looked at. A crystal decanter half-filled with bourbon sat on the corner of his desk. No artwork on the walls. A pen with a picture of a pin-up girl wrapped around it, when the cam was clicked, her naked form appeared. He said it was embarrassing, claimed was a gag gift from the 1985 office Kris Kringle, yet never got rid of it.

“We received your proposal. That’s a lot of land you’re looking to buy.”

Resisting the urge to say ‘I know,’ you smiled and nodded.

“What’s a girl like you want to do with all that land?”

What, exactly, is a girl like me like? 

“The land is relatively untouched at the moment. There are neighbouring farms and a few private roads, but it is mostly just woodland and open plains. Hawkins has seen a lot of devastation over the past couple of decades. We would like to see the land taken care of. You know, returned to its rightful owners. Any deforestation or development staved off.”

You knew it was risky mentioning the ‘rightful owners’ of the land but you wanted this man, in all his white-collar sweatiness, to have a chance to do the right thing.

“Hmm… And the ‘we’ is you and your…”

“Collective. We are kind of like a non-profit. A charity. We all have other jobs, but dedicate our free time and resources to helping people and the environment,” you answered, reciting the proposal that he very evidently did not read.

“How does a group of…” He flicked through the pages. “…women. A group of women raise enough cash to make this kind of offer?”

“Campaigning… Bake sales. That kind of thing.” You shrugged and batted your eyelashes. It was a stupid and obvious lie but it fit into the man’s preconceived idea of the economics of women, so he brought it.

“Still… We’re more in the business of innovation. Indiana needs to keep up with the East and West coasts, you see. And, we like to see our proposals a lot more financially sound. There’s no clear way for you to make the repayments,”

“You’re not a business though,”

“Sorry?”

“You’re not a business,” you repeated. “You’re the government. Specifically, the part of the government that is meant to do the right thing for the people and the land, by deciding what happens to the land. Your objective isn’t to make money,”

“Right, but-”

“And, as far as you are concerned, the proposal is financially sound. The money to buy the land is there. What we have free and clear, then the rest in loans not owed to you. So… you’re paid. The hypothetical debt we get into and the repayments don’t concern you at all. That just seems like an excuse to not approval the proposal,”

“Miss-”

“No. Absolutely not,” you interrupted again.

“Miss, I’m going to have-”

From the moment you sat down, your hand had been in your pocket ready for the moment. You curled your fingers to your palm, collecting the dust. “Actually, I’m going to have to do this,” and you blew it in his face. The man froze in place. He couldn’t even blink.

“Okay, you can come out.”

You opened the lid of the backpack carefully sat at your feet. Eddie crawled out and looked around. He flew up and perched on the man’s desk.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you with a bat attack or anything,” you told the man. “He’s just here to watch… And don’t worry about not being able to move. I’ll fix that before I go. We just have some business to attend to first,” you said with a grin that would haunt the man for the rest of his life.

It wasn’t dark magic. It was… morally grey magic used for the greater good.

The man felt compelled, entirely committed, obsessively in support of your proposal. He felt like if he didn’t hand over the land at an insanely reduced price he might die. He would die. Everyone could die.

When you freed his body from your hold, tears rolling down the man’s face from lack of blinking, he coughed hard. He looked at Eddie with a frown.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

“Who’s who?” you replied.

“The…” but your face told him that you couldn’t see Eddie… Maybe he was going crazy. It was the cursed Hawkins land. He had to get rid of it. To you. Yes. Yes, perfect. Sell it off cheap. Get rid of it. And to a charity? Well, everyone would think he’s a hero! A true American hero! Maybe he’d even get a bonus. Yes. Sell it. Sell it. Sell it. “I think I can make you an offer…”

On the drive home, you pushed The Head on the Door tape into the deck and sang along with Robert Smith loudly. When the sun set and Eddie swooped through the open window, you turned him back and laughed when he refused to put on pants.

“Out of curiosity, little witch, would that freezing spell work on… say… you… or me?”

You looked over at him and his sly grin. “Is your mind in the gutter again?”

“It’s always got a foot there. Care to join me?”

End Note: Click here to see the inspo for the Halloween party invitations.

Also, I forgot to say this last time: the reason that Mel, the music journalist coven member, is haunted by Steve is because my IRL bestie @kookygranger (who the character is based on) reblogged a chapter and added her own little blurb to it. Kind of like fanfic of my fanfic hehe. You can read that reblog here. She has now expanded it to be its own entire fic (read here). It deviates from what my characters are doing, so it’s pretty much a Burning Yarrow AU. Obsessed.

As always, I hope you are all well and I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings. xo Rhi

Fic Taglist:  @paranoidmunson  @idkidknemore @paprikaquinn @stardustworlds @loz-brooke @wyverntatty @vintagehellfire @dark-academia-slut @scarletwitchwhore @becks1002 @mrsdollardog @heyndrix @luceneraium @rosaline-black @devilinthepalemoonlite @goldencherriess @iamwhisperingstars @wiltedwonderland @blueywrites @breezybeesposts @jadehowlettthewolf @spikesvamp79 @foreveranexpatsposts @tortoiseshellspells @wingedpeachjudgegiant @stardustmunson @live-love-be-unique @fangirling-4-ever @reanimated-alice @b-irock @gh0stlybunnie @myown-worstenemy-2003 @woozzz @cyberxlust @hiscrimsonangel @buckysbarne @m00nlight101 @word-wytch @spicysix @briasnow-blog @goth-cowgirl-03

All Eddie Taglist: @solomons-finest-rum @ruinedbythehobbit @sweetpeapod @thorfemmes  @corrodedhawkins @grungegrrrl @lilzabob  @averagemisfit03 @ches-86 @ilovecupcakesandtea @onehotgreasymechanic @hazydespair @mel-the-fangirl @eddies-hid3out @siren-lungs @aheadfullofsteverogers @hiscrimsonangel @dashingdeb16 @cultish-corner

[ourloveisforthelovely]

The Words "Best Friends" Become Redefined. Part 5

Regulus Black AU

Summary: You had been Regulus’ friend since childhood and now his mistress. The war had changed many things, Regulus among them. Now its time to decide if you should put your self-worth over missing someone who was gone.  

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader

Rating: M- smut

Link to Part 4

Lyrics in Chapter: “New Star” by Watchhouse

______

“The monsters were you, darling.”

Regulus didn’t move from his place as your words echoed in his mind. All of this mess was his fault! Regulus had to hand it to himself…he had done such an excellent job at trying to scare you away that you were seeing him for what everyone thought he was…a monster.

“I suppose you see why I don’t think that you are good enough for her.”

Regulus looked up as Remus stepped into the room looking ready to fight. Rolling his eyes, Regulus wondered if punching your brother would make things even worse between the two of you. Something told him yes. If he wanted to earn your forgiveness whacking Remus seemed like a shoddy plan.

“Luck for me, Y/n tends to think for herself. She doesn’t need her older brother to do her thinking for her.”

Remus made a quiet “hmm” at that. He had to agree that Regulus was right on that one. You did think for yourself and didn’t need Remus to make your choices. In fact, you told Remus multiple times that fighting your battles wasn’t his hill to die on. That didn’t stop Remus from stepping on things like Regulus Black breaking your heart (as he already did).

“I suppose it's lucky for you or unfortunate seeing as you have totally broken her heart but what do I know? Either way, Regulus, I don’t think it would be good for you to treat her so poorly over and over again. Y/n deserves better.

Regulus took a breath as Remus sat down. As much as Regulus wanted to cuss Remus out and tell him to “get fucked” he couldn't. There was something about Remus that Regulus liked. Maybe it was their shared sense of sarcasm on many topics?

“If you knew why I did it you would understand.”

Regulus replied, calmly. Remus leaned back in his chair.

“I have a feeling that I know. You didn’t want her to be harmed in your death eater duties, which is commendable. I do thank you for that. I worried from the moment that my sister was sorted into Slytherin that the dark arts would rub off on her. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.”

Regulus looked down while thinking…”damn it, he's right about everything.”

“I wouldn’t say commendable. I would say that it's anything that anyone who truly cares about someone should do. Even if I looked at Y/n in only a friendly and not romantic way, I should want to care for her safety. Face it, Remus, if she and I were a couple, given our current situation, you know that she would have been target number one. A death eater and an auror is a match made in instant death hell. Everything that I have ever done to Y/n has been out of love and respect for her safety. I never would have been so cruel to her for no reason.”

Remus crossed his arms over his chest. He hated admitting that Regulus was right. If the two of you had been outed as a couple, death would have come to both of you. There was no way that Voldmort would have been okay with one of his followers dating an Auror. You would have lost the job that you worked so hard for…but the question was how much was everything truly worth the risk?

Glazing into the living room, Remus’ eyes locked on Sirius. His lover sat beside you talking quietly.

He would be worth everything…Sirius would be worth everything…just as Y/n would be worth everything.

Remus turned back to Regulus and took a breath.

“You could have gone about it differently. Y/n has been in love with you for so long. Regulus, you don’t realize how hurt she has been. My sister or not, I have seen it all. She has been sitting here praying for a miracle. When you walked through that door, you should have seen the look on her face.”

Regulus’ grey eyes dropped.

“I did. I saw all of it. You don’t have to worry. She probably will never forgive me again.”

Regulus didn’t bring up the kiss in the back of the bar. He didn’t want to totally shit wreck Remus’ somewhat understanding attitude toward the situation at hand. If Regulus could get Remus on his side he would definitely be in a better position.

“I know my sister. Yes, she is a bit stubborn but she cares for you.”

Regulus snorted at the words “a bit.” As much Regulus adored everything about you, your stubborn side was the one thing that he could do without.

At least I don’t have to worry about anyone being mean to her. She will just make them cry.

Regulus thought before speaking again.

“A bit? Do you really know your sister, Remus?”

Remus gave Regulus a smug smile.

“I won’t insult my sister. Seriously though think of a good heartfelt apology and talk to her. You do know what an apology is, right? You know, it's one of those things where you admit that you are wrong.”

“ I know what an apology is!”

Regulus snapped as Remus stood up.

“Good then do it and do us all a favor. Before I go, I must give you my ceremonial big brother speech of you if you break her heart again then I will cut your head off speech.”

“You’ve made your point.”

Regulus commented. He didn’t really want to sit in this conversation any longer. Regulus needed some time to decide what he needed to say to you.

“Good, because I really don’t want to threaten you any further. Anyway, later.”

Remus walked off feeling a lot more accomplished. Did he think Regulus would fuck up again? Of course. Was he willing to give him a shot if it made you truly happy…yes. Remus would never stop being the older brother that he was supposed to be just as you wouldn’t stop being the pain in the ass little sister that you were supposed to be.

Regulus stayed away from the house that night and most of the next day. He was trying to think of anything that he could to possibly convince you to see his way. He had no choice but to come back for the next Order meeting. This would give him a chance to speak with you and just rip the “bandage” off of the gaping wound while hoping for the best.

It was around half an hour before you arrived back home and Regulus was never more happy to see you. He had been sitting listening to Sirius whine about why Regulus was an idiot for letting you go.

“And not a moment too soon.”

Regulus mumbled as you came in and sat down silently. He wasn’t surprised that you wouldn’t speak to him. Once again, your stubborn side was proving its grand existence.

It was Sirius that spoke when he turned to look at you.

“Hey, that’s my sweatshirt!”

You looked down at the oversized blue sweatshirt that you were wearing.

“Bugger off, we have bigger problems. Besides, I do your laundry and my brother’s laundry. If I see something I like then I am borrowing it. It isn’t like you noticed it was missing anyhow.”

Sirius grumbled something as your eyes flickered to Regulus. Internally, you sighed looking at Regulus. After the argument the day before, you didn’t expect him to turn back up…yet here he was. He sat across from you with a frown on his handsome face.

The haughty ass…

You thought before looking down at his hands. It was easier to look at his hands than his piercing grey eyes.

How am I supposed to tell the asshat that I miss him? After calling him a monster yesterday saying “Hey Reg, I miss you” would probably sound a little disingenuous. Fuck, my mind is a pretzel!

You thought with a frown. Meeting Sirius’ eyes, he gave you an understanding nod. You would have paid Sirius anything at the moment to initiate some kind of conversation between Regulus and yourself. Granted, you could have said something. You could easily speak up but it wasn’t that easy…nothing was that easy.

“Y/N LUPIN!”

The sound of Moody stomping into the room yelling your name immediately pulled you from your thoughts. The moment that your boss limped into the room looking ready to set you on fire, you knew that you were in for it.

“I suppose you have read my report.”

You commented idly. Moody glowered at you before slamming the yellow envelope down on the table.

“Yes, I read it! I ought to bench you for those kinds of shenanigans.”

Sirius and Remus both turned to look at you with matching looks of confusion. You absentmindedly scratched your head before turning back to Alastor Moody.

“It was a lot cooler in person.”

Moody looked ready to pass out.

“Cooler in person?! Is that really what you are going to say to me.”

“What exactly happened?”

Remus asked. Moody turned to your older brother with a scowl.

“Miss Priss here thought that it was funny to take a leap off of her broom and land on Dolohov to arrest him.”

You winced as Regulus, Sirius, and Remus all turned to look at you with matching expressions of worry.

“Well, he’s in jail now.”

You murmured. Moody sat down and immediately started pointing his finger at you.

“One more stunt like that and I am suspending you. I’m ordering you to be careful and mind orders as directed. Am I making myself clear to you?”

“Crystal.”

You replied as Remus took a breath.

Awe, great. Now I get to hear from him.

“Y/n, I shouldn’t have to talk to you about crazy antics like that. Use the brain that you were gifted with and stop being crazy before you get yourself killed. Sirius and I wouldn’t make it without you. Don’t you realize how much you mean to us?”

You lowered your head.

“I’ll be careful. Okay? Now this meeting isn’t meant to be about me. Oh! Look it's James and Lily! Let's talk about them!”

James and Lily both looked a bit more put out than normal. Granted, everyone was looking put out lately but they looked pretty bad. Moody took a breath.

“They are actually what this meeting is about. As you lot probably noticed, not everyone is at our meeting tonight. I called all of you here because I know of your friendship. It appears that Voldemort believes that Harry will be the subject of the prophecy of his downfall. It is being suggested that the Potters go into hiding until further notice.”

You had been sitting with your head on the table but sat up instantly. This was not what you were expecting to hear.

God damn, do we ever get a break?

You thought, not being able to meet your friend’s faces. Lily was partially part of the reason why you were a sane human. She was the person that loved you unconditionally without making you feel like a naughty child.

When you were able to meet her eyes, you wished that you hadn’t. All that you saw was fear and you completely understood why. A madman was after her young son. How was she not destined to be afraid?

“I’ll be the secret keeper.”

Sirius immediately said. He didn’t care about himself. He cared about his best friend and his family. If Sirius could keep James, Lily, and Harry safe then he would do anything that he had to. He would go to the ends of the earth if he had to.

Moody frowned.

“Dumbledore doesn’t think that is a good idea, Sirius. You will be the first person that Voldemort would suspect. Peter Pettigrew will be the choice. He’s the most unlikely. While I had other choices, I have been outspoken.”

Your mouth instantly dropped. Peter-fucking-Pettigrew? Did you really hear that correctly? You would trust a stranger on the street before pansy ass Peter!

“Why don’t we just pick some bum on the street to do it? Pettigrew? Really?”

You snapped. Sirius held his hand up to you as if to say “Someone who is on my side!”

Moody turned to you.

“You’re an auror, Y/n. Remus is their other best friend and Regulus…well…he isn’t getting involved in this. Peter is the logical choice. Voldemort wouldn’t suspect him.”

Your eyes immediately looked up to Peter, who nervously walked into the room. The man looked highly uncomfortable as he sat down.

“I would trust Charles Manson or any of those other muggle serial killers before him. I could beat him up with my eyes closed.”

You grumbled. Peter winced, looking at you as if he was wondering whether he should hide or not. You had beat Peter up a few times in the past and he really didn’t want to relive those moments.

Moody, meanwhile, focused his attention on you.

“Y/n, this is an order and we just had a conversation about orders. Trust the process.”

You groaned and sat back in your chair with a huff.

“Fine but mark my words, if he fucks this up I will be cutting his head off and putting it on a stick.”

Moody shook his head while you gave Peter the biggest “try me, bitch” look imaginable.

“I would expect no less of you.”

You checked out of the remainder of the conversation. At the present moment, you didn’t want to participate any longer. You were too close to losing your shit. It was probably in your best interest not to say anything more….unless you wanted Moody to put a foot up your ass.

Nah, I’m good for today.

You thought as Moody dismissed the meeting. Moody had barely gotten the dismissal out before you were on your feet and storming out.

Had someone told you, years ago, that this was how your adulthood would turn out you would have slugged them. Now you were watching your friends' lives be in danger. You had already watched Marlene and Dorcas be killed. Now James, Lily, and baby Harry were in danger and there was nothing that you could do about it.

Stomping into the sitting room, you knew that you had to get a grip on yourself. You needed to breathe.

“Peter looked ready to shit himself when you threatened to cut his head off.”

You turned around to face Regulus. He stood in the doorway with an amused smile on his face. Stepping inside, Regulus closed the door as you turned back to the window.

“I wanted to climb across the table and shake him really good but I didn’t want to piss Moody off any more than I already have.”

“Yeah, about that…seriously, Y/n, what the fuck? You could have been killed.”

You groaned.

“Regulus, save the lecture. I have had a really long day and after that meeting…I’m just not in the mood.”

Regulus moved to join you at the window.

“I know that you’re worried. I also know that you are as pessimistic as me and none of what we just heard sounded feasible.”

“Oh, thank Merlin. Someone is seeing it my way! I like to say that for a pessimist I am pretty optimistic but I can’t be about this.”

You replied. Regulus was quiet for a moment before reaching out to take your hand in his.

“I miss this….us talking the way that we used to.”

You bit your lip before allowing yourself to squeeze Regulus’ hand.

“It never had to stop…you…”

Regulus instantly cut you off. It was time for him to say what he had needed to say for a long time.

“I did what I did for a reason. Y/n, I knew that you would have followed me anywhere. I was not about to let you turn into a dark witch to be with me. No one ever, here, understood why I turned to the dark arts yet you stood by my side. I knew that you were happy but you didn’t turn your back on me. I had to scare you away to keep you safe. That’s why I turned into the cold person that I had to be but look where it's gotten you. You are successful and independent. You weren’t relying on me for everything.”

You were quiet for a moment before speaking.

“You should have let me make my own decisions. Regulus, I supported everything that you did because I loved…love you. I know exactly why you turned to the dark arts…its because it's what you had to do with your family. That isn’t some super secret puzzle to me…I don’t want you to keep pushing me away…when I went to Azkaban the other day I saw Barty. Regulus, that could have been you. You could be sitting in the cell rotting away not knowing anything.”

Regulus’ face softened. Your super bad mood the day before suddenly made sense to Regulus now. You had spent too much time in that horrid place and it brought out the worst in you.

“I’m here with you now.”

Regulus commented in a soft tone. His voice reminded you of the boy that you had fallen in love with so long ago.

“Yeah, but for how long? How long until you turn cold again and shut me out?”

Taking a breath, you immediately wrapped your arms around Regulus and shoved your face against his chest. You couldn’t bring yourself to look into his eyes.

Regulus stood motionless for a moment before wrapping his arms around you. He held you tightly while breathing in your scent. Holding you felt like “home.” It felt like holding everything that any lucky man could have…the little piece of gold that was worth more than anything.

“Y/n, I can’t apologize enough but please trust me. I won’t be going anywhere.”

You didn’t move from your place in Regulus’ arms.

“It’s going to take me time to fully trust you.”

Our eyes may cry. Look what's become of me and my former. Steal away, steal away, remember At least we're all here together

_____

@amelie-black @jessyballet @fific7 @knreidy1 @georgeweasleydumbhoe @criminalyetminimal @justfinishthis @mimisparkle12 @teletubiswszpilkach @siriuslyceleste @golddustwomann @littleshadow17 @ell0ra-br3kk3r @livshifts @bxcndd @jsjcue @stelleduarte @millies0bsimp @coffeeaddictednymph @readtomeregulus @saramaple @missgorldafirst @i-love-scott-mccall @taylor-will-be-the-death-of-me @s-we-e-t-t-ea @buttercup-beeee @f4iryluvy @panpride @daddyslittlevillain @gugggu6gvai @jag9000 @quinis @mentally-unstable-hoe @yousmellllikecaca @haroldpotterson @goldensunshineshit @aurorasnape12 @ad-astra-again @dumybitch @marichromatic @ravenhood2792 @play-morezeppelin @spideyxalmighty @lucasfilms77 @rubyroscoe1 @lostarc24 @brokencasbutt67-writer @authoressskr @moldy-old-boot @hankypranky @summer-novak @shaylybaby2032 @emiwrites3reads @knight-of-gleefulness @li0nh34rt @tas898 @untoldshortsofthefandoms @deanwherescas @shitfaceddaniel-blog @bennyberry @wontlookaway @sprnaturallover @mycuddlycorner

[ilynpilled]

this is an incoherent and unedited stream of consciousness but what i also take away from the whole process of mythmaking in the series is that it is in dialogue with the meta in such an interesting way.

ofc the series itself is a ‘song’. it is about stories and their power. it is about seeking meaning in fantasy. thrones alluded to this with the ending but it fumbled pretty hilariously at it. but i think there is an interrogation of truth inside of this whole dialogue. like a false ideal presented in fiction vs ‘truth’ in fiction. propaganda vs meaningful humanistic existential depth etc. jaime is a very existential character. he wants to make himself into a story. he wants to make his life have meaning because he dreads his existence and himself as a human being. he has one of the most severe existential crises in the series. “why would the stars want to look down on such as me?” is that. the stump is about an empty space that he needs to fill. it is about severing a previous identity, it is a metaphor for so many things in his life. but he in particular has such a layered relationship with stories and how they function and what his role in them is. he hates lies. he hates songs and stories for lying to him. he hates the story that he became, it destroyed his identity. and yet after hope is rekindled he once again desperately grasps for an unachievable false ideal to redefine his existence so he can stop hating himself. i reiterate, a figure like “arthur dayne” is as much of a lie as “kingslayer.” like these are all lies or incomplete truths. there is no goldenhand the just either, just the ugliness of a stump, as he subconsciously concludes in the dream in affc. human beings are more complicated than myths. so i cannot help but think that the whole idea of legacy in jaime’s story is more about the eyes of the reader and himself and certain characters rather than the eyes of the world that he is in. that feels like such a rich metatextual mess that works so well thematically. deconstructing and reconstructing the knight from the stories. what i find interesting is that the songs and myths within asoiaf are also often about ‘dehumanizing’ the subjects, but the series itself at its foundation is about thoroughly humanizing its characters. the songs are about interpretation, and they are not meant to be defining or all encompassing. they can often present a false reality that upholds a status quo rather than depicting truth. but they can also hold some universal truth in their depths that humanity can thrive for. that feels like a very intentional conversation the text is having with itself and its genre.

anyways yeah he is deeply concerned with ‘legacy’ and what mark he will leave. what the whole point of his existence was. he wants to redefine his existence, and he is desperate to make that definition something redeemable. i generally view the whole process of redemption and reformation as something unanswered and continuous. being better is not something you just “become” to me. it is not about being a bad or good person deep down, i do not think that is at all how george views human beings, it is about choices you make and keep making. with a character like jaime it should not be something that clearly and straightforwardly concludes with a simple answer. being better is a choice that has to be made every day. i have said that i am not that fond of the redemptive heroic death thing because again that is not something he is afraid of in the text, it feels very straightforward, and it is something he craves because in some ways he thinks meaning lies in that, not even a heroic death but just death where he dies with a sword in his hand. and yeah it is easier for him because it is simpler than confrontation and the grueling untangling of knots. fighting things physically is easier. being defeated physically is less scary. but i do not necessarily mind it if he dies eventually after key confrontations and some form of meaningful atonement and a form of existential victory. i do certainly get the feeling from the text that his life is on a timer right now and he has to make do and atone with the time that he has left. he is an older generation character that is attempting to actually redefine his existence, not just make something out of it like many of the other protagonists dealing with identity. but i cannot help but really dig the idea that george could be subverting that aspect of his character and he might conclude with the open and difficult reality that redefinition and reformation and redemption is not as straightforward as just ending your story on a better note and leaving a decent legacy. it could be about having to live with your flawed humanity and what you are as a whole and continuing on an unending inconclusive path of change anyway. that is more difficult and real, and accepting that reality requires existential courage.

songs are songs. jaime hates being a dehumanized figure. the kingslayer is like a figure from a song. much of the core of his character is that he is a human being that was in many ways ruined by being turned into a larger than life figure and myth. he is the villain and monster in the songs and stories. and that is the role he fulfills in the series up until this point too. during asos he realizes he wants to be the hero again like he used to dream as a young boy (the dream was always lingering, that romantic soul never really goes away, much of the JC dynamic for him is rooted in that fantasy, this idea of creating a false ideal: a song, something that gives his existence meaning). he thinks these things have meaning again in a deeper and more conscious way. but the series is not simple like the songs in it, it goes inside of the heads of these figures and it contextualizes them. how you are remembered by history is ultimately out of your control. again, those songs are not really ‘truth’. jaime deals with this so much. he is trying to write a story right now: a story that he chooses. that is what the white book is about. but he explicitly says he would rather slash it into pieces than fill it with lies. he keeps repeating he is sick of lies, which is a loaded statement concerning so many things in his arc. and the white book page is meant to represent his existence. i would like it if the whole idea of how jaime is remembered is more about the meta rather than an in universe thing. i would not mind jaime leaving a “bad legacy”. i do not think it matters how the songs remember him. what matters is where he actually ends up as a human being and what paths he had taken. i like it more as a conversation between him and the reader primarily. maybe the “heroes will always be remembered: the best and the worst and a few who were a bit of both - one of us is like to live in song etc.” is more about the impression of the reader, and the song is the series itself. that whole passage is very unsubtly meta anyway, we are supposed to point at him as we are reading the page, just as he points at the kingmaker. i am sure he is gonna be a figure that lives in song within the text too, i just do not think that is really about truth or what is ultimately defining for his story. like i would find it poignant if his legacy is a mixed bag or even a not particularly good one in history, and if he is never contextualized or redefined in the eyes of his world, but that will not change the reality of his actual story that we get to witness through his eyes and the eyes of other key characters. it makes it more meaningful to me bc then it becomes about an internal existential battle rather than an external one. and we know it is deeper than that for him already: “he did not think the maesters were like to confuse him with Prince Aemon the Dragonknight when they wrote their histories. Still, he felt curiously content.” i think his existential victory should be internally driven rather than defined by an uncontrollable external lens that often falsifies reality anyways, and never understood the people that thought him regaining his “honor” in the lens of westeros is what his arc’s interrogation of redemption is about. affc deconstructs that for him. like that is what his story arc played with a lot already. and his atonement is more about specific relationships with specific characters, not the eyes of history. what history hates him for is one of the most heroic acts in the series, that is not what has to be addressed and reformed.

what is also apparent to me at this point is that asoiaf doesn’t really have concrete conclusions and all encompassing rigid answers concerning the concepts that it interrogates. like obviously the characters have a different view of things. there are distinct philosophies that can all be reasonable and can contradict each other. there is a certain amount of relativism that is inherent to the structure of the story. george is giving the reader a bunch of perspectives, and allows them to decide for themselves. he is not gonna hold your hand and give you a straightforward answer on most things. take for example the whole:

"Are you saying you are monsters?"

"I am saying we are human. You are not the only one with wounds, Lady Brienne. Some of my brothers were good men when this began. Some were ... less good, shall we say? Though there are those who say it does not matter how a man begins, but only how he ends.” (this one especially is very tied to Jaime considering who it is said to and where and when etc)

vs

“A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.”

and many many other statements made by different characters at different stages and said to different protagonists dealing with the same question.

what i am trying to say with all of this is that i do not really have a preferred concrete endgame in that sense nor do i expect george to give a clear answer to certain questions proposed in his arc, but i do have certain conceptual preferences. i do not want him to end up “rewarded” or absolved, i think a lot of people project that onto people arguing that his arc is about redemption and an interrogation of redemption. idk if i would really like his story ending with him dying and then history remembering him as an “honorable” man because a passage written in the white book by a person he saved like in the show. i guess it is not that bad because it was obviously not his intention or goal by the end, but still. the only thing i really want for him is a well written existential victory, which is not really about absolution to me. he has been in a state of existential defeat and cowardice for like 20 years, locking himself into moral nihilism and false fantasies as a result of the incoherent moral structures of his world and his trauma and dissociative tendencies and rage over how he is understood. i just do not want his story to end with that again. that is what i would view as cynical and “pointless” and cyclical in an empty way. like i am not sure i want key decisions that may lead to tragedy to be self sabotage either. i want it to be a choice with meaning to him. i think it would be along the lines of accepting and confronting truth and reality and not letting hope be defeated by it, and continuing to believe that choices hold meaning despite it all.

[fictionstudent]

How "Link Click" fell from grace

Do you remember what the best anime of twenty-twenty-one was? I mean, do you still remember what was that anime that redefined genres?

Well, let me take you a little back in time. Tokyo Revengers’first season had just released, and people were absolutely crazy about its delinquent story. Yeah, it revived the delinquent genre for some time, but it’s not what I’m going to talk about. Anyway, after that, Horimiya was in everybody’s mind too. Mushoku Tensei Jobless Reincarnation too was really famous at the time. ODDTAXI redefined the way we think of mystery animes.

Even though all of these anime really stood out among the pile of great anime that came out that year, the most redefining one probably was Link Click.

The first season of Link Click literally took over the weeb community. And not just in India, people everywhere were going crazy for it. Nobody was able to get away from its fulfilling storyline and orgasmic animation. Everybody was talking about it. YouTubers all over the world—people with different tastes, different backgrounds, different backstories—all of them were just praising it.

The anime community has never been so damn united and fixed on a single opinion. There were always contrarians in the community with their bullshit hot takes, but everybody just loved Link Click.

But, the second season of the series just finished its run a few days ago. And, why isn’t anyone talking about it?

I mean, the first season ended on such a cliffhanger, man. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but this one main character was about to die, after all.

But, people never returned to Link Click.

And, it’s not the audience’s fault, either. Link Click II just isn’t Link Click anymore.

***

#01 - Plot

First, let me explain a little blurb of the story. Link Click follows the story of two friends, Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi, who have the ability to go back in time. And, they need a photo for it. Cheng could teleport the time the photo was clicked, and Lu Guang could see what happened in the twelve hours that followed the click of the photo—or it was something like that. And maybe that’s where its name comes from.

The first season ended on a cliffhanger, and the second season starts the story from where the first season ended. And, I’m not going to spoil that part. So let’s leave it at that.

The story of the second season is good. Like, it had its defects, but it was good. The filmmaker really did a good job of creating suspenseful episodes and playing up the cliffhanger. There was always this excitement when an episode ended, and I could imagine the amount of time and thought that must have gone to create something like this.

The characters are really fleshed out. All the backstories and backgrounds of each character really do justify the way they act and think. The protagonists and antagonists really did have some pretty cool problems that they needed to face and overcome. And, I feel there’s this really good use of each character’s strengths and weaknesses. Even some side characters had some really good screen-time to make them likable and make the audience cheer for them.

The filmmaker really did a good job at stepping up their game for this series. The murder mystery that the season follows was really engaging. I, personally, was shocked to see the tragic backstories and some experimental stuff that the creators decided to do.

Yeah, personally, I really enjoyed the series. But maybe that’s because I had forgotten what the first season actually was about.

***

#02 - Feels Off

Now that we’re done with formalities, let’s try to explain why no one’s talking about this show.

And, obviously, it’s because they made a mistake. A really big mistake. Personally, I never thought any show could make such a mistake, man. It’s… just so dumb. It’s just… so there. It’s the basics of any medium of storytelling, in my opinion.

They switched genres.

Yeah, they just decided to switch genres. And, I gotta take my time to explain clearly just what I want to.

First, a question—what made the first season of Link Click so legendary, in your opinion? What led to its exponential rise? What made people fall absolutely in love with this show? What made them literally cum to it? It’s definitely not the characters, not the animation, not the soundtrack.

It’s the theme.

Link Click had tried something new. The show used the rudimentary elements of time travel and gave something new to it. The power system had a twist to it that no one had imagined. And, time travel is largely attributed to mystery-thriller genre, because maybe that’s where the troupe works best. But, Link Click wasn’t a mystery-thriller.

The anime played well with the elements of time travel and really did explore some cool themes, you know. And, these themes were not just about time travel in itself—they were also about emotions so human. The first season was filled with stand-alone arcs that were filled with regrets and drama. New characters came to the protagonists to help them with the past, knowing that the present can’t be changed, but the past can definitely altered… knowing that death is just the end-point and there’s no evading it.

We followed these characters that were there for just an episode or two, maybe, and were absolutely drowned in their stories, their regrets, their failures, and most of all… their pasts.

Link Click was all about those emotions and that drama. The audience stuck with it because it had a sense of mystery, yes, but mostly it was the drama. People absolutely loved to try unraveling the mysteries of the stories that were told in the first season.

And, people absolutely loved the cliffhanger that marked the end of the first season… that so gracefully connected the first and last episode of the season.

Yeah, the first season was all about drama, and less but intriguing mysteries that were connected to it. But, Link Click II is different.

For some reason, the filmmakers just decided to switch. The drama is still there, the mystery is still there, but their roles have changed.

The second season is all about irrelevant characters dying and relevant ones just getting their asses saved somehow. The story focuses more on the protagonists finding the antagonists and trying to defeat them. The drama is still there, you know, but it’s more focused on just the backstories. The human essence that the first season was filled with is lacking just too much in the second one.

The second season was just too different than the first one. With the main focus on the murders and mysteries, the fans of Link Click didn’t come back to see this shit. They wanted some heart-wrenching drama that dripped off the first season. They wanted all that depressing, everyday stories. They wanted some seriously heart-touching writing that the first season showed it. But, the creators had decided otherwise.

And, it was this shift in the themes of the story that eventually led to the fall of Link Click II.

***

#03 - Fractured Structure

Even as a mystery, the series shows signs of weak writing. The story was poorly structured and rather focused on shock factor than on some substantial plot advances.

To elaborate, I’d first begin with what I had already talked about. The second season had literally no other connections with the first season—other than the first and last episodes, obviously. If you take out the first and last episodes, the entire first season feels just another thing. If you compare these episodes to the second season, there are literally no hints that the story was going to advance in this direction. I mean, the change was just so sudden and unwanted. And, it was most probably not planned at all. The writers must have just decided to add the first and last episodes in the stand-alone episodes of the first season to connect it somehow with what they were about to do.

The vibes of the story literally changed when the seasons switched. And, although it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it should have been gradual, perhaps, and maybe they could throw more hints to make it a little obvious that what we were seeing in the first season is not the actual story that they’re going to follow.

Then, there are also other instances of lazy planning in Link Click II, such as the cliffhangers at the end of each episode. These cliffhangers are there just to keep the audience entertained and make them click on the next episode. And, in, like, the first five minutes, these guys explain what had actually happened behind the scenes that were not shown anywhere in the previous episodes, and then soon after, the cliffhangers open up, and we get to know that nothing substantial comes out of it. They just… happened, and then ended, and then the story moved to the next cliffhanger.

In a mystery series, one important thing is that the cliffhangers should not be done like that. If the cliffhangers are there, the writers make sure that the story doesn’t have to switch back in time in the next episodes to explain those cliffhangers, and that there are sufficient hints that the audiences can kinda see the cliffhanger coming. The cliffhangers in the series felt like something just somehow happened, and how it happened was explained later. It’s lazy. I mean, drop some hints, man, so it doesn’t sound lazy and actually seems like it was planned.

Another thing I’d attribute to lazy writing is the ever-expanding power system of the story. As the story moves forward, the going-back-in-time theme is just not there. Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are not just high-fiving each other to go back in time. Instead, they are discovering their new power. Lu Guang can somehow see the past of the photo without Cheng going back in time. Like, we never knew this was possible? And, somehow, this Cheng guy is just teleporting himself from one place to another through some security footage. There are a few more people with new powers, somehow, and even though two seasons have passed, there’s no hint whatsoever about why anybody of these guys have these powers.

***

#04 - Conclusion

Yeah, I guess that’s it. I pulled off a little too much hatred at the series, even though I definitely enjoyed it and was thrilled by those cliffhangers nonetheless.

And yeah, from the end of the second season, it’s clear that there’s gonna be another season in the series. And maybe there’s no going back from this point. Link Click is not gonna be the same anymore, and that’s pretty obvious by now. It’s not going to go back to the first season.

But, I still have high hopes from the next season. I’d be waiting nonetheless. Finishing stories halfway is not what I do.

[davekat-sucks]

Many curses upon you for making me look at Jane with arm hair, JK no curse only love.

I get your point about art styles from tumblr looking sketchy and lazy. I feel the same way but it’s hard to articulate why it bothers me because there’s a million things wrong with it. 1. It’s ugly 2. It’s disrespectful 3. If you’re critical of it, people assume it’s because you’re an “ist” or a phobe.

I often think these tumblr artists want people to look ugly on purpose. I think they’re trying to “redefine beauty.” Which means making black people look like a caricature, women having a lot of body hair and everyone needs to have scars and stretch marks.

What sucks in my eyes is that plenty of over weight people I’ve meet are great at makeup and styling their hair. They portray fat people like slobs and then pretend they are representing fat people well. Course, if you’re 300 pounds and five foot four that’s not good but what’s healthy isn’t my point right now. My point is fat people and/or chubby people are depicted by the tumblr crowd like they’re ugly monsters.

(((Off topic a bit; it’s pretty funny that Jane is the “fat” character in Homestuck and yet she’s the meanest bitch in HS^2 and the fandom agrees with the plot shitting on her.)))

So my main point is gonna be this; Art should be made to express something and/or capture beauty. The intent of these tumblr artists is to portray someone else’s characters through a tumblrified lens, so it feels more like a trend than a legitimate take on a character. No different from when everyone made characters look like pastel goths or wear swag 2013 LMFAO clothes. It feels like a dumb trend that’s existed past its due date.

Sorry my ideas are a bit all over the place here but I’m really trying to understand why the art style bothers me. That being said though, if people wanted to make any character any race or weight it’s something I welcome. Just I wish there was more thought about if what they’re drawing is done well or respectfully.

I like to see twilight sparkle drawn black or at least with dark skin cause it’s just my headcanon but I don’t want to see her drawn like a horrible stereotype like that pinkie pie drawing from a while back.

I wouldn't mind if grotesque art is shown as beauty itself in the context of the strange and horror one can make. Ugly art mixed with comedy too is great to show contrast that strange figures or shapes should terrify us but makes us laugh at how weird and crazy it is. People call that 'Newgrounds' art because of figures such as Egoraptor, Spazkid, and Zach Hadel (one of the creators of Smiling Friends), showing weird expressions or animations that looks so strange out of context by using grotesque art as their main point.

It is really is people thinking they have to take all the faults and flaws as a serious thing. If anybody dares laugh at it like it's a joke or think it is portrayed as shock value, they get labeled as the ist/phobia bullshit. It's strange that people want others to see fat, beauty, stretch marks, and everything that seemed as bad, as a positive thing. But the more they emphasize it, it can be taken to extremes that it turns into a negative. That's the paradox of it. God knows those people hate stuff like BBW or weight gain art because it "fetishizes" those traits. I don't mind strange weird art if the point of it is something like for laughs or horror. There probably can be gross art that still portrays it as oddly sweet. Just that the execution of it by the new gen, doesn't pull off well these days.