#just let me be a modern hedge witch

[canmom]

Animation Night 193 - Harpier cries: 'tis time! 'tis time!

PREVIOUSLY, in the dark halls of ANIMATION NIGHT, you have born witness to such horrors as these...

Animation Night 25: HORROR, featuring Kakurenbo, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, and many episodes of Yamishibai

Animation Night 77: Once More, Halloween, featuring Blood: The Last Vampire, Seoul Station, The Wolf House, and Shoujo Tsubaki - and more Yamishibai...

Animation Night 129: Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed..., featuring Hellsing Ultimate, The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb, Mad God, Ujicha's Violence Voyager, and guess what? Yamishibai...

Animation Night 176: The Hedge-Pigge Whin'd, a rather scuffed production which, contra the writeup, ended up just showing the Darkstalkers OVA from 1997. And some Yamishibai of course.

And now, my friends, and now... the witching hour is soon to be upon us once more, and it is time we revelled in the darkness and terror, for tonight is hallow'een, easily the best festival in the western calendar.

Many thanks go to @glitch-critter and @muzothecat, who provided me some excellent suggestions for animated horror that I have yet to see. Not that reruns would be the end of the world, there's some excellent shit on the list above I would be immensely glad to see again.

To begin with, we have the recently-released The Birth of Kitarō: The Mystery of GeGeGe (幾多郎誕生：ゲゲゲの謎). Which provides an excellent excuse to get into the subject of Kitarou. So let's begin our dark and sordid tale... well, it's actually a pretty positive tale, but that's not really in the spirit of things.

GeGeGe no Kitarō is a truly classic manga series dating back to the 60s, created by Shigeru Mizuki. But it's actually older still: the earliest incarnation of Kitarō is in a kamishibai performance written/illus. by Masami Itō and Keiyō Tatsumi back in 1933, called Hakaba Kitarō (Kitarō of the Graveyard). It tells the story of a ghost boy called Kitarō who lives in a graveyard; like many kamishibai it was aiming at straight up horror. Here's a board from the original (photo by translator Zack Davisson, thanks wikipedia):

So, you know yōkai? You're reading this blog, so probably, but just in case, they are the various freaky spirits of Japanese folklore, from kappa and tengu to nekomata and chōchin-oiwa. And the reason why they are such a popular feature of modern popular culture (you all know what a kappa is, right?) is in large part due to this manga.

Shigeru Mizuki, born 1922, had a pretty wild life. He was drafted into the army in 1943 at age 21, and lost his left arm in a bombing the next year; during his recovery he made friends among the Tolai people of New Guinea. He came home after the war, and found work renting out an apartment building and drawing kamishibai on the side; gradually the kamishibai work took over. In 1953, his brother Sōhei moved in after being tried for war crimes (the timeline does not mention the outcome of the trial); in 1957 at age 35 he moved to drawing manga, debuting in rental manga with Rocketman.

Starting in 1960 at the behest of Mizuki's publisher, the Hakaba Kitarō manga adapted the story of the yamishibai, introducing a wider audience to ghost boy Kitarō with his floofy hair and little third eye on a stalk. It proved explosively popular (despite being at first deemed too scary for children), telling the stories of Kitarō's encounters with all kinds of yōkai. The state of English translations is a bit scattershot; some of it is available on mangadex.

In 1964, at age 42, Mizuki debuted in serialised manga in Garo magazine - a name you might find familiar, the avant-garde magazine which also published authors like Suehiro Maruo (ero-guro mangaka, the author of Shoujo Tsubaki) and Hiroshi Masamura (the guy who made the cat manga we looked into on AN188). There, he rebooted the Kitarō manga, starting once again with the story of the birth of Kitarō. Before long he jumped over to the much larger Monthly Shonen Magazine, and retooled Kitarō to be more kid-oriented. From then on it's Kitarō city - and the immense success of the manga gave him the chance to regularly return to the newly combined state of Papua New Guinea.

In 1968, Kitarō arrived in animation land, one of Toei's early projects. It quickly became one of those classic famous Toei anime, you know the type, the kind of thing that every Japanese person of a certain age would have seen on TV. Mizuki himself composed the OP, and it continued to get sequels throughout the ensuing fifty years, with the most recent being in 2018. This is an old and widely beloved anime so there is a lot of it: the 1968 series accumulated 65 episodes, the third series in 1985-88 is the longest at 115, but the others are no slouch either; even the 2018 series pulled out a mighty 97.

As such, it's... perhaps a little daunting! But...

The Birth of Kitarō is a prequel to the 2018 series... and rather than being a spooky-fun kids anime, it's intended as a genuine horror story aimed at adults, presumably adults who grew up watching Kitarō, returning to the earliest Garo-era tone of the manga. Set in the 50s, the story sees salaryman Mizuki arrive in a village in pursuit of a mysterious medicine, where he finds the village ruled by an old superstitious family. Naturally, before long, murders start happening. And a mysterious white-haired man is somehow involved...

Seems like the perfect way to get into Kitarō. I missed the chance to see this film at Annecy this year, but it's already out on nyaa, so let's jump on it.

So that's our first act. What of our second?

Junk Head is a stop-motion scifi film pretty much enitrely solo animated by Takehide Hori who, at age 40, heard about Makoto Shinkai's solo-animated film Voices of a Distant Star (AN44), and was inspired to spend the next seven years working on a stop-motion scifi epic of his own. It tells of a cyborg from a future where humans have lost the ability to reproduce, venturing into a strange underground realm full of freaky creatures that, I'm told, invite comparisons to the art of Giger, Bosch, Escher and Gorey, and the films of Švankmajer (whose Alice we watched on AN50), Gilliam, and the Quay Brothers. del Toro lauded it as a 'work of deranged brilliance'.

Which is to say this is exactly the kind of thing we like to show here on Animation Night. I can't believe I didn't hear of this film before. Sources are not exactly abundant, but I was able to find a hardsubbed 720p version with a few seeds on it, so that's what we'll be watching tonight.

Speaking of the Brothers Quay, who enjoy a remarkably in-depth and thorough wiki page, they have yet to appear on Animation Night, and it's about time we remedied that! A pair of identical twins from the Pennsylvania who moved to the UK in 1969 to study at the RCA, they got their start in illustration before making a turn to stop motion film using bits of dolls and various other materials in the vein of Švankmajer.

They are incredibly prolific as a pair, making shorts in nearly every year from 1979 to 2021 (bar a couple of hiatuses). Most of their films are without dialogue, set instead to the music of Leszek Jankowski and a great many other other composers. They are huge book nerds too, adapting authors from Lem and Kafka to Emma Hauck; honestly there's a ton to dive into here and I will for sure be returning to these guys on a future Animation Night. Tonight, however, our pick will be Street of Crocodiles (2021), a musical piece in which a puppet walks through a desolate realm of "mechanical realities and manufactured pleasures", widely celebrated as one of their best films.

Stop motion seems to be a theme tonight, huh? Somehow, stop motion is just spookier than traditional animation. That theme continues with The House, an anthology piece for Netflix depicting three different stories taking place in the same house. Animated in London, each piece brings in a different director, respectively Emme de Swaef and Marc James Roels co-directing the first, Swedish director Niki Lindroth von Bahr the second and Mexican-British actress turned director Paloma Baeza for the third.

The stories span a few hundred years, from the 1800s to a flooded post climate change future. In each case, the house is the stage for tales of obsession and misguided ambition leading to disaster, whether it should befall anthro rats, humans or anthro cats. Widely praised for its animation and general weirdness, I'm quite excited to see what this mix has in store.

And returning of course will be Yamishibai, the wonderful long-running series of ridiculous cutout-animated creepypasta horror in the vein of old-school kamishibai boards. You know we gotta. And hey, if we're feeling in a really good mood at the end of the evening, I might bring Shoujo Tsubaki out of the vaults too. We shall see.

Animation Night 193 shall begin, with its gruesome course of animated horrors, at seventh hour.... which is to say 7pm UK time, just over four hours from the writing of this post. Be there, or be forever haunted by the ghosts of frames unseen (unless you gotta go trick or treat or something, we understand). The place? Upon the heath... of twitch.tv/canmom!

Hoooohhooohohoohooohooohohoooooooooo!

[pedropascalsx]

3000 FOLLOWER CELEBRATION POST!

- The fanfiction edition.

Hi friends! I don’t know how it happened but I hit 3000 followers recently and I feel unbelievably lucky! I joined this site just over a year ago and I have met many wonderful people and gained multiple friendships from doing so.

And I wanted to celebrate YOU guys and show some appreciation for the fanfics that have taken up space in my heart.

I will be posting a few different celebration posts, one for fanfics, one for people I follow and one more for the GIFs and fics that i’ve created and that i’m proud of.

The list is below in no particular order! They just happen to be posted in a way that my brain let me remember them. I limited the list to ONE fic per writer as I wanted to showcase as many people as I could; so please check out their entire master lists!

1. Weeknights by @frannyzooey - Frankie Morales x F! Reader.

2. Notes on Tutoring by @honestly-shite - Dave York x F! Reader.

3. Lay It On Me by @lavendertales - Javier Peña x F! DEA Reader.

4. The Crush by @the-ginger-hedge-witch Javier Peña x OFC Isabel!

5. Consent by @fuckyeahdindjarin - Dieter Bravo x F! Reader.

6. Celestial Navigation by @write-and-buried - Dieter Bravo x F! Reader.

7. Run to You by @foli-vora - Marcus Pike x F! Reader.

8. Silent Affection by @kteague - Frankie Morales x F! Reader.

9. Psychomanteum by @whatsnewalycat - Dieter Bravo x OFC Louella!

10. Another Way by @theewokingdead - Din Djarin x F! Reader.

11. Stitches by @djarinsbeskar - Din Djarin x F! Reader.

12. Stranger At My Gate by @leslie-lyman - Pero Tovar x Modern! OFC.

13. Sunshine on a Cloudy Day by @pedrito-friskito - Frankie Morales x F! Reader.

14. Intimidation Tactics by @whataperfectwasteoftime - Marcus Pike x Dave York x F! Reader.

15. Peñas Anatomy by @guess-my-next-obsession - Javier Peña x OFC/Reader Lucky.

16. Cognitive Dissonance by @prolix-yuy - Agent Whiskey x F! Reader Sugar.

17. Fix You by @astoryisaloveaffair - Frankie Morales x F! Nanny Reader.

18. My Best Friends Dad by @whiskeynwriting - Dave York x F! Reader.

19. Sinners by @brandyllyn - Pero Tovar x F! Reader.

20. Façade by @furious-rogue-stuff - Dave York x F! Reader.

21. Lie to Me by @iamskyereads - Javier Peña x F! Reader.

22. Ego & Black Powder by @psychedelic-ink - Pero Tovar x F!Prison Guard.

23. Saturdays with Javier by @wildemaven - Javier Peña x F! Reader.

24. Black Sheeps by @charnelhouse - Dave York x F! Reader.

25. Like a River by @radiowallet - Macus Moreno x F! Reader x Frankie Morales.

I also wanted to share TEN of my all time favourite stories by @absurdthirst because it’s literally impossible to pick just one.

1. Stormy Secrets - Dave York x F! Reader.

2. Starvation - Ezra x F! Reader.

3. Xingjião - Pero Tovar x F! Reader.

4. Married to the Mafia - Dave York x F! Reader.

5. Under His Skin - Dave York x F! Reader.

6. Late for Valentines - Dave York x F! Reader.

7. The Donor - Marcus Pike x F! Reader x Dave York.

8. Protective Big Brother - Frankie Morales x F!Davis Reader.

9. Murphy's Sister - Javier Peña x F!Murphy Reader.

10. Daddy Dieter - Dieter Bravo x F! Reader.

PLEASE NOTE - I AM DOING A FOLLOW RECS LIST NEXT!

If I follow you and you didn't make it onto this list - you will be on the next one! Also I will be doing a mini post for published and soon to be published books!

I'm sorry if anyone is missing, it's always a pain trying to remember everyone but this is a list of the fics that mean a lot to me and that i love so so so much!

[rumbelleshowdown]

-

Question: How many unused prompts were left after the Showdown?

Answer: 170! And here they are! (Under the cut, b/c long.)

You’re not like me. 

Trust isn’t everything. 

Liberties. 

Teeth.

The light’s gone out. 

Sweet or savory. 

Worst patient. 

Flower of fate. 

Workplace romance. 

Cinderella AU. 

Wake the prince. 

Runaway bride. 

Little Gideon, shop, Weaver. 

Leather and steel. 

Magical exhaustion. 

Near-death. 

Fluffy clouds, shapes, sunlight. 

Dark, darker, darkest. 

The Book of Kells. 

The Long Room. 

Irish pub with music. 

Historical AU – Victorian. 

Sharing a dreamscape. 

Milestones. 

First kisses. 

Last time. 

Tea shop. 

Hedge maze. 

Heist gone wrong. 

Last of the teabags. 

Phone battery low. 

Is the ghost friendly? 

A bad book. 

Uglier than you are.

Talking in your sleep. 

Modern pop culture references

Soulmate au -seeing colors

Overhears talking to self

Plus size belle

Chatroom/catfishing

Matchmaker henry

Appearance glamor

Blind/deaf main character 

Talking tea pots

Dreaming of maidens and monsters. 

Whispers of desire. 

Belle kicks Zelena’s ass. 

TikTok trends. 

Twister game night. 

This isn’t your Uber. 

Adopting a new pet. 

Deck of cards. 

Aquarium, coffee, washing machine. 

Preparing for something big. 

Words on your skin. 

Enchanted Forest. 

High School Musical. 

Station 19. 

Hyperion Heights. 

Little girl named Rose. 

Storm, poison, tears, light. 

Sacrifice, True Love, healing. 

Weaver doesn’t make it. 

Nurse Belle. 

Please help my Papa. 

Please, wake up. 

Sacrifice, pain, light, laugh. 

Don’t leave me alone. 

Whiskey in a teacup. 

Night talk. 

Butler!Gold. 

The Light One!Belle. 

Let’s just pretend. 

Blood went cold.

Greenhouse, museum. 

Twirling in his arms. 

Crushed wedding. 

Flirting at a ball. 

“I forgot to shave?” 

“There is only me.” 

Forget-me-nots. 

Candyshop, Baelfire, awkward. 

Creature of darkness. 

Bird in a cage. 

Yearning for adventures.

Turn no into maybe.

I have school tomorrow. 

Some bathing suits shouldn’t…

Let’s keep this one. 

Younger and younger. 

My bag of tricks. 

Slowly yet surely. 

weaver. 

Warm and cozy. 

Library, lingerie, desk, defile. 

Ravenous, coverage, squirting. 

Moving out. 

Moving in. 

Cat sitting. 

“Well, this is awkward.” 

Red wine. 

Storybrooke’s incumbent mayor. 

Hiring Mr. Cassidy. 

Dagger, snow, fire. 

Arrows, magic, curse. 

Curse, awakening, assassin. 

Heroes.

The witching hour. 

Salt. 

Touch. 

Honeymoon. 

Cloud gazing. 

Spontaneous presents. 

Handcuffs. 

Stroking the hair. 

Soothing caress. 

Selfie. 

One last taste 

“Please don’t go.” 

Blood and tears. 

Wedding on the run. 

Werewolves, bake bread, family. 

Detective, curious, strange. 

Amnesia, photographs, scent, blankets. 

Bird in a cage. 

Secret garden. 

Fairy, mischief, music-box, mist.

Empty, street lamp, snow. 

Ball dancing, imp, tease. 

The girl is drunk. 

Golden hour. 

Lantern, fright, cloak. 

Crooked teeth. 

Magic ritual. 

Magical flower. 

White sheets, bright light. 

Lonely night. 

Stuck in my brain. 

Ski/Skateboard. 

Surfing. 

Dreadful weather. 

Strange love, trouble, ghost. 

Heaven in hiding, garden. 

Gardener. 

3 am, drive, hurricane. 

Dress made of gold. 

Dizzy, truth or dare. 

Suffocating, night, walk, breath. 

Running away. 

Ocean waves. 

Haunted house. 

Witch!Belle, magical library, Salem. 

Insane. 

Gloom. 

Goose, attack, hug. 

Strawberry shortcake, tongue, blood. 

Horrid sight, “How dear.” 

Liminal space. 

Hatred, “You saved me.” 

Poetry, smoking, naked, paintings. 

“It’s our secret, then.” 

Forest spirit. 

Jeweler!Gold. 

Misty town, secrets. 

Something to uncover. 

Mermaid/merman. 

Fall through the ice. 

Forest is my home. 

Dumb and dumber. 

You don’t know everything. 

-

[kaletastrophes]

The great Ethan Hawke once said “I’ve always had a thing for Westerns.” I, too, have always had a thing for Westerns. And a thing for Ethan Hawke. And, for the past year, a thing for Pedro Pascal. And next month all of my things are combining into one big thing. A film called “Strange Way of Life”, a Spanish western (anti-western?) about two former friends (lovers?) reuniting after 25 years apart.

To celebrate this momentous collaboration of all my "things" I would like to submit to this website a small collection of Westerns I believe would be helpful to watch before the release of Strange Way of Life next month. I’ve tried to give each film in the list a summary and a small explanation of why I included it in the list.

Some of these I’ve included simply because of how wonderful they are, some because I believe they’re going to inform Strange Way of Life in one way or another, and one because I, no lie, watched it in a movie theater with Ethan Hawke himself at a film festival he put on.

(@the-ginger-hedge-witch hi! I hope its okay to tag you the western queen in this! I thought maybe you would be interested in this western love fest.)

Without further ado:

Westerns I believe would make wonderful companion films to Strange Way of Life:

Red River

How does one delicately say….the scene in which Montgomery Clift meets John Ireland is so homoerotic and so sexy it’s almost unbearable. Have you ever wanted to watch two cowboys compare the weight and size of their dicks by trading guns? Well you’re going to love this film! To put it simply, as a wonderful youtube comment said, “give me one heterosexual reason for this scene. SPOILER there isn’t one!!” Exactly. This film has been hailed in film history for 2 things: the first being that Montgomery Clift burst onto the scene in this movie with a new way of acting (the method) that was so incredible it changed film acting forever. Literally. FOREVER. The second being, this is one of the gayest westerns ever filmed and has been viewed as one of the brightest examples of how homosexuality always found its way past censors. Clift and Ireland were lovers in real life and wow does that come through in every second of this film. Yes, sadly, John Wayne is in this film, but please don’t let this deter you. It’s simply incredible.

Summary: A father (John Wayne) and his adopted son (Montgomery Clift) feud over the management of a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas.

Unforgiven

What happens when one of our greatest Western actors ever, Clint Eastwood, thinks "actually Westerns promote an unrealistic black and white version of history and a kind of violence that is unrealistic at best and actively harmful to our society at worst"? You get THE Western to end ALL Westerns. (Note: please heed trigger warnings for this film!)

Summary: After a sex worker is assaulted, William Munny (Clint Eastwood) comes out of retirement to take one last bounty job and must finally confront the violent and reckless past he thought he left behind.

The Wild Bunch

One last job goes bad trope? Check. Men who have aged just enough they cant understand the modern world that now surrounds them? Check. Men driving themselves to madness after they violate their code of ethics by betraying a friend? CHECK. This film has it all, and it's why its considered one of the greatest Anti-Westerns ever made. And, as I've now mentioned twice before on this site lol, the wine scene in the Strange Way of Life trailer is, I believe, a direct retelling of a scene in this film.

Summary: An aging outlaw gang on the Mexico–United States border plan to retire after a final robbery but find themselves having to adapt to the changing modern world of 1913.

Hud

Paul Newman is HUD! Would you believe I added another Anti-Western to this list?? A father and son fight after their cattle falls ill. Thats the simple summary. My summary: What happens when masculinity becomes so toxic it's like a disease infecting everything and everyone around it? HUD is what happens. This is one of the films I watched at Ethan Hawkes film festival, Paul Newmans West, earlier this year. It's staggering. Hawke has clearly spent a long, long time thinking about Newman, Westerns, and his own life and career. Its hard for me to imagine he didn't carry at least a piece of this performance with him into Strange Way. (Note: please heed trigger warnings about this film as well!)

Summary: Honest and hard-working Texas rancher Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas) has a conflict with his unscrupulous, selfish, arrogant and egotistical son Hud (Paul Newman).

The Power of The Dog

ANOTHER gay anti-western?? Yes. YES. One of my favorite films. Loneliness and internalized homophobia destroy, we all know that, but it feels like it's never been said more powerfully or put more fully on display than in this film.

Summary: A domineering rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) responds with mocking cruelty when his brother (Jesse Plemons) brings home a new wife and her son, until the unexpected comes to pass.

Brokeback Mountain

The film that started it all! Almodóvar famously turned down directing Brokeback Mountain in 2004 because he felt the studio would stifle his vision. “(Strange Way of Life) could be like my answer to Brokeback Mountain."- Almodóvar  What more is there to say? A watch (or re-watch) is imperative.

Summary: In 1963, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre as sheep herders in Wyoming.

Extracurricular Films

Westerns staring Ethan Hawke:

The Magnificent Seven

In a Valley of Violence

The Kid

The Good Lord Bird (miniseries)

Westerns staring Pedro Pascal:

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Triple Frontier

The Mandalorian (series)

The Last of Us (series)

Films shown at Ethan Hawke's Film Festival, Paul Newmans West:

The Left Handed Gun

Hombre

Hud

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Highlights from Pedro Almodóvar's directing career:

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

All About My Mother

Talk to Her

Bad Education

Volver

Parallel Mothers

[teawitch]

i know there's all KINDS of different types like storm witches, solar witches, green witches, love witches, and even lunar witches!

The first thing to address is that is essentially a lie created by social media.

Okay, I'm tempted to soften the word "lie" to something like "modern concept" but this thing has been throwing new witches off for about a decade because, with a handful of exceptions, it really is only about a decade old.

A witch may have different strengths and weakness that may even change over the decades. A witch's practice may be strongly influenced by the culture they are raised it. A witch may even join a tradition, which provides a defined sort of "type."

So, British Traditional Witchcraft (tradcraft) is a type of witchcraft. Wicca is a type of witchcraft. Gardnerian Wicca would be an even more specific type of witchcraft. Look, you'll know if you're a Gardnerian witch because there will be a high priest or priestess who initiates you into the tradition. So we don't have to worry much about these types from that perspective.

Kitchen witch, Hearth witch and cottage witch are all sort of generic types of witchcraft, generally practiced around the home. But hedge witch is a specific tradition. Green witch started with 2 different authors so there were 2 streams but essentially it's gardening and herb craft. Anyone can use the term.

Which is what happens with almost every term outside of the initiatory traditions - anyone can use it and anyone can decide what it means for them.

But let's take the modern terms.

Lunar witch - every tradition I've mentioned above works with or uses the moon in some aspect. So I'm not sure what a lunar witch would do that would be different from other types of witchcraft.

Storm witch - I have a big iron railroad spike in my house created by a member of the Feri tradition to protect my house from hurricane energy. This was done when a major hurricane was bearing down on Florida. The house was not damaged. So I'm going for - the man is a really good storm witch. But if you ask him, he'll provide details on the Feri tradition he's initiated into.

Solar witches - the UU near me holds a big ritual every winter solstice where everyone gathers in the evening, eats food, tells stories and stays up all night to greet the rising sun with ritual. That's based on Norse tradition, not witchcraft. But most witchcraft traditions do work with the sun and the seasons. So, we're all solar witches.

Love witch - IDK. That's some movie that's been popping up on the witchcraft tags for a decade or so. No idea what it's about. But Wicca has the Great Rite.

Do not get me started on Death witch. Because right now I am dealing with real life death of a parent and calls to the county medical examiner and trust me, no one wants to come into my space with the term "death witch' right now unless you are willing to handle the damn paperwork.

Anyway. Don't worry about what type of witch you are. Just focus on being a witch and exploring what is out there. (Find Breelandwalkers blog. She has more resources than I do, but here's a start.)

gosh i feel like my blog is just questions about witch things nowadays 😭

which is fine since i love to learn more about what it is being a witch, considering that i’ve been doing witchcraft for almost a year and feel like i know next to nothing at all

my question of the night is:

how do you know what kind of witch you are? i know theres all KINDS of different types like storm witches, solar witches, green witches, love witches, and even lunar witches! but how do i know what i am?

[frannyzooey]

In The Dark: 11

Ezra x f!Reader

Rating: Explicit

Series Masterlist

A/N: Thank you endlessly to both @mourningbirds1​ and @the-ginger-hedge-witch​ for helping me with this one - they both gave me endless reassurance and great advice, and I couldn’t have done it without them. ❤️

—

“This?”

You look up from the stack of used notebooks in your hands, glancing at the cover of the book Ezra’s holding. 

“No.”

He nods, placing it next to him before reaching for his beer, taking a long pull. He sets the bottle back down next to his thigh, reaching for the next book in the stack in front of him. 

“This one?”

You look up again, nodding. Watching him set that one into a box on his right, you make an internal face at how full it is already. 

“This?” 

You shake your head, and he places it just so in the discard pile. He picks up the next book, thumbing through the worn pages scribbled with ink in the margins and he flips it over, reading the back. 

Sitting on your floor, he’s bathed in a warm glow, a line of light from your lamp highlighting the curve of his nose and bringing to surface the rich brown blended into the darker strands of his hair. The light fades in its reach around his face, the whiskered cheek facing you darkened with shadow and when he absentmindedly reaches for his beer again, you watch the movement of his mouth, and the swallow of his throat.  Rain patters against the glass of the window in your living room, and the contrast between the bleak weather and the warmth of the room is cozy and comforting. 

“You can put that one in the donate pile,” you say, grabbing your phone from the floor. Ignoring the late hour listed on the screen, you swipe it open and switch the music in the room from Cat Power to “Modern Romance” by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 

He looks up at you with a grin, and you match it when you see his dimple, deep in his cheek. 

“Nice.”

The domesticity of the scene is littered all over the room: his shoes by the door, his jacket on the couch, takeout boxes on your coffee table. The book he’s reading (one he swiped from your stack the last time he was here) is on your kitchen table, one of your bookmarks keeping his spot. Street sounds waft through the glass underneath the thrum of the bass, the floors creaking above you as your neighbors shuffle around, and the two of you sit together on the floor, sorting.

He sets the book on top of the stack next to him, reaching for the next one and you go back to the notebooks in your hands, organizing them the same way. These are much harder to get rid of than books - the curled, filled pages holding thousands of words of your scrawled handwriting, and anything that holds a semblance of a story idea goes into one stack, while anything that has to do strictly with school goes into another. You open one, the aesthetics of the flowing black ink with the neat, blunt lines of bullet point highlighted text speaking directly to your soul and you admire the page for a moment before closing it, placing it in the keep pile.

“This one?”

He holds a romance book in his hand, and you laugh at the way he’s wiggling his eyebrows. 

“I mean, I should donate it……unless you wanna take it home?” you tease. 

“Oh, I’m taking all of these home, Birdie.” He turns the book to look at the summary on the back, reading it. “This one sounds filthy,” he murmurs. “I’m definitely gonna keep it.”

“You don’t have to bring them home,” you say, frowning. “I’ll find a place to drop them off. You don’t need to do that.”

“I don’t wanna give these away,” he answers, placing the book he’s holding down next to the rest of them. He picks up another one and flips through it, a look of affection stealing across his face at the sight of your haphazard lines, scrawled notes and highlights. He pauses for a moment, his voice quieting. “They have your writing in them.”

“My Birdie’s thoughts?” he continues, raising his eyebrows in question before closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Those belong only to me.”

You let your head tilt to the side, your face melting into a shy smile. Leaving your notebooks on the floor, you start to crawl towards him and he watches with amusement, his eyes darkening at the movement. 

“You’re insanely sweet, you know that?” you whisper when you get close, your mouth inches from his own and when he leans in for a kiss, you can taste the delicious, yeasty flavor of his beer on his tongue when you slip your own into his mouth. 

You deepen the kiss, your hand coming up to wrap around the nape of his neck and your fingers push through his cropped locks, silky under your touch. He hums, the deep sound shifting into a chuckle when you knock the stack of books over in your haste to climb into his lap and when you’re settled there, he pulls back, taking you in. 

“Does this mean we’re done for the night?” His hands find your waist, his eyes dragging up your torso to find your face. “Have we done enough work?”

Karen O’s voice filters through the boxes surrounding you, some already addressed with their international shipping address in his neat, all caps handwriting. Your thighs spread on his lap, you stretch in his hold and feel his hands glide down to your hips, the light scratch of his whiskered cheeks along the crevice of your breasts as he leans in to kiss you right over the neckline of your tank top. He places another on your collarbone, another along the slope of your neck when you lean into him and you nod, pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose. 

“Yea, we can be done. Lemme shower?” 

“Want some company?” His mouth molds around the hinge of your jaw, his tongue tasting the sweet flavor there and you melt, closing your eyes. His fingers inch up the hem of your shirt, his knuckles dragging slowly along the bare skin of your stomach. 

“No,” you sigh, nearly saying yes, but deciding you have something else in mind. “Go wait for me in bed.”

He pulls back, his eyebrows raising and you smile, cupping his face in your hands. 

“I’ll be right back,” you promise, brushing your mouth against his before standing and he watches you walk away from him, keeping his eyes on your ass until you turn out of his sight. 

–

You cherish it, while you can. 

The city slowly emerging from the bleak, gray winter, the sidewalks clear one day to stay clear, the buds on the trees bursting with delicate, new color. Your favorite place is the line of cherry blossoms along the Hudson; the worn benches underneath the reaching arch of branches the perfect place to read. The river seemed to glitter with newfound sun, the gentle waves sparkling in their ripple and it must be the relief of spring itself that made you see any sort of beauty in the murky brown waters of the Hudson River bay.

The sound of people had been muted all winter - their footsteps softened by the snow, or hid under the sound of slush splashing around tires - and the first time you’d heard a basketball pounding rhythmically on the concrete made you smile, as had the first early morning chirp of birds outside your window. 

Not that you had a ton of time to enjoy these things. The sounds of spring only reaching your ears between trips to the library, or around campus, or back and forth from school to home, you’ve been buried deep in your laptop and your books, only coming up for air when Ezra pulls you from the depths. 

Cee still hasn’t come around. Slow to trust, slow to forgive — you know she needs space, and so you let her have it. Head down as you walk to class, holing up in a different tucked away corner of the library, sticking to a coffee shop closer to your house. You imagine her spending her days the same — and sometimes you still have a fleeting urge to text her to commiserate, or bring her her favorite tea as a pick me up. The disappointment when you’re reminded of her absence weighs you down, but you understand it. And so you let it be. 

Ezra takes her place — not that he can take her place, but he takes up his own place. You’ve become something domesticated, something comfortable and you look forward to every single time he comes over. The secret thrill never wears off, and given the finite amount of time you have left in the city, he makes it his mission to show you all his favorite things. 

Revision until 9pm, then sushi across town. Researching all day Saturday, then a concert at a venue buried in the Bronx. That night you felt lighter than air: packed in a crowd of bodies, your sweat damp limbs winding around each other, just like you longed to do the night at The Library. His mouth dragged over your pulse point in front of everyone, pressed against the hinge of your jaw at the bar without a care in the world, and tasted the salt on your skin later that night when you brought him home. 

Spending the night when he can, you relish Sunday morning fucks —  the slow, syrupy kind that only intensify in sensation given the way you are each half asleep; your room cast in a blue wash as he drapes an arm over you, tucks you into the curl of his body and holds you in place as he slides into you from behind. Building and building, limbs tangling together in a humid embrace underneath your blanket, the solid weight of him presses you deep into the mattress with each stroke forward until the room is fully light and your expressions are slack and relaxed with release. 

Then coffee, while reading the paper in bed. 

Then breakfast, before venturing outside. 

Everything, while you’re here.

You both know what this is — a silent understanding of something momentary, something now, something you have to enjoy while you can. No rush to put words on it, because what would you say? This isn’t the thing where you get married, have kids. This isn’t the thing where you officially commit, right before you move halfway across the world for a year. 

This is the thing where it burns bright and intense for this moment in time — and then, when it runs out of oxygen, it gutters before going out. 

Sometimes you think these things, logic forcing its way through the rose colored haze that surrounds you in his presence — but then he looks at you and treats you the way he does, and you aren’t so sure. His fingers lacing with yours in public, his hand stroking the dip of your spine at the record store, his inability to go a day without talking to you on the phone. You want it to be more, you know that — but how? How could it be, when you’re leaving and you’re the age you are and he’s the age he is? 

The thought of asking the question makes apprehension settle in your gut, your body restless with nerves as you rinse the soap from your body, preparing to get out of the shower. In truth, you’ve thought about asking him for weeks now, but you don’t even know what you would say. You don’t know how to bring up the topic without sounding insecure and childish. 

Wait for me. Please. Even though I know you have a whole life without me and before me and you’re a grown man and that’s not a fair thing to ask. Wait for me. 

Or rather, tell me you’ll wait for me, without me having to ask. 

These things seem so unrealistic even through your yearning, that you press them down deep every time you see him, forcing yourself to be content with what you have. You want more, a solid answer defining what this is – but maybe you can’t do that right now. 

So right now, you’ll just cherish what you can, while you can. 

You step out of the shower, grabbing your towel and wiping the water from your limbs, you think about him in the other room. Him, waiting in there for you. Him, in your bed, staying the night. Him, choosing you — and the internal clock on your time left here ticks louder; your hand reaching for the tray of lipstick next to the mirror. 

Being with him has made you bolder, basking in the glow of his affection, love and guidance. Like he’s taken a piece of the confidence he holds within his being and gifted you with some of it, making you braver, more sure of yourself. 

Wiping the fog from the surface, you lean forward and start to line your fresh mouth with the dark shade; the color bold against your bare skin. You remember his face the first time you did this while he watched - the blatant want etched into his features, his eyes almost black with the truth. 

You finish up, capping the tube and when you’re done, you slip your robe on and open the door. Steam escaping into the hallway, you pad down to your bedroom and when you get there, you stop in the doorway, admiring the view.

He’s sitting with his back against your headboard, reading. One foot propped on the mattress, the other leg relaxed and extended, he’s wearing nothing but his black briefs and you soak in the image in front of you. An image that you only get for the next couple of weeks, but you push that from your mind as soon as it pops in, making your way over to him. Your hand curves over his shin, gliding up over his knee and the sparse hair on his thigh slips under your palm as you make your way up the lean muscle. 

He keeps his eyes on his book, though you can tell from the slight jump in his belly that he feels your touch. When you start to gingerly straddle his lap, he lets his foot slip down on the mattress to let his leg drop and give you space. 

Resting your plush seat on his thighs, you wait a beat and when he doesn’t look up at you, you tuck your fingertips underneath the waistband of his briefs, flicking your eyes back up to his face. The warmth of his skin presses against the back of your fingers, the trail of coarse hair from his navel leading down underneath the fabric brushing against them and you toy with the elastic band, waiting.

“What are you doing there, Birdie?” he murmurs, slowly turning the page.

You say nothing, pushing your fingers a little lower. You feel the base of his cock, stroking  featherlight against the thickness of it, just enough to see him twitch under the black cotton. He still doesn’t move.

“Excuse me, I’m re –” he starts in a stern tease, beginning to scold you when you reach up and pull the book from his hands, tossing it onto your floor. As soon as his hands are free, you lean into him, bracing yourself on his broad chest as you lean in and his hooded eyes immediately find the pout of your mouth, a small smile forming at the sight of your lips. His hands settle on your hips, tugging you closer. 

“It’s like you only want me for one thing,” he hums against your mouth right before you kiss him, and when you nod into the kiss, he smiles.

“Thank god.”

His hands sliding up your back to hold you in place, his kisses are immediately consuming. It’s like he gives them with his whole being, like he can’t get enough of your flavor, of the slide of your tongue, of the taste of your mouth on his and this one is no different, the heat between you rising as he sits up to meet you. When he tilts his head to deepen it, you have to hang onto his shoulders for purchase against his hunger. 

He tugs at the sash of your robe and you help him pull the knot open, his hands slipping under the thick fabric to push it off your shoulders and down and he groans softly into your mouth when he feels how soft your skin is from the shower. His tongue sliding deeper against yours, you open up for him, pressing your bare chest tight to his own and your fingers weave into his hair at the nape of his neck.

You’re so soft and pliant, your skin flush with warmth and he can’t stop mapping it with his hands; testing the weight of your breasts, thumbs stroking along the buttery soft sides. His hands splay broadly across your back, a weighted drag down your sides as you shuffle your knees closer and when you’re sitting directly on top of his cock, you can feel the heft of it slotted perfectly against where you need him. It makes you ache, knowing what it feels like he slides inside you and your hips grind down in a gentle circle; again, again. 

His hands drag down to cup your ass, his fingers spreading wide and the tips of them dig into you, guiding your movements on top of him. Pulling back from the kiss, you look down at his face as you cradle it in your hands and his lips are parted and kiss swollen, wet from your mouth. Your thumb presses into the divot of his bottom lip, and he kisses it. 

Looking at him for a moment, you take in the depth of his eyes - nearly black, in the dim light beside your bed. His dark brows, the lines surrounding his eyes, his mustache, his sparsely covered cheeks. Lower still, the pebbled line of his throat, the bob of it when he swallows as he sits under your gaze and you lean in for another kiss, pushing against his shoulders to force him back. 

Shifting your seat down his legs, you make sure he stays in place and when you start to tug his briefs down, he lets himself slip down low, taking you in with an amused look on his face. It’s not there for long though — not when you lean forward and give his hip an open mouthed kiss. And then another one, pressing against the soft slope of his belly. Another, your bottom lip pushing underneath the elastic. 

He lets a heavy breath out, letting his head tip back into your pillow, a low hum of want coming from his throat and though his pose is relaxed, you can feel the tension thrumming under his skin where your hand curves over the top of his thigh. 

He watches as you give him this. Not only this reward, but also this memory, and you hope he’ll hold it as tight as you will, because the way he’s looking at you right now will be burned into your mind forever. 

You shift lower still, working his briefs down around his thighs and then off, tossing them on the floor to join your robe and then continuing your kisses, you start at the inside of his knee. At the skim of your warm breath, he shifts his leg to the side, opening wider for you and your mouth travels up, your hand resting on the inside of his opposite thigh to hold him open. 

He is so warm, so fragrant, so soft when you rub your cheek along the buttery skin right before you kiss it, and you slide your hand up, circling his cock with your fingers. 

He lets out a low, pleased groan, his hips shifting on the bed as he bucks into your touch and it only takes a couple firm strokes to get him fully hard, waiting for your mouth. It’s close, your tongue laving at a patch of skin high on his thigh and when the heat of your breath gets to the base of his cock, he lets out a beautifully broken moan when you rest it there, pushing your lips against it in reverent kisses. 

“Put it in your mouth.”

The statement should sound more commanding, but it’s gentler than that, more like a murmured plea. Instead of doing what he asks though, your mouth molds around the delicate skin of his balls; your hand beginning to lazily stroke while you place another lingering kiss. He draws tight under your exploration, his fingers digging into the sheet by his hip and you lift the weight of them with your thumb, your tongue sliding along the seam on the underside. He hisses in pleasure, letting out a low curse. 

You come back up, letting your breasts drag along the inside of his thighs as you shift to place the rounded tip of his cock on your tongue and you stroke him more firmly, jerking him into the wet cavern of your mouth while he watches. 

There is always an arrogance to his expression that you love; to the way he holds himself. It’s something that radiates from his being for everyone to see, his confidence on unashamed display and even though you have him literally by the cock with his jaw slack as he takes in the lipstick smeared at the base of it, you can still feel him radiating control of the situation. Like you’re serving him right now, and he knows it. 

And fuck, it makes you wet. 

You wrap your lips around him, your tongue finding the dip just below the head and as you work it with your tongue, he bites his lip, arching his back. He groans again, deeper when you open up to slide your mouth halfway down his length and when you do it twice more, taking him deeper each time, his hand finds the back of your head, resting there. 

You’ve had other guys guide you like this before, and you hated it. Impatiently pushing you down further, making you gag because you weren’t ready when they forced themselves deeper, but there is something about the way that he does it that makes you burn bright with arousal, makes you moan around the weight of his cock. Maybe it’s the desperation in which he’s doing it, the inability to wait any longer until he feels the slick press of your throat. Or maybe it’s the way he’s starting to use you for his own pleasure, the knowledge of your reward coming as soon as he does. Like you feel so good he can’t stop himself. Like he needs you, just like you’ve always needed him. 

Whatever it is, your thighs press together as he thickens in your mouth, his hand cradling the base of your skull to push himself as deep as you’ll let him go and when you gag warm and wet, saliva flooding your mouth while a whine escapes with a heavy exhale out of your nose, he groans again, bucking into your mouth. 

“You always —,” he looks down at you, then lets his head tip back into the pillow as if you’re too much to look at. “The way you choke on it, I – fuck. Fuck.”

You pull back, wetness pooling around the corners of your mouth before you slide down to take him again and your hand pumps what you can’t fit in a slick, firm slide; your nails digging in the meat of his thigh before your hand slips down to cradle his balls, letting them press lightly against your palm. 

“I don’t wanna come in your mouth, Birdie. I —“ a hiss, when you mold your lips over the tip of his cock and suck. “I wanna fill that pussy up. I wanna see it soaked with me. I wanna make a mess.”

He is messy. He loves it — loves spitting on your soaked cunt before lapping it up, loves coming on your ass or your back or your stomach before rubbing it into your skin, loves to scoop it up with his fingers and push them into your mouth, or his own. Lube, saliva, sweat, come — your sheets are smeared with the evidence of his love when he leaves, and the only thing you don’t wash is the pillow. The one that smells like him. 

“Get up here. Please.”

You pull off and his hands are already greedily reaching for you, tugging you back up onto his lap. When he pulls you down to meet your mouth with his, you both can feel the wetness in your kiss, slick from sucking on him. It drives him wild, his kiss forcing your mouth open wider and your movements getting frantic, you reach down to guide him inside of you. 

He pushes home immediately, filling you with a smooth stroke forward and he swallows the puff of air you let out in surprise; his arm across your back to force you to stay in place. One hand across your lower back, the other wrapped under your arm to curl around the top of your shoulder and he starts to fuck you, your body bouncing lightly over him as you meet his every push. 

“No,” you moan, and his hold tightens, the hand on your lower back slipping down until his fingers push into the crevice of your ass to hold you there.

“Yes.” His hand moves lower, and you stiffen on top of him before melting into his touch when the pad of his finger brushes against the tight ring of muscle he finds. He fucks you harder, groaning as he feels it under his touch and your forearms brace on the pillow around his head as you clench down around him. God you want it, but you want something else. 

“No,” you repeat again, trying not to succumb to the way he overpowers you and you pull free from his hold, sitting up to take him deeper. This. This is what you wanted. This is what you want him to see, and miss.

Your back curves as you put yourself on display for him, and he automatically reaches for your breasts, the weight of them filling his hands. Your head tipped back, you can feel him knead and caress, map the smooth rounds with his calloused touch and his thumbs stroke your nipples, making them peak. 

“You look so fucking beautiful, Birdie.” His words bring your eyes back to his, and when you sit up straighter, he gets harder at the fleeting pinch of a frown over your features. He’s so deep like this, forced into you. You rock your hips again, adjusting until he slides smoothly and fills you just so. 

“You’re always so beautiful, but especially when you take my cock like this. When you ride it.” He watches you for a moment, the languid movement of your body on top of his lap. “Tell me how it feels. Tell me how you like to fuck yourself on it.”

“Oh god, I do. I –” you bite your lip, your tongue running along the plush skin and when he arches his hips underneath you, you moan. “I wanted it so bad today. Just like this.”

“Yea? Just like this?” He sits up with a cinch, his hand wrapping around the nape of your neck to hold you in place and you squirm, biting back a whine. 

“Did you think about how I would barely be able to fit it into this tight pussy?” he whispers into your ear. “About how even when you’re so wet - and fuck, you are, Birdie, you always are, just for me – about how even when you’re so wet, we have to work it in?”

“It’s in – oh my god, it’s in. It’s in and I’m – it’s gonna make me come. Ezra, you’re gonna make me come.”

Your hips roll faster against his, your body unconsciously chasing the high of what’s building inside you, and the low, strong pull of arousal intensifies into something firmer, something stronger, something you can taste with every downward stroke onto his lap. 

“Say it again. I want to hear it again, okay?”

“Oh God, Ezra – oh, I –,” words leave you, your mind unable to focus on anything but the soothing, intoxicating fill of his cock and he delivers a swat to your ass, bringing you back to him and pushing you closer to the edge. “Fuck.”

Your tits bounce in front of his face, his mouth watering as your hips work as hard as they can and your fingers dig painfully into the meat of his shoulders, holding on tight. 

“Ezra. Ezra,” his name a chant, your words punctuated with every push forward. “You’re gonna make me come. You Ezra. Only you. Only –”

You keen, his hold keeping you steady as you lean back and let your release wash through you and the tight fist of your cunt keeps squeezing him, locking up around him in a pulse. He wonders briefly if your heart would match the same rhythm if he were to place his palm against your chest right now. 

“Come here,” he groans, pulling you tight against his body and he wraps his arm around your waist, pushing you backwards into the bed. He settles on top of you, hooking your knees up over the crook of his elbows one at a time before he gives you the first, full push inside and using the weight of his body behind it, he fucks in deeper, groaning loud over your breathless moans. 

Your bed is a nest of blankets, the pillows pushed onto the floor, the two of you locked in a rhythmic embrace and the sound of his flesh meeting yours is just as filthy as the grunts he’s letting out as he pounds into you. 

“Fuck me,” you whine, clenching your teeth and he grins breathlessly for a moment, before picking up the pace. 

“Like this, Birdie? You want it like this?” He quickly sits back on his heels, his hands wrapping around the back of your knees to force them into your chest and when he starts fucking down into you, black creeps around the edges of your vision. 

He feels so strong, so big, so solid above you right now as he manhandles you into position to make you take his cock and when he tips his head back and groans something filthy, the last thing you see is the ripple of his muscles along his sides before you close your eyes, tipping over the edge again with a cry, just as he does.

“Shit. Shit.” 

His voice thick with awe, a guttural groan pours from his throat; rain sliding down the window pane by your bed. 

–

Fitting the key in the lock, Ezra lets himself in the front door of the house. He had spent the night, and left you this morning to your writing after leaving a plate of food and a glass of water on the table in front of the couch. Slipping on his shoes, he ran his hand over his mouth as he stepped outside onto the street and he could smell you in his mustache; the scent of you pressed into his skin after he woke you up this morning with his head under the covers. 

The memory of your moans and your sleepy smile still lingering in his mind, his movements are light and carefree, loose in a way only a sated man can be when he swipes up the pile of mail after dropping his keys onto the table by the door, and walking towards the kitchen, he thumbs through the mixture of envelopes, distracted. 

“Oh, hey.”

The sound of Cee’s voice makes him look up, stopping. “Hey.” The greeting is tentative, his face matching the tone.

“Where ya been?”

The way she phrases it comes out like she’s trying to be casual, but the words are too tight and he shifts his jaw, dropping the mail on the table before shrugging out of his jacket. He gives her a meaningful look, tilting his head to the side. 

She nods, turning to finish making her coffee. The silence in the room is heavy for a moment and without saying anything more, she grabs the cup and leaves the room. 

Ezra sighs, scrubbing his hand over the back of his neck before rolling his head on his shoulders, as if he’s trying to relieve a tension that only just entered his body. He fights against it, his body instantly restless. 

There has been this weight to the house, weeks of it, and he’s tried everything he can to broach the subject with her. Eventually resigning to an awkward, stilted arrangement where they both know where he’s spending his time, but neither one acknowledges it, he hates it. A very direct person by nature, especially when it comes to the things he wants, the avoidance pulls at his skin, especially in contrast from how it feels to be with you. 

His natural instinct would be to always talk it out, but it’s hard when the other person is the opposite. Attempting to be careful and considerate about her feelings, he hasn’t pushed too far but there is something about the peace he felt in your bed earlier this morning in comparison with how uncomfortable he feels in his own that pushes him to end this stand-off. 

Fuck it.

Steeling himself, he walks down the hallway and raps on her door with his knuckles.

“Hey,” he takes a step in, “can I talk to you?”

She slips her headphones off, leaving them around her neck. She looks so small sitting there on her bed, her hands wrapped around her mug and he waits until she pauses the music on her phone. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, he shifts a book to the side, making sure to keep her place. 

He takes a breath, then begins. 

“You know where I was, right?”

Her face betrays nothing, and she nods.

“I don’t –,” he starts, looking away from her. “I’m tired, Cee,” he sighs. His eyes close, his tense shoulders dropping before he leans forward, rubbing at the frown between his brows. 

“I’m tired of this.” He looks up at her, earnestly honest. “Aren’t you?”

She looks away from him, chastened.

“I know you don’t wanna talk about it. I know.” He shifts on his seat, facing her. “But I – I gotta just say what I’m going to say and you can sit there and listen to it, or you can ignore it, or you can talk to me.” He bends his head, his eyes catching hers. 

“I’m sorry. I’m…..sorry for a lot of things. For going behind your back, for hiding something from you, for saying – saying some of the things I said when you found out.”

Having set her mug down, she picks at the comforter underneath her crossed legs and he resists the urge to stop because she looks so much like a child right now. She isn’t, he reminds himself. The two of them should be on equal ground rather than the tilted scales of parent and child, and he pushes forward, wanting to be honest with her. Wanting to confess, to relieve the weight in these walls. 

“But I am not sorry that I did it.” To say he is would be a lie, and thinking of you, he can’t even bring himself to say the words. He wouldn’t mean them. He shakes his head slowly. “I’m not sorry about that part.”

“I'm sorry that you felt you needed to see her behind my back,” she says quietly, anger held in the words. Not looking at him, she continues. “That you feel you can’t see anyone because of me.”

His words come back to him, guilt flooding his chest as he remembers the way he shouted them at her and he looks down for a moment, ashamed. 

“I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean – I was upset, and I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not true, that I don’t see anyone because of you.”

They sit in silence together, Ezra choosing his words carefully.

“I just —” he sighs, looking down at his hands, one rubbing the other in thought. “When you came to me, I tried so hard to put you first.”

Her head snaps up, eager to reassure him. “You did. I always felt like you did.“

He nods, agreeing. “I did. It’s been me and you for so long, you know? And I didn’t want you to feel like….left behind. Or forgotten, or neglected. I wanted you to know you had me.” 

He looks at her. “You come first. You’ve always come first. But I want this.” 

She continues looking at him, her face sliding from reluctant listening to sympathy and for a moment, she looks ashamed. 

“I don’t know why you didn’t just tell me? You’ve never lied to me. Ever.” 

He looks pained, his hand rubbing at the tattooed mark between his thumb and finger. 

“I think because I knew it was wrong? Because she’s so much younger, and —” he rubs his neck with his hand, “I don’t know. I think I knew you would be upset, but I didn’t want to stop. Selfish, I know.”

She thinks about how he cares for her — how he’s always cared for her, and how selfish would actually be the last word she’d describe him as. Maybe selfish with other people, definitely self interested at times, absolutely knows how to get what he wants when he wants it — but selfish, with her? Never. 

“I don’t — I don’t know. I get it, but it’s so uncomfortable now, knowing you’re…..sleeping together.”

He frowns, but nods. “Have you talked to her?”

She shakes her head. “No. I mean, she’s tried, but….”

He gives her a disappointed look, one heavily reminiscent of the ones he gave her when she was young. “You’re just gonna ice her out? Just gonna forget about her?”

“She’s leaving, so I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end.” She’s still angry, her jaw set as she bites out the words and he knows her well enough to see the mask over her vulnerability. He doesn’t say anything, letting her sit with what she just said and when she glances up at him, he sees a flash of shame before her face softens. 

“What are you gonna do? When she leaves?”

He lets out a heavy sigh, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. “I don’t know,” he says quietly. “Let her go, right?” He shrugs in resignation, sitting up straight. “Help her pack, drive her to the airport, and let her go. Same thing I would do with you.”

Cee frowns, looking away from him. 

“I’m sorry too,” she says eventually, pulling him from his thoughts. “I could have handled it all better, and……I didn’t.”

Avoiding his eyes, she continues. “I guess I was just — well, you know. I told you when we fought. Jealous. Hurt.” A pained expression passes over her features, and she shakes her head at herself. “I could have —“ she starts, abruptly stopping, letting out a deep exhale.

“Anyway,” she looks up, “I’m sorry.”

She does look sorry - genuinely sorry, even as she wrestles with the rest of her feelings and Ezra feels sympathy for her, for how she’s always been. Always a thinker, existing in her head as she navigates her feelings on her own time, feeling the need to push her insecurities deep down in order to keep a brave, uncaring face. Other people would be fooled, but not him. He’s seen her face enough to read it as clear as day; the apology she truly means for him, and the complex feelings she still has towards you. 

He’s lifted his mask, and even though she’s still partially wearing hers, at least it’s a start. 

“You’re fine.” His hand settles on her knee, squeezing it for a moment. “It’s fine.”

Knowing when to push and when to let her nurse her thoughts alone, he gives her one last look and stands from her bed. It’s then that she sees the small stack of books that were resting next to him. 

“What are those?” She bends forward, reaching to slide them closer and he turns, pausing on his way out. 

“Just something I grabbed for you. They were gonna be tossed, but I know how I can’t throw any possible treasures away.” He grins, and the corner of her mouth lifts in a small smile. “And I also know how you could never turn down a free book.”

She looks at the cover, a flicker of recognition on her face and she opens it, confirming when she sees your handwriting. She settles slowly back against her pillow, turning the pages, reading.

“I’m gonna shower,” Ezra says, watching her, “and then I’ll be in my work room, okay?” 

“Yea,” she responds, distracted. When he doesn’t say anything but continues to stand there, she looks up. 

“Yea, sounds good,” she replies with a short smile. 

He nods back at her, walking out into the hallway and as he takes the first deep breath he’s taken in weeks in his own home, she scoots down deeper into her bed; one hand reaching for her mug, the other holding the book open in her lap as she begins the first page.

[campingwiththecharmings]

*These weren't necessarily written and/or posted in January, but that's when I read them so lol*

🔥 - explicit/mature content

Star Wars

🔥Aphelion (Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @oscarseyebrow

Salt and Sky (Poe Dameron x Reader) - @clints-lucky-arrow

Pretending (or not) (Cassian Andor x Reader) - @dameronscopilot

Taking Flight (Modern!Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

Undoing (College!Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @groguspicklejar

🔥Corner Booth (Din Djarin x F!Reader) - @magpie-to-the-morning

🔥Tender Loving Care (Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @clints-lucky-arrow

Risky Kiss (Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @dailyreverie

🔥Tender (Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

I'm Scared / 🔥Safe and Sound (Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @the-little-ewok

You Are In Love (Modern!Poe Dameron x F!Reader) - @alwritey-aphrodite

Triple Frontier

🔥Illicit Affair (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

🔥I’ll Be Back Again To Stay (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @alwritey-aphrodite

Home is a Person (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @tropes-and-tales

🔥Thank Me Later (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @writefightandflightclub

🔥Big Red Bow (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @villainvindicator

Fairy Godmother (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @tropes-and-tales

Home (Santiago Garcia x Reader) - @bullet-prooflove

🔥Good Form (Benny Miller x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

🔥Watercolor Eyes / Blocked by the Snow (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @psychedelic-ink

🔥Take Care (Santiago Garcia x F!Reader) - @wyn-n-tonic

🔥Patience (Benny Miller x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

Moon Knight

Nocturnal | To Be Alone (Steven Grant x F!Reader) - @moonlight-prose

🔥First Time (Steven Grant x F!Reader) - @luvpedropascal

Cute Aggression (Steven Grant x Reader) - @kittyofalltrades

🔥Fast Lane (Marc Spector x F!Reader) - @shewhohangsoutincemeteries

Stone Heart (Steven Grant x Demisexual!Reader) - @magpie-to-the-morning

🔥Fire & Desire (Jake Lockley x F!Reader) - @marc-spectorr

🔥Friends (Steven Grant x F!Reader) - @foreverinadais

A Sunday Kind of Love (Marc Spector x Reader) - @moonlight-prose

First Snow (Jake Lockley x Reader) - @softlyspector

🔥Forbidden Delights (Steven Grant x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

🔥Spirals and Skin (Steven Grant x F!Reader) - @clints-lucky-arrow

Purloin (Marc Spector x Reader) - @laters-gators

🔥Say It Too (Marc Spector x F!Reader) - @astroboots

🔥Gold Skinned and Eager (Steven Grant x F!Reader) - @fettuccin-e

Tales Untold (Marc Spector x Reader) - @softlyspector

Egg Fried Rice (Marc Spector x F!Reader) - @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction

A Simple Misunderstanding (Jake Lockley x Reader) - @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction

Do You Want to Dance? (Steven Grant x Reader) - @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction

Ex Machina

Amende Honorable (Nathan Bateman x Reader) - @laters-gators

The Last of Us

🔥Mule (Joel Miller x F!Reader) - @laters-gators

🔥Radio Static (Joel Miller x F!Reader) - @foli-vora

🔥The Light is Blinding (Joel Miller x F!Reader) - @writefightandflightclub

🔥Code Breaker (Joel Miller x F!Reader) - @inklore

🔥Told (Joel Miller x F!Reader) - @the-ginger-hedge-witch

Tulsa King

🔥Just Like That (Mitch Keller x F!Reader) - @dameronscopilot

The Bourne Legacy

Long Promised Road (David/Outcome 3 x Reader) - @nowritingonthewall

Thank you to all the wonderful writers for sharing their stories with us 🥰❤️

*For more recs, please feel free to check out my fic rec tag.

**If you'd like to have your fic removed from the list, I completely understand, just let me know

[leslie-lyman]

I posted 1,583 times in 2022

That's 878 more posts than 2021!

310 posts created (20%)

1,273 posts reblogged (80%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@oonajaeadira

@magpie-to-the-morning

@whataperfectwasteoftime

@radiowallet

@ezrasbirdie

I tagged 1,302 of my posts in 2022

Only 18% of my posts had no tags

#lovely people saying lovely things - 265 posts

#answered asks - 247 posts

#comment reblog - 239 posts

#emma you beautiful tropical fish - 64 posts

#pedro pascal gifs - 60 posts

#samg!inspo - 58 posts

#les loves cat - 35 posts

#ask game - 29 posts

#pedro pascal - 27 posts

#adira my beloved - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#also speaking of beloved talented mutuals who could write circles around so many published authors jess please look in the mirror babe

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Punchbowls & Pincushions (Congressman Marcus Pike x f!reader)

summary: The duly elected representative from Texas’s 27th congressional district has a meeting, takes a walk, and meets a woman.

pairing: Congressman Marcus Pike x f!reader

rating: general audiences for this installment, though this series will be explicit and my blog and its content are only for those 18 and up

warnings: none

word count: 2.7k

a/n: Y’all, I’m excited for this one. This is the first installment of what I hope will be a more relaxed fit-ish series I’ve been thinking about for a long time: an AU in which Marcus Pike decides to turn in his badge and his gun and try a different kind of public service. I’ve just been waiting for the right excuse to finally get this first bit down on paper, so thank you as always to the lovely folks at @writer-wednesday for the photo prompt! Big thank yous also to @ezrasbirdie, @whataperfectwasteoftime, @magpie-to-the-morning, and @the-ginger-hedge-witch for letting me ramble at them about this idea for far too long, and to Birdie for looking this over for me!! ❤️

punchbowl: the Secret Service’s code name for the United States Capitol Building.

pincushion: the Secret Service’s code name for the Rayburn House Office Building, one of three main buildings where members of the House of Representatives and their staffs’ offices are actually located.

Main Masterlist. | Series Masterlist. | Taglist.

———

It’s not going to happen.

The words play on a loop in Marcus’s head as he tries to calmly traverse the halls of the Capitol.

Leonard, I campaigned on this.

I know, Marcus, I’m sorry.

Look, if this is about HR 86 -

It’s a matter of cost, Marcus.

Bullshit. The whole package is $57 billion. You’re telling me $100 million to expand drug treatment courts is the straw that breaks the CBO’s back?

It’s a miracle we got all the things in that we did. It’s gonna be hell trying to get this through the Senate as it is.

And what am I supposed to tell my constituents in the meantime?

To get used to disappointment. Or just blame the Senate. I always do.

See the full post

218 notes - Posted July 14, 2022

#4

Stranger At My Gate - Chapter 10 (Pero Tovar x modern!OFC)

A time-traveling Pero. A modern woman trying her best. A kitchen full of possibility. A helping of Midwestern kindness. A dash of magic. And a whole lot of Christmas spirit.

pairing: Pero Tovar x modern!OFC

rating: E 🚨 [18+ ONLY, minors DNI]

warnings: at the risk of spoiling things, SMUT; unprotected PIV; oral (f receiving); blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Pero having a pain kink; Pero having a lil bit of a breeding kink; ungodly amounts of fluff; one (1) instance of your author taking liberties with language history

word count: 7.3k

a/n: Here we are, folks. This is it. I’ll have more to say at the end of this chapter, and I’d strongly advise you to read all the way to the end. 😉 Also a reminder that going forward, I will only be tagging folks in my writing who have signed up via my official taglist form.

Extra major helpings of thanks and forehead kisses to @whataperfectwasteoftime for looking this over for me and for tolerating me tearing my hair out in her DMs over this chapter. ❤️❤️❤️

Previous chapter.

Masterlist.

———

Ten.

Panic seizes Tessa’s chest, robbing her of breath. A chorus of thoughts rise loud in her head, jumbled and half-formed -

He can’t have gone back

I’m late, I’m too late

So stupid, should have told him before I left

Too late too late too late

There’s no way to tell how old the footprints marking Pero’s path towards the woods might be, but after only a moment of paralysis, Tessa’s off like a shot.

He could have left hours ago, he could already be back in his own time and there would be nothing more that Tessa could do.

But she has to know for sure.

There’s no conscious moment of deciding - one second she isn’t running as fast as she can in the direction of the trees and the next second she is, never mind that it’s well below freezing with the snow coming down with an increasing vengeance. Never mind that she’s still dressed for air travel, in nothing more than jeans and a sweatshirt and cute little ankle boots that are definitely not meant to go trudging through more than half a foot of snow. Her coat’s still in the back seat of her car but she can’t stand to make even the smallest detour for it. Pero may be long gone, but if he isn’t, if there’s a chance she could still stop him and ask him to stay, who knows how long she has. Ten seconds to grab her coat could be the difference.

Pero’s footsteps get more difficult to follow once she hits the tree line, but her Gift is not called intuition for nothing. She can feel some sort of instinctual pull towards the Gate, or maybe it’s towards Pero, aided by the faint ghosts of memories of her childhood spent playing in these woods. She tries to yell Pero’s name, but the freezing air burns in her throat as she attempts to draw enough breath to keep moving as fast as she can.

An eternity somehow fits into the handful of minutes it takes her to make it to the small, perfectly round clearing where the two trees that make up the Gate stand. She’s never been this close to the Gate before, and certainly not when it’s been open. Apart from the slightly unnatural placement of the trees, there’s nothing that gives it away on sight. But it throbs with power, emitting a warped vibration Tessa cannot truly hear but rather feels deep in her bones. Something about it calls to her, as though its magic recognizes the kindred spirit of her Gift. But whatever being or force created the Gate was many times more powerful and ancient than the source of her Gift, and if she looks directly at it for more than a few seconds a vague sense of vertigo starts to make itself known at the edges of her vision.

What small amount of light was left in the day is almost completely gone, the snow on the ground doing little to reflect it back as fat flakes continue to fall. Tessa can’t tell if Pero’s footprints continue across the circle to the Gate. She takes two deep breaths, then opens her mouth to let out the scream she’s felt building since she walked in her front door to find her house cold and empty -

“I’m here, Tessa.”

Her head whips around at the sound of his voice so quickly she hears her neck crack. She squints through the snow and darkness and sure enough, sitting on a fallen log just outside the edge of the clearing, is Pero. Tessa has to make a hasty grab for the nearest tree to keep from collapsing in relief.

“Pero,” she croaks, her voice nothing more than a cracked whisper.

He stands and comes closer. He’s dressed in his original clothes, the hilts of his swords visible over his right shoulder. The only modern item on him is the thick wool coat he’s been using the past few weeks.

Even once he’s close enough to see his features his face is unreadable. Tessa likes to think she’s gotten fairly good at interpreting Pero’s expressions, having learned just how much this man can say without any words at all, but apart from the tightness at the corners of his mouth, it’s like he’s purposefully trying to keep his face as neutral as possible.

Seconds tick by without either of them saying anything. It’s like Tessa’s emotions are all laid out on a roulette wheel - panic, joy, despair, relief, exhaustion - that’s spinning too fast to figure out what she’s actually feeling at this moment. Then the little white ball falls from the track and sticks in the groove of one emotion in particular.

See the full post

274 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#3

Euclidean Geometry

Summary: They make no attempt to define what this is, who they are to each other. All they know is that now they are together.

Pairing: Modern!Pero x Frankie x Jack x f!reader (sort of, this is in the third person, reader is referred to only as she/her)

Rating: E 🚨 absolutely no minors

Word count: 1.4k

Warnings: smut, M/M and M/M/F; some implied D/s dynamics; allusions to the lingering trauma of military service

A/n: I don’t know what this is (other than absurdly self-indulgent nonsense), but this idea hooked its claws into me and this is what resulted. It’s just kind of a series of snapshots, really. No plot, just vibes. There may be more after this, we’ll see.

Masterlist.

———

They don’t meet each other until after their time in the service.

Thank god, Pero tells them. I surely would have otherwise murdered you both long before now.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: three veterans walk into group therapy…

A Delta Force pilot in recovery. A surly Field Artillery officer. A cocky Air Force fighter pilot with a name as ridiculous as his skills in a jet. All here because they are each too full of anger with nowhere to put it.

Talking at therapy turns into talking at a bar after each session. They circle each other, like a pod of killer whales, or maybe like galaxies, pulling closer and closer together over bottles of beer and games of pool.

None of them can say the exact moment it became more. Was it the first time Jack accidentally brushed a hand across the small of Frankie’s back as they walked out of the bar one night, and he felt the shiver that went up the other man’s spine? Was it the night Pero finally spoke about the loss of his first love, his description of William and his death on a desert battlefield making all three men shed silent tears in the privacy of a dark corner booth? Surely it had to have been long before they found themselves in Jack’s bed that first time, letting their bodies say what they could not yet find words for: I want you, I trust you, I know you, I see you.

They make no attempt to define what this is, who they are to each other. All they know is that now they are together.

They each crack the others open, the process of healing as painful and beautiful as filling in their scars with gold.

And then there is her.

The relationship between the three men had not been a closed loop, not at first. There had been times where one of them (Jack, more often than the others) had gone off and for a one- or two- or (never more than) three-night stand with another person. And there had been other times where two or even all three of them had shared a temporary partner. But with her, it clicks, it solidifies. They stop searching for more, for new, for other.

If three’s a crowd, what is four? A square, a shape beautiful in its simple perfection, a shape that can only be composed of equals - each line and each angle taking up equivalent space, none more or less important than any of the others, and each one essential.

See the full post

291 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

#2

Waterproof

Pairing: Dieter Bravo x f!reader

Summary: Watched The Bubble. Had a thought. That thought was: I wanna edge Dieter Bravo until he cries and ruins that silly eyeliner.

Rating: 🚨 E for explicit, folks. NO MINORS.

Warnings: edging, obvs; unprotected PIV; dom!reader and sub!Dieter; Dieter Bravo being soft and respectful and having puppy dog eyes that are impossible to resist

Word count: 1.3k

a/n: Yeah I dunno what happened here, either. I intended for this to be a drabble to get this idea out of my head and practice writing some smut, and it ended up being over a thousand words. None of us is immune from this man, it seems. Not beta’d, barely edited. The gif above is an edging joke.

Masterlist.

———

“Do you wanna have sex with me?”

It’s so direct that it catches you off guard.

There’s something in the way he says it, too. There’s no arrogance in his tone. He isn’t smug or suave like you’d expect. He’s a movie star. He’s an Oscar winner. He’s Dieter Bravo, for fuck’s sake. But instead of a smirk and a smoothly delivered pickup line, he’s looking at you over the bar top of the fancy estate chosen to house the cast of ”Cliff Beats 6” with huge brown eyes that are full of hope, not expectation.

It’s a simple enough question.

It’s also a bad idea. You’re hotel staff. He’s the fifth-billed actor on the sixth installment of the 23rd biggest action series of all time.

But he asked so politely. There’s an open earnestness on his face that tells you he doesn’t want you to say no, but he’d respect it if you did. And it all makes you suspect that this man, with his broad shoulders and large hands and soft eyes, may enjoy the same kinds of things you do. That he may make a rather complimentary bed partner. You decide to test your theory.

“That depends, Dieter.” You rest your elbows on the bar top and lean closer to him like you’re about to share a secret. “Would you be a good boy and do exactly what I say?”

His eyes go black. He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.

It’s a simple enough question. He gives you a simple answer.

“Yes ma’am.”

———

You don’t get to cum until I say you do, Deiter, is that clear?

Crystal.

You got a safeword?

Academy.

Jesus Christ.

You push him down into a fancy armchair covered in embroidered silk in the corner of his suite, a set of rooms that probably costs more per night than you make in a month.

Dieter still has his makeup on from today’s shoot, a not-terribly-subtle dark smudge under each eye, and it enhances the eager puppy look he has going on, almost like he cannot believe his luck. You clamber into his lap and feel him already starting to harden through his sweatpants. An experimental grind of your hips draws a little moan from his throat so you do it again, and again, the soft friction against your clit and the increasing size of his erection making your core start to throb with arousal.

“Please,” he murmurs, “I want - can I - ”

You run your thumb over his bottom lip, stilling your movements.

“Easy, sweet boy. What is it?”

See the full post

360 notes - Posted April 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Rights and Wrongs

summary: “I’m not keeping it, Jack. I knew that before I called him and told him. I don’t know if I want kids, but I do know that I don’t want them now. Not like this. And not with him.”

Or: Whiskey helps you get an abortion.

pairing: Whiskey x f!reader

rating: M

word count: 6.4k

warnings: possible dead dove do not eat; unplanned, unwanted pregnancy; early pregnancy symptoms including vomiting; descriptions of what pregnant people have to go through to get an abortion in the state of Kentucky; abortion clinic protestors and physical and verbal harassment of patients; reader has a medically unnecessary but state-mandated trans-vaginal ultrasound; use of moderate anesthesia and recovery from anesthesia; allusions to past loss and trauma (it’s Jack, I’m assuming know his backstory); not super-explicit description of reader getting a surgical abortion; Jack being a little naive in the way well-meaning straight white dudes often are but also being pro-choice as f*ck

Author’s note:

*Fleabag voice* This is a love story.

Hey there folks. Please read the warnings on this one. I know that pregnancy can be a tough topic for a lot of people to read about. Everything I’ve described here is what you actually have to go through to get an abortion in Kentucky. (Or, well, it was, until two days ago when the Kentucky legislature overrode the Governor’s veto of HB 3, which has resulted in a complete stoppage of all abortions in Kentucky.) If this is not a thing you want to read about, for whatever reason, I respect that completely.

However, if you read this fic and think it might be a good idea to spout some anti-abortion nonsense at me in response, I am going to pre-emptively suggest you kindly shove it up your asshole instead.

Abortion is health care. Abortion is a human right. You will not move me on this. I wrote this fic because I have a lot of anger and fear and frustration that the human right to bodily autonomy is about to be completely gutted in my country. But I also wrote it because abortion is normal. People get abortions every day. And I wanted to write and read a fic where reader gets her happy ending with Jack and an abortion is how it happens.

Additional note: This fic is also a fundraiser! April is when many abortion funds host their biggest annual fundraisers, and you can help! For each note this fic gets between now and the end of April - every like, reblog, and comment, even the ones that are me replying to someone, and hell, I’ll include asks and DMs about this fic too - I’ll donate a dollar to the Kentucky Health Justice Network, a fund providing direct financial and other assistance to people in Kentucky who need abortions.

If this sounds like a journey you’d like to go on with me, then let’s go.

Masterlist.

———

This afternoon has been taken up by two phone calls you never thought you’d have to make.

The first to the Kentucky Women’s Health Clinic. The second to your ex-boyfriend.

The call with the clinic goes well, better and easier and kinder than you’d expected, even if their first available appointment is further out than you’d prefer. The call with Michael goes even more poorly than you’d thought it would.

He hadn’t been your ex for very long; only about two weeks. Your breakup had not been amicable; nearly three years of dating had come to a car wreck of a conclusion when you’d discovered explicit texts and photos of several other women on his phone, going back months. He hadn’t tried to argue with you when you’d confronted him; instead, he’d blamed you for his forays into infidelity. You worked too much. You were too focused on your career. You didn’t devote enough time or effort to your relationship anymore, so no wonder he’d started to look elsewhere. Never mind that this was the first time you were hearing these complaints.

You weren’t heartbroken so much as furious. Furious with him, but also furious with yourself for not seeing the signs and ending things sooner.

And now, calling to tell him about the…situation you find yourself in only leaves you feeling humiliated.

“So this is your ploy, huh?” He says after you’ve explained. “This is how you’re gonna try to get me back?”

Your mouth hangs open, and for a moment all you can do is splutter wordlessly in rage.

See the full post

523 notes - Posted April 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[oonajaeadira]

For the Love of Fic: Feb. 13

Gonna change up my weekly fic rec format!!! The Sunday Seven was a way for me to read more fic and support my fellow writers. It did what it was designed to do and now I can’t stop reading fic.... But instead of any particular format, I’m just going to continue on supporting writers by just posting a list of what I liked that week. Maybe it’s just one. Maybe it’s twenty. Maybe it’s all one trope. Maybe it’s all one character. Maybe it will reveal my spicy needs of the week. Heck, this week was certainly a Pero vortex. Whatevs. I read it, I like it, I post it. The end.

PERO TOVAR

The Hedge Witch and the Mercenary, part 2 Bothered by @grogusmum (Pero x f!reader) The second installment of Hazel’s Hedge Witch series sees Mariposa treated poorly by the town, better by Pero, and maybe a little too well by the fair folk...

Innocence Need Not Tremble by @brandyllyn (Pero x f!reader) It’s a “first time” fic with Pero who cannot believe he deserves such things. What’s not to love? The ending line is...surprising. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Sage and Walnut by @littlemisspascal (Pero x f!reader) If you’re not reading Rae’s beautiful AU The Fox, The Mage, and the Cupboard and you love a good magic village fic full of Pedro characters, then you need to get on this. No lie, I seriously want to live in this fic. While The Fox refers to Javi G, we do get to learn about others in the Mage’s town, and this installment focuses on the local woodworking enchanter.

Stranger at My Gate Chapter 8 by @leslie-lyman (Pero x OC) Leslie’s an amazingly talented writer and her modern magical family is really gorgeous. Bringing Pero to the modern world and watching him take in its wonders is great, but I’m to beg Leslie to let him stay. And I was screaming that one word over and over while reading this chapter....

JACK DANIELS

Fondly I Watched Her by @writeforfandoms (Jack x f!reader) She Moves Through the Fair is one of my favorite of Jen’s fics and this is the same story, but from Jack’s POV. It’s so lovely to revisit this first accidental date and see how quickly and thoroughly he falls for her...

MARCUS PIKE / MAXWELL LORD /  MULTI / LOOK IT’S COMPLICATED 

The Infinity Cube part 15 by @littlemisspascal (overall Marcus Pike x f!reader, chapter Maxwell Lord x f!reader) Listen. If you know, you know. Rae found a way to write so many Pedros and make it an adventure and a mystery and so so so so good and every chapter is such a surprise. There’s a clever, DELIGHTFUL surprise here that just makes me very happy.

[baldwin-montclair]

The Unlikely Advocate - Thunderstorm

Baldwin looks after his niece in France whilst his wife wrangles a troublesome witch in Oxford

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

———

“Darling, she’s asleep, has been for the last hour!” Baldwin took a sip of wine from the glass in his hand.

“Did you read her-“ Eileen started.

“Sleeping Beauty, I know it’s her favourite tale, even if it’s an entirely butchered version of the initial moral.”

“Maybe, but let’s not scar the seven year old with original version, just yet.”

“I defer to your wisdom,” he smiled a little, “how are things with the Oxford coven?”

“As expected, that bitch Alison is trying to get her little clique to oust me again.”

“Should I-“

“No,” the answer was abrupt, “I can handle some jumped up little cow with delusions of her own importance.”

A bright flash of light flooded the study of Baldwin’s Chateau, followed by a loud crack of thunder.

“What was that?” Eileen asked.

“Thunder clap, we’re due quite the storm.”

“Izzy hates thunder, I should come back.”

“She’s fine, she’s asleep and if she wakes up, I’ll take care of it. You can’t travel in this weather, it’s not safe.”

He heard her sigh on the other side of the phone.

“I just miss you both so much!”

“As do I you. Be safe and I will see you soon.”

After exchanging their farewells and hanging up, Baldwin returned to the pages in front of him.

Two empty wine glasses and several financial reports later, he put the pen down and leant back in his chair, turning to look at the heavy rain beating the windows. He closed his eyes, enjoying the soothing sound.

A definitive tug on the sleeve of his shirt drew his attention to the little girl in her pyjamas and holding a stuffed toy in her arms.

He had bought it for her from an old toy store when she lost her own comfort toy.

“Mr Nibbles is afraid of the thunder!” She told him, matter-of-fact.

“Is that so?” He asked in a mock serious tone, receiving a nod in response.

Eileen initially disapproved of the antique toy, frowning when he brought it home.

‘It’s creepy!’

He saw where she was coming from.

Older toys did have a tendency towards being less saccharine in expression than modern ones. Regardless, it didn’t matter, at three-years-old, Isobel studied the rabbit for a moment before picking it up and never putting it back down again.

“He told me he usually gets hot chocolate when he struggles to sleep!” She had a very well developed vocabulary for one so young.

Baldwin got up from his chair and effortlessly swept her into his arms.

“Who am I to argue with Mr Nibbles?”

Isobel giggled.

Isobel watched from her perch on the counter as he warmed the milk over the stove, chocolate and vanilla essence nearby, just one of the many pieces of culinary tips he’d learned between babysitting his niece and nephews, and, helping to raise Isobel.

“So, what is it about the thunder that scares Mr Nibbles?” He asked.

“It sounds angry,” she shrugged, “I don’t like when people are angry, or fight, fighting’s bad.”

“Sometimes,” he half agreed, “but other times it’s necessary.”

“Sarah says it’s the primitive male response to everything.”

Baldwin chuckled, the child had clearly heard the red haired witch say this thing often enough to repeat it.

“That’s possibly also true,” he nodded to the vanilla extract and Isobel dutifully handed it to him, pleased to be helping, “which is what makes it necessary.”

“Why?”

“Well, sometimes bad people threaten those we care about and we need to protect them. I actually faintly remember being called to your pre-school when some boy tried to take Mr Nibbles from you. Remind me?”

“Tommy’s was being mean. He called Mr Nibbles ugly and tried to take him to throw him in the trash!”

“And what did you do?”

Isobel thought for a second and then raised her little fist in the air.

“Bang!” She giggled.

“Exactly, bang!”

Baldwin had heard the boy’s father ranting before he even arrived at the principal’s office. As soon as he entered, however, the look of abject terror on the face of the hedge fund manager upon recognising him signalled a swift and favourable resolution.

Still, the man and his son were fortunate in not having faced Eileen, given her species’ extreme impatience with abusive males of any age.

“We’re fine now, he always keeps the bucket I like for me at golden time.”

“I feel like I have to at least try to advocate that violence isn’t always the answer but, it’s hard to argue in this case.”

“It wasn’t because of the punch,” she smiled, “he said it was because his father told him to be nice to me or they’ll have to leave their house!”

“Why?”

“Because all of their money is in this one big bag and he said that you decide how much that bag is worth.”

“Such an exaggeration,” Baldwin rolled his eyes, “but if it makes him play nice then fine.”

“Yeah, he shoved Brian the other day when he was being mean.”

“To you?”

Eileen nodded.

“What did he do?”

“Nothing, he was just saying things to try to annoy me.”

“Such as?” He asked, pouring the hot chocolate into a mug and sliding it across to the child.

“Well, we’re having a faire at school for parents and he said I can’t come because I don’t have a Mum and Dad.”

“You know that’s nonsense? Your aunt and I are your parents.”

She nodded.

“I know, he’s just-“

“An asshole!”

Isobel stared at him in shock for a few seconds before collapsing into giggles.

The storm passed, Baldwin looked over at the child fast asleep on the sofa in his study, a comfy blanket draped over her.

He picked her up and carried her to her room, settling her into the bed and left the room door ajar, just so she could follow the light if she was scared and wanted to come find him.

In the meantime, he had a vital project to undertake and dialled the number of the only person who might be able to help him.

“What have I done now?” Diana’s tone was airy and playful despite her exasperated words.

“Nothing, I uh-that is I wanted to speak with you regarding-sorry, it’s late it can wait until tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Stop,” he heard her command as he moved to hang up and thought better of it lest she materialise in his office right then, “you’re freaking me out, tell me what’s wrong!”

“Nothing’s wrong, I just need a sounding board before I speak to Eileen about a matter regarding Isobel.”

“Is she alright?”

“Yes, she perfectly fine.”

“Then what can I help with?”

“Well, you went back in and met my father, he made you his blood sworn daughter without turning you.”

“You’re still doubting that?”

“No, not at all, in fact,” he hesitated, “I want to speak with Eileen about my adopting Isobel, properly, legally and in the eyes of our community. I just don’t know the procedure, he never told me how.”

“I’m sure I can help when the time comes.”

“If, I still need to speak with Eileen first, and if she consents then I will put it to Izzy. Should probably speak to Miyako as well.”

“Why? In case she takes the news about as well as you did?” Diana needles him affectionately.

“Something like that.” He answers with a weary sigh.

“Are we talking about the same Miyako who basically kidnaps Izzy and spoils her with ice cream and gifts when she visits, that one?”

“They do get along well,” he agreed thoughtfully, “so you don’t think it’s a horrible idea?”

“I think it would be a horrible idea not to!”

“Thank you, sister, having your support in this matter is welcome.”

“Don’t mention it, and Baldwin?”

“Yes?”

“You are already her father in all the ways that matter and you’re a good one, she’s lucky to have you.”

“Not as lucky as I am to have her, and, I suppose,” he started grudgingly, “to have you for a sister.”

“Aww, that’s so cute,” she teased, “you’re gonna get such a big hug from me next time I see you!”

“You shouldn’t threaten the head of your family, it’s disrespectful!” He retorted with a smile.

“Goodnight Baldwin.” She chuckled before hanging up.

[murfeelee]

TS4 Werewolves - Rant Alert

I got this one comment that sent me off on a whole tangent, so I decided to reply to it separately.

slade-the-neko replied to your photoset “The Wolves:This world is slowing down How can I fight it? How can I?...”

Dang Murf, that's very impressive! Really makes me wish Sims 4 had werewolves. I'll definitely try porting the Skyrim model to TS4 if they ever add them.                    

Y’all know TS4 is my trigger -- wtF is EA even doing over there? That Tiny Living Stuff Pack was a JOKE, like....seriously? o_O For as much money as they’re swindling y’all for TS4, EA’s Sims team is creatively BANKRUPT. ZERO innovation, intuition or inspiration.

EA just takes popular concepts/crazes like the Tiny House Movement, Baby Yoda, and Harry Potter, and waters it down to the barest of minimums: tiny homes with huge AF Murphy beds instead of bunk beds or convertible futons/sofa-beds; a decorative Baby Yoda you can’t even interact with; no school of magic sims can go to (and no magic for kids YET). I’m so tired of them!

People keep comparing RoM to TS1′s Makin Magic, and I keep going WHERE? I said in my initial trailer reaction for RoM that it made zero frikkin sense for the RoM magic land to have that perma-nighttime full moon, without even bothering to have werewolves in the so-called realm of magic.

RoM would’ve been the PERFECT chance to add werewolves. What better way to have a magical pack than to also introduce werewolves as the local denizens of Glimmerbrook’s forests. Missed opportunity, EA. (－‸ლ) 

They could’ve added a werewolf household living in the woods, that your sim either befriends or gets bitten by, so your sim goes to the Magical Realm to either find a cure for lycanthropy (for the werewolves or for THEMSELVES if they’re bitten and are gonna turn in a couple days), or wolfsbane poisoning if one of the wolves is made sick by the brand new harvestable Wolfsbane *cough cough!* (Wolfsbane comes in the Vampires GP, but they could‘ve totally made more types of Wild Wolfsbane, Yellow Aconite, Purple Monkshood, etc.).

Either one would give your sim a REAL impetus and incentive to go learn magic and talk to the RoM residents and mess with potions & alchermy. Which is another reason I said (I’ve BEEN saying) I wanted HEDGE WITCHES, who could do HERBOLOGY. U_U

The RoM Game Pack NEEDED to be its own Expansion -- it wasn’t a realm at all; it was a Diagon Alley ripoff and everybody knew it. HELLO, EA! Part of worldbuilding is creating a EFFING STORY that gives your game a FRIKKIN PURPOSE. EA didn’t go the distance at all; they did the mere basics of adding magic to TS4, with a lot of style but not much substance. But ironically they did the same with the mermaids, which did get their own EP, and everyone agrees that TS4′s Island Living was worse than TS3′s Island Paradise, so wtf. (－‸ლ) 

But I doubt werewolves would get their own Game Pack like the Vampires & Spellcasters -- EA would do Faeries/Elves before wolves, I suspect, cuz faeries are in a sense easier. Wings, mushrooms & flowers, glittery magic, LOTR-esque art nouveau inspired furniture, etc -- everyone knows the standard faery.

But if TS4 werewolves got a pack all to themselves it would force EA to effing give a crap about lycan culture & lore, and the complexities of things like pack dynamics (alphas, betas, omegas, etc), moon cycles, transformations, lupine physiology & locomotion; diet & hunting (adding new flora & fauna), etc.

While heavy in gameplay expansion, with werewolf-specific abilities, interactions & animations, what other stuff could you stuff into a werewolf stuff pack? Y'all saw how in TS3 the Supernatural EP didn’t give wolves a single bloody thing other than their CAS stuff -- for build/buy mode wolves got ZILCH. We didn’t get busted furniture or shattered windows or blood splatters or more fur patterns -- NOTHING. Everything in build/buy mode was for witches & faeries--all wolves could do was tear the crap up with their claws.

And even their CAS stuff was lackluster - no hairy skins, makeup or tails, but we got body hair & face sliders, claws, fangs, etc.

I like TS1's werewolf design from Makin Magic the most, since their heads/skins looked like wolves.

TS2′s was the biggest downgrade in terms of the LOOK of werewolves, in that it was just a skin.

If EA does do wolves for TS4, I’d hope they make it so the werewolves look like effing WOLVES. At least let them turn into animals, like the ones in TS2 PETS. (WHY TF was TS2 the only time Sims had ACTUAL magical pets!? >_< TS3 has dogs! TS4 has dogs! DO IT ALREADY.)

Considering the cartoony PG13 angle EA insists on keeping TS4, I don’t imagine they’d EVER make wolves look like @camkitty2​’s amazing werewolf mod at MTS:

And certainly not the scary Skyrim werewolves that I converted.

Or even the ones from EA’s other property, Dragon Age (which are effing ugly, IMO).

(The ugly anthropomorphic bipedal version, btw, not the more wolf-like version.)

TBH, If TS4 did werewolves at all I BET YOU MONOPOLY MONEY the template EA’d use would be a lot like Bigby Wolf’s design from the Wolf Among Us video game:

Bigby goes through 4 phases, from man to gradually being an actual wolf in his 4th phase/Final Form. His 3rd phase has a face that not really wolf-like so much as Jekyll/Hyde; beastly enough that you pretty much know Oh that’s a werewolf they’re doing, without it actually looking like any animal.

It’s big and scary with muscles & claws & hair, but cartoony enough that it’s not drastically different from a regular sim. EA’s wack enough to pull something like that, rather than going the extra mile to give us the kind of Skyrim-esque werewolves many simmers want.

Or the full-shift magical WOLF that I personally want.

Don’t get me wrong; Bigby has a great design for Wolf Among Us, made by AA developers Telltale (who do The Walking Dead video games). But Electronic fArts is a AAA developer, with billion dollar budgets, massive teams & bookoo resources. But by god EA’s the laziest AAA company around; just the kind of twats to do AA level work with AAA finances, as we’ve seen in TS4 and TS3.

Bigby’s 2nd phase is basically what TS3 did for werewolves, with the scrunched up brow/nose, pointed ears, hairier face, etc.

This kind of werewolf design is fine, but it leaves A LOT to be desired, especially if it’s the only form you see in certain werewolf franchises. It reminds me too much of how Teen Wolf makes werewolves -- basically as hairier vampires from Buffy (which makes sense). But come on EA, go the distance; go FULL WOLF SHIFT or go home.

In Eastern Europe werewolves ARE vampires/witches -- they’re connected to nature magic, druids & wicca, neopaganism, etc: magic runes & symbols, stones & metals, scyring, bonfire festivals (having Celtic holidays would be so cool!), enchanted woods & nemetons & ley lines, the effect of moonlight on water #TuckEverlasting style, shamanistic sacred animal totemic power and such. Tap into that tribalistic Slavic, Norse & Celtic lore on werewolves, EA, you effing COWards!

In TS1′s Makin Magic and TS3′s Supernatural, witches and werewolves came in the same pack, and had gameplay elements tied to each other -- in TS1 it’s the Beauty & the Beast charm that magical sims can use, and in TS3 werewolves can be used as witches’ assistants to Gather harvestables/collectables used in alchemy potions. So for TS4, having werewolves in RoM would’ve made SO MUCH sense. Hell, they could’ve fit into the Vampire GP, too -- why was wolfsbane even IN that pack? o_O

So if TS4 adds werewolves, I hope they add something NEW to the lifestate, and do more research into other portrayals & iterations of werewolves.

Everyone knows about Norse Berserkers (were-bears), but less attention is given to the Wolves of Odin, the Ulfhednar/Ulfhedinn (werewolves). A lot of Nordic neopagans are into them nowadays.

A werewolf GP would make it so EA would have to flesh out werewolves -- if they live in the woods, give them woodland build/buy mode CC. Let them live OFF THE GRID as technophobic naturists, cuz electronics like tvs, PCs & radios hurt their sensitive eyes & ears. They could be more modern, sure, but it would be so much cooler to have sims who only use well water and hot springs and compost toilets and woodfire ovens.

Bring back hobbies/skills like bone/woodcarving, gem cutting, basket weaving & looms, soap/candle-making, pottery, horticulture, tree-cutting/tree-hugging, animal husbandry (could you imagine werewolf shepherds? XD), sparring, (arm) wrestling, boxing, hunting, bird watching and more. Basically: fullblown medieval-rustic hunting lodge aesthetics: animal pelts, antlers, mounted taxidermy, COME ON, EA, stop being boring!

[ramona-ratguider]

Different types of witches

To start off this post I am going to clarify that as a witch you don’t need to label yourself in order to be a witch. Witches are as diverse as they come and I simply enjoy posts like this because it is fun, I enjoy the aesthetics and sometimes when setting up altars or holding a ritual it is satisfying to stick to a particular theme with your attire and decor.

Here is everything I could find on the different types of “witch aesthetics”

Traditional witch

Witches following the Old Path or the traditions of old witchcraft. This is one of my favourites, I get the feeling of long layered cloaks, melted down candles in a barely lit cottage, herbs hang up from the ceiling to dry. Witches following this path tend to take a look at a lot of historically know witches and their stories, their rumoured practices and follow in their footsteps.

Sea witch

Witches whose practice is linked strongly to the ocean. They usually use aquatic creatures, plants, beach sand and salt water religiously in their practice. Using Neptune and Poseidon to lead their workings. Doing spells associated with a lot of folklore surrounding the ocean (mermaids, sirens and otherworldly sea beasts).

Kitchen witch

My grandmother was the closest thing to a kitchen witch I have ever seen to a kitchen witch. Hovered over a crock-pot, humming beautiful melodies and stirring with the utmost focus. These witches can work a healing spell into homemade bread and a hex into a bowl of soup. Lovely cooks as well, good luck trying to figure out what is in that wonderful smelling pasta. This path is also similar to Hearth witchcraft.

Hedge witch

This is the one path I know very little about, but am dying to figure out. These witches work in what is know as the “Otherworld” and in order to reach it you must jump over the “hedge”. Working with spirits and creatures from the Otherworld.

Elemental witch

Witches on these path base their practice on the four elements : earth, air, fire and water. They will use the elements in every spell working, ritual and craft they do.

Ceremonial witch

These witches will not do simple spells or magic without the full workings of a ceremony. This is a very sophisticated path and witches on this path tend to be very anal about the set up of any ritual or spell work. Great detail is put into the moon phase, time of ritual and they ensure the working is carried out in a specific, step-by-step manner.

Green witch

Witches with strong ties to plants. I myself have never had much of a green thumb, as much as I try to keep my house full of beautiful plants I can never seem to keep them alive. My housemate has more skill with this. Trust these witches to be caught whispering to their succulents, using their plants to heal loved ones and being happiest when lying on the grass surrounded by daisies.

Hereditary witch

These witches come from a line of witches, raised in a household where witchcraft is practiced or are simply born with gifts and abilities that run in the family (in my case it skips a generation and one woman of every second generation inherits the ability). You don’t need to be born into it in order to practice the craft, but it sure helps.

Cosmic witch

These witches focus their practice on the cosmos. The stars, planets and in some cases even extraterrestrial beings. Spells performed by these witches usually follow the alignment of the stars, the planets and the moon and sun. So much knowledge can be generated from the universe and these types of witches are almost otherworldly. Focuses on astronomy and astrology are common.

Secular witch

These witches still practice the craft as any other witch would, but remove the aspect of deity or a higher power from their practice. Their work is in most cases not very spiritual, but rather practical.

Solitary witch

Not much to this type of witch, other than they don’t work in covens or do any work with other witches. They prefer to work alone.

Eclectic witch

A witch not limited to a particular practice or belief system, but rather incorporates them all or a select few into their practice. I myself like to mix and match in my workings so I could consider myself eclectic in broader terms.

African witch

This is a bit of an umbrella term as their are so many types of magic done within the traditional African community. The one crucial note to take is that in order to maintain the balance one does have to be of African descent in order to label oneself and African witch.

Ancestral witch

A witch who solely works with ancestors and no other spirits or otherworldy beings. These witches either work with their own ancestors or other historical ancestors that they feel strong connections to.

Animal witch

These witches tend to work mostly with animals, whether it be live animals, skins, bones or other remains, They normally have a really strong bond with living animals and in some cases animal spirits. This is the type of witch who gifts shiny things to the local crows and builds an army of loyal crow subjects.

Art witch

These witches are spewing with talent and creativity. Whether working spells into their beautiful oil paintings, clay figurines or embroidery. They will work healing magic into handmade jewellery and bindings into beautiful portraits.

Augury witch

Witches who interpret omens and symbols. They don’t exactly foresee the future, but more so to guide certain paths or receive messages from the other realms or higher powers.

Celtic witch

Witches who base their practice on Celtic magic, mythology and Celtic deities. These witches work with beings like fairies, gnomes and other beings from Celtic folklore. Normally quite into earth magic as well.

Chaos witch

A witch who’s practice is exactly that, chaotic. No common structure is used and this path is all about using whatever seems appropriate in the moment, even if it is contradictory to previous practice. Most unorganized of all the witches.

Crystal witch

A witch who uses crystals and gems strongly in their practice. This witch knows the properties of every crystal and stone and has quite a vast collection.

Divination witch

A witch who’s practice focuses solely on divination. Usually works with tarot cards, scrying and/or any other methods on divination. Use it to foretell the future, receive messages from other realms and the list goes on.

Earth witch

Similar to the ‘Green witch’ but broader. These witches use plants, stones, animals and other earthly elements in their practice. The hippies of the witch community. Almost always barefoot and getting lost in a forest somewhere. Most likely an environmentalist.

Flower witch

A witch who’s practice surrounds flowers more specifically than plants. Colourful gardens, always smells beautiful and will most likely make you a flower crown in spellwork. They know the properties of most local flowers and cast circles using daisies.

Hearth witch

A hearth witch’s practice revolves around their home, it’s very similar to kitchen witchcraft. They incorporate their spellwork into domestic activities within their household (like cleaning and cooking). When in a hearth witch’s house, you can almost immediately feel it.

Lunar witch

These witches use the moon and all her associate deities within their practice. The phase of the moon, moon water, moonstone, everything moon will make this witch. Guaranteed night owl, they draw all their magic from the moon itself.

Music witch

A music witch will use songs instead of spells in their craft. Incantations are songs they wrote themselves, songs they grew up with and even (similar to pop culture witches) mainstream media. They have a playlist for every ritual, celebration and find a way to incorporate music into all their workings. A music witch’s voice or instrument is their power.

Tech witch

Tech witches use modern technology within ritual and practice. Uses coding for spellwork and relies heavily on their devices. Utilizes mobile applications built for witches. Personally, tech witchcraft never worked for me because I found it to break and interrupt my energy lines, let me know if you are a tech witch how you overcome this.

Alexandrian witch

This is actually a path of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders. It is very similar to Gardnerian Wicca and is highly ceremonial. This practice focuses on the relationship between the Wiccan God and Goddess.

Shaman

Not exactly witches, but based on the practice I felt it fitting. In Shamanism, contact is made with the spirit-world to heal the sick, commune with the spirits and ancestors, and in some cultures even escort the dead to the afterlife. This is normally a very indigenous practice and in my opinion the knowledge of true Shamanism can only be passed down from another Shaman.

Gardnerian witch

Another path of Wicca, named after Gerald Gardner. This is the earliest known created tradition of Wicca. In order to be considered Gardnerian one does need to be initiated into a Gardnerian coven, covens within these traditions are known for their secrecy. They celebrate the Wiccan God and Goddess and follow the Wiccan Rede.

Water witch

Similar to the sea witch, but some of these witches find themselves inland, far from the ocean and thus draw their power from streams, lakes and rivers. Thus adapting their path to follow the deities of these smaller bodies of water, and even work with animals and plants that are associated with these.

Air witch

These witches work with tools associated with the element air. Incense, feathers, the wind. Some witches base the elements they work with solely on their birth element (mine being Air as I am an Aquarius, but I have never practiced solely with air myself.) others just feel more drawn to a single element.

Fire witch

Witches taking the path of fire are considered the rebels of the Elemental Witches. Same as the others, they work with all the tools associated with Fire.

Pop culture witch

These are witches who use the elements of fiction and other pop culture in their practice. Following sample spells from movies like The Craft or creating their own spell from a scene from a movie not even remotely about witchcraft. This is not just limited to movies, but also pop songs; taking the lyrics and using them in spells or replacing the lyrics with spells. This is another one I am not too fond of myself, but I do like to see how other witches incorporate pop culture into their magic.

Forest witch

These witches spend all their time practicing the craft within the forest. Gathering their tools within her, holding rituals within her. These witches are incredibly drawn to the forest and draw their energy from within the forest.

Swamp witch

Same as the forest witch, but swamp.

Desert witch

Same as the swamp witch, but desert

Weather witch

My personal favourite, the weather witch uses weather to draw her energies or in some cases is able to actually manipulate the weather. These witches use things like storm water and other such tools in their craft.

-----------------------

These are just the few I could think of. If you know of any more please message me and I will update it. :)

[jackdawyt]

DISCLAIMER: This is a theory, I could be totally wrong, and for the sake of all the scary Sollavelen fangirls out there, I hope I did alright detailing this intricate theory!

{Voice ringing with fullness from both worlds, guiding me to the shining places. He calls himself Pride. Old pain, shadows forgotten from dreams too real. This side is slow and heavy, but here is what can change. Wisdom knows enduring is pain. He hurts for her, another of many he couldn't save. He carries necessary deaths}.

"Fen'Harel" "He Who Hunts Alone"

"The Dread Wolf" "Lord of Tricksters" "The Great Wolf" And "Chuckles"

Before each alias, he was known as Solas.

In ancient elvhen "Solas" means "Pride", or literally "to stand tall", it's a word often spoken in the Elvhish tongue.

In elven times, "Pride" was denoted as a figure within key Dalish-tales, like 'The Ascension of Ghilan'nain', as the Mother of the Halla proceeded to deplete her creations across the world, when she decided to destroy the giants within the deep depths of sea - "Pride stopped her hand" - sparing one of her oceanic creations for unknown purposes.

Within this tale, "Pride" is referred to as a name/figure, expressing that these actions were taken by a living body.

In modern-day Thedas, "Pride" often corresponds to a Pride Demon, the most powerful abomination among its ranks. A demon is formed when their initial purpose as a spirit is somehow perverted and twisted.

"When a spirit is forced to do something that greatly conflicts with its original nature."

Therefore, a Pride Demon's original purpose has been corrupted, once a spirit of Wisdom in the Fade, now a demon of Pride in Thedas.

"Wisdom and Purpose are too easily twisted into Pride and Desire."

According to the Chantry, spirits are the first children of the Maker, he turned away from his original creations because they lacked a soul; to emulate their creator.

Whatever the truth about the Maker is, spirits are told to be first beings in existence, they uphold plenty of relevance regarding the cultures of Thedas.

The Avvar tribes revere spirits as Gods, directly linking with them and seeking consul. The Dalish believe both demons and spirits are the same, both equally dangerous. Tevinter Imperium is known for binding spirits and using them as servants. Even Rivani hedge-witches allow spirits to posses them for the sake of their villages.  

The knowledge and existence of spirits is spread throughout Thedas, with each race and culture following many different beliefs regarding the ancient beings.

The Chantry's history extends to a time after the veil, not before, however throughout the ancient elvhen times, an advanced civilization existed before the veil's creation.

A group of powerful elvhen mages called the Evanuris ruled over the Age, Elgar'nan was the All-father and leader of these mages, he lead the pact with Mythal, the all-mother.

Just like the elvhen word "Solas" meaning "Pride", Elgar'nan has an elvhen translation:

"Elgar" means "Spirit"

"Nan" means "Revenge" or "Vengeance"

The elvish meaning of Elgar'nan is "Spirit" of "Revenge" or "Vengeance", by this definition, Elgar'nan is a spirit (or apropos a demon) of revenge, with Mythal, his counterpart acting as the opposite force (or spirit) of justice and love.

{"Mythal walked out of the sea of the Earth's tears and onto the land. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow, and at her touch he grew calm and knew that his anger had led him astray."}

Perhaps each of the Evanuris mages follow this same origin, each fulfilling their own purpose, nuanced between a spirit and demon. For further context, the counterweight of Wisdom is Pride.

Seemingly Solas, one of the members of the Evanuris Pantheon, "was" a Wisdom spirit forced to enter Thedas with a body gifted by Mythal.

"He did not want a body, but she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face", and "Bare-faced but free, frolicking, fighting, fierce. He wants to give Wisdom, not orders."

Solas, as a Wisdom spirit had no desire to enter this world with a body, (such limiting things), but for whatever reason 'she' asked him to come, she being Mythal, a woman whom Solas loves as queen and ruler of his people.

Perhaps Mythal knew she was in-danger with the Elven Pantheon, she asked for a trusted Wisdom spirit to join her in the flesh.

Once given a body by Mythal, Solas burned the vallaslin linked with Mythal off his face, leaving a scar, no longer baring the slave markings that once were marked by the previous occupant.

Solas's original purpose was to give Wisdom as a spirit, not to be given a body and become a lieutenant in Mythal's ranks, his purpose seemingly changed.

Solas's body was given by Mythal, potentially one of her servants offered it as a sacrifice for Solas to come, however, the ancient elves originally created their bodies from the "Earth."

"They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget."

The elves mined the Titan's bodies for their blood, lyrium, which they used to create bodies for their spirits to occupy.

Lyrium is a most powerful substance throughout Thedas, it has many uses ranging from sustaining magical spells, charging dwarven runes, enhancing a person's talents, replenishing health, mana and stamina, it's even been infused onto a person's skin for combat purposes.

One can imagine the possibilities of a lyrium body and how someone could become most powerful.

The mining and extraction of lyrium among the elven people caused the Titan's to retaliate in war, shaking the very world until Mythal "struck them down."

("Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!")

The greed of the Evanuris's thirst for lyrium caused the ancient elves to somehow make the Titans forget, never waking their anger again, and forgetting there place.

("What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all.")

Mythal was killed by her own people, the Pantheon plotted against their own queen in lust for power and greed.

It was Solas's love for Mythal that he joined this world physically, he never possessed any desire to become flesh, Wisdom merely wanted to help his queen.

After Mythal was slain, Wisdom went to each side of the betrayers, he told them the other had forged a terrible weapon, a blade that would end the war. He told the Creators it was forged in the heavens, and the Forgotten Ones, that it was hidden in the abyss. And when the gods went seeking it, he sealed them both in their realms forever.

"He broke the dreams to stop the old dreams from waking. The wolf chews its leg off to escape the trap."

The Chantry teaches that the Maker created the Veil before He created men, this is false as it was Solas who "held back the sky" to banish the Evanuris.

The veil severed many ties the elven people had to the Fade, since their kingdom was founded on strong magics and the gifts of immortality, all irrelevant when the veil was forged.

Creating the veil was a sacrifice for Solas, destroying his own kingdom, yet knowing the people will be saved from the Evanuris in the process. Ultimately, he stumbled alone in this world, resting to see the future of the elven people.

Cole: Bright and brilliant, he wanders the ways, walking unwaking, searching for wisdom... Solas: I do not need you to do that, Cole. Cole: Your friend wanted you to be happy, even though she knew you wouldn't be. Solas: (Sighs.) Could you... if you would remember her, could you do it as I would? Cole: He comes to me as though the Fade were just another wooded path to walk without a care in search of wisdom. Cole: We share the ancient mysteries, the feelings lost, forgotten dreams, unseen for ages, now beheld in wonder. Cole: In his own way, he knew wisdom, as no man or spirit had before. Solas: Thank you.

Solas, sealing away the Gods and creating the veil felt undecided about his actions, his only purpose was to give Wisdom, however, he was given more, birthed a body to serve Mythal and the elven people.

He yearns to know if he was wise, if Mythal would agree, if the pain was worth it. As Cole depicts, locking away the elven gods and creating the veil was the right thing to do for all the elven people's sake.  

He had saved his people from a life of slavery, servitude and near annihilation, for fear of what the Evanuris may have wrought onto Arlathan.

After Solas woke from a long slumber, his next aim was to destroy the veil her originally erected, and restore the world of his time, the world of the elves, bringing back the ancient magics and destroying modern-day Thedas.

He planned on using the Orb of Destruction, however, he was to weak to unlock the orb, he passed the weapon to Corypheus through his network of spies so he could unlock it and die in the process.

As Corypheus unlocked the orb, destroyed the Conclave, killed the Divine and proceeded to ascend to Godhood, Solas decided to defeat the Magister by joining the Inquisition, once defeated, he'd reclaim his newly unlocked orb and destroy the veil.

The Inquisitor destroyed Corypheus in a heartbeat, however, Solas's orb wasn't so lucky, it had broke in the process of trembling rocks falling back to the ground.

His original plan failed, and now he seeks a new scheme to rip open the veil and restore the time of the elves. In hiding, Solas sought out Flemeth who carried but a wisp of Mythal's essence, remorsefully reconnecting with his queen.

"But the people, they need me"

It's unknown what exactly Solas and Mythal collaborated as they embraced, has Solas possessed Mythal's spirit into his own body or has Wisdom taken on a new purpose in order to destroy the veil?

Has Wisdom became Vengeance, so a reckoning that will shake the very heavens can be unleashed onto Thedas?

Is Wisdom no more but deceit, has his purpose changed? Is Vengeance his only hope at saving the elven people? Or will he become mad in the process? Perhaps even prideful?

Could this be the undoing of Solas? By possessing Mythal and becoming Vengeance, destroying the veil and perhaps turning into the Dread Wolf to cast the Evanuris out for good?  

Or will Wisdom recollect and stop before it's too late? The ambiguity between spirits and demons are far too tightly linked, even the thought of pride can make one stumble into damnation.

What is the future for Wisdom? Will he become Pride? Has he become something different, like Vengeance? Is his path already too late to be altered, or will Wisdom recollect his original purpose and save this world?

"Alas, so long as the music plays, we dance."

Tell me your thoughts down below, I have an Instagram account now so follow jackdaw journalism, but for all your things BioWare, you're already in the right place!  

[aarontalksmusic-blog]

A Top 30 Horror Movies

This is Halloween! This is Halloween! There are a lot of awesome horror movies, but I picked just 30 that qualify as my favorites. 

#30 - The Conjuring

So this movie isn’t perfect. The last 20-30 minutes kinda turn into a mess as the demon gets more confrontational. But, the first 90 minutes are a near perfect slow build of tension and smart visual storytelling. All the actors do a good job, even the kids. This movie has insured I never play Hide and Clap.

#29 - Paranormal Activity 2

In my opinion superior to the (still pretty good) original, PA2 moves faster than its predecessor and uses the audience’s curiosity against them in interesting ways. You’re always looking to the edges of the screen for something or someone out of place, and as the movie progresses, that curiosity rattles the nerves more and more.

#28 - The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

One of the only modern horror remakes that improves and expands on the original. The Hills Have Eyes hit when I was a junior in high school. It is gleefully gorey and deranged. People die in awful ways, and the protagonist (seen above) spends most of the last half hour drenched in blood. It’s a lot of fun if you’re into that sort of thing.

#27 - Event Horizon

Space Horror is a hard genre to get right. Event Horizon knocks it out of the park by getting the slow build right. There are gruesome and bloody images from time to time, but the majority of the movie is built on tension and dread. Having Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne leading the cast adds some dramatic weight to the proceedings.

#26 - The VVitch

The GOAT 17th Century rural horror movie. This movie gets real weird and leaves a lot up to the audience’s imagination. The less said about it the better if you haven’t seen it. But, even for the 2010s renaissance of horror, this one stands out.

#25 - Hereditary

This is a list of my favorite horror movies, not the scariest. If it were “scariest” this would be top 10, maybe top 5. The second half of this movie is some of the most uncomfortable and relentlessly horrifying storytelling I’ve ever seen. Across just two feature films, Director Ari Aster has proved himself a master of the horror genre. We’re all worse off for it.

#24 - Return of the Living Dead

The first movie on this list that is more funny than scary, Return of the Living Dead is laugh out loud hilarious at times. Somehow, it still manages to be a more effective zombie movie than most serious ones. Great punk rock soundtrack and highly quotable, this is great for people who scare a little too easily.

#23 - Friday the 13th Part 2

Basically improving on the original in every way, Friday the 13th Part 2 is iconic even without Jason’s hockey mask making an appearance. The killer instead keeps a lumpy bag over his head the whole time. The movie lets you know early on that its going to be ridiculous, when the Part 2 logo literally smashes through the Friday the 13th title card. Great representation of the slasher genre.

#22 - Suspiria (2018)

I’m a sucker for lore in movies, and Suspiria is full to the brim with details that expand on the world. Led by great performances from Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson, the movie is highly intelligent and occasionally brutally violent. The fact that the director’s prior movie was “Call Me By Your Name” shows that he’s a talented filmmaker no matter the genre.

#21 - Halloween (1978)

Michael Myers is iconic. The music is iconic. Jamie Lee Curtis is an all-time great horror leading lady. Halloween is a must watch for horror genre fans. 

#20 - Get Out

This movie is so well written it won an Oscar. Get Out is both hilarious and brutally tense. The acting is awesome across the board. Who knew Jordan Peele would use his comedy talent to make a career in scary movies? 

#19 - Shaun of the Dead

A classic comedy filled with so many jokes that it takes about 3 watches to catch them all. Not scary in the least, but uniquely playful in the genre. Also made Simon Pegg a star. Nothing but greatness here.

#18 - The Descent

I’ll always remember my first watch of this movie. It slaps you in the face with trauma in the first 5 minutes. Then spends three quarters of an hour building tension and claustrophobia before suddenly becoming a solid monster feature. Though it fizzles a little at the end with some wtf moments, the first 3/4ths are very effecting.

#17 - Nightmare on Elm Street

Nightmare on Elm Street is just a cool as hell idea for a horror movie. It takes the occasional predictability of Halloween or Friday the 13th and flips it. The kills are inventive and visually interesting, the effects are very cool, and you get to see Johnny Depp get brutally murdered. win-win-win.

#16 - Saw

Saw came out at a perfect age for me. Seeing this movie at 16 was a great experience. Even as the sequels got worse and worse, the whodunnit nature of the original held up. People were literally drowning in gore by Saw 3, but this is a solid movie that knows when to tone things down. Great watch.

#15 - Evil Dead 2

By turns hilarious and unsettling, watching Evil Dead 2 allows the viewer to marvel at the special effects done on a shoestring budget. Bruce Campbell is an absurd and talented physical actor, and singlehandedly carries this movie into the hall of fame.

#14 - IT Chapter 1

Chopping the 1,000 page Stephen King book in half allowed the first half of the IT saga to thrive. Bill Skarsgard is a fantastic Pennywise, and the child actors all do well. A slightly repetitive series of scares keeps this one from perfection (and would be the downfall of Part 2), but its still an amazing peak of the genre.

#13 - Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Fast zombies. Zack Snyder directing before his head got too big. Hilarious musical cues. Apocalyptic imagery. This movie is one of the best of the zombie genre.

#12 - Fright Night (1985)

One of the most simply fun movies on this list, Fright Night is straight out of the mid 80s. It never takes itself too seriously, but it still has some good scares sprinkled in. An essential vampire movie, and the remake with Colin Farrell wasn’t half bad either.

#11 - The Omen (1976)

One of my early favorites, The Omen is another lore filled film that gradually ramps up the twists until the dramatic finale. Probably one of the least scary films on my list, its built on Gregory Peck being a great actor and a few pretty messed up deaths.

#10 - An American Werewolf in London

Another favorite from childhood, this is the best the werewolf genre has to offer. Made by John Landis who also did Animal House and Blues Brothers, American Werewolf balances 80s level of gore with award winning special effects and clever music (every song featured has moon in the title).

#9 - It Follows

One of the newest (and most original) movies on the list, It Follows is one of a kind. It’s terrifying, has great cinematography and halfway through the movie you have absolutely no clue how it will end. Must see.

#8 - Midsommar

This is absolute newest film on the list, and one I’m anxious to rewatch. Midsommar sets itself apart by being 95% in broad daylight and providing a wealth of backstory to the “bad guys”. Also Florence Pugh shows that she is an amazingly skilled actress, particularly in the final 10 minutes.

#7 - The Exorcist

^That guy is scary. He’s also only in the movie for like 3 seconds. Obviously this is a classic. If you haven’t seen it and like horror at all, it will still amaze you, almost 50 years later. I would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall when it was in theaters watching people lose their minds. Still a masterpiece of the genre.

#6 - The Blair Witch Project

I watched The Blair Witch Project for the first time alone in my room at age...I believe 14. That was a mistake. While the mistakes of the hikers become a bit hilarious on multiple rewatches, the night scenes are still tense af. The last 15 minutes are uniquely terror-inducing. Everybody’s seen this one, but if you haven’t, maybe watch it with the lights on?

#5 - The Evil Dead (2013)

This movie is one of the most intense and relentless horror movies ever. Nail guns, rusty knives, a turkey carver, a chainsaw, a machete: people get literally ripped apart in this movie. But, here’s the thing, its really really fun to watch. You’ll be out of breath when its over, but still.

#4 - Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods isn’t THAT scary. It flirts with scary. It has some shocking and frightening moments But mostly its a shitload of fun that plays on every trope of the horror genre. It also has one of my favorite final moments of any film on this list.

#3 - The Thing

Underappreciated upon its release, The Thing has become the standard by which body horror is measured. Its delightfully paranoid and lets the audience sit and think as gruesome deaths pile up. 

#2 - Alien

One of the first movies to terrify me, Alien is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. The monster design is iconic. The kills and set pieces are one of a kind. It has a kick ass female heroine played by Sigourney Weaver. What more do you want?

and finally

#1 - The Shining

YEAHHHHHHH Here’s a brief list of iconic Shining scenes: - An elevator full of blood - The old woman in room 237 - All work and no play make Jack a dull boy - The snowy hedge maze - Here’s Johnny - Danny’s vision of the twins - The house of horrors finale featuring the man in bear costume featured above and of course - REDRUM This movie is a masterpiece, made by one of the greatest directors of all time, starring one of the greatest actors of all time and based on one of the scariest books by the defining horror author of our time. Its damn near perfect.

[yespolkadotkitty]

Hello lovely ❤️

Congratulations on 4K! That’s incredible and you are so deserving of all the love ❤️

If I could possibly request…

Pero Tovar (he can be a modern AU if you would rather). Prompt 16 (only one bed, because I am a sucker for that trope).

Not smut, but definitely spicy.

Congratulations again you wonderful human!

Friend! Thank you for asking!

Words: 550 ~ Warnings: Slight sexytimes ~ Pairing: Modern!Pero x female reader

----

"There's only space for one bed, here," you tell Pero as he walks into the tiny room you've been let for the night.

Backpacking with your friend had been exciting, an adventure, but perhaps the greatest adventure was going to start tonight.

The bed was shoved into the space between the sloping walls of the loft conversion in this little house. There was hardly any space to sleep on the floor. Pero had to stoop just to stand.

He aimed a quicksilver smile at you. "If you are suggesting sharing, bonita, I showered this morning."

You snort. "Chivalry isn't dead, after all."

He performs a little mock bow that makes you laugh. He's good at that, making you smile, making you feel happier than you ever have. You wonder that before this backpacking trip across Europe, you never noticed it, this spark between you, or how happy and settled he makes you.

You yawn and stretch. "Are you okay with sharing with me, though?"

Pero sets his enormous backpack on the floor. "You talk like we will have the energy to do anything but sleep. You're swaying on your feet. Sit."

You do, and he kneels, taking off your boots and then setting your feet in his lap and massaging them through your thick hiking socks.

You groan. "Fuck, that feels amazing."

He smiles enigmatically, and you feel that spike of desire again.

What makes you bold - the massage, the tiredness, the proximity? You don't know, but you hear yourself say "Pero, why haven't we...?"

His brows wing up. "Why are we not together, you mean?" He rasps.

"Yeah." Your heart pounds.

Pero holds your feet between his big palms, ceasing his ministrations for a moment. "I was waiting for a signal from you, bonita," he says eventually. "When we met, you had just dumped that fucking deadweight boyfriend, thank Christ - you were so sad. And then I wanted it to be the right time..." He shuts his eyes for a moment. "And it never has been."

You lean forward. "You're waiting for a signal?" You reach down and cup his chin, feeling the scratch of his thick stubble. "Here it is." And you put gentle pressure under his jaw until he stands, and when he's unfolded his long legs, you wrap your arms around him and pull him down onto the bed, so his body covers yours.

You feel him smile against your mouth. "As signals go, this is one of my favourite." He kisses you, deeply, and he tastes of caramel-y coffee and his favourite mint gum, and you press up into him, years of pent-up desire making you shivery with need.

"Yeah?" You smile. "How about this for another one?" And you wrap your legs around him and align your hips, and he curses deep and low in Spanish.

You make the most of that one bed, and you end up being happy that it's small, because it means you're tangled up in Pero's embrace all night.

-----

@hotchlover @toxicfrankenstein @doveandgeography @morganalefame @hopeamarsu @allthe-ships @kissing-stars @keeper0fthestars @the-ginger-hedge-witch @tintinn16 @javierpinme @elegantduckturtle @gallowsjoker @grogusmum @hnt-escape @jitterbugs927 @mrsparknuts @amneris21 @astroboots @radiowallet @skvatnavle @quica-quica-quica @alienprincesspoop @insomniamamma @alwaysbethewest @knittingqueen13 @mylovelycomandante @bison-writes @nolanell @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @pilothusband @queridopascal @poenariuniverse @idreamofboobear @brainy-specs @mourningbirds1 @songsformonkeys @knittingqueen13 @thepoisonofgod @vaguely-here-wish-i-was-not @alienprincesspoop @actuallyprettylucky @charnelhouse

[phynxrizng]

Exemplore»Wicca & Witchcraft

What Kind of Witch Are You? 60 Witchcraft Traditions

Updated on February 20, 2019

Bev G more

Born in deepest Cornwall and now living in wild Wales, Bev has been practising her personal brand of witchcraft for years and years.

There are many different witchcraft traditions from all over the world. Find out which type of witch you are! | Source

Those who find themselves drawn to witchcraft might be surprised to discover just how many paths and traditions are open to them. In fact, you really are spoiled for choice. There is a witch tradition to suit every taste and interest.

I’m listing 60 of them here but there are many more, as well as new hybrid paths. You may find out that you're interested in more than just one of these types of witchcraft, so I encourage you to explore and find the right one for you.

Am I a Witch?

If you are someone that has always been fascinated by the supernatural and you have always felt a bit different than other people, you might be a witch. Simply put, a witch is someone who uses energy to affect the world around them, someone who embraces the magical power that courses through our veins. There are some telltale signs to look for that indicate you could be a witch, such as an attraction to the dark arts, a love of nature, and the ability to identify the energy of any place you visit. The article I linked to also has a fun quiz to help you decide.

Different Types of Witches and Witchcraft

Here is a list of all the traditions I'll cover in more detail. If you are just looking for a quick reference, you need read no further. If you want to know more, scroll down the page to find the tradition/s you are interested in.

African: An umbrella term for the many types of magic practiced in Africa.

Alexandrian: Founded in Britain the 1960's by Alex and Maxine Sanders and based on ritual and ceremonial magic.

Ancestral: An ancient form of magic based around contacting the spirits of the dead and communicating with one's ancestors.

Angel Witch: Practitioners of magic who communicate and work with angels and other divine beings.

Animist: A witch who is in tune with nature and all living things on the planet. One who sees no distinction between humans, animals, plants, or any other physical object in the world.

Art Witch: A magical practitioner who works with art as their primary medium.

Arthurian Witch: Magic based around the old legends of King Arthur.

Astarte: An occult order that worships the ancient Greek goddess of fertility and war.

Astrology Witch: A witch who uses astrology in their magic and lifestyle on.

Augury: A witch who divines omens, signs, and symbols.

Axis Mundi: The belief in a central pillar that connects earth to the heavens.

British Traditional Witchcraft: Local traditions, superstitions and spellcasting that sprung up all over the British Isles.

Celtic Witch: Based on the study and worship of ancient Celtic deities, mythology, earth magic, and ceremonial rites.

Ceremonial: A term that refers to practitioners of "high magick."

Chaos Magic: A contemporary magical practice that blends all types of magic and is based on strong belief in the magic being used.

Chthonioi: A variation of the Alexandrian tradition that also includes the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses.

Crystal Witch: A witch who focuses on using crystals in their magical practices.

Dianic Witchcraft: An offshoot of Wicca which focuses on female deities. It is named after Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting, nature, and the Moon.

Divination: A witch who specializes in divination, such as tarot cards, scrying, or other such means of discovering occult and hidden information.

Dowser: A practitioner who uses the ancient art of dowsing to locate the ley lines that encircle the globe.

Druid: Practitioners of the ancient Celtic religion.

Earth-Based Witchcraft; Gaia: Nature-centric witchcraft based around old European traditions centered on harmony with the earth.

Eclectic Witch: A witch that embraces all types of magic and magical traditions, refusing to be pinned down to one type of magical practice.

Eco-Paganism: Someone who is an environmental activist who uses magical practices to defend the earth and help raise awareness of environmental issues.

Egyptian Witchcraft: Magical practitioners who incorporate ancient Egyptian deities and magic into their arsenal. They may incorporate Wiccan traditions as well.

Elemental Witch: A witch who works with the five esoteric elements: fire, water, air, earth, and spirit.

European: An umbrella term for all of the witchcraft and magical traditions of Europe.

Faery: Based on ancient folklore from the British Isles.

Fellowship of Isis: An occult order based around the worship of the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis.

Floral Witch: A witch who works primarily with flowers.

Folk Witchcraft: This magical tradition is closely related to both British witchcraft (and its derivations) and Faery.

Gardnerian: A version of Wicca based on the writings of Gerald Brosseau Gardner. The Gardnerian tradition is a highly structured form of witchcraft. It is coven-based and has a formal progression through degrees of initiation. Practices are kept secret, and many members keep their affiliation to their coven secret also.

Green Witchcraft: A witch who bases their magical practice around things such as gardening and herbalism.

Healer: Someone who uses healing magic.

Hearth Witch: A witch who practices magic that is focused on the home.

Hedge Witch: A solitary practitioner who follows their own path and a herbalist, who mixes up potions and brews in their kitchen.

Hellenic: A form of magic and paganism based on the worship of the ancient Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses.

Hereditary Witch: Handed down along the family line, hereditary witchcraft is unique to each family and contains many aspects of traditional paganism.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: An organization devoted to the study of the occult and ancient magic. Founded in England in the early 20th century, the organization helped revive interest in occult studies in Europe.

Kitchen Witch: A witch who practices magic in the home and in the kitchen in particular.

Law of Attraction: Witchcraft that is based on the now-popular Law of Attraction.

Left-Hand Path: Witches who reject normal magical conventions and engage in the breaking of taboos.

Lounge Witch: A witch who restricts their witchcraft to the home.

Luciferian: Those magical practitioners who invoke and worship Lucifer, who is revered as the bringer of light and the morning star.

Lunar Witch: A witch who works with the lunar cycles.

Musical Witch: A witch who expresses feelings and thoughts through music.

Neo-Pagan: An umbrella term that refers to the resurgence in all kinds of witchcraft and the ‘new’ earth-based customs.

Norse: Known as seiðr or seidh, Norse witchcraft is based upon the ancient religion of Scandinavia.

Satanic: A cult of defiance against the constructs of a dictatorial society, the church, and traditional magic.

Scandinavian: A type of witchcraft practiced in northern Europe and derived from ancient Norse magic.

Sea Witch: Practitioners of water-based magic who normally live in coastal areas.

Secular Witch: A practitioner of magic that does not worship any deities.

Shaman: A broad term used to describe a magician who works magic by deliberately entering an altered state of consciousness.

Shinto: An ancient Japanese religion that is based around the worship of spirits known as Kami.

Sigil or Word Witch: A practitioner of magic who uses sigils and weaves words into their magic.

Solitary Witch: A witch who generally conceals their witchiness and works alone.

Stregheria: An Italian form of witchcraft that has a lot in common with Wicca.

Tech Witch: Someone who uses modern technology to aid in their witchcraft, such as using a microwave instead of a cauldron.

Thelema: Founded by famed occultist Aleister Crowley, Thelema centers around ceremonial rituals and interpretations of ancient Egyptian rituals.

Wicca: A form of modern paganism founded in England in the mid 20th century.

If you know of a tradition I haven't covered and it is one that deserves a mention, do let me know in the comments section at the bottom of the page. If you could share your experience of any tradition, that would also be helpful to other readers.

1. African Witchcraft

On the continent of Africa, witchcraft varies hugely from country to country. It is way too complex to be summarized simply as ‘African Witchcraft.’ There are healers, fortune-tellers, and practitioners of black magic. There are also witch finders whose job it is to seek out and imprison, torture, or kill anyone suspected of witchcraft. In some areas, the witch is revered as a healer and all-around good person. In other places, to have ‘witch’ whispered about you is a death sentence.

It’s a big subject and, if you are interested, I recommend you research on a per country basis. Unfortunately, space limitations prevent me from writing about it in any detail.

2. Alexandrian

Alexandrian witchcraft is a tradition that began in Britain in the late 1960s. Taking Gerald Gardner’s reinvention of witchcraft, Alex and Maxine Sanders created their own version. It changed and morphed throughout Alex Sander’s lifetime. Based on formal ritual and ceremonial magic, Sanders described it as 'somewhat eclectic.' Students were expected to study as required and undergo initiation ceremonies.

Stuart Farrar, a student of the Sanders, wrote a popular book, still in print today, called “What Witches Do”, based on the workings of the Alexandrian coven. Farrar refers to the type of witchcraft they practice as Wicca, and I particularly like this quote:

Within Wicca there is much variety of emphasis on the factors I have mentioned. But the strength of Wicca is its flexibility. Rigid dogma, conformism, and monolithic organization are foreign to its spirit. The basic unit of Wicca is not any particular sect, but the individual coven and the people who compose it. Each coven has its own way, its own character, its own emphasis—and its own contribution. The mine of tradition is so rich that each coven can work its own seam. --Stuart Farrar: What Witches Do.

3. Ancestral Witch

A branch of folk magic and varying from country and continent. Ancestral witchcraft is focused on working with ancestors, both family and more generally. A practitioner of ancestral witchcraft performs rituals designed to connect them with the spirits of the dead. Witches, in general, only do this at Samhain (All Hallows, Halloween).

4. Angel Witch

The name might sound a little contradictory, but an Angel witch is someone who works with the energy of angels. It’s also the name of a UK heavy rock band. One person who works with angels is the author, Doreen Virtue. She would probably deny anything to do with witchcraft, but she does espouse working with angels to achieve your aims and improve your life.

There is another branch of angel magic, and it is a little more serious, focused, and less ‘fluffy.’ This is the type of work practiced by the writer, Damon Brand. He probably wouldn’t describe himself as a witch either. This energy work is based on working with the names of angels and their sigils (special symbols that represent them).

5. Animist Witch

Animism is the belief that there is living energy in all things. The term comes from the Latin ‘anima,’ meaning ‘breath of life.’ An animist witch sees no distinction between humans, animals, plants, or any other physical object. Additionally, they also believe that words hold their own life energy.

The animist witch sees the Universe as a whole, connected, living entity. Continually changing and evolving. When they do magical work, they tune into the pulsating live force of the 'all.'

6. Art Witch

An art witch works through the medium of art. She may express her witchiness through her work, and/or use art to manifest her desired outcomes.

7. Arthurian Witch, Isles of the Blessed, Avalon

An Arthurian witch takes the mythology of Britain’s King Arthur and creates a whole way of being based upon it. However, the problem with this is that it is only a fantasy because there is no evidence that the events described in the story actually happened. The King Arthur myth is mostly based on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s imaginative retelling of history. In other words, he made it up. In reality, we know very little about the real King Arthur.

There is evidence, however, that the hills surrounding Bristol and Bath in the South West of England were once small isles that rose above the sea. This is where Glastonbury is located, and the area was known as ‘Avalon.’

Glastonbury Tor shadow | Source

8. Astarte

Astarte is an ancient Greek Goddess who was based on the Egyptian deity, Astoreth. Her origins are lost in the mists of time, but she was also worshiped by the Canaanites and Phoenicians. Astarte is the goddess of fertility and war. She is also seen as chief among goddesses.

Her followers today, study her history, mythology, and call upon her to aid them in ritual.

9. Astrology Witch

Some astrologists also embrace witchcraft and base their practice and lifestyle on the alignment and position of the heavenly bodies. An eclectic witch might decide to incorporate a little astrological study to aid her energy work. An astrology witch, however, is someone who is all about astrology and knows their subject inside out.

10. Augury Witch

An augury witch is one who divines omens, signs, and symbols. They are not a fortune-teller exactly, yet they are able to interpret whether a proposed course of action is good or bad. They can aid anyone on a specific spiritual quest.

11. Axis Mundi Witch

The Axis Mundi is a fascinating concept with roots in almost all ancient civilizations. At its core is the idea that there is a central pillar (either man-made or natural) that joins earth to heaven. Each civilization had its own Axis Mundi, for example, Mount Fuji in Japan, Uluru in Australia, The World Tree or Yggdrasil in Norse mythology.

An Axis Mundi witch studies the concept and its variations, and embraces the tenet, “As above, so below,” believing that patterns and events are mirrored—from the construct of the Universe down to the very particles of our own bodies.

12. British Traditional Witchcraft

British Traditional Witchcraft has many branches, too many to list here. Ranging from the wise woman, village midwife of old, to ceremonial magicians. Generally speaking, British witchcraft is based on local traditions and variations. From Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man, traditions vary wildly. And they also deviate within the countries, regions, counties, and villages within those counties.

For example, I was born in Cornwall where there is a very strong tradition of wise women and men. Known as pellers or pellars, they were viewed as an integral and important part of society. True, there were plenty of frauds among them. And occasionally someone was wrongly (or rightly) accused of malevolent witchcraft and imprisoned. Usually, people respected witches because they knew it wasn’t a good idea to offend them; otherwise, misfortune would surely follow.

Traditional British witchcraft was not religious but called upon ‘the old ones’ (and variants thereof) to help with magical works. It’s as informal as it gets. A traditional witch might spend a long time preparing for a ritual spell, or she might simply utter a curse on the spot.

13. Celtic Witch

Also with roots in Britain is Celtic Witchcraft. Though the origins of the Celts have been disputed by scholars for years.

Somewhat different to everyday village witchcraft, Celtic witchcraft is, oddly, a much more recent development. It owes its existence to the rise in neo-paganism. Celtic witchcraft is built on the study and worship of ancient Celtic deities (mostly Welsh and Irish), mythology, earth magic, ceremony, and ritual.

Celtic witchcraft seems to have struck a chord with witches the world over and there are many new ‘traditions’ springing up everywhere.

14. Ceremonial Witch

This term simply describes a witch who practices ‘high magick.’ They usually follow some specific tradition, such as Hermetic, Thelemic, and Enochian. Often people who practice high magic wouldn’t dream of calling themselves ‘witch.’ Such a practice requires a lot of study and many accouterments for magical rituals. Rituals are carried out in a strict step-by-step fashion as prescribed by the particular tradition followed.

15. Chaos Magic/Witchcraft

A person who uses chaos magic (or magick) borrows from all kinds of other traditions. The term ‘chaos magic’ began in the 1970s in the UK. The central idea behind it is belief: belief in the preferred outcome, and belief in the method of working toward it. The main rule is that there are no rules. It couldn't be further from ceremonial witchcraft as described above, yet it will use elements of it if the practitioner believes it might help.

A chaos witch works on the same principle; taking various deities, methods, and systems from other traditions, ramping up his or her belief in the certainty that it will work and having total faith in themselves and their ability to change and create their reality.

16. Chthonioi Alexandrian Wicca

A variation of the Alexandrian tradition, Chthonioi Alexandrian Wicca is based in Boston, Mass. It boasts an unbroken lineage back to the original 1970 coven. It also breaks with the British version by including a pantheon of ancient Greek gods and goddesses.

Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

17. Crystal Witch

A crystal witch focuses their practice on the use of crystals. Using them to increase and concentrate energy for a wide range of applications, including healing, protection, and divination.

18. Dianic Witchcraft

An offshoot of Wicca, Dianic witchcraft focuses on female deities. It is named after Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting, nature and the Moon. It’s likely that the worship of Diana was a cult back in ancient Rome. Dianic covens are usually, though not always, restricted to female members. This branch of witchcraft celebrates all things female and many members report that their coven helped and supported them through difficulties. Dianic witches will work magick on those who oppress or abuse women, and happily work binding spells on them.

19. Divination Witch

A witch who specializes in divination, such as tarot cards, scrying, or other such means of discovering occult (hidden) information. Someone may set out on the witchcraft path and then find themselves being wholly absorbed by the fascinating topic of divination.

20. Dowser

Dowsing is an ancient tradition, and there are two main ways to do it. One is by using a hazel twig or lightweight metal rods. The other is by using a pendulum. A dowsing witch is one who incorporates dowsing into her witchy work. Dowsing is used to locate ley lines (energy grids that criss-cross the planet), underground streams and natural reservoirs, lost items, and all kinds of other things.

21. Druid

The modern or neo-Druid witch has a deep respect for nature and base their whole life on the druidic way. Often members of environmental organizations, Druids identify with Celtic culture. Some Druids claim an unbroken lineage back to ancient times, but there is no evidence for that. Plus the ancient Druid rites and knowledge were never recorded so modern Druidry is an attempt at reconstruction. They do have lots of fun, I’ve heard.

22. Earth-Based Witchcraft; Gaia

This covers a wide-ranging variety from Druidry, neo-paganism, Hedgewitchery, and the like. Simply put, it is any kind of nature-centric witchcraft.

23. Eclectic Witch

I expect there are more witches of the eclectic type than any other. An eclectic refuses to be pinned down to one tradition. They embrace everything that appeals to them and define their own path.

24. Eco-Paganism

Eco-pagans are usually environmental activists. They work hard to raise public awareness of problems. They often incorporate rituals that bind or oppose those they see as ‘enemies of the planet’. Their faith and belief that nature is sacred underpins everything they do. Eco-paganism embraces witchcraft and other branches of paganism as long as they share their values.

25. Egyptian Witchcraft

Egyptian witchcraft follows a Wiccan-like path, but focuses on the ancient Egyptian deities. They incorporate most other Wiccan elements, such as moon phases, the Wheel of the Year and the solar festivals.

26. Elemental Witch

An elemental witch is one who bases their path on working with the five esoteric elements: fire, water, air, earth, and spirit. They may also incorporate working with the ‘elementals’; creatures such as: salamanders (fire), undines or nymphs (water), sylphs (air), and gnomes (earth). There are many more elementals, all of them restricted to their own realm.

27. European

Like witchcraft practiced on the continent of Africa, European witchcraft covers a huge range of different kinds of witchcraft. Each country, region, and locale will have its own particular characteristics and traditions. Again, it’s best to explore country by country.

28. Faery

Faery traditions are based on ancient folklore, usually found in, but not restricted to, the British Isles. In Ireland, the faery folk are called the Tuatha de Danaan. In Wales, the Twlwyth Teg, and in Scotland, there are a whole bunch of faery folk, such as, Buachailleen, Brownies, Gnomes, the Gruagach, Heather Pixies, Pixies and Seelie Courts, But you must watch out for the bad guys: "Ghillie Dhu, Kelpies, Nucklelavees, and Fachans.

There is also a branch of Wicca called Faery Wicca.

29. Fellowship of Isis

Not to be confused with any terrorist group, the Fellowship of Isis began in Ireland in 1976. It is multi-faith and inclusive. It is based on the worship of the female goddess, Isis, the Divine Mother, ‘she of 10,000 names’. There are 26,000 members of FOL worldwide. Their website is well worth exploring.

30. Floral Witch

As the name suggests, a floral witch works mainly with flowers, their properties, and essences. She may work magick or focus completely on healing.

Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash

31. Folk Witchcraft

More commonly known as ‘cunning folk’, this tradition is closely related to both British witchcraft (and its derivations) and Faery. They are called by many names: white witch, pellar (Cornish), wise woman (or man). They work their trade among the population, their skills being advertised through word-of-mouth. There aren’t many left, but they are still around, if you can find them. These will be hereditary witches; their skills and knowledge passed down through the generations.

32. Gardnerian Tradition

Modern witchcraft owes its existence to Gerald Brosseau Gardner. Drawing on all the research he could muster, he created and crafted the religious movement, Wicca (although he did not give it that label). Some claim he received initiation into witchcraft from a coven based in the New Forest in the south of England.

The Gardnerian tradition, is a highly structured form of witchcraft. It is coven-based and has a formal progression through degrees of initiation. Practices are kept secret, and many members keep their affiliation to their coven secret also.

There have been a number of offshoots, namely the covens and traditions started by Alex Sanders in the UK and Raymond Buckland in the US.

33. Green Witchcraft

A green witch builds her life around such things as gardening and herbalism. She may specialize in essential oils, flower crafts or nature study. She may also incorporate other natural skills like healing and divination. A green witch may also be known as a hedge witch. Or a very hungover witch.

34. Healer

A healing witch may use one or more modalities. They include hands-on healing, Reiki, Quantum healing, spell work, visualization, or sigils. Herbalism might come under this classification but beware of any non-qualified person handing out healing ‘remedies.’ Herbs can be as powerful as any other drug.

35. Hearth Witch

A hearth witch’s practice is centered on the home. It’s similar to kitchen witchery. Hearth witches take as their representative, the goddess, Hestia (Greek), also known as Vesta (Roman). Hearth witches celebrate everything about domestic living: cooking, gardening, cleaning, bringing up children. It might seem a little mundane, but in fact, it isn’t. Anyone whose mother embraces hearth witchery is a lucky one indeed. Hearth witches might call on the help of Brownies and Hobs to aid them in their daily lives. One unhelpful house spirit is, of course, the Sock Monster.

36. Hedge Witch

A hedge witch is an individual; a solitary practitioner who follows her own path. Her tradition comes from the times when a hedge was the boundary where forest met pasture. It’s along this line the magical herbs of the hedge witch’s healing remedies are found. A hedge witch is a herbalist, mixing up potions and brews in their kitchen. They work with the forces of nature and the cycles of the moon.

37. Hellenic Witch

Hellenic or Hellenistic paganism is based upon the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses. Many witches feel a kinship with the mythology of the ancient Greeks because their stories have such relevance to life today. It’s common for a witch to call on Pan to help her with a spell. Or to place a statue of Aphrodite on their altar. Should you be unsure of your new path, take a look at the ancient Greeks; they have a lot to offer.

38. Hereditary Witch

Much less common than some folk would have you believe, hereditary witchcraft is handed down from parent (or grandparent) to child through the generations. The problem is that mass migration, two world wars, and the advance of science disrupted the cycle. Many families dissociated themselves from their pagan pasts in pursuit of the American dream. Hereditary witchcraft is more prevalent in Europe and Africa.

Photo by Александр Раскольников on Unsplash

39. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

This was an organization devoted to the study of the occult. In fact the Golden Dawn was the first of three orders in a hierarchy through which students progressed. The second was usually abbreviated to the Rosy Cross and the third was called the Secret Chiefs. Many of the rituals and practices of the Golden Dawn were incorporated into Wicca. It also shares certain commonalities with Freemasonry, as all three founding members were Freemasons. One very important distinction was that women were welcomed as members from the start.

The Golden Dawn was plagued by internal politics and disputes, and although two off-shoot temples survived until the 1970s, it had more or less disbanded by the mid 20th century. However several forms of the order have been revived and have an online presence.

40. Kitchen Witch

Kitchen witchery shares many practices with the hearth witch, the hedge witch, and the green witch. As you can guess, a kitchen witch bases their magickal work and practice around their home. Additionally, they also incorporate their witch-love and magic into their cooking. Originally a ‘kitchen witch’ was a kind of doll that hung in the kitchen to help the cook by preventing culinary disaster. These days the kitchen witch makes use of all modern tools available to her.

41. Law of Attraction Witch

This is a new breed of witch who bases their beliefs on the now ubiquitous Law of Attraction. In fact, all witchcraft was and is based on this concept. From the sympathetic magic worked by the Cornish pellar to the Wiccan three-fold law, it all comes down to LoA.

42. Left-Hand Path

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