#my followers kept dying so getting to 20 was hard

[snowquills]

idk if someone's done this before but. I had to make this after losing to narinder eight times in a row

[cranberrymoons]

.

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

5 and 20 prompt Paul x reader x marco

5. " I can predict the future."

20. "You weren't joking?"

I hope you'll like this!💜

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

For a Friday night, the bar was rather quiet. Normally, it would be buzzing with people. Students drinking into the early hours of the morning, people celebrating the fact they'd made it to the end of the week - but not tonight.

No, even though it was already nearing eleven, the bar was still empty, except for the career drinkers. The only new guest - new in the sense that they weren't a regular - was me. Or at least, that's what the barkeep told me.

"So what's a pretty thing like you doing here alone?" He'd asked when he poured me a gin. I smiled as I took it, swirling the liquid around in the glass.

"I'm meeting some new people tonight."

"Blind date?"

I shrugged, giving him a small smirk. "Something like that."

I hadn't met the two boys I was about to meet before, but I knew I had to. I had seen them many a time before in my visions, and I was dying to know who they were. They were handsome, that much I knew. And based on what I'd seen, they could be rather dangerous. And yet - there must have been a reason why they'd shown up in my visions. Why I kept on seeing them. So, after figuring out where they lived, I had decided to just try and meet them.

It was about twenty minutes after my conversation with the barkeep that the bell above the door rang. Two guys, both blond bikers, walked in. They were talking, laughing - telling the barkeep to get them their regular drinks. And I just sat there, looking at them. These were the guys.

I felt my face heat up when I noticed that one of them - Marko, I realised his name was - looked at me. Quickly, he came towards me, grinning a Cheshire grin.

"Like what you see?"

"I didn't mean to stare," I said, quickly taking a much needed sip from my drink.

"Nah, that's alright, babe. Paul and I were wondering if you'd join us."

I thought for a second before nodding. This had been what I wanted, right?

"Sure." I followed him to where Paul was sitting, greeting him as well. As I sat down on the bench, I gasped silently -

A bedroom. Laughter. Candles. Marko chasing me, at the beach. Blood. Kisses. Paul flying. Me flying with him. Marko's voice, "I've never been happier than with you two."

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I only opened them when I heard Paul say my name.

"Huh?"

"Are you alright? You seemed completely lost for a moment."

"Yeah, it- it happens sometimes."

"So, why did you want to meet us?" Marko sat across from me, handing me a new glass.

"How did you know I wanted to meet you two?"

"We just know things." He shrugged, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, I just see things. Sometimes I act upon those things."

"You see things?" Paul asked, laughing before sarcastically adding. "That makes you so special!"

I sighed, smiling. Even without my ability, his response had been predictable. "What I mean is that I can predict the future."

"Why would we believe you?" Marko asked. I grinned - telling them exactly what would happen the next five minutes.

The barkeep would accidentally spill a beer on the lap of one of the regulars. Said regular would get up, throw a punch - missing the barkeep and hitting another guest. The guest would hit back, causing the regular to fall back on top of a table, breaking it in two. He'd then lose consciousness.

I hadn't finished speaking, or what I'd just told them began to happen. I didn't bother looking at the scene, instead looking at the two boys. Their sceptic look changed to slight disbelief to acceptance - which was all I could ask for.

"So, the future, hm?" Paul asked, looking at me. "What made you decide to come to us?"

"In most of my visions, I see the three of us together. I wanted to know why."

"Most people would call those sex fantasies. Ever heard of those?" Marko asked, standing up.

Paul followed, and I quickly walked up after them. "I know, I know it's weird and hard to believe. I know - but you're vampires. Is it really so hard to believe that I just have visions?"

The boys froze, their eyes turning a dark shade of yellow. "How do you know?"

"I'm a psychic! I can see the future!"

"Bullshit! That scene in there, you'd planned it. You're faking this whole thing to get our attention." Marko hissed, causing me to flinch.

"I didn't."

"Can you believe that shit?" Marko had walked off, stepping on his bike. Paul sat beside him, fumbling with his keys.

"The whole predicting the future thing?" Paul shrugged. "It's probably a party trick, based on statistics or something."

"Yeah, probably. Little asshole. Let's go home, alright. We can hunt tomorrow."

I froze as I saw them drive off. Grabbing my bike, I raced after them, moving the pedals as quickly as I could. There would be an accident - and Marko would be staked. I was out of breath, sweat dripping down my face, when I realised it was impossible to catch up. So I did the one thing I could think of. I could make it to the site of the accident before them, going through the park and taking a shortcut. By doing so, I could stop them from getting hurt - and hopefully, I'd be fine as well. Picking up speed, I raced past the trees, slipping as I turned to hit the mainroad again.

The bike fell away under me, sliding over the asphalt. I hissed as I was flung a couple of feet away - my eyes widening as I saw two headlights nearing me. I screamed. I closed my eyes, readying myself for impact and -

"I got you." Two arms pulled me away, right on time for me to get away unhurt, the car hitting the tree and a large branch being launched to the place I had just been seconds ago. If I had stayed there, not only would I be crushed beneath a car - I would have been staked as well.

"Paul?" I asked, shaken, still trying to catch my breath.

"What were you thinking? For someone who claims to see the future, you've got shit vision."

"If I hadn't moved when I did, Marko would have been the one hit. And staked."

Paul froze, realising that I had been right. If they hadn't slowed done because of me, they would have been-

"You weren't joking?"

I shook my head, getting up.

"You really see the future?" Marko asked, and I nodded once again. "You see the three of us?"

"Yeah."

It was quiet for a moment, then he stepped towards me. "I'm still sceptical, but you did save me. How about you join us at the cave, and we'll see where it goes from there?"

I smiled shyly, looking at him and then at Paul - who looked rather enthusiastically. "I'd like that, very much."

[riribabymomma]

Kill Bill

Paring:toxic!letitia x blk fem!reader

I kept running but no matter how much I ran, I got nowhere. No exit no nothing. It was like a maze. I could hear her crazy ass in the distance dragging that 20 inch machete she called Richie.

"Sthandwa.....Ndicela ungandishiyi" She said in that deep husky voice that I used to love

Me and Letitia had been married for 5 years she proposed at this beautiful restaurant. All of my friends were there we met in college.

That was until she started to kill people I loved One By One.

She had this thing were she only wanted me to be with her 24/7 all day everyday.

She was OBSESSED

All this time I thought someone else were killing them and it was her the crazy part about it was she comforted me about it was there she was my shoulder to cry on

I followed her one night in my friends car and made sure I stayed far away so she wouldn't see me  she ended up going to an abandoned warehouse she got out of the car and pulled out a machete from her car making sure no one was looking

Seconds later i heard dreadful screams from a woman but not just any woman it was my mother

I got out the car running inside the warehouse but it was too late she was dead.

Now I am here running trying to get away from this crazy bitch

After about a month, I saw on the news of an abandoned warehouse that had been set on fire and burned down to ashes. The location of the warehouse instantly let me know that it must've been Her.

7 months had passed and I had been making new friends. We decided to go to this new club where the owner was a woman. A new change. I knew feminists definitely partied there.

I was having way too many drinks when I heard my friends saying how the owner was hitting on me.

My vision was too blurry for me to see what the owner actually looked like but I followed her after we danced and talked about whatever. All I remember was getting into a car then blacking out.

I had woken up no too long ago in a wedding dress a white dress.

And now here I was, still trying to escape. She still sees us as being engaged and now we're supposed to marry. My god this woman is crazy.

I took a sharp a right turn only to meet a dead end. I was about to turn back when I saw her walking towards me grinning, showing off her pearly whites. Fuck.

She was walking dramatically slow

Her makeup was done with a flower crown on her head. She had on this beautiful white suit that was supposed to be her wedding suit I guess.

She towered over me  

"Why'd you leave me and Richie Y/n... I waited for you. I waited so long for you, and yet you never returned for me. Did I do something wrong?" She asked me in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry Tish... I just, had to take a break I guess. But look we're together now." I said trying to sound confident.

I stayed silent. I didn't wanna say the wrong thing in case if it might trigger her or something.

Letitia dropped the machete and started kissing me again. She was shoving her tongue down my throat forcefully.

She slid her hands up my dress but i grabbed her wrist to stop her

She pulled back confused, "What? You don't want to make love to me? Am I not beautiful? Am I not enough?"

"No Tish it's not that. I just, I want to take it slow you know. We did just get back together."

She nodded and we both stood up

"You know where the bathroom is?" I asked patting down my dress a bit.

Letitia chuckled. She started laughing. She was laughing hysterically at this point.

"Y-you think I'm dumb?!" She said in between her laugh. She was full on laughing putting her hand on her chest and all.

"Please don't try the fucking bathroom excuse with me. What? You're gonna ask me where the bathroom is, I tell you, and you try to escape? I'm not a child Y/n. You can't leave. Not now not ever. Matter fact you're dying with me." Tish’s face instantly went cold as if a new persona took over.

As she was leaning down picking up the machete, I pushed her as hard as I could and I began running again.

I just realized that my dumbass didn't even pick up the machete. I was panicking.

Fuck fuck fuck! There's literally no where I can get out.

One more turn and she stood there with a machete.

I tried to run but my dress was pulled back slamming me into the wall.

She tried to stab the machete into me but I ducked down and the machete went through the wall.

Next thing I know she punched my face knocking me down.

She tried to get on top but I kicked her face making her fall down

I got on top of Letitia choking her. I choked her the hardest I could

Her face was slowly puffing up and getting red when I felt a pocket knife being stabbed into my left thigh.

"Fuck!" I yelled out in pain and held my left thigh.

She pushed me off of her coughing trying to regain her breath.

I tried getting up but she knocked me down grabbing out the knife from my thigh as well.

"Shit!" I cried out from the agonizing pain.

Right as she was about to stab me again with the knife, I backhand slapped the fuck out of her making her slam into the wall.

I got up and tried my best to run with me covering up the deep gash from my thigh.

My heart rate got higher. I looked behind to see her charging at me.

I tried running faster but that was obviously no use when I felt another stab to my shoulder.

She rolled me over getting on top about to stab me again when I grabbed her hands.

I used all my strength to turn the knife towards her and with one powerful push, the knife plunged into her collar bone.

I scrambled up and continued to run a bit but I felt Letitia coming from behind me again.

I could feel her getting closer to me

All I felt was her turning me around with full force and pushing me up against the wall.

I saw the machete go through me coming out out my chest.

She had also been stabbed since she had pressed herself against me.

Blood poring out of our mouths not being able to speak

Welp. I guess she won.

[icey--stars]

Born For Tragedy: Part 14

Series Index

She was tragedy. Nothing except death, fear and pain followed in her wake. When she was young, she was beaten. Now she’s the one doing the beating as an assassin. A mysterious stranger comes to her, paying an absurd amount of money for her to kill Beron Vanserra, and protect the eldest son until the job is done. She stumbles across a story much similar to her own, and knows what must be done.

a/n: so, tbh, my motivation for this story has been dying (with less than 2 chapters to write? why brain) but im going to try and power through it and write the ending. anyway, figured id update yall lol i have up to part 17/20 finished, just gotta get 18-20 finished 😔😔

also ill be honest, i didnt expect the route this chapter took despite having it outlined. i just let it go lmAo and it turned out pretty good i think?

finally, im on vacation all of today (this is queued lol) until thursday so i won't be able to respond to your lovely comments until then! nevertheless, i hope you enjoy :D

↢ 『 ☾ 』 ↣

When Valda awoke, she practically launched herself out of the bed, breathing hard and eyes blown wide as she remembered what she had to do today. She had to get out now. She wouldn’t be caught dead in front of the High Lord of the Night Court. He’d snap and she’d be bloody mist.

So she quickly reached for the clothing she had on hand– all black and strapped on the weapons she’d had strapped on her for the ball.

There was a knock on the door as she finished the last tie on her boots and she practically leaped out of her skin.

“Come in,” Valda called, standing to glance around her to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything stupid. She’d winnow to her little hideout and gather most of her materials in the bags there and then go to Redwood and complete her task there before she came back to the House late at night.

“I’ll be honest, I thought you would still be asleep,” Eris drawled from the door.

Valda turned to look at him, already outfitted in fancy court attire. “I won’t be caught dead with that monster around,” she growled.

“Rhysand?” Eris asked. “I suppose that’s an accurate way to describe him.”

Valda felt near catatonic still being in the Forest House with Rhysand on his way. “I’ve got to leave, I’ll see you later tonight-”

“Wait,” Eris called as she moved past him.

She paused for a moment to turn back to him. “What?”

Eris smiled softly. “Stay safe,” he said. “And Rhys isn’t supposed to be here until noon. He’s only here for the afternoon. You’re okay.”

Valda nodded, taking one deep, calming breath. She felt more focused.

“Also, I think you’re forgetting a letter on the bedside table,” Eris pointed out.

Valda perked up and turned back before groaning. “I’m a dumbass,” she said as she retrieved the unmarked letter. Just a wax seal kept it closed, and even that was just black with no imprint. “Right, see anything else I’m forgetting?”

“I think you’re good to go. I’ll see you later,” Eris replied. “Stay safe.”

“An assassin’s life is never safe,” Valda said before she walked out the door. She marched herself out of the House, sneaking past servants before she was freed from the building.

A swirl of shadow distracted her and she narrowed her eyes as she walked down the side of the House. Then she saw a male. An Illyrian with hazel eyes and blue glowing stones. Valda held her breath as she recognized the shadowsinger of the Night Court. Fuck, she thought. She had to warn Eris about the spy who seems to not have noticed her yet, but also not get caught. This male, she knew, was a spymaster and an elite one at that. She didn’t want to get caught here, which might prove difficult due to a literal shadowsinger being here..

The male turned suddenly and Valda tensed, shoving her magic over her head like a hood.

The shadowsinger’s blue jewels, siphons, all seven of them, glowed threateningly. “Reveal yourself,” he ordered.

Valda glanced at the window to her right briefly, remembering a door that led into the room just around the corner and could be locked very easily. It might lead her directly into the guard’s lounge but she had no choice here.

Valda didn’t waste a second and turned and ran.

The shadowsinger didn’t shout but she heard crunching behind her on the leaves.

She opened the door, slipped through and then shut it. She turned the knobs for all three locks there. Then she turned toward the empty broom closet, glanced at the window beside the door where the shadowsinger was currently staring at her before sprinting down the hallway connecting the broom closet to the guard lounge.

As she barged into that room, there was a flurry of motion, but she got past them and continued sprinting as fast as she could, heading for the High Lord’s suite.

“It’s an assassin!” One guard screamed.

Not for Eris, she growled to herself as she gathered her magic. You should be more worried about the Night Court crony behind me.

“ERIS!” She yelled loudly as she barged past a group of servants. “GET OUT HERE ERIS VANSERRA!”

A familiar face finally popped out of Eris’s old room. The same place she’d left him. Her room now.

“What?” Eris asked. “What happened? Why do you have 10 guards chasing after you?”

“ASSASSIN!” The guards screamed.

Valda panted for a few seconds before managing to get out the words she needed to. “Shadowsinger. Night Court. Spying. Ran to warn you.”

Eris’s gaze hardened.

“Stop,” he ordered the guards barrelling down the hallway. “She’s not an assassin. She’s my spy.”

The guards paused. “Well why’d she come through the damn broom closet of the lounge?” One guard asked.

“Be more worried about the Night Court shadowsinger on the Forest House premises,” she growled.

“Secure the area,” Eris ordered. “Everyone on high alert and guards at every corner. Inside and out. Report any signs of shadows to me directly.”

“Yes sir,” the guards said. “If you’re sure those shadows aren’t a danger.”

I internally winced. I couldn’t take these off. My cover as Adira would be blown a bit too early.

“Not at all,” Eris replied. “Now go.”

Valda panted for a few more moments before chuckling. “Well that wasn’t the plan.”

“Where was he?”

“West side,” Valda managed despite her dry throat. “Mostly invisible because of those shadows, but armed with all seven of those damn siphons. Very clearly spying.”

“Did he say anything?”

“Wanted to know who I was,” Valda coughed out. “That’s all. I didn’t do anything.”

“Sir!” A servant came running, holding a paper. “A message from the Night Court.”

Eris hummed and took the letter, tearing it open.

Valda peered over his shoulder curiously.

Eris,

I see you found my friend. Tell me who yours is. I’m coming earlier than planned.

- Rhysand

Eris scoffed. “His mind powers are truly interesting to navigate,” Eris mused. “It seems Azriel was here and Rhys told him to do it. Now he wants to know what kind of Night Court High Fae I have here.”

“I need to leave,” Valda cut in. “Just tell them a short story about Adira. It doesn’t say when he’s going to be here. I need to leave.”

“And if he finds you?” Eris asked. “Azriel is likely still near.”

“Once I’m out of the damn wards, I can winnow wherever I want and get my actual materials,” Valda said. “I’ve been chased before. I know what I’m doing.”

Eris tensed a little before sighing. “I’ll glamor you until you’re out of the wards. Walk with you.”

“Fine,” Valda allowed, despite not needing it.

Suddenly, she felt a heavy blanket of magic wrap around her and she stood up straighter, humming.

“So that’s an invisibility glamor? That sucks,” she joked.

“Careful, you can still be heard,” Eris warned and began walking down the hallway.

Valda quieted, stalking in the wake of Eris’s footsteps. Eris sent off a few more orders as they walked, but made it outside. She felt a dramatic increase in the magic of the air and sucked in a breath.

It smelled like burning.

“I’m just strengthening the wards,” Eris whispered. “Meant to do it today before Rhys appeared, but it seems Azriel has taken advantage of the ones my father left.”

Valda didn’t reply, but inwardly wondered how much stronger Eris would be in comparison to Beron if his wards were that weak.

The end of the wards came soon and Valda reached for her magic.

“Stay safe,” Eris told her sternly. “And come here if you get attacked. No matter what.”

Valda briefly nodded, wondering if Eris could see through the glamor briefly before she winnowed straight to her hideout.

She felt the glamor slip away and took a few deep, calming breaths in the wake of the morning’s events.

That shadowsinger better not fuck around with her when she manages to get Eris to let her winnow through the wards. She could snap and he’d be gone.

“Right,” she muttered to herself and scanned the little treehouse before she began rapidly packing things into a backpack. Mostly weapons, some clothing and some other random materials. The treehouse was clean in a matter of 20 minutes.

Not wanting to linger, she pulled on her hood and winnowed to the general location she knew of Redwood. She’d only briefly walked through there for some food while on a brief scouting trip, but it was enough to get her close enough.

She squared her shoulders and marched toward the town, locking her darkness away under a veil inside of her. The town started out as a few stray wooden cabins, but quickly grew into a thriving residential area before she made it to the market square.

There were people talking everywhere and she saw many interesting signs.

A few were calling for Eris’s death and a few in celebration of Beron’s. A very diverse opinion of the lower class so far. Someone suddenly tore down one of the posters for Eris’s death and she blinked as she beheld the small, dirtied boy who’d just plucked it down.

A lord was in the center of the chaos, yelling loudly and dressed in all sorts of finery.

“He must be stopped! He didn’t even search for the assassin who killed him! Eris must be killed!”

“Get him!” A peasant female screamed. “Put him behind bars! Eris is spreading good!”

Valda wasn’t expecting this level of chaos already. Damn, she thought. It wasn’t a riot, but it was more of a mob against the lord of Redwood.

Valda pulled one of the males at the back to the side who’d been yelling briefly and asked in a kind, curious tone, “What’s happening sir?”

“This lord thinks he can call for the death of our High Lord!” The male shouted.

“You like Eris?” Valda asked.

“Of course! He’s lowering taxes for us and paying us more! My family isn’t starving anymore! And this lord thinks he can take it all away from us!”

“Well that’s certainly not fair,” Valda agreed. “Does this entire group like Eris then?”

“Yes!” A female beside the male piped up. “Eris is our savior. For once the farmers and merchants can live in peace!”

Valda grinned. “That is a wonderful thing.”

“Who are you?” The male asked.

“Oh, I’m a messenger for Eris,” Valda said. “The High Lord was looking for some feedback on his new laws. It seems that it’s held high in the hearts of the lower class.”

“Hell yeah it is!” The female shouted, grinning. “You tell that male he’s doing good that’s long since overdue.”

Another person who’d looked back rushed to speak to Valda as well. “My daughter, my daughter! The High Lord has saved my daughter from starvation. He’s-” The rest of what they said couldn’t be heard over more and more people vying for Valda’s attention.

That was all she needed before she winnowed onto a nearby roof, cloaked in darkness in the shade of a large tree.

The mob’s attention refocused on their original goal.

As she relaxed her shield of darkness when she wasn’t spotted, someone spoke to her from the left.

“Eris’s messenger, huh?” A male asked.

Valda jumped, balancing on the top of the roof with an unsheathed dagger in her hands.

“Hey, hey, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he placated. “Chill out man. I was curious.”

Valda narrowed her eyes before settling back down. “Yes, what of it?”

“What’s your name?”

“Classified,” Valda replied on impulse. “Yours?”

“Same,” he chuckled. “Tell me, why were you here?”

“I had a task that’s none of your business.”

“So you’re reporting to Eris tonight then?”

Valda was suspicious of this male. Very, very suspicious. “You don’t need to know what I’m going to do tonight. Leave me alone.”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything,” the male said, using a hand to use a placating hand gesture. “I was just curious about one thing.”

“What?”

“Who killed Beron?”

Valda’s jaw snapped shut. “An assassin,” she ground out. “Goodbye.”

She winnowed away, farther into the forest. She’d gained the information she needed anyway. Now she just had to wait out Rhysand’s visit until night came.

-----

Waiting seemed like it took forever, but she left the letter on the edge of the Autumn Court with a quick winnow. So it wasn’t all wasted. It just felt that way.

While she waited, she watched the Forest House from the outside before catching sight of those damn shadows within the meeting room. Then she left, resolving to hike through the red, orange and yellow forests instead. Only one person on horseback decided to attempt to question her on why she was there, but she merely swiped a dagger from her thigh and held it visibly while explaining to the person that she wouldn’t tell them and could stay where the hell she pleased. They left. Valda couldn’t help but chuckle a little. People were sometimes too easy to scare.

For a brief second, the thought that Eris wasn’t scared of her flashed her mind. Eris wasn’t afraid of her like the others were. And that little thing felt so prized to have with her.

When the moon hit its height for the night, she finally dared to return to the Forest House.

However, she saw a lot more guards than usual, which wouldn’t have been a problem normally, but some were dressed in black, which wasn’t typical. It was suspicious.

An entire group of black dressed people suddenly darted around a corner and a guard pointed briefly towards them.

Shit, she swore. Invaders? Assassins? Who are they?

She needed to know and needed to stop them. So she threw her pack into a tree and stalked forward, unsheathing her curved blade from her back and holding it tightly in her right hand.

Valda watched the group of enemies grow larger. The guards were mostly unaware of the gathering forces. Valda lunged forwards over the short fence, feeling the wards slide over her. No winnowing out now, she supposed.

“What was that?” One patrolling guard asks his partner. “Did you see someone-”

“Who are you?!” The other yells in my direction.

She holds her breath and stays still behind the bushes.

“Call backup,” one mutters. “We don’t know whether it's an assassin or not and Eris demanded full coverage of anything suspicious.”

“You go, I’ll watch.”

Valda internally growled in frustration. Back up for her and not the group of enemies where the group was almost thirty!? Damn it.

She carefully manipulated her power, placing a small sound barrier between her and the guard before covering herself in the darkness of the night and leaping out of the bushes, onto the grass. Not wanting to waste magic, she removed the sound glamor and lowered her darkness to the ground, knowing her black clothing was enough to cover her in the less lit area.

The enemies now stood tall and faced the Forest House. She saw a glowing magic start at the fingertips of one of them. Fire, she recognized. Autumn Court? But-

A huge fireball was shot at the building. The guards shrieked but Valda ran forward. She covered herself with a magic shield and then took down one person- then a second before they noticed her.

All of them jumped at her. Valda grunted as flame hit her shield from all sides. It wasn’t as bad as Beron’s, but it was wearing her down fast from all the winnowing she’d done for the day. It was fucking midnight. This was insane.

“Get them all!” One guard shouted.

Shit, Valda thought. She was lumped in with the black clothed people. That meant literally everyone was against her. Damned idiot, she thought to herself. She was an idiot. A complete and utter moron.

She yelped as someone shoved against her shield. The tiniest trickle of fear began to boil in her stomach. She’d long since taken her fear and buried it down into the depths of her soul, but she’d fucked up. Badly.

She drowned the area in pure, rolling darkness and escaped the people that caged her in even as swords clanged and people screamed in pain. She threw her darkness around herself as she leaned against a nearby concrete pillar, groaning.

One- no… three people came running at her with a sword swinging. She rolled to the side just in time, unable to muster the energy to shield against a sword. Maybe fire for a while longer but this… this was getting too close. She still had more than 20 people to get out of the area and she was too close. Not as close as Beron had brought her, but too close for comfort.

A dagger was thrown at her and embedded itself in her thigh as she stood. Valda groaned, fear flooding her senses more strongly now. She needed to get out. She’d messed up.

She shoved a shield of darkness around her again, using their lack of senses to her advantage but then-

“IT’S THE SHADOW!” Screamed one guard.

Valda swore.

“EVERYONE GET THE ASSASSIN!” Another shouted.

People sprinted for her as they unified temporarily against her. Motherfuckers.

Fear edged her senses as she turned and sprinted for the end of the wards in a desperate hope to escape. She could winnow somewhere. She could-

Another dagger embedded in the back of her shoulder and she screamed, falling down. The fear was endless now.

But then there was silence.

Silence wasn’t normal.

She turned, possibly thinking she was dead, but then she saw flaming auburn hair and nice court clothing. Then a deep blue fire in the palm of Eris.

Eris, who stood between her and her attackers.

Eris, who was willing to go against his own guards to do that.

Eris, who was protecting her.

“Funny,” Eris drawled. “I’m pretty sure half of you aren’t supposed to be here.” He glanced at the people in black. “And the other half is chasing after… who?”

“She’s the Shadow!” One screamed. “Kill her!”

Eris glanced back at Valda.

“Guards,” Eris commanded. “Shackle those dressed in black and take them to the dungeons for questioning.”

One went toward her.

“Not her,” Eris growled, the fire in his palm glowing even brighter. That growl sounded possessive, protective and downright aggressive.

“But High Lord-”

“Leave the assassin alone,” Eris snarled.

The guard reluctantly turned back.

Within seconds, the enemies were locked up. Not one of them had tried to run, which surprised her to be honest. It meant they’d had some other goal in mind.

Eris finally turned back to her, leaning down onto the balls of his feet. “Valda,” he said gently. “I’m going to take you to the healers-”

“Why?” She interrupted him.

Eris blinked. “What?” He asked, confused.

“Why did you protect me? In front of everyone?”

Eris opened his mouth, but hesitated. Then a piece of her chest yanked. A string connected to her heart. It yanked so hard she almost lost the minimal balance she had and stabbed her shoulder even worse than before.

Then it glowed golden.

Valda then felt emotions that were foreign to her. Fear, hope, and something along the lines of must protect.

She knew what that meant. Any fae knew what that meant.

“You’re my mate,” she whispered.

Eris didn’t breathe in.

Her eyes widened and she felt unbelievable terror fill her and she suddenly turned and sprinted for the wards.

Eris called after her but as soon as she was free- she winnowed away.

She landed in the frozen wastelands from her training, running for the entryway she knew all too well. A place she went to fear unafraid, because she was forced to not be.

That terror in her chest wasn’t fear for herself anymore though.

The dread was for Eris. This… mate bond would interfere with everything. And she would hurt him. She could never go near that male again. She would not let him get hurt. She must not.

As she stood in that same throne room in the Masters’ Underworld location where she killed them all.

She shivered as she leaned down to remove the dagger poking out of her thigh and then from her shoulder. No danger from either of them. They were not ash nor ash coated. She healed quickly and set out to make a plan.

A plan to protect her mate and to keep herself away.

↢ 『 ☾ 』 ↣

TAGLIST (see post for getting added)

@bunnymallowo, @officiallyunofficialperson, @margssstuff, @rebloggiest-reblogger, @inpraizeof, @graciereads, @eos-princess, @imma-too-many-fandoms, @mali22, @sassybluebird, @bubybubsters,

[askbeannuts]

Apparently a group of Pokemon who knew my dad were planning to go into the tree at some point too, so they watched over me when I entered... those guys told me that I came back hours later in a weird trance... and I looked strange and even had a weird rainbow aura. I don't remember what happened after that, I blacked out and apparently changed back to a regular Charizard. Everyone who wasn't close enough to see it, said I looked perfectly fine, except for the guys who were supposed to watch over me, they said I covered in wounds, bloody and bruised. I woke up in a medical tent a few days later on the island... Everyone keeps telling me I somehow awakened a "Mega Evolution" without an Awakening Emera or an empowerment seed... from what they could piece together from my memories of what happened and what I could piece together myself... They're just simplifying it down to an "Awakened State" now, apparently. I felt so drained after it all, but, I was able to do it again reliably after I recovered! A lot of Pokemon started gathering around me, they wanted to know what happened, so... after the begging and pleading for more info got too irritating... I tried to remember...

... Someone took the time to fashion that weird rock into a necklace for me to wear and told me to never remove it, no matter what-I took that to heart, obviously. I went into the tree and, honestly... just wandered until I found the way to a higher floor, the rock was pushing that weird fog away, too, it was amazing... scary, but amazing. I lost track of how many floors I went up... 5, 10, 20? I just kept going until I started hearing something. It wasn't the voice, but movement? Someone was following me...I just kept going until I was in an open area, and it showed itself, a strange Pokemon or some kind. The longer I stared, the more it seemed fake, but its attacks were real and they hurt... a lot! I did everything I could to fend it off, but more of them showed up, they looked like Pokemon I respected, I could've sworn one of them looked like the Absol on my pop's team, too. I just kept pushing them back, but they came back stronger and stronger. I was getting tired, but the feeling kept fading away after a while... but they were so aggressive... I started to lose my nerve and tried to run away, but then... "Keep going." A voice called out to me, telling me to keep going, keep fighting back, become stronger and surpass some limit... because I needed to. The Sky Islands were in chaos and someone needed to be there to help subdue the worst of the worst... no one was doing it, someone had to: "And who better than the child of a Human Hero?" Before I could figure out who it was, I was attacked by another fake Pokemon, one that looked like a large, black Charizard... I tried to run, but it wasn't having it, it kept chasing me down and attacking, I had to fight it and in the heat of that battle, being beaten down, over and over again, it felt like I was dying, but I kept getting back up... then... I felt it, I evolved! But... it didn't help, that black Charizard was still tossing me around like a child's toy... I wasn't strong enough to do whatever that voice wanted, but I could still hear it, reminding me of what my goal was: to revive Rescue Teams... All I remember after that, I let loose a yell so hard that it surely went hoarse... I felt a weird sensation and for the briefest of moments I saw that rainbow aura everyone saw around me, then I blacked out. ...

They accepted that story and I guess that's what happened... either way, we can evolve again, but going through it is a serious trial... it won't ever be easy-not for everyone at least. I accepted that much and... I decided then and there I would continue to follow that goal, and bring Rescue Teams back. Thing is... It wouldn't just be individual teams roaming around... we'd have to get with the current system and make it a Guild. When I told my sister and her Vulpix friend that-outside of them freaking out over what happened and all, they seemed to support it. My drive motivated them to try and help others in their own ways, though their ambitions were more about being leaders in different ways, I guess. A few Pokemon did end up following after me, so I had a "team" so to speak, so, I decided to form a Guild with them and, when it came to names, we all eventually agreed that the best name would be after the one who gave us this wonderful and mysterious gift of evolution and "awakening" or at least... who I think did it...: The Xerneas Guild. Yeah... I like it!

An Excerpt From: "The Founder's Book: The Xerneas Guild"

[wandaluvstacos]

what sucks about the current social media landscape is that all the sites that are up-and-coming are video focused, and I hate that shit. So instead I'm just kinda doomed to languish on dying websites. I don't think I've gotten a legit new follower here or on Twitter in like 3-5 months, just porn bots. So ideally you'd be like okay just move to the next thing but there are no next things that don't require you to take 20 minutes to make a fucking video just to make a basic point you could write in 2 seconds.

More and more social media just feels like scrolling and reposting for the sake of wasting time. I'm not actually DOING anything with it. Honestly I wish I could just leave it all but the fact I do still write keeps me around, because I want to get people to read my stuff, but honestly, that's completely stagnated. I love that I have a few patrons, and that's kept me going, but again, it's not really going anywhere, so what's the point of posting it on social media. Maybe I should just leave everywhere but Patreon and let the number of patrons dwindle to a natural death. I dunno.

Unlike my art, which I very rarely make anymore, I do think I'll keep writing no matter what, because I need to get the fantasies out of my head onto "paper". I'm not sure what capacity I should share it. Trying to share it comes with disappointment, but I know not sharing it would also suck. I dunno. As always, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[jtargaryen18]

Request? Honestly,since AHIAR is completed and so is Misled,may I request a chapter 4 of Gentle Frost? I'm dying to know how their date would go. I was so excited when I found out there was a chapter 3 and it really tugged at my heartstrings after I read it 🙈😭💔 I actually teared up (as usual) when dark!Steve is willing to take pretending reader loves him than nothing at all unaware that reader is already reciprocating in her heart,just non-verbally. I'm a follower and I've always checked your page everyday now for updates of it. I'm still not getting over your Steve Rogers fics 😭🥺 And I'm not even a Steve girl,I was so obsessed with Bucky and your dark Steve fics swayed me 😂 Jk,I love them both but I really mostly read Bucky fics before but after reading your Steve fics? Now I kept searching for Steve fics too. I'm so damn soft for dark!steve who redeems himself and even grovels (that one scene in chapter 20 of AHIAR that I don't want to describe in case it would spoil it to new readers. Idk if it counts as grovel enough but he lets her get back at him in a way and make her see she doesn't have to be scared of him anymore like before) after everything he puts the reader through 🥺 He really regrets it. It's a pattern I noticed in your dark Steve fics (even in Ransom Naughty Holiday). And it's perfect for dark fic to be able to have a proper happy ending. And yes,I love the happy endings as well. 🖤❤ In other dark fics series I've read which I won't name any,Steve or Bucky barely redeems or didn't redeem themselves at all and the endings aren't happy,it's more like reader has completely given up or still wishes she could escape if guven the chance and still scared and uncomfortable with Steve/Bucky (the main love interest in dark fics I've mostly read) and complied by coercion so they don't hurt her. It felt more lustful and but not so much love are expressed between reader and Steve/Bucky. But I get it,they are DARK fics. Your angsty dark fics is a fresh change. Where Steve actually fell in love and fell hard for reader after some time of keeping her captive. That,that right there,that's what I've been looking for this whole. An angsty dark fic (bonus if it has an happy ending,an actual one where they're both happy and willing to admit they're in love with each other just as much despite the circumstances of their first "meetings" 😂)🖤 I've only found a few dark Steve or Bucky fic series from other authors with so much emotions and angst. I wish more dark fics would get angsty like yours 😭🥺💔🖤❤

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. This wonderful note just made me so happy. 💕🙏💕It means a lot that you noticed exactly what I was trying to do.

I like dark fics of all kinds but when I personally go to write one, I need the characters to have learned something or change even a little based on what happened during the story. Emotions are the heart of that. You can do so many bad things to any given character but it doesn't matter if I can't make you care about them. If you care about a character/reader, you'll stay with them until they've met their goal or you know they're okay.

Sometimes I really question all the angst and sentiment I pile on to stories because that's what I personally like. I'm always so grateful when someone else sees what I did and that's what they were looking for. Printing this one out for my vision board. Thank you so SO much! HUGS 💕💕💕

[theplightofthevelociraptor]

Drugging Redheads

Note: Redheads require 20% more anesthesia than the average person.

It took Alina a hot minute to realize that there were fingers in her brain.

Surgically gloved, freakishly steady fingers, that is. And when she realized this fact, she did the logical thing and screamed for her mother, who was dead. She screamed so loudly that her addled brain got scared her mother might actually hear her and tell her to shut up, so she stopped screaming. 

“Excuse me, Doctor,” she said calmly, breathing hard through her nostrils. “I seem to be awake.”

Of course, the doctor already knew this. So did the anesthesiologist in the corner, who was saying things Alina definitely didn’t want her mother to hear. A few harrying seconds later, her vision started to fade back to a comforting black. 

After her surgery was over, the surgeon came to her himself to apologize.

“Ms. Evans, I am so sorry you had to experience that,” he said. “It’s just that… our anesthesiologist hadn’t accounted for you being a redhead.”

Alina stared at him, then pinched her arm to make sure she wasn’t still drugged.

“What. Are you talking about.”

“You see, redheads are more difficult to sedate than the average, uh, head. We gave you 20% less anesthesia than you needed,” he explained, nodding like that made perfect sense. Alina sighed.

“You know what? I don’t care,” she said. “Please get out of my room.” 

Alina had no strong feelings on being a redhead, but she would dye all the hair on her body blonde if it meant she never had to experience that again. Once she got out of the hospital, it took her half a year to fully recover from the surgery. Eventually, she dyed her hair bright blue, forgot about the incident, and joined a marching band. It was marching band practice she was walking home from when she noticed that a car was following her. 

It was white and silent, and Alina wanted nothing to do with it. She sped up, and the car sped up too. She graduated from fast-walking and started running. The car’s motors revved quietly and kept pace with her. Oh, bother.

Suddenly, she felt someone tap her shoulder and twisted to see an old man standing behind her. 

“Hello, young lady, can you help me with something?” he warbled, smiling a gummy smile. Alina glanced nervously at the car, which had stopped almost right next to her.

“Sorry, sir, I have to–”

She stopped and stared at the syringe protruding from her arm. She poked it, and it wobbled.

“Ha,” she said. “Ha, ha, ha.”

The old man grasped her shoulders and guided her gently into the waiting car, and shoved her inside.

“Ouch,” she said. This was a confusing situation. Alina looked up and saw that the driver was an old lady with a face like a soggy paper bag. She was picking at perfectly straight teeth, so they had to be dentures. What kind of kidnapping was this?

She looked down at the syringe still stuck in her arm and pulled it out. She felt a rush of dizziness, but nothing else. The realization dawned on her that whatever was in the syringe should have knocked her out, but it hadn’t. Why?

No, it couldn’t be.

There was no possible way. That doctor had probably lied to cover for the anesthesiologist. 

She coughed and tapped the old man’s shoulder. “Excuse me, sir, but I don’t think your drug is working on me.”

The old woman slammed down on the brakes, and all three of them rocked forward. They turned and stared at Alina like she was the Antichrist.

“It’s just that I’m a redhead, and redheads need 20% more drugs, or something,” she mumbled, tugging at her blue hair. The old man said some nasty words under his breath, and Alina was experiencing some serious deja vu. 

“Can I just… go?” she asked sheepishly, scratching her head. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m pretty sure I can take you guys.”

The two old people said nothing for a minute, then seemed to come to a consensus. The woman stepped on the gas, and they continued forward like nothing had happened. So Alina did the logical thing and punched the old man in the eye and screamed at him to hand her the drugs. She screamed so loudly that he pissed himself, and once she had the drugs, she swiftly injected a dose into each of their arms. Then she opened the door of the car, sat with her legs dangling out of it, and called the police. That night she washed the blue dye out of her hair. 

[icharchivist]

Do you have a favorite unit in Gbf? Just one you like in general or someone you like putting in your party because they're your blorbo or do you just go by the best meta for specific raids?

RANDALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RANDAAAAAAAAAAALL!!!!!!

actually i have like strong feelings on this one but it's 100% SSR Randall i'm obsessed with this unit?? like genuinely obsessed in a way that is more than just "he's a blorbo"?

best boy best boy best-

(i got a little long gushing about it but god i love he)

so like, Randall is a blorbo alright, i adore him, his R was one of my early unit so he carried me and i grew to like him from here, i found his FE super endearing, it's been a day one type of thing. (i really wanted to have Feather bc of seiyuu reasons, so when i saw Randall was his bestie and just really wanted to find Feather, i got into a kinship with him right away)

Then i realized Randall was voiced by Wataru Hatano who is not only a seiyuu i adore but legit also a seiyuu i listen to the music of the most (he voices one of my ultimate blorbo in a3 so obviously i was unwell). and Randall went from "R/SR i really have strong feelings for" to "character i'm ride or die for".

When Marionette Stars came out and they teased Wacchan in the gbf radio show, i was vibrating at the idea of Randall getting a SSR. And then the event happened and his SSR was teased and i absolutely lost my marbles. I don't think i ever just CRIED out of realizing a character was going to become an unit. I was shaking and crying so much even my crew was like. ".... for Randall??" while i was like YEAH OF COURSE FOR RANDALL WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR.

I didn't have funds at the time to spark so i skipped on his banner, but best boy decided to come in the free pulls a few weeks later, i'll never forget it.

But honestly originally, i didn't really know how to use him, so he was benched for a time. And it made me so insanely sad that i couldn't use him.

I didn't like playing wind at all (the team i had at the time, which was mostly Blorbos, made it difficult to play in general), and i found his kit a little too particular (with his 3rd skill taking a lot of time to charge up)

But a friend saw I was super sad about it and went "that won't do" and found me a couple of teams that would work to solo FA Bennu with Randall. I found a set up that worked wonders, and I kept watching the raid play out, and it's when i realized how actually SUPER GOOD Randall's unit is?

It works better on long fights, but on short fights he still has very good elements. If he's supported by base!Ewiyar in the back, he's unstoppable, unkillable, and ends up carrying the whole team all on his own.

He has high hostility and a high dodge rate and he activates his first skill upon dodging, which not only hits hard, but also gives him 20% CA charge. So if he's targetted regularly and dodges regularly, he charges his CA super fast.

Upon activating his first skill or his CA, he raises his Heel level, and after he reaches 7 heels level, his 3rd skill activates: it resets his other skills, but especially, ends up activating his CA twice EVERY TURN AFTER THAT. like, constantly. This buff is never removed so he constantly has double CA attack.

So basically once he's in a team that 1) gives him the hostility's spotlight, 2) supports his dodging, 3) charges CA real quick (Kengo, Viking, Relic Buster, or Seofon), he's basically a monster who is constantly hitting the enemy, either out of dodging or out of CAs, and since he gets all the hostility and dodging, the whole team is kept safe.

I've noticed before i got Ewiyar (so his dodgerate wasn't perfect) that i could have flawless run of everyone at full health, but if in a RNG, Randall would die, then the whole team would follow literally two rounds later. Ever since i have Ewiyar, everyone remains in the green all the time and the "Randall dying" RNG is so low that any team with Randall survives for a long long period of time.

I'm actually obsessed with the mechanisms of his unit and just how satisfying it is to watch play out. Like, it's genuinely the unit i have the most fun using because i genuinely feel unstoppable. The fact he's one of my ultimate blorbo in the game add a whole other layer to it.

So i kinda have both blorbo and meta in mind with this one but i genuinely just love how this unit works and how happy it makes me. It singlehandedly made me enjoy playing wind.

I bring Randall out with me sometimes in random outings.

Tho tbh most of my random teams are either level up teams (so as long as i have charas to level up i don't have anything else in it - if i have room for chara i don't need to level up, Tien takes priority, but then Percival or Randall come along for the ride), or farming teams (in which case since i take Tien/R!Richard/Earth!De La Fille with me everywhere it leaves me very little room for characters who wouldn't be able to hit the enemy hard). And when i really need to hit hard at once i usually bring out my Light Team since it's pretty good all around the board.

But whenever i can bring Randall out, i do.

He's definitely the unit that makes me the happiest, both in term of blorbo and in term of how it works. My best boy.

one and only best boy

thank you for asking and for reading my ramble. I care him a lot!!!

[mysticalsoot]

i feel a bit venty so do scroll past if death, pet loss, hallucinations, just like bad coping or like medical stuff bothers you!! just fair warning, it's just there's a lot of sad shit here.

something to note about me is that while most people don't cope with death very well, I don't cope with it at all.

i have an extremely hard time coping with it and moving past it. I live in constant fear of it, not of me dying but of everyone else dying. i hate it, I hate it so much.

I didn't handle my grandmother's death well at all, while most other people just moved along (besides my mom), I stayed there crying at the sight of anything that reminded me of her or seeing her walk towards me or hear her talk to me. it got so bad, I hallucinated her in my dreams after the fact. it was just bad, and I still struggle but I think that's just something that happens. its been two years and I still have my moments but I stopped crying for the most part.

I didn't handle techno well either, he was a great comfort to me when I was dealing with my own medical fears in the summer of 21' and I was devastated when I found out he even got cancer in the first place. and part of me feels bad at how hopeful I was that he'd be okay, because he wasn't and his family lost him, his friends, his community lost him. i still haven't stopped crying over that one and I hallucinate him sometimes too, it's very occasional and sparse now but it was a lot worse at the beginning. it was always worse at the beginning.

and yesterday, I took my cat (who I've had since 2021 before my grandma passed, and that was my cat that bonded with me) to the vet yesterday for a heavy breathing issue. it got worse and my parents finally caved and noticed it more too and we took him to the animal hospital. he seemed to get worse in the car, he was kind of panicky in the carrier before we left the house but I have a feeling it was already bad and he was in pain when he was panicked. he loves small spaces and he loves the carrier. on our way there his breathing got so much worse, it would slow at times, almost stop and I was talking to him the whole way. he was crying to me so much. I'd tell him to focus on his breathing and his breathing would get better and he would stop crying for a bit and I kept doing that the whole way there, it was a 20 minute drive. when we got there, I carried him in and I talked to him. the vet already had stuff ready for him so they took him back not even a few minutes after we stepped in the door. i could still hear him crying from the back. and then we went into the little vet room, and it stopped. he stopped crying. i started to text my mom and told her maybe they sedated him so they could take care of him. and then they told me he coded and asked if they could do CPR. I knew it was bad, I had a feeling in the car he was going to die there, but he held on until I couldn't see him anymore. and they couldn't save him. they couldn't save my baby. they tried and tried, I heard it all. I heard everything every sound, every attempt. they couldn't save him. and then they brought him to me, wrapped in a little blanket he would've killed to have. and I held him and I cried so much. he would have never let me hold him like a baby when he was alive. he only liked being held with his back paws on my hand and his arms over my shoulder and his chin rested with his upper paws. he started hugging me like that a few weeks before he passed. I think he knew. i really think he knew. and god, I should've pushed to take him in earlier, when I saw his breathing get weird the first day. maybe I would still have my buddy and maybe I wouldn't be here crying like I am.

i feel so stupid crying over a cat like he was my flesh and blood, but to me he might as well have been.. he'd follow me around and he liked to watch over me and he took care of me, he was never very cuddly and I was getting to the point where his cuddle stage was kicking in, but he passed before I could get him to stay laying on me for more than a few minutes.. he had so much energy man. he loved to jump up on his hind legs to bump the top of his head to your hand. he was so sweet. he had the same look in his eyes that my grandma did before she passed, the "I love you and I'm sorry" look. maybe I'm looking too into it, but I need something, anything. i have one person that I've known for a good while that's there for me and they are so busy they don't have time to console me. everyone else doesn't seem to care (not talking about elliot), or care enough about me. i share my friend group with my sibling and that's always fucking rough bc I feel like I'm not their friend? I'm just the older brother that hangs around sometimes. i just hate everything right now, and I can't cope..and I'm already seeing him everywhere. and I'm wearing his collar as a bracelet. i feel like most people pick up from where they left off after a pet dies and I just can't do that. i can't at all. i just can't.

[cuhcuhcuhcory]

bioethics blog 1

Hi deep thinkers and smooth brain babyloves, I'm blogging for posterity now. who knows how long this will keep up <3

Its day 2 of my Bioethics class and I am already ahead of the curve. This is a 2 week 3 credit hour rollercoaster and I started the dang thing front row seats with our arms up. Anyway, I just got done reading the passage in the book about the ethics of Christian Scientists and others who don't believe in medical treatment and how horribly common it is for parents to be providers of maltreatment on religious grounds. I thought the quote from the supreme court ruling about the Prince V. Massachusetts case was incredibly sharp and on point. It said, "Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children before they have reached the age of full and legal discretion when they can make that choice for themselves"

beautiful logic. brilliantly written. chef's kiss. i just wish it were that simple. cults are so so powerful. belief is terrifying when diametrically opposed to any facts or logical processes of any kind and those people represent the ultimate opposition to logic-- Healing by faith alone bc your wounds and ailments are a symbol of your failing relationship to god, not the reality of being a goofy little delicate meat machine. all systems can be vulnerable! But I digress... We're not going to spiral down that rabbit hole because here i doth present the only conversation I ever *knowingly* had with a Christian Scientist Nurse.

I did hair for about 8 years professionally in my 20s. This is from nearing the middle to end of that 8 year period. I had seen this woman a few times but infrequent, maybe once or twice a year but she alwys came back to me and she was sweet, pretty with lots of freckles and very bright eyes. It was probably 4 or 5 visits before she came out to me as a Christian Scientist Nurse. She was always really sweet but kind of in that guarded yet pleasant way-- Not a moral judgement just an observation based on the premise that people kind of let you know how to they want to be engaged if you let them (and hairdressers who pick up on this make better money). Anyway, she started venting to me about how hard it was to treat with people and work with them with end of life care and that sometimes she wishes she could sneak in some real morphine or some drugs that are more effective than ibuprofen. And i said yeah i cant imagine how painful dying of old age is, I dont think i could do it without hard drugs XD Then I asked her what it was like to provide care like that but not medication and she said that its basically just regular hospice care. sitting talking, helping with the little things. Holding their hand and listening. I was really nice and pleasant but she kept going on about people she was "treating", more elderly and end of life care, more diabetes related complications. I was just floored. flabbergasted. What could I say to her face but holy hell i was upset and confused hearing all of this willful ignorance, failure to comply with practical medical advice, idk what to call it bc faith "healing" implies people get better and they dont. they die.

So thinking about it now years removed seems so strange. Cuz like at what point are you not a monster for pretending to offer treatment but only offering hollow words and hand holds. Its so strange. I still dont understand if that is good or evil. If they truly believe they're doing good, how can we make them see the harm or be responsible for truly setting aside their moral stances for the betterment of their kids when they see it as a complete failure of faith. failure of faith or not, I certainly wouldn't call it moral to withhold medication or to promote the rejection of modern medicine. Plus, by the morphine comment, it felt like she knew that medicine would work in some capacity so i just dont and will never understand the decision to choose to suffer and to choose to witness and support suffering like that.

anyway maybe i'll write my paper on christian scientists and how fucked up they are. religion is a cancer sorry not sorry

[metalandmagi]

Winter 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

Since 2020 basically sacrificed itself to give us the most stacked anime season of all time, I’m currently buried under the weight of almost 20 shows airing per week. So for anyone who’s looking for some anime to watch this winter, here’s some first impressions! I’m speed running my list this time by only talking about the new shows...because otherwise this would be my great American novel. 

If anyone’s interested, I have master lists for both 2020 anime and 2019 anime, because there’s no shortage of fun things to find. 

New Shows!

And before anyone asks, So I’m A Spider, So What? isn’t on here, because CG spiders freak me out.

Cells At Work Code Black: This...less comedic spin off of Cells At Work (made by a different studio) takes the wholesome concept of Osmosis Jones meets cute anime girls and turns it on its head. In this much more depressing version, we follow a rookie red blood cell who works in the body of an overly stressed, alcoholic smoker who puts every strain on the body imaginable. I love Red Blood Cell AA2153 and his co-workers, but man am I glad we get the regular Cells At Work airing this season too, because I need something fun and uplifting after seeing my sweet son go through hell every episode. 

*Heaven’s Design Team: Have you ever wondered how God came up with some of the weird ass animals that live on this planet? Like, what’s the deal with giraffes? And why can’t we have dragons and flying horses? Well this is a comedy about the engineers and designers in heaven creating the new animals that are going to inhabit the Earth. That’s it, that’s the show. It’s kind of in the same vein as Cells At Work, having comedy blend with a surprising amount of educational information. If you want something light and funny, this is the show for you (though I don’t think it needs to have full length episodes). I’m just hoping there’s an episode about how the hell the platypus was created. Also it’s the only new one available on Crunchyroll.

Horimiya: A romantic comedy about a girl named Hori who fits the image of a perfect queen bee and a quiet bespectacled boy named Miyamura who never makes an impression at school. When the two meet by chance outside of the classroom, we see that Hori is practically raising a younger brother by herself, and Miyamura is actually a sweet guy who happens to be covered in tattoos and piercings. This show is an exercise in breaking down the images people have of others in their minds, and it’s a concept that really hits home in a fun and meaningful way. Honestly, this has become one of my immediate favorites. The characters have great chemistry, and I can’t wait to see more of them!

Monster Incidents (Kemono Jihen): When big shot Tokyo detective Inugami is called to a rural town to investigate a series of strange animal deaths, he finds a mysterious boy with the nickname Dorotabo who has been shunned by the other children in town. As the detective gets closer to Dorotabo, he discovers that there may be more...inhuman secrets to the boy than he realizes...and Dorotabo discovers that Inugami has some secrets of his own. This is a hard show to sell without spoiling the first episode, but it had twists and turns that kept me engaged from start to finish. I’m really interested to see where the plot goes, because I thought this was going to be something totally different just from the PV and series summary. If it plays its cards right, this could be a great paranormal detective show!

Wonder Egg Priority: A psychological drama about a girl named Ai who starts having dreams about a mysterious egg that promises to give her what she wants most in the world...a true friend. Before long, she begins to see how the dream world and reality are tied together, and trippy antics ensue. It’s hard to say more without spoiling anything, but I had to go back and add this one in because I made the mistake of thinking it was an OVA when it’s actually a full series. And what a series it’s starting out to be. This anime has all the psychological discomfort of a Satoshi Kon product with the beauty and style of something from Kyoani (even though it’s made by Clover Works). It’s really one of those anime you just have to see to understand.

Sk8-∞ (Skate the infinity): An original skateboarding anime from Bones, featuring a typical sports anime protagonist who takes a new transfer student who has never skateboarded in his life under his wing. Together they compete in dangerous races and take the skating community by storm. The character designs rival Appare Ranman’s in outlandish creativity, and I can smell the main characters’ ship dynamic a mile away (considering they’re exactly the same as the protagonists from Robihachi). If you’re looking for some wild and crazy fun with top notch skateboarding animation, don’t skip this!

2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu (Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club): Yes, it’s another volleyball anime. And no, it’s not just a clone of Haikyu. This story follows Yuni Kuroba, a physically built but emotionally weak teenager who finds out his childhood friend Hajime is moving back to their hometown for high school. Yuni discovers Hajime has become an exceptional volleyball player and they join their school’s volleyball club hoping to turn the unknown team into a rising star. If anything, this anime is much more like Stars Align or Free, where the sport is a backdrop for letting the characters explore their personal problems. Or at least it seems that way after the first episode. I went into this show ready to throw it in the trash because how could anything compete against my beloved Haikyu, but I found myself really enjoying the dynamics of the main duo and I’m curious to see what the rest of the team is like.

And speaking of sports anime rip-offs…..I can’t believe I’m including this but…

Skate Leading Stars: The show where the animators clearly wanted to design another throw away idol anime but saw how popular Yuri On Ice was so they decided to make whatever the hell this show is instead. It revolves around a fictional team sport called skate leading, and we follow the world’s most insufferable main character, a former figure skater named Kensei who wants to return to the ice and join his school’s skate leading team after he finds out his childhood rival is going to compete in the sport. Look, this show is just trashy enough to get a certain type of audience hooked, and it mainly has to do with the best boy of the winter season, Hayato Sasugai, the aspiring team “coach” who pulled most of us into watching this show with his punk appearance, snide comments and smug personality. He’s basically the lovechild of Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima in a high school sports anime setting. The show treats itself with the perfect amount of sincerity to get away with being absolutely ridiculous most of the time without making you feel like you’re watching it from a dumpster...like Try Knights. You will know after one episode whether this show is for you. All I can say is, Hayato is worth the watch, and I haven’t seen any 3D animation used for the skating scenes (yet) so that’s a win for me. 

Honorable mention:

Jobless Reincarnation ( Mushoku Tensei): Yet another isekai where the main character is hit by a car (big surprise) and gets reincarnated into a fantasy world...but he happens to remember his previous life and narrates himself growing up as a jaded adult. I’m only including this because it looked amazing animation wise, and I love the opening where getting hit by a car and dying is actually traumatic. And I love the protagonist’s parents (who are retired adventurers who just want to bang all the time). But honestly...the main character is the fucking worst, and I don’t know if I want to keep watching it because of how creepy and weird he is. Like...he’s the hit on your fantasy mom as a baby kind of creepy and weird. But for anyone who wants a cool looking isekai that had an amazing PV, it’s worth checking out. 

Continuing Series!

Because the real gold of the season is in all the established anime getting their next seasons, I’m just going to list some of the things that are also amazing and definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already (because I’ve already talked about most of them at some point and don’t know what else to say).

Attack On Titan season 4

The Promised Neverland season 2

Beastars season 2

Log Horizon season 3

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 2

Re: Zero season 2 (second cour)

Dr. Stone season 2

Cells at Work season 2

Osomatsu-san season 3 (second cour)

Higurashi New (second cour)

Jujutsu Kaisen (second cour) 

Not to mention all the shows I don’t watch that everyone else loves...like World Trigger (which I have seen quite a bit of, but long shounen shows are too much for me now) Quintessential Quintuplets, and Non Non Biyori. 

So there’s just some of all the anime airing this season. Hopefully, someone can find something they like. Here’s to a great year...well, of anime at least...

[pacificwaternymph]

Second part of my avatar AU lore! This is a lot longer than I intended so we're just focusing on Jizzie.

As previously stated, Lizzie lied to the Fire Nation soldier, proclaiming that she was the last water bender in the Southern Water Tribe. She did so in order to protect Jimmy, who was only ten at the time. She's been gone for about five years, nearing six, and is in the 18-20 range where Jimmy was in the 14-15 range now.

So y'all remember the horrid conditions water benders were put through in Fire Nation prisons, which we learned about through Hama, right? Imagine being stuck in that for four years. It's not easy on anyone.

Now in the fifth year, Joel gets assigned to the prison. Joel's a very kind soul, he hated being a soldier so he applied to be moved somewhere within the Fire Nation so that he wouldn't have to fight anymore. And unfortunately, the place he got assigned to was so much worse.

Lizzie's always been seen as a threat. She's kept apart from the other benders, she's constantly chained instead of just when they're giving her water, because they learned the hard way that she can pull water vapor out of the air, and water in the soil through the tiniest cracks in concrete. Her hands are kept completely encased.

Joel gets assigned to guard her on one of his shifts, and he notices how awful she looks. She's constantly screaming and trying to get loose from her restraints, because even after five years, she's still trying to escape. She has a little brother to get back to.

That night Joel brings her an extra cup of water. Lizzie is, reasonably, a bit shocked, but accepts it anyway. After that, Joel keeps volunteering to guard Lizzie's cell, and since it's a job no one wants, the other guards kind of shrug it off and say sure, go for it newbie.

He keeps bringing her water, and eventually, they get to talking. It takes a bit to get Lizzie to open up, which, you know, understandable. But she does eventually tell Joel about her little brother, even if she leaves out the part where he's a water bender.

Literally the next day, Joel decides he's done, he can't do this anymore, and he doesn't give a shit about the war. So the next time the full moon rolls around, he shows up to Lizzie's cell with a key to unlock her chains and a pouch full of water.

She half jokingly proclaims that she could kiss him right then and there.

From there, Lizzie takes over. She releases as many water benders as she can find, gives them a bit of water and watches as the chaos unfolds. Then she and Joel just book it, escaping with several others who, for the sake of safety, decide it's better to travel in groups of two and three rather than all at once.

They end up traveling to the South Pole together, getting married along the way. It starts out as just a cover story, a way to avoid suspicion because Lizzie does look VERY Water Tribe. And then, wouldn't you know it... they actually do start to fall in love.

Their original plan was to divorce once Lizzie was back in the South Pole and reunited with her brother. But by the time they get there... well, Jimmy's already run off with Scott. So BACK ACROSS THE EARTH KINGDOM IT IS.

They keep meaning to figure out the divorce papers, but since they are A: in the Earth Kingdom and B: kind of busy, they just... never do. And in the meantime they're both slowly developing feelings for one another.

So now they're chasing after Jimmy, following a trail of increasingly concerning rumors and stories about the avatar and his companions.

Also little bonus fact: Lizzie started dying her hair before she went to prison. Then she went five years without taking care of it, and well... it was in pretty poor condition by the time she got out. Joel helped her cut off the dead ends and re-dye her head.

[cowboyjen68]

What are your thoughts on gender neutral parenting?

This is the question I have next up. I have 30 minutes before I need to be on the Farm making kettle korn after a long, hot day yesterday of landscaping for a little side money. So here is goes My parents raised me in a sort of gender neutral way.. without awareness of it. This we the late 60's and early 70's. I still was praised for being "pretty in a dress" and told to smile because "I have such a pretty one". My mom wanted me to get perms and she always, always said when I was leaving to go anywhere, "don't be loud." (As a youngster I was very loud and outgoing. I tamed a bit as I got older, pretended I was shy so I didn't have to hide being a lesbian so hard.. just stay in the background.) But they also encouraged me to play with whatever I loved, to run around out side “GO OUTSIDE!!”, to be very independent, often riding my horses for hours without contact. They gave me chores from helping in the kitchen to cleaning the garage. They didn’t quell my passion for being rough and tumble AT HOME... in public mom tried a little harder to get me to settle and be more passive. They mostly let me dress in what I wanted except for fancy occasions like weddings and out to dinner with Uncle Jerry from Chicago. They did not force gendered things on me all the time for two main reasons. My sister (who is straight) was very independent and head strong. She did what she wanted and they figured I would too. AND my siblings were 17, 20 and 23 years OLDER than me. They were tired. They were over it. So they didn’t fight me on what I liked. (And dad was HAPPY to have help on the acreage since they moved there on my behalf to get horses and let me be more wild). When I told my mom, at 12, I wanted to be a boy she told me I did not (colorful description of why not... and not flattering to the male body) then said "what do you really want". I wanted to do what boys did. So she said "do it.. talk to your father". I did. He had been bypassing me in favor of the neighbor boys on manual labor since I was 9. He thought I was not interested. From then on, chainsaw, mowing, (not just the easy parts) hay, oil changes, and such. When he was dying he told me to take his belt, "good leather last you a life time and you pass it to your kids" and he made sure I got his "wedding suit". A brown 1970's 3 piece JC Penny suit that he wore for every "suit" occasion since he retired in the late 80's. He said I would look good in it. Mom was way more into making sure I followed the rules of my sex and the gender society applied to that. She was concerned I would not fit in, would have a hard time, or be bullied for not conforming to the expectations of females. Women=feminine. Which is odd considering she played softball, was known to be very bold and outspoken (there are stories worth telling there). She bowled, always worked full time and managed the financials of the house. She shared cooking with dad. Her worry came from a mom knowing her kid was different and if she could lesson that "oddity" she could protect me. OF course.. a butch in a dress is still a butch and everyone who can see knows it. So gender neutral parenting. It is a great theory. It should be a thing. When I say gender I mean the set of stereotypes and societal expectations placed on us because of our sex. The engrained response to gender is little girls get pink and teddy bears and little boys get blue and trucks. Most parents don't even realize (there have been studies) that they do it. They tell a little girl in boys clothes "you are so strong and tough" and a little boy in a dress "aren't you just precious and pretty... boys will love you". They are using visually gendered clues to determine the sex and therefore the gender and ROLES this child is supposed to abide by. Not just abide by but thrive on. Praise for following the rules. And kids figure that out very quickly. Little girls stop trying "hard or dirty" tasks and little boys stop being tender with a doll or each other because they don't earn praise for those behaviors. Unfortunately no matter how perfectly neutral a parent (or family) is the world exists. Day care, the park, grandparents, cousins and on and on also affect this child's view of themselves in the world. Gender Neutral purity can be dangerous. You child will get into the real world and be hit with reality. We are expected to follow certain rules based on our sex and not doing so can cause issues at school, jobs, summer camps etc if that child does not have an idea about what is happening. Gender awareness parenting is much more important once the child is past the stage of being only with mom and dad. Actively speaking to your son about the benefits of dolls (sesame street has a short clip about this and IT IS STILL amazing). Speaking to your daughter about what she loves and encouraging that. If a little girl loves pink and dolls GO FOR IT> Parenting is NOT and never should be a political statement. DO NOT use your chld to prove your wokeness on gender. If your little boy likes motorcycles and buzz cuts don’t make him grow long hair and ride a pink bike because “color is not gendered” Kids should be encouraged to love and pursue what they love not what their parents want or think they shouldwant  in order to make a statement. I am going to repeat that. Kids should never be a statement of their parent’s political wokeness. Kids are people.. they deserve to love what they are passionate about. THAT Is the core idea behind gender neutral parenting.  You can’t send your kid, unarmed and unaware in to a world still very flush with gendered jobs, clothes, actions, hobbies etc based on their sex and expect them to just blindly power through. Actively educating kids to understand gender expectations and empowering them to do as they please is parenting at it’s finest. A child kept in the dark about the reality of the bad effects gender roles has on each one of us can be dangerous. They need to be actively involved in making decisions to keep themselves safe, to understand why gender exists and to let them choose when and where to push back.

[minsyal]

The Fugitive (Finding Home), Pt. 1

Karl Heisenberg x Reader

Warnings: strong language, Resident Evil-esque violence and descriptions of gore, and dark/sexual themes

Summary: A once-in-a-lifetime trip turned dark. You're quickly exposed to the sinister and mysterious world of a cursed village under the control of dark leaders. How long will you last and will you ever return home in one piece?

Backpacking through Eastern Europe was not a top priority on your “to do” list. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Being one to preplan everything, you were completely caught off guard when your roommate sprung the idea of the trip out of the blue. You roommate, Jezebel Haine, was your first and only roommate from college onward. All legs, she was one of the stars of the track team but was most certainly not one of the brightest shining ones. She was considerably dim-witted, fanatical, and had a booming over-the-top personality that scared every potential boyfriend who had the disservice of meeting her. There were times, though, that she was rather endearing. Her childlike sense of self and emotional drivers consistently put her at a crossroads between what everyone else was doing and what she should be doing; she was, and always will be, a follower.

After four years of becoming “the bestest of friends,” you had a hard time imagining such a hard shift either into another roommate or living alone. Plus, her parents funded most everything she did and, in turn, funded the apartment the two of you shared.

“It’s an amazing opportunity!” She insisted, waving her hands in a simple manner as she rose from the condensed cushion of the leather-clad couch. “Think about it.” Gathering your hands in hers like a 20’s actress who had just met the man of her dreams, she pulled the bundle to her chest. “We frolic through the European countryside, it’s golden hour. My skin looks absolutely gorgeous… yours too, of course. The sun is just about to set, but alas!” She let out a dramatic gasp, removing one of her hands to cover her mouth. “It’s growing dark out!”

“That’s what happens when the sun sets.” You noted, causing her to drop the act for a moment only to immediately go back into character.

“We hear the crunching of leaves and twigs all around us as if something…” she drew close and lowered her voice to a whisper, “sinister is coming. Out of no where we’re ambushed! By what, I’m not sure. Then,” her eyes became glassy as she lay a delicate hand to her forehead, “two absolute studs… and I’m talking big bulging muscles, gorgeous trendy hair, captivating eyes… really everything a simple girl could ask for… seemingly drop from the sky! We’re saved!” She throws your hands into the air as if they’d fall like confetti. Drawing both her arms in, she sways back and forth in a waltz of one. “We’d be married by the next day! Hell, maybe we’d even end up as princesses.”

Oh, how utterly wrong she was.

“I told you this was a stupid idea.” You groaned, haughtily holding your chin up while feeling your spirits low. A few miles back, on an asphalt road that quickly turned to dirt, sat the dingy red rental truck with a blown out engine and a deflating tire. With no cell service and the last town being over 100 miles back, your only choice was to walk.

“Don’t blame me!” Jezebel stopped walking, feet falling flat to the ground as she stomped her foot in a childish manner. “I,” her lip quivered as all the anger held in her body dissipated, “I just wanted to have a fun time with you.” Big tears flowed from her eyes quickly after finishing her proclamation, leaving smearing black lines down her face from the eyeliner she insisted was necessary in the Romanian countryside. God, if her parents weren’t funding this trip, you’d throw a fit for your money back.

“Jess, just,” reaching backward, you fished a rag from your backpack, “don’t cry. That’s not going to make this better.” Sniffling, she accepted the rag and wiped her eyes, further smearing black all over her face. You couldn’t help but feel a shred of sympathy for her. “Let’s just keep going. No use in wasting daylight. I really don’t want to get caught out here in the dark.”

“Where are we supposed to go, then?”

“I’m sure the next town will have some sort of inn or hotel. At the very least, they’ll have directions to the nearest city.”

After another five miles of walking, the sun was beginning to set and no gorgeous studs were waiting to save you. The blazing yellow ball inched slowly beyond the horizon. Its warming rays that had kept the snow from freezing the two of you in the day crept down below the snow peaked mountains that were nestled in the distance. Shadows began dancing between the trees, sending the forest into a theater of silent performers. The dirt road that was once large enough for two cars was now only a walking path so slim that Jezebel had to follow on your heels. Every now and again you were reeled back by the piece of rope that she had attached to your backpack that was firmly gripped in her hand. She claimed it made her feel safer.

“You think those two hunks are going to come save us now?” You joked, attempting to make light of this dark situation.

“I wish.” She huffed, frustration evading her voice as exhaustion took center stage.

Flickering light caught your eye. Hues of yellow and red mingled together in the distance, the outlines of rooftops and smoke-filled chimneys littered the ground below. “I think that’s a village.”

Another mile of downhill travel was all it took to reach the place where the once distant flickering of torches and lanterns grew into the quiet streets of a cluttered settlement. There was no clear indication of movement once you stepped foot in the village; the only evidence of any life came in the form of fresh boot prints, livestock, and the ever-blazing lanterns. Jezebel was all to happy to release your makeshift leash from her fingers, trotting mindlessly by to examine the street corners and homes. Your eyes continued wandering up the rooftops, finally landing upon the eerie looming castle situated on the mountainside above.

From around the bend, you heard Jezebel screech.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” You threw caution to the wind, quickly rounding the corner to scold her like a parent would to a misbehaving child. “You don’t know if these people are violent or not. We can’t just go parading ourselves into the town center.”

“I think they’re violent.” She mustered the shaky words. Her hands covered her eyes and the majority of her face as she backed away from whatever had caused her distress.

“What?” The unpleasant squelch of snow beneath your feet caused your attention to draw downward. Dark snow surrounded your boot, an unnatural red hue stained the pure white. Gaze moving upward, your chest restricted feeling as if it had crushed inward on itself. The putrid smell finally fell upon your nostrils as you backed away from the scene. Severed animal heads hung lazily above you, their tongues flopping from their opened mouths.

“I want to go home.” Jezebel sobbed, rasping her cries into her cupped hand. Shaking her head as if to knock this moment from her brain, her short-lived façade of curiosity gave way to her immediate feeling of impending dread.

“That’s what I’m trying to do right now, Jess. Just, calm down.”

A low grumble had you standing further on edge, if that was possible at this point. The sound was clear as day and was anything but human. You weren’t even sure a human could get to an octave so low without the help of technology. Eyes darting upward once more, a chill ran from your shoulders to your toes.

Hauntingly yellowed eyes lingered upon the two of you. The beast-like figure was silhouetted by the moonlight, outlined like a ghost. It looked to be a man, but also anything but a man in the same sense. Its mouth was parted, baring old rotted teeth that looked to have dried blood caked between its gums. Its hands were bloodied as well, small cuts were painted across its forearms only hidden by the rags that clung to its chest.

Before you could process the situation, Jezebel let out another yelp. In an instant, the beast lunged down from its perch, landing with a ground shaking thud nearly five feet before you. “No!” Jezebel’s open palm collided with the space between your shoulder blades as she pushed you toward the monster. The last thing you saw was her backpack falling to the ground as she began running toward one of the homes. You landed face-first in the snow, groaning as all the air in your lungs were forced out. The beast snarled, once again showing its teeth as it hunched down to your level. This was, most certainly, not the way you envisioned dying. Things like this weren’t supposed to exist; this is myth, this isn’t real. It all felt like bad dream gone worse that you couldn’t wake from.

“Pesky creatures, aren’t they?” A new voice called out as the horrendous sound of metal crushing bone and muscle slithered through your ears. The disgusting feeling of gore instantly trickled down your hands. “Please,” the voice continued, “feel free to thank me anytime.”

A moment later, the stranger let out a scoff with the squishy suction of whatever he had used to quiet the monster. The tap of a boot on your elbow finally prompted you to uncover your eyes. “Or don’t.”

“I,” you started, opening and closing your mouth multiple times unable to find the right words, “thank you.”

“Oh.” He tiled the stiff rim of his frayed hat back, exposing a pair of circular sunglasses perched upon his nose. “Foreigners, eh?”

“Yeah, um.” You gathered yourself, finally pushing up to stand on your feet. “We got lost.”

“And ended up here, no doubt.” A stifled chuckle left his lips as he tilted his hat back in place and swung whatever he used to kill the beast over his shoulder. “If I were you, I’d get the hell out of here.”

Without another word, the stranger sauntered off with a backward wave of his hand. “Oh, and have someone clean this mess up.”

“Y/n!” Jezebel’s shrill voice called as she returned with a rather confused villager. He held a shotgun with both of his hands, Jezebel shone a flashlight in your eyes.

“Are you okay?” The villager moved forward with extreme caution after peering around you dumbfoundedly seeing the crumpled body.

“I’m fine, no thanks to her.” You spat, anger swelling in your throat causing a particular acidity to your words.

“All of you! Inside this instant.” A matronly holler came from behind Jezebel and the villager. “You know Miranda’s protection only runs so far as we grow closer to this time.”

Who is Miranda and, more importantly, who was the man who saved you?

The home you were ushered into was on the outskirts of town. It was one of the larger estates given the fact that some people seemed to live in one-room shacks. Upon entering, you were greeted with the warm glow of yellow light trickling in from what looked to be a formal living room. The sweet aromas of honeyed tea wafted through the air, drawing further in as the woman led the three of you deeper into the home. What was worse? You pondered. Being killed by that beast or potentially being murdered by the inhabitants of this home? You couldn’t decide. Thus far, the two gave no indication of malice.

“Please, sit.” The woman pulled out two of the chairs at her table, the wood scratching against the floor. “I’ll fetch the tea.”

Jezebel was so brainless. She smiled at you as if she hadn’t just offered you up as a midnight snack. Surely there was no hamster running on that squeaky track that powered her.

“What was that thing?” You turned to the man who was now seated to your right. “The monster.”

The man ignored your question, instead grabbing a piece of rounded bread from the plate at the center of table. Slathering butter on it, he looked to you. “How’d you kill it?”

“I didn’t.” You frowned, recalling the mysterious man who saved your life without even dropping his name. The villager raised his brows and kicked his foot up on the table. He was waiting for more information. “Some man came out of nowhere. He had some hammer-like weapon.”

As soon as he processed the words, his foot fell from the table and he leaned forward, uncomfortably close. You could smell the distinguishable bite of alcohol percolate from his lips. “Did he wear glasses? A hat?”

“He did.” The words slowly drifted from your mouth. “Hair to about here.” You motioned to the halfway point of your neck.

“Adelina,” the man called, presumably to the woman who guided you inside. He got up quickly, rushing to the other room leaving you and Jezebel alone.

“What the hell is going on here?” You whispered in a harsh tone, leaning forward to get closer to her. “Is this not weird at all to you?”

“I think they’re nice people.” Jezebel responded at full volume without a second of thought.

“That’s coming from someone who tried to feed their supposed best friend to a monster.”

“I was buying us time to get help.”

“Help? I almost died!”

“But you didn’t.”

“When we get back to the U.S. I never want to speak to you again.” You seethed. How could she be this bad? You knew there were a few… a considerable amount of screws missing from Jezebel, but how in God’s green earth does she justify her actions at this point? The thought of it accompanied by her dazed and empty stare only fueled the fire of anger more.

“Dear,” the woman, who you now knew was Adelina, reentered the room accompanied by the man with a tray of cups and a kettle in her hands. She set a delicate china glass in front of you, softly filling it with a reddish colored liquid that she assured you was Celestial Seasonings, a tea imported from Africa. “I hear that you’ve met Lord Heisenberg.” Placing a hand over her heart, she gave a warm smile that only sent another wave of dread through your body. There was something so alluring about this woman, yet so sinister.

“Lord, who?”

Adelina stiffened, craning her neck to the side as she plastered a forced smile upon her lips once more. You had upset her, that much was obvious. “One of the four Lords that rule here alongside our dear Mother Miranda.” She explained, pushing the cup of tea closer to your body. Jezebel had already finished her first glass. Warily, you lifted the cup in your hand and allowed the warm water to heat your frozen body. An elongated finger pointed to the framed painting that hung to the wall. “Mother Miranda protects us here.”

Mother Miranda. You could only focus on the image of the woman silhouetted by six black wings and a halo outlining her head. Her eyes were indistinguishable behind the raven-like mask that clung to her face. Adorned in a black garb, she looked to be a holy figure in this town. But like Adelina, something just wasn’t right with Miranda.

The unsettling reverb of crickets and cicadas chirping grew louder and louder with each passing hour. You counted the seconds between waves of mass chorus; so far, it was roughly thirty seconds between each bleating scream of their nightly tune. You couldn’t sleep. Despite the somewhat comforting, but entirely unsettling welcome given by Adelina and Marion, you couldn’t help but feel like a caged animal in the tiny cupboard room they had given you. A curious thought tickled the back of your mind, willing you to remain as alert as possible after an exhausting day of hiking; where had they put Jezebel? Not that you particularly cared at this point. After the attack she had done a 180, dropping all suspicion of malice in this village. She simply flushed the pictures of hanging heads and wild beasts from her memory. You sometimes envied her lackadaisical memory accompanied by a fanatical view of the world. Living blissfully ignorant, especially in a situation like this, seemed to serve her best.

After a small dinner of fish that smelled of ammonia, of which you politely picked at, Adelina insisted the two of you stay the night. “The beasts will return!” She exclaimed, holding a firm hand over the intricately carved wood of the doorframe. “Early tomorrow we can arrange for a car to pick you up from the next town over.” Hushed murmurs climbing up from the cracked floors pulled you from your thought. The voices spoke in an incomprehensible argument.

“I’d quite like to keep...” the words faded in and out.

“No, no, no. Don’t be ridiculous...”

“What if....”

The floor spoke a soft squeak from beneath your feet as you shifted to get closer to the voices. Their conversation stopped, and you waited with bated breath for it to continue.

“We have to offer someone up tomorrow.” It was Adelina.

“I know, I know.” Marion sounded frustrated. “But you know Mother Miranda prefers only the purest. How are we supposed to know if either of them are-”?

The words faded once more as the two moved from room to room. Walking on the sides of your feet, you followed. Peeking around the corner, your eyes landed on Adelina and Marion illuminated by a flickering fire. They stood close to one another, keeping their tones low.

“Clearly, we offer the frumpy one. Take a look at her. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s unexperienced.” Adelina snickered, taking a seat on the worn couch with her back to you. “She wouldn’t fit in here anyway.”

“The dumb one would get along nicely with our son.”

“I agree.”

A knock at the front door sent a shiver of adrenaline down your spine. Quickly scrambling to hide, you took in a deep breath as Marion passed by with his shotgun in hand. From the parted door, you could see the sun barely peeking over the horizon. Had it really been that long already?

“Are you sure she’s pure?” The new man stood in the doorway rushed past Marion, looking in the direction of the room they had put you in.

“I suppose we could check.” Adelina called, rising to join the others. “The both of them had that tea. They shouldn’t wake until the ceremony later today.”

“Is she in there?”

“Yes, the other one is upstairs.”

“Let’s check this one first.”

With heavy footsteps falling upon the rotting floorboards of the somewhat dilapidated home, you slunk further into the shadows of the room behind you. The glint of something metal caught your attention; a small handgun sat perfectly on a dresser as if set there intentionally for you to find. Holding your breath, you crept forward to it. You’d never shot a gun in your life, but you knew the basics... both hands, check for ammo, rack the slide, pull the trigger. At least, that’s what the movies told you.

“Out of bed so soon, are we?” The soft voice turned malevolent as Adelina appeared in the doorway of the room. “I wouldn’t use that if I were you.” She motioned to the gun that was aimed rather unskillfully for her chest.

“What the fuck is going on in this village?” You spoke with purpose now, tone wavering slightly as Marion stepped behind his wife.

“You don’t understand things around here, girl.” Adelina spat, moving aside as Marion began charging into the room. The loud blast of the gun echoed from the walls of the home followed by a harsh curse and the sound of a body crumpling to the floor. You had shot Marion in the leg; he’d live.

“No,” you started, re-racking the slide as Adelina’s other friend approached wielding a similar gun to your own. Adrenaline washed over your nervous system, your hands shook violently, but you attempted to remain composed. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand. This isn’t normal! Tell me what’s going on now or,” your eyes trailed down to Marion who was attempting to control the flow of blood from his wound.

“You wouldn’t.” She laughed bitterly.

“Like hell, I wouldn’t.” You exclaimed, training the gun onto her. “Now tell me, what’s happening here.”

“You’ll understand soon enough.” Adelina’s friend’s words were the last thing you heard before your ears rang and the sting of a bullet burnt white hot in your shoulder. You weren’t sure if your gun ever went off again.

Despite being tied, bathed, dressed, and currently sitting on a freezing alter-of-sorts, you still hadn’t the slightest clue as to what was going on. A crowd of villagers surrounded from the south, all carrying on with a rumble of conversation. Adelina shot daggers at you, Marion as well, from a small, inclined hill at the edge of the crowd. The clothes you wore were your own, she had fished through your backpack claiming that it was of no use to waste a nice dress on “someone like her.” Jezebel was likely still fast asleep at their house.

A woman with the likeness of the framed photo you had seen appeared out of nowhere. So, this was the famous Mother Miranda that everyone regarded so deeply. She stood before you as the crowd’s voices hushed and their eyes became hazed with looks of admiration and devoted appreciation. Surely, she was a human, deities and gods didn’t exist in a physical form, you assured yourself.

Without a word, Miranda moved gracefully as if flowing across the ground to stand before Adelina. Taking her face between her hands, she whispered what you assumed to be praise as Adelina’s lips moved rapidly thanking Miranda. She then moved to Marion and grazed her hand against the wound on his thigh, speaking of how his steadfast devotion would quickly heal any injuries of cruelty spread by evil. When her attention finally fell back to you, she frowned. Stalking around you in circles, Miranda’s imposing figure made you want to shrivel to nothingness.

“Thank you.” She turned to the villagers as if to dismiss them. “When the time comes, I will return for another.”

The black wings you had seen in the photo sprouted from her back, shielding your sight of the villagers as they retreated to their homes. Hopeful cries and shouted blessings to Miranda echoed from the crowd as the village gate slammed. The only evidence of them once populating this empty square were flowers and offerings of fruit and grain left for the supposed goddess.

The world swiftly darkened once more.

Part 2 - Paths Meet

I promise there's more Heisenberg in the next part..

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