#not having voted for him is not absolution

[digitald0rk]

ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* NERD ALERT ! [ 2 ]

pairing : mark grayson x gn!reader.

synopsis : nerding out with your beloved bf :3

warnings : slightly suggestive and uh the usual pet names? he calls you his angel too <3 NOT PROOFREAD!! also mentions of dante sparda because the dmc anime is coming out 'm so excited!!!

w.c : 1.5 k.

a/n : THANK U SM FOR 200+ FOLLOWERS WHAT THE HELL SJSHJEHSLSKD. love you all <3

taglist : @vm4879bb-blog @hihowyoudoin00 @fairii-majii [ lemme know if you wanna be added too ]

READ PART [ 1 ] HERE !

if you're into video games, he's going out of his way to learn all about your faves.

when it comes to fighter games, thinks he's soooo slick looking up combos and learning them, he's all like “heh :3 gonna sweep them off their feet” and then gets absolutely BODIED LMAO.

if you show him no mercy he'll eventually start to get frustrated, not at you obviously you're his previous angel <3

“i’m not sulking.” he says, while clearly sulking. he was supposed to impress you! why are you so good at this :(

if he doesn't get a single win he's gonna suffocate one of your plushies when you're out of sight, it keeps staring at him, is that little fella mocking him? oh it'll pay for that.

you look at him amusedly when you come back to see the very obvious dent on your plushie, caused by a certain someone's fist.

“mark.” your eyes dart between the deformed head of your plushie and your boyfriend, biting back a smile.

“yeah baby?” he's all :3 bats his eyelashes all pretty at you, acting like he didn't just beat the shit out of your plushie like BOY YOU'RE NOT SLY.

but he is pretty, so you'll spare him, for now, not in the game though :p

on the topic of video games, he's actually decent at competitive games :] he loves playing them with you but if you die in the middle of a match he gets unmotivated to finish it (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠)

unless someone was trying to rizz you up or something during the game then yeah, HE'S GOING TO WIN.

do not play dress to impress in front of this man, he gets awfully competitive about it.

“pretty sure even cecil can dress better than that.”

“baby i think that's an eight year old.”

“still, cecil has more drip.”

gets all smug when he wins, god forbid he's not in top three he's gonna go on a rant about how unfair the world is.

he'll always vote for your fits positively though! even though they might be…. questionable at times but he loves his baby :D

minecraft with your boyfriend is actually really fun! except he accidentally set the palace that you built on fire once and literally REFUSED to touch the game for weeks after that (⁠╯⁠︵⁠╰⁠,⁠)

will get sad if an animal dies :(

has names for all your dogs and cats, calls them your children.

“don't forget, we gotta feed our children babe.” he tells you, sipping on his milkshake.

and normally you'd smile and say something equally silly except for the fact that you two were currently hanging out with a couple of friends and that sentence certainly earned some looks.

“you two-”

“in minecraft!” you'd clarify, and cue the feigned annoyance filled groans and mutters of how you two are insufferable.

also one time he got so invested in building that he literally stayed up for ten hours, building the perfect wedding venue for you two!

asked [ forced ] everyone to make minecraft accounts and invited them all to your wedding in minecraft.

he kisses you in real life too when your characters “smooch” in the pixelated game.

he's gonna marry you for real one day, just you wait.

his irises turn into literal hearts when you pull up in a cosplay.

he would also love to cosplay with you!

bonus points if it's one of his favorite characters, his ass is NOT TAKING HIS HANDS OFF OF YOU LMAOOOOOO.

and if you two do end up getting freaky, like roleplaying as the characters then yeah rip bed.

matching literally anything! matching kirby socks? sure why the hell not. matching seance dog mugs? hell yeah! he's all for it!

and yes, you two have some nerdy matching pj set.

and matching underwear too :3 you jokingly bought them but he isn't playing around when he wears them seance dog boxers!

you both keep trying to recruit oliver in one of your favorite fandoms, although the little thraxan has other plans.

“guys no im not watching [ insert media name here ] !” “but oliverrr :(”

you're bother super annoying <3

sometimes mark will send you photos of oliver enjoying some piece of media you're into and act like a proud dad.

you two go to comic con together and get carried away, ending up with wayyy too much merch.

“mark, baby i love you but i don't think we need another signed poster.” you try reasoning with him, only to eat those words back the second he flashes you his sad puppy dog eyes.

you sigh, he really has you wrapped around his finger, doesn't he?

but you have him wrapped around your finger too, because when you look at him like that, asking him to take you to this signing event of your favorite foreign author, he wastes no time in picking you up and flying you wherever you want <3

no matter the time, he just wants to see his sweetheart happy :]

you two are insufferable with your references, sometimes people think you two are talking in some alien language.

rex hears mark on the phone, just who the hell is dante sparda? and why has mark mentioned this name like thirty thousand times in the past half an hour he's been on the phone with you?

as rex said, “you two match each other's freak to a degree that is dangerous to the public.”

“hey babe i got us these matching swords!” he smiles, all happy at four in the morning at your window like it's the most normal thing ever.

you squint a little before making out the sword's design, oh it's from your favorite game.

he doesn't protest in the slightest when you attack him with kisses, this is where he belongs.

he adores movie nights, you two cuddled up on his bed, watching something he loves? he's never been happier.

you two once had to stop making out because the plot got thicker, so you two locked in! even though your lips are swollen and shiny just like his from the shared passion a few minutes ago. he could care less about the next plot hole when you're right here, pressed up against him.

he can't stop staring at your lips, god you're addicting.

he snaps out of it when his favorite character dies though ⁠(⁠ ⁠:⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠∧⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠:⁠ ⁠) aw man.

building legos together! he gets all bashful when you praise him when he finishes a part of the main piece.

reward him with kisses and he'll melt.

he once tried making you pancakes, except he tried to draw one of your favorite characters with the pancake batter. and he's no artist, but he tried his best.

he's now on his 48458th attempt and it's looking like your favorite character….a little….. not really.

he'll just douse them in maple syrup, that makes everything better.

when you question the odd shaped pancakes in your sleepy dazed state, he ends up telling you the truth, embarrassed.

but when you kiss him oh so softly, your kiss far sweeter than any maple syrup, his nervousness melts off until all there's left is you.

you and only you.

you two take those extremely specific uquiz quizes together like "which xyz character would hate you the most" or "who do you kin from xyz"

if he doesn't get his fav when he takes a "which character are you from seance dog" quiz he'll be all :[

"this is rigged." he says, taking another one in hopes of getting his favorite character this time.

going to the sea and painting on the pebbles and rocks with him, he loves watching the sunlight reflect off of your hair, you look like an angel, his angel. and god your eyes-

“hey does this look like eric cartman?” you show him the paintwork on your rock, snapping him out of his lovesick trance.

“babe, why is he on ozempic?” that comment makes you two giggle.

he continues, “should've picked a bigger rock, my love.”

“i saved that one for you….. you know, if we were penguins i would you the shiniest, prettiest rock i could find, which is this one so….” you shift closer to him, placing the pretty rock onto his palm.

he presses a kiss to the side of your head, fiddling with the rock in his hand. “you're adorable.”

he presses a kiss to that same rock when he's away from you on a mission, it grounds him, knowing you're there, waiting for him.

when you two end up moving in together, unpacking things takes less time than decorating your shared room.

hanging posters with him, asking him if they're centred. putting your favorite figurines on the shelves along with your favorite comics, building your own safe haven. the whole room embodies you both so well, anyone who sets foot in this room would instantly be met with a bunch of your and his interests.

his dumbass <3 accidentally ends up leaving one of his figurines on the bed, so when you two are needily making out and grinding, excited that you two wouldn't have to be quiet or keep your voices down — straddling him and pushing him down on the bed, he lets out a small squeal of surprise.

you two stop, looking at each other all 0_0

“sorry, i think-” he starts, reaching behind his back to pull out the culprit of poking him in the back, and surely it was none other than his favorite seance dog figurine, the absurdity of it all is enough to make you chuckle, he laughs sheepishly with you. a little embarrassed that seance dog ruined the sexy atmosphere.

but when you put the figurine on the nightstand, turning it to face the wall, he realizes he's gonna have the best night of his life.

and oh boy was he right :3

© digitald0rk 2025. do not translate, copy or steal any of my work RAHHHH. thanks for reading and remember you're awesomesauce! want more? click here ★

[thedaddycomplex]

I haven’t been caught up on the news for a weeks or two. It’s a genuine question, how is the military on our side from that anon’s post? I’ve seen that they were ordered to help deport people then were ordered to stop because of expenses. Not a magat, I swear. I was looking into going military for educational benefits but have been hesitant with this administration so far

It all seemed to start during his last campaign when Trump insulted POW Sen. John McCain for "getting captured" during the Vietnam War, but that was just the opening salvo in his ceaseless dishonoring of active military members and veterans.

Trump is currently cutting the staff at Veterans Affairs, which will make it much harder (if not impossible) for veterans to receive assistance of any kind — especially those needing health care or the suicide hotline.

Trump also fired top military leaders who'd served both Democrat and Republican administrations for three decades so he can install sycophants who'll carry out his orders, even if those orders are unconstitutional.

And though Trump's initial attempt to do so has been blocked by a judge, he also plans to ban transgender people from serving in the military despite there being no evidence that the military wants them banned. On the contrary, most active service members don't give a shit whether or not their fellow service members are transgender.

And in probably the pettiest move, his administration (acting on his anti-DEI orders) is systematically removing any mention or acknowledgement of non-white military heroes from websites and other public records. When this was discovered, they said it was a "mistake," yet still defended their stance.

Oh, and this happened during his previous term when he was scheduled to visit Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris (from The Atlantic): "In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, 'Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.' In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as 'suckers' for getting killed."

Anyway, because of all this and more, a huge swath of active military and veterans who voted for him are having major buyer's remorse. (See: Leopards Eating Faces Party.)

Because they're all learning he has absolutely no respect for the military, but don't take it too personally. He has no respect for anyone. Cowards never do.

[mybutcheredtongue]

I'll Love You 'til the Grass Around My Gravestone is Deceased

post azkaban sirius black x fem!reader

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE (see full series list here)

1996

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN 

MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS ‘RALLYING POINT’ FOR OLD DEATH EATERS

The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban. 

Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals. 

‘We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped,’ said Fudge last night. ‘Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think these individuals, including Black’s cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, likely have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals, and we beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached.

Your fist curls around the edges of the paper, and you slam it down on the table in front of you. Minerva raises her eyebrows, unaware of what was on the paper.

“They’re blaming the breakout on Sirius,” you say angrily, sliding the front page across to her so she can read. “They’d find a broken pipe at the Ministry and fucking blame it on him.”

Her eyes skim through the article, tutting as she reaches the end. “I have grown weary of expecting any cohesive thoughts from that man. The power has blinded him.”

“How did he get elected in the first place?” you wonder aloud, aggressively cutting into your toast. “I think I’d remember being stupid enough to vote for him.”

“That’s because we didn’t vote for him,” Minerva responds bitterly. “The Ministry saved us that burden.”

You scoff. “All this and yet some people still believe every little thing the Ministry tells us.”

Your life at Hogwarts has become increasingly harder to enjoy with Umbridge around. She seems hell-bent on firing someone within in the next while, but she can’t seem to decide between you, Hagrid, or Trelawney. 

She’s taken to sitting in and inspecting nearly every class you have, which first of all, where does she find the time? And it also means you have to devote every second to teaching Astronomy, and you don’t get to give the students a chance to relax after their Christmas break or chat to them about the holidays. Every time the thought crosses your mind, you remember the spiteful woman sitting prim and proper in the back of the room ready to pounce the moment you step out of line. 

It leads you to spending a lot of time remembering the good times, thinking of things to help you through this tough time. 

You remember your sixteenth birthday in the summer. Alice, Lily, and the boys came to your house for the day and you and Lily decided to teach everyone how to ride a bicycle, the two of you being the only ones who knew how. James and Remus were useless, their long legs doing them no absolutely no favours. Alice was too scared to take her foot off the ground, remaining stationary the whole time and repeatedly declaring she was ‘about to go’, but never moving. Sirius was surprisingly good at keeping his balance. You suspect it was his formal upbringing and his perfect posture. Peter was able to get going, but was extremely wobbly and got in your way, sending you crashing into a low wall and flying over it. Your limbs ached but you couldn’t stop the raucous laughter erupting from you, distracting you from the bruises you gained. 

Umbridge’s latest addition to the hallways, classrooms, and house noticeboards, is this: 

BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS: 

Any student found in possession of the magazine ‘The Quibbler’ will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Seven. 

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor 

Harry gives an interview for The Quibbler two days before the signs go up. An exclusive telling of exactly what happened on the night Voldemort came back, the night of Cedric Diggory’s death. He spares no details…and you must say you feel proud of him when you read it. Finally, someone allows him to share his side of the story, the truthful side, revealing that everything the Daily Prophet has been spewing is utter bullshit. 

Though you are outraged when you first read Umbridge’s newest order, you soon realise that she couldn’t have done anything better for Harry. If being a teacher has taught you anything — hell, if being a student taught you anything — it’s that the moment you ban something at Hogwarts, it only makes the idea more appealing to students. One evening after class, as you’re cleaning up the classroom you notice someone has left that edition of The Quibbler on their seat behind them, and you can’t help the grin on your face when you spot it. 

And then, Umbridge does exactly what you expect her to do during this crazy power trip she’s been on. 

It’s dinnertime, and you’ve just finished your meal. With a sigh, you push your chair back from the table and stand up as Minerva does the same. Together, you make your way down past the tables at a leisurely pace, chatting amicably. 

“Oh, you know, I always wanted to go there. And I had all those summers completely free to myself and I never went…well, I suppose, I’d have to bring Dubh with me. I’d be awfully lonely without her —”

A loud, high-pitched wail coming from the Entrance Hall makes you stop, and you raise an eyebrow at Minerva, looking out the open doors into the Entrance Hall. There’s no one there, so you shrugging and continue on. Some of the first-years are probably messing down the hall. 

“But then I’d love to go to Vienna, I’ve heard it’s absolutely beautiful —”

Another string of wails from the Entrance Hall interrupts you, and this time several of the students have heard it too, multiple heads turning in the direction of the hall. You watch as Umbridge walks into view, a very dishevelled-looking Professor Trelawney stumbling after her, carrying a bottle of sherry in one hand and her wand in the other. Two large trunks follow along in the air behind her.

Some students stand up to get a better view of the commotion and you and Minerva push your way through the crowds to the Entrance Hall, where Trelawney has discarded her trunks on the floor beside her. She looks terrible. Her hair is sticking up on end and her glasses are completely askew, her cheeks rosy and her eyes puffy. She points a trembling finger at Umbridge. 

“No!” she shrieks. “NO! This cannot be happening…it cannot…I refuse to accept it!”

“You didn’t realise this was coming?” Umbridge says in her high voice, sounding callously amused. “Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow’s weather, you must surely have realised that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable that you would be sacked?” 

Jeez. She really is firing Trelawney. Sure, most of the time she has no clue what she’s talking about and you consider Divination to be somewhat of an unnecessary school subject, but that doesn’t mean she should be fired. You glance over at the crowd of spectators that has quickly formed and see Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil tearfully watching on. Umbridge should feel horrible for making those girls say goodbye to their favourite teacher.

“You c-can’t!” Trelawney howls, tears streaming down her face. “You c-can’t sack me! I’ve b-been here sixteen years! H-Hogwarts is m-my h-home!”

“It was your home,” Umbridge says coldly. You don’t miss the way her lips tug upwards slightly, clearly enjoying the sight of Professor Trelawney sinking to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. “until an hour ago, when the Minister for Magic countersigned your Order of Dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this Hall. You are embarrassing us.”

Trelawney shudders and wails, rocking back and forth on her knees, her breathing shaky. 

“I can’t watch,” Minerva says beside you, before she breaks from the crowd and moves to Trelawney’s side, producing a large handkerchief from inside her robes.

“There, there, Sybill,” Minerva says soothingly. “Calm down…blow your nose on this…it’s not as bad as you think, now…you are not going to have to leave Hogwarts…”

“Oh, really, Professor McGonagall?” Umbridge says venomously, taking a few steps forward. “And your authority for that statement is…?”

“That would be mine.”

The oak front doors to the castle grounds swings open and students scuttle out of the way as Dumbledore appears in the entrance. What he had been doing out in the grounds you can’t say, but he wastes no time in striding forward towards Trelawney. 

“Yours, Professor Dumbledore?” Umbridge laughs unpleasantly. “I’m afraid you do not understand the position.” She pulls a scroll out from within her robes. “I have here an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister for Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation and sack any teacher she — that is to say, I — feel is not performing to the standards required by the Ministry of Magic I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her.”

To your surprise, Dumbledore smiles. “You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid that the power to do that still resides with the Headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts.”

Professor Trelawney shudders, hiccuping loudly. “No — no, I’ll g-go, Dumbledore! I sh-shall leave Hogwarts and s-seek my fortune elsewhere —”

“No,” Dumbledore says sharply. “It is my wish that you remain, Sybill.”

He turns to Minerva. “Might I ask you to escort Sybill back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?”

She nods. “Of course. Up you get, Sybill…”

You move forward to grab onto one of her arms and together, you and Minerva hoist Trelawney up the stairs. Professor Flitwick comes scurrying after you, pointing his wand at the woman’s trunks and saying, “Locomotor trunks!” and sending her luggage flying into the air to bob up the stairs behind you. You glance back over your shoulder at Umbridge, standing stock still and glaring daggers at Dumbledore, and smirk to yourself. 

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

“Good work today guys! Get started on those essays now and if you have any questions about it over the week come and find me,” you say, returning to your seat behind your desk as your students start to pack up their things and leave the tower. You smile to yourself, having enjoyed this lesson because of the noticeable lack of a certain pink-clad woman sitting in the back. It’s so blissful without her. 

“Professor?” 

You look up into the face of one of your students and smile. “Yes?”

She hands you a parchment note. “Um, Professor Umbridge asked me to give this to you.”

You take the note, furrowing your brows as your eyes skim down through it. 

Please join me in my office tonight at 9pm. 

Signed, 

Dolores Umbridge, High Inquisitor

She wants to see you in her office? 

“Thanks, Layla, have a good night…” the girl nods and hurries out of the class, leaving you to stare at the note in confusion. 

Why would she want to see you? Fuck, she hasn’t got something on you, has she? Your heart starts to pump nervously as you look at your watch: 8:45. You stand up from your desk and start making your way down the stairs, heading for Professor Umbridge’s classroom, feeling sick to your stomach. Your hand clasps firmly around the handle of your wand in your pocket as you knock on the door. 

“Enter,” comes from inside the office. You open the door and what you’re met with inside is…well, honestly it’s an assault on the senses. It’s covered head-to-toe in pink. Pink tiles line the walls, lace curtains are draped over the windows, a circular pink rug sits on the floor. The far wall, behind the desk, displays a collection of decorative plates with kittens on them, and though usually you would delight at the sight of adorable kittens…something about these sets your teeth on edge. 

And of course, sitting prim and proper at her desk, is Dolores Umbridge, a cup of freshly made tea and a teapot in front of her.

“Professor Umbridge,” you say, keeping your eyes on her as you shut the door behind you. “You wanted to see me?” 

She smiles at you, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, I did. Please, sit.” She motions to the chair opposite her. 

Warily, you move forward and seat yourself in the chair, one hand still on your wand. 

“We never get the chance to chat, do we?” Umbridge says sweetly, picking up a white china teapot and pushing a teacup in front of you. She smiles. “Tea?”

Your eyes flick between the cup and the teapot. 

“No, thank you.”

“Oh, really, I insist.” She pushes the cup further towards you, and starts filling it up against your wishes. 

You grit your teeth, “I’m not thirsty.”

Umbridge giggles weirdly, tapping the cup with her finger. “What is a chat without something to drink? Why, I’ve heard you love tea! You’ll share a cup with Professor McGonagall but not me? Why is that?”

You don’t say anything. 

“I’m only trying to get to know you better, dear.”

You barely conceal your derisive scoff. “Bit late for that now, don’t you think?”

She giggles again. “Such fire! I suppose I can see what Mr Black seen in you.”

You glare back into her beady little eyes, resisting the urge to throw the god-foresaken teacup in her face. What is she getting at here? “Why did you summon me, Dolores?”

She smiles. “I am trying to build a good rapport with my colleagues. After all, I suspect there may be a few more noticeable changes to staff in the coming weeks…come, dear, drink up. You look parched.”

“I told you, I’m not thirsty,” you spit, not removing your eyes from hers. 

“Don’t forget that I am your superior, Professor,” she says, her voice dangerously sweet. “Now, drink up.”

With a scowl, you take the teacup and raise it to your lips and instantly you can smell it — Veritaserum. It’s faint, just a hair from imperceptible, but you know it’s there. You tilt the cup but keep your lips screwed tightly shut, then set the cup back down on the desk in front of you. 

Umbridge smiles triumphantly, clasping her hands together on the table and leaning forward towards you. “Very good…now, where is Sirius Black?” 

“I don’t know.”

Her eye twitches and she pushes your cup towards you encouragingly. “Drink up, dear.”

“I did.”

Your heart thumps in your chest erratically and you push yourself to just relax. Play your cards right and you’ll be completely fine. Just fine. 

She studies you for a second, the room completely silent. What you wouldn’t give to punch her in that stuffy face of hers and really give her a piece of your mind —

“Don’t test me. You’ve refused to drink the tea I so kindly prepared for you, which leads me to suspect you have something to hide. Have you something to hide, Professor?”

You suck your teeth. “Forgive me for not jumping at the chance to drink your truth serum, Dolores.”

Her sweet facade drops and she glares back at you. “Because you do know where he’s hiding?” 

“Because I don’t want you poking around in my business,” you hiss. “If I had something to hide, you best believe I’d have a good reason for it.” You fold your arms and lean back in your chair. “You can’t force me to do anything.”

She hums petulantly. “If you wish to continue living and working here at Hogwarts, I suggest you do what I tell you and drink.”

“No.”

A vein bulges in her neck and a long shaky breath breezes out through her flared nostrils. “The Minister has always been suspicious of you and it seems like he is correct. Oh, he’ll be just delighted to give you some Veritaserum himself. We’d finally be rid of that abhorrent murderer.”

The reaction you have is second-nature, the words flying out of your mouth before you can even think about it. “He’s innocent!”

“We’ll see about that.”

You glare at her, your blood boiling in your veins. “Do you really think if I did know where Sirius was I’d be here? Do you think I’d rather be here with you instead of with my husband?” 

She shrugs. “Guilt makes some people do odd things.”

Your hand curls into a fist at your side. “Fine! You know what? I’ll drink it. I’ll show you that I mean every single word I say. I haven’t seen Sirius since the night he was put in prison.”

She stares back at you as your chest heaves, breathing heavily. You’re bluffing, of course. You hold her gaze for as long as she scrutinises you. She taps her finger against the desk before a smile slowly spreads across her face. 

“Be my guest."

You grab the handle of the teacup so hard you think it’s going to shatter in your hand. As you raise it to your lips, your heart pounds so much you think it might burst out of your chest. You look over the rim of the cup at Umbridge, who is watching you excitedly, smirking in satisfaction. 

Time to test your theory. 

You gulp down the tea, tasting that familiar subtle twang of Veritaserum as it travels down your throat. You take a deep breath and slam the cup down on the desk again, glaring at her. 

“Go on. Ask.”

Umbridge smiles and the words leave her mouth in an instant. “Where is Sirius Black?”

You can physically feel the words bubbling in your throat and you force them down, willing yourself to maintain control of your body and your speech. You know exactly who you are, and no one gets to control you. Over the past years you feel like you’ve lost part of your fire, your spunk, and it’s about time you got it back. You are far more than just Sirius Black’s wife, far more than just Harry Potter’s godmother. 

“I…don’t…know.”

Risk-taking is exhilarating. And you’ve never gotten such a good reward as the look on Dolores Umbridge’s face when she realises that her truth serum has just painted you as innocent. Her jaw drops instantly and she stares at you, shocked, before she lurches forward and snatches the teacup from the desk. She raises it high to her eyes, inspecting the empty inside in open-mouthed shock. 

“Happy now?”

Umbridge repeatedly opens and closes her mouth, attempting to form a sentence but nothing comes out. She continues to hold the cup in a white-knuckled grip as she whips her head back to you. 

“Did you help Sirius Black to escape Azkaban?” 

Well, that’s easy. You don’t even have to lie about this one. “No.”

The vein in her neck bulges again and her face goes red with anger. “Have you spoken to Sirius Black since his escape?”

You keep your face as neutral as possible, swallowing the strong bodily urge to say yes. “No. No, I have not."

She breathes heavily, glaring at you across the desk. “But you — you have! I know you have! I saw him — I saw him in the fire!”

You shrug. “Must be imagining things.”

“No, NO, I SAW HIM — “

You stand up from your chair, pushing it into the desk as you over her a tight-lipped smile. “Well, thanks for the interrogation. Goodnight.”

“Hold on —”

You leave, shutting the door closed behind you before she can get another word in. You stop outside the door, listening to Umbridge raging. You hear a loud crash and the sound of china shattering and let out the biggest sigh of relief of your life. 

Oh my god. You just lied while on Veritaserum. Holy shit, you just resisted Veritaserum. You’ve just proven that you can actually resist the effects of truth serum. Hey, you could probably win some award for that. 

Well, maybe if what you lied about wasn’t harbouring a wanted man…but look, it’s the small things in life.

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

You don’t know what it is these days, but something is making you extremely weary in the evenings. Perhaps it’s just the stress of Umbridge waiting around every corner for you, or the clawing feeling in your chest you feel when your mind drifts to Sirius cooped up in Grimmauld Place. One evening you turn in especially early, eager to rid yourself of the fatigue. Sleep comes easily, but not peacefully. You dream of a dark stormy night, filled with flashes of light and anguished screams. You wake with a jolt, a layer of cold sweat coating your body, breathing heavily. Dubh sleeps soundly in her bed. You glance at the clock: 9pm. You know well that if you try to go back to sleep you’ll only fall back into that same nightmare, so you shakily pull yourself out of bed and slip into your shoes and throw a jumper over your head, making your way up to the astronomy tower to calm down. 

When you close the tower door behind you, you think for a second before locking it. As much as you love your students and understand they might want to use the tower, all the astronomy exams are over and you can’t be disturbed right now. 

When you reach the railing, you sit down and let your legs dangle over the ledge, swinging aimlessly in the air as you gaze up at the sky. It’s just past sunset, and the last blotches of sunlight are fading from the sky as the sun disappears beneath the horizon. You wait patiently as the night’s first stars start appearing, twinkling gently. It’s a clear night, beautiful and serene. You’ve never really been all that spiritual, but a part of you believes that when you die you’ll join those clusters, become another sparkling light in the night sky for people to admire. It would be nice, you think. 

You hear a ruckus coming from down below, somewhere inside the school. Filch must’ve caught students out of bed. It’s not an unusual occurrence on nights like these. 

You start counting stars idly and before long you drift into a soft, dreamless sleep. It’s amazing. 

And then your sleep is interrupted, again. 

Loud shouts echo through the forbidden forest, and you briefly hear what seems to be the crack of a tree falling down. Silence, for a moment, as you strain to hear more, and then a high-pitched scream shakes the leaves of the trees, so high that you’re sure if there was any glass in that forest it would surely shatter. Confused and curious, nervous that somebody might be in trouble, you quickly hurry down the stairs and unlock the tower door at the bottom. You find blast marks on the wall beside it, clearly someone had tried to open it. A chill slithers down your spine as you hurry along the corridor, rounding the corner and nearly crashing headlong into Snape. 

“Severus! Merlin, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” you gasp, chest heaving. 

He surveys you for a second. “Potter was just caught attempting to make contact with someone through Professor Umbridge’s fireplace.”

You immediately draw back, confused. “W…what?”

“He then told me that ‘he has Padfoot in the place where it is hidden’.”

You stare at him, growing more and more baffled by the second. You’ve barely had any time to process it. “He has him in the place where it is hidden?” 

Snape nods, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

You lower your voice, despite the fact that you’re the only ones in the corridor. “Harry thinks Sirius is in the Department of Mysteries?”

“Apparently. I then saw Potter and his usual cohort leading Dolores Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest.”

Your heart thumps as you rack your brains for something to do, something to say. “How would he know Sirius is there?”

Snape blinks at you, clear that he thinks this is a waste of his time. “A vision from the Dark Lord’s mind, I would imagine.”

You chew on your lip. “When did you see them go to the forest?” 

“Approximately one hour ago.”

You stop, look right at Snape. “Phineas Black’s portrait, he has one in the house as well as the office…”

He doesn’t answer you, and a silent understanding passes between you before you both take off at top speed up to the headmaster’s office. 

After giving the password to the gargoyles, you burst into the empty office and immediately seek out Phineas Nigellus Black, sleeping soundly in his portrait. Dumbledore isn’t here, of course. He ran from the school only recently, after Harry’s Defense Association was discovered by Umbridge and Dumbledore took the consequences. 

“Mr Black!” 

Phineas awakes with a start, his eyes snapping open and fixing you with a confused look.

“Is there a need for such noise?”

You nod fervently. “I need you to go to your portrait in Grimmauld Place. Look for Sirius. Please.”

Phineas breathes in, as though this is a immense inconvenience to him, and walks out of frame. You chew on the inside of your cheek, breathing out through your nose. You feel Snape’s presence behind you, watching the portrait frame with equal impatience. 

After a minute, he pokes his head back into frame. “He is there.” You breathe a sigh of relief. “Along with Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and a Miss…” He disappears for a second before returning. “...Tonks.”

“Please deliver a message for me.” You say, before you give Phineas a brief summary of everything that has happened. 

“Black must remain at Headquarters,” Snape adds slowly. “Dumbledore will arrive there shortly and someone must be there to tell him what has transpired.”

You nod in agreement, and Phineas Black once again moves out of frame. You wait with bated breath, the air still and tense. Finally, he returns. 

“They are on their way to aid Harry Potter as we speak.”

You let out a sigh of relief. “Perfect. We’ve no time to lose. Thank you, Mr Black.”

He nods wordlessly, settling back into his chair and allowing his eyes to close. 

“I’m going to the Ministry,” you say firmly to Snape. You wait, half-expecting him to go against you, but he doesn’t. 

“I will search the forest for Potter.”

You nod, then race out the door to follow your godson. You make a beeline for the broom shed — if you can’t disapparate out of Hogwarts, you’ll have to use the next best thing. You hop onto a Cleansweep Seven, and start to ascend into the air. Once you think you’ve gotten far enough away from the school grounds, you touch down to the ground and drop the broom at your feet. You’ll have to buy Madam Hooch a replacement for this one, you think as you visualize the cold tiles of the Ministry of Magic and the familiar lurch of apparation tugs your navel. 

You stumble into a wall, knocking your head against a candle holder painfully. You groan as you orientate yourself, taking in your surroundings. Dark tiled corridor, impossible to know where because everywhere in the Ministry looks the exact same. You head towards the door at the end anyway, wrenching it open, only to find yourself in yet another corridor, although this one has a distinct difference: A Death Eater is standing at the end of it. 

You see them, they see you, and there’s a split second before wands explode. 

“Stupefy!” 

“Protego!” 

You defend as best you can against the Death Eater’s advances. You eye the candle holders on the wall, the flames from the candles burning brightly and use it to your advantage. You protect against their spells until you find an opening and instantly aim your wand at the candle, yelling, “Confringo!” 

Upon impact, the candle explodes, and knocks the Death Eater right off their feet.

“Immobulus!” 

The Death Eater snaps into a rigid state, their body flat on the ground. You wipe sweat off your brow, and continue on, stepping over their immobile body. You’ll come back for them later. 

You push open the door at the end of the corridor, and finally find yourself in a room. It’s full of an assortment of strange-looking plants, some in glass cases with hazard stickers on the surface. Well, this is certainly Department of Mysteries territory. You look into one of the cases, which houses what seems to be a big green flytrap that oozes a luminous purple liquid. You shudder. Gross. 

The door at the other end of the room suddenly bursts open and you whip around and point your wand at the door warily. 

“Stupefy!” 

A bolt of light streaks towards you and you dive out of the way of it, the spell knocking into the leg of one of the tables, splintering the wood. You look up and your attacker, about to retaliate, only to see that it’s Tonks. 

She raises her wand again and you thrust your hands out. “Tonks, no, it’s me!” 

“Diff –”

“TONKS!”

Another spell blasts towards you and you roll out of it’s way, panting with exertion. The spell explodes into one of the glass cases, sending glass tumbling to the floor. 

“Wait, wait —”

You hear Remus’ familiar voice call your name. “Is that you?” 

You warily stand up from the floor, dusting your hands off on your trousers. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Tonks says sheepishly as she recognises you, wincing. 

You sigh. “No harm done. Somehow.”

You move over to them, embracing them both in turn. “Find Harry yet?”

Remus shakes his head. “No…not yet.”

Running footsteps come from the corridor behind Remus, and Sirius, Moody, and Kingsley join you in the room. 

Sirius immediately runs to you, hugging you tightly. “What — what are you doing here?” 

You stare back at him, shocked that he’s here. “I could ask you the same thing! You were supposed to stay back at the house!”

He frowns, agitation passing briefly over his face. “You think I’d just stay there while Harry’s in danger? You didn’t stay behind at the school, did you?”

“W – well, no, but —”

“Guys,” Remus butts in, giving the two of you an exasperated look. “Talk about it later. We’ve got bigger things at hand right now.”

You nod, shaking your head at yourself. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right.” You gently put your hand on Sirius’s arm, smiling at him. “Let’s go save our godson.”

He gives you a small smile, nodding. “Let’s go.”

Your group searches the rooms and endless corridors before finally, the sound of shouting draws your attention and you burst through another door, finding a large circular room with a pit in the middle and a large archway standing in the centre of it, and a group of Death Eaters holding your students captive. 

You sprint in, Tonks fires a stunning spell instantly at one of the Death Eaters — one with noticeably long, platinum blond hair: Lucius Malfoy. You barely have time to feel your blood boil when a flash of light hurtles towards you and you throw yourself out of the way. You stumble down steps towards the pit where everyone else is, levelling yourself with the nearest Death Eater and starting to duel them. 

“Stupefy!” 

“Protego!”

“Impedimenta!” 

“Expulso!”

“Diffindo!”

Someone flies through the air at your opponent and makes them stumble — you seize the opportunity to stun them, and they fall to the floor with a loud thump. You quickly realise what had hit your opponent was actually another Death Eater, sent barrelling through the air by Kingsley, who is already engaged in combat with another. 

Sirius and a Death Eater dance past you, duelling so fast their wands are a blur. Another saunters towards you, though this one you recognise in an instant. The long, unruly black hair and sunken eyes, the look of madness in her face…Bellatrix Lestrange. 

You start to seethe. After what she did to Alice and Frank…you’ve been waiting for the chance to sink your teeth into her for years. 

Her wand whips at you in ferocious speed, and you counter each spell with increased difficulty. She laughs madly as you fight her advances, calling upon every spell you’ve ever learned. 

Over Bellatrix’s shoulder, you see Harry pull a limping Neville to his feet with the prophecy held tightly in his hand to keep it from being smashed. That’s what they’re all here for, the prophecy. They don’t care about you and the rest of the Order. If you can just keep Bellatrix occupied while Harry makes his escape…

The force of one of Bellatrix’s spells sends you stumbling back over a large crater in the stone floor, and you tumble to your knees in front of her. She squeals excitedly and your heart practically jumps out of your throat as you roll away as quick as possible, but it’s not quick enough. Your leg takes whatever nasty spell she shot at you and a sharp, white-hot pain jumps from your leg to your brain. You let out a pained shriek. 

Bellatrix lets out a shrill giggle, bearing down upon you with her wand, and right as she’s about to strike something catches her eye over your head — and she exclaims gleefully and bounds away from you, firing a spell at whoever is there. You turn your head to what she was looking at and see her now engaged in a fierce duel with Sirius. Your heart leaps into your throat and you try to stand. Your leg instantly crumples beneath you and you sink to the floor, the pain is unbearable. 

Remus rushes to your side, putting his arm under your shoulder. “Come on, come on, can you stand?” 

The pain burns against your leg and you bite into your hand to stop yourself from screaming in agony. “I can’t, Remus, I - I can’t —” you sob, delirious with pain. 

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”

With his help, you slowly limp your way out of the battle zone, though when you look at it from the sides it’s almost devoid of Death Eaters, save for Bellatrix. The only ones still fighting are her and Sirius. 

“What — what happened —”

“Dumbledore.”

You look around, searching for the man in question, seeing him running down the stone steps after Death Eaters as they scrabble to get away from him. He’s too fast, he pulls them back effortlessly as though they are as light as feathers —

Sirius ducks Bellatrix’s jet of red light and laughs at her. “Come on, you can do better than that —”

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” 

⁠✧⁠*⁠。✧⁠*⁠。

→ all kinds of interaction greatly appreciated! ♡

hello hello! I'm really really sorry about the delay in this chapter, but it's finally out now! There is one chapter left, oh my god! I'll do a proper thank you at the end of that one, so stay tuned! As always, I love you all so much and appreciate the support more than you could ever know <3

kisses and hugs to my taglist lovelies:

@mothraantics @wholelottalove05 @izuoyarmin @devoid-swanky @carpe000diem @mooonyxoxo @navs-bhat

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[anonmousegosqueek]

The results are in! Out of FOUR votes, FOUR of 'em said Gaz is a cat now.

Gatorrick, joins the team with Pawk, Meowtavish, and Goost!

I'll be making another little pixel animation for the update, I've also got some headcannons below the cut! Also, I found a buncha pictures of cats online for Soap and Gaz sooo... Enjoy?

Soap:

First two are coat colors, the second two are his dumb little kitty mohawk.

While yes, this is a hybrid au, I just also wanted an example of if he was full cat. Medium fluffy, choncky lad, 100% based on a cat I met at a cat-café once and fell in love with. He's a bit of a brick but he's soft and loves you. Besides, the thicker the skull, the more he can ram it into your leg when begging for pets!

Gaz:

So brown cats are actually pretty rare, I couldn't really find images for what I'm thinking. I think he's very... Smooth. Despite having similar fur length to Soap, his is a lot more shiny and makes for a much sleeker look. The third image (bottom left) is the closest to what I imagine. The fourth image is just funny and I imagine it's the kinda photo Roach has for blackmail material. Also he has very soft beans, very dainty.

HEAD CANNON TIME :D

So very similar to the og post, lots of the points still stand

Agile, chirpy, Laswell's adopted kitten, cute, should not be in the sky, ect.

But noww!

Definitely a stray/alley cat

The kind that comes to your house for dinner, spends the day inside and lounging in sunbeams, but during the night is on roofs and fighting random stray dogs.

Always comes back though

Has the most freedom because of that, Price knows he can set him out and Gaz will return with a tasty mouse and a job well done

Also- sneaky

Mans does stealth, YOU'VE SEEN HIM IN THE GHILLIE SUIT

I think he has one of those crunchy ahh meows, the one that sounds like the cat has been smoking five packs a day for fifteen years (see: Zuko)

But doesn't mind a nice warm lap and some scratches behind the ear

Also- absolutely gets into scraps and play fights with Soap

(He's also one of those cats with a kissable nogin, yn? Like you see that boy and are like "yup. that cat needs a smooch on the forehead.")

[redspacegirl]

i am back. with the headcanons. big ol warning for PD s2 finale spoilers! anyways lets (noises that sound vaguely of an airplane) fly right into this.

So, ashe (reminder for my first timers here. i hc ashe as transfem. don't agree? that's chill, you can have your own headcanons. however ill be using she/her in this post <3) carries the squad in nearly every video game. she is genuinely so good, on the verge of a sweat in most games. while playing in minecraft, she'll be the one to actually farm everything. she has the y level for diamonds memorized by heart (-54 iirc), and is solid at using redstone. she has a solo minecraft world that she's played on for 4 years, and has given Dakota a tour of what the world looks like. she also plays a lot (LOT) of horror games, and knows a bunch of good, niche, roblox horror games (+ indie horror games outside of roblox games). she also follows a few roblox myths, and was absolutely devastated to find out that it had been a year after she returned (missed out on a bunch of myth events :'C). She ends up being the one to walk first in the roblox horror games (dakota tries, but then gets distracted, or maybe a little scared but shh you didn't hear that).

William is on the COMPLETE opposite side of the spectrum. He is. SO bad at video games. He love video games, he just can't help but suck complete and total ass at them. the only game he is good at is, as is canon, mario kart. i mean, given he was living in his rotting body, it would high key make sense for him not to have full articulation. even after that, after the s2 finale, he still completely sucks. despite this, he rages SO hard. obviously not breaking controllers or anything (that shit is expensive), but he will start yelling at the screen, yk chuck the controller at a soft surface or something. Another thing, he is very good at roblox dress to impress. He has all the gamepasses for it and everything. He also votes everyone else (minus his friends) one star. He didn't play a lot of roblox growing up, but he surely watched so many indie horror game playthroughs. he and ashe both know a lot of video game lore stuff, though mainly william. william will actually research and watch a lot of video game theories (he totally watches so much game theory no question). he'll post on reddit about his findings and everything.

Vycent managed to adapt to video game controls with surprising ease. I think he also gets REALLY competitive at video games, he will sometimes go out of his way to get Will riled up. Mario Kart games with the prime defenders are actively the worst. anyways, he's solid at video games. Vyncent prefers stuff like Legend of Zelda, and is a switch main, however he'll play on PC for some games, especially Minecraft night with the squad (on Java edition, as things should be /j). he has played baldurs gate 3 and full on started crying over how much it reminded him of home. A similar event happened with Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. he does play some games on his phone, however most of them are the type the average middle-aged mother has on her phone, yk the ones where you match the stuff together and all that. he has like 20 of them that he'll cycle through, but he does have that one dragon matching game specifically that he plays every day religiously. (and he has cookie run kingdom for the enjoyers out there. i guess)

Dakota is incredibly chaotic when gaming, which should come to no surprise. (shout out to the person in the replies who said this but) he mains. his fucking. tablet. he is also insanely good on tablet. however, for whatever reason, he'll struggle a bit on pc (depending on the game ofc). not as much as will, but he's better on mobile either way. he plays fortnite on there (i have never really played fortnite on mobile but i've heard it is absolutely horrendous). While ashe goes out to gather materials, Dakota likes to build the base. He's actually very good at it, and makes a homey cottage for the team. when he does try to go mining, he ends up mainly going cave diving, and he'll set up a bed near the entrance of the cave, because he just KEEPS dying. he doesn't rage as bad as Will does, he just keeps getting more and more determined to keep trying. He is also the reason there is a designated 'Pet Room' in the base, where they have 14 dogs, 9 cats, 6 parrots, 7 horses, a polar bear, and a huge fish tank. They all have names, and Dakota Did go out and gather up nametags for all of them.

LAST DAY OF FLUFF WEEK(I AM SO BURNT OUT WITH PD (which is crazy as number three pd enjoyer) IM SORRY ITS LATE) (they are playing minecraft. btw)

i have gaming headcanons but i will be writing those later. maybe

[batboyblog]

I haven’t been able to find a really good breakdown anywhere, but do you know who the current swing votes on the Supreme Court are?

I want to be clear there is not really a "swing vote" any more on the Supreme Court.

For many many years the court had Justices who tried to hold center ground on the Court, both Justice Potter Stewart (1958-1981) and his replacement on the court Sandra Day O'Connor (1981-2006) had a standard of "what does the average American feel" as for what was "reasonable" in a legal sense (O'Connor was more conservative than Stewart)

after O'Connor left the court the role of "swing" went to Justice Anthony Kennedy (1988-2018), but I think it would be more accurate and appropriate to say Kennedy was a liberal-Conservative, on some matters, like gun rights he was conservative, on some issues, like gay rights very liberal, on abortion you might say he was for as many restrictions as possible while still keeping it technically allowed.

Since his retirement in 2018 there are no real swings any more.

Chief Justice John Roberts is the most moderate of the Conservative majority, and has made clear he takes the responsibilities of being head of a co-equal branch of government, the Judiciary, seriously so at times has been more skeptical of Trump's claims of power, and at times as tried to rule, like Stewart and O'Connor where the majority of Americans are. But he is a conservative who voted against gay marriage, against the voting rights act (evil ass shit) and authored the Trump absolute immunity ruling

Other than Roberts there's Justice Neil Gorsuch, he's over all more conservative on a lot of issues than Roberts, but also has some weird idiosyncratic views on stuff which means he's for example super liberal on Native American tribal rights which saw him as the deciding vote on a lot of 5-4 rulings (before the death and replacement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in late 2020) in favor of tribes, for example the case that ruled that most of Oklahoma over to the five tribes (later in 2022 with a more conservative make up the court pulled back and Gorsuch was rip shit) he's been kinda all over the place on LGBT rights, he authored the court's ruling on Bostock which declared the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers LGBT people protecting them from work place discrimination, but he's joined with the two most conservative justices a bunch of times in 3-6 rulings whenever anyone says something about their religious believes allowing them to discriminate.

Finally there's Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who's only been on the court since late 2020, so her record is the least expansive of the Conservative Justices (and she'd only been a Judge since 2017) court watchers have been saying she's drifting away from the conservative block and becoming more independent and swing. I think it's a little early to say for sure. She did vote to overturn Roe which likely will be her legacy on the Court. But she did offer a much more narrow idea of Presidential immunity in her option than the other conservatives (since there were 5 of them it didn't matter what she thought)

Even Justice Kavanaugh has at times broken liberal, such as a voting rights case in North Carolina where he sided with Roberts and the liberals.

So basically Justices Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, are literally ALWAYS bad news, you see a ruling has been written by them, it'll suck and be horrible. Chief Justice Roberts is a conservative but is most likely to side with the Court's 3 liberals, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, but that's just 4 votes, on different issues there are possibilities that Justices Gorsuch or Barrett, or even Kavanaugh might side with them, but I wouldn't generally bet on that happening, idk if Gorsuch with his quirks or Barrett with her maybe growing independence is the more likely "swing" vote.

[inquisimer]

OC Meme: Marisol Cantori

Tagged by @wishforhome to do this OC meme, ty friend 💜 doing this for Marisol, and it ended up being a really good exercise in rounding out some details for her!

tags forward to: @shivunin | @rosella-writes | @crabs-with-sticks | @pickelda | @the-rebel-archivist | @effelants | @asexualtabris - blank template at the bottom (:

-

GENERAL

Name: Marisol Cantori

Alias(es): Rook, anything that suits the contract, probably some other nicknames that I haven't chosen yet bc I just love to give characters nicknames

Gender: Female

Age: (oh god I have been playing fast and loose with this so bad) somewhere in the range of 23 - 26 during DATV

Place of birth: Antiva City (alienage)

Spoken languages: fluently: Common, Antivan, Orlesian, ASL/CSL (Antivan/Crow Sign Language); not fluent, but knows a bit of Tevene and Nevarran

Sexual orientation: Bisexual

Occupation: Thief (formerly), Antivan Crow, Spellblade of House Cantori

FAVORITE

Color: neutral metallic - bronze, silver, rose gold

Entertainment: people-watching, thievery, competition of any sort

Pastime: leather carving (and enchanting), flirting, riddles (telling and solving)

Food: dark chocolate, oranges, soft cheeses

Drink: coffee, any lyrium-infused alcohol

Books: mystery and romance! she also enjoys reading non-fiction firsthand accounts of travel/adventuring, a holdover from being in the Circle

HAVE THEY

Passed university: Yes and no, depending on how you spin it! Marisol passes Crow training without any real issue, but she was never Harrowed

Had sex: yes

Had sex in public: (something something Antivans and hot blood and passion) more like semi-public, but yes

Gotten tattoos: yes! Marisol has a geometric/floral design on her left arm inspired by her memory of drawings from her friend in the Circle. She also has a unique Cantori tattoo on her back (either between her shoulder blades or at the small of her back, I'm still deciding, vote now on your phones)

Gotten piercings: She has multiple ear piercings and a nose piercing, but she rarely actually wears any jewelry in them.

Had a broken heart: Once, when her roommate in the Circle was made Tranquil

Been in love: at the risk of being overly poetic, Marisol is in love with her freedom and independence. On a more literal level, she is absolutely in love with Teia before DATV, and with both Teia and Viago (and Lucanis, let's be real, it's going to happen) post-DATV.

ARE THEY

A cuddler: yes!! she runs cold, and physical touch was dangerous or discouraged in the Circle, so she loves to cuddle now that she can.

Scared easily: nope!

Jealous easily: definitely not

Trustworthy: her word is only as good as whatever you've done to earn it

FAMILY

Sibling(s): one younger sibling who was a newborn when Marisol was taken to the Circle! When she goes back to the alienage, she finds her family home burned down, finds out that her parents were killed in the fire, and assumed her sibling is dead too. In truth, her sibling ends up in an alienage orphanage and eventually sold into the Crows and is a de Riva fledgling.

Parents: were laborers in the leatherworking industry, die in an alienage fire a few years after Marisol is taken to the Circle.

Children: none biologically, but she is good with kids in general! She helps train the Cantori fledglings and is often emotionally motivated by things happening to children that are outside of their control

Pets: she gets a spirit dog in the Lighthouse! a spirit of [devotion or tenacity or loyalty] (vote now on your phones) that manifests as a dog, to be specific. At first, he only manifests in the Lighthouse or parts of the Crossroads, but eventually after some emotional suffering practice, she can call him to places outside the Fade as well.

-

Blank template:

GENERAL

Name:

Alias(es):

Gender:

Age:

Place of birth:

Spoken languages:

Sexual orientation:

Occupation:

FAVOURITE

Colour:

Entertainment:

Pastime:

Food:

Drink:

Books:

HAVE THEY

Passed university:

Had sex:

Had sex in public:

Gotten tattoos:

Gotten piercings:

Had a broken heart:

Been in love:

ARE THEY

A cuddler:

Scared easily:

Jealous easily:

Trustworthy:

FAMILY

Sibling(s):

Parents:

Children:

Pets:

[worldofwardcraft]

They never fail to disappoint.

March 17, 2025

Rank and file Dems all over the country are calling for the Party to fight back against the corrupt, fascist Musk/Trump regime. But the only response they're getting is empty rhetoric from House leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate leader Chuck Schumer's endless bleating about bipartisanship.

Instead of attacking the obscenely wealthy oligarchs who think they own America, Jeffries quietly went to California last month and schmoozed with Silicon Valley-based donors. Then, ahead of Trump’s mendacious address to Congress, he urged a "dignified Democratic presence in the chamber." A few of the more daring Dems refused to attend Trump's festival of falsehoods, but as The New Republic reports:

Others held up small signs with slogans such as, “Musk Steals,” “False,” and “Save Medicaid.” A small contingent wore pink, a failed signal of unity and a devastating blow to absolutely no one.

There was, however, one sign of life. Texas representative Al Green stood up and protested — and was quickly removed from the House floor. Meanwhile, the remaining Democrats, rather than following him out in confident solidarity, merely watched in cowardly silence. Ten gutless Dems even voted for Green's censure. After the speech, Jeffries called in the handful of mildly unruly Dems for a stern talking to. Leadership is "very unhappy" with those who went beyond traditional protest tactics like outfit coordination and refusal to clap, a senior House Democrat told Axios.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, resistance to Trump's dangerously unqualified Cabinet nominees has been spotty at best. Seven Democrats voted to confirm Kristi Noem for Secretary of Homeland Security. Seventeen voted for Trump's labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Twenty-five to approve Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior. And their endorsement of Marco Rubio to be Secretary of State was unanimous! Says Democratic strategist Christy Setzer:

You can’t be mad about Trump trying to freeze government spending in the morning, and vote for his Treasury secretary — who will destroy the economy — in the afternoon.

On Friday Senate Democrats, led by the ever-timorous Schumer, who's terrified of Dems being blamed for a government shutdown, voted to advance the abominable Republican spending resolution. Remarked Representative Jim McGovern hopefully, "Maybe they’ll toughen up for the fight on reconciliation."

The Guardian's Moira Donegan observes that Democrats want to be seen as "reasonable, pragmatic and dispassionate" and for the political changes brought on by Trump and his GOPer minions "to never have happened." But, alas, they have. Which is why Democrats need to start making what the late Alabama congressman John Lewis called "good trouble, necessary trouble." That at least might spare us some disillusionment.

[yukiteruakari]

Please read this, Milgram fans.

I'm glad you presented the entire situation as it was, without trying to sugarcoat it or make it seem better than it actually was. I've seen so many people claim that this video proves Muu cared about Haruka, but honestly… no. It feels like most of the sympathy for Muu comes from her age, at least on Twitter, which is the platform where I’ve seen the most of this. They’re being easily manipulated by Muu’s facade, even though she has pretty much made it clear that she doesn’t care if Haruka dies. People lose their minds over, idk, some people shipping 0103 and then ship these two together. Really.

I honestly wish Muu had been voted guilty in the first trial so these two never got close in the first place. I also wish Haruka had the chance to be friends with others. It think it was even hinted that Fuuta might have looked out for him or maybe even befriended him if things had been different. Muu was the absolute worst person for Haruka, and it just makes me sad thinking about how different it could have been. Sorry for the rambling, but I had to get that off my chest.

Damn continuing to be right o'clock-

(Edited 03/19/25 3:38pm to fix the coloring on some text and to mention that Haruka not only discarded the hairclips Mu gave him but the shoes as well.)

Not right on all the specifics it's not like I never said his parents weren't neglectful but he simply did just kill random unrelated children who he just saw wandering away from their parents.

Like obviously nothing would have made this better but I at least tried to give y'all some leeway. Like okay people believe the child is related to Haruka in someway well maybe these kids are someone his parents paid attention to outside of him.

Yet actually no his parents simply did clock out from parenting and had to be informed by the police he was doing this.

Haruka's parents when he was having consistent reading difficulties because they were to ashamed to get extra help earlier on in his studies. So the issues persisted into high school whelp we've done all we can. Literally have not done anything of the things they could have due to internalized ableism.

Because outside of that the only alternative was people believing those were family members or family friends. I was at least correct in the fact that they lived in the neighborhood.

But nope those are random kids that this twenty-three year old (ahahahah- *cough* eh-hem sorry it's still funny) killed. Not even his own neglectful parents just random children trying to enjoy being outside- Alright bet. Outside of that how Mu watched this man die and acted like it was a surprise like Haruka you're not eating man on ground who is skin and bones.

Like there weren't even multiple trays in there.

There wasn't shit hidden under the bed. His room was spotless she took trays there every day and watched this man waste away. Oh if that's not a death sentence served I don't know what is.

Side note the prisoners cells have doors and windows.

The lighting coming from behind Haruka seems to be coming through a window while not necessarily showing the outside of the facility because it may show another lit up area within Milgram. Since the light behind him doesn't seem like natural lighting.

The door is also wooden so fic writers are eating good today-

So the prisoners outside of the lack of locks all have private rooms of their own. Haruka has not requested anything to be in his room as it's very barebones but uh this is good to know.

Hey are you ready for Shidou and Mahiru's reports because I fucking am. This is gonna be hilarious. I can't wait to see how long the timeline of doing this over and over is for them. Haruka only did this shit twice. They did it to how many people?

Damn unfortunate. How unfortunate for people who were hoping all of their secrets would die with them and they could keep looking like good people. But the quality of this video right- Milgram anime when?

Maybe do that after this is done.

This is ridiculous. Really good. Can't wait to see Mahiru die in front of Yuno in stunning animation just to then have to read her long ass report about the choices she consistently made. Like oh boy... That's gonna be fucked up.

Back to Haruka I love how they showed him discard Mu's hairclips and clinging to his own mother's necklace calling out to her one last time before he died.

That was fucked up but drove the point home that he understood exactly what was going on and who he actually wanted to impress and get the attention of this entire time.

The way he laughs at Mu's performative concern knowing full and well-

MILGRAM / Prisoner No. 001: “Haruka Sakurai” -The Third Trial 0:21s

"The food I brought you, you haven’t eaten any of it……" "……haha, ha." "Why…… ……You’ll die like that. Haruka……"

"……yes……I hope so……"

"Why"

Mu why are you playing this game you know why remember?

Mu Queen B 12:36s

"Ah- but if you don't forgive me, Haruka-kun will die. So, I think it'd be best to not do that." ...! [bell tolls] So you've heard about that nonsense, too? "Mhm! Haruka-kun told me. So I could rest easy, according to him. That made me happy... It made me really feel our friendship!"

"I told Es……find Mu innocent……or else."

You know about it and you're not trying to stop him? Haruka that is?

"Why would I?"/ "Why"

"We are just the same."

"I’m sorry to start out like this but......he chose death. He had told you right? That he’d die if you don’t find Mu “innocent”. So that’s exactly what came to pass. It was to be expected, right? Did you think it was just a bluff? Well, I guess that’s understandable."

"Haruka……I…I… Haru……Haruka……"

"If you want to betray from jealousy I’ve told you what’s gonna happen. Because it’s not my fault."/ "What are you going to do about this? Haruka-kun died. Hey, guard. You knew this would happen, right?"

Like she really came in here and staged surprise at this turn of events after putting on full display she knew about it. There's not food hidden around his room. It's placed on a table for all to see that he isn't eating. He's so thin we can see his spine protruding through the skin on the back of his neck,

And instead of trying to convince him to eat anymore than this she's like,

"……don’t worry, Mu." "About what……" "……you’re going to be innocent, I know it" "……you really think so?" "……yes…… aa…………"

Mu he is dying feed him there is food right there on the table

You brought it in remember,

23/06/22 (Haruka’s Birthday)

Mu: Haruka-kun, I brought your food. Are you still alive? Has any mould started growing?

Haruka: ……ah, thank you very much. Mu-san. Sorry, um…… I……

Mu: You shouldn’t just lock yourself in your room all day. You have to eat your food properly. Hm, well…… I do understand why you’re feeling down. It feels bad. The atmosphere recently

Haruka: Um, I’m totally fine…… Just a bit, I’m thinking, about how to do it. What to do, what to do, to…… fulfil my promise. For Mu-san’s sake……

23/07/05 (Mu’s Birthday)

Futa: Oi, you. Is he ok? He’s not even left his room lately.

Mu: You mean Haruka-kun? Hmm. Yeah, probably. I’ve been bringing all his meals to him so he should be fine. Isn’t that great of me?

Futa: Hah? Who the hell says that sort of thing about themself. ……ah, no, well, right now I understand a bit. When you’re feeling down, it’s nice to have someone who relies on you and accepts you. The rest of us can’t really understand you from where we’re standing. But well, if you’re Haruka’s “salvation” then I guess it really is great.

Mu: Salvation……? I don’t know what you mean. Futa-kun, you don’t sound like yourself. Did you hit your head or something? Oh, wait, you actually did, didn’t you. Ahaha. Ah, putting that aside though, did you know it’s my birthday today?

Just physically feed him. Or, or maybe- Just go get Shidou he's a doctor he could help maybe give this guy a feeding tube. If you don't want to feed him yourself-

24/06/22 (Haruka’s Birthday)

Shidou: ……I’m worried about Sakurai-kun. I haven’t seen him around in a while. You’ve been talking with him, right?

Mu: He’s fine. Here, look. I’ve been taking his food to him like this every day. Isn’t that great of me?

Shidou: Yes, very. I’m sorry I’ve been leaving it to you to look after him. Usually, that would be the job of us adults, and yet we’re leaving you with the burden.

Mu: Don’t worry about it. After all, me and Haruka-kun are friends.

Well beyond shit we've been knew or been able to deduce. I love how his death parallels him on the floor on AKAA

I love how they had him discard the things Mu gave him. Not just the hairclips but the shoes on the floor beside him that many suspected she picked out,

This leads to him dying without shoes like the current guilty prisoners no longer have shoes in their restraints.

All while he clung to his actual mom's necklace and called out to her as he died,

"Mommy-"

I love the follow through on him fully understanding Mu was using him up until the point he died.

Haruka Metamorphosis of the Weak 11:27s

You sure are asking something of me here. Viewing Mu as your mother is great and all, but she might only be kind to you in order to use you, you know.

"So what?"

"……haha, ha."

Haruka Metamorphosis of the Weak 11:41s

"So what if she's using me? Isn't it a good thing to be used? For someone to think of me as worthy enough to use me... isn't that something to be happy about?"

"I guess to him, it was that important to be useful to that little princess of his."

"......lose-lose. With regards to him, we lost, both MILGRAM and I. There’s no denying that he’s a gigantic idiot, but personally, I also think, bravo."

"I changed……I'm……useful now……"

"It’s all your fault, Es…… I’ve told you what’s gonna happen……"

"You know what’s gonna happen ON YOU." "I’ve told you what’s gonna happen because it’s not my fault."

"It’s all your fault, Es." - "We are just the same."

[inkskinned]

"don't make it political!" .... what proportion of death and suffering must occur before politics are involved. if this isn't political, what is even the point of any politics, ever. of democracy. the words are "by the people for the people." if i am going to be left alone by my elected representatives to "figure it out" - to undergo damage, hardship, fear. what the fuck did i elect them for. what was their job. the entire point is that they handle this shit. this is why we were supposed to be electing leaders.

poverty is political. misogyny is political. gun control is political. climate change is political. how much aid a community gets is political. what the fuck are you talking about. it's been political this whole fucking time.

[kimberlychapman]

I'm a citizen of Canada, the UK, and the USA. Born in Canada to a Scottish father, immigrated to the USA for a time and became a citizen there because adopting a child required it. Now living in the UK. I have US-born children, one of whom would qualify as an "anchor baby" except we're white so the entire time we lived in Texas I referred to that child as an "anchor baby" when Republicans I knew railed on about "anchor babies" but they liked my little white child so they were horrified and I regularly put it to them that the term should horrify them regardless of who it's used on.

Anyway.

Point is, I am an American citizen, ptui. And that spit noise has been since before 2016, because Bush was also terrible and tbh Obama has a lot to answer for internationally too.

Anyone who lives literally anywhere else on the planet knows Americans make deals like the Vader "pray I do not alter it further" thing over and over and over again. They make excuses for invasions, especially if there's oil on the table...or now I guess it's other minerals too. They backstab. They veto shit that they don't want to face at the UN level themselves. They put economic interests over everything, even when other nations do get together to rarely do the right thing that isn't all about money. American governments over and over again have thwarted global efforts towards climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, misogyny, public health issues, etc. if they had too many corporate lobbies against it.

And for decades on the internet any time anyone pointed out, "Hey, the US is doing a jerk thing over here," legions of Americans would show up to argue, "Yeah, well, what about [other country] doing this over here?!" Occasionally it was related, but usually not. The constant straw men, goalpost-moving, and other misdirections are so exhausting that anyone with experience in online discussions was used to deal with American exceptionalism bullshit long, long before Trump walked into his first presidency.

And Americans have been all too happy to blame everyone from [X] country for their leaders' doings, even ones where there were not democratic elections.

So yeah. Fuck it. Nobody wants to give the US a pass anymore and it's not just because of Trump in the here and now. It's decades of exhaustion at dealing with the "rah rah USA USA" crowd. FFS I have complained about "rah rah USA USA" on goddamned usenet when I accessed it on an amber monitor at university in the early 1990s.

And when I lived in the US, I warned people. When I left the US, I warned people. I said, "Stop socialising with racists. Stop platforming MAGAs in your Facebook threads, even if they're your buddy/auntie/whatever. Stop normalising all of this crap." And I got ignored, or occasionally told I was the intolerant one...by people ostensibly on "my side".

Now Americans want to pull the, "Well I didn't vote for him" card? Nah. None of the rest of us are having it. I didn't vote for him either, but that's completely irrelevant. Because he's there. He's there after decades of normalising the path to someone like him. He's there for lots of reasons, many of which are the burden of all Americans and even a few key Russians. He's there, this is reality, nobody gets to hide behind a shield of, "Well I didn't vote for him."

Because the whole "Well I didn't vote for him" excuse is exactly the same as "Not all men." Just as we don't let cis men get away with that excuse when we decry cis male violence, Americans don't get a free pass card because "not all".

When you're part of a privileged, dominant demographic that is harming others, it is on you to take the criticism and work towards ending the problem, not reflect it back and blame the victims.

Elbows fucking up, and any American who doesn't like it is invited to get to work with their own elbow grease in their own way.

As an American, I need another Americans to sit down and take the verbal beatings from people in other countries. Even if you somehow ignore the current administration, this country has been a blight on the world. It will take millions of years for the earth to recover from what we have, and will, put it through. Oh, it hurts your feelings? You don’t like lying in the bed you made? Good. Maybe it’ll inspire you to fucking do something. Shame is a powerful tool.

Yeah, there’s simply going to be a lot of ill will towards America that is probably quite unusual for Americans experiencing it.

At the end of the day, every country needs to protect its citizens. Constant threats on Canadian sovereignty, demands for Greenland, betraying allies in NATO and Ukraine, constant threats of tariffs and trade wars - the average US citizen isn’t even being considered by policymakers in other countries.

It might also be surprising to hear that it’s not other countries responsibility to save the US from itself either. Seen a lot of sentiment online along the lines of ‘Canada help us!’ as if Canada is somehow able to engineer Trump’s resignation.

And some people might think I’ve done a bit of a 180 on how I’d normally comment on situations like this - But that’s the reality for millions of people outside the US now. America has elected a leader that’s openly betraying and threatening its allies. I don’t really know how else to explain it.

[teamhawkeye]

i just genuinely do not understand

how can so many people have such hatred and ugliness in their hearts and souls to keep supporting such an evil scumbag. there is not a single redeeming quality to be found in him - not one. this is a convicted felon with further criminal trials still oncoming against him!

being behind bars for the rest of his miserable life is the kindest thing that man deserves, not another shot at the highest position of power in this godforsaken country

[billdenbrough]

fundamentally disinterested in the recurring discourse about kevin's drinking that aims to a) make it his Specific Problem To Focus On And Overcome when it is a crutch and coping mechanism to get him through a Much Bigger Problem (emotional fallout he can't square with by himself, culture shock, trauma, loss of his extremely wildly co-dependent relationship w riko, losing the structure of the nest, mourning a future he was meant to have, processing a grave injustice, anger and fear and desperate grief, all of which is his Actual Specific Fox Problem) while he builds himself back up, and b) thinks that even if it is a problem (more on that later), it's the foxes' problem to deal with.

like. it's just not.

yeah, he doesn't drink until he meets them. they gave him that habit, and in traditional terms, they're (the monsters specifically) a 'bad influence'. but these are the foxes. this is kevin day, son of exy, whose meteor is crashing spectacularly through no fault of his own. there are no traditional terms to be found here. the framework for it literally doesn't exist. neil comes into the foxes with more conventional expectations—appalled at the athletes' substance use, his horror at matt's trip to columbia, his steadfast and early repeated stance that none of the foxes should let andrew treat them the way he does, and certainly not nicky—and tends to engage with them less as the series goes on and he folds himself into the foxes. the thing about the foxes is that they've all been in pits deeper than they are tall. and some of them got a helping hand on the way—erik, andrew's extreme intervention methods, stephanie walker—and wymack was always waiting for them on the other side, ready to throw down a rope, but all the foxes dragged themselves out of their own holes. often not alone, often not without assistance, but at the end of the day, they have to do it.

there's that line neil has about aaron in that scene that got deleted when the timeline shifted around, when he thinks about how aaron got this far in life on his own, surviving on willpower and sheer desperation. that applies to aaron in a way that's a little more acute than some of the rest of them—boy who doesn't let the foxes in bc of andrew, boy who doesn't let nicky in bc he doesn't know how, boy made of flinching and seeking an escape and grieving the one who hurt him—but is broadly true for the foxes en masse.

this isn't to say the foxes can't help each other, but it's not their job. it just isn't. they'll keep kevin alive, keep him safe, keep him flanked and contained within their ranks. they'll fight tooth and nail in this battle with him, fight to get him to that championship game, fight to get that trophy in his hands. but that's all they've agreed to. that's all they're responsible for, in this covenant they've made with him. he says they can make this happen, and they're going to get him to that final game, but it's up to him what state he's in when he gets there.

like. they're foxes. they've been triaging their whole lives. they hate each other and they hate everyone else more. they're the kids with their backs up against the wall. half of them are addicts. i don't think kevin is comparable, personally; he's getting through a horrific situation with a coping mechanism. that's not the same thing as battling yourself to stop using. but that's not really the point of this. what i'm getting at here is that to the foxes, it's easy math: kevin who can lean on vodka and andrew and wymack and the foxes to stay upright when he's not ready to stand on his own two feet is still a kevin who is standing. a kevin with one less piece of scaffolding to lean on is a kevin who falls over, a kevin at risk of complete collapse, a kevin one phone call away from running back to the master, a kevin one crucial loss away from not ever making it back to himself at all. they're triaging. this is low on the totem pole of things they have the room to care about. they very much have bigger problems, both individually and even just kevin-related. if alcohol makes seeing the boy he knew best in the world and moved in tandem with his whole life and who destroyed their entire legacy and his entire life in one move — if alcohol makes facing that boy easier to stomach, then, fuck, why would they take that away? they're foxes. they've all got their demons. this is what kevin needs this year and a half to let him face his, that's all. they can understand that. it doesn't have to be pretty, as long as it keeps him in the fight. that's the priority.

i think there's absolutely space to explore this in fic and art and fandom in a way that maybe does explore it as a Problem, both that it's an active problem for kevin & that it's something to explore other foxes helping him with (there's a t&n fic that i've been gnawing at the bit to read for months that seems poised to explore this premise, and that's super up my alley)! i just think we're in different territory when we're talking about the series—and its characters and dynamics—in a conversational rather than transformational way, and end up talking about this like the foxes are responsible for kevin's choices. i love kevin day. i read these back at the start of 2015 & he's so dear to me that loving him was the blueprint for how i feel abt kageyama. but it's been pretty weird to see how the conversation has been translating Loving Kevin Day into... thinking the foxes are doing wrong by him with respect to this in actual canon. like that's just not how it operates there

[thevioletcaptain]

if you as a fic reader ever become possessed by the urge to do a popularity bracket with the fics other people wrote and shared for fun and for free, consider:

don't ❤️ 

[sinsations-art]