#number 26 descendants

[myfictionaldreams]

Day 26: Overstimulation - Steve Rogers

Summary: It's the 1940's, and you're a dancer on the infamous USO tour showcasing Captain America. You're due on stage in 5 minutes, but Steve's too busy with his face between your legs.

Tags: 18+ readers only, smut, oral (f receiving), multiple orgasms, overstimulation, begging, exhaustion, innocent!Steve (kinda)

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“We’re on in 5 minutes! I repeat, 5 minutes. Did you hear Mr Rogers?”

“Hmm? Yeah, 5 minutes, I heard!��� Steve’s head perked up from between your legs, wetness coating his lips and chin as he shouted through the door to the stage hand.

Your body collapsed onto the desk, completely worn out. Eyes heavy, struggling to stay open, and lungs burning with how out of breath you were. “Please, I need to go and get ready; the girls will wonder where I am”.

Steve licked his lips and began to spread your thighs again, his hold hard enough to leave bruises behind as you sighed heavily, head falling back against the mirror. “Just one more; I know you can do it, then you’ll feel much better when you’re dancing baby”. His face descended to your cunt, tongue lapping at your already sensitive hole, his nose pushing and stroking against your engorged clit.

Steve had been at it for what felt like hours. You were one of the dancers on his USO tour across America, dancing and singing every night in a new city to sold-out crowds. You watched as the infamous Steve Rogers sold the bonds and punched fake Adolf Hilter in the face for the crowd's entertainment.

The tour had been going on for weeks as the war ravaged worldwide. Steve had kept to himself, appearing to be scared of any female that walked past him, let alone any of the dancers or singers on stage, even though he had hundreds of women ready to throw themselves at him.

You felt bad for him, the big superstar who sat lonely in his room every night, so you worked up the nerve to speak to him one day. He was sweet, attentive, and very innocent, and you quickly drew him out of his comfort zone. A few kisses and cuddles turned into more risque. He was a virgin when you first met him, and you were completely respectful of that, but after a few awkward fumbling, you decided to take charge and show him how to move, touch and feel, pleasuring both him and you.

The first time Steve made you cum, it was like a light bulb switched in his brain. He was obsessed. The more you taught him about your body, the more he would want to hear your sweet melodic sighs of euphoria, to the point that it was starting to interfere with your work.

Which brings you to today. You’d visited him in his little dressing room at the back of the theatre, intending to get his lunch and ended with your panties on the floor and skirt bunched around the waist and legs over his shoulders as he ate you out to perfection. Every suck and lick had your back bowing and fingers trembling to cover your mouth to stop those outside the door from hearing your multiple orgasms.

Your entire body felt like it was burning from the inside out. You were stuck between being wholly exhausted and wanting the moment never to end. Due to past experiences, you knew that Steve’s stamina was devastatingly good due to the super serum. Once, you’d fucked all night, and you couldn’t walk the following day and had to call in sick to the show, which Steve was pink-cheeked and apologetic for, forgetting just how fragile you were compared to him.

You were getting close to that point again, attempting to push against his shoulders weakly, knowing you should stop but not wanting him to because you were so close to your next orgasm. You weren’t sure how many you’d had; all you were aware of was that your pussy was plump from all the stimulation, your clit was throbbing to the point that Steve could feel your heartbeat against his tongue, and your hole ached from the number of times it had clenched and tightened.

“Just one more”, Steve had repeated so many times that you could hear him saying it in your lucid mind. Slumping back against the mirror, the pleasure built, his tongue lapping your juices and stroking your clit, plunging and twitching in your pussy as he held you down on his desk.

The waves of the orgasms throbbed through your entire body, your hands pulling at his hair to move him away from your pussy as you sat up, losing control for a second as your body tried to process the euphoria.

“You’re so beautiful, Doll. You’ve done so well for me”, Steve encouraged, his hands massaging your aching thighs as you tried to catch your breath. As the pulses in your cunt calmed, you leaned forward until your head rested against his shoulder, his arms moving around your hips as he cradled you close.

“I might need to cancel the show”, you say, trying to wiggle your toes but finding your limbs were slow in response.

Steve moved back slightly to look at your flushed face, “You know you can’t do that, Baby. You’re on your last warning. Sorry, I’ll try to stop doing this before shows; sometimes I just can’t help myself.”. He pecks your lips softly, and you lean into the touch and try to slow your breathing to calm your body.

A knock at the door disrupts the embrace, “We need you at the stage door in 1 minute!” The stagehand shouts through the door, and you refrain from groaning.

“Could you help me get dressed, please?”

“Of course!” Steve was as sweet as ever, finding your panties and shorts for your costume and helping to pull them back onto your trembling legs. When you tried to stand and straighten your skirt and top, your knees buckled, but thankfully, he caught you, holding you for a couple of seconds until you found your strength.

Looking in the mirror, you tried not to cringe at the streaks you’d left behind on the surface, and then there was your appearance, completely glazed-over expression, and hair a mess, but you didn’t have time to sort either. Rushing to the door, you cringed internally and how sensitive you felt between your legs and how uncomfortable it was to walk with your pussy slightly swollen.

Steve was behind you, opening the door to allow you to step out and rush to the curtain. Making sure no one else was around, you turned and leaned up to kiss him sweetly, “Break a leg.” you wished him luck before running to join the others, who all gave you exacerbated looks for nearly being late.

The show was nearly a disaster; your legs became heavy halfway through from exhaustion, but thankfully, Steve caught you, somehow managing to play it off as part of the play, catching the damsel before continuing with the show.

Your entire body was warm to the touch, and the bright overhead lights only worsened it. As you danced across the stage, you became increasingly more aware that your panties were drenched, your pussy still flowing with juices, to the point that you were worried it had leaked through your shorts for the audience to see.

By the end, your cheeks ached from fake smiling, and the muscles in your legs were burning to the point that you collapsed on the stairs as you exited the stage. You were exhausted, eyes hardly open as one of the girls asked if you were okay.

“Sweetheart? Are you coming down with something?” the show manager asked, but you waved everyone away.

“I’m fine; I just need to sleep”, you explained whilst thanking one of the other girls who had returned with a glass of water.

“What’s going on? Hey, are you okay?” Steve asked, pushing his way through the crowd. Your body heated even more as Steve’s eyes widened briefly before he tried to mask his reaction. It was evident in your contract that you were not allowed to form intimate relationships with the show's star, which of course was Steve, so whatever it was that you had with Steve had to stay hidden, even though you were sure everyone suspected it.

“Everything’s fine, Mr Rogers, she’s just cooling off”, the manager attempted to move his prize possession away, not wanting him to worry about any of the girls and push him back to his awaiting taxi.

“She doesn’t look fine; why don’t I take her to a doctor?” Steve suggested, lowering himself so that you were both eye to eye.

“She doesn’t need a doctor; she’s fine, aren’t you, sweetheart?” the manager tried to reassure, but you were too tired even to respond.

“Ok, let me rephrase this, I’m going to take her to a Doctor, now move out of my way”, Steve demanded, actually standing up to the manager for once as he slid one arm under your knee and the other supporting your back as he lifted you, your head rolling onto his shoulder.

You relaxed into the hold, the sway of it helping to lull you into a half-asleep state. Only when the two of you were alone in the taxi did you decide to speak finally. “I don’t need a doctor, I just need to sleep”.

“I know, baby. I just wanted to get you away from everyone. I’m sorry for going so hard earlier, and I’ll try and calm it down from now on”, Steve apologised, holding your body close to his as the taxi began to move towards the motel you were all staying at.

You grinned, tilting your face towards his, “I didn’t say you had to stop, Steve”.

His eyes flicked between your lips and eyes, a small smile forming on his handsome face. Giving you a quick kiss on your temple, the two of you relaxed into the embrace as you quietly fell asleep.

[girlactionfigure]

"From the River to the Sea"

@Daniel_Sugarman

In this thread, I’m going to go into some detail about what the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” means to many Jewish people. You may not agree, but I hope that it may enlighten those who simply don't understand the almost visceral reaction to it.

🧵 

2) For the benefit of a number of students at some of America’s most expensive higher education institutions, let’s start by clarifying - the river is the River Jordan, the sea is the Mediterranean.

3) So what do those chanting it mean? When asked, a bunch of them will say they want a single state in this area in which all people can live together in dignity and equality. Sounds great, right? Who would argue with that? 

4) That claim is somewhat muddied when one particular version of that chant is used in Arabic, as has been heard and seen at various protests - من المية للمية / فلسطين عربية “From water to water, Palestine is Arab”. But let's leave that aside for the moment. 

5) Note that the protesters are not calling for Israel to be *changed* into what they see as a free and equal society. For them this can only be achieved by Israel being *ended* and replaced by Palestine. 

6) Objectively, you can say that the reason for this is that the protestors believe that Israel (and Zionism) is fundamentally incompatible with what they see as equality and freedom for all, which is why for them it has to go in its entirety. But... 

7) But there is a significant degree of ambiguity as to what the end result *actually* means. And it’s that question mark which is why so many Jewish people see this slogan the way they do.

8) Because Jewish people have lots of different examples of what happens to Jewish communities who are minorities in countries in the MENA region. They get destroyed. I'll give you some examples. 

9) Egypt. 1948 - 75,000 Jews. 2024 - 30 Jews.

10) Lebanon. 1948 - 9,000 Jews. 2024 - 20 Jews.

11) Syria. 1948 - 15,000 Jews. 2024 - 4 Jews.

12) Yemen. 1948 - 55,000 Jews. 2024 - 1 Jew.

13) Iraq. 1948 - 156,000 Jews. 2024 - 1 Jew.

14) Iran. 1948 - 150,000 Jews. 2024 - 8,750 Jews (under the strict control of the Iranian regime).

15) Libya. 1948 - 40,000 Jews. 2024 - No Jews.

16) Algeria. 1948 - 150,000 Jews. 2024 - 150 Jews,

17) Tunisia. 1948 - 105,000 Jews. 2024 - 1,500 Jews.

18) Morocco. 1948 - 270,000 Jews. 2024 - 2,000 Jews.

19) The anti-Zionist narrative is that this mass Exodus was the fault of the Zionists, who created Israel. No Israel, goes the refrain, and all those communities would still be there.

This ignores a very simple point. 

20) In every single one of these countries, to a greater or lesser extent, Israel’s independence was followed by significant repression of local Jewish populations.

Every one. 

21) Remind me, what’s the way to describe holding members of an ethnic or racial group responsible for what other members of that group may have done elsewhere?

22) By doing so - oppressing the local Jewish population via pogroms, repressive laws, denying Jewish people full citizenship, confiscation of land and property - these MENA countries made a more effective argument for Zionism than Israel ever could have done by itself. 

23) What that said, very clearly, was that Jews as a minority in a MENA country lived there strictly on sufferance. That at any time they could be deprived of everything - including their lives.

This had been clear pre-Zionism too, but the reaction post-'48 put the seal on this.

24) Which brings us back to now. The one-state Palestine being dreamt of is one where, at best, Jews will be allowed to live as a minority. 

25) I put it to you that the experience of more than half of Israel’s Jewish population - descended from those who had to leave MENA countries, means that they *know* what the end result of such a Palestine will be.

A land without Jews. 

26) This, by the way, given most Israeli Jews now are descendants of MENA Jews is also why the “post-colonial” depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as some sort of “white vs brown” battle is so utterly brainless. And that’s before we discuss Israel’s many Ethiopian Jews. 

27) I’ve gone on too long, I know, but just one final point. If the anti-Israel protestors really wanted to assure Jews - all Jews - that there would be a real future for Jews in their hoped for future one-state Palestine - they would be doing their best to engage with Zionists. 

28) They would be saying “Zionism is an ideology built on numerous examples - in MENA and in Europe - that Jews are, in the long term, only safe in their own country. Let us show you that this isn’t necessarily the case. Let’s talk. Find common ground. Try for friendships.” 

29) Instead Zionists are told they are Nazis. The same age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish control are applied to “Zionists”. “Zionists” are excluded from the Community of the Good. 

30) Congratulations! 

You’ve just proved every single Jewish Zionist’s point for them - and you’ve helped create new ones. In a very similar way to those MENA countries post 1948. 

*Thread ends* 

[whatswrongwithblue]

The Fire in the Sin

Chapter 26 - The Show Must Go On

Word count: 9,332. Read on AO3. Series Masterlist. <- Previous Chapter

Summary: the battle and the consequences

Series Summary

In the 1950's, Alastor met the woman he would eventually marry but unfortunately his Radio Demon persona went for her soul rather than her hand. He has to learn what it means to love, and cherish, without possessing and he does. Their relationship is beautiful, strong, unbreakable . . . but he carries a dark secret through their marriage for decades until eventually he has to face the consequences of that secret and leave her, without warning, for seven years. He returns, finding her at the Hazbin Hotel, and has to convince her to forgive him, while being literally bound to secrecy, unable to tell her any of things he now is desperate to explain to her.

(This is a duel timeline fic, timestamps will be a the top of every chapter.)

Chapter 26 - The Show Must Go On

Alastor was a master of hiding his true feelings and intentions. Since his return, he had often relied on that skillset to manipulate his way through the workings of the hotel, to twist and turn his guidance of Charlie where he needed, and to charm others into trusting that his presence there would be of their benefit. It wasn’t necessarily untrue though it also wasn’t explicitly honest of him to allow them all to believe what they did of him.

However, on the morning of the extermination, there was no need to pretend away any of his feelings. His glee, his absolute eagerness to see those angels descend upon the hotel, allowed him to express himself in an open and true way that he usually had to reserve for his private moments alone with Mina.

His wife was also an open book, though she was more anxious than he was. She gripped onto the ledge in front of her, watching as her friends battled with the few angels that had made their way to the hotel before Alastor’s shield had been raised.

Mina was the very image of beauty that morning. It was rare to see her in anything but her usual attire and he had to admit, he rather liked her in pants. The tight black trousers and long sleeved orange shirt hugged her figure and gave her a grace and agility her preferred dress could never achieve. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with side braids that laced just beneath her ears. After seeing her show off her improved fighting style with her spar against Vaggie the day before, Alastor kept looking over at her with a rekindled appreciation for her hidden strengths. Mina was always such a petite, unassuming person that it was easy to forget, even for himself, how positively deadly she could be.

So far, her worry over their safety appeared to be needless. The small army from cannibal town seemed to be holding their own, the hotel residents were doing quite well for themselves, and Mina’s friends from The Pit were demolishing any angel that came near them. It was easy, effortless work, with sheer numbers and preparations on their side, where the angels were separated from the rest of their army and had vastly underestimated what they were up against.

Alastor still wasn’t worried when his shields fell.

It was of little consequence if he had to face Adam, in fact, a part of him had been looking forward to the thrilling challenge of it.

Mina had turned to him as soon as it happened, reluctant to follow through with what she had agreed to.

“Go,” Alastor told her, gesturing towards the next wave of angels that were nearly on the people down below. “They need you far more than I do.”

“If you die, I’ll never forgive you,” she said, giving him one last hard look, before stepping through a portal and leaving him alone on the roof of the hotel.

For the first time, he was truly grateful for their seven years apart. He was sure if she hadn’t experienced the pain of it, hadn’t had to dig through the remains of her heart and find the strength to face what he had put her through, she wouldn’t have been able to follow through with leaving him to face Adam alone.

And even afterward, when everything had gone terribly wrong, he still didn’t regret his decision to make her leave his side. He had just barely survived the blow from that terrible weapon of Adam’s and he was certain that Mina wouldn’t have been able to do the same. And if she died, every last shred of goodness still left inside of him would die with her.

No, it simply wouldn’t be allowed to come to that. She was far safer and more useful to his cause down below, keeping Charlie safe and fighting exterminators of a less impressive caliber than the one he was now staring down.

____

Mina stepped out of her portal and into chaos.

She had a moment to look back up towards the hotel and catch a glimpse of Adam in his white and golden robes flying lower, clearly headed towards Alastor, before an exterminator was on her. Just in time, she lifted her spear and blocked the attack, throwing the angel off balance and smashing the blunt end of her spear into the other woman’s mask, knocking her to the ground and impaling her through the chest hard enough that Mina had to put her weight into yanking the spear out, its tip having lodged itself into the concrete beneath the angel’s back.

Her head tilted to the side as she considered her fallen enemy. The woman’s mask was shattered, the insulting demonic visage sputtering as the imagery failed, though her true face was still hidden from Mina. After a couple gurgled breaths, the angel went limp. Mina bent down and grabbed her spear, happy to now be duel wielding them, and kicked the dead angel in the head as she stepped away from her. She’d always hated those fucking masks.

Vaggie was glued to Charlie’s side so Mina kept nearer to her comrades from The Pit, though she kept one eye on the couple in case something were to happen to Vaggie and Charlie needed the added protection. She had promised Alastor she would keep her safe and though Charlie was more powerful than anyone else there that day, Mina wasn’t confident in the princess’s ability to understand and wield that power just yet.

She watched as Astra used her chameleon powers to camouflage herself in the darkest recesses of the battle ground before striking out with simple yet devastating strikes of her spear. Fae and Lilah were the very images of grace, their hyper feminine forms making them look more like they were doing a ballet rather than fighting to the death, if it weren’t for the splatters of gold blood on their features. Alina was in her full demonic visage, a terrifying giant bat, her large leather wings allowing her an ariel advantage. The angels were not used to having victims that fought back and they were extra poor at defense when airborne. Any of them that tried to attack the hotel residents from above was met with Alina’s perfect combinations of angelic spear and the wide gaping maw of her hungry mouth. Kaden and Silva were mostly fighting amongst the cannibals, their own fighting style less refined than that of the others but more brutal, and their high-pitched cackles echoed through the courtyard, even over the din of the battle around them.

Mina wasn’t keeping track of how many angels she had taken down. She had joked with Angel the night before that they should make a competition of it, like Legolas and Gimli, but he hadn’t gotten the reference. Her spear sank into the gut of an oncoming exterminator and it didn’t exit out her back so Mina twisted the spear and pulled it sideways and out, leaving a gaping hole in the angel’s torso.

That had to have been at least a dozen.

Something whizzed past her ears and half a second later a large explosion came from a few feet behind her. She turned behind her to see Husk with his hand still midair, having just thrown a card and sending her would be attacker into a box of empty crates stacked at the side of the courtyard.

Mina gave Husk a small smile of appreciation before turning on the angel that was now getting up from where she had landed, shoving a crate off herself with a disgusted grunt.

The angelic steel-edged axe Mina had been eyeing the morning before was strapped to her hip and she dropped one spear to reach for it, eyeing it almost lovingly as she tossed it once in her grip before the handle settled into her palm, perfectly balanced, and she pulled her arm back and threw it. Her aim was true and the axe landed with a satisfying crunch in the middle of the angel’s face.

“FUCKING BULLSEYE! FUCK YEAH BITCH!” Cherri’s voice shouted from several feet away before the blonde set a stream of bombs flying over Mina’s head and into the next oncoming surge of angels.

Mina smiled, taking in a long deep, open-mouthed breath, savoring the sweet smell of golden blood all around her.

This was going well.

A moment later, Mina’s confidence was shattered as she saw a great flash of gold lightning from the corner of her eye and turned to see Vaggie and Charlie thrown to the ground.

“SUCK MY HOLY LIGHT, FUCKERS!”

Adam.

“-but Alastor was supposed to handle him. Oh no, he must be- ”

Charlie’s voice had said out loud what Mina had been thinking. Before she could process anything, she was stepping through a portal and back on the roof of the hotel.

“ALASTOR!” she screamed, running around the rooftop, looking for any signs of him.

She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, and her feline olfactory senses picked up the sharp metallic tang she knew so well. Mina was familiar with the unique smell of Alastor’s blood, had tasted it on her own lips, and delighted in the way his scent strengthened every time she drew it from his body. It was a smell she associated with desire and pleasure, of their most intimate moments together. It was hardly something she was used to associating with danger and dread but that was what the scent was making her feel now.

Mina chased the smell across the rooftop and found a disturbing amount of it splashed onto the floor of the rooftop. She knew from experience that blood spilled from a body always appeared to be far greater in volume than what was true, but from the pattern of it and the deep crimson color, it looked to have been spilled quickly and from an incredibly deep wound.

But there wasn’t a trail of blood leading away and there was no body.

Mina squeezed her eyes shut, holding closed fists to them as she felt the sting of tears and the crushing grip of panic threatening to spill out of her. Her chin quivered and she grimaced but she still forced herself to keep it together for a little while longer.

His shadow could have moved him. Conscious or unconscious, it would have been able to get Alastor to safety and there would have been little Adam could do it to stop it. She knew this and held tightly to the hope that no matter how badly he had been hurt, he would have gotten away.

But it was an angelic weapon that had hurt him. And there was so much blood.

Even if he had gotten to a safe place, he wouldn’t be able to heal from that kind of a wound.

Alastor could still bleed out and die before she ever got to him.

Maybe his shadow would come back after getting Alastor to safety. It would know he needed help and that she would be his best bet of getting it.

But Alastor had told her to stay by Charlie’s side. He had said she needed to keep her away from Adam. Maybe he wouldn’t send his shadow for her after all. She couldn’t imagine Alastor being that selfless of his own accord but if he had been forced to ask that of her because of his deal – she just didn’t know.

She didn’t know what to do.

Now panic’s beastly nature was truly digging its claws into her, making her lungs feel like they were being ripped from her chest and her heart bitten clean in two. She was frightened beyond belief, frozen in place by the fear that Alastor was dying and that she would utterly fail him in every way.

Two angels landed on the roof top just a few feet from her and suddenly the blinding white mask of panic was lifted from her eyes and in its place, the burning red of fury.

Mina screamed as she let her rage and despair burst out of her, her fists consumed in golden fire that she sent in a torrent across the rooftop that completely engulfed the angels and within seconds they were nothing but smoldering blackened bodies lying on the ground.

The flames had caught Adam’s attention and she made eye contact with him the second he turned and looked at her.

“Well la-dee-fucking-dah bitch. Looks like someone’s been making friends with the bitch-ass loser squad you got running the place down here.”

“Where is he?!” she shouted at him and Adam’s smile grew wider.

“Let me guess, Mr. fucking jazz hands? Yeah, I sliced his ass in half. Sucks for you, bitch.”

He flew straight at her, his weapon held high over his head, and she let another scream tear out of her as she sent the biggest wave of fire she had ever seen at him.

The heat felt like it was going to boil her alive, she could feel the power pulling her inside out, like a taught string that started all the way down in her toes and threatened to tear her muscles from her bones and dislocate every joint in her body.

She kept the flames going as long as she could stand, a tornado of golden fire that could have burned an entire crowd of Sinners and leveled buildings.

When Mina could take it no longer, she dropped to her knees, her arms and head falling forward, and she gasped for air, trying to cool down her overheated and feverish body.

Laughter was the first thing she registered and she lifted her gaze back up, blinking in confusion.

Adam was hovering in the sky. His robes had a singular spot of soot on them but he was otherwise completely untouched.

It wasn’t possible.

She had seen what her fire had done to the other angels. Adam may have been the first man but he was still a human soul. The kind of fire she just wielded should have been enough to take out the likes of Lilith. Even Abaddon and Lucifer would have been hurt by it.

The other exterminators may not have come prepared, but Heaven had clearly imbued Adam with powers far stronger than he should have had.

“Awwww, what’s the matter? Not hot enough for ya? I bet I can spice things up!”

He slashed his weapon out in front of him, sending a beam of light her way. Mina got to her feet and just barely dodged it, watching as it hit the edge of the roof and sent a corner of concrete and brick falling to the ground several stories below.

We’re all going to die.

Alastor’s shadow did not seem to be coming back for her, which may mean he was very likely already dead.

There was no way she could fulfill her promise and keep this man away from Charlie.

But she wouldn’t die with his annoying fucking laughter ringing in her ears.

Mina felt her body morph, her hands and feet morphing into gigantic clawed paws, her face elongated into that of a hideous demonic feline predator, and took a running sprint towards the ledge of the roof.

She jumped, her front feet catching the edge, with her back feet landing between them a second later, and she kicked off with all her strength, and reached her long front legs out towards the angel.

A moment later, his laughter finally cut short as her claws and teeth found robes and flesh. Mina dug in with all her inhuman strength, and tasted the mouthwatering sweet flavor of angelic blood. But it was only a little.

In this form she would have been able to bite a Sinner clean in two but she could barely puncture his skin.

”Ow! Owww! Oww you fucking bitch! Let go of me you cunt!”

He was putting in every effort just to keep them from going into a freefall, her massive weight dragging them slowly downwards as his wings struggled to keep him airborne. Luckily for her, in his distraction, his deadly angelic weapon was forgotten as he squirmed and shrieked under her grasp.

She should have brought one of her spears, held between her teeth as she leapt, but she had been consumed with rage and exhausted from her attempt with the fire and not thinking clearly.

Even in this form, Mina was exhausted and losing her grip on Adam. He was tiny compared to her and the only thing holding her up, and she couldn’t dig her claws and teeth in like she had expected to be able to. With every difficult, struggling flap of his wings, she was jostled and slipping lower, leaving pathetic little tears in his robes as she did so.

But at least he wasn’t laughing anymore.

With some unseen strength and momentum, Adam was able to spin midair and remember his weapon, hitting her with the flat side of it and knocking the wind out of her. It didn’t slice her skin or leave any kind of lethal wound, but she still felt her ribs crack under the impossible force of it, and her grip faltered.

As she fell, she heard Charlie’s voice cry out her name. She looked up and saw Sir Pentious’s war machine being blown to bits.

She turned midair, her cat-like sense of direction instinctually kicking in and making her fall feet first. Even in the last couple seconds she had as the ground rushed towards her, she knew she wouldn’t make it through the impact in one piece. When the loan sharks had come for Mimzy, she had made the jump of just a few stories but Adam had them at a height far greater than that of the entire hotel. In all her years in Hell, she had yet to be injured bad enough to die and respawn but she thought she might get the opportunity now.

In the very last second, she saw a movement of black streaking across the ground below. It was Alastor’s shadow. It had come back for her and it was racing towards her now, putting in every bit of speed and power into reaching its form off the ground in order to stop her fall.

It reached her too late.

____

Charlie watched helpless as Mina’s leopard form hit the ground with a thunderous boom of cracking asphalt and shattering bones. She ran to her side as unconscious and near death, her body formed back into that of a petite black-haired woman, her limbs twisted unnaturally and blood pooling out from beneath her head.

She cried out Mina’s name, afraid to touch her, unaware of Vaggie covering for her and holding off more exterminators as she knelt beside her friend.

Charlie then watched as two black hands reached up from the ground and ever so tenderly wrapped themselves around Mina. A pair of glowing green eyes and an equally illuminated smile peered at the princess from behind Mina’s shoulders, and Charlie pulled away, afraid at first but then quickly understanding what was happening. She nodded to Alastor’s shadow, although it clearly wasn’t asking for her permission, and then they were both gone.

____

Alastor had stayed in his shadow realm for as long as he could allow before his shadow had dumped him in front of the ruins of his radio tower and left. He could only assume – hope – that it went to go find Mina.

Losing, especially as devastatingly as he had, had not been in the cards for him. It had been a grave miscalculation, and one he could not afford to make again. He had told Mina he had back up plans to his back up plans and that was true. A last minute escape plan for himself was something he always had in place, he just never expected to have come so close to death to have to use it.

Once inside the safety of the tower, he bent over double, coming to terms with the wound across his torso and the inevitability of what his failure meant. He was bleeding out, shivering from the chill the blood loss was causing, and wrinkling his nose at the stench of death that was surrounding him. And without him present at the battle, Charlie would go straight for Adam – and that meant Lucifer would be free to intervene.

Alastor had barely escaped with his life, but he imagined, with quite a bit of reluctance, that Lucifer would have no problems disposing of Adam. It would make him look weak and vulnerable in comparison and that would just be the start of his problems with Lucifer’s presence.

Uuggghhh

He grimaced as he pulled his hands away from the shredded remains of his jacket, taking in the bloody mess on his palms.

One problem at a time.

If only his shadow would hurry up. He could really use Mina’s help stitching up this mess.

As if on cue, he felt his shadow’s return and turned around to see the crumbled mess that was Mina’s body on the floor as his shadow remained attached to her rather than coming back to join its master.

Despite his dire wound and the dizziness brought on by a lack of blood, Alastor moved quickly, albeit clumsily, over to where Mina lay and fell to his knees in front of her.

She was a mess. Limbs twisted in unnatural angles and her hair matted with blood from a terrible wound at the side of her head. He could hear her breathing; raspy and gurgling, like each intake of air was a struggle against lungs full of blood.

His shadow stretched out beneath her and connected him to her, allowing Alastor to take full stock of her injuries.

Ankles and wrists were completely shattered. Several fractures along each long bone in her limbs. Dislocated hips and shoulders. Broken ribs with punctures lungs. But the worst was her head trauma. One temple was crushed in, causing swelling on her brain. If she were still alive . . . well, she’d be dead already. But since she was already graced by death, she would be fine. She wouldn’t even have to respawn; her body was already healing. It would take time, and she would be unconscious for the next several hours, but she would live.

Alastor felt a rage like nothing he had ever known burn up inside him. Not even when Kassandra had tortured her body and taken over her mind had he felt so insulted. Not even when he had been made to leave her for years did he feel this disgustingly helpless. For someone to encroach upon what was his in such a defiling manner went far beyond what he could tolerate.

And the very worst part about it all was that there wasn’t a God damn fucking thing he could do about it but be patient and watch over her while she healed.

Alastor brushed a lock of black hair that had come loose from her braids away from her face and let his fingers trace down her pale cheek before his hand fell away from her. As he stared down at the one precious thing he allowed himself to keep close to his heart since his mother’s death, he felt a mad sense of determination take over him.

I’m hungry for freedom like never before.

It was so clear to him now that he had made his deal in haste; that there were consequences he couldn’t have ever imagined when he had made it and now Mina was bearing the brunt of his poor decisions.

She wasn’t supposed to have happened.

Love.

It had been the last thing he had thought capable of happening to him and yet here it was, crushing him, the weight of it unbearable, and also the greatest, most wonderful part of his long and suffering existence.

He watched his shadow slink away from him and to his utter astonishment, slip inside of Mina. All at once her body seemed a little more whole, her limbs pulled back just a few more inches towards normalcy. It wasn’t just joined with her – a feat he thought it incapable of doing with anyone but himself – but it was like it was helping hold her together. Not only was the display of its power a shock to him but the fact that it was willing to do that for Mina, without Alastor commanding it to, was the biggest surprise of the day.

Even it understood the importance of her.

Well, that was . . . interesting, to say the least. Alastor wondered what the person who held his chain would have to say about that. Mina was such an integral part of his soul that even his shadow could – no, wanted ­- to be joined with her. Maybe it was part of the deal they made with each other when they were married. Or maybe it really was just the power of love. Who was to say?

When his chest wasn’t nearly ripped in half, he would allow himself a good petty laugh about that.

Take care of her.

He sent the thought towards his dark companion and stepped away to stitch himself up while he waited for her to recover. It wouldn’t do to have Mina heal and wake up to find herself a widow.

____

The first thing she was aware of was singing.

In the dark of her unconscious state, with no body to feel other than a distant dull pain, there was little else but the sound of Alastor’s voice soothing her few remaining senses and keeping her calm.

So hold your breath

And bite your tongue

My love

I will hold you til’ the morning comes

The night is young

And the darkness long

But my love

I will hold you til’ the morning comes

It was her lullaby but made anew by his unique voice and radio static affect. She tried to move towards the sweet sound of it but she remained motionless in the black. His voice was everywhere but drifting away and try as she might to strain her ears, she couldn’t triangulate which direction the singing was coming from.

Alastor.

She sent his name out into the abyss, a desperate cry for him to stay, but his voice abruptly stopped. Silence rang in her ears and the darkness swallowed her up.

_____

Pentragram City was laid out in front of her, it’s skyscrapers and city streets lit up even in the earliest hours of the morning.

The color of the red tinted city scape was exaggerated by the large glass windows she was looking through. It was a different city, and from a different vantage point, than what she was used to seeing and yet still very familiar.

This was Alastor’s radio tower. His real one.

Their home.

“What year is it?”

She heard Alastor shift behind her and turned to find him on his couch, stretched out in nothing but his bathrobe and a pair of black boxers with little red deer skulls and antlers on them. He had a book in his hands and he set it open on his chest as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What a peculiar question, my love. And what are you doing up this early?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“You seem to be sleeping just fine.”

“I guess I am, but it doesn’t feel right.”

“Come here, ma cher.”

She stepped away from the window and walked over to him, her bare feet almost silent across the smooth floor. She was wearing an old pair of sleepwear she hadn’t seen in years, a button up silk shirt and matching emerald shorts. There was no wedding band on her finger and judging by the state of the city, this was either the late 1970’s or the very early 80’s.

Mina sprawled across Alastor, letting her body settle between his legs and her head on his chest as he wrapped her in his embrace and began stroking her hair.

“I miss this,” she said.

“You still have this.”

“No, it’s not the same. I miss our life. Our home.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and she felt his chest rise and fall with a gentle sigh that betrayed his own sadness. “I suppose you’re tired of hearing me say things will work out eventually.”

She said nothing for a moment, just listened to the sound of his heart beating beneath her ears. She was tired of hearing it but she also needed his reassurance more than ever.

“I need to wake up,” she said, and tried to rise.

His arms tightened around her.

“Eventually yes. After all, company in coming. But right now you need to rest.”

“What’s going to happen next?”

“All in due time, my dear. All in due time.”

____

The darkness wasn’t as deep this time. She could make out a reddish haze and see the swirling shadows move around her. But the pain was much closer now, an ache she tried in vain to pull away from but it only made the pain bloom brighter, blinding her against all else, so she stopped trying to move.

Alastor.

She tried to scream his name and felt nothing but a breath of air escape her lips.

Hush now.

Alastor?

A deep, soft chuckle.

Yes and no.

Who are you?

I am more than Alastor. I am less than Alastor. I am him and he is me but we are not one and the same.

You’re his shadow?

Ah yes, that is what you call me. That is accurate enough for now.

I didn’t know you could talk.

I cannot. I am sending you images, feelings, . . . impressions. Your mind is turning them to words.

How?

I believe it is a consequence of being immensely . . . brain damaged. You’re hallucinating. But my presence is very real.

You’re inside of me? Why? How?

Because you need me. And he needs you. So this is where I must be.

I saw you watching us last night. While we were making love. Why were you doing that?

Another laugh.

That is what you wish to speak of while I’m keeping your brain matter from seeping out your skull like a boiling over pot of rice pudding?

It must be the brain damage.

A moment of silence and Mina thought it had left her.

I was curious.

Do you love me?

It was a childish thought and still it escaped her mind, her thoughts unable to be hidden in this in-between state.

She felt a shift in the shadows and got the impression that it was considering her question.

I alone can not feel love. Alastor loves you. I . . . am drawn to you.

Is Alastor going to die?

He is already dead.

You know what I mean!

She tried to move again, felt her face twitch, her eyebrows pinching together for a moment. She was waking up, she was almost there. The pain was unbearable but if she could just get her eyes to open-

A frustrated sigh and a force tightening around her, keeping her still and dulling her pain. It was heavy and immovable but comforting, like an infant being swaddled.

He will be there when you wake. I will be here while you sleep.

____

The sound of ocean waves came first and then the emotions; absolute bliss, happiness and peace beyond what she had ever experienced.

Mina blinked and she was lying naked on a beach, the sky a blend of deep orange at the horizon and midnight blue overhead, with a few star constellations already in view.

This was the pocket dimension Alastor had given her as a wedding gift.

Her smile split her face and she rolled onto her back, enjoying the warmth of the sand beneath her naked body, and began laughing.

She was high as a fucking kite.

Alastor shifted next to her, pressing his face into the side of hers, and kissing her cheek as he joined her in her laughter. He was as naked as she was, his body even softer and warmer than the sand.

“I want to be inside of you,” he whispered in her ears once he stopped laughing.

She remembered this night well.

1994. They had each taken a large dose of molly and laid under the stars all night. It was one of her happiest, most intimate memories of Alastor and they hadn’t even had sex that night. Just laid naked and pressed to each other, talking about how wonderful their lives were and basking in each other’s love.

She giggled some more, running her hand down the expanse of his scarred chest.

“You’re not even hard right now, love,” she teased.

“Not like that,” he said with a chuckle and a role of his eyes.

She knew what would come next, remembered this moment in perfect clarity, and let herself be completely immersed in reliving this wonderful night.

“I want to be as close to you as possible,” he said. “I never want to feel anything but you. I want you to hold me, and touch me, and surround me, and never let me go. Everything else makes me feel so poorly but not you so if I’m inside of you all the time, I’ll always feel good.”

His ineloquent words made perfect sense to her drugged-out mind. As silly as he sounded, and stupid as the dopey smile on his face was, it seemed like the sweetest thing in the world to be told.

“Then hold tight and never let me go,” she had said, rolling back over on her side to face him, curling her smaller body into his.

“I already tried that.”

His voice had lost all its joy. That wasn’t right, she didn’t remember this part.

“Alastor?” she questioned, sitting up so she could look down on him.

He sat up with her and she watched in horror as his chest began to split open, a gaping bleeding wound that looked like it would cleave him in two.

“But fret not, my love,” he said and as the words left him, stitches began to loop through his lips, pulling on his skin and making them bleed as he continued to try and speak to her. “This is not where this ends.”

____

You have a rather dark imagination.

I’ve heard that before.

I told you Alastor will be fine and yet you continue to worry.

Oh sorry, I’ll just turn off my feelings then.

You are being sarcastic.

No shit Sherlock.

Alastor often says the same thing about his feelings but I don’t think it’s with sarcasm.

That sounds like him.

You sound bitter. But it’s how he survived the last seven years.

Good for him.

There is someone else in here with us. Someone who brought you even more pain than he did.

I don’t want to talk about it.

But you’re thinking about her.

Am not.

Have it your way. I’d prefer you to stay asleep anyway.

Kinky.

There was no response except for a deeply annoyed sigh.

____

“Margarette.”

Mina turned from the waves crashing against the rocky cliffside view that had been just a short walk away from her childhood home and was surprised to find her sister standing behind her.

“You should have stayed here,” said the younger woman and Mina took a moment to study her.

They were both spitting images of their mother; hair the color of a wheatfield at sunset, sapphire blue eyes, with small rounded faces and button noses. The only feature they had inherited from their redheaded father was the smattering of freckles across their noses, cheek bones, and shoulders.

“It’s been a long time since I dreamed of you,” Mina said.  

“You ruined your life.”

“I saved my life.”

“You killed everything you ever touched.”

“Because everything that touched me wanted me dead.”

“And now you’re in Hell.”

“And now I can finally live.”

Her sister crossed her arms, a defiant and proud look to her features that Mina wanted to slap away. She never used to look at her that way. Before, her sister had always seen the best in Mina. But then they’d grown up, as only the luckiest children get to do, and her sister had found her own happiness and had no more room in her heart for Mina’s suffering.

“Why do you hate Heaven so much?” her sister asked.

“Because I love Hell.”

“Then you really are beyond saving.”

Mina stormed towards her sister, her fist clenched at her side.

“Hell gave me a life worth living. A real family that understands me and cares for me. Hell gave me love, a man who knows me for what I really am and neither fears me nor feels the need to control me. I got everything I ever wanted and never found in life when I went to Hell and all Heaven sees when they look at us down there is a threat when all we want is to be left alone!”

“Do you have any idea what will happen now? What it is you’ve started?”

Lightning flashed above them, followed by a clap of thunder that shook the ground beneath them.

They both looked up at the sky, full of angry rolling clouds that seemed to be much lower than before. They swirled and twisted, almost as if they were reaching down for them.

“Company is coming,” her sister said, looking back at her.

“I know,” Mina said, her eyes still stuck on the storm.

“They’ll choose Heaven, you do know that right? When the time comes, they’ll choose to go home.”

Mina frowned, confused at what her sister meant, but when she looked away from the clouds and back at her, she was gone.  

____

Was it worth it?

Yes.

How can you say that? Even now. We almost died.

We are already dead.

You left me.

We are here now.

What made it worth it? What was worth bargaining for that made his deal worth it?

Alastor.

I don’t understand.

Alastor was worth it.

You’re making less sense than him!

Would you have Alastor as anything more or less than what he is?

What does that have to do with his deal?

No response.

No, she finally relented.

Then you already know it was worth it.

What is going to happen now?

What has to be done.

____

Mina opened her eyes.

She blinked slowly, taking in the blurry images around her, managing to turn her head side to side despite the awful stiffness of her neck and shoulders.

Everything was a wreck. Windows shattered, furniture tossed around, large cracks ran up the wall, and everything seemed to be at the wrong angle. It made her head spin with vertigo as she tried to get her bearings.

Mina groaned as she sat up, feeling her body weak and trembling with the effort. Her bones, having freshly pulled themselves together, creaked and popped with the effort, but stayed in their proper places. Besides her splitting headache and nausea, the worst part was the stiffness. She felt like she was underwater, her limbs barely responding to the commands of her damaged nervous system, and her muscles suffering from whiplash severe enough to make her feel like she had literally been run over by a bus.

Or fallen from the sky.

“You gave me quite the fright,” Alastor’s voice called to her from across the room. She turned in that direction and saw him with his back turned to her, his jacket discarded to the side, as he seemed to be focused on something in front of him.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, just enough for her to see the glow of his eyes and the wide strain of his smile. His silhouette against the low red light coming through the window betrayed him, showing how tightly his long ears were pinned back. “How are you feeling?”

She tried to laugh and coughed instead, grimacing as the motion pulled on her still tender rib cage. “Like I could take on the world.”

His shadow pulled out from beneath her and danced across the wall as it let its master reclaim it. It connected itself at Alastor’s feet, though it stayed stretched out and visible along the floor.

Alastor turned to look at it and raised an eyebrow as if considering something it had said.

“Someone doesn’t find your sarcastic nature very amusing,” he said after a moment.

Mina slowly got to her feet, wobbling a bit and leaned on the wall for a few seconds before she righted herself.

“Funny. It seemed to me like it was having a grand ol’ time sneaking around my thoughts.”

It was then she noticed his broken microphone laying in two pieces on the floor next to him. Her head spun as she tried to make her way over to him, her concussed state struggling terribly to make sense of the tilted nature of the room they were in.

“Al’,” she choked out, stumbling towards him as she tried to process what she was seeing. “What happened. Wh-what- . . . you’re microphone . . . what does this mean?”

“I’m honestly not sure, my dear,” he said, still turned away from her. “I’ll have to deal with that later. Right now, I have a bigger, more imminent problem.”

She noticed then the severity of his tone of voice, the barely hidden pain as he spoke through gritted teeth, and the sharp intake of breath he took every few moments.

As she came around to the side of his chair, stepping carefully around his broken staff, she gasped as she took in the sight of him.

He had managed to stitch up most of it, but there was a gash from hip to opposite shoulder that looked like it went quite deep across the middle. The stitches were the same magical illuminated green as the ones she had seen on his mouth, which normally would have intrigued her more, if she wasn’t so concerned about the severity of the wound she was looking at.

Alastor allowed her to pull back his unbuttoned shirt, exposing the part of the gash high up on his shoulder that still wasn’t stitched up. Though a bit of blood was still seeping through the rest of the stitches, this part was flowing freely, soaking his shirt and leaving a wide path of red down his ribs and all the way to top of his trousers.

She met his eyes and saw the embarrassed, frantic look in them.

“I need your help,” he whispered, looking to the side in shame. “I can’t . . . I can’t reach the last part.”

“Okay,” she said softly and then gestured at his lap. “May I sit?”

His smile spread although there was still no humor in it.

“My darling, when have I ever denied you that privilege?”

Mina didn’t respond, thinking of the many times he had done just that, and took her seat, taking the needle from his hand. It shook in her grasp, either from the shock of seeing him in such a state or from her still healing concussion, she couldn’t know, but she braced the side of her hand against Alastor to steady it before threading the needling through one side of the wound to the other, pulling the green string through as she did.

Alastor hissed in pain as she did so, instinctually flinching as the string slid through his flesh.

“Sorry, love,” she said. “Pain inflicted by someone else always hurts worse than when it’s self-inflicted, so these last few stitches are going to be even more unpleasant than what you’ve already experienced.”

“Spoken like a true professional torturer.”

She side-eyed him.

“Do ya want my help?” she said, her accent unusually thick as she struggled to keep her stress at a manageable level.

His ears pinned back tighter and once again, he looked away.

“Please,” he relented.

An idea came to her then and as she cut the string and tied the stitch, she began to sing.

If you fall I’ll stand beneath you

I’ll wrap your wounds and kiss you tender

Rip my heart out still warm and beating

To place between your ribs if yours falters

Your sweet embrace

Has made a monster of me

I can not live, I can not speak

In a world where you cease to be

Can you feel me where you are

Are you torn and bleeding too

Do the skies cry wherever you’ve gone

With rain that burns, more black than blue

Well my love, what can I do

I can not save what is missing from here

I cannot die for what’s already gone

So I’ll hunt for you for many more years

My love for you

Has made a beast of me

I cannot live, I cannot breathe

In a world where you cease to be

Your love for me

Has left this creature in me

It cannot live, it will not leave

In this world where you’ve ceased to be

She tied the last stitch and used a rag to clean away most of the blood from his skin, though some of it was so dried she decided to leave it for now, rather than risk pulling on the stitches in an effort to rub away the little mess left behind.

Once she was done, Mina leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the now closed wound, feeling the stiches poke at her lips as she did so.

Alastor blinked, coming out of the lull she had sung him into, and tilted his head at her.

“What was that for?” he asked and she smiled at him.

“Kissing it to make it better,” she teased.

“That can’t be sanitary.”

Mina reached a hand behind his head and pulled his forehead down as she leaned forward and kissed him between the eyes. His body was stiff against her, the large stitched up wound making any kind of movement of his torso difficult, but he leaned into her embrace as much as he could.

She felt her chin begin to quiver as she held him. Now that she no longer had a task to focus on, the dam she had built up around her emotions was threatening to break.

Mina had never seen Alastor so defeated; so broken and near death. It frightened her, and what was worse was that she could see that paralyzing fear reflected back at her whenever she looked at him.

He was scared. She didn’t even know Alastor could be scared.

No one had ever managed to hurt him like this, at least not that she knew of. But here he was in her arms, barely having escaped being killed by a hair. His body nearly as cut in half as his microphone was.

The first sob broke free and Alastor brought a hand to her back, pulling her head towards his uninjured shoulder.

“Mina.” His tone was low as he said her name, free of the static and the accent he used to cover up his natural voice. “Mo chagren, ma cher.” I’m sorry, my dear. “You were never supposed to get hurt.”

She shook her head slightly, sniffing back her tears, and pressed her face into the fabric of his shirt.

“What about you? That weapon of Adam’s, what did it do to you?”

“Nothing I won’t recover from, I promise.” His voice was back to his normal radio persona and she felt his shields sliding into place, hiding away his vulnerable state, even from her.

She sat back and frowned at him.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said, repeating his own words from the night before.

Mina didn’t like the look in his eyes. There was still so much fear there, and desperation, and a deep seeded rage that she knew she could only see the surface of. She had never seen him in such a state; not when he had his panic attack over her leaving him, not when Kassandra had nearly ruined her, and not even when he and Vox’s friendship fell apart.

“Oh, but I can assure you,” he said, his red eyes flashing brighter at her. “My every move from here on out will be figuring out a backdoor to my deal. It’ll set us both free of my mistakes. And after that, I will be the one pulling all the strings. You’ll see.”

His shadow stretched up along the wall, its face eager and claws stretched out long in anticipation. Mina looked at it and then back at Alastor and was reminded of the unease she had felt around him when they had first met. It wasn’t quite fear, but there was a level of apprehension growing in her chest as she pondered for the first time since his return, what his intentions going forward really were.

“Alastor, I just want you safe. As long as you’re here with me, I don’t care about the rest.”

He frowned at her, almost looking disgusted and moved to stand so she removed herself from his lap and let him walk away from her.

“You still don’t understand, but that’s okay, you will. You’ll see.” He was pacing now, agitated and still clearly in pain. His hand kept coming up to rub at the stitches and Mina realized she still needed to put bandages on it, but that thought was quickly pushed aside as she became more and more concerned about Alastor’s mental state.

“I want to. I’m trying to, love. Please don’t push me away right now.”

He turned and looked at her, still scowling but his smile stretched even wider when his eyes landed on hers.

Mina felt a coolness wrap around her shoulders and turned her head to see his shadow’s face next to hers, its long fingers caressing her skin as it smiled at her.

“Push you away?” he questioned and then laughed a dry, sardonic laugh that chilled her. “My darling wife, you and I are closer than we’ve ever been. And that’s good. We can use that to our benefit.”

His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head, studying her expression and clearly not liking what he saw there.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” she asked, her voice small.

“Like you’re afraid of me! Don’t . . . do not do that. Not now. Please, Mina- ”

His voice cracked and suddenly he was back in front of her, holding her again and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. She wasn’t scared of him, was she? How could she be scared of him when her instincts still told her to embrace him, to run her fingers through his hair like she was doing, to let him pull her in for a passionate, needful kiss like he was. She couldn’t fear what she still so desperately loved. Could she?

“I need you,” he said as he finally pulled away, allowing her a chance to catch her breath after such an intense kiss. “I love you.” His fingers tenderly traced the side of her head beneath her ears, where there was still a painful knot of swelling. His eyes followed the path of his fingers, shining brightly with a storm of emotions she couldn’t quite decipher.

“I love you, too. Of course I do. I love you more than anything. Come on, let’s finish getting you bandaged up, okay? We can talk about this later.” She was rubbing his arms, trying to soothe him, but he still looked like he was on the verge of panic.

“The hotel . . .” he tried to speak but instead all that came out with the tuning sound of a radio, the sound Mina had grown accustomed to hearing from him rather than answers or explanations. Whatever he was trying to tell her just now, he wasn’t allowed to. He sighed hard enough to raise his shoulders and then flinched from the pain the movement caused him. “Whatever I do next, it’ll be worth it. I swear. Charlie- ”

He was silenced by static again and she felt him tense beneath her hands.

“Ssshhh,” she said, her heart beating hard in her chest even as she continued to try and sooth him.

“Whatever comes next, whatever you find out, whatever I have to do- ”

“Alastor, please stop- ”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“I’m not. Sweetheart, I love you. Please sit down.”

“I will never hurt you. Please don’t be afraid of me.”

Mina paused, her mind sticking on the way he had emphasized his word choice.

He would never hurt her.

An idea came to her then and she wondered if she suddenly understood the source of his anxiety.

There were other people wrapped up in this that she cared about. Charlie, Angel Dust, Vaggie, Sir Pentious, and even Cheri Bomb. She actually liked them, respected them, and cared about them. They had become a part of her found family, as much as her friends from The Pit were. And she had suspected that Alastor was starting to feel the same. She knew he cared most for Niffty and far more for Husk than he would ever let on, but she had hoped he felt the same about the others. But what if he didn’t?

What if he thought they were worth disposing of, making collateral damage of, if it meant getting what he wanted?

What if, as much as she loved Alastor, The Radio Demon became the enemy of the people she cared about?

Could she stand by and let it happen?

What if it wasn’t fear for herself that she was feeling, but fear for others?

Alastor was right. He could tell she was afraid, even before she did.

She swallowed, telling herself she was jumping to conclusions, and made herself come back to the present moment.

Mina smiled weakly up at him and took his hand.

“I know you would never hurt me. Please, just calm down. Let me bandage you up, okay?”

He didn’t look completely convinced but he did finally do as she asked and sat back down in his chair and let her fret over his physical state for both their sakes.

As much as she tried to focus on what she was doing, Mina’s mind kept running away from her.

She knew this man. He was a killer, a powerful demon with a temper, yes, but she had also never seen him truly harm anyone that either of them cared about. Only people that they were convinced deserved it and she had reveled in being in proximity to that kind of power for so long she had forgotten what it was like to be on the wrong side of it.

Not to mention that for 70 years she had been kept blind to the fact that he had sold his soul.

And she had seen him use people as a means to his own ends before.

This new reality she was facing with Alastor was different from anything she could have prepared herself for. He was still her husband, still the same man that could make the rest of the world melt away with his embrace. And she believed him when he said he would never do anything to hurt her. Every part of him cherished her. Only her. And that might finally become a problem.

Because The Radio Demon?

The most powerful Overlord in Hell, now chained and gagged, having danced with death and barely made it out alive?

Mina couldn’t imagine a more unpredictable and dangerous beast.

Author’s Note: And that’s a wrap! Thank you to everyone who has followed along with this series. I know OC’s aren’t very popular fanfic reads but every single person who supported this story, both on AO3 and Tumblr, meant the world to me. Thank you for every kudo, like, reblog, and comment you all left me. I know season 2 feels like forever from now but I promise I will be back with the next installment after it comes out. I already have tons of ideas and a feeling for where I want to take Mina and Alastor’s story next, and I’m not afraid to break canon to do it, but I also want to see where Season 2 takes us before I solidify any plans. In the meantime, please enjoy a couple of bonus chapters I have coming out soon and check out my other Alastor x Reader stories. They were all pretty much inspired by ideas for this fic that I couldn’t quite fit into the narrative, but if you enjoy Mina x Alastor, you will like those stories as well.

@saccharine-nectarine @whoknowswhoiamtoday @redvexillum @visara-valentina @reath-solia

[morbidology]

It was shortly after 4AM the 4th of October, 2011, when the phone buzzed at the Kansas City, Missouri, 911 dispatch centre. The call was from a man named Jeremy Irwin, who reported he had returned home from work to find his ten-month-old baby daughter, Lisa Irwin, missing from her crib. His two sons were fast asleep, but Lisa was nowhere to be found.

Police responded to the family’s light-green ranch-style home in the northeast side of the city, and took statements from Lisa’s parents. According to her mother, Deborah Bradley, she had last seen Lisa when she put her to bed the night beforehand at 10:40PM when she put her into her crib.

Lisa’s father, Jeremy, told police he had come home from his late night shift as an electrician at about 4AM, shortly before he reported Lisa missing. As he entered the home, something immediately struck him as odd. Most of the lights were switched on, a window was open, and the front door was unlocked. After discovering that Lisa was missing, he also discovered that several cell phones were also missing.

Deborah later said: “They took her and took all of our phones so we couldn’t call anybody.” According to Jeremy and Deborah, it was three cell phones that had been stolen. Deborah recalled: “One wasn’t even working and was sitting up there next to the other ones. I was reprogramming all the numbers and all three of them were gone.”

By sunrise, more than 100 police officers had descended on the family home to begin in their search for Lisa. They scoured the deep woods behind her home, but there was no sign of Lisa or any evidence that could indicate what had happened to her. One theory that detectives considered almost immediately was that somebody had crept into the window and had taken Lisa. According to Capt. Steve Young: “Originally there was a window on the front of the house that appeared to be tampered with, that’s something they were looking at, but we’re not really sure if that’s the entry point or not.”

As the search continued, missing person reports were drafted up and printed. These described Lisa as standing at 30 inches tall and weighing between 26 and 30 pounds. She had blue eyes and blonde hair, and had two bottom teeth. When she went to bed the night before, she was dressed in purple shorts and a purple shirt with white kittens on it. The community came out in droves to help in the search for Lisa, even holding a vigil the night after she vanished.

Lisa’s disappearance dominated the local headlines, and it wasn’t long before a tip came in that appeared to be lucrative. According to a woman who lived in the same neighbourhood as the Irwin family, she had seen a man overnight carrying a baby up the street. While this tip was being investigated, another tip came in. According to a caller, they had seen a couple travelling with a baby who looked similar to Lisa. They were a middle-aged white couple driving an older model SUV at the Love’s Travel Stop at the intersection of Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 169.

Lisa’s parents cooperated with detectives, and they appeared on national television to plead for their daughter’s safe return. They firmly believed that somebody had entered their home that night and had taken their daughter. “We just want out baby back. Please bring her home,” pleaded Deborah. Jeremy begged that if anybody knew anything, “even the smallest bit of information” to reach out to detectives.

However, in a bizarre twist, shortly after their appearance on television, Captain Steve Young announced that Deborah and Jeremy had stopped cooperating with them. “They live in the house. They intimately have information about what’s going on,” he said.6 Deborah and Jeremy responded by accusing the police of suspecting them in their daughter’s disappearance.....

���𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞:

[hamsteriffic]

Miraculous Fandom Stats

Ao3 Wrap Up 2023

I don’t know if anyone has done this, I hope I don’t step on anyone’s toes. Here a wrap up for 2023 for Miraculous Ladybug!

This study only assesses the fanfics posted by the last update, so if there was an older fic that was from 2021 that was updated in 2023, this would be captured by this study.

📈 The data presented here is a snapshot of the Fandom on: 05 Jan 2024

🖤 Works posted to Ao3 in 2023

In 2023 there were 10,515 fanfics posted (including crossovers and all languages). The median word count per fanfic was 2,268 words. In general, each fic received 5 comments, 561 hits and 36 kudos (median).

A majority of fanfics were not crossovers (Fig 1). The peak of Ao3 posts for Miraculous Ladybug was in 2021 with a total of 11,350 fanfics. Fanfics with crossovers have had a steady rise in popularity from 2018 with a peak of 2,609 in 2021.

Fig 1. A total number of fanfics posted to Ao3 in 2023 for the Miraculous Ladybug fandom without crossovers (blue line) and with crossovers (dotted line).

Note that this analysis will excludes crossovers (a separate analysis to come!).

Fig 2. Total number of completed fanfics (red) and incomplete fanfics (pink) posted to Ao3 in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom for 2023 (excluding crossovers).

Fig 3. Total number of words per fic published or updated in 2023. The median word count per fanfic in 2023 was 2,268 words.

The most frequently used tags for 2023 were (in descending order):

Fluff (1495)

Angst (1040)

Identity Reveal (982)

Aged-Up Characters (968)

Alternate Universe (732)

Hurt/Comfort (700)

Adrien Needs a Hug (510)

🏆 Highlights in 2023 include

Miraculous Ladybug Season 5 Finale, s05e26, Re-Creation (Part 2) (First Airdate: July 01, 2023) [2]

Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie (Released: July 05, 2023) [3]

Miraculous Paris Special (Preview Screening: October 15, 2023) [4]

🖤 Most Tagged Side of the Lovesquare in 2023

Fig 4. Percentage of fanfics tagged with different sides of the Lovesquare.

Note that these are only taking into account fics that use this tag. There may be fanfics that have sides of the Lovesquare that are not indicated. This analysis also includes tags for Marichat May, Ladrien July etc.

Adrinette (34.5%; 737 fics)

LadyNoir (32%; 677 fics)

MariChat (23.5%; 501 fics)

Ladrien (10%; 213 fics)

🖤 Top 10 Characters Pairings on Ao3 (excluding Lovesquare)

Alya/Nino (927 fics)

Luka/Marinette (734 fics)

Juleka/Rose (405 fics)

Nathaniel / Marc (337 fics)

Felix / Marinette (317 fics)

Gabriel / Nathalie (286 fics)

Adrien / Luka (269 fics)

Felix / Kagami (183 fics)

Adrien / Kagami (159 fics)

Kagami / Marinette (158 fics)

There was a large shift in a number of pairings, in particular there was a dramatic increase in the number of fics tagged with Felix Fathom / Kagami Tsurugi (see below the cut for Season 5 spoilers). Other notable mentions are also Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Zoe Lee with a 2.5 fold increase in fanfics posted in 2023 (63 in total) compared to 2022 (26 in total).

🖤 Conclusions

It’s been a big year, and one that is controversial in many ways. I was just curious to see if there’s a decrease in activity since the season 5 finale, but it looks like the fanfiction writing is going strong. But are fans tuning out? Or are we trying to create more fix-it fics? (I will delve into that in a different post, since this was quite labour intensive).

There have been some interesting changes in relationship tags as well as tags for Sentimonsters (below the cut).

Methodology, References and Season 5 Spoilers below the cut:

Warning: Season 5 spoilers below:

🖤 2023 was also the year Feligami became official

This has lead to a dramatic increase in fanfics for the power couple.

Fig 5. The total number of fanfics posted on Ao3 for Felix / Kagami, represented per month saw a dramatic increase since the release of Season 5 in 2023 (blue). In contrast, I have plotted the total number of fanfics per month 2022 (red).

💔 2023 was also when the sentimonster theory was confirmed

Fig 6. Fanfiction that have used tags for Sentimonsters since 2018. Note that this is not a cumulative plot and that the numbers are individual works from each year tagged for Sentimonster.

In 2023, there were 192 works that tagged for Sentimonster Adrien, and 95 for Sentimonster Felix and 34 for Sentimonster Kagami. Recent usage for the tag 'Adrien is not a Sentimonster' was also observed (21 cases).

Please don’t be mad at me. I’m just a stats hamster.

Methodology

Filtering

The analyses start from Sep 05, 2012 when the first promotional video (PV) for Miraculous Ladybug was publicly leaked [1].

Since the website is very active, the information may change as this data is best considered to be a snapshot of the fanfics posted at this point in time. Also note that the filter is also for last update, and not first posted, so that older fics may be captured in later datasets. But for the purposes of this study, I am assuming that if the author is updating, then they are still active in the fandom.

To get an idea on what was posted to Ao3 this year, I have filtered for last published date 01 Jan 2023 - 31 Dec 2023. Note that while there was only an option for selecting by Last Post Date, which meant that works originally posted earlier (pre-2023) would still be captured if it was updated within the bounds of these dates.

Furthermore, it is also possible to backdate works on Ao3 which may also give false results. However, it may be likely that if this did happen it would only be a small percentage of fanworks. As such the data is an approximation of fandom activity during 2023.

Relationship Tags

I have followed the Ao3 rules so that / are taken to mean romantic relations and & for platonic relationships. In this analysis, I have combined the numbers for Felix (PV), Felix Graham de Vanily and Felix Fathom.

References

[1] Miraculous PV (https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Ladybug_PV)

[2] Miraculous Ladybug Re-Creation (s05e25) World Premiere (Switzerland) (https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Re-creation_(The_Final_Day_-_Part_2)#google_vignette)

[3] Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10364034/releaseinfo/)

[4] Miraculous Paris Special (https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Miraculous_Paris)

[hannahhook7744]

Disney Descendants Random Headcanons (Part 1);

(No Kids/some kids Born Pre D1 Addition since I don't have the full list yet).

Let me Know if I'm missing any characters because I'm well aware I'm missing more than a few.

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

Akio (number 42): He is the son of Tomiko (from Elena of Avalor).

Ally: Her dad is Pinocchio, making Pin her younger brother.

Amber Dearly: She's a waitress but still does beauty pageant events when they're in season.

Anthony Tremaine: Jacob Lathyn (The Baker from Cinderella 2) is his dad.

Anxelin Fitzherbert: She's Goth.

Arabella: She's morally gray (and had ill intentions when she stole her granddad's trident).

Ariana Rose: Grows less jealous of Audrey over time and cuts contact with their grandmother. Is very popular in college.

Artie Pendragon: Somehow ends up with a pet dragon. No one knows how it happened.

Audrey Rose: Goes on to be the CEO she always wanted to be.

Aziz: He takes after his mother in looks and personality.

Bashful Jr.: He goes by Bash and is very popular in school.

Beezlebub (The Cat): Beelzebub is the Lucifer's least favorite kitten.

Ben: Likes building miniature models and wanted to be in a band with Ben and Lonnie when he was a kid.

Big Murph: He lost his eye as a kid when rough housing with the Gaston Twins.

Bobby Hood: He's Tiger Peony's boyfriend and a sports commentator at school.

Bobby Radcliffe: is a good friend of Artie Pendragon and is very shy.

Bonny: Is the medic of Uma's crew.

Carina Potts: Wears a cooking pot as a hat.

Carlos de Vil: He becomes Henry's mentor and gets Beelzebub back.

Carter: The 'nice' twin.

Celia Facilier: Goes on to be a very successful business woman (in whatever you think she'd go on to do).

Chaca: She's Li Shang Jr's girlfriend and Kuzco is very protective of her, much to her and his wife's bemusement.

Chad Charming: Redeems himself sometime after d3 and leaves to find himself.

Cheerful: Is emo.

Chip Potts: Babysat Ben a lot when he was younger. Has 13 siblings. He works at the castle.

Chloe Charming: Learned a lot of what she knows in ROAR from Lonnie.

Claudine Frollo: She had red hair and is left handed.

Clay Clayton: He's a party animal and is very hard to take out in a fight.

Crabby: is actually quite pleasant to be around.

Crocodile Descendants: They love tormenting Captain Hook and wrestling.

Cubby: He handles Neverland Academy's finances.

Danny Darling-Cooper: He's good at tourney and ROAR.

Derek: He's a selective mute and carries a bell around to get his friends' attention when they're arguing.

Derelict (Electric Eel): He's the friendly eel.

Desiree: She's one of the most wild pirate kids. Even when compared to her crewmates.

Diego de Vil: His most popular song is titled 'Kill the Beast'.

Dhandi: Is Jordan's adoptive older sister (since Eden is Jordan's bio mom).

Dizzy Tremaine: She joins Evie's business when she graduates and her jewelry becomes very popular.

Doc II: Goes by Raphael.

Doug: Evie helps him meet his favorite band (The Dragon Players) on his 21st birthday.

Dude (The Dog): He is jealous of Beelzebub.

Eddie Balthazar: He is always tired.

Eliza: She becomes more of a rebel as she grows up and is always backing Jane up when FG gets difficult (like most parents do).

Elle: She's adopted.

Emir (number 26): He's Aziz's younger brother and is a lot like his dad, personality wise. He does not like his mom's cousins.

Evie: She is Dizzy's half sister.

Finn the Mer-Boy: He works at neverland academy but also remains as Neverland's Protectors (kicking entitled tourist out when they cause too much non fun trouble/damage).

Freddie Facilier: Is banned from being alone with Jordan because those two are just as bad as Ally and Cj when alone together.

Gaston Jr.: He relates a lot to Luisa Madrigal. He also walks with a limp after a failed escape attempt he and his father attempted (he nearly drowned).

Gaston The 3rd.: He's the smart twin.

Gesundheit: Cannot for the life of him spell his name.

Gil: Has stolen a penguin from the zoo with Jay, Chad, Harry, and Carlos before.

Ginny Gothel: Is allergic to flowers. Her middle name is flower.

Gordon: Is a mechanic.

Hadie: Has a villain phase as a teen that no one takes seriously.

Hamish of DunBroch: He works with bears.

Hana: She is the royal party planner in her kingdom.

Hap: He's a hippie/hipster mixture and has a van he customized himself.

Harriet Hook: She has a hip high rose tattoo and broke Anthony Tremaine's nose once when she was 12.

Harris of DunBroch: Will not hesitate to bite people in fights even as an adult.

Harry Badun: He is a detective and has made it his job to make everyone behind the isle and every bad isle adult's lives hell. He will also make up outrageous theories to mess with people he doesn't like.

Harry Hook: Is good at art and has Dyscalculia.

Henry: He's a long lost de Vil.

Herkie: He has his dad's personality and strength but his mama's brain and kinda looks like a blend of his parents.

Hermie Bing: She has a variety of circus related skills, loves clowns, has a sweet tooth, and wears very colorful clothes.

Hubert of DunBroch: Loves reminding his sister of how she turned him into a bear all the time.

Hunter de Vil: His influencer career takes off when the barrier is brought down.

Ivy de Vil: She's allergic to hair dye and becomes a great model when off the isle.

Izzy: She's ROAR instructor at Neverland Academy.

Jace Badun: His mom was a strong woman at the Ringmaster's circus. He is the most exasperated person you will ever meet.

Jack/Korak: He prefers 'Korak' over Jack. He takes after his dad looks wise but his mom personality and fashion wise.

Jade: She has tons of scars from the crocodile wrestling.

Jake: Because of him, Princess Pirate, Finn, Stormy, Marina, Izzy, and Cubby all grew up.

James Brown Jr.: He works at a candy shop.

Jane: She's a big gossip and she and Carlos both bonded over this.

Jane Darling-Cooper: She's a teaching assistant at Neverland Academy.

Jay: He sleeps with a stuffed tiger but will deny it if asked.

Jenna: She's Aziz's oldest sibling and is the heir to the throne. She has a pet Elephant.

Jonas: He's Uma's cousin.

Jordan: She's the one who created the secret Agrabah Club at school (along with Aziz).

La Foux Doux: He's younger than LeFou Deux and loves puppet shows.

Lagan (Electric Eel): He's the mean eel.

LeFou Deux: He has a crush on Claudine and is the isle's Santa Claus.

Li (number 85): His parents took creative liberty with his name without checking to see if that spelling already existed.

Li Lonnie: She does eventually get her show. Her successful ROAR career probably helped (: .

Li Shang Jr: His music is decent but few people take him seriously because of the whole 'Lil Shang' nickname thing.

Lil Yaz: He died of appendicitis after d1. He was morally grey/apathic and had eyes for Quinlynn Hearts.

Lina: Jasmine was her favorite babysitter and she in turn, ended up babysitting the younger of Jasmine's kids when she was in Agrabah.

Lucifer: Lucifer often escapes from the saloon and gets on everyone's nerves.

Lulu Brown: She's much younger than her brother, Jim/James Brown Jr. and is a very good at ballet.

Mad Maddy: She has quite the sweet tooth.

Madam Mim's granddaughters: No one is sure how many there are or how they came to be.

Maddox Hatter: He's an inventor and is very close to Red.

Mal: She grows up a lot after the royal wedding and gets back in touch with her artistic side.

Marina the Mermaid: She's the swim coach at Neverland Academy.

Marya Rasputin: She's the doctor of Harriet's crew.

Max La Bouf: He works at Tiana's palace and often caters the events for his family and Ralphie's.

Melody: She's an environmental activist and the go-to cousin everyone talks to when they need someone who will hear them out.

Meriem: She and Korak are married now, and she's very into learning languages.

Mia: She is a sore loser when it comes to the fashion industry.

Miguel (number 44): He's a Madrigal.

Morgie le Fay: Morgie is just a nickname.

Opal: She's Freddie and Celia's aunt.

Othello (The Parrot): He repeats the things EQ used to say to Evie but is a very loving pet otherwise.

Pin: He's very smart and skipped a grade.

Pirate Kitty (Cat): It's Gil's pet cat (seen in a missing poster in d2).

Princess Pirate: Her friends now call her 'Princess' for short.

Quinlynn Hearts: She's the oldest Heart child and she had a crush on LIl Yaz.

Rafi: He gets along the best with his younger brother, Aziz, and works in the royal guard now.

Ralphie: He and Max are Pen Pals.

Rami: He's a party animal.

Red Hearts: Red is just a nickname. She's also in the school newspaper.

Reza: He is very interested in forensics and was adopted by Mozenrath and Sadira. He has two younger siblings and one older.

Rick Ratcliffe: His middle name is 'Perseus'. Yes, after the pug. And he has a habit of saving people from drowning/bodies of water.

Ruby Fitzherbert: She's shy and artsie.

Salima: She's a middle child now.

Sammy Smee: He's an inventor and a book worm.

Scarlet: She's Carter's twin and is considered the 'evil' twin.

Shy: His name is very fitting because he really is shy.

Sleepy Jr.: He's a gamer.

Snoozy: Snoozy is a night owl.

Sophie: She's Snow White's eldest child.

Spotted Hyenas: They like tormenting Gaston but not his kids.

Squeaky Smee: He's a selective mute.

Squirmy Smee: He and his brother look up to Harry a lot.

Stabbington cousins: They're only known by their nicknames by those outside of their family (and for good reason, since they're secretly Westergaards).

Stormy The Mermaid: She becomes a hippie when's older and mellows out.

The Sea witches: They're the daughters of Ursula's sisters.

The Tweedledum and Tweedledee cousins: They all have varying shades of red hair.

The Wicked Step-Granddaughters: The seven that are Drizella's are Hans' daughters as well. If any are Anastasia's, they're adopted.

Tiger Peony: She's a hippie vegetarian who's really into Tourney but doesn't play.

Tipo: He learns to cook from Kronk and helps him out with  Camp Chippamunka during the summer when he's older.

Tyrone (number 32): He's Tiana and Naveen's son. Lotte spoiled him, lol.

Uma: She gets her OWN sea phonies after d3 and she keeps her shark friends as well.

William (number 12): Wendy's oldest son and Jane Darling's younger brother.

Yi-Min: She's good at tourney as well as Swords and Shields.

Yupi: He is Kuzco's favorite 'nephew'.

Yzla: She's good at gymnastics.

Zam: He is the oldest of the kids in Yzma's family and has also caught his cousins doing weird things most often.

Zellie: She's the oldest of Flynnpunzal's kids.

Zephyr: He looks more like his mom as he grows up.

Zevon: His dad (and his siblings' dad) is Cedric from Sofia the first. His mom also accidentally turned him into a llama as a baby.

Zim: He still practices chemistry but the idea of being evil bores him.

[somethingclevermahogony]

OC Intro: Otilia

Hello everyone! This intro is way overdue by like a month now, oops.

Anyway! The new poll will be up in the next couple of days! I hope y'all enjoy getting to know Otilia!

Name: Otilia (Written below in the Korithian Script)

Otilia is a Korithian and as such she comes from an entirely different naming tradition when compared to the Kishites. It is traditional for Korithian women to be named after their Father and Grandfather, combined into a single name. As such while there is a limited number of masculine names within the Korithian language, there are many varied feminine names. Otilia is the result of her father, Otiros and her grandfather, Likiteres. Her two sisters are named in similar fashion though with different variations on the combination.

This Continues below the cut!

Family

Father: Otiros (Dead)

Mother: Abalia (Alive)

Sister: Otilikia (Alive)

Sister: Likotia (Alive)

Brother: Panatos (Alive)

Grandfather: Likiteres (Dead)

Husband (Estranged): Wadaxes (Alive)

Homeland/Place of Origin

Kalmanati, Eastern Korithia

Ethncity

Bokisic Korithians are those Korithians who inhabit the largest of the Korithian Isles, Bokis. Bokisic-Korithians account for upwards of 70% of the entire population. While descended from Arkodians they also present with strong Baalkic and Kishite influences. This is one reason why these people are, on average, taller than other Korithian ethnic groups.

History

Otilia was born roughly 26 years before the start of the story in the wealthy port city of Kalmanati. Korithian culture and that of Kalmanati in particular is highly patriarchal and highly conservative. She was the eldest child of the wine merchant Otiros and the Makoric-Korithian Abalia. Otilia inherited her mother's auburn hair, a trait none of her younger siblings would share, making her well-known in her home city.

Otiros was quite wealthy and lived with his family in a large manor attended by 23 slaves. As such, he showered gifts on his three daughters, all born within six years of one another. The children were taught decorum, and Otilia was brought to business meetings and negotiations. Although Korithian tradition is highly patriarchal and did not intend for her to be truly involved, she was expected to one day advise her husband on his own trade.

From a young age, Otilia showed a streak of independence, often sneaking away from the expensive tutoring lessons paid for by her father. In this way, she was somewhat similar to Ninma, over two decades later.

Initially, her disobedience angered her father, but it was through her mother, who had never been taught to read or write, that Otilia gained an interest in her studies. Otilia would read to her mother stories and poems, some of her own creation. This was the highlight of her relationship with her mother, which was otherwise often highly argumentative. This sparked Otilia’s passion for learning. By age 11, she could speak Korithian and Kishite, and could read and write in both, as well as in Baalkic script.

Korithian marriages are arranged, often centered around matters of business. Such was the case for Otilia. She had never shown particular interest in marriage or boys. Many men, of various ages, petitioned Otiros for her hand. Ultimately, he decided on a fellow wine merchant, an even wealthier man named Wadaxes.

The wedding took place only days after the agreement was made. Otilia was 16 on her wedding day. Upon meeting her new husband, a man over twice her age, she begged her father to reconsider. Embarrassed and enraged, her father pulled her aside and scolded her. This devolved into a loud and nearly violent argument. Otiros swore never to lay eyes on his daughter again and promptly left her with her new husband. Otilia tried to live a good life, attending to her husband and completing domestic duties, all while secretly continuing to write and read, creating an extensive collection of poems and stories, many of which centered around her struggles with finding happiness with her husband.

While initially kind, Wadaxes revealed his true nature after four years of marriage when Otilia seemingly could not bear a child, despite one instance of Wadaxes’s infidelity resulting in a birth.

Wadaxes attempted to divorce Otilia, a process in Korithian culture that would necessitate the repayment of any dowry or agreements and the "return" of Otilia to her family's patriarch. However, Otilia’s father refused any offer that Wadaxes made, unwilling to take her back. Wadaxes then petitioned the city council, but since Otilia had done nothing to prevent him from producing children by other means, there were no grounds to end the marriage due to her infertility. Despite Otilia's own wish to be rid of her increasingly cruel spouse, the conservative nature of the council forbid women from initiating divorce in any circumstance, or even addressing the council. Thus, by Korithian law, Wadaxes could not divorce his wife.

Wadaxes took out his frustrations on Otilia by insulting her, refusing to let her into bed, and even forbidding the slaves from feeding her. In time, this active abuse simmered into mutual loathing. Wadaxes would intentionally bring prostitutes home to dine, often in the presence of guests and important people, to humiliate Otilia. At other times, he would disappear for days without warning.

In one instance, Wadaxes found Otilia's collection of poems and musings and narrated these private thoughts to a room of drunken merchants and their wives. Only a poorly timed storm prevented her from running away that day.

Otilia endured these conditions for years until her father contracted a respiratory disease, which would ultimately be fatal. By this point, her husband had already chosen a new "wife," a mistress he kept in their home full-time. Seeing an opportunity to finally be rid of Otilia, Wadaxes planned to negotiate the divorce with the new patriarch of Otilia’s family, her younger brother Panatos.

Upon hearing this plan and learning of her father's declining health, Otilia devised a plot of her own. In an act of petty revenge, she forged a letter from her husband and used it to commandeer one of his ships and crew, sailing far away. By doing so, she denied Wadaxes the pleasure of giving her away and delayed his ability to remarry until she was found or declared dead or vanished, a process that could potentially take decades.

Her escape took her across the Green Sea to a place she had often heard about in stories and the markets of Kalmanati—the city of Labisa.

Appearance

Otilia is tall, standing about 5'5", which is notably above the average height of 5'0" for Korithian women. She has the typical olive skin and brown eyes of her people. Her most striking feature, however, is her auburn hair—a rarity south of Makora. This perceived exoticness made her highly desired by the bachelors of Kalmanati.

Personality

Otilia is a kind and caring person, eager and curious to learn new things. However, she is also prone to sarcasm, and her time learning from her father and observing his business dealings has cultivated a certain cunning and slyness in her. She possesses a keen understanding of people and knows how to use this to her advantage. Highly intelligent and well-read on a variety of topics, Otilia's blend of empathy, wit, and shrewdness makes her a formidable and complex individual.

Gender/Pronouns

Cis-woman She/Her

Sexual Orientation

Lesbian

Relationships

Otilia's relationship with her family is abyssmal. Her relationship with her "husband" is even worse. Upon first escaping she was worried that Wadaxes may send someone to find her. A fear which was quickly lessoned by time and the presence of Narul.

She acts in some sense as an adoptive partent to Ninma alongside Narul.

She is partners with the Kishite, Shela.

Favorite Color

Blue

Favorite Food

Daropaka, Korithian Cheesecake (Find the recipe here!)

Biggest Fear

Losing what she has found and made of herself since escaping.

Sage?

No

Literate?

Yes

Excerpt

Someone sat at his other shoulder, and he looked, expecting to see Suru or Bira. But instead there sat the Korithian. “I haven’t had the chance to properly thank you.” Her Kishite was quite good though it had a sort of stiff formality to it. Her shoulders were pulled back, her spine painfully straight. Narul had seen these same kinds of mannerisms from the various aristocratic men and women who would visit Hutbari’s court from the lands to the west. She was tall and thin, her eyes sharp. Her auburn hair was disheveled, her curls tangled. “Oh, that’s fine.” Narul muttered. The Korithian frowned and turned to him. “It is not. I owe you. I do not know how this sort of thing works for you easterners, but for us, a debt like this is a very serious thing. My name is Otilia, and you're Naro, yes?” She looked at him quizzically. “Um, Narul.” He corrected. Otilia nodded, mouthing the word, trying to nail it into her mind.  Narul against his better judgment turned to Otilia and asked. “So are you…meeting your husband somewhere?” Otilia looked at him, confused. “My husband?”Narul covered his mouth, mortified. “Oh I am so sorry, did he…you know?” “My husband is in Kalmanati. And I'm not in too much of a hurry to see him again.” Otilia chuckled.

@patternwelded-quill @flaneurarbiter @skyderman @blackblooms

@roach-pizza @illarian-rambling @dezerex @theocticscribe

@axl-ul, @persnickety-peahen, @surroundedbypearls, @elsie-writes

@mk-writes-stuff, @kaylinalexanderbooks

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Israel’s Suffering in Egypt

1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.

22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” — Exodus 1 | New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible; New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 15:13; Genesis 35:23; Genesis 41:1; Genesis 46:8; Genesis 46:26; Genesis 50:26; Exodus 5:5; Leviticus 25:43; Numbers 1:5; Deuteronomy 26:6; 1 Samuel 2:35; Psalm 105:25; Proverbs 11:18; Jonah 1:9; Acts 5:29; Acts 7:14; Acts 7:17; Acts 7:18-19; Acts 13:17; Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 11:23

Exodus 1 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise)

Key Passages in Exodus 1

1. The children of Israel, after Joseph's death, increase. 8. The more they are oppressed by a new king, the more they multiply. 15. The godliness of the midwives in saving the male children alive. 22. Pharaoh commands the male children to be cast into the river

[thebest-medicine]

Day 26: Counting

Tickletober 2023 - Critical Role - C2 Mighty Nein - lee!Caleb

[see my other tickletober 2023 fics]

A/N: Jester loves to tease. Caleb flusters easily.

[read on AO3]

Words: 550

—

Caleb squirmed uselessly against the floor as Jester loomed over him, her weight tossed over his hips and her knees pinning his arms to his sides. His cheeks bloomed with the redness of a ripened tomato as he tried his best to close his eyes and block out Jester’s teasing. Her grin was wide as her fingers wiggled teasingly toward Caleb. 

“Jester- wait!” Caleb strained, eyes pleading up at her, the hint of a smile on his lips.

“Okay! Fiiiiive.” As she spoke, her wiggling finger descended in time with her countdown. 

“Fooouuuur.” She drew each number out, words laced with teasing and joy. 

A strangled whine came from beneath her.

“Threeeeee.” A dramatic pause as she sucked in a deep breath.

“Twooooo.” She was getting close to the material of his shirt now.

“No no no no- Jester- Jester please!” Caleb squirmed as far as he could from the encroaching fingers. He could barely fight off the anxious giggles bubbling up in his chest, a few slipped through. 

“What is it, you’re not ready yet?” She pulled her hands back a few inches. “Do we need to count down from a bigger number so you have time to get ready?” 

“No! Please- Jester!” 

“Ten.”

“Nein! Don’t!” 

Jester snorted at that. “Eight!” 

Caleb kicked feebly behind her, knowing there was not much of a chance of evading a tickly tiefling attack once Jester or Molly had their sights set. Best to just get it over with - if only Jester would just do that.

“Seven… Six… Five… Four…” Jester’s nails wiggled closer and closer as Caleb lost the battle with fighting off his smile. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying his best to tamper his giggles. Once his eyes were shut tight, a long few seconds passed without her saying anything else. 

Slowly, one of his eyes peaked open. Jester was beaming down at him, her eyebrows twisted into a faux-stern expression. “Are you paying attention? Do I need to start over at an even higher number so you can get ready?”

“Gods- Jester, don’t-” Caleb whined.

“Twenty-five.”

“Nehehein!”

“That’s not what comes next! It’s twenty-four! Don’t skip ahead!” 

Caleb whimpered through his anticipatory giggles. 

“Twenty-three… Twenty-two... Twenty-one... Twenty... Hey you know this next one! Nein-teen!”

Had he not been so high on adrenaline and anticipation, Caleb might have rolled his eyes at that. Or laughed - well, he still laughed. 

“Eighteen... Seventeen... Sixteen…”

“Nein- no no please- don’t count down- don’t count!”

Jester pouted, her hands drawing back to rest on her hips. “Well now you made me lose count again!” 

“Mein Gott- Jester, please!” 

“Do you want me to just start tickling you?” 

“Nein!” Caleb embarrassingly (see: adorably) squealed out in response. “I- I-”

“Well then I don’t know what you want me to do! You know how I draw all the time? My hands have to stay active! My fingers can only wait so long, they have to tickle!”

Caleb willed himself to melt through the floor. Instead, he just closed his eyes as a deflated whine came out of his throat. 

“How about we try again?” Jester grinned down at the blushing wizard. Her tail whipped side to side with excitement behind her. “Come on, open your eyes, I’ll start over-”

“Nein!”

[nonstandardrepertoire]

Parashat Pinəḥas, 5784

(This dəvar was originally given at Kolot Chayeinu on the morning of Saturday, 27 July, 2024.)

Today's Torah portion comes from the book of Numbers, which is called that in English because it has so many lists of numbers of things. Several of those lists occur in today's portion, including a second census of all the Israelites in the wilderness. You may remember a similar census being taken way back at the beginning of the book, some forty years ago or so; we have to do another one here because the entire generation that was counted in that first census has since died. Or, well, that entire generation minus Mosheh (for now), Yəhoshú’a and Kaleiv, and everyone who wasn't yet 20 the first time around. But still, close enough. An entire generation, give or take, minus those spared by G-d or fate or what have you.

Perhaps because it's a census of the next generation, this list of Israelite adults contains some little nuggets of history along with the tribal tallies. We hear about Qóraḥ's rebellion, for example, and then we hear that the sons of Qóraḥ did not die.

It gets an entire verse all to itself, Numbers 26:11: And the sons of Qóraḥ did not die.

What do we make of this?

One approach is to take it very literally: Qóraḥ had some sons, they didn't rebel with him, they didn't die. That's the approach Ibn Ezra — a scholar from early twelfth-century Spain — takes. He notes that several psalms are attributed to the tribe of Qóraḥ, surmises that these must be Qóraḥ's descendants, and explains that some of Qóraḥ's kids must therefore have survived. Easy enough.

But if you know anything about our tradition, you know that our sages of blessed memory are seldom satisfied with a simple surface reading, and they have some wild things to extrapolate from this one verse. The Babylonian Talmud, in tractate Sanhedrin, page 110a, records a story from Rabba bar bar Ḥanah. He says he met a guy this one time who brought him to a crack in the earth that belched steam and heat so intense it could singe wet wool when passed over it at spear's length. And yet when bar bar Ḥanah listened, he heard the sons of Qóraḥ singing songs of praise from the underworld.

The Talmud doesn't cite a Biblical prooftext for this story, but we can find an allusion to it in Numbers 26:11 itself: If you take the first letter of each word in the verse, you get ו, ק, ל, ם, which together spell vəqolam, "and their voice". The sons of Qóraḥ did not die, and neither did their voice. If you listen, perhaps you can still hear it today.

What does that voice tell us? If you take Mosheh's side of the dispute, which the sages certainly do, this is a warning that no victory is final, that there will never be a perfectly stable society where no one seeks to challenge the status quo. It's a warning against resting on your laurels, a warning that leadership requires constant attention to discontent among those you hope to lead.

If you take Qóraḥ's side, tho, it suggests that defeat need not be final either, that a setback, however ruinous, to the cause of pursuing justice is never the end of the story — the sons of Qóraḥ did not die; another generation will come and carry on the fight.

This reading echoes Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's quip that dissents speak to a future age, that the dissenter's hope is that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.[1] Dissents like these remind us that the past is not flat, that the majority or official opinions aren't the only ones that existed, and that the world does not always move in a tidy line from less to more just.

Our tradition is full of dissents such as these. One that I come back to regularly as I build my own Jewish life is a dissent from Rabbi Howard Handler from 1992. At the time, Rabbi Handler was a member of the Conservative Movement's halakhic authority, the Committee for Jewish Law and Standards, which was debating whether to alter the traditional ban on homosexuality. The majority opinions adopted by the Committee reflect the ambient homophobia of the time — the consensus position includes a clause saying they will not accept "avowed homosexuals'' into the movement's rabbinical school, for example — but Rabbi Handler's dissent is having none of it. He writes:

The CJLS has made gay and lesbian Jews second-class citizens or, even worse, a tolerated minority. . . . The policies are discriminatory at best and profoundly oppressive in any event. There is no reason for us to hesitate in accepting gays and lesbians into our community with complete equality.[2]

In some ways, this dissent, with its insistence on full equality for queer Jews, goes further than the Committee would go some fourteen years later, in 2006, when the Committee finally approved a təshuvah abrogating their halakhic ban.[3] His dissent is a reminder of what could have been, that there is a radical tradition there for us in the past, no matter how hard some have tried to bury it.

Rabbi Handler wrote these words some ten years into the AIDS crisis. Despite Fukuyama's "End of History", it was a time of tremendous upheaval, uncertainty, and death. In my undergraduate gay and lesbian history class, the lecture on the early years of the crisis was the one lecture my professor asked us not to take notes on. Instead of his usual academic analysis, he just showed us pictures from when he was in college, some 40 years ago or so, pictures of his friends, with little annecdotes about each of them in turn. This one would always make sure you got home safe from the party, no matter how drunk you were. This one was so beautiful, but so annoying to be in class with. This one sang so enthusiastically, even if he wasn't always the most in tune. Each of these stories, a whole hour's worth of them, ended in the same way: And he died. And he died. And he died. A whole generation, give or take, minus those spared by G-d or fate or what have you.

In 1993, Rabbi Handler was outed and fired from the congregation where he had had a pulpit. He was kicked off the Committee for Jewish Law and Standards, and his former colleagues debated whether the movement should help him find a new job. In a decision stark in its cruelty, fourteen of these rabbis voted to deny him that help. He was left without a rabbinical position.

But the sons of Qóraḥ did not die.

Queer Jews did not simply go away. We certainly didn't get any quieter. 1992 was not the first time we asserted our halakhic rights, and it would not be the last. The struggle is far from over, but more and more, these days, it's the people who would shame us who are themselves shamed instead.

We are living in a time of tremendous upheaval, uncertainty, and death. (When are we not!) I don't know how it will all turn out. I don't know what the ledger will say when the final case has been tried and decided, the final verdict rendered with no appeal left in any court human or Divine. I don't know where things will stand when history truly, finally ends. I don't know what happens when that day comes.

But I do know it won't come for a while yet. And so even when the prospects seem bleak, when I am in despair and the possibility of bending the universe towards justice seems faint, remote, impossible, even then I keep working, keep putting my little voice out into the world. Because I want there to be a record of it. Because I want people to know I was here. Because, even if things don't all turn out the way I hope they will, perhaps another generation in some future age will be able to say "Look! Even back then, there were people who thought like this, who fought for these ideals, however imperfectly and unsuccessfully.''

Because the sons of Qóraḥ will not die.

Shabbat shalom.

This quote has been widely repeated, which makes it difficult to track down a precise source. If anyone can point me to the origin, I'd love to cite it more properly.

Rabbi Howard Handler, “In the Image of G-d: A Dissent in Favor of the Full Equality of Gay and Lesbian Jews into the Community of Conservative Judaism”, 25 Mar, 1992 (PDF)

In my experience, many Conservative shuls today go much further than even the most permissive ruling in 2006 would theoretically allow. The ruling in question explicitly says that bisexual Jews must only enter into relationships with Jews of the "opposite" binary gender, and bars gay and lesbian Jews from sanctifying their relationships with the rite of qidushin. (Instead, they create an alternate rite that heterosexual Jews are not supposed to use — it's very marriage vs civil union, honestly.[4]) I have been in many Conservative shuls in the past ~8 years where I would be, frankly, shocked if the suggestion that bisexuals halakhically ought to limit themselves to heterosexuality were met with anything other than shocked condemnation. There is the Law, and then there is the Community, and I think it's important to remember that they're not always in synch.[5]

Or at least, that's the theory. In 2017, the CJLS approved a təshuvah about trans people that, among other things, allows married Jews to stay married after one of them transitions, meaning that you can, in fact, have two men or two women joined in qidushin or a man and a woman joined with the b��rit ahuvim after all. But I digress...

That said, from what I gather, both the 1992 and 2006 discussions of gay and lesbian Jews in the CJLS were acrimonious and distressing for most of those involved, so I understand why they're not exactly eager to dredge the whole thing up again.

[talonabraxas]

To The Ascension Light Worker Collective

Lion's Gate Portal OPENS : JULY 26 UNTIL AUGUST 12 :The Sun and Sirius the synchronised rising is now clearly visible, appearing as two Suns in the sky.

This activity is a gateway between the physical and spiritual worlds. On August 8 this powerful Stargate reaches its peak position and Orion's Belt moves into direct alignment with the Pyramids of Giza, opening the cosmic .8:8 Lion's Gate portal : The vortex allows supercharged light codes to flood our planet.

We can expect the following: Higher Conscious Awareness , Enhanced Intuition and Psychic / Metaphysical Abilities ,Unexpected Endings and New Beginnings ,Feeling charged , Energised and In Alignment , Seeing master Number code Sequences of all kinds 11:11, 333, 444, 555 etc

This is a strong time to Set Your Intentions, Plant New Seeds, Create Your Dream Life, Envision Your Goals, Honour Your Emotions, Feel Your Feelings, Hold Space For Yourself, Harness Your Power, Embrace Your Divinity, Take Inspired Action, Walk Your Highest Path, Rebirth Your Light, Transform Your Life, Expect Miracles and Prepare For Vibrationally aligned Opportunities.

LION'S GATE ENERGIES are being felt earlier than usual this year. You may start to experience pressure and heaviness in the Sacral(womb) area. A great deal of emphasis is on the dismantling of the old and dated control structures that keep humanity in a reactive state stemming from issues of lack of security and stability.

Those who have embodied 5D realities are up-leveling and anchoring much higher ascension energies. As we move through this new energetic gateway many authentic ascending souls are going to feel a major blast of higher frequencies. You are clearing your system and activating more within in order to hold a higher vibrational energy on our planet .

On this planet it is the Starseeds /LightWorkers that are speaking the truth, shining their light on evil, they are using higher logic, questioning authority, and choosing their own beliefs. The patience, space, and love that they hold is powerful on this planet . It is not easy for Ascending souls to be awake in a sleeping world.

Starseeds are one by one cutting off the strings that are attached to the soul and connected to the past. With every tie that they sever, the inner spirit feels lighter brighter and more aligned.

The Universe is extremely proud of the ascending sovereign collective not only are we breaking through generations of old patterns, we are also laying down the Strong foundations for all descendants to be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually liberated.

Keep following the divine instructions that your intuition is giving you; it always knows the way.

It takes great courage to let go and not have a clue what will happen next. Don't be alarmed at how much space you have been asked to clear out in your life as this is needed for all future blessings.

Trust in Divine timing it is spiritual synchronicity. The alignment of people, places and events choreographed for your soul's highest good.

If you are outgrowing who you have been, you are right on schedule. Keep evolving , Starseeds were born here for such a time as this. They are the peacemakers. They are the Hope dealers. They are the lightworkers in this world .

Channeled with Love for the Ascending Collective . By Ascension LightWorkers

[kylecrane]

Dying Light: The Beast AMA 26/09

'sup.

Here I am, bringing you a bunch of the answers from today's AMA. It's not all of them since quite a few of them were either already answered in an FAQ or covered in an article. That, and I'm a picky bitch. If you want to read up on the whole session, check out the official Dying Light Discord.

I'm also not quoting all the questions entirely, gonna shorten them a bit.

Q: Do stats, upgrades, and gear carry over between The Beast save files and Dying Light 2's base game?

No, as Dying Light: The Beast is a new standalone game and the transfer of goods and progress won’t be possible between games.

That means I can't descend from the heavens and bring Junior a new shiny crowbar. Dang.

Q: Will there be open-world activities and side quests?

You can expect a number of side quests and also additional open-world activities.

Woo! I dig a map full of question marks. Tickles the brain.

Q: how is crane alive lol, he turned at the end of the following i thought?

We’re not going to spoil the fun of finding out yourself when Dying Light: The Beast launches. The new game connects the narratives of Dying Light and Dying Light 2 Stay Human and will finally answer some long-standing questions about the canonical endings of both games.

*trough gritted teeth* I'M FINE

Q: Who'll make the music?

For the Dying Light: Beast we're again collaborating with Olivier Deriviere who's already composing a new soundtrack. This time the music will represent the forested, survival-centric atmosphere of the game. You can expect something very unique and different from Olivier's previous works.

Music to my ea..r.s.. Sorry.

Q: Is The Beast running on a new/upgraded version of the DL2 engine and will those upgrades carry over into DL2?

Dying Light: The Beast uses another iteration of our in-house engine and offers numerous graphical improvements compared to the previous Dying Light projects - we focused on the details that make the world more vivid and immersive - lighting, materials and weather effects, some of these developments already are or will be introduced in Dying Light 2 Stay Human.

Q: Will we see any returning characters?

I’m sure you’re excited to see familiar faces, but we can't spoil the story for you just yet. For now, let's enjoy the fact that Kyle Crane is back, and he's back in his true form - voiced by the absolute voice acting master, Roger Craig Smith.

One standing ovation, please.

Q: Will we be able to swap from a third person to first when driving vehicles?

We’re focusing on TPP only as it allows for better environmental awareness while driving in the zombie-filled open world of The Beast.

Aw, man-

Q: To what extent will the choices the player makes matter?

For Dying Light: The Beast, we have chosen a linear story. This is a new adventure in the Dying Light series so our goal with this game is to provide a fresh and engaging story. We believe this approach will allow us to present a more immersive experience for our players.

Q: Will there be Easter Eggs?

Absolutely! There will certainly be secrets and Easter eggs to discover in Dying Light: The Beast. But revealing them now would just spoil all the fun, wouldn't it?

Getting my basket ready to do some egg hunting.

And with that, I'll blow you all some kisses and then go off to snooze land. Good Night and Good Luck.

[immortalmint]

Grim Math: How Many Grimwalkers Did Philip Wittebane Make?

We may never know the exact number of Grimwalkers Philip / Belos made of his brother Caleb, but we can use in-show evidence and math to get us close! From the Grimwalker recipe in Belos’s lab, we know a (singular) bone of ortet is required. Ortet refers to the original mother-plant that clonal offspring plants descend from, usually by grafting or by rooting a cutting of the mother-plant. This ensures the offspring plants are genetically identical to the parent, to propagate favorable traits like disease resistance or fruit quality that might be lost through classic breeding. But The Owl House bends the meaning of ortet to include animal tissue. ‘Planting’ a bone of the deceased, along with other critical ingredients and spells, grows a clone of that person. Philip used this method to create his doomed Golden Guard servants, whom he went on to murder in various ways.

How many doomed Golden Guards did Belos manipulate? Let’s look at a few different ways to quantify the horror!

Assuming the bone of ortet must be used whole and is consumed in the Grimwalker making process (i.e. it cannot be recovered after the Grimwalker’s death), there is a natural limit to how many Grimwalker attempts Philip could make. An adult human skeleton has approximately 206 bones. Interestingly, some people have a little more or less bones due to genetic diversity in the number of ribs, vertebrae, and digits (ex: the six-fingered man in The Princess Bride). Since we have no evidence Caleb had extra fingers, we’ll work with 206 as our maximum number of theoretical Grimwalkers. But by Hunter’s time, had Belos converted Caleb’s entire skeleton into Grimwalkers?

Time to do some subtraction!

Before meeting the Collector in 1660-1670, Philip had acquired Caleb’s skeleton, as seen in the wrapped parcels of bones sitting in his lab. Philip has also collected any information he can find about making Grimwalkers. Note that the Grimwalker recipe posted here is incomplete, with Xs and exclamation points indicating Philip hasn’t gotten it just right yet. We also see a degraded hand sticking out of the floor, finger tagged with the number “4.” It’s reasonable to conclude Philip has consumed 4 bones in failed Grimwalker attempts at this point. We’re down to 202 possible Grims when the Collector gives Philip the missing pieces of the recipe.

Art note: Caleb’s full ribcage is represented with just 8 bones here (4 on each side), far thicker than real ribs, so it is clear the viewer is looking at a ribcage. This is artistic shorthand, since it is difficult to depict all 24 ribs (12 on each side) of the typical human body in a cartoon.

Next, let’s take a look at Belos’s present-day lab from For The Future. There is a torso-sized ribcage and spinal cord still unused. Using the artistic shorthand from before, this is a stand-in for all 24 ribs. We’re down from 202 to 178 Grimwalker opportunities.

The spinal column is made up of 26 bones on average (24 vertebra plus the sacrum and the coccyx (tail bone)). If we assume Caleb was old enough at time of death that the normal spinal bone fusions that occur in adults were complete (vertebra number drops from 33 in kids to 26 somewhere between teenager and young adult), we can proceed with 26 as our spine estimate. The ribcage below appears to be missing the curved tail bone, so we’ll assume the sacrum and coccyx were used or lost along the way. Subtracting the unused 24 vertebra, we’re down to 154 Grimwalker opportunities.

But before we leave Belos’s lab, recall that he had one (just one!) Grimwalker left in reserve whose body he attempted to possess. Unfortunately for Belos, “No. It’s not ready!” The body was unearthed too early to be viable, so 153 max Grimwalker opportunities remain.

But do 153 unaccounted for bones really mean Belos made that many living (however temporarily) Grimwalkers? It is unclear if all bones in the human body are large enough to provide sufficient material to grow a Grimwalker. Perhaps the bones of the hands and feet are too little to use alone, requiring 2-3 at a time. The hands contain 27 bones each (54 for both) and the feet contain 26 bones each (52 for both), meaning most bones in the body (by count) are small in size. We also don’t know if Philip was able to retrieve Caleb’s complete skeleton. Evelyn chased him off after the murder, so presumably Philip had to return later to dig up his brother’s corpse. Graverobbing has its risks, and Philip may have had to settle for a less-than-whole skeleton.

We need to look at evidence for the minimum number of Grimwalkers Belos created. The best place to start is with screenshots of the Grimwalker pit, because if we see their bodies in the show, there are at least that many Grimwalkers.

The Grimwalker pit is a circular chamber that can be divided into 4 quadrants. Going clockwise around the circle: the first quadrant (Q1) contains the stairs leading down from Belos’s main lab, the second quadrant (Q2) has a dark pathway leading to Belos’s Grimwalker lab, the third quadrant (Q3) has a large mound of bodies where the Collector’s disk fell, and the fourth quadrant (Q4) has a dark pathway leading to Belos’s secret ground-level entrance into the skull (this is behind the camera in the 2nd image).

Oriented? Great! Let’s count bodies!

I’m using skulls as the most reliable bone to count, as there is only 1 skull per Grimwalker and it is a nice round feature that is hard to mistake for other bones. There is also less ambiguity in the skull art than there is with masks, since it is unclear if a broken mask piece came from a mask we’ve already counted, or is a separate mask that should be added in. If a mask has a curved structure inside it, I count it as a skull. If I can’t see a round line in addition to the mask, I don’t count it as a skull (possible fallen/empty mask).

Looking at the pile of bones between the stairs (Q1) and Grim lab (Q2), we have 11 skulls in the main pile, and 3 skulls in a smaller pile closer to Q2 (14 total count):

Looking at the pile on the other side of the stairs (Q1 to Q4), we have 9 skulls (23 total count):

There is another angle of Kikimora standing, which appears to have overlap with skull #8 above, so we’ll skip it to avoid double-counts. The skulls at the base of the pillar jutting to the right near the Grim lab (Q2) haven’t been accounted for yet, and neither have the skulls that were previously in shadow and closer to the secret entrance (Q4). We have 8 more skulls to add in (31 total count):

Turning toward the largest mound (Q3), we have 24 skulls (55 total count):

Now there’s some skull stragglers to pick up. The Collector’s disk is blocking the background during King’s Tide, but when we see the same location again in For the Future, the disk is gone. One more skull was hiding behind it (56 total count):

Okay, this next image of a higher angle shot of the large mound (Q3) is harder, because we need to avoid double-counting the skulls from the wide, ground-level shot of the mound (Q3). I’ve marked multiple reference skulls with “#p” to indicate which skull it corresponds to in the wide ground-level view. Ex: skull under cracked-in-half mask #6 from image above is labeled as 6p below. The one hidden skull from behind the Collector’s disk is labeled 1*. There’s another hidden skull from behind the skinny bone-spur holding up the disk (#3 below) and the ambiguous round “rock” behind some ribs between skulls 16p, 17p, and 18p above is clearly skull-colored (#4) from this angle. Overall, I count 7 more skulls not previously seen in the other shot (63 total count):

There are likely to be more skulls out of view behind pillars, beneath masks, or too far under other bones to see, but if we’re only going with “confirmed” skulls, 63 is the minimum number of Grimwalkers Belos created. We have a range of 63 to 153 possible Grimwalkers supported by the art of the show, and our knowledge of human anatomy.

What else can this tell us about the Grimwalkers? Well, we can get an idea of how long the average Grimwalker lived with these estimates. Philip met the Collector sometime between 1660 and 1670, and made his last Grimwalker, Hunter, before the year 2020. This gives us a range of 350 to 360 years in which Belos was making viable (lived after being unearthed) Grimwalkers. For the maximum average Grimwalker lifespan, we’ll use the max year estimate of 360 and divide it by the minimum Grimwalker estimate of 63. That gives us an average lifespan of 5.7 years. Not much, is it?

But it gets worse the more Grimwalkers Belos made in that time. For the minimum average Grimwalker lifespan, we’ll use the min year estimate of 350 and divide it by the maximum Grimwalker estimate of 153. That gives us an average lifespan of only 2.3 years. Just 2.3 years…

I’ll leave you now with a quote from Hollow Mind, after Belos attempted to kill Hunter in his subconscious:

“I was really expecting him to last longer than the others.”

[not-a-seagull]

FUJOSHIS AND FUDANSHIS!!! MY COMRADES IN YAOI!!! WELCOME... TO THE NU CARNIVAL EIDENLESS SHIP POLL!!!

Okay explanation time: I saw some time ago on Twitter (now known as X) that someone made a poll with nukani ships, and if I don't misremember, it was mostly Eiden ships.

So I've decided to be a bit mean and make a popularity poll without Eiden (sorry babygirl...)

Here is the bracket in questions:

As you can see, there's 16 different ships. I used the tag system in AO3 to figure out which ships to include by picking the two to three most popular relationship tag in each character.

Example:

I go to the "Search Tag" tab, type in "Edmond (NU: carnival)" in the tag name, select the "relationship" option, sort by "Uses", sort direction "Descending", and done!

As you can see, I picked the two options most popular options that weren't Eiden, leaving me with Dante/Edmond and Yakumo/Edmond as the bracket participants.

Back to the bracket itself, here is a list with the chosen pairings:

1. Yakumo/Edmond 2. Yakumo/Olivine 3. Dante/Edmond 4. Olivine/Quincy 5. Kuya/Olivine 6. Kuya/Quincy 7. Garu/Kuya 8. Blade/Garu 9. Blade/Edmond 10. Blade/Kuya 11. Aster/Dante 12. Rei/Yakumo 13. Kuya/Rei 14. Aster/Morvay 15. Morvay/Olivine 16. Edmond/Kuya

Here is also a little counter with every time a character's name appears:

Yakumo: 3 Edmond: 3 Olivine: 4 Quincy: 2 Kuya: 5 Garu: 2 Blade: 3 Dante: 2 Rei: 2 Aster: 2 Morvay: 2

So, how will these posts be formated?

The idea is simple, I make a silly post with each pairing at the side of a poll, and people vote! How fun :] You're free to like... Team up with your friends to vote for a specific ship or incetivise people to vote for a pairing. I don't care! I'm doing this for fun, and because I'm curious lil guy!

The posts would look something like this, I think...

I plan on releasing each match one day after the other, so in total round one would take about two weeks I believe (if we count from first day of first match to last day of last match).

The posts would go up on 22:00/10:00pm UTC, with the polls having a duration of one week as to have a large poll of voters.

Also, each match up was chosen randomly. Basically I used a random number generator and pulled two numbers at a time to determine which ship should go agaisnt which.

That's all, really. Round one of voting should be starting next week, with the team matches being:

Yakumo/Edmond VS Blade/Kuya (22/07) Yakumo/Olivine VS Blade/Garu (23/07) Dante/Edmond VS Garu/Kuya (24/07) Olivine/Quincy VS Edmond/Kuya (25/07) Kuya/Olivine VS Morvay/Olivine (26/07) Kuya/Quincy VS Rei/Yakumo (27/07) Blade/Edmond VS Aster/Morvay (28/07) Aster/Dante VS Kuya/Rei (29/07)

The team/pairing that gets the most votes wins, of course. As of writing I'm not planning on having a thrid neutral/"show results" options since I don't think its necessary, but if enough people ask me about putting said option I will do so.

Lastly, I got the bracket template from Make a Bracket, and used this template by LKGamingART on deviantart for the VS image.

That is all, have a nice week :]

[fanficrocks]

A friend in need.

An Inspector Morse fan fic. Also on AO3.

@chrumblr-whumblr - written for May whump prompt list (#26. Wiping away tears)

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

A callout at 7 pm on a Saturday! While callouts at outlandish hours were no rarity for a detective sergeant in the Thames Valley CID, this took the cake in Robbie Lewis’ mind. Too early to hand off to the night shift, but late enough to ensure their Saturday evening (and to be honest, their entire weekend) was shot. No wonder Val and the kids had shared venomous glares when the phone rang.

Ten minutes later, his irritation had given way to concern when he could not raise his governor DCI Morse on the phone. Unable to wait any longer, he decided to drive over to Morse’s house and pick him up en route to the crime scene, which of course had to be at the other end of town. After asking the desk sergeant to continue trying Morse’s number, he set off hoping the DCI would be waiting for him when he got there.

To his surprise, Morse’s house was dark and the Jaguar nowhere to be seen. Could Morse have forgotten that they were on call? That was very unlike the man whose mind truly resembled a steel trap far more than anything more mundanely human. And reasons aside, just where was he? Lewis rapidly ran through a mental list of places was likely to visit on a weekend evening… With no operatic performances or even major choir recitals scheduled, it was a very short list - a handful of local pubs, the residence of Dr Max Debryn, and that of Morse’s sister Joyce. And the second was easily eliminated as the ME had received the same callout and would have informed the desk sergeant had Morse been with him.

It took Lewis some 20 minutes to get to Joyce’s house, having stopped at 3 pubs along the way to check if Morse was at any of those. Pulling up outside the neat semi, he was relieved to see the red Jaguar parked in front of the house although his guv’s familiar figure was nowhere to be seen against the brightly lit, uncurtained windows. Perhaps Morse was deeper inside the house. 

His relief evaporated though when there was no answer to his ring at the doorbell, nor to his repeated knocking and calling. Was the man unwell? Or had he been attacked by a burglar and was lying unconscious somewhere? 

Finding that the front door yielded when he turned the knob, he stopped only to grab a golf umbrella from the hall hatstand as an impromptu weapon before rushing in and continuing to call out to Morse. Despite the continued silence, his instincts insisted that the house was not empty… it just did not have the physical and emotional stillness characteristic of dwellings entirely devoid of human presence. 

Calming himself sufficiently to search methodically, he went deeper into the house, eliminating one downstairs room after another before doing the same with the first floor. He was running out of options for places to search as he walked back down the stairs, when he noticed a faint line of light in the wall opposite the foot of the stairwell. Closer inspection revealed a tight-fitting door covered entirely in the same wallpaper as the rest of the wall, rendering it practically invisible unless one knew it was there, or unless the light was angled just right to shine on the latch.

Listening silently at the door, he realised there were vague, muffled sounds emanating from the other side. Locating the latch, he quietly opened the door, glad that it did not squeak, and stepped onto the top landing of a flight of stairs leading into the basement level. Silently descending the stairs, he found himself in a study-cum-playroom, now littered with packing boxes, tape, and mostly cleared shelves of books and music. Amidst this chaos, sat Morse - cross-legged on the floor with a partially filled box beside him, head buried in his hands as his shoulders shook with half-suppressed sobs.

Shock combined with a feeling of having trespassed unforgivably held Lewis silent for a minute. But he was constitutionally incapable of walking away from a fellow human being in such distress, least of all one he had worked with for half a dozen years now, and had come to not just respect, but also developed an affection for - at least as far as that curmudgeon allowed. 

Quickly crossing the floor, he knelt down beside Morse and gently placed a hand on his guv’s shoulder. There was no response for a moment before he felt the older man stiffen slightly. Half expecting his hand to be pushed away, he nonetheless stayed where he was and waited, letting the single point of physical contact do the talking for him. After what felt like an eternity but was likely no longer than two or three minutes, Morse raised his head. Gazing into those tear-drenched blue eyes, Lewis felt suckerpunched. Whatever could have hit his guv so hard?

“Sir…”

“They left this behind - all of Marilyn’s photos as a baby and a little girl. Moved away to Australia and left this with all the other stuff needing sorting. As though they have already forgotten her.”

The rights and wrongs of Morse’s conclusions could wait, thought Lewis. The more important thing now was to coax him out of the basement if possible. The man was shaking as much from cold as emotion, and would do better in a warmer spot. 

Taking heart from Morse’s uncharacteristic docility, he tightened the hand on his guv’s shoulder until it was unmistakably a supportive squeeze, then gently wiped away the overflowing tears from the luminous blue eyes. As he saw awareness return to those eyes, he pressed his handkerchief into Morse’s hand, and with a final squeeze of his shoulder, stood up and moved away a little. 

Thinking to give Morse a little privacy to recover his composure, he started leafing through the books left in the bookcase, sorting them into neat piles by topic. Until he chanced upon further photo albums mixed among the books. His job required him to regularly nose into the private lives of murder victims in the quest for justice, but this - now - felt unforgivable. Joyce and her family were victims, but they no longer needed justice now; they needed their privacy protected so they could come to terms with the tragedy of Marilyn’s suicide and rebuild their lives. 

Gathering the albums in one arm, he turned back towards Morse. His guv looked a little more composed, but no less wretched; and Robbie was not sure how he could broach the callout they were supposed to be answering any moment now. Just then, Morse turned back to the album he had placed at the top of the box he had been packing, and picked it up again.

“How can they forget so soon? Move on so easily like she… just wasn’t?”

“Why do you think that, Sir?”

“What else can I think when they left this album behind? The one with all her photos as a baby and a little girl? Shouldn’t this have been the one thing they would keep close?”

“It could have been an oversight, Sir. After everything they have been through over the last few months, I would not expect them to be fully organised, would you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was looking through the bookcase… I hope you don’t consider it an intrusion… just trying to give you some space. Anyway, there are several other albums left here - see.”

As Morse took the proffered albums and started flipping through them, Lewis took a better look around the room and the partially packed boxes. Sure enough, the one Morse had been working on before his emotions got the better of him was labelled “Ship to Joyce in Australia” while others were labelled “library donation”, “charity shop”, and “discard”. Seeing that many of the latter boxes were full, Lewis started closing them up ready to tape down and sorting them into neat stacks. A deep sigh had him turning back towards Morse a few minutes later. 

“You are right, Lewis. They must have been even more disturbed than I had thought. These albums - they include photographs from their engagement and wedding, and both of Joyce’s pregnancies. They would not have left those behind… not if they were in a normal frame of mind, I suppose.”

“Losing a child… well, that is every parent’s worst nightmare, isn’t it? Against every law of nature. Can’t expect normal after that.”

“A parent’s worst nightmare. Is that how you see it, Lewis?”

“Dunno how it can be anything else. Every time we come across a case involving kids, all I can think of is that in another world, it could have been my lass or lad.”

“And do you hug them when you get home after such cases?”

“Always. And I hope they will continue to let me.”

Morse stacked the albums neatly - the one he had been looking at, and the others Lewis had handed him - before placing them in the box he had been packing and starting to tape it down. As he snapped off the last of the tape and stuck it down neatly, he sensed Lewis come around to stand next to him. Before he could stoop to move the now sealed box, the younger man reached for it.

“Allow me, Sir. Can’t have you throwing your back out, not with this callout we need to get to as soon as we can.”

“Don’t fuss, Lewis!”

But as they turned off the light and closed the basement door, then locked up preparatory to leaving, Morse briefly placed a hand on his long-suffering sergeant’s shoulder in silent thanks. He then led the way to the Jaguar, instructing Lewis to leave his car and brief him as they drove together to the crime scene.

[whatwhywhowherewhen]

Homestuck No Game AU: Canon-Imitation Universe: HarleybertsEnglishCrockers

This is a comprehensive backstory to potential aus on the blue-green side of the central families.

Strilondes here

I worked very hard to ensure there was no biological connection between Jane and Jake or other potential couples, and to keep all backstories as similar to canon as possible

I got everyone from both timelines in! I think! I also made charts!

The Guardian versions of the kids are in black bubbles, and everyone else is in gray bubbles. The horizontal lines each mark a year and the higher up the person is the earlier they were born. The numbers are the age differences between characters

Guardian Jade and Jane are sisters, Grandma English being far younger and running off as in the alpha universe. She has Jake English at a very late age with someone unmentionable and he does not meet the family until becoming friend with Jane.

Grandma Egbert has an arranged marriage with Grandpa Harley and has her first child when 26, before divorcing him when the child is 8 or 9 and then remarrying. Dad Egbert and Dad Crocker are identical twins born in her later thirties to a very loving family

Grandpa Harley remarries Claire and has Jude and Joey, who are long-term babysat by Mom Lalonde. Mom Lalonde later dates Dad Egbert in a long-term relationship

His and Grandma Egbert's first child has twins John Egbert and Jade Harley and is unable to care for the children. Jade is given to Grandpa Harley's care while John goes to his uncle, Dad Egbert, practically from birth. They know one another but are not raised close, ending up friends by choice rather than blood

Grandma Egbert became close friends with her brother-in-law, Grandpa Crocker, during her first marriage. When his son passed away her son (Dad Crocker) takes in the Jane Crocker as a family friend, potentially making her heir to the Crocker empire as the only descendant interested. She is biologically Jade and John's second cousin through Grandpa Harley, and John's first cousin through adoption. She is also technically Jake's first cousin once removed through her adopted grandmother being his aunt, but Grandma English disowned her entire family long before either was born so realizing that shouldn't be too traumatizing if they ever date by chance

Everone here tend to have kids very late in life and are much more nuclear family inclined than the Strilondes. Meant to feel very old and grand