#or repeatedly torture an eleven year old

[queen-of-obsessing]

say whatever you want about merlin and its bad writing but at least they didn’t make a teenager commit suicide for shock value

[cantfuckbracket]

Can't Fuck/Bad In Bed Bracket. Round 2, Side A

Light Yagami (Death Note) versus LD Curtain (The Mysterious Benedict Society TV)

[ID: The unfuckable pride flag overlaid with the "no bitches" meme. Over it are pictures of the contestants. Light is a pale Japanese man with brown hair, shown with an exaggerated grimace; and Curtain has hair slicked to the side and is shown pursing his lips and throwing his hands back. Over them are sparkles and a heart with a butt, and in between them are peach emojis crossed out with the word "vs" in them. End ID]

Propaganda:

Light Yagami: "Man is too up his own ass for anyone else to be." / "everyone wants to be his bitch but hes gay and obsessed with the second worst guy ever (light himself is the first worst guy) women are THROWING themselves at him but he just doesnt care if he saw a vagina he would kill himself immediately and he hasnt seen a single dick in his life either not even his own"

LD Curtain: "He's both a cringefail loser (See: 1. repeatedly beaten by a group of literal children, at one point even saying "they have proven to be my only worthy adversaries" (<- man talking about a group of eleven year olds), 2. screaming at a child, while visibly tearing up, "I AM NOT SAD! I AM *FINE!*", 3. genuinely thinking he can simply say no to having narcolepsy, 4. keeps little painted figurines of his brother and co and does magic tricks with them to intimidate an eleven year old, sincerely thinks this is an extremely cool thing to do), a bad dad (terrible both in the sense that he's emotionally abusive and in the sense that he thinks he's doing suuuuuuuch a good job and he very much isn't), and just like. evil?? but not in the sexy way. and also he's in denial about it which makes it even LESS sexy. Negative sexy if you will. "I'm not bad. who thinks that" sir you are standing in your mind control machine. "Sticky! Friend! Evil is a bit harsh!" sir you psychologically tortured him. anyway he does stupid little magic tricks and is a complete failure but somehow manages to convince everyone that he's charming and actually very cool. while obviously like, starting a cult or being just visibly a cringefail maniac two seconds from flying off the handle. anywya this got out of hand the point is: UNFUCKABLE."

[this-witch-writes]

What's with the Queer Coding in Henry Creel's backstory?

A fic I was writing meant I had to go back and look into the details given in Season 4 about Henry Creel's origin story as it's relayed to us through two primary narrators: first Victor Creel to Robin and Nancy in Pennhurst, then Henry himself to Eleven. There's also mentions of him by Brenner and Owens and the implications of imagery used in the curse visions.

First and foremost I've never been satisfied with the "this 12 year old is just evil and psychic for no reason I guess" that seemed to be where they were going. I noticed that Henry is more than once described as a "sensitive" kid that didn't fit in which is almost EXACTLY what Hopper, Joyce, and others said about Will in Season 1.

"Sensitive" as a euphemism for gay is an old literary and film trope that's been seen a thousand times so that doesn't need much argument. But if you combine that word "sensitive" with how Virginia Creel (Henry's mother) is described as thinking there was something wrong with him and trying to get a psychiatrist to "take him away" (when institutionalization was common for queer folks in the 50s) AND for that institutionalization to involve the repeated torture of electroshock therapy (clear conversion therapy reference)... well that's a whole picture.

The really weird thing isn't that they've shoved that queer coding on a villain because, again, a trope as old as time it's that they DIDN'T particularly queer code Vecna, just the backstory. Those elements are there, sure, but the story doesn't do anything with them. The narrative makes no meaningful attempt to get us to empathize with Henry.

If we compare him to Billy, as another abused child angry at the world that hurt him, we not see any of the same sympathetic story beats. Henry's backstory plays out like a thriller about raising a serial killer who goes on to Joker monologue at a six year old and commit mass-child murder.

His conversations with El make it seem like he cares about the bullying she's facing but for his violence to be so misplaced against the other lab children and not the staff there really should have been more space given to that if the Duffer Bros wanted the audience to follow Henry's internal logic.

Now some of this might be answered in Season 5, because there the obvious chicken or egg question about the Upside Down since the start. Whether it existed as was and influenced Henry or did Henry's thoughts influenced it. See his obsession with Spiders --> his drawing the Mind Flayer. Other people have pointed out that in the first 3 seasons a clock can be heard in a number of significant moments connected to the Upside Down.

There's also other parallels with Will besides the use of the word "sensitive". His age, the fact his father thought he was dead but mother knew something was going on, one sibling, bullied at school and drawing the Mind Flayer repeatedly.

I'm concerned that Season 5 won't make any of this sit right and that it's only there because the Duffer Bros couldn't seem to decide between a sympathetic or unsympathetic villain and went with Mindlessly Evil (but a bit fruity wink nudge).

[zo1nkss]

OP you articulated this so so well. Like, I completely agree - people do not have to be watching OFMD for a storyline where Ed gets away with bad violence. That is not wrong of them, and I completely get if the way a lot of fans are dismissing Izzy's feelings is triggering. Thats a valid experience and ppl have every right to feel any type of way about the situation because we are all individuals with our own experiences.

But I think yt ppl forget that they're not the only ones here having feelings. I came to this show bc it centered a queer indigenous man and I literally have not seen that in my entire 27 years of life. Ed Teach was literally life changing for me. In this show, marginalized people are not only allowed to torture their abusers but encouraged to.

when I see Ed fighting back against Izzy this way, I see all the revenge fantasies I had of the people who deeply hurt and abused me that I cannot fulfill. The yt teacher who mocked and laughed at me in front of a summer school full of my peers because I didn't want to wear the construction-paper-headdress that was a racist depiction of MY culture. I was eleven fucking years old. That's the kind of person Izzy represents to me. A yt person who feels so entitled to their racist characture that they will commit active racism against people who should be able to trust them. And now we get to see Ed take revenge against that kind of behavior. That's something Indigenous people - especially Indigenous men - are not allowed to have. We don't get revenge on colonizers, or yt tears, or yt fragility, We get to shut up or fucking /die/. Those are our options. And those - by no coincidence - are the only options Ed is given. Under no uncertainty.

So to see them so blatantly say "no, actually you deserve vindication for the suffering yt cishet society has put you through" to Ed's character, repeatedly, without villifying him, has been....indescribable for me.

And thats why I'm genuinely not interested in yt ppl's interperitation or hurt feelings over scenes where Izzy cries over reeping the consequences of the person he's choosing to force Ed to be. "Threaten me again, ever, I'll feed you the rest."

He was clear. But apparently too many people managed to forget he's not the type to just lob off filanges for shits and giggles, clearly. Because if they hadn't, we would not be having this wave of racist discourse about it.

ok so like objectively yes ed did things wrong but not only do i personally feel no negative emotions about any of that, i swear it would make more sense tonally with the rest of the show to NOT make a huge chunk of s2 be about ed facing the consequences for and redeeming himself from the marooning/pushing lucius overboard/izzy toe thing. like if im wrong i’m wrong and it’s whatever but i really really think the focus will be more on ed’s internal emotional state and how his choices were informed by trauma and how he’s going to learn to heal more than it’s gonna be like, Ed Learns It’s Wrong To Maroon People And Force Feed People Their Own Toes. like if anything i think it’ll be Ed Learns That He Deserves To Be Happy And He Also Realizes That Marooning People And Force Feeding People Their Own Toes Is An Unhealthy Coping Skill That Negatively Affects His Mental Health And He Learns New, Healthier Coping Strategies. like i think the focus of coming out of the kraken era is going to be almost entirely on ed’s feelings, and any mention of how his actions harmed the rest of the cast will be brief and/or it’ll primarily be played for comedy

which yes irl this would kinda suck to have some guy respond to getting his heart broken (and other stuff) by killing and maiming people and then have his whole journey of self-discovery be solely abt him and not any of the people he’s hurt. HOWEVER a biiiiiig part of the humor of the show is that the characters are experiencing some very real and very relatable self-esteem issues and insecurities and vulnerabilities, and all of that is placed on a backdrop of comedically gratuitous pirate violence. like this is a romcom and ed is basically going through the classic emotional beats of the romcom heroine getting her heart broken and eating a whole tub of ice cream and crying in her room for days before becoming cold and distant and “love is dead” edgy, only the joke is that bc he’s a pirate his “love is dead” romcom era includes some people actually literally dying. izzy and the crew all just happen to be in the blast radius for this joke, and while we as fans might love and care abt those characters too, the plain fact is that ed and stede are the main characters and the other characters’s feelings or storylines or internal motivations simply do not matter nearly as much to the show as theirs (with the exception of maybe jim, and also maybe olu depending on how s2 goes). and that’s literally just how romcoms work. this sort of “protagonist bias” is like, a core part of this kind of story.

and there’s nothing wrong with not vibing with the story because of that. if season two comes and goes and you aren’t happy with how the show handled the consequences of ed’s actions in e10 that’s fine, nobody has to feel any specific way about this show. but if i’m right and this is how s2 plays out and some of y’all don’t like this, the problem is not that ofmd is bad. the problem is just that this is not the story you wanted or expected to be told.

i DO think, tho, that there’s something very powerful abt a character like this being a queer indigenous man. he’s a gay romcom protagonist and narratively speaking his feelings trump all. this is a queer romcom that uses gratuitous slapstick violence as a punchline and where the queer main characters are allowed to get violent and unhinged about their feelings, and at the end of the day they ultimately get a pass bc it’s a gay romcom and the show is about them. like literally that description itself is more than i could’ve ever dreamed of from any tv show ever, and THEN you’re telling me that one of the main characters is indigenous???? it’s been a year and a half and s2 is right around the corner and i swear to god i still can’t believe this show actually exists. we don’t GET shows like this, we don’t GET characters like this. ed teach is such a fucking blessing of a character and i love him with all my heart.

[elsanna-shenanigans]

August Contest Submission #10: Woman in the Gibbet

Words:  ca. 6,000 Setting: cannon-adjacent AU Lemon: no Content: medieval torture device, extremely serious magical burns (self inflicted for quest reasons), body mutilation

There once was a kingdom, in the country that would come to be called Norway. The kingdom was called Arrendelle, and it was ruled, as kingdoms were, by a series of kings. The castle inhabited by this series of kings and their wives, in this little nation, was an old and elaborate thing. A mess of different styles and architectures. A mass of spires and windows and arrow-slits and murder-holes. It was like any castle, with one exception.

This exception was not notable to visitors, not initially. It became more and more notable as generations passed, and morals and decorum changed. The exception was a single gibbet, a single hanging cage high on the castle, with a figure inside. Once there had been more gibbets, more hanging cages, around the old castle. But, by the time of this story, there was only one.

It was a rusted old thing, hanging on an old spire from a creaking chain, and there was a figure within. It was, to all appearances, an ordinary gibbet, perhaps a little oversized for its occupant, whose legs swung free through holes in the hanging cage.

The tower from which hung the gibbet was off-limits to residents of the castle. Once the old kings and advisors had been allowed up there. But over the years, the tradition had spread until no one ever went up to that tower, no one ever had a closer look at that gibbet. No one ever spoke to the woman within. No one knew she existed.

Not until this story, at least.

See, the king and queen of Arrendelle had a daughter. There had been a number of daughters over the years, but this daughter was important. It was this daughter who our story is about.

Anna, daughter of Agnarr and Iduna of Arrendelle, was a delightful and precocious girl. She was red-haired and fair-skinned just like her father. She was inquisitive and flexible, a bit like her mother had once been, before the marriage.

Most important, though, was that Anna was alone and she was bored. Whatever it was that her parents were up to, whether it be diplomacy or adventure or war, Anna was not invited. She was left in the castle with the servants and there was only so much she could do to keep herself occupied.

Anna attended to her lessons with great vigour. She learned to read and write and do arithmetic and dance and sing, well enough. She learned to ride horses, she learned about the natural philosophy of the day. She learned whatever she was told to, and as she grew she learned more and more that she had not been told to.

Still, Anna was bored. She could badger the staff as much as she liked, but they were busy. She could run around the castle unrestrained and she could talk to the paintings, talk to the suits of armour, and the books. She did her utmost to engage herself, but most of all in her boredom, Anna was alone.

Anna, like her parents, had been thoroughly instructed about the tower from which hung a gibbet. She had been thoroughly instructed against going there. She had been repeatedly told that it was forbidden for everyone.

But, when her parents and their retinue were away, there weren’t enough staff in the castle to keep a thorough enough eye on her. And so, in her loneliness and boredom, in her inquisitiveness, Anna found her way into that forbidden tower. In her youthful enthusiasm, she climbed all of those many, many stairs.

***

The first time Anna reached the top of that forbidden spire, she was eleven years old. She was panting and red-faced. She was grinning, her dress was dusty and new patterns had emerged from the spider webs she had dashed through in her desire to explore.

In truth, Anna had given the gibbet and its occupant very little thought. She could only assume that, as she had been told all her life, the occupant had been dead since before her father was born. Her wish was to see the tower. Was to find whatever forbidden treasure was being hidden from her and the rest of her family up here.

A worthwhile diversion, here, is to note that at this point in Anna’s life, she thought of her family as being primarily comprised of the servants of the castle. Her parents had been somewhat more present when she was much younger, but it felt like years since she had seen them for more than a few weeks at a time.

Kai and Gerda, by contrast, were daily fixtures in her life. Her personal maid and butler and tutors were much closer to her family than any distant, occupied parents. And this family of hers had instructed her thoroughly that the spire she approached the peak of was forbidden.

What then, Anna needed to know, was hidden up here? She would find out and she would tell Kai and Gerda. At least, that was her plan.

The spire was cool, like a lot the castle that went mostly unoccupied. The higher Anna climbed, the more a biting wind from above chilled her. At the top of the dtairs, and iron-bound door hung open, hinges rusted solid.

At the top of the tower was a nearly circular, bare stone room with windows at each cardinal direction. It was dusty and home to spiders like the rest of the tower. The rotten remains of an old, wooden chair lay near the west window. It was from these, external windows, that the chill wind whistled.

From the windows, Anna could see grey clouds and nothing else. Faintly, she could hear the screeching creak of a chain from that western window. Anna approached, certain this window opened onto the old gibbet she saw occasionally from outside the castle.

Here, she thought, might be some answer where there had been nothing in the rest of the tower. At the very least, the old corpse that must be within might provide the girl some practical anatomical observations.

Anna did find and answer in the gibbet, just not one that she ever told to anyone else.

The gibbet was not odd, as gibbets go. It was absent the internal spikes that often characterised these contraptions in Anna’s books. But, within the gibbet was no corpse.

Within the gibbet, swaying gently and loudly in the high wind, was a woman. A young woman who could not have been older than Anna’s mother. The woman wore a simple white dress and britches. She wore no shoes on feet that dangled through the rusted cage. Her hair was nearly the same white as her dress.

The woman stared out over the land revealed by the open window. Gazed out over the small town of Arrendelle, and the lands and fields beyond it. From here, the whole of the little kingdom could be seen, along with the vast river and distant, misty forest.

In her melancholic gazing, it seemed that the woman hadn’t noticed Anna as she stood, panting, in the window. Nerves rose in her chest, barely distinguishable from the tightness from running up the stairs. Anna was nothing if not curious.

‘Hello,’ little Anna said, her voice shaking from nerves and fatigue. ‘Um… who are you?’

The woman jerked, flinched, and the cage seemed to turn itself so that the woman could look at little Anna with solid, shining blue eyes that Anna would never recognise as looking so like her own.

‘Hello, little one,’ the woman said. ‘My name is Elsa. Who are you?’

Anna hesitated, swallowed the dryness from her mouth. ‘Um, I’m Anna. Nice to meet you Elsa.’ She seemed nice, thought Anna, for someone in a cage.

‘And nice to meet you too, little Anna.’ Elsa smiled a nice kind of smile, a spreading of the lips and the edges of the eyes that revealed no wrinkles, precisely, just the folds of an ordinary face. ‘What are you doing up here?’

Anna huffed. ‘I should be asking you the same question, you know? This is my castle.’

‘Oh, is that so?’ Elsa’s smile spread into a white-toothed grin. ‘Your castle. Where are your parents, then?’

‘I don’t know, or care.’ Anna crossed her arms over her chest and tried to frown severely like Kai could. It was much closer to a pout. ‘While they’re away, it’s my castle.’

‘Well then, my great lady,’ Elsa teased. ‘I am here because here is where I was put a long time ago.’

Anna frowned, pouted, harder. ‘How long ago? It’s been… and who put you in here? That’s not very nice.’

Elsa gave a dramatic pause, a dramatically thoughtful pause. ‘You know, I’d never thought of that, it’s not very nice, is it?’ Elsa’s sarcasm did not land. ‘Some bad men put me in here, afraid of what I knew, and it’s been so long, I’ve lost track of time.’

‘Wow. That’s… long. What did you know? Can you get out?’

Elsa stifled some kind of expression, that much was clear even to little Anna. ‘I can’t get out by myself, no. But, if it really is your castle, maybe you can let me out. What do you think?’

Anna gave it very little thought before nodding furiously. Then she paused. ‘You don’t have to leave, though, right? You could stay here, just not in this cage, and keep me company?’ Anna suggested, hope writ large across her little features.

‘If you let me out of this cage, I will stay in the castle as long as I am able.’

Anna grinned and leaned out the window, reaching for the gently swaying cage. ‘How do I open it?’

The cage turned itself even further so that Elsa was facing directly into the wall of the spire. On the side facing Anna was a latch. The hinges were hidden, at least from Anna. But the mechanism to open the gibbet was obvious. It wasn’t even obstructed from Elsa, it seemed to Anna. But Elsa had already said that she couldn’t open it herself.

It’s a little unfair to say that Anna never worked. She did a lot in her life, but she never did the sort of steady work that would have given her callouses. And yet, she had callouses on her palms and fingers for most of her childhood and adolescence.

When little Anna reached out to grab the latch on Elsa’s gibbet, the rusted metal dug into her soft skin. And when she pulled on the latch, hoping to open the cage for her new friend, the handle shifted easily under her meagre strength. But, as it moved, the metal burned her.

At first, it was unpleasantly warm, then it was hot and then it was too hot to touch. Anna yelped and let go and the latch clanged back into place. Her hands were reddened, but not quite burned, not yet. Anna frowned at the unlocked latch.

‘Hmm,’ said Elsa. ‘It’s not so bad for you as it is for me.’ The white-haired woman reached through the bars of the gibbet and touched the latch. The end of her finger blackened in a moment, and her flesh melted with a hissing and a wafting stench.

‘Stop it,’ Anna cried, and Elsa did just that. As the little girl watched, though, the tip of Elsa’s finger started to regrow.

‘Oh, how did you do that?’ Anna asked, leaning further out of the window to watch the blackened flesh regrow, good as new.

‘I don’t know,’ Elsa said, holding out her healed hand to Anna. ‘I’ve just always been able to do it, I suppose.’

Anna nodded, reaching out to take the woman’s hand and examine it closely. Her own hands, gripping Elsa’s, were bright red by contrast.

‘I should try again,’ Anna determined, aloud. ‘If you can put up with it, then so can I.’

‘I don’t know…’ Elsa half-heartedly started to protest, but Anna was an enthusiastic sort of girl.

Anna let go of Elsa’s hand and reached out again to take the latch of the gibbet with both hands. She gripped it hard, the rust digging into the sensitive skin of her hands. And she lifted again. Again, the latch raised easily, but immediately started to heat up,. It went from too warm to burning hot in a moment and Anna gritted her teeth and pulled. But, regardless of her enthusiasm and determination, Anna couldn’t do it.

With a hiss and a groan, the girl let go of the latch and pulled away her blistering hands.

When she was asked, later, she would say that she slipped and accidentally grabbed one of the gas burners in the corridor. She promised to be more careful from now on and absolutely did not hold herself to that promise.

***

Anna visited her new friend in the tower as often as she could. When she was eleven, that was every day that her parents weren’t back from whatever important business they always had. As she got older, she spent more time in learning and going out from time to time, and her visits were a little less frequent. But she never got bored of climbing all those stairs and talking to Elsa.

She never tired of burning her hands trying to get that gibbet open. She never got it open.

When she was nearly thirteen, Anna climbed the steps with a pair of heavy leather gloves she’d stolen from the castle smithy. She bounded, grinning, into the top of that tower, into that dusty, empty stone room. As she reached the window, Elsa’s cage rotated so that Elsa could smile at her.

‘How was your day?’ Elsa asked.

‘No time, I have an idea.’ Anna held up the gloves, hurriedly shoving her tiny hands into them. ‘Let’s try these.’

Elsa smiled, but didn’t bother saying that it wouldn’t help. ‘Careful.’

Anna reached out as the cage turned just that little bit further. She grabbed the latch as firmly as she could with the absurdly oversized blacksmith’s gloves. She pulled and at first it seemed like it was working. She could feel warmth from the other side of the gloves, but as she pulled on the latch, she was fine. The leather started smoking, the heat within building.

‘Anna, stop, it’s not going to work.’

Anna didn’t listen. She was an enthusiastic, daring little teen and she was going to free this princess or whoever and they were going to get married and live happily ever after. Whether this was a conscious desire of Anna’s, whether it had any kind of actual romantic intent behind it, is open to speculation.

What is less open to speculation is that the searing handle of the gibbet door burned through the leather of the blacksmith gloves and the moment that burning handle touched Anna’s flesh she shrieked and let go, shaking the burning, oversized gloves off and out the window.

Elsa’s cage spun and she reached her hands through the bars toward Anna. ‘Are you alright, dear?’

Anna took Elsa’s hands, tears welling in her eyes and she tried to keep it together. ‘It’s alright, it’s alright,’ she insisted. ‘I was just shocked.’

Anna and Elsa both knew that it wasn’t alright. Elsa could see deep, blackened gouges in the girl’s hands, and it hurt so very much. Elsa made soothing noises and leaned forward to place soft kisses on Anna’s palms. ‘It’ll be alright,’ she said.

The burns weren’t gone, when finally Anna took her hands back from the woman in the gibbet. But they weren’t nearly as bad as she’d expected them to be. The pain, too, had subsided. Anna was sure, from that moment on, that Elsa could cure her of all her ails.

In return for this great service that Elsa was doing her, Anna hungered more and more to free the woman. She just couldn’t come up with anything. She tried tongs, a poker. She even set up a pulley and chain. She tried layers of gloves. She tried buckets of water. Sometimes she would get further than all her attempts with bare hands, but always her contraptions would burn or melt.

***

It was christmas season and Anna was not alone in the castle, but her parents weren’t there. It was midway between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays. Kai and Gerda had gotten the castle’s seamstress to make her quite a pretty, green dress. Most of the staff had gathered to host Anna a little celebration of the passing of the winter solstice.

It wasn’t the first time Anna had had alcohol. It wasn’t the first time she’d climbed all those steps up to Elsa’s gibbet at night. But there was something different about it, this time. What, exactly, was different is hard to be sure of. It was just something in the air.

As Anna leaned out that high window, the biting wind carrying the faint smell of smoke from the bonfires in town. As she leaned there and gazed vaguely at Elsa, who stared down at the fires. As she held a half-empty bottle of wine in her hand. Something was different.

‘Elsa?’ Anna had a tone in her voice, and they both heard it.

The cage swivelled and Elsa took Anna’s outstretched hand in both of her own. When had Anna reached out a hand? She didn’t remember that. Even with the frigid night air and the years of nerve damage, Anna could still feel Elsa’s cool, soft skin.

‘Elsa, what…’ But Anna couldn’t quite work out her question. She took another swig from her wine bottle, before balancing it on the sill. Anna climbed up onto the window frame, one knee resting there as she reached out toward the cage.

It was easy to fit a hand through the bars and Anna barely hesitated as she put a hand to Elsa’s cheek. ‘Elsa… what is? What are…’ She leaned as far out of the window as she dared, trying to get as close to Elsa as she could. ‘Is this…’

Elsa put a hand over Anna’s on her cheek. ‘Beloved, you are young and drunk,’ she said. ‘I am neither.’

‘But..’

But whatever Anna had been about to say was cut off by a cry as her leg slipped and she fell, head first, out of the window atop that tall tower. The bottle slipped and fell the great distance to the snow blanketing the gardens.

Anna did not fall. Strong hands grabbed her. And it hurt, to come to that wrenching halt in the air. Elsa’s grip was solid, was soft, was cool. She dragged Anna back up and the cage swung in the biting wind enough for Elsa to push Anna back onto the sill.

Anna scrambled back inside. ‘Thank you,’ she huffed. ‘Sorry. I…’ And she turned and rushed, headlong down the stairs. She was lucky not to fall again.

Someone found that empty bottle a few months later and gave it very little thought.

***

‘There’s this sense of pointlessness to it all,’ Anna complained. She was close to seventeen and there were a few things she was sure of: she would never get the cage open, and she was in love with Elsa.

Elsa laughed. It didn’t feel like a very nice sort of laugh. ‘Beloved, what do you know?’

Anna whished Elsa wouldn’t call her that. ‘What am I supposed to do with my life, Elsa? I’ll never get that cage open. I’ll just… be someone’s bride soon enough. All of… everything I’ve done so far will be pointless.’

Again, that laugh. ‘Look.’ Elsa waved out at the darkened town of Arrendelle. She waved out at the rolling hills, blanketed in night, and the invisible forest. ‘Look at all this before us, little one. What is any of it for?’

‘I… what do you mean?’

‘What’s the point of all this?’

‘I don’t know,’ Anna said. ‘Does it have to be for something?’

The laugh was worse this time. ‘You might hope not, beloved. But it’s for something, isn’t it? It’s for the benefit of you and your family. It’s for your gain, all of this. Maybe it’ll be for the gain of your husband some day, but now? What are all the people in this castle for? All the people in the village?’

Anna clenched her jaw and didn’t move from where she leaned against the window sill, much as she wanted to leave. ‘Are they all for my benefit too?’

‘You guessed it, beloved.’

‘What am I for, then?’ Anna asked, voice harder than she liked it. ‘You claim all this is for me? You really think that? It’s not for my father? Or for whatever man I get stuck with?’

‘Anna, look up,’ Elsa said, voice much softer. ‘Do you see them?’

Anna took a deep breath and looked up. Black clouds drifted slowly across the sky, like flying monsters ready to devour the stars above. But the stars still glimmered, unafraid of the devouring clouds. The waxing crescent moon shone faintly down, showing the drifting, fraying edges of the clouds.

‘Are they for me, too?’

‘In a manner of speaking,’ Elsa said. ‘As much as they’re for anyone or anything, they’re for you. One day, I will reach those stars. I’ve seen it. One day, those stars and worlds up there will be for someone, for something. Now…’

‘That’s a stupid lesson,’ Anna said. ‘I’m not married yet, sure, but I have parents.’

This laugh was at a joke, bitterness erased. ‘That’s not the lesson, Anna. Watch the stars with me.’

Anna took a few more deep breaths as they silently watched the stars. Or Anna silently watched the drifting of the clouds, the twinkling lights that disappeared at one end and reappeared at the other. She watched the immobile stars shift and change as the sky between her and the vast heavens drifted slowly.

‘It’s all pointless, Elsa,’ Anna said, after a while. ‘As much as I adore the stars, I am not one. My future reaches back for me with icy fingers.’

Elsa smiled. ‘What’s this future, then?’

‘What?’

‘You claim to me that the future reaches back with icy fingers. How can it?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘You and I, we don’t live in the future.’ Elsa’s cage turned slightly so that she could look at Anna. ‘We live here and now. No future is set, no future can reach back to torment you. What future is reaching its icy fingers to you?’

Anna huffed. ‘I don’t know,’ she tried not to whine. ‘The future I’m expecting, I suppose.’

‘You, who have not been in a cage for so very long, complain to me about the pointlessness of life because you imagine things will get worse? Or your lot will fail to adequate improve.’

Anna, even if she was broadly considered an adult, was still impulsive. So it was with even a mild shock to herself that she climbed out onto the sill and leaned far too far out of the window frame to grab the latch on Elsa’s cage.

It was with unbreaking eye contact that she wrenched on the latch until her skin blackened and smoked, until the flames reached so deep that she could not force her hand to stay closed. Only when she could not stop herself did Anna release the latch to drop fully closed with a clang.

Elsa’s hand shot out to grab her smoking, bubbling palm. ‘No matter how much you have grown, you’re still a child, beloved.’ Elsa said as she pressed her lips to Anna’s palm.

Anna wobbled in her precarious perch on the sill, torn between a frown that would have been a pout and a blush that might have been hidden by the dark night. She ended up doing both, of course. Anna pouted and blushed and looked away from Elsa’s pink lips pressed to her smoking flesh.

‘What is in your future, Elsa?’ Anna asked, at length, Elsa’s lips still pressed to her bubbling palm. ‘Can your future reach its icy fingers out to you?’

Elsa smiled into Anna’s hand and lifted her head to gaze vaguely into Anna’s eyes. There was something moving there, something shifting and brilliant behind Elsa’s bright blue eyes. ‘Aren’t there two options for me, Anna? Either I am in this cage, or I am not. I have been in this cage, but there are always two options.’

‘Do you need to think about it, then?’ Anna asked. ‘You can’t free yourself.’

Elsa grinned and laid a little peck on Anna’s palm before releasing. ‘Maybe not quite the child I accused you of being?’

***

It wouldn’t be quite right to say that Anna had suitors. That would imply much more choice, and much more contact, than the issue actually contained. Anna had met a few of the various noble men that her parents were considering marrying her off to.

There was some facade to the interaction like Anna had input in the matter, but there was no appropriate response other than ‘he seems nice’ and to quietly listen to why the marriage in question would be good and/or bad for the kingdom of Arrendelle. It was never just one or the other, of course, even if the potential consequences amounted to ‘this set of people will be mad about it’.

Anna, though, had learned her lesson. There was a particular way in which she could complain about the feeling of helplessness in her life without Elsa getting judgemental, condescending, or aggravatingly philosophic.

‘It’s so annoying,’ Anna told her single friend. As much as she loved Kai and Gerda, they were deeply resistant to disagree with her parents on anything. ‘This backwardness, this obscureness in conversation.’

‘You are too used to talking to a woman in a cage, I think,’ Elsa said. ‘What do I care about your social contract? I do not expect you to moderate your responses to me.’

‘You say that…’ Anna, recently seventeen years old, had not gotten over her feelings for Elsa.

‘And I mean it, beloved,’ Elsa said. ‘You can moderate yourself as much as you want, with me. I refuse to do the same. It is disappointment that you fear from me, not rejection.’

Anna stared vaguely up at the cloudless stars. ‘You have this habit… or maybe I shouldn’t say it that way. You have this way of making me disappointed in myself.’

‘You might be growing, might be grown, but that doesn’t make you wise.’

‘Wiser?’

Elsa smiled. ‘Wiser, certainly. What’s wrong with this one?’

Anna shrugged. ‘Beyond the obvious?’

‘You can tell me the obvious if you want, it won’t change much.’

‘He’s not you, for one thing,’ Anna sighed. ‘But he’s not…’ She took a deep breath and thought about it. ‘He’s not a woman, for one thing. He’s not as old as some of them, but he’s still years older than me. He’s just not interesting, right? He doesn’t care about me, he cares about my parents, about my family. And I know, I know.’

‘No, it’s fair,’ Elsa said. ‘No one who your parents find for you is going to care about you for yourself, right? Your parents might care about you, but thet too care what you can gain for them.-

‘How about you, then? Do you care about me beyond my theoretical ability to open this cage?’ Anna thought she knew the answer, and she didn’t want to know it if she was wrong. She found herself tensing, awaiting for the near inevitable disappointment.

Elsa sighed. ‘Anna, I have been trapped in this cage a very long time. I can’t feel my feet, my back is always sore and I am so, blisteringly hungry. And yet here I am, alive and speaking to you.’ Elsa took a deep breath and the cage turned to face Anna.

‘Do you think I would still talk to you if I only cared about that?’ Elsa asked. ‘How long have you been trying and trying to open this cage? And you’ve never managed it. I have no reason to assume that you’ll succeed, do I?’

Anna nodded along.

‘How about me, then?’

Anna stared up at the waning gibbous moon. No edges of clouds to see the light through. No fading wisps to watch while her mind worked.

‘Does friendship count?’ Anna asked, at length. ‘I gain benefit from that, don’t I?’

‘Would you keep me in this cage, for fear that I would abandon you if I were free.’

Anna felt like she ought to say ‘no’ immediately. But instead, she stopped and thought again. She didn’t need to think about it much. ‘No, I wouldn’t.’

‘What if I threatened to break my promise?’

Anna stared out at the stars. ‘Promise?’

‘Never mind.’

***

It was six months out from Anna’s eighteenth birthday when her parents died at sea. It was five months out from Anna’s eighteenth birthday when she got the news. She had a reaction to it, that much was sure. She was probably upset about it, but it was hard to think.

Of course Anna found herself lying on the sill of Elsa’s window, watching the clouds shift slowly from white to orange to purple to black. She hadn’t spoken much, aside from telling Elsa the news.

So they sat quietly and watched the clouds block out the stars.

Anna had no idea what time it was when she decided to speak. ‘Is it wrong if I don’t care all that much?’

Elsa laughed, a laugh that was somewhere in the middle. Not a laugh that was making fun, not a laugh that wasn’t making fun. ‘You’re supposed to care, are you?’

‘I expect so,’ Anna said. ‘And I do. But… but they’re going to make me wear black and cry and stuff like that.’

‘Who’s going to make you do anything, now?’

‘Social contract.’

Elsa smiled. ‘You don’t want to wear black or cry, I take it?’

Anna shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Not really.’

‘You would look good in black.’

Anna blushed into the dark night. ‘Thanks, I guess.’

They went back to watching the stars in peaceful quiet. Even the constant groaning of the chain that held up Elsa’s gibbet felt peaceful to Anna after all these years of listening to it.

It was only when the sun started to rise that Anna sat up and reached out to the gibbet. It turned so that Elsa was facing just off to the side. ‘Am I the master of this house, now, do you think?’ Anna asked.

Perhaps it was simply the years of nerve damage, but it seemed like Anna got further with the latch than she usually did. If felt like she didn’t have to let go as quick as she usually did.

‘Not yet, I suppose,’ Elsa said. ‘You are simply a regent. If I recall correctly, you will be a regent until your twenty-first birthday.’

Anna sighed. ‘Three years, I suppose.’

***

Anna’s coronation was a solemn affair, of course. It was the sort of affair that was inevitably solemn. Her parents had died, and that was how we had gotten to this. It was rare for a queen to be coronated as the actual ruler of a country, but not completely unheard of.

Tensions had cropped up over the last three years, of course, as Anna did not pursue marriage in the slightest. The nobles of her small kingdom weren’t the most bothered by it, which had been nice, but people outside the sovereign lands of Arrendelle had been a little upset at times.

If Anna had married, even someone her own age, or someone who had been eighteen at the time they were married, he would have been king. But now, even if Anna did get married, it would be to a Prince Consort, a much lesser person.

The bishop at Arrendelle city was unimpressed by the whole situation, but there wasn’t anything he could do. No one could actually force Anna to get married, not with her parents dead.

And so, as she received a ball and sceptre, on this important day, Anna smiled to herself. Perhaps she had found herself with a little less time to visit Elsa since her parents died, but she still made the effort as much as she could.

If she would ever be the master of this place, it would be now. But first, before she could go up the tower and test her new position, she had to deal with the people who had come to her coronation.

What happened with Hans in this version of the story? Not much, really. He tried the same moves on Anna but there were two important differences: Anna was not as attention-starved, and Anna was in love with Elsa.

It was late at night when Anna rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time and emerging into that empty room atop the spire panting and red faced as if she were eleven years old again. Anna was leaning most of the way out of the window before Elsa could even say ‘hello’.

Anna didn’t bother to wait for the cage to rotate, for Elsa to react to her. She clambered out of the window and onto the outside of the swinging gibbet, hanging out over a drop of more than two hundred metres.

Anna grabbed the latch on the gibbet and she pulled. The handle lifted as easily as it ever had, and it seemed like Anna was right. It seemed like, for once, she wouldn’t be burned.

But the fire burned into her hand. The rusted metal dug into tough skin. Her flesh swelled and burned and smoked and Anna ignored it. She raised and raised the latch and the metal burned into her hand.

Anna didn’t care. She was going to open this damned cage, no matter what happened. Maybe the latch would burn all the way through her hand. Maybe it would be impossible to open this latch.

There was a clang, there was a creak. The gibbet swung open.

As if she had not spent uncountable time in a gibbet, Elsa moved immediately, flowed like water. She moved with grace and speed and before she could think about what was happening, Anna was back inside the tower.

Before she could think of what was happening, Elsa was kissing her. Anna didn’t mind the surprise. She kissed Elsa back and she tried not to think about this change. She tried not to wonder why it was happening now.

There was something else there.

There was something in Elsa’s shifting, shining, blue eyes. There had always been something in Elsa’s shifting blue eyes. And Anna’s eyes looked just like them. There was something in Anna’s eyes that no one had ever found before.

‘You fear me so much,’ Elsa thought, not breaking the kiss with Anna. ‘You fear yourself so much. They ate you up, beloved.’

Anna let herself be tipped over, let herself be lowered to the floor by Elsa’s firm, cool grip. ‘What do I fear?’ she wondered.

‘You fear the future, beloved.’

There’s something imperceptible, inexplicable, about the future. There’s something endless and unknowable about the future. There’s something wondrous and exciting about the future, too.

It wouldn’t be quite right to say that Anna or Elsa could see the future. There’s no future to see, is there? They couldn’t know the future, that would be impossible. But it would be right to say that the two of them knew something, saw something with those shifting, shining blue eyes.

What Anna knew, for sure, was that she enjoyed kissing Elsa.

‘From within a cage on your castle, how am I supposed to say yes to anything?’ Elsa wondered into Anna’s mind. ‘I can love whoever I want from within a cage, it doesn’t matter. Who owns that cage, beloved?’

Anna pushed the two of them to their feet, very much resisting the need to break the kiss. She shuffled them toward the window. But there comes a time for everything to end, doesn’t there?

Anna broke the kiss, much to her own dismay, and reached out to the cage, but…

Her right hand was missing. All that remained was a charred stump.

Anna grabbed the cage with her left hand. The metal of the cage blazed red. Rust smoked and burned. Anna’s hand did not burn with it. The glowing metal was starting to warp when the chain broke.

When the cage hit the snow far below, it burst.

‘No one can own a cage that doesn’t exist, surely,’ Anna said.

Elsa grinned. ‘Still not very wise.’

‘Stop being rude.’ Anna smiled, pulling Elsa into another kiss.

[intothedarkplace]

The Murder of Sylvia Likens Pt. One: The Crime

TW: Talk of severe child abuse and torture.

Sylvia Likens was a 16-year-old girl who lived with her four siblings and her parents, Betty and Lester. Lester only made it through 8th grade and worked many jobs to support his family. These jobs included several factories, a laundry route, at one point, a small restaurant (which was unsuccessful), and even traveling in a circus selling food out of a concessions cart.

This job was what Lester and his wife decided to go back to in the summer of 1965. Because of this and the travel schedule, Sylvia's parents had to find someone to take care of their four children. The two boys went to stay with their grandparents, and that left the two girls, Jenny and Sylvia.

Betty and Lester heard about Gertrude Baniszewski through a mutual friend. They contacted her, and she agreed to take the girls for 20 dollars a week. The families agreed, and the girls went to live with Gertrude.

Gertrude Baniszweski was a frail, underweight woman with a laundry list of health issues and asthma. She had seven children of her own at the time. Seventeen-year-old Paula, fifteen-year-old Stephanie, twelve-year-old John, eleven-year-old Marie, ten-year-old Shirley, and 18-month-olds James and Dennis.

The minute Sylvia and Jenny entered the home, Sylvia and Paula were having difficulty getting along, and this is where it's believed the initial problems started, lasting from July to October 1965.

The turning point was when one week, the 20-dollar money order didn't come on the day Gertrude expected it to. Jenny said that Gertrude took her and Sylvia upstairs and slapped Jenny, saying, " I took care of you two bitches for a week and for nothing." This was when the abuse began taking place.

There were two weapons Gertrude used regularly. A fraternity-style, two-inch-thick paddle, and a thick leather belt belonged to her ex-husband. She would hit the girls for anything she deemed punishable. This includes simply exchanging soda bottles for change at the grocery store near the home.

She once burned Sylvia's fingers because she had stolen a gym uniform from the school she went to because Gertrude refused to buy her clothing.

When Gertrude felt too weak to carry out the punishment herself, she would get her children or even other neighborhood children to do it for her.

The girls did not have a perfect life with the Baniszewski's. The girls went to the same high school as the rest of Gertrude's children. At one point, there was a rumor spreading around the school about Stephanie, Gertrude's second-oldest daughter, and someone told her that Sylvia had started it. When Stephanie found out, she asked her if she'd started it, and Sylvia confirmed this. Stephanie punched her in the face and then proceeded to cry with Sylvia.

However, Stephanie's boyfriend Coy Hubbard heard the same thing and brutally attacked her for saying anything about his girlfriend. After this, he would regularly invite his friends to the house, and they would practice Judo on Sylvia, throwing her into walls repeatedly.

Eventually, Sylvia was thrown into the cellar. She was denied access to the bathroom and was only given crackers as food. Sometimes, John would give her a bowl of soup and make her eat it with her hands. When she started to eat, as, by this time, she was extremely malnourished, he would pull the bowl away and laugh at her.

When it became apparent that Sylvia was going to die, Gertrude forced Sylvia to write a note saying she had been beaten by a group of teenage boys. The plan was to blindfold her and dump her in the woods, naked, with the note nearby. She passed away before this could happen, however. Gertrude called the police on October 26th, 1965, and told them she'd been beaten by a group of teenagers.

Jenny Likens told the police that this was not true and pushed for an investigation to be opened, and eventually, the police opened one.

Gertrude, her daughter Paula, her son John, Richard Hobbs, and Coy Hubbard were all arrested and charged. Gertrude with 1st-degree murder, Paula with second-degree murder, and the three boys with manslaughter.

The trial began in April 1966, and the first witness was called.

[dangermousie]

OK, I am loving Those Years In Quest of Honor Mine enough to have purchased it on jjwxc but I am sorry, A ROMANTIC COMEDY?

Zhong Wan was clear about this: those people were only trying to get from him, this “adopted son,” the evidence of Prince Ning’s defection. Although he had been young, he possessed a scholarly honor. Those people did not dare to physically torture him. Instead, they fed him poor meals. They called him in day and night repeatedly for interrogation, for intimidation, and three months passed like that.

They threatened him: “Young Master Zhong, you’ve kept quiet all this time. As such, we can only request His Majesty to have the Imperial Clan Court help us with this investigation. When that time comes, we can also interrogate the heir Xuan Rui.”

They tried to lure him by promise of gain: “If you’ve been tricked by Prince Ning, just say it! His Majesty has ordered that in light of watching you grow up and his like for you, he would naturally look at your accomplishments and forgive your mistakes. He would not make things difficult for your honored self. Young Master Zhong… You’re only one step away from the Palace Exam. In ten days, the Palace Exam will begin. As long as you admit that you passed messages to Prince Ning, all of this would be forgotten…”

Zhong Wan resisted for a month. He grew so thin his appearance changed. After hearing the words of the interrogators, he dropped his head, and with a voice hoarse and unlike that of a human, he said, “Xuan Rui is His Highness’ full-blooded son. Now that His Highness encountered this great disaster, he will be implicated without a doubt. I can’t help him with the suffering that he will naturally experience. I can bear the punishment that is warranted. He can as well.

“You can request for the Imperial Clan Court all you want. I also want to know… if they would dare to interrogate a ten-year-old child.

“The Palace Exam will be held after eleven days. I know that better than you. You’ll send me to take the Palace Exam? Heh… I have already lost all my titles, yet you can actually send me to the Palace Exam? You’re truly capable…”

After another month, Zhong Wan still did not relent, admitting to nothing. After enduring such hard times, he fell into a dazed state. His interrogators thought they were one step away from getting him to confess. They sent someone to stand outside his cell, chanting, “Yesterday Prince Ning had already confessed. Yesterday Prince Ning had already confessed. Yesterday Prince Ning had already confessed.”

They just needed to wait until Zhong Wan’s mental breakdown, and he’d confess to anything they said.

Zhong Wan knew he could not fall insane. If he slipped up, everyone in Prince Ning’s household would definitely lose their lives.

Zhong Wan was clear on the fact that Prince Ning did not defect. In his heart lay a hint of hope. That Prince Ning was still alive. That he was certainly enduring much suffering right now.

Prince Ning could hold on, so how could he not?

At that time, Zhong Wan was tormented to the point he could not even eat a bite of rice. He was afraid he would lose his mind, and desperately tried to find something to occupy himself. Zhong Wan leaned against the wall, ripping the plain buns given them him into thin shreds. Expressionless, he threw the shreds through the gaps of the cell door. Onto the face of the person utilizing psychological warfare against him.

It spooked the person who was chanting so much, he could not even react. A long time passed before he finally burst into anger and yelled at Zhong Wan. But Zhong Wan retaliated by hurling his meal and soup at him, and unable to dodge, that person was soaked from head to toe.

Those interrogating him did not dare to let him starve. They delivered another meal shortly after. Zhong Wan rose to his feet and beat up anyone who came.

Half a month later, the Minister of Justice finally came in person to question him. Zhong Wan reported to the minister the fraudulent practices of his interrogators, accusing them of exploiting their power for personal gains and manipulating the imperial examinations. The next day, those who had said they would bring him to the Palace Exam were detained. And they were jailed in a cell right next to Zhong Wan. Every day, he threw his meal and soup at those people.

Another month rolled along. And Prince Ning passed away in Beijiang. In his cell, red mist sprayed from Zhong Wan’s lips. The next day, he was stripped of his civilian status. Thrown into slavery.

Perhaps I just don't know what romantic comedy entails? Seriously, the HELL!

[sapphirelass]

Not you too... - NevillexSister

Hi! So... it’s been a while, but I have been extremely busy with school work and... well to be honest that’s my only excuse XD Anyhow, with maths and physics exams out of the way, it’s finally time for a new uplifting story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please note:

1: I don’t own any of the gifs used, nor any already established characters, so credit to the authors and original creators - You have done a phenomenal job :)

2: English is not my native language, as I was born and raised in Sweden. I have, however, studied English for almost a decade, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem, I just thought I’d let you know ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word count: ≈1600

Warnings: Torture, The Cruciatus Curse, The Carrows, Light swearing, Extreme angst...

OC: Louise Longbottom (born 1981)

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1998

March

Hogwarts

“Well, well, well… What do we have here?!”

The frightened first-year trembled and tried to back away.

“I...I.. I was just on my way to the Ravenclaw com…”

Alecto grabbed his jumper and pinned him to the wall. 

“Oh I don’t think so! This isn’t the first time we’ve caught you wandering around, Matthews, and I’m afraid we can’t let you get away with it…”

Amycus pulled out his wand and pointed it at the young boy’s throat.

“DON’T YOU DARE!!”

A furious sixth year Gryffindor sprinted through the corridor, her right hand clutched around her wand.

“Leave him alone! He’s eleven!? And has done nothing wrong! Levicorpus!”

Amycus was hoisted into the air by his ankle as the older student carefully approached the younger.

“Hey, are you oka-” 

But before even getting a chance to comfort the boy, the tip of a wand was pressed forcefully against her throat. The young Ravenclaw knew better than to stick around, especially when Alecto Carrow disarmed his saviour and pushed her against the wall.

“Longbottom… No bloody surprise there, c’mon!”

Amycus was back on his feet and, sadly, a fight between one wandless sixteen year old and two death eaters could barely even be called a fight. The Carrows grabbed an arm each, and made their way towards the dungeons.

***

Neville was, despite the gloomy atmosphere, in high spirits. It was Friday, his last class of the day had been herbology, and he hadn’t received detention a single time that week. He entered the common room and sat down on the sofa with a copy of A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions.

Later that night, Ginny Weasley and Seamus Finnigan climbed through the portrait hole and approached him slowly.

“Hey!”, he said, “Everything good?” 

“Neville… Where’s Louise? Is she okay?”

Neville frowned, “Wha.. Why shouldn’t she be? Where is she anyways, I thought she was with you?!”

“Neville…”, Seamus began, putting a hand on his shoulder, “She-”

“What, Seamus!?”

“She ran into the Carrows.... They were threatening some Ravenclaw first-year and she interfered before she could help herself.”

Neville felt his blood run cold.

“So? What did they do? Where is she?”

“I don’t know, we thought she would be back by now… We… we thought she was with you.”

Neville closed his book, not bothering to look for a bookmark, and left without a word. He didn’t dare to think about what could have happened to his sister, but he knew that he had to find her. Making his way through the corridors, he kept trying to tell himself that she was fine. That she was okay. That he would find her unharmed. Deep down, he knew it was highly improbable, but one can hope, right?

***

“Incarcerous!”

A thick, bloodstained rope wrapped itself tightly around her wrists and ankles, effectively preventing any movements or attempts to escape. 

“You, Longbottom - you and your ‘good-for-nothing’ brother have had your fun. I think it’s about time we teach you a little lesson.”

She sent the professor an angry glare. “So you’re finally going to start then?”

“What?”, Alecto spat

“Well, you are our teachers after all. One would think you would have planned on teaching us stuff from the beginning - it is your bloody job - but I’m glad you finally wanna give it a go…”

With a furious look on his face, Amycus grabbed Louise’s jumper and threw her violently to the floor. He charged and delivered a rough, well placed kick to her cheek before pulling out his wand.

“You really are a stupid little blood traitor, aren’t you? Do you honestly believe you’ll get out of here unharmed?”

“That kick was rather nasty so no, I think it’s too la…”

Her response was interrupted by a swift wand movement followed by a single word.

“Crucio!!”

Louise let out an ear piercing scream and began shaking violently. It wasn’t unexpected, yet she had feared this moment her entire life, and the realization that the time had finally arrived was just as horrifying as the pain itself.

“Maybe that’ll teach you something. Then again, your family never were the brightest of our kind, were they? Not even this lovely curse got the message across so… perhaps a few more times would suffice!”

The death eaters smirked evilly.

“CRUCIO!!”

“CRUCIO!!”

“CRUCIO!!”

***

Hours later the torture momentarily ceased, and Louise’s pained screams had drifted further and further towards what most would call hoarse whimpering. She was shaking, struggled to breathe, and no longer fully capable of taking in all that happened around her. 

“Well, well, well… looking rather shaken, Longbottom. Had enough yet? What do you reckon, sister?”

Alecto looked down at the trembling sixteen year old with disgust. 

“It does seem like the message has sunken in… But don’t you, dearest brother, feel like we should grant her some more… long lasting evidence of what she went through? Something more... physical?”

“What a splendid suggestion! Will you do me the honours?”

“Gladly!”

She pulled a small dagger from her cloak, though Louise had by the time almost passed out and lacked the strength to turn around and look. The girl lay motionless on the cold floor as her teacher grabbed her Gryffindor robes and threw them roughly into a messy pile. Alecto rested her hand on Louise’s collarbone, and repeatedly pierced her delicate skin. 

A couple of minutes later, the siblings stood back to admire their work and muttered sectumsempra before finally leaving and locking the door behind them.

Louise still didn’t react, but was moments later resting in a puddle of her own thick, red, hot blood.

***

“Lou?!” 

“Lou?!!!” 

“L..Lou?” 

As soon as Neville laid eyes on his sister, he ran up to her and pulled her into his arms. The word ‘traitor’ written across her neck caused him to look away for a moment, but he held her close. She was unconscious and her breathing was very shallow, but there was no doubt about it - she was alive!

“Louise, please wake up for me. Please”

 She was barely bleeding anymore, but had lost copious amounts of blood and was in need of immediate medical care.

“Neville, we’ve got to bring her up to the Room of Requirement.”

“But she needs healing!?”

“Yes, but it’s not safe here. They might return, c’mon.”

“Fine, let me just…”

He bent down and untied the ropes before picking her up. Seamus brought the cloak and they left the dungeons hoping that they, for the love of Merlin, would make it without getting caught.

***

“I...not..that!”

“Nev… just saying… don’t know… she’ll… what they did!”

“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna give up!?”

At first it was all incoherent, but eventually she started to pick up full sentences. The pain did however return as soon as she woke up, and she groaned slightly, causing the conversation to die out.

Her brother was by her side in an instant.

“Lou!? How… I.. Are you okay? Here, let me help you!”

He reached out to help her into a sitting position, but she flinched and moved away from his touch. This reaction caused his heart to completely shatter, and he raised his hands in surrender as a few tears left his eyes.

“Lou”, he muttered carefully, “it’s just me. I’m not going to hurt you, I could never…”

She looked back at him, eyes filled with dread and an uncertainty completely unlike anything he had ever seen before. 

“C’mon , L”, Seamus said as he put a hand on her shoulder, “‘tis just us.”

This move, though a very gentle one, caused her to quickly withdraw further as her breath quickened.

“Shut up Seamus”, said Ginny angrily, pulling their Irish friend away as Neville sat down on his knees. He was careful not to touch his sister - the thought of him scaring her being far too much for him to handle - and then placed his wand on a table a few feet away.

“Lou”, he said, once again holding his hands up in surrender, “I won’t hurt you, okay, just… do you know where you are?”

She didn’t respond, but did however look less terrified than before. Deep inside, Neville realized that Louise calming down should make him feel better, but there was something about her that gave him the creeps… There was something uncomfortably familiar about her posture, the nervous shifting and the way she seemed to be staring into nothing, yet he found himself unable to put his finger on it.

Then it hit him. He immediately understood who she reminded him of: 

Their Parents

He closed his eyes tightly and shuddered at the thought. It-it wasn’t possible! It couldn’t be...Neville Longbottom had never been so afraid in his life, but he knew what he had to do. He had to ask. He had to know.

“Lou?”, he repeated softly, “Lou, do you know who I am?”

Not receiving an immediate response worried him, but he gave it the benefit of the doubt - Maybe she just needed some time? 

So he waited. 

30 seconds. 

And waited. 

A minute. 

And waited. 

Five minutes.

No answer.

That’s when it burst. Neville broke down completely. He put his head in his hands and let the tears flow freely, having absolutely no desire to stop them.

“No…”, he stuttered, “No, no, no...not... not you too…”

“Not you too”

~ L

Masterlist

[neptune-stars]

hello yes draco had a sad childhood but let’s not forget that

• harry was emotionally abused and neglected, and there’s vague hints that the abuse may have been pyschical as well

• harry slept in a cupboard under the stairs and his only friends were the spiders living there

• harry named his owl after the saint of orphans

• harry essentially murdered a man when he was eleven and the promptly sent home without anything to help him through that guilt

• harry was locked into his bedroom when he was barely 12. he was fed through a cat flap and there were bars on his window

• harry was ostracized by his peers for speaking a language that he didn’t know was wrong

• one of harry’s best friends was petrified and that is the ONLY reason people stopped (openly) suspecting him

• harry nearly died from being stabbed by a poisonous snake

• harry spent his entire third year in paranoia because even though everyone told him he was in danger, no one bothered enough to tell him WHY

• harry’s happiest memory was fake

• harry heard the sounds of his parents dying whenever dementors came near

• harry was ready and willing to kill sirius because he believed the man had betrayed his parents

• harry was put into the tri wizard tournament against his will

• and once again ostracized by nearly the entire school for it

• one of his very best friends left him because of jealousy (obviously further adding on to his abandonment issues)

• for several months he only had one friend - hermione granger

• he was nearly scalped by a dragon

• he forgave ron despite the fact he had abandoned him when he needed him most

• he genuinely thought that anyone still under the lake would die and saved a little girl he didn’t need too

• he watched his friend and classmate die in front of him

• he believed the death of his friend and classmate to be his fault

• he was used in a ritual to bring back his parents’ murderer

• he battled against said parents’ murderer and saw the ghosts of not only his parents, but Cedric and several others, too

• he brought cedric’s body back despite the incredible risk

• he was kidnapped AGAIN by barty crouch jr

• he was sent to the dursley’s immediately after seeing his friend and classmate die

• he was once again ostracized this time by his own friends because “dumbledore said so”

• he was attacked by dementors and left to fend for himself

• he was taken to the Order’s headquarters just to found out that his friends and trusted adults had been there the entire time while he struggles and grieved on his own with no help

• he was ostracized by his peers who refused to believe his parents’ murderer was back

• he was tortured throughout the ENTIRE YEAR by a teacher AND ministry worker and everyone just turned a blind eye to it

• he was repeatedly dismissed by adult figures throughout his life - this year especially

• his mentor refused to look him in the eye and gave no explanation

• he saw his best friend’s dad get attacked and then learned voldemort was living IN HIS HEAD

• he was literally thrown into a glass shelf by his potions professor

• he was basically psychologically tortured by said potions professor

• umbridge almost used the crucio curse on him

• he watched his godfather - the last family he had left - die in front of him

• he tried to use the crucio curse of his godfather’s killer - it’s a common theory that he only failed because he was too angry and filled with grief to think straight

• he was possessed by voldemort

• he was left alone AGAIN at the dursley’s

• instead of proper dueling training, his lessons with dumbledore were simply diving into old memories and learning history

• he, at first, couldn’t manipulate a teacher into giving him a guarded memory and SAID SORRY when dumbledore looked disappointed

• he was ridiculed by his friends for believing something was up with draco malfoy - even though there was plenty of evidence to prove he was right

• he watched his mentor die in front of him, and could do nothing about it

• he found out his potions professor was responsible for his parent’s death, but dumbledore said that “i trust him��� so harry could do nothing

• his friends were attacked ; he got the crucio curse used on him

• he and his friends were attacked at a wedding

• he was forced to live in the woods for months on end

• one of his best friends left (again)

• he heard one of his best friends - his sister- being tortured and could do nothing about it

• he was locked in a cellar while his sister was being tortured

• he fought in a battle

• he saw someone who was like a brother die in front of him

• one of his parent’s best friends died in front of him, along with his new wife - harry realized he was the only one left alive for his godson

• he sacrificed himself for his friends

• he DIED

• he killed tom riddle

• guys you aren’t getting it he was raised to die. that was it. no one knew he would be alive afterward; dumbledore planned his death to the T. harry was READY to die and it’s almost as if a little part of him wanted it and that makes it SO much sadder

yeah draco had a rough few years. but yall just forgetting the shit harry went through

[headcanonsandmore]

Ron/ Hermione related... Question? I get all the fandom fights about this ship, points for and against but one thing is always bothering me While reading you can FEEL that in Rowlings minde original couple was Hermiona/ Harry, and that later she changed the concept. Just... It's clear in the books. Obvious! And that's a big thing for me- because if an author isn't really invested into relationship isn't it ment to be a problem later...? (cause people are gonna feel how weak the romance is?)

Anon, I’m guessing that you accidentally wrote ‘Harry’ instead of ‘Ron’, because that’s the only way this line of argument makes sense. 

JK Rowling has made it repeatedly clear that she planned for Ron and Hermione to become a couple from the very beginning of the series. She has never said that she originally started it with the idea that Harry and Hermione would become a couple. 

Rowling spent almost the entire book series building up Ron and Hermione’s feelings for each-other. Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone is literally the only book that doesn’t include obvious build-up to any romance amongst the trio, and why would it? The golden trio are-respectively- one eleven-year-old and two eleven-then-twelve-year-olds. They’re literal children at the time, with no thoughts about romance. 

Heck, I’d have an easier time believing that Harry and Ron were going to become a couple than Harry and Hermione. Both the Hs prefer Ron to each-other; this isn’t up for debate- they are at-best bored and at-worst miserable without him. 

If I am supposed to “feel” that Harry and Hermione were going to be a couple, when was I supposed to feel this? 

When Ron got irritated by Hermione’s crush on Lockhart, and Hermione blushed scarlet every time Ron brought the subject up? 

When Ron was visibly more upset by Hermione’s petrification than Harry was? 

When Ron gained the resolve to follow the spiders after looking at Hermione’s vacant seat in class? 

When Hermione threw her arms around Ron, and Ron responded like he had suddenly entered puberty at full speed? 

When Hermione got visibly irritated whenever Ron got caught up in a Veela’s magic? 

When Ron tore up his Viktor Krum figurine after the Bulgarian seeker began expressing romantic interest in Hermione? 

When Hermione blushed scarlet and couldn’t look Ron in the eye when she mentioned that Viktor Krum had asked her to go to Bulgaria that summer? 

When Ron got visibly angry when Hermione told him this, and stopped paying attention to his surroundings because he was too busy looking at her? 

When Ron got Hermione perfume for christmas? 

When Ron got antsy after Hermione absentmindedly said that Harry wasn’t a “bad kisser”? 

When Hermione wrote long letters to Viktor Krum in front of Ron so she could get a reaction out of him? 

When Hermione got visibly angry after Lavender smiled and waved at Ron? 

When Hermione- blushing again- asked Ron to come with her to Slughorn’s party? 

When Ron accepted her invitation, smiling happily to himself? 

When Hermione sat (teary-eyed and pale) in silence by Ron’s bed for hours, looking at him alone, and not joining in on Harry’s and Ginny’s discussion about the events? 

When an unconscious Ron reacted to Hermione’s voice before anyone-else’s after he got poisoned? 

When Ron told Hermione he loved her, and she responded by blushing pink? 

When Ron held Hermione in his arms during and after Dumbledore’s funeral? 

When Hermione took every opportunity she could after the funeral to have physical contact with Ron? 

When Ron read a book so that he could woo Hermione? 

When Ron started complimenting Hermione after reading said-book, and Hermione looking happy about it? 

When Ron got irritated by Viktor Krum’s reappearance at Bill and Fleur’s wedding? 

When Ron asked Hermione to dance at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and she immediately agreed? 

When the two spent the entire reception dancing with each-other? 

When Hermione was crying Ron’s name in the confusion after the ministry fell? 

When Ron and Hermione fell asleep holding hands? 

When one of Ron’s biggest fears was that Hermione didn’t love him? 

When Ron heard Hermione’s voice coming out of the deluminator? 

When Hermione went days crying after Ron left? 

When Harry said “She’s like a sister. I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It’s always been like that”? 

When Ron and Hermione both tried to stop the other coming to harm from the snatchers? 

When Ron demanded to be tortured in Hermione’s place whilst imprisoned at Malfoy Manor?

When Ron tried to dissaparate without a wand so that he could reach Hermione? 

When Ron started sobbing as he pounded the walls of the cellar with his fists in response to hearing the sounds of Hermione being tortured? 

When Ron leapt forward to pull Hermione out from under a fallen chandelier, when everyone-else lurched away? 

When Ron put an arm around Hermione and held her at Dobby’s funeral? 

When Hermione threw her arms around Ron during the battle of Hogwarts and kissed him full on the mouth? 

When Ron responded to said-kiss with such enthusiasm that he lifted her off her feet? 

When Ron and Hermione got married, and had two children? 

Tell me, anon; when was I supposed to “feel” that Harry and Hermione were going to become a couple? And how is it “obvious” to you and yet not to me? 

[cosmocrime]

Murder of Sylvia Likens

On October 26, 1965, sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens was murdered by her caretaker (Gertrude Baniszweski) after being tortured over the course of three months. 

Gertrude Baniszweski, (Born September 28, 1928) was only sixteen years old when she dropped out of high school to marry eighteen-year-old John Stephan Baniszweski. Together they had four children. John was a generally angry man, and would often beat Gertrude, but they stayed together for the next ten years until they divorced in 1954. After her divorce, she married a man named Edward Guthrie. They were married for three months until they divorced. This made Gertrude remarry her first husband, and have two more children with him. They divorced again in 1963. Well after her first divorce, Gertrude started a relationship with a man many years younger than her, who had also started to abuse her. She had one child with this man, and shortly after the child’s birth, he had abandoned her.   

Now, Gertrude was alone, living with her seven children. Paula (17), Stephanie (15), John (12), Marie (11), Shirley (10), James (8) and Dennis Lee Wright Jr. (1). She was a poor, depressed, chain smoker, who was described as a “haggard, underweight asthmatic.” She stayed in Indianapolis 3850 East New York Street, where the monthly rent was $55. 

Sylvia Likens had quite a lower-middle-class family. Her father, mother, and two brothers traveled a lot and worked at the circus. Her family had left Sylvia and her sister Jenny (15) behind for them to stay in school, and to keep them safe. This made the agreement where Gertrude would take care of the Likens sisters in exchange for twenty dollars a week. Jenny also had polio, which had paralyzed her, and was probably the other reason Sylvia stayed with Jenny since their other sister Dianne was not present. 

As stated before, the Likens family had agreed to pay Gertrude twenty dollars a week in exchange for taking care of their daughters. But sometimes, the money wouldn’t come in on time. (She would probably receive it two or three days late.) This made Gertrude very angry and would cause her to take out her anger on the Likens sisters by beating them with anything that was close by, as she screamed various profanities at both of them. 

After a while, Gertrude started to target her abuse only towards Sylvia, mostly because she was jealous of her beauty. She would starve and beat Sylvia, which would usually result in multiple injuries, which limited her to doing certain things that she had enjoyed.  Others had also started joining in on abusing her. Paula, Gertrude’s eldest child, (Who was three months pregnant at the time, and also jealous of her beauty.) heard that Sylvia had once had a boyfriend. This made Paula kick her in her vagina, accuse her of being pregnant, and humiliate her.

The family had once hosted dinner with one of the neighborhood boys, who force-fed her a hot dog with multiple condiments on it, resulting in Sylvia throwing the food up. They forced her to eat the vomit. Stephanie had told her boyfriend rumors about her, which had caused her boyfriend to grow angry at Sylvia, so he beat her up, as Stephanie watched a laughed. Once, Paula beat Sylvia so badly that she had broken her wrist. Once she got a cast for it, she used the cast to beat her.

Many classmates were invited over to abuse Sylvia. A group of teenage boys would come over to use her for judo practice, make deep cuts on her body, burn cigarettes on her, and severely damage her vagina. Once, to entertain her family and their teenage friends, Sylvia was forced to strip in front of them and put an empty Coca-Cola bottle inside of her vagina. 

The Likens family had visited the sisters a few times, and every one of those times, the sisters showed no signs of distress. Once, they encountered their sister, Dianna in the park. They told her that they were being abused, but she thought that they were just overreacting being disciplined. Gertrude found out about this, so in response, she forced Sylvia to take a scalding hot bath to “cleanse her of her sin”, and banged her head repeatedly against the bathtub to wake her up when she passed out.

The abuse had gotten worse. Gertrude had denied Sylvia access to the bathroom, forcing her to wet herself. She threw Sylvia into her basement, and started a small “business”, where she charged a person 5 cents to have a chance to abuse Sylvia. Gertrude finally let Sylvia sleep upstairs, but only if she had learned to stop wetting herself at night. That night, Sylvia begged her sister Jenny for a glass of water. Sylvia wet herself that night. As punishment, Gertrude heated up a needle and carved a sentence into her torso: “I’M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT”. 

Sylvia had become extremely dehydrated. She was given toast but unable to consume it. Gertrude forced the toast down her throat and beat her with a curtain rod until it started to bend. She was then again, thrown into the basement. 

Sylvia became confused and weak. She couldn’t recite the alphabet, stand up,   or remember names. She tried to escape but collapsed before she could. When Gertrude found out about this, she stomped on her head several times, then left her there to suffer. Stephanie, one of Gertrude's children, decided to give Sylvia a warm, proper bath. She tried to carry her out of the basement, but then realized that Sylvia had stopped breathing. Stephanie had tried to give her mouth to mouth, but Gertrude had believed that Sylvia was faking her death. Richard Hobbs, one of the neighborhood kids who had often abused Sylvia, came over to the Baniszweski residence and reported straight to the basement, where he was immediately greeted by the sight of Stephanie crying and hugging Sylvia’s cold, lifeless body.  

Gertrude had tried to wake Sylvia up by smacking her across her face twice with a book, but both attempts were unsuccessful. Once she realized that Sylvia really was dead, she ordered Richard Hobbs to call the police. She told the cops that Sylvia had run away with a group of boys who had abused and raped her, then left her at her house. Gertrude had told Jenny to tell the cops a made up story, but later on told cops the whole truth. She had told the cops to arrest  Gertrude, Paula, Stephanie, and John Baniszewski Junior. Several other children who have been involved with Sylvia’s abuse were also arrested.    

Gertrude Baniszweski was convicted of first-degree-murder, and given life in prison. During her sentence in the Indiana Women's Prison, she was a model inmate, and given the nickname, “Mom”. She was paroled in 1985. She then moved to Iowa, and changed her name to Nadine Van Fossan. She never admitted to what she did, claiming she “didn’t remember”. She died of lung cancer on June 16, 1990. 

Paula Baniszweski was found guilty of second-degree-murder, but her trial was reversed in 1971, so she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter instead of a retrial. She got 2-21 years, and attempted to break out of prison, but was still given parole in March of 1972 until March of 1974. She changed her name to Paula Pace, but was soon discovered again in 2012, when she was fired from her job as a teacher when people found out about her lying on her application, and her involvement with this case. She has not been heard from since. 

Stephanie Baniszweski was given no time. She was given a special-trial, and all charges against her were dropped. This is believed to have happened because she had agreed to turn her family in. She changed her name, got married, had children, and now lives in Florida. 

John Baniszweski was given two years. He was only twelve when she died, making him Pendleton Correctional Facility’s youngest inmate. He changed his name to John Blake and became religious, that had “helped him see the error of his ways”. He was the only member of the Baniszweski family to show any sort of remorse for his actions, and spoke about it publicly on several occasions. He had a wife and three children. He died of cancer in 2005 . 

Marie Baniszweski served no time. She was eleven when the torture had happened. She testified in the trial, and cried during questioning. She still lives in Indiana. 

Shirley Baniszweski was also given zero time. She was ten, and the youngest member to participate in Sylvia’s torture. The only thing she had done was heat the needle that Gertrude had used to carve words into Sylvia’s torso. She was never charged with anything, and nobody knows what she’s up to today. 

James Baniszweski served no sentence. He was eight at the time, and not arrested or called in to testify. 

Dennis Lee Wright Jr. was the youngest member of the Baniszweski family. He was a newborn at the time. He was placed in foster care and adopted by the White family. His name was changed to Denny Lee White. He died in 2012 in California.

Coy Hubbard served two years. He was an active abuser of Sylvia. He never changed his name, and stayed in Indianapolis for most of his adult life. He was tried for another murder in 1982. He died in June of 2007 in Shelbyville. 

Richard Hobbs was given two years. He was convicted of manslaughter, and died of cancer in 1972. 

Lester C. Likens, Sylvia’s father, died in February of 2013 in Fontana, California. 

Betty Likens, Sylvia’s mother, divorced Lester in 1967. She remarried and died on May 29, 1998. 

Dianna Likens was one of Sylvia’s sisters. Little is known about her. She made headlines once because her and her husband got lost and were stranded in a car for two weeks with very little food and rainwater. Her husband died during the first week of a heart attack. 

Jenny Likens was the sister who told the police everything. She died 2004. 

[Sorry if there was any mistakes or slightly false information! I kinda rushed through this, so it’s not the best.]    

[sadminhyukstan-blog]

She's Forbidden ; Minhyuk x Reader

genre : angst, maybe a little bit of fluff

warnings : swearing

prompt : "I know I can't, but I love her."

p.o.v : third person

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She stood in front of her, the queen who had tortured her and tossed her out, the one and only Queen Lee. She didn't understand why. Why did the queen use her as a toy? She never knew, only the 'beautiful queen' did.

"Well then, ___, I see that you haven't partaken in being forbidden, now, have you?" Queen Lee asked snarkily, which made ___ growl in response.

"No, I have not, because I'm not taking part of this fucking torture game." She snarled. Queen Lee huffed to herself.

"I suggest you do, Miss ___. Cause if not, this so called game will have to go on." Queen Lee responded, giving about the most fake smile she had ever seen.

"Then let it go on without me, cause not yet will I leave, and not ever will I go down without a fight." And that's when Queen Lee called her guards with a small movement of her index finger.

The guards steps were loud, due to the heavy metal they wore. The steel almost covered their eyes, and their arms and legs were overlapped with confusing combinations of metal.

"What did the queen tell you? Game on." One of the guards said with a deep voice.

She let out a dry laugh, using the reason she got toyed against the guards. She threw them against the walls with her mind, knowing she'd win this fight with some wounds and bruises.

Their armor clanged boisterously against the stone walls of the throne room before the queen. Did Queen Lee really think that this was a challenge? It really wasn't.

The guards all groaned in sync, feeling like a dart board getting multiple darts thrown and stabbing them right in the center.

She heard steps but didn't pay attention, assuming that it was the cook preparing the table for lunch. she kept the squirming guards against the wall, stifling a laugh.

She heard the throne room door open and turned around, shocked at the sight of what she saw. She let the guards down with a rough thud.

She bit her lips to stop the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

Prince Lee had came then, when she had turned the guards thrown spears around to stab the wall. He stood still, traumatized to see the girl he once knew was weak from his mother torturing her beating up his own guards.

His hands trembling, he yelled. He yelled at, not her, but his mother.

"Mother! Why would you turn against her? She's powerful, don't you see? Or are you blind, just like you were blind to Dad's severe sickness?" Prince Lee knew he had gone too far.

"Minhyuk, sweetie, don't speak of your father..." Queen Lee said softly. But he was still mad.

"Don't call me sweetie! I don't wanna be your 'sweetie' anymore! And I haven't for a long time!" He screamed, small and cold tears running down his face.

"Sweetie—" Queen Lee couldn't finish her sentence.

"What did I fucking say, Mom, don't you understand? Wait, you don't, otherwise you'd understand that you shouldn't turn your back on ___." Prince Lee growled.

"Minhyuk!" Queen Lee stood up quickly, walking towards him. She brung her hand up, close to slapping him. Notice how I said close. He would've been slapped if ___ didn't stand in front of him.

He looked at the slightly smaller female in shock, seeing the red hand print already forming on her cheek. She had grown since he last saw her, she was only a few centimeters shorter than him now.

"_-___..." He stuttered, turning her around and carefully touching the mark on her cheek. She whimpered in pain. He felt bad and glared at his mother with tears in his eyes.

~flashback~

Minhyuk giggled, holding her hand tightly as they ran through the woods. She had small leaves in her soft black hair since it was autumn.

___ smiled and looked behind her and stopped, holding his hand tighter. He turned around and giggled a bit, until he processed what she was looking at.

His mom was right before the two. He stopped laughing quickly, eyeing the small handcuffs with terror. He spaced out until he heard a small click. Twelve year old Minhyuk's grip was weak, and her hand had escaped from his.

He looked at a fearful and crying ___, who was getting dragged away by his mother towards the... dungeon? Why the dungeon? He was confused. And he knew he couldn't help.

That night he couldn't sleep at all, thinking of what his mother or anyone else was doing to ___. It was then he heard a scream and a few words after.

"No! Stop! Please..." And then... A thud.

~flashback over~

He looked like he was the one in pain, which could be true, because emotionally, he was. He looked at the female he once loved, who had gotten stripped away from him.

Queen Lee had an emotionless expression, like nothing had happened at all.

"Mother, I suggest you leave before both her and I hurt you." Minhyuk growled. But, Queen Lee being the bitch she is, stayed in place.

___ only nodded at him. they came up with the childish plan a long time ago.

~flashback~

"___-ah! What if we came across trouble!" Minhyuk had asked in the winter. ___ giggled at her own plan.

"Hm... I could hold them up against a wall, you could throw something at them repeatedly, and I could hold ice up against their body." She joked. But he obviously seemed interested in the plan.

They never came across trouble that day. So, all day they stayed outside. She would play with her powers, and Minhyuk would be amazed over and over again. They enjoyed it.

~flashback over~

With her telekinesis, ___ held Queen Lee up against the throne room wall. Prince Lee always carried a few pebbles with him for memories of ___, so he threw those now that she's back.

And now for Prince Lee's personal favorite part, which was changed. What actually happened was ___ trapped Queen Lee in an ice block.

Visibly, Queen Lee was screaming. He turned around and high-fived ___.

"So, Prince Lee, we meet again." ___ spoke quietly. He sighed, nodding a bit before responding.

"___, just call me Minhyuk." She smiled, her eyes scrunching up when she did.

~timeskip~

Since Minhyuk and ___ went into the woods, Queen Lee died of hypothermia. Did Minhyuk care? Sorta, she hurt ___, but she was his mother.

Minhyuk was talking to his friend, Prince Yoo, or Kihyun.

"Well, ___'s still forbidden for hurting your mother. Are you sure you can still feel what you use to?" Kihyun asked.

Minhyuk thought for a bit before responding to him.

"I know I can't, but I love her." He spoke. Kihyun shook his head, sighing.

"Listen, you can't anymore. It'll he hard, same thing happened to me with Jennie, but you're gonna have to get over it." Kihyun advised.

"Get some people for me. Hyunwoo, Wonho, Hyungwon, Jooheon, Changkyun, Maid Hwasa, Maid Moonbyul, Maid Wheein, Maid Solar, and ___. Them, you, and I are meeting in the ball room." Minhyuk said, standing up after Kihyun went.

~timeskip~

Minhyuk was already sitting down when the eleven people came in.

"Take a seat, we're gonna talk about something special." He said.

Everyone hesitated, but followed his command. He had no second-thoughts about it.

"Okay, so, as you all know, ___ is back. Queen Lee is dead." He continued when everyone was settled. He rapidly motioned for the maids to stay seated.

"I've chosen the ones I wouldn't be able to leave behind, so feel special."

Everyone except the maids, who were pitiful for Queen Lee, nodded.

"We're running away. All twelve of us, we're running away together. I need you all to pack bags and meet back here at 11 pm. So you have two hours."

___ felt uneasy.

"First of all, where would we go? Second of all, I have nothing I need here." She spoke.

"We'll be going to an empty castle, it's still in good shape." ___ remembered what he meant.

~flashback~

"___! Look!" Minhyuk said, pointing at a castle huger than his own. She gasped, covering her mouth.

"Hyukie, what if we ran away and lived there? Just us and a few of the maids, maybe even the other six? That'd be great!" ___ cheered.

~flashback over~

~timeskip~

It was at the end of the woods, the castle. They walked in pairs. Minhyuk and ___, Kihyun and Hyunwoo, Wonho and Hyungwon, Jooheon and Changkyun, Solar and Moonbyul, and Hwasa and Wheein.

Minhyuk helped everyone over the stone wall, his hand lingering on ___'s. And so that's where they'd live. Where they'd live for the rest of their lives.

~large timeskip~

Minhyuk pecked ___'s lips, giggling.

"Ooh! Mommy and Daddy kissed!" Their daughter, Seo-hee, said childishly.

Their were more maids now. Jisoo, Rosè(which she preferred to be called), Lisa, and who Kihyun was now engaged to, Jennie.

Everyone was happy there. No unfair treatment, no complaints, and most important to Minhyuk, no one got forbidden.

How do I know all of this? Because I am Jennie, there all along.

[cantfuckbracket]

Can't Fuck Bracket. Round 1, Side A

Ken (Barbie) versus LD Curtain (The Mysterious Benedict Society TV)

[ID: The unfuckable pride flag overlaid with the "no bitches" meme. Over it are pictures of the contestants. Ken is a blonde doll, and is shown screaming; and Curtain has hair slicked to the side and is shown pursing his lips and throwing his hands back. Over them are sparkles and a heart with a butt, and in between them are peach emojis crossed out with the word "vs" in them. End ID]

Propaganda:

Ken: "he's built like. well. a ken doll perhaps. also re:barbie trailer ken doesnt know what sex is so. he cant fuck its canon godspeed"

LD Curtain: "He's both a cringefail loser (See: 1. repeatedly beaten by a group of literal children, at one point even saying "they have proven to be my only worthy adversaries" (<- man talking about a group of eleven year olds), 2. screaming at a child, while visibly tearing up, "I AM NOT SAD! I AM *FINE!*", 3. genuinely thinking he can simply say no to having narcolepsy, 4. keeps little painted figurines of his brother and co and does magic tricks with them to intimidate an eleven year old, sincerely thinks this is an extremely cool thing to do), a bad dad (terrible both in the sense that he's emotionally abusive and in the sense that he thinks he's doing suuuuuuuch a good job and he very much isn't), and just like. evil?? but not in the sexy way. and also he's in denial about it which makes it even LESS sexy. Negative sexy if you will. "I'm not bad. who thinks that" sir you are standing in your mind control machine. "Sticky! Friend! Evil is a bit harsh!" sir you psychologically tortured him. anyway he does stupid little magic tricks and is a complete failure but somehow manages to convince everyone that he's charming and actually very cool. while obviously like, starting a cult or being just visibly a cringefail maniac two seconds from flying off the handle. anywya this got out of hand the point is: UNFUCKABLE."

[hellatrikersisland]

Ruining Kalief Browder

The Kalief Browder story was the first time I had ever became aware of Rikers Island Correctional Facility and its many faults. Kalief Browder was a Bronx teen who spent three years in Rikers Island being tortured and tormented despite not being convicted of a crime. He experienced all the wrong doings of the justice system. The Netflix series, TIME| The Kalief Browder Story, goes through the entire story from beginning to end in detail and is where I obtained all the information in this post.

May 14, 2010

Kalief (16 years old at the time) decided to go out to a party with his friends. On his way back home from the party, Kalief and his friend Shamel were arrested. Some man claimed two black men robbed him of a backpack containing $700, a camera, a credit card, and an iPod two weeks prior. While they were being arrested, the cops claimed that most likely they would let him go home but that did not occur for Browder until 1126 days later.

Why three years?

Throughout the three years, Kalief had over 30 court dates. The district attorney kept requesting more time and stating they were not ready while being fully aware that there was no witness. Kalief was presented many plea deals and took none of them because he claimed he was innocent and not going to confess to something he did not do. From June 2011 to February 2013, Browder rejected 13 plea deals. During his interviews for the Netflix show, Kalief stated that his anger for the way the system was running kept him going. In March 2013, Patricia DiMango, a famous judge known for getting many individuals to take plea deals, offered to drop the felony charge for two misdemeanors and let Kalief go home in four months if he pleaded guilty. He refused and said he wanted to go to trial. In April 2013, a month later, the DA was still not ready, and Judge DiMango realized there was never a witness, and she pressed the DA to either bring the witness or drop the charges. On May 29,2013 Kalief was released at two in the morning after the Bronx DA formally dropped all the charges.

Eleven different attorneys according to Kalief’s brother, Akeem, turned Kalief down right away because he “did not have a case.” That was until they found Paul Prestia, who became his attorney. He discovered many covered up wrong doings by the system. There was no original police report filed, the victim changed his story multiple times, the police did not check cameras, Kalief was mistreated, he was denied a fair and speedy trial, and many other alarming occurrences. These shocking findings led Prestia to file a lawsuit on Browder’s behalf on November 2013 against the NYPD, the Bronx DA, and the Department of Corrections. The damages were said to be $20 million, although Kalief only wanted his story to be heard and did not care about the money.

Suffering.

During Kalief’s stay at Rikers Island he spent over 700 days in solitary confinement which was torture but even before getting placed in the bin, Kalief was going through hell. He said that at Rikers, the inmates run the house not the guards. Michael Winering, a journalist from the New York Times, also stated that the guards have a code of silence for bad people. The guards either turned an eye or were working with the inmates that ran the different houses. Kalief did not want to get with the program, also known as joining the gangs, which resulted in receiving threats and getting jumped. The inmates told him, “You going to feel some pain,” and that is exactly what he felt. He was jumped repeatedly by inmates and moved to a different house every time to experience the same or even worse.

Before reading the rest of this post, I would like to give a trigger warning as the following contains details of attempted suicide.

The suffering did not start and/or stop with the inmates, the guards were also contributing to making Browder’s life unbearable. The guards told him “We’re going to break you.” They would give him half eaten food and did not allow him to shower. The captain and officers cuffed and beat Kalief where there were no cameras, which was not the worst instance of torture. On March 11, 2012, Kalief attempted to commit suicide by using blankets as a noose, he asked for a psychiatrist prior but none one cared. While he made the noose, the guards taunted him and when he jumped, the captain said, “before I cut you down, you gon’ feel some pain first.” When they cut him down, they proceeded to beat him up and never reported the incident because it was seen as a ‘desperate measure to get out of solitary.’ On September 2012, a guard, known as Grinnage, told Browder he was going to beat him up once he got in the shower since there were no cameras, but ended up slamming Kalief to the floor while he was cuffed and yelling for help. Now imagine this, over and over, for three years…that is what Kalief had to endure at Rikers Island.

After Math.

When Kalief was released from prison, he was lost and a complete different person according to his mother, Venida Browder. His life was taken away from him and he did not know who he was. His story became popular, and it caused cops to follow and watch him, as well as making enemies of people in the Bronx. They thought he had money because he was on TV, which resulted in him getting shot in the stomach on one instance and chased with a knife on another. Kalief did not trust anyone, he walked the four corners of his yard because that was what he was used to doing at Rikers and claimed someone was watching and listening.

In December of 2013, Kalief attempted suicide and was sent to get psychiatric evaluation at St. Barnabas hospital. While he was there, he realized he wanted to live and do something with his life. He enrolled for his GED and later went to Bronx community college to major in business management. He was doing very well for a while, but the paranoia and memories kept taunting him. He thought everyone was against him, even his own mother at times.

Kalief Browder went from being the funny, kindhearted, supportive, kind, and outgoing kid to someone unrecognizable. Rikers Island stole his happiness and sanity from him. He felt like he had to play catch up in life and that there were always demons with him. Venida claims that he was there physically but not mentally.

On June 6, 2015, he woke up, checked on his mother and brother, and then he hanged himself with an air conditioning cord from his window. Kalief fought a hard fight but everything he endured at Rikers Island despite being innocent, was far too much for him to move on from. May Kalief Browder rest in Peace.

Picture obtained from http://www.letstalkraestyle.com/kalief-browder/

[synthient]

The thing is, after learning about Pegasus past and motivation, you can't hate him anymore.

mmmmm I can

(rambling under the cut bc I can’t just let myself have a reaction to fiction w/out analyzing it half to death)

So there’s three main villains in ygo, right:Pegasus, Marik, and Bakura. They all have tragic backstories and at leastsomewhat sympathetic motivations, they all do horrible inexcusable things topeople who don’t deserve it, and they all take a certain amount of sickpleasure in hurting their victims. But I think there’s a few different factorsthat set Pegasus apart from the other two, that make me view them as “kind ofawful but mostly tragic” but him as “kind of tragic but mostly awful.”

In terms of Pegasus being threatening:

Compared to most of the other villains in theseries, Pegasus comes off as almost completely infallible and in control rightup until the moment he’s defeated. He’s a wealthy, powerful, well-respectedadult, while Marik and Bakura are angry teenagers operating on the fringes. He’sgot everyone trapped on his private island, where he makes the rules and callsthe shots and there’s no way on or off except via his personal boat. He’s got fullcontrol over his Millennium Item at a point in the story where Yugi barelyunderstands how the puzzle works. He’s holding the heroes’ loved ones captiveand he can take it out on them if anyone tries to cross him. Marik loses toAtem repeatedly through mind slaves, and Bakura has already made one spectacularlyunsuccessful attempt to defeat the pharaoh prior to Memory World, but by the time the climatic duel of Duelist Kingdom comesaround not only is Pegasus undefeated, but we’ve watched him beat both of the characters that had been establishedas the strongest duelists in the series.

Marik and Bakura’s storylines both climax withfairly standard ~End of the World~ stakes, but the stakes in Pegasus’s arc aremuch more personal, and imo that makes them more effective. It’s hard to get tooconcerned about how things will turn out in a world-ending plot because there’salways a voice in the back of your head going “like the writers would really doit,” but it’s much more feasible that an individual character could get killedoff, or at least could be made to suffer a lot even if they ultimately get ahappy ending.

In terms of the easy-to-hate part:

Marik and Bakura both firmly believe they’regetting revenge on the person responsible for their pain. Pegasus doesn’tthink for a moment that his victims ever did anything to him—they’re just inhis way, and also hurting them is funny.

Pegasus is one of the few adult antagonists in acast full of teenagers. Yeah 24 isn’t a very adult-y adult, but there’s still areal power imbalance between him and all the teenagers on the island (and theeleven-year-old chained in his basement), and he’s fully aware of andcapitalizes on that dynamic (hence the whole “Kaiba-boy” thing”). It makes hismanipulation and psychological torture all the more distasteful,andrules out any sort of “he’s too young to be fully accountable” defense.

Marik and Bakura’s worst actions are usually, if nothing else, in direct service of their goals. Half the shit Pegasus pulls doesn’t have anything to do with his necromancy plan. Blackmailing Yugi and Kaiba into dueling each other and driving them both into breakdowns doesn’t accomplish anything. Tormenting Kaiba by threatening to make him fight his baby brother’s soulless shell doesn’t accomplish anything—he could have read Kaiba’s mind just as easily if they’d used duel disks. After he steals both Kaiba brothers’ souls, he mentally gloats that it would have been kinder to just kill them. Pegasus is needlessly and sometimes even counterproductively cruel, for no better reason than that he finds suffering entertaining.

Obviously this is mostly subjective, and I totally respect people who like him. For me personally his “past and motivation” just aren’t enough to tip the scale into likabilty, although I still think he’s a good and effective villain.

[equinoxparanormal]

8 Real People Who Pissed Off Demons (And Paid for It)

Demons and the forces of darkness are horror movie staples for a reason: they are horrifically terrifying. Whether you believe in demons or not, there are enough supposedly true stories of demonic encounters out there to make an endless string of movies. From adults to kids, from believers to non-believers, from those who went out looking for trouble to those who just made the mistake of moving into the wrong house, people have had truly chilling encounters with vengeful demons they've offended.

While it is generally ill-advised to pursue any demons at all, these demons you don't want to mess with are truly the stuff of nightmares. Some take terrifying forms, some inflict horrible pain, and others lend those they possess strange powers. They have even committed and inspired murders. While some demons (such as the Bell Witch) are parts of tales that have been passed down for hundreds of years, others have occurred only recently. In 2008, a board-certified psychiatrist even documented a real-life case of what he considered clear-cut demonic possession.

What's out there is dark, it's terrifying, and here are the reasons why you don't want to piss any of it off. 

Arne Johnson Taunted Demons and Turned Into a Murderous Madman

Shortly after his family rented a new home, eleven-year-old David Glatzel was repeatedly visited by demons that took both bestial and human forms, and would threaten and attack him, leaving mysterious wounds all over his body. The rental house was the site of strange occurrences that only worsened after a priest performed a cleansing. Glatzel would speak in tongues and randomly convulse and levitate. He became obese, gaining 60 pounds in only a few months. Multiple exorcisms revealed the names of the 43 demons which possessed him, but did nothing to fix the problem.  

Things got even worse when David's sister's fiancé, 19-year-old Arne Johnson, taunted the demons inhabiting David, demanding they leave David alone and possess his body instead. Johnson then also began to suffer strange trances and bouts of anger. He crashed his car into a tree, claiming that demons had taken control of the vehicle.

Formerly a calm and mild-mannered person, Johnson got into an argument with his landlord, Alan Bono, and stabbed him to death, later claiming that he remembered none of it.

This was the first high-profile murder case in America where being possessed by demons was used as a legal defense, though the judge rejected this defense.

Anneliese Michel Underwent Torture, Starvation, and Death in Combat with Demons

This 1967 case of exorcism gone horribly wrong was the inspiration for the horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose. A 23-year-old mentally ill and epileptic German girl, Anneliese Michel, was suspected of being possessed due to her aversion to religious pictures and symbols, convulsions, ability to speak in tongues, foul smell, and generally terrifying behavior. She would eat coal and spiders, drink her own urine, bark like a dog, and once even bit a bird's head off. Michel believed she was willingly undergoing these torments to atone for the sinfulness of modern life.

She died of dehydration and starvation after undergoing nearly 70 exorcisms. Having refused to eat, at the time of her death, she weighed only 68 pounds. Two years after her death, her parents and the two priests who held the exorcisms were sentenced to six months in prison for negligent manslaughter. The onslaught of exorcisms were said to have merely angered the demons possessing her, ultimately causing her to refuse food and water until she died. 

A Psychiatrist Confirmed the Possession of Woman Who Dabbled in Satanism

An American woman struggled with demonic possession so severe and obvious that it was documented by board-certified psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College, Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, in a paper for the New Oxford Review. The woman, called "Julia," could speak foreign languages unknown to her, levitate seemingly at will, and also demonstrated psychic powers, including knowing private information about others that she had no means to know.

Gallagher wrote the paper in order to academically document a case of demonic possession. The patient, who was previously known to have ties to Satanists, may have done something to conjure or otherwise anger dark forces.  

A Couple Found a Possessed Mirror in a Dumpster and Sold It to a Mysterious Buyer

After picking up an antique mirror they found in a dumpster outside their London home, Joseph Birch and Sotiris Charalambous quickly found themselves in a dangerous situation. They suffered bad luck, including both health and financial problems. More frightening, they would wake up screaming in pain, see flickering shadows in the mirror, and even find themselves covered in inexplicable red scratches. These are some of the tell-tale signs of a demonic possession.  

In order to get rid of the mirror, they put it up on eBay, openly admitting all that had happened to them, only for a single mysterious buyer to bid on it and buy it.

A Possessed Home Was Demolished After Tormenting Three Young Children

In 2014, Latoya Ammons and her three children moved into a new home in Gary, Indiana. Unbeknownst to them, it was the residence of what some experts claim to be over 200 demons. These demons were enraged by this disturbance of their space. They possessed and tortured the children so horribly that the Indiana Department of Child Services and the police both launched investigations. An exorcism was even allegedly authorized by the local branch of the Catholic Church. 

Zak Bagans, host and producer of the show Ghost Adventures, had the house destroyed in early 2016 as part of a documentary on the supernatural he was putting together. Bagans told the IndyStar:  

Something was inside that house that had the ability to do things that I have never seen before - things that others carrying the highest forms of credibility couldn't explain either. There was something there that was very dark yet highly intelligent and powerful.

Robbie Mannheim Called Upon Demons While Using an Ouija Board

The Exorcist is considered one of the greatest horror films of all time, but not many people know that the possession of poor Regan in the film was actually based on the real-life exorcisms of 14-year-old Robbie Mannheim, who was known at the time as Roland Doe to protect his privacy. The boy found himself possessed by a terrifying demon after using an Ouija board to try and contact his dead aunt in the 1930s.  

Objects would be thrown around, furniture would be toppled over, strange footsteps could be heard within his home, and religious pictures would vibrate on the walls as he passed. At school, his desk would slide around the room in front of witnesses.

A series of violent and unsuccessful exorcisms followed, during which he spoke in tongues and attacked priests with horrifying strength. Eventually, an exorcism was successful, and he went on to live a normal life. 

The Bell Witch Tormented a Family and Murdered Their Father

One of the most famous hauntings in American history is that of the Bell Witch, a malevolent entity that attacked a pioneer family with the trademark malevolence of a powerful demon. The entity largely focused its attentions on the youngest of the Bell family, Betsy, and the father, John Bell. The demon would slap Betsy, pull her hair, and leave marks on her body. When John Bell died, the demon claimed to have poisoned him. This intelligent presence could hold a conversation and even predict events, but it mysteriously disappeared after John Bell's death.  

All sorts of claims have been made regarding what the family did to anger the seemingly demonic spirit. Some say that the family was cursed, others that the land was cursed and the family angered an evil spirit by settling there. A psychic published a book in 2015 claiming that the demonic activity was tied in to the sexual abuse of Betsy Bell by another family member. 

After a Failed Exorcism, a Priest Received Text Messages from the Devil

In 2014, Father Marian Rajchel carried out a failed exorcism on a teen girl in Poland. Rather than driving the devil out of the girl's soul, the priest drove it into her cell phone, and he then began receiving insulting text messages from the demon. These text messages contained threats and insults such as these:

Shut up, preacher. You cannot save yourself. Idiot. You pathetic old preacher.

She will not come out of this hell. She’s mine. Anyone who prays for her will die.

[Isadora Teich, Ranker]