#oversexed witches

[babylon-crashing]

The 1970s (when many of these book titles were published) and their ideas about the Craft and witches were, truth be told, a little weird.

I understand horror, as a genre, basically feeds into whatever social ills and (massive) hang ups a culture is going through and apparently what kept the Religious Right up at night were groups of women communally living together without men ----- sorry, I meant, "Covens of evil, oversexed lesbian witches in league with Satan."

It was, as they say, all a bit wack. I blame the Sucka MCs.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Nathan Butler - Mamelle, the Goddess - Fawcett - 1974

[coochiekrab]

kuri and aubrey are going to be an ancient wizard and an oversexed witch for halloween

[hekateinhell]

Armand loses all logic and reason when it comes to Lestat, we know this 🤧

Exhibit A

Armand: NOW WHY THE FUCK HAVEN'T YOU BEEN COMBING HIS HAIR YOU HORRIBLE SPITEFUL WITCH

Gabrielle: ... because he'll kill us if we dare get near him, you oversexed little street urchin 😒

Armand: and I will gladly take that risk because *I* love him 😾😾😾

Lestat: zzzzzz (allows it)

Love how Armand says that Gabrielle ✨somehow✨ manages to ignore Lestat’s periodic and inevitable cries for help he’s like ugh h o w.

[parfumieren]

Sacrebleu (Parfums de Nicolaï)

At this precise point in the arc of human evolution, it may seem that magic is on its last legs. The smarter we become, the further we stray from the neighborhoods of the divine. Once-mighty gods are now plastic action figures. Ancient religions limp along as superstitions. The Great Pan is dead, replaced by the Sony Playstation.

Flowers are no exception to the trend of disempowerment. Once upon a time, they were viewed as living missives from the otherworld. Plucking the wrong one could draw the wrath of the unseen; illness, misfortune, and death might visit the house into which a single stolen blossom was carried. For flowers belonged to the elementals -- a.k.a. "fairies" -- savage and unpredictable beings whom one begged for protection and bribed to keep at a safe distance.

Even helpful flowers were host to uncanny spirits. Periwinkle blooms, said to ward off all manner of evil, were yet used to adorn the graves of children. Those in the know called them violettes des sorciers.... witch violets.

But that was long ago. The Victorians and Edwardians stripped flowers clean of all unseemly characteristics and recostumed fairies in gossamer and starlight-- friendly, sanitized and safe for children. What job they started, Walt Disney finished.... and generations of girls like me grew up unaware of a femininity whose power was manifest not in cellophane wings, but in claws and teeth.

I admit I have never been what you would call the flower-fairy type. Even as a little girl, I eschewed things like dolls and frills and the color pink in favor of snake hunting and rock collecting. To my mind, flowers were just one more mark of femininity to which my tomboy self stood in improper contrast.

It follows that in my adult life, floral perfumes have largely struck me as overwrought in one of two directions: syrup or sugar, oversexed or sexless. One is womanhood exaggerated; the other is womanhood sanitized. Neither is natural or (at least to me) appealing. I have long found myself wishing for a floral with all of its dark magic intact-- inspiring equal amounts of desire and dread.

Was I born at the wrong time? Had I missed my chance?

Luckily, every so often, the breath of some age-old spirit reaches us from its hiding place, and we experience a primordial chill of recognition that reaches as deep as our bones. The violettes des sorciers are not all banished-- they're in Sacrebleu, a perfume as close to unseelie as it gets.

Of the several recognized usages of sacrebleu, which one did perfumer Patricia de Nicolaï mean to evoke? On one hand, sacré bleu allegedly refers to the celestial color of the cloak worn by the Mother of God. Taken in this light, the name of this perfume seems almost prayerful. In reality, however, sacrebleu is nothing but a curse-- something to shout when outraged. I like to think Nicolaï intended the latter, for this perfume was designed to provoke.

First came a mighty, in-your-face note of anise-- then nothing. Sacrebleu had simply disappeared. Failing to notice the "back in five" sign (written in the tiniest handwriting imaginable, and in invisible ink), I liberally reapplied to all pulse points. And waited.

Then anise returned-- with reinforcements. Sandalwood, licorice, cinnamon, vanilla. Soon they had me surrounded-- a pack of manic scent fairies spiraling around me in a helix of sparkling aromas.

Outnumbered and outgunned, I surrendered and closed my eyes. The air around me prickled with electricity, shimmered with color. And the scent-- fizzy, hard, and bright, intensifying and picking up velocity with every passing second. I could have been standing in an enchanted ring of violets in some shadowy forest straight out of Grimm... or on one of the rings of Saturn, dodging silver meteorites.

The glamoury lasted all day, most of which I'm sure I spent smiling goofily with my eyes crossed. When I finally landed back on earth, that maddening scent had faded to a nice Choward's Violet Mint sort of thing, dry and pleasantly prickly on the nose. But the fairies had vanished, as fairies do.... and I think the little bastards made off with my wallet.

They're welcome to it. It's a small price to pay for real magic.

Scent Elements: Mandarin, raspberry, blackcurrant, peach, apricot, carnation, tuberose, jasmine, cinnamon oil, frankincense, patchouli, sandalwood, balsam Peru, tonka bean absolute

[jawritter]

Scars

Summary: The truth can be ugly, scars go deeper than superficial wounds, somethings we will always carry. Can you handle the ugly truth, and still see the love of your life in the same light? 

Rating: Explicit 

Warnings: DARK FIC! Mentions of past injuries, Dean’s physically not so pretty in this one, so if that kind of thing bothers you be warned. Language, smut, unfeeling smut, angst, there’s hardly no fluff in this one. unprotected smut, years of hurt feelings and resentment. Issues from growing up in the life. I think that’s about it.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Word Count: 2713

This fic created for:@spndarkbingo! 

Square Field: Resentment.

Beta’d by @deanwanddamons! Thanks so much love! 

A/N: The artwork featured in the banner is not my own, and all rights belong to the artist, whom I was unable to pin down. Please do not copy my work! I hope you all enjoy this one!

Want More? Check out my MASTERLIST. Still want more? BECOME A PATREON!

Fuck if it didn’t all happen so fucking fast. One minute, you were  running behind Dean up the stairs of the old victorian style manner, chasing a witch with guns drawn, witch killing bullets cocked and loaded into the chamber. Then boom, the bitch appeared out of nowhere and now you  all three of you were pressed against one of the mold-covered walls in what you assume used to be a bedroom by an invisible force. She stalked back and forth in front of the three of you like a tiger about to pounce. 

“So, this is the great Dean and Sam Winchester,” she taunts as she continues to pace in front of  you. “You know, I honestly thought that you would be smart enough to not come in guns blazing. The only backup you bring is your pathetic little girlfriend against a witch that is over 400 years old!”

You watched as Dean’s jaw worked and his eyes narrowed in frustration. If looks could kill, she would have died on the spot. 

“How do you know this she my only backup?” Dean mocked, sneering at her as she took a step closer to him. “How do you know I don’t have someone on their way here right now to put a bullet through your skull?” 

The humorless laugh that belted from the witch as she threw her head back in a whole-body laugh fully intending to mock your hunter boyfriend, made your skin crawl and your blood run cold. 

It wasn’t entirely untrue. Cas and Jack were on their way here right now, and when they got here, she was going to meet her long-overdue end. Jack may not be able to use his powers right now in order to keep Chuck from finding out of his return, but Cas was fully capable of shooting a gun, and that’s all you needed right now. Just one good shot.

“Oh don’t play with me Dean.You were always  such a flirt, weren’t you?” She says in a seductive tone that makes bile rise in your throat. She takes a step closer and runs her long finger index finger down Dean’s chest. He tries to squirm away from her but to no avail. 

You wanted to scream at her to leave him alone, but there was something holding your jaws closed that you couldn’t see, and no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t make a sound. A quick panicked look over to Sam told you he was in the same boat, struggling against the invisible bonds that held you all down.His eyes locked on his older brother. 

“You know , that was always something I hated about you,” she said, taking a step back and looking Dean over from head to toe as if he was a piece of meat at a steakhouse she was looking to take home. 

“You always were nothing but a flirt. A worthless, oversexed, daddy favored sack of shit that relyed on good looks and a fuck-all attitude to get you out of sticky situations.”

She cackled as she turned her back on the three of you as she made her way over to the center of the floor, taking you all in  with a satisfied smirk on her face. 

“In fact,” she continued, “I’m going to do you a favor Dean. I’m going to show you the Dean Winchester I can see. The one that hasn’t had all his scars and ugly places covered up by his angel buddy. The one that is disfigured and wretched as the man you feel inside when you look in the mirror.”

Her eyes drifted to you as you struggled against the restraints you couldn’t see. 

“Bet that little bitch of yours won’t find you so attractive then will she Dean? The big strong hunter, the handsome hero, all bravado and chivalry, always the ladies man, revealed for what he really is. Ugly and twisted.”

Before anyone could even blink, the witch pointed her boney fingers at Dean, and twisted her hand in the air. Dean let loose a scream that made your heart standstill in your chest, and a loud shot rang through the air. The witch’s body crumpled to the floor as the three of you fell from your place on the wall, and everything faded to black as your head came into contact with the hard floor.

You came back to reality with a groan as you sat up slowly, your stomach churning in protest with the evident concussion that throbbed at the side of your head. None of that mattered though.The first thought that rolled through your mind was the last thing you heard before the gunshot . Dean screaming. 

You scrambled to your feet as your mobility returned, Sam doing the same on the other side of the room, and both of you hurried to where Cas was kneeling next to Dean’s body that was curled in on itself as if he were a small child, hiding from the monster under the bed. 

“Dean!��� Sam yelled, coming to a sliding stop on his knees next to his brother’s body, looking up at the Angel  with utter horror on his face that was enough to stop you in your tracks. “Can you fix it?” he questioned, but the Angel just shook his head as he stood slowly. 

“Not here. We need to get him back to the bunker. From there, I’m sure we can find the resources we need to reverse the spell.” 

You dropped to your knees next to your trembling boyfriend, and tried to move his arms away from his face, earning a yell that made everyone in the room stand still for a moment. 

“NO! Don’t look at me!” he yelled at you, curling more into himself in an attempt to hide from your view.

“Dean, please, let us help you,” you plead with him, but Dean was ever the stubborn  man he always was, and refused to move. 

You give Sam and Cas a look that screamed help. They exchanged a worried look as Sam stripped his jacket from his shoulders, and dropped it over Dean’s face for him to hide into, before Cas and Sam stood him to his feet. 

“Come on Dean, let’s get home, and we can fix this okay,” Sam attempted to console his brother as they made the slow, unstable trip to the Impala that waited out front. Dean was a shaking mess, as Sam lowered him into the back seat, still hiding in Sam’s jacket from view. 

He curled himself up in a ball in the backseat, and Sam motioned for you to get into the front of the car, stopping you from getting into the back with Dean. 

“How bad is it?” you asked him before he opened the door for you. The way he was being,  was something you had never seen before, so afraid, so vulnerable, and it was horrifying. You could tell by the way Sam was acting it wasn’t something he’d seen all that often either. 

“It’s bad,” was all he’d tell you, before motioning you to take a seat. 

You watched the ball that was Dean in the backseat the whole hours drive back to the bunker, and he never moved, never lifted the jacket from his head. 

When the car was put in park, Dean moved again, jerking the car door open to make a hurried retreat to his room with Sam hot on his heels. Cas’s old truck pulled up next to where you were left standing with Jack in tow. 

You didn’t  say a word as they watched you make your way down the hall of the bunker towards Dean’s room. You weren’t going to rest until he let you see him. Not because you cared how the witch had disfigured him. It didn’t alter your feelings for him in the slightest. You wanted him to know that. 

To your surprise, Dean had left the door unlocked to his room in his hurry to get inside the safety of his own space, and when you pushed the door open the sight that greeted you took every bit of resolve you carried to not scream. 

Dean stood looking in the now shattered mirror that hung on the wall above an old sink, both hands on either side of the porcelain bowl, his shoulders slumped slightly as he looked up to see your reflection in the mirror staring back at him. From his one remaining eye, a large tear rolled down his disfigured face, the terror and resentment he held there pouring from his soul, and out into the surrounding air between you as you closed the door slowly behind you.

If you didn’t know who he was, you probably wouldn’t  have  recognized him. Aside from the eye that looked as if it had been scored from it’s socket, deep, long gashes that would have been almost mortal injuries when they were fresh drove deep white lines into his skin that looked more like crevasses  than scars. 

They went from his forehead, all the way to where his eye used to be, and then across his nose and cheek. There were chunks and bits missing from his ears. One of his hands looked like it had been badly burned on the top of his wrist, and the other was missing more than one finger. There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hold some sort of horrific scar. 

He turned to slowly face you, his arms wrapping around his chest as if it could help make him look as small as he felt, his gaze cast down to his feet. He was still covered in mud and dirt from the hunt. Your heart was broken for him. The brave, cocky hunter you fell in love with was broken, and the self hate was radiating off of him in almost tangible waves. 

You made a slow step towards him, a hand outreached to touch the side of his face that wore the most scars, and he jumped back away from you like you had burned him. 

“Dean,” you tried as he shook his head and backed further away from you. “Please Dean, let me…”

“No,” he mumbled, shaking his head in disapproval. “No, you can’t, you can’t fix me this time Y/N. She did exactly what she said she was going to do. She turned me into the hideous monster that exists on the inside. The part of me that I can’t run or hide from, it’s open now, and there’s no taking it back.”

Shaking your own head in disbelief of what you were hearing, you made a step closer to him, definitely placing your hand against the rough, uneven skin on his mangled cheek. 

“No Dean, you're not a monster. You’re a hero, a strong brave hunter. You're not damaged and ruined. Even if we never find a way to fix this, it doesn’t matter to me, because you can’t see what I see.”

Dean’s gaze met yours and you swore you could see the hate radiating off of his hard stare. 

“When I sold my soul to save Sammy, I started to have nightmares about what was going to happen to me when I got to hell, what I was going to become. The demon version of myself told me that it knew how much I looked in the mirror, and hated what I saw there.”

Side stepping you, Dean started to strip the clothing from his body, revealing more scars with every new inch of skin that came into view. Even the deep handprint on his shoulders.

“Every mark, every scar on me is a sign of failure,” he said, his voice hard and full of disgust in himself as his hand fumbled with his belt, and his pants dropped to the ground around his ankles. Deep burns on his legs and feet met  in a purple scar, and you had to repress a shudder of horror at the pain he surely felt when these injuries occurred. 

“I lost my eye when I lost a bunch of kids to a Werewolf while in a hunt in Delaware, the same hunt that disfigured my face. Cas fixed it,” he said, still the same air of resentment and disgust. 

“These burns on my legs? They came from hell. The fire’s real Y/N, it’s very real, and it burns clean to your soul.” 

The horror must have been shown in your eyes as he continued to recount each scar as if it was burned into his memory, and by the time he was done, it was evident that even  the scars had been hidden from view, he still carried everyone with him every day, every loss, every failure, everything that he couldn’t fix. He resented himself so much, that you had no real way of knowing when it started, because he had carried it so long that it had become a part of him, of who he was. 

When he finally moved towards you, it shook you so much that you had to visibly blink away the blinding tears that were falling down your cheeks uncensored. 

“So, you still want to be with me now, baby girl, cause I don’t even want to be with me. I’m just as bad as the shit we hunt, I’m just as hideous, and just as fucking ugly as they are.”

You don’t know what made you move. If it was sheer fucking grit, or the fact that words weren’t good enough in that moment, but in  three strides, you closed the distance between yourself, and the man you loved, capturing his mangled lips in a heated kiss that was all tongue and teeth. 

Barely parting, the two of you moved together in the direction of the bed in the center of the room. Dean dropped his clothing as you went with your assistance. There were no sensual touches, no sweet sentiments, no gentle gestures as he used his sheer body weight to push you down on the bed completely bare before him, slotting himself between your legs, nipping and sucking his way from you ear to your pulsepoint, biting down hard enough to leave his mark as his thick length entered your waiting heat. 

There were no loving words as he relentlessly pounded into your body, and the shiver than ran down your spine when your fingertips felt the deep scars running down his back in the form of claw marks left by something that you would probably never see or face, would have been mistaken for pleasure by a bystander. In truth, it was the deep fear that these scars were always there, and you never knew. 

His body, even mangled and battered, drove you higher until you were both a screaming, panting mess. Your orgams washed over you in an unexpected rush, and with two more heavy, deep thrusts, Dean was spilling himself deep inside of you. 

Neither of you bothered to move. Dean just threw the covers over your bare forms as Cas entered the room, pressing his fingers to Dean’s forehead as Sam also came  into the room with a bowl that you could only assume contained a spell. You weren’t paying attention to the details. All you knew was that even though the scars were disappearing in a blinding light, and your Dean, then man you knew so well, down to the last freckle was taking his place, in your mind, you could still see them.

The deep, ugly truth in the form of scars carried more undying inner hate that once you saw, you could never unsee. A brokenness that you could never fix. No matter how they covered it up, they would always be there. Some things just would never heal, and the way Dean resented and hated the man he’d become would never change. The twisted and broken soul that you loved was barely human, and even though you’d never say it outloud, you will never be able to come to grips with the truth. Not because it was ugly and hard to swallow, but because Dean deserved better, but would never get it. That’s uglier than any scar he’d ever carry.

Forever Tags: @deanwanddamons​ @rvgrsbrns​ @bi-danvers0​ @onethirstyunicorn​ @i-love-superhero​ @akshi8278​ @lyss-dw79​ @magssteenkamp​ @lemondropirwin​ @squirrelnotsam​ @hobby27​ @spnbaby-67​ @mrsjenniferwinchester​ @defenderrosetyler​ @screechingartisancashbailiff​ @thecreatiivecorner​  @aflamboyanceofgays @vicmc624​ @busy-bee-angel-misska​ @justanotherwinchester​ @brilovesdeanwinchester​ @idksupernatural​ @lyarr24 @amandamdiehl​ @love-jackles-37-blog​ @miraclesoflove​ @Waywardsistershy @emoryhemsworth​ @dean-winchesters-gardian-angel​ @softsebastian​ @tatted-trina6​ @deanmonandnegansbitch​ @hayleeharling​   @flamencodiva​ @coldmuffinbanditshoe​ @bxbyizzy @dirty-pan-goblin​ @itmejado​ @supernatural3002​ @teresa-67​ @thoughts-and-funnies​ @hearteyes-j2​ @miss-nerd95​

[azrielrose]

overly long Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Pt 1-4 Spoilers below the cut:

Stream of consciousness time.   I liked this show, though it wandered a bit...too many cheerleading/singing scenes, thanks Glee, I guess.  Loved the aesthetic, some of the clothes I’ll remember forever.  Lilith was obviously a fav, freakin Michelle Gomez.  It was hard to watch her character fade a bit in 3 and into 4, so I was savagely glad she got her vengeance, AND all the power.  A lot of people are upset she ate Adam, but I feel it was in character, rather than let Lucifer raise her son the way you know he would’ve.  She’s understandable, she’s not Good.

Nick, I always liked him best for Sabrina, I was obviously excited in the most evil ways when they gave him SPN Sam’s storyline, sacrificing himself and getting stuck with/tortured by the devil...they even also heavily implied that he was raped by lucifer.  After, he suffers PTSD, abusing alcohol and drugs, becoming oversexed, self harming.  Sabrina’s kind of a dick about it, but I thought that was somewhat understandable.  She’s just a teen after all, it’s not weird for kids to wish the person in their lives with mental illness would just (suck it up/act normal) bounce back and not understand when they can’t.  But then the show validates her pov rather than correcting it.  She literally tells him off for making his ‘melodrama’ her problem, or something.  And that’s what seemingly snaps him out of it--we don’t see ptsd from him again.  That’s pretty fucked up.  I mean, if you’re going to write canonical rape/torture trauma for a character, you should have to follow it through at least somewhat responsibly, rather then send a message that a ptsd response is somehow self-indulgent and can be handled with will power or some shit.  (We SPN fans were blessed to have Jarpad, who protected this aspect of Sam’s trauma as best he could, sometimes with no help from the writers.)

As for Sabrina M, I thought it was stupid that she’s blinded to that clay kid’s true intentions.  She knew who and what he was the entire time she competed with him and was as vicious as she had to be to win.  If her Morningstar side was her ambitious, power hungry side who fought so hard to be Queen of Hell, where did it all go?  All the sudden she’s a starry eyed kid who believes in insta romance because he says the right words.  She already knew he’d lie and betray her in a second for the Crown.  That makes no sense.  Why did she need to be with him or anyone, to the point where she gets married at 16?  Where did all the early seasons Girl Power energy go?  

Funny, though, that they just pretended Lucifer wasn’t trying to make her his incest/child bride the season before.  S2 he was like ‘uh call me father but only in private’ and now he’s all ‘my daughter that I care so much for’.  Did they get a lot of shit over that, and decide to just pretend it away?  It’s a shame, because they had that storyline where she was Lucifer’s Sword, and merging witches and humans make more powerful witches and they just..........dropped it.  For this Morningstar Nuclear Family Plus Caliban the Husband shit.  That red wedding dress was killer tho omg.

Ugh.  Anything else that matters?  Zelda and Mambo were robbed for no reason, that was crap.  I love Zelda.  I LOVE Hilda.  I was so happy when they did the au ep with Hilda and Zelda from sitcom StTW, complete with puppet Salem.

Oh, and that ending, w the actual F?  He killed himself to be with her?  People are reacting like, wow, writers legit had a mentally ill teen character kill himself because he thought life wasn’t worth living without his gf, and posed it as a Happy Ending.  But it’s worse, because by then they were pretending he shook his mental illness off, or Love Cured It or some shit.  So, Romantic Love cures mental illness, but only as long as the SO is alive.  Yikes.

Also they stole the Void scene from that time Squidward went too far in the future.  That’s all I could see.  I guess it’s not terrible the show hasn’t been renewed.  Great characters, but the storylines didn’t know where to go anymore.

[commie-eschatology]

“The Bi-Weekly Full Camp Supply Meeting”

Bodhan mediates a full camp meeting.

“From a Certain Point of View”: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29293188/chapters/71935464  

“Welcome to our bi-weekly full camp supply meeting,” Bodhan says to the assembled party around the fire, “as always, tell me and the boy what you’ll be needing, and we’ll be sure to stock it. Within two to three weeks of course.”

“Enchantment!” Sandal confirms. He prepares his notebook. His son is quite helpful for the business. A bit unorthodox sure, but quite good at keeping inventory and of course weirdly skilled at enchanting. He’s asked the boy how he got so good at it, but all he ever gets is “enchantment!”

Bodham has seen some very odd things in this world, that’ll happen when your job is raiding the Deep Roads. The ragtag group in front of him though is a new degree of strange, a mismatch of formidable folks across Thedas. Alistair and Leliana sit giggling together at the edge of the fire. They’re ostensibly the normal ones, but he’s heard that Alistair is the heir to the throne and Leliana was an assassin? The Qunari soldier, Sten, glares at them both as he has since Lothering, maybe it’s personal or maybe his face is just permanently stuck. Wynne seems eager to begin the meeting, she’s nice enough but apparently she’s possessed. Then there’s the actual golem, Bodhan thought they were just a myth made up by the Assembly, who seems to hold a very particular hatred towards pigeons, not exactly what he expected.

Oh and the Antivan assassin who apparently tried to kill the Wardens before recruitment. It’s not Bodahn’s job to question, but that seems like not the smartest choice.  Morrigan loiters at the edge of the group, yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Bodhan fears her the most, he’d rather not be turned into a toad. The Warden is missing this particular bi-weekly full camp supply meeting, off saving the world or something.

“We need more of that Orlesian cheese you had last month,” says Alistair, “because someone decided to eat it all.” The mabari hound barks in acknowledgment, unashamed and undeterred.

“I have a craving for those frilly cakes they make in the Val Royeaux bakery. Perhaps you can procure those,” requests Leliana. Frilly cakes, Sandal writes, flavor not specified.

“Has it escaped your notice that we are at war? We have no time for such frivolous things. Weapons and armor will be enough, dwarf,” says Sten. Actually Bodhan can do frivolous or not frivolous, really he doesn’t judge at all.  “And some cookie dough for Sten,” Leliana giggles. The Qunari does not object. Swords and things. Cookie dough?, Sandal writes.

Zevran pipes up. “I believe it is my turn then. I would like Antivan brandy, Bastion chocolate, a new pair of leather boots, a white steel dagger, a good bottle of olive oil, some red wine,” Sandal scribbles as quickly as possible, “ah and some of those frilly cakes from Val Royeaux would do quite nicely. Along with some personal items I will write you a list for.”  

Morrigan rolls her eyes, Bodhan braces himself. “If you all are quite finished, I require better lyrium  potions. Tis essential I do not choke on whatever it is you provide while I cast.”

“Afraid I can’t do that. Since Orzammar’s closed and the Circle is overrun by demons, the mages collective is the only lyrium seller left.” There are of course other avenues, but Bodhan stays out of the drug trade, profitable but a bit too nasty.

The Witch scowls. “Do not play coy with me, dwarf. Get me another kind of lyrium.”

“I’m…” Bodhan gulps, “not that kind of dwarf.”

“I could assist you in sourcing lyrium. I still have some contacts,” says Leliana. Bodhan wonders, how is this unassuming Chantry girl involved in the drug trade? Mage sympathizer would be his guess. On second thought he doesn’t want to know, he’s stayed alive this long by knowing when not to ask questions.

“Ah so the Chantry girl is involved in the sale of lyrium,” mocks Morrigan, “fascinating that one can have so many quirks and yet continue to be completely uninteresting.”

“Do you ever tire of being the oversexed, spiteful witch, Morrigan? It must be an exhausting archetype to always embody.” Leliana snaps back.

“Yeah I’m just gonna, uh, get going then,” Bodhan and the boy slip away from the campfire as the bickering continues to escalate. As always, they barely notice. He takes the list from Sandal and starts to get to work.

[thefeministpress]

Spooky Reads from FP

Here at the Feminist Press, we can’t believe it’s already over a week post-Halloween! 

It snuck up so quickly this year! Thankfully, we enjoy spooky books all year round at FP, and right now—as the nights turn dark and the wind acquires its sharp, chilling bite—is the best time to read some terrific, spine-tingling lit. As I sit here at my desk, eating leftover candy corn from Halloween out of the palm of my now-sticky hand, I shall list five of our favorite terrifying FP titles:

The Yellow Wall-Paper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman

An essential work of American literature rediscovered by the Feminist Press—our all-time bestseller. The new edition is a faithful and accurate rendition of the original 1892 edition of this classic work, with expanded textual notes. The Yellow Wall-Paper is a compelling psychological narrative of one woman's confinement and madness.

Read if you like: novellas, short stories, short reads, feminist literary classics, 19th century fiction, psychological fiction

Type of scary: chilling, psychological, claustrophobic, creepy

Quote:

It was moonlight. The moon shines in all around just as the sun does.

I hate to see it sometimes, it creeps so slowly, and always comes in by one window or another.

John was asleep and I hated to waken him, so I kept still and watched the moonlight on that undulating wall-paper till I felt creepy.

The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out. 

(23)

Follow Me into the Dark | Felicia C. Sullivan

What happens when children are denied love and then left to their own devices? Follow Me into the Dark traces the unraveling of a family marred by perverse intergenerational abuse. Kate is a young baker whose mother is dying of cancer. Gillian is an oversexed, hyper-intellectual who looks like Kate and is sleeping with Kate’s stepfather. Jonah is Gillian’s odd but devoted stepbrother, who increasingly matches the description of the “Doll Collector,” a menacing serial killer. With Kate flailing in her mourning and beating back unwelcome memories, snippets of her family legacy are revealed just as the Doll Collector’s body count grows.

Read if you like: suspense, twists and turns, nonlinear narratives, multiple POVs, serial killers, dark stories

Type of scary: suspenseful, unsettling, psychological

Quote:

The Chinchorro were unique in their dedication to preserving the dead. Embalmers excised the skin and the flesh, replacing it with clay. Precious organs were removed and pickled before they were returned, tissue wrapped, to the body. Only the heart remained, lying still among the pickles and animal hair. I admire this ritual, the Chinchorro’s fastidious connection to the departed, and the nearly two months of care devoted to the remains. 

The curtain closes. It’s the end of the show, folks. The coffin glides in. 

After everyone leaves, watch me scream. 

(10-11)

Women Who Kill | Ann Jones

This legendary bestseller exposes the truths and consequences of women on the edges of society—women driven to kill. From Lizzie Borden to Jean Harris to Aileen Wuornos, this riveting investigation will change the ways you think about crime and punishment. A new introduction by the author illuminates the conditions for women who kill—and are killed—now.

Read if you like: nonfiction, feminist analysis, true crime with a side of analysis, historical, justice system, not academic but not sensational, social history

Type of scary: true crime, toxic masculinity, violence against women, murder, oppression

Quote:

Mrs. Churchill went through the kitchen to the sitting room. There on the horsehair sofa lay Andrew Jackson Borden, apparently stretched out for a nap, except that where his face should have been was only blood and pulp. The coroner would find the marks of ten hatchet blows. 

(240)

We Were Witches | Ariel Gore

Wryly riffing on feminist literary tropes, We Were Witches documents the survival of a demonized single mother. She’s beset by custody disputes, homophobia, and America’s ever-present obsession with shaming odd women into passive citizenship. But even as the narrator struggles to graduate—often the triumphant climax of a dramatic narrative—the question lingers uncomfortably. If you’re dealing with precarious parenthood, queer identity, and debt: What is the true narrative shape of your experience?

Read if you like: poetic language, genre-defying books, a mix of fiction and memoir, magic and magick, queer narratives, magical realism, the 90s

Type of scary: oppression, misogyny, homophobia

Quote:

The deer doesn’t say anything. She sits down on a chair made of branches, sits as if she were more human now than hoofed animal. She folds her upper legs across her chest as if they’re arms. I look into her broad-set eyes and for a flash of a moment I see the witch’s eyes staring back at me. I take a sharp inhale, feel my chest tense. I want to ask so many things right then, but I just blink, and now her eyes are the eyes of a deer again. 

I say, “Who are you?” 

But the deer stays quiet. 

(136)

Witches, Midwives & Nurses | Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English

Witches, Midwives, & Nurses, first published by the Feminist Press in 1973, is an essential book about the corruption of the medical establishment and its historic roots in witch hunters. In this new edition, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English have written an entirely new chapter that delves into the current fascination with and controversies about witches, exposing our fears and fantasies. They build on their classic exposé on the demonization of women healers and the political and economic monopolization of medicine. This quick history brings us up-to-date, exploring today's changing attitudes toward childbirth, alternative medicine, and modern-day witches.

Read if you like: US history, European history, feminist history, medicine and healing, short reads, easy-to-read nonfiction

Type of scary: true crime (historical), misogyny, oppression, patriarchy, classism, state-sanctioned murder, violence against women

Quote:

The witch-hunts left a lasting effect: An aspect of the female has ever since been associated with the witch, and an aura of contamination has remained—especially around the midwife and other women healers . . . The women's health movement of today has ancient roots in the medieval covens, and its opponents have as their ancestors those who ruthlessly forced the elimination of witches.  

(32-33)

[deltanius]

Lets touch on the subject of rabid (or possessed) Sue from Cave story (Right). She is not a full Mimiga, she was turned into a Mimiga by the witch Misery. The reason I say rabid instead of possessed is becuase The Doctor is consumed by the red crystal, which is made up of red flowers which causes rabidness in mimiga. The only question I have is WHY DOES SHE HAVE TIDDIES? WHY DOES SHE LOOK OLDER?

This is an example of an “Oversexed” Rabid Sue

SHE IS A CHILD STOP DONT DO THIS TO POOR SUE JUST BECAUSE SHE LOOKS OLDER DOES NOT MEAN SHE IS OLDER STOP SHE IS LIKE 12!!!!!

[salvatoreschool]

Legacies And Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 5 Ways They Are Similar (& 5 Ways They Are Different)

It may seem unfair to compare and contrast the groundbreaking Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the freshman The Vampire Diaries' spin-off, Legacies. After all Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran for 7 seasons, is considered a cultural phenomenon, a cult classic, and a trailblazer due to its strong female lead.

Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, famously said that he had grown, "so tired of slasher film cliches, especially the dumb, oversexed blond stumbling into a dark place to have sex with a boyfriend, only to be killed. I began thinking that I would love to see a scene where a ditsy blond walks into a dark alley, a monster attacks her and she kicks its ass." How can Legacies compare to such an iconic show?

Legacies is the second spin-off of The Vampire Diaries. In it, we follow the children of important characters from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.

10. SIMILAR: SETTING

Both shows start in a high school setting. Our main characters, Buffy and Hope, are 16 and 17 respectively. While Buffy is new to this high school, Hope has grown up at her school. However, the struggles they face are similar. While recognizing that they are different than their peers, they want acceptance and to be more "normal."

In addition, both of the schools are in a town that has its own supernatural connection. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is in Sunnydale, the Hellmouth, a gateway for demons to enter Earth.

Legacies takes place in Mystic Falls, the small town where The Vampire Diaries took place. Mystic Falls has a long history with the supernatural. Even Hope's father, one of the original vampires, lived there. Though it has a small town charm, its history is much darker and deeper. The school they attend is full of magic.

9. DIFFERENT: THE TONE

While Legacies does have a much lighter tone than its predecessors, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, it still is darker than the first couple seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This may be due to the previous shows casting a shadow over Legacies. As viewers, we know that Hope suffered extreme tragedy and is learning to cope with life and living. This is apparent from the pilot episode.

To contrast, Buffy is excited to be at a new school and meet new people. She swaps trendy advice with the resident mean girls and finds good friends in Willow and Xander. Although it's true that Buffy the Vampire Slayer's tone does change, especially in Season 6, it starts out light with loads of humor.

8. SIMILAR: MAIN PROTAGONIST'S JOURNEY

Buffy and Hope are the only one of their kind. Buffy is the chosen one, the only vampire slayer (until she dies, of course, and another slayer awakens). Hope is the only tribrid: a vampire, werewolf, and witch. Buffy knows her quest but, like most classic protagonists on a hero's journey, struggles to accept it. On the other hand, Hope suspects that she has a quest but doesn't understand her purpose until the last episode. Wrecked with guilt through much of the season, Hope wants to prove that she is worthy of the sacrifice that her family made for her.

In addition, Buffy and Hope are strong female leads. While they have supernatural strength, they also have strong personalities and morals. They both defend others, even if it could mean their own deaths. They care about others and consider it a duty to help and protect those incapable of protecting themselves.

7. DIFFERENT: THE DIALOGUE

Joss Whedon was praised for his use of witty, smart dialogue in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was another aspect that set his show apart. Due to the praise, Joss Whedon actually challenged himself to do an episode where there was no dialogue, Season 4's Hush. He succeeded in this episode as well, proving that while the dialogue was great, the show's success was due to more than just all the clever words.

The dialogue in Legacies doesn't stand out as much as the dialogue in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While it has a little lighter tone than the dialogue in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, it is still dramatic. The humor and wit are mainly missing. The focus is on the mythology of The Vampire Diaries universe, rather than witty teen dialogue.

6. SIMILAR: MONSTER OF THE WEEK

In Season 1, Legacies uses a monster of the week story-telling device. We have a dragon, a unicorn pooping mind-altering slugs, a necromancer, and more. Each monster does have the same goal: Retrieve the keys to release the Malivore. While they are one-off monsters, they are connected to a larger issue.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer practices this same strategy. Each episode had a monster of the week and, for the most part, the conflict was resolved by the end of the show. Also, we have monsters that are connected to the big bad, the Master. This, of course, changes in the later seasons, where we have stretches of episodes revolving around a solitary antagonist.

5. DIFFERENT: THE SCOOBIES

Though Buffy was the heroine of the show, she had her buddies - nicknamed the Scoobies or the Scooby Gang - help out frequently. At first, the Scoobies didn't possess supernatural abilities, but that changes throughout the show. Perhaps one of the Scoobies' strongest powers is to hold Buffy accountable. In the show, Spike (a vampire) tells Buffy that what kept her alive longer than the other slayers is her connections to others. The Scoobies may not be the title characters, but they are just as important to the show.

Hope doesn't want friends or a team to help her, besides Alaric, but she does get a team. Most of the members are supernatural beings. Hope acts primarily as a solo agent. She doesn't listen or consider their advice, thinking that she knows best. Buffy's friends feel uniquely themselves. We have yet to see all the members of Hope's team accomplish the same.

4. SIMILAR: MAIN PROTAGONIST BECOMES AN ORPHAN (BASICALLY)

Many shows and books with a heroic child protagonist willing to risk or sacrifice their lives in order to save others, feature orphans (think Harry Potter). They aren't held back by parental love and aren't regarded as children. In Legacies, Alaric is okay with Hope risking her life but not his own young children (Lizzie and Josie), who are the same age.

Legacies begins two years after Hope lost her mother, father, and uncle. Partly due to her grief, she both isolates herself and risks her life to save others. At the end of the season, she sacrifices her life to save others. Sadly, they won't remember the sacrifice due to the Malivore erasing the memories others have of magical beings. Hope, as a tribrid, is a magical being.

Buffy doesn't start out as an orphan. She has a loving mother and a mostly absent father. In one of the most heartbreaking episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Body, Buffy loses her mother. The episode shows us how each character reacts to the loss. Joyce, Buffy's mom, didn't die from anything supernatural, making Buffy feel truly helpless. Buffy's father isn't really ever there to be a parental figure. Even if this only happens in Season 5, Buffy keeps her vampire business a secret from Joyce. Consequently, the hero has to act on her own most of the time.

3. DIFFERENT: MIRRORS AND METAPHORS

Buffy the Vampire Slayer uses many different creative writing techniques like mirrors or metaphors. Its text was layered with a lot of meaning ripe for analytical study. Passion of the Nerd, a vlogger, does a great time analyzing such techniques. In his series, he identifies Cordelia as Buffy's mirror, serving as Buffy's identity prior to becoming a slayer. The fact that vloggers, college professors, and fans can analyze Buffy the Vampire Slayer in such depth and for so many years, shows how well the use of mirrors, metaphors, and other creative writing tools worked.

Legacies is a younger show, with only one season to its name. So far, there hasn't been much creative writing strategies. This could change in the future.

2. SIMILAR: ENIGMATIC BOYFRIEND

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel presents a great mystery. Along with Giles, Angel is the only person who knows Buffy is the slayer when she arrives in Sunnydale. Angel gives her a cross necklace for further protection. It isn't until he stays at her house that Buffy finds out what he is a vampire. Later, we find out that Angel is a unique vampire since he has a soul. When the show was new, Angel's reveal was a huge deal.

Whereas Angel might have been hiding his true nature intentionally from Buffy, Landon of Legacies doesn't know his true nature. He doesn't know his past or his parents. Later, due to a drastic death, we learn that Landon is a supernatural being. He is a phoenix, rising from the ashes, from death. In addition, we find out that Landon's "father" is the Malivore. Matter of fact, Landon's parentage makes Hope's family look like a golden family.

1. DIFFERENT: A SCHOOL OF SUPERNATURAL TRAINING

Alaric and Caroline created the "Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted" so that children like Lizzie and Josie would have a safe place to live and learn about their abilities. The idea was to provide a place where they could become stronger and better citizens to each other and to humans. Hope has been learning and improving her abilities since she was a child. She also has the support of her family and the other students with magical abilities. Although Hope believes herself to be alone, she is surrounded by other students who relate to what she is going through.

On the flip side, Buffy doesn't even know that she is the slayer until she is a teenager. She learns that most slayers don't live long lives. While she has Giles to provide one-on-one training, she is alone. Rather than being eased into her gift, Buffy was submerged in the icy water instantly. Later, she does meet other slayers (like Faith) that help her feel less alone, but she remains separate. She may have benefited from learning more about her gift; however, it would have limited her more ordinary experiences.

We'll see what Season 2 has in store for Hope in Legacies. It could be that there will be even more connections with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[antigone314]

Sat.Review: Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts

Sat.Review: Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts

Written by Stacia KaneNarrated by Bahni Turpin Unholy Magic Story SynopsisChessaria, the oversexed drug-addicted church-witch protagonist, is still going hot & heavy with the enforcer for one drug lord because she can’t handle the emotions of her overwhelming lovey feels for the other drug lord’s enforcer. All of this is the sexy romp undercurrent while she investigates a Hollywood star’s…

[a-reading-journal]

Such silly things, children - and so embarrassing - because they keep changing themselves out of shame, out of a need to be loved or something. While animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater peace than people do.

She felt in herself a jolt of pleasurable expectation over the thought of approaching the Scrow. Along with so much else, she had forgotten what pleasurable expectation was. As night fell, everyone seemed more alert, out of fear and excitement. The skies throbbed with turquoise, even at midnight. Starlight and comet tails burned the tips of endless grass below into a hammered silver. Like thousands of tapers in the chapel, just blown out but still glowing. 234

Planning a reread of the whole quartet back-to-back, each book of which I’ve only read once. I read Wicked in high school after discovering and falling in love with the musical. I can't believe how much sex is in it, most probably went over my head at the time. Maguire’s imagination is incredible, producing a world very much like our own but different enough to be fantastic. He’s adjusted everything from religion, language, botany, biology, philosophy, geography, and politics. I also applaud him for queering it up back in '95 - from implications between Elphaba and Glinda or explicit admission from Frexspar regarding his affair with Turtle Heart - but can't believe that he reduces his two explicitly gay characters to mere stereotypes: oversexed or sexless. Tibbett gets introduced the world of sex young, while the characters are at school studying, only to fall off the radar until Elphaba encounters him dying and riddled with disease in the mauntery. Crope on the other hand becomes a sidepiece to Glinda, growing a paunch, living on his own, trying his hand at art, and never getting a word in the conversation. What happens to him is unknown after Fiyero leaves Glinda and Crope at lunch.

Odd that I read this novel after discovering and loving the musical, but having read it again I now find that the musical is just plain bad. The story presented here is much more expansive and dark, while the musical is saccharine.

Looking forward to reading Son of A Witch, which I remember liking more than Wicked itself, the ending having been seared in my mind for years.

[aibidil]

Sexuality especially aroused anxiety and the sexual overtones present in the [witch] hunts, whether in the sexualized image of the witch (who was believed to cause impotence and indulge in perpetually unfulfilling forms of deviant sex); the general belief that women as a group were oversexed, congenitally unable to control their desires and therefore susceptible to seduction by the Devil; or the elements of sexual terrorism in the hunts themselves, suggest that the hunts were more or less direct project of sexual anxiety. In the early modern world, preoccupied with (male) hierarchical order and its converse, (female) unrestrained sexuality and disorder, the wandering or “loose” woman could not help being perceived as inherently subversive. On a literal level, the binding of women to the (male) Devil, that is the making of a witch, might be taken as an attempt to “enclose” women not obviously otherwise controlled by men. More generally, the hunting of witches, defined as the epitome of evil, reflected a sharpened fear and distrust of women as powerful sources of danger, disorder, and pollution.

“The Witch ‘She’/The Historian ‘He’: Gender and the Historiography of the European Witch-Hunts,” by Elspeth Whitney

[inbtswethrrust]

Hi I was wondering if you knew any good vminkook fics? Also as I'm kinda new to bts fanfiction so I was wondering if you could link the most CLASSIC and BEST known bts fanfiction. Lastly (sorry this is long) the best known jikook or vmin please? V kook either I don't mind! Thank you so much!!! 😊

The only vminkook fics I know are the ones on the vminkook tag! Sorry! Also, aside from the Jikook/Vmin/Taekook I’ll rec now you should check out the beautiful compilation the precious admin ange made the other day!

JIKOOK:

#4: witches and kisses by yeoubi [T, 4k]

The Petty Criminal Discount by Kingkiwi [G, 6k]

You’re My Genie, Lamborghini (You’re My Teeny Weeny Meenie) by mindheist [E, 7.8k]

i guess you say (what can make me feel this way) by jungkooks hyung (bangtans_boy) [T, 6k]

underdressed and oversexed by gangbang [E, 24k]

dear diary, holy crap i think i’m in love with park jimin by jungkooks hyung (bangtans_boy) [T, 10k]

Put it on me (and make it dark) by chihiro [E, 10k]

Blow Me Like Your French Horn by ohdizzy [T, 40k]

Drops of Sky by untrueee [T, 6.3k]

listen to my heartbeat (it’s calling you at its own will) by poplolli [T, 30k]

Glass Diamonds by GinForInk [E, 18k]

Him by PinkBTS [M, 35k]

VMIN:

roll with it by conversehigh [T, 6.8k]

let’s get going by gangbang [E, 7.3k]

Jammed by minverse [E, 11k]

all of your sides are good by knth [E, 16k]

I Will Make You Whole by lethallergic [E, 36k]

and when you think of me, am i the best you’ve ever had by causeitsred [E, 12k]

This Confession Note Wasn’t Meant for You by Toshiba19 [T, 21k]

It doesn’t matter who you are, tell me my heart is the same as yours is by cottoncandyboys (mik0rin) [G, 17k]

in my veins by knth [E, 6.3k]

everything feels like a dream (don’t try to disappear) by kaythebest [T, 9k]

Can I Have This Dance? by SevenSoulmates [M, 17k]

4 Times Taehyung Fantasized About Jimin’s Thighs and the 1 Time Fantasy Became Reality by skateboardsound [E, 10k]

here comes the rush (before we touch) by knth [T, 4k]

never shoot to miss by umji [T, 14k]

‘til morning comes, let’s tessellate by maxx [E, 8k]

Shooting Stars and Silver Moons by mucha [E, 20k]

something here feels right (we might both be alive) by jjks [G, 7k]

Once In A Lifetime by SevenSoulmates [M, 34k]

Second Chance by Toshiba19 [T, 13k]

i’m a teepee, i’m a wigwam (calm down, man - you’re two tents) by bazooka [E, 9.4k]

TAEKOOK (wow there’s more?):

Of Photographs and Heated Stares by taekookmusings [E, 8.7k]

i’ll be a man (of you, you, you, babe) by monsterplaza (aesthesiae) [E, 18k]

like a moon (i revolve around you) by nikkumeul [E, 13k]

and i want you (do you want me too?) by wowoashley [E, 6.9k]

Get Me Out Of My Mind (Get You Out Of Those Clothes) by taekookmusings [E, 15k]

my world only has you in it by nikkumeul [E, 28k]

dating for dummies by sugasus [G, 12k]

Will you be my Forever? by flywithtaetae (kimtaehyungs) [M, 15k]

We’ll Find Each Other’s Arms by TaeTea [E, 25k]

Comeback Kids by rix [E, 34k]

your goodbye is my beginning by jhopeg [E, 22k]

kiss kiss, bang bang (series)

Take It With A Swallow by seikou [E, 60k]

Love Makes Quite the Fashion Statement by kimtaehot [M, 5.3k]

Feel it Kicking in by rix [E, 67k]

Infinity On High by Incadence [E, 23k]

Cinnamon Crisp by teatimetaemint [M, 21k]

Riptide by novilunar [E, 12k]

Rich Bitch by mindheist [E, 28k]

iron man has nothing on you by foolishbangtan [T, 6k]

Our Red Scarf (Keep Me Warm) by MirreRover [E, 42k]

night winds by sassyneki [E, 12k]

Some Killer King You Are by lethallergic [E, 55k]

Guys, I’m crying these are all so good im just gonna go kill myself or well cry myself to sleep how did u expect me not to go overboard with the recs these are so many and I HAVENT EVEN RECCED LIKE HALF OF EVERYTHING I LOVE WHAT DO I DO I HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM DO U KNOW HOW MUCH THAT HURT ME??????? CHOOSING????? BETWEEN MY BABIES?????? MY PRECIOUS PRECIOUS FICS?????? im ded kill me now

-Admin Nana

[heralde8]

Mason: I loved [fairy tales] as a kid. I don’t know why. Bunch of oversexed dwarfs cohabitating with pubescent princesses. Cannibalistic giants and witches. Hyper adrenal knights slaughtering innocent dragons. Who needs it?

Julia: I think they like to scare the little children to death so it forces them to face their fears, you know?

Mason: Purging of demons...

Julia: I guess you can say that.

Mason: Now if I could only purge my adult ones...