#the needle witch does la

[spotsandsocks]

title: you make me believe in magic?? 👀💜

I’m liking the title and I am of course going to some kind of magic au …

Hmmmm thinking thoughts about Bobby and Buck being witches of some kind both from old magical families, some kind of fostering system in place to teach different disciplines, bucks magic isn’t like his families so they sent him away no one could make his magic work until Bobby started teaching him. Eddie’s family are historical witch hunters who can feel magic but stopped hunting generations ago Eddie’s heard the stories but doesn’t believe until one day after moving to la him and Chris are saved from a random plot required accident by a man who does something that stops it and leaves Eddie with a feeling l in his chest like pins and needles. The next day he joins the 118 and meets Buck

🤷🏻‍♀️

Any thoughts welcome ☺️

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #40: And Now the... NIGHT SHIFT!

January, 1989

What a kooky band of villains for our heroes to tangle with. I'm pretty sure one of them is Candle- well, a guy named candle something. I have a post to write here, I can't afford to get kidnapped.

And one of them is Has Watch Will Travel? And a Hollywood werewolf? One of the Monarch's Murderflies from Venture Bros?

Weird.

But the regular writer was fired partway through the last issue and the new subplot he was setting up was unceremoniously taken out back and shot. Byrne is taking over the book with unlucky number 42.

So that means two issues to either spin the wheels or try to deal with what lingering plot threads are left.

I think the only lingering plot thread is the Mockingbird divorce, vengeful cowboy ghost thing.

I don't know if DeFalco called dibs on wrapping up the Mockingbird/Phantom Rider subplot or whether Gruenwald just didn't want to deal with it but in issue 40 we get wheel spinning. And then in issue 41, DeFalco and Macchio deal with the loose thread just before Byrne comes in.

So since this is a fill-in issue, what do we need to know?

Last times on West Coast Avengers: A lot happened but the relevant bits are that due to a disagreement over creepy stalker cowboy manslaughter, Mockingbird quit/was fired from the West Coast Avengers and took Tigra and Moon Knight with her. Scarlet Witch and Vision joined the team so that the WCA wouldn't just be Hawkeye and Wonder Man. Mantis looked like she was going to join but her only supporter, Steve Englehart, was fired and she was shoved out the door.

Mockingbird's team is still just kinda hanging around. They're Notvengers but keep fighting the good fight. Despite Mockingbird's moral stand that its okay to manslaughter cowboys sometimes, its not like she and her team have gone around manslaughtering other people. They're just a trio of like-minded Notvengers.

And when Mockingbird sees a weirdo burying people in the road, well, that's the kind of thing superheroes stick their nose into.

Mockingbird: "Ahh! This is what I live for... Throwing myself into a situation where the slightest misstep means disability or death. ... Pushing myself to the limit... and gambling that my all is enough to handle whatever I'm up against."

And what she's up against is a Frankenstein looking dude called the Digger who likes 1) digging, 2) telling scary stories to captive audiences, 3) and apparently being a zombie.

He's really annoyed when Mockingbird shows up and interrupts story time and tries to wallop her with his shovel.

She ultimately beats him with slapstick.

And takes him and the dudes he had buried in the road to the police to sort out.

Outside of LA, the rest of the Night Shift gang meets in a spooky Victorian manor called the Tower of Shadows. I don't think a manor is a tower but the house does have a tower.

Tower of Shadows is also the name of a Marvel horror mag. Digger was a horror host.

I know Marvel loves recycling its not superhero characters into the superhero context. Archie-ripoff Patsy Walker becomes Hellcat and so on.

But a horror host winding up on a supervillain team but still taking opportunities to force people to hear his spooky stories is a step above.

Its apparently later established that in-universe Digger was the horror host for a TV show called, yup, Tower of Shadows.

Fun minutiae.

Lets go around the table really quick.

The guy with the giant needle is named Needle. He has a paralyzing gaze. I have no idea what this has to do with needles but he also likes to sew people's mouths shut.

Dancing lady is Dansen Macabre. She has the power to dansen, in a macabre way. Also she can hypnotize or kill people who watch her dance.

Guy with the towering blond hair is Misfit. He's big 'n tough.

The guys with the high red collars and yet no corresponding capes are the Brothers Grim. They conjure items that are kinda sorta like things from fairy tales.

The guy that DOES have a cape is Tatterdemalion. He can rot paper and cloth with a touch thanks to gloves soaked in chemicals.

Behind him is Jack Russell terror, Werewolf-by-Night. Bad doggo.

And rounding out the table is Tick Tock. He's basically Destiny. Mystique's wife who can read ahead in the script? Yeah, Tick Tock is that but not as good.

And arriving is Gypsy Moth, who has an awkward name and POWER OVER FIBERS. Also, she later changes her name to Skein, probably because her first one was awkward but Lymantria Dispar Dispar doesn't roll off the tongue and Spongy Moth (the new Entomological Society of America approved name) doesn't strike fear in her enemies. So I'll roll with the name Skein.

West Coast Avengers acquaintance the Shroud runs this group of lower case-m misfits but he's not here right now.

Skein flies in and reports that she's heard rumor that when Digger was shaking down the Calamari Brothers, Mockingbird the Avenger beat the crap out of him and arrested him!

Clearly, such an insult can't stand!

Night Shift debates finding out where Digger is being held and busting him out but Shroud told them not to cause fuss with the cops when he's not around.

Tatterdemalion proposes they all go beat the shit out of the Avengers. Sure, Shroud told them not to mess with the Avengers either. But he's not here right now, is he?

Dansen Macabre: "I agree, Tatterdemalion! And as deputy leader in the Shroud's absence, I say it is high time we taught those daylight glory-grabbers the lesson that all of the Los Angeles underworld has learned -- don't mess with the Night Shift!"

This is amazing, for really dumb reasons.

It will later be retconned in that Well Actually, Evil Parent Gang the Pride controlled the West Coast but that they laid low to not get grief from superheroes before they (the Pride) could destroy the world (which they didn't actually manage).

That means they were lying low while jokers like Night Shift were swaggering around claiming to own this town.

Big, serious no nonsense supervillains like the Pride having to hold their tongues in the face of these goobers! Its amazing.

Anyway, since Night Shift are clearly people who hold to Aesthetic over all else, they of course drive everywhere in hearses. The whole team piles into two hearses and drives to the West Coast Avengers Compound.

Since Tick Tock is reading ahead in the script, he directs Night Shift how to use their powers to confound the security system. Including having Skein disassemble the fiber optics. Power over fiber is scary.

Since the West Coast Avengers Compound is a bunch of buildings, Night Shift just picks the closest one to storm.

Unfortunately, it's the bungalow for the support staff and a returning Joachin Mendez and a newly introduced Yolanda Russo get taken hostage.

Yolanda hears the ruckus and manages to hit the alarm before the Werewolf OH YEAHS through her door.

The intruder alarm alarms, alarming Hawkeye who was napping on a couch, presumably in the monitor room.

Hawkeye puts out an AVENGERS ASSEMBLE on the intercom.

It wakes up Scarlet Witch and Vision. Vision goes off to see what's wrong, leaving Wanda with the children.

She worries that if there's actually a real problem, the West Coast Avengers might be in trouble. There's only four people on the team right now. Wonder Man isn't even at the compound because he had a Hollywood social function. Presumably to promote his movie. Which changed names apparently. There's a poster for Arkon IV: Barbarian Berserkers. But it was subtitled the Goblin Pit last time we got a title for it. Probably because the writer change.

So four person team. Wonder Man not here. Scarlet Witch left with the babies. That only leaves Hawkeye and Vision. A two-person... well team feels like the wrong word. A dynamic duo maybe.

Tick-Tock uses his clock powers to predict Vision is approaching and will beat up the Brothers Grimm if they use wacky weapons funny foam or exploding eggs.

The brothers user the twinkie-dust which somehow can congeal intangible Vision and force him to the ground.

Hawkeye tries to shoot flare arrow (flarrows) to light up the Brothers Grimm so he can shoot them with different arrows. But Skein unravels Hawkeye's bowstring.

The two heroes become surrounded by the entire Night Shift (minus Shroud and Digger, but, eh, semantics). Plus, Needle has Yolanda as a hostage!

Night Shift having a hostage doesn't seem to faze Hawkeye though. He hucks a adhesive arrowhead at Skein, gunking up her wings.

Unfortunately, Skein doesn't use her moth wings to actually fly. Its just Aesthetic.

She's holding herself up with her fabric telekinesis. And she demonstrates by yoinking Hawkeye up into the air by his costume. Which I have to imagine has wedgy-like characteristics.

Vision still can't intangible because of the twinkie-dust. And is soon set upon by Werewolf, Tatterdemalion, and Misft. And Hawkeye is being menaced by the Brothers Grimm.

So Vision uses SOLAR BEAM to evaporate the Brothers' magic clouds. They fall and WHUMMMP on the floor. And Hawkeye throws an explosive arrow to knock Misfit off Vision.

Teamwork! Or, hmm, duowork.

MEANWHILE, back at L.A., Mockingbird rejoins Moon Knight and Tigra in Moon Knight's Moonwing.

Mockingbird reports her Digger arrest to her two fellow Notvengers. And then starts thinking aloud.

Digger supposedly works on Night Shift for the Shroud. And Mockingbird can't figure that guy out.

Hawkeye offered membership to the Shroud once but the guy seems like a criminal. Mockingbird always told Hawkeye they needed to arrest the guy or help him clear his name. She just doesn't get why the West Coast Avengers never busted him!

I'm not sure why Hawkeye didn't tell the other Avengers what the deal is with Shroud. Seems a weird omission.

Anyway, Moon Knight knows that Night Shift operates out of the Tower of Shadows so he decides the Notvengers should find out what Shroud's deal is once and for all.

And its his Moonwing so....

Back at the fight, Skein threatens to drop Hawkeye from a hundred feet off the ground. And Dansen Macabre sexy dances at Vision despite his protestations that sexy-based attacks don't work on him because he's an artificial human.

BUT: HERE SHE COMES TO SAVE THE DAY!

Scarlet Witch: "Sure would be improbable if gravity went wild -- and one person were suddenly pulled to Earth at great speed -- while another floated down like a leaf! But improbabilities become realities when the Scarlet Witch is around!"

Yeah, since the West Coast Avengers have an actual staff, Wanda got Jorge to watch the kids so she could come help Vision and Hawkeye.

And then five seconds later, the Brothers Grimm throw magic beans which explode into giant cotton balls. Wanda gets trapped in the cotton with Skein manipulating the fibers so her arms are stuck at her side.

And Needle uses Paralyze Gaze to freeze Hawkeye from running to help Scarlet Witch.

Womp womp.

With the West Coast Avengers defeated, Dansen Macabre states Night Shift's demands.

They want:

Digger to be released by the police and all charges dropped.

That's it.

And if the WCA do this, then Night Shift will release their Yolanda hostage.

Hawkeye now has no idea what this is about. He has no idea who Digger is or why Night Shift would think the Avengers have anything to do with him.

A Brother Grimm tells Werewolf by Night to try to sniff out more Avengers. I mean, only three Avengers? That's not much of a team!

Meanwhile, with the Notvengers breaking into the Tower of Shadows.

They get a net dropped on them.

I mean, Tigra and Moon Knight can rip through it because its meant for more mundane intruders.

Also: apparently: Khonshu being in the driver's seat is not a secret anymore? Tigra references to him as "an Egyptian God in a man's bod" so.

After escaping the net, the Notvengers head down the spiral staircase towards the hideout.

Tigra comments that it doesn't smell like anyone's been here for about two hours.

Mockingbird says it figures that a group called the Night Shift would be working at night.

The Notvengers finds Night Shift's meeting room which helpfully has all their stolen loot on the table as well as a note from Dansen Macabre to the Shroud.

Basically just saying 'hey, we've gone to pick a fight with the West Coast Avengers, feel free to pitch in.'

Tigra suggests going to help the West Coast Avengers or at least calling and giving a heads-up.

Mockingbird suggests an alternate plan.

The Notvengers lay in wait for Night Shift to come back and Hawkeye can go fuck himself.

If he was happy leaving the gang alone to do their thing, then he can enjoy having a play date with them.

Also, this creepy mansion doesn't have a phone and cell phones aren't in wide use yet.

But one gets the sense that its mostly spite.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, Hawkeye still has no fucking idea what Night Shift is talking about.

Of course, he's too paralyzed to say so.

Dansen Macabre tells Hawkeye that Night Shift is going to take off with their hostage so make sure to tell his wife to keep her nose out of Night Shift business.

And NOW Hawkeye understands.

Anyway, Wonder Man suddenly shows up to save the day.

Just plows through the entire Night Shift and saves Yolanda.

Tick Tock didn't predict this because... I guess his powers are based on eyesight?

Whatever, precog powers are broken anyway.

Wonder Man and Vision tear apart the cotton balls, freeing Scarlet Witch.

Misfit attacks Wonder Man both physically and emotionally by telling him his last movie sucked. Wonder Man ends up just punching the dude because he's strong but not Wonder Man strong.

That's the pattern. Wonder Man lets himself get beaten up for a while and then goes 'bee tee dubs, I've been sandbagging.'

Hawkeye throws some smoke arrowheads to blind Tick Tock and Werewolf-by-Night.

Vision punches out Needle and Tatterdemalion. They're basically normal dudes, in terms of their ability to take a punch. But Dansen Macabre dances and mesmerizes him. Despite his claims of immunity to sexy-based mind control.

Scarlet Witch locks down the Brothers Grimm and Skein by magicing their tricks back at them.

And for an encore, she goes and punches Dansen Macabre in the back of the head for sexy dancing at her husband.

That's her job, dammit!

Meanwhile, the Shroud arrives at the tower of Shadows and goes dammit the West Coast Avengers have broken into my sanctum and are touching my stuff! >=[

Tigra is specifically touching his itemized list of loot, which carefully spells out what criminals the loot was stolen from and how much.

Mockingbird quips that Night Shift is a "mob of monsters with M.B.A.'s."

Tigra then smells Shroud which means he can't just keep lurking watching them touch his stuff. So he switches right to spooky mode.

Shroud: "You have violated the inner sanctum of the Shroud! Speak your business at once!"

Mockingbird tells him to come out of the shadows because she doesn't like conversations with people she can't see. So Shroud just tells her to enjoy talking to herself and fucks off.

He managed to sense the note from Dansen Macabre so he's going to go bail out his team instead of talking to the people getting fingerprints on his things.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, having turned the tables on Night Shift, the West Coast Avengers have sat them down in chairs and lectured them about how Mockingbird left the team and what she does doesn't reflect on them.

Seriously. Sat them down in a sullen little classroom setting.

This is amazing.

Wonder Man is confused by Hawkeye's tone of trying to reason with them when they attacked the Avengers. They're crooks. Aren't we going to send them to jail?

But the room is suddenly engulfed in darkness and Shroud tells Night Shift to skedaddle.

Hawkeye manages to pin Shroud with an arrow and get a moment to talk with him during the run away. But Shroud says they'll talk in the usual place in ten minutes.

So Hawkeye lets Night Shift get away. And tells the West Coast Avengers to not try to pursue. To their bafflement and annoyance.

The usual place is apparently the cliffs overlooking the ocean in the West Coast Avengers Compound. Make-Out Cliffs, since that's where Tigra and Moon Knight used to go to make out.

Hawkeye and Shroud don't make out though.

Shroud starts the conversation by going 'okay, none of this was my idea.'

And Hawkeye believes that but he suggests that maybe Shroud can't handle this fake crime-boss game he's playing and can't keep his dangerous gang under control. And if not, maybe he should quit.

Shroud escalates in kind going 'yeah, well you can't keep your wife in line AND she took half the team in the divorce.'

Hawkeye is just surprised that Shroud talked to Mockingbird. Shroud tells him that she's probably still at the Tower of Shadows and gives him the phone number.

BECAUSE THE SPOOKY MANSION HAD A PHONE, MOCKINGBIRD JUST DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH.

Anyway, contact her. Tell her to stop messing with Night Shift. And this nonsense won't happen again.

Hawkeye: "Know something, Shroudy? That criminal facade of ours is getting pretty shop-worn. I take it you're still not letting your gang know your true colors." Shroud: "Most of them. I still find my cover useful. You fight evil your way, I'll fight it mine. Agreed?" Hawkeye: "Yeah. I'm gonna have to let my troops know the truth about you and your operation, you know." Shroud: "I trust your judgement. Now... farewell."

Okay.

Shroud is pulling a Green Hornet. Infiltrating the underworld to undermine it from within.

Specifically, he's taken a bunch of villains that would otherwise be causing problems and redirected them to target other criminals.

It looks like a gang robbing other gangs but it keeps the real gangs from getting too powerful.

(And somehow the Shroud never learned about the Pride. I suspect the Pride weren't as influential as they claimed, honestly. Claiming they kept the West Coast free of overt villainy to superheroes would lose interest in it kinda ignores everything that ever happened on the West Coast in Marvel.)

Hawkeye has been enabling the Shroud by keeping the West Coast Avengers from going after him. And its not like they didn't have other stuff to occupy their time.

FOR SOME REASON, Hawkeye decided not to tell any of his team that Shroud was pulling a Green Hornet.

Not even his wife, Mockingbird.

When Hawkeye's claimed problem with cowboy manslaughter was that Mockingbird didn't trust him with it.

And he's keeping the Shroud's true motives secret from her for no fucking reason.

Fuck Hawkeye.

But also: probably because of the change in writer.

The Shroud batmans away from the conversation, to Hawkeye's annoyance.

To sync up with Avengers and to bring us right up to the Byrne era, next time is another West Coast Avengers. Let's tie off that dangling cowboy ghost plot thread.

When West Coast Avengers started, I never thought vengeful cowboy ghost would be one of the more long-lasting subplots but here we are.

Follow @essential-avengers for more good times. Well, the same good times. I just reblog the essential avengers posts there so that they're all in a row. Like, reblog, and comment!

[the-needle-witch]

california poppy for mina ! tysm doodle!

[ghost-mafia]

Me with my new The Sun! Jeffrey Dahmer flavored tarot card tee that I got from the Los Angeles Museum of Dearh

[nerdwriting]

The Creative Directors Behind Fate: The Winx Saga Must Not Be K-Pop Fans

Also, they have a pretty wrong idea of the role fashion should play in a show.

There are a few words that will stand out across most reviews of Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga - drab, boring, flop, flat, unimaginative. Critics and audiences consensus is that the show is not only a mediocre-at-best story, but also an atrocious (and ultimately confusing) choice of adaptation of the color pop and fairy magic cartoon it’s based on, 2004 italian cartoon Winx Club.

Fate has plenty of it's own issues - white washing and erasing characters, cringey dialogue, outdated melodrama, etc. But where it truly, unequivocally fails is as an adaptation. Fate misses everything that was magical and lovable about the original series, in all levels, from bizarre writing choices, - such as never actually developing any sense of friendship between the characters, who are based on a cartoon about…..a group…….of friends -, but it's especially and immediately felt in the art direction and costume design.

Winx Club is set on a fantastical world, Magix, where each of our main characters hail from a different planet, à la Sailor Moon. Alfea, the fairy school they attend, is the most common background: a pastel colored, futuristic high tech-meets-fantasy, art nouveau inspired castle. Alfea sets the tone for the whole visual of the cartoon: bright, colorful, futuristic meets vintage, leaning into the technological positivism of the Y2K style, uniting it with magic, DnD worthy monsters and, of course, fairy wings. Often featured are also the Red Fountain school, where the Specialists train, and especially Cloud Tower, the goth and gothic inspired witch school Alfea has an OxBridge rivalry with (How cool would that be in a live action? I guess we’ll never know…).

On Fate, Alfea is the only school we ever see, and it’s another beige boarding school in not-Britain, somehow set in a magical world where everyone has the exact same technology and even social media that we have on Earth in 2021, no transformations and, most egregiously, no fairy wings.

This lack of visual creativity is pervasive throughout the whole show, and its most heartbreaking iteration is in the characters' wardrobe. The styling has the barest bones of a color scheme, - such as 'Bloom has to only dress in red since fire, duh',- the clothes are ill fitting, bland, dark and very dated. These are supposed to be teenagers who enjoy fashion, and yet they look like varying types of soccer moms from 2010.

The series seems to operate on an old and tired vision that women and girls can’t have depth and have adventures and fight monsters while also caring about fashion, a vision that the original show played a big, big role in challenging in the early 2000's. Fashion and costume design sets as much of the tone of a visual medium as the script does; through clothes we can gauge characters’ backgrounds, passions, and personality.

Winx Club has some of the best examples of this in the cartoon sphere - Bloom’s comfortable and bright style, Stella’s glitzy and bold, Musa’s edgy and cool, Aisha’s sporty and fun, Techna’s neon and tech gear inspired, Flora’s earthy and romantic, they all work as extensions of each character and serve a narrative purpose. And that’s not even mentioning how insulting it feels that in their quest to make Winx “edgier, darker” and fit for an older audience, the creators of Fate somehow decided that was in opposition to caring about style and fashion. Most “girly” shows, including the Winx Club are just as much adventure action shows as the ones geared towards boys, and it’s emphasis in fashion, friendship and color does not detract from that. The original run of the cartoon deals with war, violence, grief, abusive relationships and even genocide; leaning into those plotlines would not require Fate to erase any integral parts of what made Winx so beloved, and the fact that they did shows that the Netflix team completely missed the point of fashion in the original show, and really, the point of fashion and costume design in the world building of any show.

That, however, is not a mistake K-Pop makes very often; (This might seem like a bit of wild swerve in topic, but stay with me here). Unlike it's western counterpart, the Korean pop scene never lost the emphasis on music videos and how the visual medium can complete and potentialize music and performance; the K-Pop culture is very album and concept oriented in a way that has been all but lost in many other pop circuits, and the music video, styling and set design of a ‘comeback era’ is a key point of excitement among fans.

As such, music videos that follow storylines, connected universes, boundary pushing concepts and visual effects are the norm, rather than the exception, and a list could be made of works that are beautiful examples of what a live action Winx adaptation could look like. In fact, and very smoothly, here is a small list of exactly that!

A Small List of K-Pop Music Videos That Are Better Winx Club Live Actions Than Fate: The Winx Saga

3. Red Velvet - Psycho

If it was a darker and more somber look that Fate wanted, there was a way to make it actually appealing. While it still feels a liiitle too grown up and elegant for Winx, (maybe this author is biased, as a full proponent for the Y2K fun) Psycho makes a very compelling argument for a witchy, mysterious, fairy tale-esque show that could look scrumptious and definitely not boring, or even a gorgeous example of what the witches in Cloud Tower could look like. Black and white, dark green, pastel blue and pops of jewel tones make Psycho's color palette. To add interest to the understated colors, the styling is heavy on textures; We see plenty of stonework, intricate embroidery, tassels, lace on lace on lace, feathers, bows, opera gloves and lots of glitter. All of that is offset by bold, dark makeup, leather accents and eerie cinematography. Needle & Thread, Marchesa Notte and Self Portrait lend their hyper feminine and intricately detailed tulle gowns, juxtaposed with the creepiness of the lyrics and the dark backgrounds; their deep berry and green fairy tale looks are built with pieces from Zara to Nina Ricci to Dolce & Gabbana to Alexander McQueen.

Red Velvet’s more edgy styling for 2018's Bad Boy would also not feel out of place on the Trix.

2. IZ*ONE - Fiesta

IZ*ONE kicked off 2020 with sweet and fun Fiesta. The MV features rooms with mismatched décor that go from retro to space opera, rocky faux landscapes that feel other worldly, and visual effects that would look perfect on the back of a transformation sequence. Mirroring the set design, the girls wear various outfits by sustainable up and coming brand Chopova Lowena. Their signature skirts made with discarded and repurposed fabrics give a cool and interesting twist on a schoolgirl look that would look very sweet for a band of school fairies that occasionally go off to save the world. Also, wouldn't those bedazzled headphones look great on Musa's fairy outfit?

1. Aespa - Black Mamba and Next Level

Aespa is what fans call a monster rookie. With only three music videos under their belt, they still have some of the most visually interesting work in the industry right now. Their concept is very tied in with high tech, featuring even AI avatars of each member, packaged in a glitzy, fantastical and futuristic aesthetic, candy pop meets cyberpunk. I think I’ve exhausted ways to say that is exactly what a perfect Winx adaptation should feature.

Their debut smash hit, 2020’s Black Mamba is truly a perfect moodboard for live action Winx. Wearing a sequined and colorful mix and match of Dollskill, Gucci, Didu and Balenciaga to a backdrop that features some alien fairy forest realness, a pyschedelic fever dream, rooms straight out of a Y2K catalog or donning lime green and black techwear inside a metro fighting the "black mamba", Aespa look through and through the part of fashion loving fairies who save the world together, while looking fierce, stylish and, most importantly, interesting.

The styling and the sets jump seamlessly from more casual colorful fits with blouses, shirts and baggy pants to barren, darkly lit backgrounds and fringe-and-glitter heavy pieces necessary to fight giant snakes, in a way so fitting to transformation outfits for magical girls we could cry.

In their third MV, 2021's Next Level, the cyber in their concept is taken up a notch (get it. because Next Level-), set to a futuristic urbanscape intersped with a planet made of crystals and the ocasional alien fauna popping up again. We get treated to Monse, The 2nd Skin Co., Johanna Ortiz and The Attico styled to fairy princess standards, sporty sky racers and a white and sequined group styling that is top ten fairy busy saving the world uniform material, or maybe even a specialist worthy getup.

This particular look from Ningning is so Techna that it almost feels as if it's mocking Netflix.

And doesn’t this Karina trapped inside the "black mamba" in Alexander McQueen feel like a perfect Dark Bloom moment?

These are only a few examples of interesting and creative designs that are in line with what a live action Winx Club should have given us. There are so many more I could list, even among other TV Shows, like Sex Education and even polemic dark Euphoria, that know how to have fun with style and design without losing the depth of their stories. In the end, it's hard to justify why Fate creators even wanted to make an adaptation that didn't even try to capture the heart of its source material, and all we can do is watch one more "Restyling Fate: The Winx Saga" video on Youtube whilst mildly dreading season 2.

[jkknight98]

The House always Wins.

SO I finally got the Quackity and Revivebur story finished, and its twice the length of my normal stories because I couldn't help myself but keep writing. I tried to keep the rival banter between Quackity and Wilbur natural as best I could, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Remember to drink water and eat something today.

(also to those who wonder who the witch is that I reference here and there in my stories, I'm pretty much talking about myself since I'm working “magic” to get these stories out for you all to enjoy)

Wilbur knew that this was a really bad idea, Quackity was well known for his skills in playing cards, the few games from their time in Lamanburg showed that, but damn he wasn’t interested in the prize that was offered. He had left Ranboo to work on their newest plan while he took some time to blow off steam, it took everything in his power to not explode at the sight of Tubbo working in the restaurant, of course, the scared face bastard would do this when he couldn’t get his brother, he would just go for his best friend.

Wilbur chewed the end of his thumb harshly as he paced about in the woods where he could have some peace,” Why would he go to Quackity, he is the reason he died that day….. I needed him to fully convince Tommy.” He shook his head as he lifted his head to brush his hair out of his face,” no... I can’t keep dragging him into my things…. Fuck it…. I have Ranboo though, so I have that in my favor.” His mind went back to the fish tank though, did Quackity think he was funny for filling it with salmon, he really wanted to go back and destroy that tank, but that would just play into the subtle jeers-

“Delivery for Wilbur Soot from Lamanburg!”

Wilbur turned sharply to try and find the disembodied voice that broke him from his musing. He didn’t recognize the voice and it was really startling to hear someone in the one place he expected to be alone but was shocked to find the woods around him completely empty… no not empty, Near his feat was a letter that had a few green stains on its surface. He gently reached down and picked up the letter, running his thumb over the spots and realized that they were from slime residue...which was weird, The poker chip wax seal was very telling, however. “ We just saw each other, why would he send me a letter?” He gently slipped the small pocket knife out of his pocket and swiftly cut the top open and removed the letter, wrinkling his nose slightly at the smell of Quackity’s Cologne wafted out.

To Wilbur~

I know that we only just saw each other to discuss the wonders of our new competition. I'm sure you loved the fish tank just as much as I loved your idea of a personalized Ip for your burgers, but something interesting has come up. I think we should play a game of cards together to be a show of goodwill between us before our competition fully starts, just for old times sake. I managed to get in contact with a certain witch that roams the area and they gave me something that will make the reward for winning all the more sweeter. If this is of interest to you, meet me at the needle where we talked before with Tommy at sunset.

May your business do well,

Quackity.

Wilbur furrowed his brows slightly as he read over a particular line, what could that witch provide for Quackity, and what was that reward? The subtle jabs at his burger van just fired up his anger once more, but the thought of beating Quackity was too tempting. “ Guess I need to get out my old pack of cards to practice then.”

*

Quackity sat quietly at his desk while waiting for the news, gently twirling the small bottle with his fingers, watching as the bright teal liquid swirled around the sides with each move. If what that witch said was true, beating Wilbur in this quick game of cards would be worth it for the short time he would be under his control. That would only happen if Wilbur agreed to the game,” what am I talking about, his ego’s too big to refuse an opportunity like this.” He then leaned over to look at the bottle more thoughtfully, even if he lost to the Franken freak and was forced to drink this, he would be fine and could do some recon work. You can’t hide things from someone inside yourself when you're someone like Wilbur Soot, he wouldn’t be able to help himself but brag if he won,  and that's when he would slip.

“Dab me up! My mission was successful, Quackity from Las Nevadas!”

Quackity couldn’t help but jump when heard the cheerful exclamation from the slime-human- thing that slithered its way under the door instead of opening it like he asked multiple times,” Didn’t I tell you that you have to open- nevermind, did Wilbur seem like he was going to accept my offer?” Quackity’s face hurt slightly as he couldn’t help the wide grin as he watched Charlie nod, things were going how he wanted and he now needed to be ready, the game area needed to be set up. He quickly stood up and slid the potion bottle into his pocket for safety, heading for the door with a new sense of excitement, the newest battlefield for the two needed to be set.

*

Wilbur couldn’t hide the sneer on his face as he traveled across the sand towards Las Nevadas, of course, the one-eyed bastard would want him to come at this time, the flashy colors and lights were nearly blinding. The multitudes of colors were no doubt going to cause a migraine later on if he continued to look at them, it made him wonder how Quackity could stand them, but he could guess that others would think the same about his interest in TnT. He kept his head low as he walked past the few buildings to reach the space needle, giving a mild glare to the new burger restaurant with the ‘Tubburger’ sign as he passed it, but continued with his silent march forward. The needle stood brightly before him as he craned his head upwards to look towards the top, getting the faint idea that he could see a darkened shape at the top looking down at him, but that could have been his imagination. He gently readjusted his jacket before stepping into the elevator, letting his weight be fully supported by the rush of bubbles as he let his eyes close, not wanting to look at the lights any longer. His body stuttered slightly as it reached the top, and he opened his eyes to see a simple table sat in the middle of the grand room, and at its center sat Quackity;  shuffling cards quietly. Wilbur didn't say a word as he stepped from the elevator, using a hand to gently brush the damped hair away from his eyes, and strode forward to the empty chair that was across from his rival. He slowly sat down and placed his elbows on the table before placing his chin on his hands, watching on as the other continued to gently shuffle the cards in hand, moving them elaborate before starting to lay them out on the table. Wilbur was quick to realize that the game they were playing was poker, a classic choice for Quackity, and a game Wilbur was well familiar with. He waited until all the cards were laid out before he decided to speak,” You said there was a reward involved with this little game, you going to tell me what it is before I decide to go back down the elevator because as much as I enjoy playing with you; I’m busy.”

The scared man only smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle filled with a cyan liquid, and looked like no normal potion that he’s ever seen, before setting it in the middle of the table. “This my rival,” the way Quackity said rival made a quick shiver roll up his spine,” is the reward I was referring to, our neighborhood witch didn’t make it easy for me to get this much.”

Wilbur gently lifted the bottle and swirled it,” what does it do though, because I don’t think that you would have asked me here for a simple potion,” he paused as he thought over the second thing,” you talking about you know who right?” He grimaced as Quackity nodded,” they give me the creeps.”

Quackity only nodded,” yep, but they are good at making potions like this one, it has some very unique properties that I figured would make a fun reward for the winner of our game.” Quackity was quick in taking the bottle and setting back on the smooth table,” when taken, it allows for the drinker to shrink down to…snack size for a few hours, while also being safe from any form of physical damage.” Quackity crossed his arms and watched Wilbur closely, he could see the realization forming in those reddish-brown eyes, and the newly hungry look that matched his own,” once it wears off, the one who drank it will automatically be teleported to their last respawn point, you still interested in playing?”

Wilbur sat silently as he mulled over what he had just been told, he knew that playing cards with Quackity was never a smart decision, but the thought of having him curled in his stomach and left to Wilbur’s mercy was a hard treat to ignore. He could go back to his van and poke at his shrunken rival, or even lay down on the bed to feel the crushed form thrash between the mattress and the rest of his body. Wilbur couldn’t help the slightly sheepish grin as his stomach let out a low rumble that caused the other male to laugh loudly,” seems like your stomach spoke for you my friend, let's get started then.” Wilbur could only shake his head as he moved to pick up his cards, looking over his hand quickly and deciding he didn’t like his first pull, moving to exchange his lower card for a better option.

“So are we playing first to three, or first to three consecutive wins, any longer game and I'll starve~”

*

Quackity smiled softly as he looked over his current hand, he and Wilbur had decided on the three consecutive wins ruling, and he was currently on his second win in a row. He had to give Wilbur a lot of credit, the man could pull a bluff with the best of them and even Quackity was thrown off a few times, but he could see the slight creasing at the edge of his eyes that showed his frustration at how the game was going. He had an ace up his sleeve however, he decided to play fair for the majority of the game to see if his rival would, but things were dragging on way too long. He was swift in pulling out the ace he knew would be next in the stack, changing his straight flush into a Royal, and made a subtle move to make himself appear disappointed; but barely noticeable. He saw the slight twitch in Wilburs fingers, which showed Wilbur was excited,” Well Quackity, I think I'm about to break your streak again,” The man quickly laid out a perfect straight flush,” boom, there's no way you can beat that since I know we've already gone through the higher cards.”

Quackity let out a low sigh and he lifted a hand to lightly pinch the bridge of his nose,” Yeah yeah,” he held this pose for a moment longer to let Wilbur relax, but could help the smirk as he moved to lean forward,” but don’t you know in a game like this, the house always wins,” and laid down his Royal flush. He smiled wider as Wilbur looked down in shock, before his hands flew to the discard deck as well as the pull deck, clearly looking to catch him in his cheat. Quackity let him look, sparing a glance to the tiny amount of slime that was slithering away towards the elevator, watching the last bit of the ace card dissolve away.

“ There’s no way, I am absolutely positive that you cheated, you shouldn’t have the cards for a royal flush,” It was hard to not slam his hands on the table in frustration, but despite his best efforts, Wilbur could not find the card that should have been in the discard pile. He didn’t want to accept the fact he lost, there was no way when he had managed to slide in his own cheat card to ensure his hand, but he couldn’t ignore it at this point. He looked back up when he heard a soft scraping sound, and watched as his smirking opponent slowly slid the small bottle towards him, leaving it to sit before him as the hand pulled back and the fingers started to drum.

Quackiyt let his fingers softly drum against the table's surface as he watched Wilbur fight with his ego, he knew the man was absolutely steaming inside, but it would also kill him to show such weakness before him. He was going to be kind in this instant to let Wilbur drink the potion at his own pace, but the low rumble of his empty stomach reminded him of the fact he didn’t eat anything since he managed to buy the potion in the first place, and he wanted his reward. “Wilbur… I do think it's time for me to receive my reward, don't you think?” He fully allowed his tongue to swipe across what was left of his lips and his few exposed teeth, chuckling at the scowl he received in return for his statement, but continued to watch on with increasing impatience.

Each tap of the fingers sounded like the ticking of a clock, one he could no longer avoid, ” fine, you'll get your reward soon enough.” Wilbur quickly snatched up the tiny potion bottle off the table and popped the cork out with his thumb in a well practiced motion, feeling a little concerned when a faint vapor escaped once the cork was gone, but still brought it up to his nose to smell. The first smell that came through was an odd fruity scent that he didn’t recognize in the slightest, but also the musky smell of nether wart and a fish smell. It made him wrinkle his nose slightly, but as he took one last look at the barely hidden look of anticipation on Quackity’s face, he just decided to tip his head back and down the entire bottle. He nearly gagged as the syrupy like substance traveled down his throat, the odd fruity flavor was horribly sour and he thought he could taste something similar to fermented spider eyes, it was absolutely horrid. “Oh that tastes like absolute horse shit, you sure that witch didn’t sell you an awkward potion with a silly story.” The thought of this made Wilbur laugh, and laugh harder when he saw the look of doubt cross through his rival's face..but as he continued to laugh, the more light headed he felt. He moved one hand to rest on the table while the other moved to rest against his temple, the feeling was getting worse by the minute, he opened his to look up at Quackity… wait.

Wilbur was now looking up at Quackity instead of normally looking down at him, even when sitting he was taller, but now he was a few inches shorter than his equally shocked partner. He tried to speak, but his vision quickly darkened and he felt his body fall limply back against the chair, falling quickly into unwanted consciousness.

Quackity was quick to rush around the table to catch the rapidly shrinking body as it nearly fell off the chair when he went fully limp, the man was now the size of a small child and was still shrinking.  It was a memorizing process to watch as the normally six foot five man be reduced to the size of Quackity’s hand before stopping, this made him worry slightly, but the witch assured him that he would still be physically capable of getting him down safely. He used his fingers to gently move the miniscule man around in his palms, everything from his hair down to the glasses on his face were perfectly normal despite the change in size, it was quite amazing. He lifted the small body close to his face and frowned at the smell. It made him wonder if Wilbur showered at all, but he was determined as he slowly slid out his tongue to taste the exposed skin. He couldn't help his surprise at the taste that flooded across his tongue, it was a musty flavor that tasted way better than any meat he's ever had the opportunity to try, and he couldn’t help but lick the unconscious man again to get more of the flavor.

Wilbur groaned as the pounding in his head brought him back from his short sleep, and he could still feel the hot winds of the desert blowing on him as he tried to fully wake back up, what really shocked him away was the feeling of something hot and wet hitting the side of his face. His eyes opened to be met with a large tongue sliding away and back into the grinning maw that was right next to him, he tried his best to scramble away after giving a shocked yell. He was quickly gripped by the fingers and held still as he was pulled away from the mouth,” You absolute sack of shit, that's not a great thing to wake up to.”

Quackity couldn’t help the loud laugh at the smaller man,” Sorry Wilbur, I'm on a little bit of a time limit with my reward, I figured I’d have a spoiler before you woke up.” He lifted his other hand to gently poke the tiny face, pulling it back when it was nearly bitten. “I have to say i’m rather surprised with you Wilbur, you smell absolutely terrible, but taste rather good; like Blue cheese.” He watched the words sink in, and had to tighten his grip as the man started to thrash indignantly, clearly enraged by the comparison and his emphasis on the color blue. He made a mental note to be sure to bring that up more often during their next spat, but he didn’t want to waste more time as he lifted the squirming man until the kicking legs were level with his mouth, he wanted Wilbur to watch. “ Well Wilbur, I think it's time to show you to your room for your stay here in Las Nevadas, I hope you enjoy your stay, I know I will.”

Wilbur froze as he watched the giant mouth open wide and his legs were quickly slipped inside, the massive tongue making quick work of soaking his pants and licking at his skin, making him shiver in anger at how powerless he felt. He wanted to fight hard against the disgusting feeling, but he knew that would only make it more enjoyable for the man-eating him, so he was going to do absolutely nothing. He had to grit his teeth as his legs were slid further into the hot mouth, quickly being pressed into the rough pallet and licked roughly, his now devourer humming more at his taste. He moved to cross his arms and stare defiantly at the giant face looming before him, getting a better look at the giant scar that ran up Quackity’s face and how the gap in his lip was starting to drip saliva through the exposed teeth. He did get a moment to admire his looks however, and he had to admit the scar really added a rugged handsomeness, and he wouldn’t say how much the gold teeth did it for him. He gave an annoyed groan as he was shoved further into the mouth and the throat began its first power tugs at his legs while his pelvis fully entered the mouth. He sent an annoyed glare up at the half lidded eye that was watching his every reaction,” I thought you were on a time limit, just hurry up and let me get this over with!” The movement completely stopped for a moment other than the natural movement of the giant's breathing, but Wilbur watched as the giant lips moved to form a smirk and felt the tongue start to move with a new purpose.

He felt his face flushed as the tongue brushed against his side once he was pushed further into the mouth, clearly trying to incite laughter out of him; he didn't think Quackity would stoop that low. He soon couldn’t help the pearls of laughter that escaped him as he tried to shove at the hand still holding him and kicking at the now tightening grip of the throat, especially when he managed to make the man choke slightly from his thrashing. It gave him a bit of joy, but that changed when the head tilted back and Wilbur felt himself sliding further down the throat due to his own weight.

Quackity let his head fully lean back to let Wilburs own weight pull him further down his throat, the failing gave him a bit of a scare, but he was also having some issue breathing with just the legs. He took one more deep breath that caused the man in his mouth to freeze (i’m so dirty minded oh my goodness) and moved his hand so his fingers rested on Wilburs shoulder, and pushed down as he took a heavy swallow. This made the smaller man freak out slightly, the tiny hands moving to grip and his fingers and face, but he ignored this as he quickly slicked up the chest with saliva. He was glad the man tasted as good as he did because his mouth was slick enough to ussr the man down, and he felt a shiver of joy when the now yowling head was shoved past his lips and his tongue was quick to muffle the sound and could feel the weird sensation of Wilbur trying to speak against the flesh. He ignored it to start swallowing harder due to feeling a little light headed due the fact the wriggling form was creating a larger than he was expecting as brought his other hand to feel at the wriggling lump, and grinned when he felt the grasping hands slide off the back of his tongue. He left his hand over the lump as he continued to give hard swallows, grinning widder as it slowly slid under his collarbone and he could finally get a breath of air,” You didn't make that easy on me, that's just like you Wilbur.” He could still feel the form traveling through his chest and laid his hand over his stomach to wait till his prize entered, the organ giving a low growl to show its own excitement.

Wilbur couldn’t help the instinctual feeling of fear as he was fully shoved into the mouth, yelling wordlessly and trying to stop himself from being eaten, but was unable to resist the strength of the larger man. It was hard to breathe as his chest was held tightly by the throat as his face was assaulted by the humid heat of the mouth. He tried to yell for Quackity to stop, but his words were cut off by the tongue smacking him in the face. He was sputtering in rage before the muscles pulled him deeper and only his hands remained in the mouth, trying to grab at the teeth to slow his descent, but they were too slick as another swallow left him fully trapped in the crushing grip. He could barely move as the fleshy walls both pushed and shoved him downwards, that isn’t to say he tried, especially when he realized the secondary force rubbing at him was Quackity’s hand. He wanted to yell so badly, but with how tightly he was being compressed, he didn't want to waste what little bit of air he was able to get, especially when he slid into the tighter region of the chest. He tried to struggle harder when he slid past the heart and lungs, trying to cause any discomfort as the giant organs made his own head pound in pain due to the volume, and the loud rumble of the voice gave an extra layer of pain to his ego. His legs were suddenly forced to a stop and the walls of the throat began to force him into a painful half crouch as they tried to keep pushing him down,” Quackity you bastard-” his yell was cut short as his legs were suddenly pulled through a tight opening. It was another painful squeeze before he was roughly shoved into a space that was thankfully less tight as the throat, but the walls were sung and formed to his aching body like a wet sleeping bag. Wilbur could only brace himself partly as the walls let out a low rumble and began rubbing against him, moving up and down his body in practiced ways, trying to rub the accumulated liquid into his already soaked clothing and skin. It was at this point the resolve he was so desperately trying to hold onto shattered, he didn't want to be touched and didn’t want to acknowledge the rumbling voice that came from everywhere, so he began to mindlessly thrash in an attempt to get away from it all.

Quackity feld a mild wave of panic when he had felt Wilbur get stuck just above the entrance of his stomach, he didn't know what he would do before the large lump finally moved, and he felt slightly sick as his stomach stretched slightly to accommodate Wilbur’s size. He laid a hand over the surprisingly still form, his stomach making a low rumble as he tried to get a reaction from Wilbur, not admitting to himself that he was worried for them,” Your pretty still there Wilbur, you didn’t break did you?” The small form then exploded into a flurry of movement, he could feel what bump was either a leg or an elbow, but that didn’t matter as they equally made him feel sicker. He leaned over to try and still the movements while crossing his arms over the writhing lump, giving a low belch that brought back the deceptively good flavor, oh did he realize this was a mistake now. “ Fuck.. Wilbur stop moving around so much, all you're doing is making me feel sick, you're not going to come out the way you got in.” He gave another sickly belch before getting up from the table to get some water, feeling incredibly off balanced due to the new weight in his middle, and made his way to the elevator quickly.

Wilbur continued to thrash until he was completely exhausted, panting hard as the muscles around his spasmed slightly and were making a sickly churning noise. He fell back against the walls as he tried to gain his strength back, tensing slightly as his own stomach dropped and the whole area began to move. His mind tried to form an understanding of what was happening, and finally realized that Quackity was moving, maybe for the reason he was trying to say earlier. Wilbur couldn’t find the energy within himself to care though, he was tired and wanted to be asleep and get away from it all. He yelled loudly when he suddenly got drenched with icy water and that shocked his stressed mind back into reality,” What the fuck was that for, are you trying to drown me now?” He kicked out against the heavy weight that was pressing down on him and felt utterly confused when he both felt and heard the relieved sigh from his captor.

“Glad to see your back to normal, did you have a panic attack? You nearly made me sick, you asshole.”

Wilbur frowned but decided to not say anything about it,”I don’t know what you're talking about, this shit is only supposed to last for a couple hours right, I'm going to just ignore you and sleep it off. Once I'm back to normal we never speak about this again or so help me I will blow up Las Nevadas worse than I did La’manburg” He turned his body away from the hand and hunkered down in the surprisingly soft flesh, focusing on the giant heartbeat, and doing his best to ignore everything else of the man. He just wanted this to be over and never think about this again, even if the initial thought of swallowing Quackity seemed like a good idea.

Quackity sighed as he felt the man turn away from his touch, can’t say he didn’t blame him,” agreed, I'll be happy when you're gone and not giving me a stomachache.” He slowly stood up and made his way towards his bedroom to also sleep, this whole experience was not worth it at all. He had originally thought about trying to get more of the potion for future use, but seeing how one unwilling ‘snack’ reacted, any other would be just as bad or worse. He gave a small wave to Charlie as he passed him, giving him a quick rundown on what to do before making his way to the bedroom, and immediately laying down on it. The tiny man gave another nauseating wriggle at the rough landing, but thankfully settled back down into a warm lump.

He gently traced his fingers over the lump for a few minutes as he tried to sleep, if only the movement didn’t make him sick, this experience wouldn’t have been that bad.

Maybe a willing person would make it better.

[theladysexpistol]

Ok so i have this thought like La Squadra's reaction to their s/o being a witch and have a hellhound familiar please ?

Man you guys keep bringing up things I forget to say I LOVE and am ECSTATIC to write about! I love paranormal/occult stuff!! I was in a paranormal club in college undergrad and we did ghost investigations, had psychics come and guest speak, spent nights talking about cryptids and aliens and all kinds of conspiracies... it was amazing!! We’ve talked about witches and hellhounds loads of times!!

I really, really had a lot of fun with this one 😈

~~~

Risotto

- The first thing that caught his eye about his s/o was their asethetic. In what I can only describe as like, witchy goth, with a big black dog. He’s a fan.

- Ris thought they were just into the occult stuff, figured they probably were into astrology and tarot cards and crystals and such.

- Here’s how im imagining he finds out: a rival gang learns his s/o is dating Risotto, the capo of the hitman team. His team has probably killed a lot of rival gang members. So naturally, they’re gonna target his s/o. Risotto learns about the plot and goes to rescue them, only to find their big Rottweiler-looking dog spitting fire and moving like a shadow, while his s/o chants in some demonic/ancient language and puts a curse on their attacker.

- Honestly? Risotto’s totally into it.

- I mean I would say his Stand is pretty violent honestly, the way he makes razor blades and needles and scalpels pop out of his victim’s own blood. So the witch stuff wouldn’t bother him in the slightest.

- In fact it probably makes their relationship a little more, idk kinky? His s/o is probably very interested in the ways he can manipulate blood, both for their witchy spellcrafting and on a sexual pleasure level

- Risotto keeps his s/o a secret, from his team but that’s mostly to keep them from the boss. He knows the boss would probably try to use them for his own gain, and Ris is not interested in letting the boss get a hand on them. His s/o could be his advantage in taking down the boss, too.

- The two of them are an absolute power couple. You cannot beat them when they’re together. That’s not including the hellhound either. Witchy s/o and Ris would have demolished anyone in the Bucci gang, unless they were like all fighting together against the two of them.

Formaggio

- Again, Formaggio was probably really drawn in by the s/o’s witchy goth asethetic. He’s kinda dumb.

- Formaggio is a cat guy, so he doesn’t like their familiar at first. Especially because it’s a big, scary looking dog.

- But the hellhound reflects its master’s feelings, and as soon as they feel affection toward Formaggio it will too.

- Formaggio finds out when he’s showing his s/o his Stand. He shrinks himself and they think at first he’s a witch too. Formaggio is very confused; he’s only known Stands. He didn’t know witches were real.

- But he likes that they can shrink things too, and that they definitely don’t think his Stand is useless (the way the rest of his team seems to think)

- Is probably now even more afraid of the hellhound now knowing it’s a hellhound that could roast him alive, but figures as long as he doesn’t break his s/o’s heart he’s probably safe

- He tries to brag about them at least to Illuso for sure, the smug bastard. Most of the team doesn’t believe him, except Pesci and Melone.

- Would absolutely let them try out spells and curses on him. He strikes me as an adrenaline junkie. As long as he gets rewarded for it 😏

Illuso

- Okay I’ll be honest I guess since this is the third one I’m like “he’d be into the asethetic” I guess I just imagine most of the hitman team would absolutely be into goth/punk. Also witchy goth is just very hot okay and that’s what I’m imagining here

- Illuso finds out very quickly they’re a witch because he uses his mirror world to spy on them

- After a couple times of doing that though, the hellhound starts to sense his presence

- Finally his s/o is straight up like “I don’t know how you’re here Illuso, but I know you’re here. Come out and maybe we can get a little alone time together 😉”

- He comes out of the mirror and honestly they’re more shocked than he was when he learned they were a witch

- But they’re also incredibly intrigued and would probably want to try and go into the mirror world. Think of all the information they could gather on people they want to hex

- The two of them are a mischevious, trouble-making couple and fit together almost a little too perfectly

- Like Formaggio I think with a little encouragement I think he would be willing to be a test subject for his s/o

- Unlike Formaggio he loves the hellhound. He really wants to see it in action.

Prosciutto

- Okay first boy not interested in the asethetic at first

- I imagine witchy approached him first. There was something about him they really liked - that intense, cold expression in his eyes, they could tell what he did as his job from a glance

- Prosciutto agreed to go on a date with them to determine if they were a threat to Passione - most importantly, his team - that needed to be taken out or if they were harmless

- Halfway through the date Prosciutto is thinking they’re dangerous and he’ll have to kill them so he brings out his Stand but as he does the hellhound appears from the shadows and growls at him for threatening its master. Witchy sighs and explains to him that they’re a witch. I don’t think they’d necessarily be hiding it, just that they know most people would probably be freaked out by it

- Prosciutto is intrigued and continues to go on dates with them. Next thing he realizes is he’s in love.

- Did they slip him a potion? He’ll never know

- Prosciutto is extremely protective of his s/o. He worries that if anyone finds out they’re a witch they’ll be attacked by a mob or something.

- For that reason he and the hellhound get along pretty well. They’re both interested in protecting his s/o

- The hellhound still likes Pesci the most though

Melone

- Okay back to boys who were drawn in by the asethetic, except it’s like 1000x worse than the others for Melone

- At first he thinks it’s like, oh they’d make a great host for Babyface. Then he realizes no, he’s like really attracted to them himself, not because of his Stand

- Melone has a weird taste in like science and experimentation, I think his s/o would be pretty comfortable early on in the relationship telling him they’re a witch

- He is the most enthusiastic about being used as his s/o’s guinea pig. Honestly probably gets a little turned on by it.

- Not the biggest fan of the hellhound, but they respect one another’s place in his s/o’s life

- Because the thing his Stand creates is a homunculus, I think his s/o would also be very interested in his abilities as well

- The two of them are just experimenting left and right, helping one another as they push the limits on their abilities. It’s like putting two mad scientists together. Eventually they’re gonna create a monster thats unstoppable lol

Ghiaccio

- Another one I think witchy would approach first, similar to Prosciutto because they can see the eyes of a killer in him, but also because he’s just pure rage. It intrigued them

- Ghiaccio likes them because they don’t tell him to shut up and they just let him fully rage and destroy things, watching him the whole time and comforting him when he needs it

- The hellhound likes him too. Ghiaccio’s anger is very familiar to his demonic roots

- He’s probably not going to find out for a while that they’re a witch. It’s not that his s/o didn’t feel comfortable telling him, it’s just that there wasn’t really a good way to bring it up.

- Honestly they probably witness him use White Album first, and think he’s also a witch, and that’s how he finds out

- Ghiaccio is a little freaked out at first honestly. He didn’t know witches could exist. He’s also a little peeved they didn’t tell him and they again, observe him as he has another freak out

- Witchy admits they really loves how angry he gets, feels the power behind it, and wishes they had a way to harness it

- I don’t think Ghiaccio would be a guinea pig with any incentive, but he might offer to let them try and figure out a way to take the raw energy of his fury and channel it into their spells

- They’re an odd pair, but his s/o is so calm and collected that they balance out his explosive temper

[mariamermaid]

All the good girls go to hell

Caliban x fem Reader

Summary: Going after a witch, that follows dark blood bathing rituals, you met a certain prince of hell…

Does not really follow the plot of season 3!

Words: 2.8k

Warnings: drinking, mentions of death and blood

 Paris.

The unannounced city of love was filled with void. There was a dangerous witch on the loose and you were right on her track. Unlike many of your friends, who enjoyed the casual safety of a coven, you were an eclectic witch. You had your very own, individual approach at magick and yet, you were widely known beyond the horizons of the gods. And sometimes, they would seek your help in cases that blurred the borders of heaven and hell. Bridged Bishop left you a legacy, she was the first witch from the Salem trials and she was hung at the Gallows Hill in Salem Town. And like so often in the curses of history, there was something seething.

Her name was Serena Westwood and she had begun to perform several blood-bathing rituals in order to become more powerful herself. It was going against many witch rules and humans were starting to become warry as well. For now, she had killed six witches and eight humans, all of them very specifically chosen. You recognized the pattern, which was why you found yourself at a lingering club within the dusty streets of Paris.

 My Lucifer is lonely

Standing there, killing time

Can´t commit to anything but a crime

Your friend, Ambrose, had helped you with the research and he warned you about the recent events of hell. However, you hadn´t expect hell to bring up their own player to the game. But when you caught eye of the tall blonde leaning against a wall in the club, you immediately knew something was up. Turning away, so he wouldn´t be able to see your face right through the crowd, you pulled out your compass. The dark compass was a present, Lilith had given it to you in her earlier days and it was still of good use. The needle spun around a few times, until it landed on the red “H”  at the bottom, where usually the south corner laid. H like in hell. The compass showed you the path the witch of warlock was following and the closer it got to the extremes of heaven or hell, the more alerted you were. You decided to put the compass away and searched the crowd again, but the attractive blonde was gone.

“Looking for me?” He was leaning against the bar top, a few golden locks falling over his eyes. He had an angular face with deep, glistening eyes and a devilish smirk. “Do I know you?” You asked interested and sat down at the stool. He continued to grin, but shook his head. “No, not yet.”

“What can I get you to drink?” He asked instead and gave the bartender a wink. “Gin Tonic.” He nodded. “And a whisky”, he added for himself. “What is your name?”

“Scott.” You leaned closer to him, quickly and fluent, you knew the game all too well. “You´re lying, Scott.” He let out a rough laugh, the drinks came and he took a large sip. “What is your name?” You leaned back again and watched his eyes waiting.

“You´re not stupid, Scott. You already know my name.” Loud screams interrupted your conversation and you let the drink wait, instead running through the crowd. In the middle laid a man´s body, eyes wide open, his heart not beating anymore. His shirt was ripped open and several symbols were craved into his skin. You leaned down and your fingers brushed against the still fresh blood. The crowd had begun to circle the corpse, you looked up to find a door in the very back closing. Serena.

Hurrying after her in the dark streets, you found yourself close to the La Seine. She struggled trying to pull her body up the railing, seeming weakened after her bloody voodoo ritual; your chance. You ran after her. “Serena!” Your voice echoed in the dark alley leading to the river. She lurked back and threw a spell into your direction. You jumped in order to avoid getting hit. Only a few feet were left between her and you and with a big leap, you felt your hands grabbing her. She didn´t expect you and lost balance, making you both fall into the freezing water of the Seine. Surprised by the sudden fall, you both wrestled under water until she fired a spell at you. It was dark as night underwater; you barely could see anything but the light glistening from above. The fire spell she used enlightened the water, then you felt a burning sting at your shoulder. The fire had burned you and threw you back against some kind of wall or metal pillar, you lost orientation. Blinking heavily, you eyed the water around you, but Serena was gone. She had used a fire spell to distract you. You let out a scream, last supplies of air left your lunges and gasping for more, you swam back to the surface. It wasn´t necessary to mention how frustrated you were. Your shoulder continued to burn, which made it hard to even move with your entire left side. Luckily, your right hand was able to hold onto some kind of lug. Then two other strong hands grabbed your arm and pulled you out of the water.

You found yourself on the ground. “Y/n are you okay?” You almost flinched when you heard his low voice murder your name. “Nice for you to show up, Scott”, you gave back and rolled your eyes. He was knelled next to you, eyeing the wound, but after your failed hunt down, you weren´t specifically in the mood. “Let me help you” He added and softly touched your right arm, but you jerked away. “Help me? You could´ve helped me five minute ago, before I almost drowned.” His piercing blue eyes blinked, but he waited until you stood in front of him again. He wasn´t used to being treated like a mortal. You huffed when looking down at him, he avoided your glance and starred at the ground, knowing it was your right to be pissed.

“Caliban.” You stopped in the middle of the streets and slowly turned back to him. He was still kneeling, where you had sat seconds ago. “What?” It felt like a cold wind howling down your spine. “My name is Caliban-“ 

“Prince of Hell.” He looked up to find you already starring at him.

 Peter´s on vacation, an open invitation

Animals, evidence

Pearly Gates look more like a picket fence

Once you get inside´em

Got friends but can´t invite them

 You decided to go back to the hotel room you had booked. Money was never a problem for you; you had come from a rich family and being a powerful witch also helped. The room was big, with high ceilings and a stunning view over the nightly city. Baroque details lingered at the edges of wall and ceiling and long curtains moved within the wind from an open window. The large bed had beige covers and golden side lamps. The couch was red satin.

Caliban had followed you, arguably like a lost puppy. First you had guessed that he didn´t trust you enough to leave you alone. But as he watched you, you came to the realization, that he didn´t have a clue either. He was young to rule and didn´t have your experience. He wouldn´t admit it, but he needed your help. Your shoulder continued to burn and you hurried to the cabinet with expensive liquor. You poured yourself a glass of whisky and eyed Caliban, your eyes asking him. He nodded and you took out a second glass. You poured down the glass in one go, Caliban only sipped. After you had poured down a second one, you hazily walked into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind you. You took off the arrangement of dress you were wearing and in underwear, you examined the wound.  Then you heard Caliban steps, until he entered the bathroom as well. He eyed you and drowned his glass as well, just to put it down on the edge of the tub. In the rather cold light of the bathroom, he looked more human. He had taken off his jacket and only wore a loose shirt. The tension not to mention here. 

“Let me help you”, he explained and watched as you hesitated. “I´m good around fire.” Caliban added and stepped closer. You couldn´t help but let out a chuckle. You observed in the mirror how Caliban carefully brushed back last strands of your hair and eyed the wound. “Stay still”, he advised and then laid his hand onto the wound. You hissed but then a hot feeling spread. The wound slowly vanished and when his hand left your skin, it was feeling cold again. But you missed the feeling of his soft touch. You breathed out and turned towards him. “How…”

“I´m the prince of hell.”

You felt him leaning closer, but he was unsure. However, the second whisky was beginning to hit in and you pulled his collar down until your lips crashed together. His hands quickly grazed your hips until he lifted you off the ground. Your kiss deepened in the meantime and none of you seemed to be bothered by the fact, that Serena had gotten away anymore. He sat you down on the counter top of the sink and your fingers started fidgeting around the bottoms of his shirt.  But then his hands stopped you. Abruptly, you pulled back and starred at him. 

“Cal? Is something wrong?” You asked whispering, but his eyes remained close until he completely left your bodies touch. You didn´t know how his heart stopped when you called his nickname.

“I need to go back to hell”, he explained groaning. “Oh, sure”, you couldn´t help but sound a little disappointed. Caliban finally looked at you, his stunning eyes gazing at you. “Don´t worry, we´ll meet again.” His hand softly grabbed your neck and pulled you closer, giving you a last peck on the lips. You grinned.

“Sure, all the good girls go to hell.”

 Hills burn in California

My turn to ignore ya

Don’t say I didn´t warn ya

 You did meet again, however the circumstances had drastically changed. Serena had taken an entire coven hostage, after two more successful murders. It was a full moon light, obviously. You had to take her down before she could sacrifice them. Serena was hidden in a cave close to mountain where Walpurgis bonfires where often hosted. It wouldn´t be easy, but you had prepared several weeks, it was now or never.

The sun had begun to sink and it was time to leave. However, when you examined yourself in the mirror a last time, a certain wave of warmth was felt from behind. You caught a glimpse of flames hollering, when Caliban was suddenly stood in front of you. You let out a chuckle.

“Look at you, needing me.” He rolled his eyes, not admitting how right you were. Against the anticipation of hells most famous demons, he still had problems adjusting to his title. The easiest way for Caliban to find Serena, was to follow you. “How can I help you, my prince?”

He overheard the mocking tone of your voice, in which you hid your disappointment. After your meeting in Paris, you had hoped he would visit earlier.

“Thought you might want backup”, he paused. “You´ll want the devil on your team.”

You turned to him, stepping closer. Then, after eyeing him, checking if he meant it, you nodded. “All hail the king.” You whispered.

“You´d make a good queen.”

You ignored that comment and hoped that Caliban didn´t see you blush.

 All the good girls go to hell

´cause even God herself has enemies

And once the water starts to rise

And heaven´s out of sight

She´ll want the devil on her team

 Serena had found herself a cozy spot on the top of the mountain, a bonfire burning in the middle. The members of the coven were tied up around, high trees offering somewhat of protection. A high cliff at the back, where you could watch the moon rise. With Caliban following you, you eyed the circle and established a spot, where she couldn´t see you.

Serena had changed due to the blood rituals; her once human form was almost completely gone. Instead of her brown hair, black dreads framed her face and dark red veins covered her skin. Her eyes had a poisonous green and parts of her skin were ripped open, beneath lied a dark seething blood substance.

“What is she planning?” Caliban asked whispering. “Burn the witch”, you explained.

“It is to be said, if you burn a witch on a blood moon, you´ll receive her powers.” You added and watched how his eyes flickered. “How do we stop her?”

“She doesn´t know that we´re here, or that we work together. We have the surprise.”

“I´ll distract her”, Caliban started but you immediately denied. “No, I´m going to distract her. You free the coven.”

“But-“ “You´re reigning hell, you´re plan B. If I can´t stop her, you´ll do it.”

You wanted to sneak away in order to go closer to Serena, but Caliban held you back by grabbing your arm. “If you can´t stop her, she´ll kill you.”

You grinned and Caliban saw certainty in your eyes. “I´ll see you in hell then.”

 You snuck up on her, trying to lure her away from the hostages.

“Serena!” Your screamed, while your voice echoed across the glade. Glancing at the rising moon, you knew that the time was running. “Missed me?”

She sighed and turned towards you, letting the hostages in her blind angle. “I thought I had gotten rid of you”, she explained with despite in her voice. “I´m not easy to get rid of.”

She nodded agreeing, in her fingers playing strings of dark magick. “Unlike this wannabe prince of hell.” “You met him?” She nodded half-heartily.

“I wanted to see who sat on my throne.”

“You´re not capable of ruling hell.”

“Watch me!” You knew that each of your statements provoked her and it was finally enough to get her to attack. The first spells she threw at you were nothing, you either dodged or blocked them. “With that you want to rule?” You yelled laughing.

She grew angry, you knew it. Getting closer to her, you noticed that with each spell, a small spark of silver ran under her skin. Her body couldn´t handle the amount of power. You threw her on her back with a powerful spell and she groaned in pain. But then she teleported and appeared behind you again, a dagger suddenly in her hands. You felt the sharp pain in your side, yet you were able to changed into fight mode. A series of knife attacks followed, until you were able to kick the dagger away with your foot. The dagger slid across the ground and ended up closely to the bonfire. Sadly, it made Serena aware of what was happening behind her back. She saw multiple witches and warlocks already freed and screamed in agony. “YOU!” Her long claws pointed towards Caliban, who wore his usual grin. It was your turn to attack again, with her back turned to you, Serena didn´t even see it coming. Her skin continued to break and she stumbled dangerously closely to the fire. It was the final throw, where she fell over a stone on the floor and her body landed in the fire. Infernal screams followed as she experienced the burning pain.

However, the final act wasn´t over yet. It was a millisecond, where your eyes traveled towards Caliban. A second of not paying attention was all it took. Serena gathered all the power she had left and mixed it with her pain. You didn´t feel pain, all you did was hear Caliban´s screaming. But it was too late. You were thrown back and before even realizing how your body had left the ground, you felt weightlessness. The cliff was high, and when Caliban stumbled to the edge, you were already gone…

 There´s nothing left to save now

My god is gonna owe me

There´s nothing left to save now

 He barely remembered coming back to hell, sitting on his throne and watching as the demons pulled Serena away. The eternal punishment was sentenced. But all Caliban wanted to do is rip her up with his own hands. He was making sure, that her time in hell would be the worst possible. Afterall she had killed you and he felt the numbness. And now you were gone.

The guilt didn´t help him and the crown on his head felt heavier than ever.

“My king, the newcomer has requested an alliance with the king”, the demon butler interrupted his thoughts. Caliban stood at the window in the study room in his palace, looking down on hell.

“Serena can rot in the darkest holes of hell.”

“I sure hope so.”

Caliban spun around to find you in his room. A dark red dress with golden details on your body.

“Why are you here? You don´t belong here!” He said, his voice first a whisper, then almost an angry exclaim. But you felt his voice shaking. You stepped even closer, until you could lay your hand on his cheek. He grabbed it, making sure you were actually real. And you were.

“All the good girls go to hell.”

Caliban couldn´t help but let a soft laughter as he leaned down and kissed. His hands cupped your face and you smiled.

“I also remember you saying something about me being a queen…”

[the-needle-witch]

LOS ANGELES! THE INFERNAL FABULOUS SATANIC PASTEL TATTOOER THE NEEDLE WITCH IS COMING FOR YOU!

I am gonna be In LA from NOV 21-25th 2019, and I'd really like to do some tattoos while I am there! HMU, city of Angels!

$50 non-refundable deposit secures your place in my books and goes toward the total cost of your tattoo! Offering both flash pieces and custom work!

If you are in the greater LOS ANGELES area and have wanted work from me, now is your chance!

You can email me at theneedlewitch @ Gmail dot com or message me on insta @ theneedlewitch to secure your spot!

[nellygwyn]

Favourite books that I read in 2019

• Queenie // Candace Carty-Williams - Critics are calling this book 'the black Bridget Jones' and I can definitely recognise similar themes - Queenie's story, like Bridget's, is primarily focused on her luck (and bad luck) in love and sex. It's also incredibly funny. But much of the poignancy comes from how Queenie navigates a primarily middle class and white world as a working class black woman. I also love that this book deals with Queenie's mental health issues and the steps she takes to combat them. All in all, clever and incredibly witty & observant.

• A Discovery of Witches // Deborah Harkness - This is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy and the inspiration behind the TV series of the same name. It's a surprisingly mature supernatural romance: Diana Bishop, a leading historian and a witch, falls for Matthew Claremont, a leading scientist and a vampire when they have a chance encounter in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Also, there's a manuscript that only Diana can conjure up, one that appears to be important to all supernatural creatures! And on top of that, none of these creatures seem to want Diana and Matthew to be together! The drama! I'm looking forward to reading Book 2 (Diana and Matthew have travelled back to the 1590s to hide from gathering forces...)

• Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading // Lucy Mangan - Very much what it says on the tin. Journalist Lucy Mangan reflects on the reading material of her youth. This evokes such a sense of nostalgia and is a beautiful ode to the books many of us first encounter in our most impressionable years.

• Remarkable Creatures // Tracy Chevalier - This is the story of the the groundbreaking early 19th century paleontologist, Mary Anning, told from both her perspective and the perspective of her friend and fellow fossil enthusiast, Elizabeth Philpott. Chevalier writes historical fiction so well because she can so vividly conjure up period and location. Regency Dorset comes alive in this novel that doesn't just allow us to experience the explosive moment when Mary Anning's paleontologistical discoveries changed the scientific world forever, but also the way in which class, age and gender restricted Anning (and Philpott, to some extent) in having any involvement in that scientific world.

• The Corset // Laura Purcell - Set in Victorian England, the story follows phrenology enthusiast, Dorothea Truelove, a rather eccentric woman, who visits the local women's prison to indulge her penchant for giving to the poor and vulnerable and to examine the inmates skulls in order to legitimise her theories. There, she meets a teenage seamstress, Ruth Butterham, accused of murdering her mistress slowly and painfully. Ruth imparts her horrifying tale, claiming that all her wrongdoing stems from something evil that lives inside her sewing needle.

• Jane Austen at Home // Lucy Worsley - Possibly one of the best biographies on Austen that you will ever read. It's witty and it's personal.

• Bone China // Laura Purcell - When Hester Why arrives at Moroven House in Regency Cornwall to care for an aged Mrs Pinecroft, she thinks she has left all the troubles of her past life behind her. Alas, this is a Purcell gothic horror novel so she is very much mistaken! Everyone around her seems to enact bizarre, terrifying rituals to keep away 'fairies.' Little does Hester know that the 'fairies' she scoffs at have already inflicted terrible deeds on Mrs Pinecroft and her family 40 years prior...

• Marie Antoinette // Antonia Fraser - This is often ranked amongst the best historical biographies of all time, and after reading it, I can see why. Fraser is sympathetic to her subjects, especially those who have been wronged by the annals of history, and Marie Antoinette is no different. What emerges is a story of a woman who certainly wasn't perfect, but, by equal measure, was not the empty headed harpy-queen that misogynistic rhetoric would have us believe.

• La Belle Sauvage AND The Secret Commonwealth // Phillip Pullman - Both of these books are from Pullman's 'Book of Dust' series, his prequel/sequel (La Belle Sauvage is a prequel, The Secret Commonwealth is a sequal) to His Dark Materials. All I need to say about these two books is that, in them, the adventures in Lyra and Pan's world continue, and thank god they do.

• The First Iron Lady: The Life of Caroline of Ansbach // Matthew Dennison - I think I've recommended this book a trillion times but that is testament to how good it is. Caroline of Ansbach is criminally neglected as far as British queen consorts go, and yet she was probably our best and most intelligent. This biography proves that thesis.

• Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman // Robert Massie - We actually lost Robert Massie very recently, which is such a shame. This is a huge book but it needed to be, for Catherine's life was anything but a quick read. It's perfect, truly. A lesson in how to write a perfect historical biography, and it is clear that Massie revels in his subject without letting her off the hook when she does wrong.

[angelic-holland]

First Tattoo

Summary: the first in a series of firsts for you and Tom, you do your first tattoo on human skin. Part of my Miss Yer Kiss Series, check out the rest in my masterlist! 

Warnings: just a little fluff

Word count: smidge over 1.1k (mostly dialogue)

“Oh come on; everyone has a stupid tattoo as their first tattoo, look, when I was an apprentice, they made me tattoo his initials on my thigh!” Bruce says, pointing at his husband.

“Yeah and you’re married now! So it worked out!”

“Oh come on, what’s a harmless little Spiderman mask on your thigh gonna do?”

“It’s going to suck, does it have to be this elaborate?”

“It’s not that elaborate, you’re the one who drew it, why’d you make it hard on yourself? ,” Bryce says, “and besides you’ve practiced for weeks on synthetic skin, the next step before tattooing anyone else is tattooing yourself.”

“Fine, can we maybe not have everyone watching me though?”

“Alright, you heard her, clear the room, except for Amanda, she’ll record it so I can help and give you pointers.”

You sigh and nod as everyone shuffled out of the small tattooing room.

“Take a deep breath, just like you’ve been practicing, combined with all the times you’ve gotten tattoos before,” Bryce comforts you. 

You were ready, the area is sterile, you had shaved, had the lotion and lubricant ready. Tattoo machine in one hand, the stencil was laid on your skin already, you just had to start.

“Okay, okay, but if he breaks up with me because of this I’ll kill you,” you grumble. 

“Easy tiger, he won’t, you kidding? He literally flew to New York on his way to do press for his movie just to see you.”

“Shut up, I needa focus,” you say, picking up ink with the needle.

Bryce and Amanda watch as you start the tattoo machine, bringing it to start your first line ever on human skin. You prepare yourself for the feeling of the tattoo, relaxing your thigh as the needle glides across it. You are able to get half the face’s line before you pull the needle up, just like you practiced. 

“See? Was it that bad?” Bryce asks and you look down at your work. 

“The line is a little wonky, this part is bigger than the other part.”

“So what will you do about it?”

“Well I could let it be or I could add a little more to the other line, but I don’t want to do that and then add too much, you know?”

“So what you’ll do, finish the other line, finish the eyes, then you’re switching from a seven needle to a three needle for the details? Use that to finish the line on this side.”

“Okay, that makes sense, thanks Bryce.”

“It looks good otherwise, an even drag of the machine, meaning one part won’t look splotchy while the other comes out smooth black.”

“Okay, let’s get this done,” you say, grabbing more ink and starting on the other side. You’re able to do a better line this go around, getting used to the feeling of actual skin under the buzz of the needle. It’s still not the best, but the line is one size throughout the whole thing. 

You finish the tattoo in a bit under an hour, cleaning the area with water then witch hazel, before letting Amanda take a few photos of it for Instagram. 

“Before you post it could I please FaceTime Tom? He’s supposed to be in LA so he should be like waking up now.”

“Of course,” Bruce says, “but you gotta seal that up first, and clean up.”

You toss the needles in the sharps container, putting away the machine after cleaning it, throwing out all the gloves, packages, and sterile wrapping. 

You put on the adhesive healing second skin around the tattoo, smoothing it out before looking at Bryce, “good to call him?”

He nods and you grab your phone from the equipment table, scrolling to the last person you FaceTimed, Tom, you called him last night before he went to bed, exhausted after a day of interviews for his movie, he still insisted on calling you most nights. 

“Love the sound of your voice, so gentle, helps me sleep.”

So you’d stay up a little later than normal, talking to him about anything and everything until you heard his gentle snores from the other end.

“Morning princess,” you see him on your phone, hair messy as he props an arm under his head, slowly blinking.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, was just waking up now, I’d rather your voice than an alarm clock anyway.”

“So, I did my first tattoo. Real tattoo that is-,”

“Oh really? Wow, that’s amazing princess, what was it? Who’d you do it on?”

“So as tradition, tattoo artists do their first tattoo on real skin on their own.”

“Wait, you had to tattoo your own skin? Isn’t that hard?”

“Wasn’t too bad,” you shrug. 

“What’d you do? What’d you get?” He asks eagerly, all sleepiness out of his voice. 

“Okay, promise not to laugh?”

“Only if it’s not funny,” he jokes and you roll your eyes before flipping the camera over. 

“Is that Spiderman?” His voice got all high pitched and you were slightly scared you had gone too far. Sure you were ‘dating’ but come on, a permanent reminder of him on your body? No matter how much you told yourself it was just a character. 

“Yes,” you whisper.

“I had her do it,” Bryce pipes up.

“I love it!” He all but shouts.

“Tom, shut the fuck up bro I’m trying to sleep,” you hear Harry shout and Tom laugh. 

“I cannot wait to see that in person,” he says excitedly. 

 “And when do I get to see your pretty face in person?”

“Well, I finish up here in a few days, I think I might take a quick detour in New York, then I’ve got a two week break in London before I’m off to Bali.”

“You don’t haveta stop here, spend time with your family, you don’t get much of it for the next month or so.”

“No, family can wait, I miss you.”

“Trust me,” you hear Harry groan, “he doesn’t shut up about you, think I’m gonna lose my mind if I hear anymore about you, no offense.”

You laugh and turn the phone back to your face, “Okay, I’d like to see ya too, when do I get to meet Mr. Feisty?” you smile.

“Me? I’m being dragged along with him.”

“Yes, New York is just so horrible to visit,” you laugh again.

“Alright, I’ll let you get back to tattooing princess.”

“See ya soon Tom,” finger hovering over the ‘end call’ button. 

“Bye, lov-,” He starts before you hang up.

Was that? No, it wasn’t, you shake your head, pushing the thought to the back of your mind.

“Okay, so when do you think I could get real clients?” You turn to Bryce and ask. 

[powerbottomblake]

The seasons in RWBY, literary archetypes and predictions for the next volumes

As we all know, RWBY is a show that is built around taking in established narrative and character archetypes, layering them, tweaking them and/or ultimately subverting them. One of its core narrative and symbolic elements are the seasons, so it seems only fitting that they’d take inspiration from and implement established overarching seasonal archetypes (in terms of tone and narration) to the plot.

One of the major works in terms of archetypal literary criticism that deals with the seasons has to be Frye’s. Frye proposed that the totality of literary works constitute a “self-contained literary universe”. Since we’re watching a show whose whole premise is having every single myth, legend and fairytale coexist in a single universe, with characters sometimes alluding to multiple myths at once, I’d hope this sounds uncannily familiar.

Frye divided all literary framework into four categories: comedy, romance, tragedy and satire. What sets Frye apart from the other critics is that he linked each category with a season. He posited that literary works were how humanity assimilated the outside world and nature at large, which is how those four types of plot structures correspond to the four seasons in the cycle of the natural world.

What does that mean for RWBY?

If, as I suspect, each narrative arc corresponding to one of the four continents in Remnant - with each continent symbolizing a season - aligns with the genre and plot structure defined by Frye, then we can make more or less accurate predictions as to the direction and themes of the two remaining arcs (as well as some of the plot points).

So, first we’ll see how the first two arcs, Vale and Mistral, hold up to the Frye scheme. 

As I said earlier, Frye aligned each genre with a season:   

-Spring is comedy, with themes of (re)birth and resurrection of the hero. The subordinate characters attached to this genre are the mother and the father.

-Summer is romance, because both are representative of culminations in the human journey, summer being the conclusion of the seasonal calendar, and romance ending with achievement and triumph, usually in the form of a union or marriage. The subordinate characters here are the companion and the bride.

-Fall is tragedy, with themes of demise, dying god, violent death, sacrifice and isolation of the hero. The subordinate characters are the traitor and the siren.

-Winter is irony/satire, with themes of darkness, dissolution, the return of chaos, and the defeat of the heroic figure. The subordinate characters are the giant and the witch.

Going off this, and knowing that each kingdom in Remnant is representative of a season, we can divide the RWBY narrative into 4 respective arcs, each assigned an archetypical narrative structure:

- Vale is Fall, meaning the Vale arc is a tragedy. Now, I know that your knee-jerk response to this would be disbelief especially with the tone set by V1-2, but here’s the thing: team RWBY aren’t the protagonists of the tragedy. Ozpin and Pyrrha are. We’re basically seeing the tragedy unfold from its supporting cast’s POV.

Once you go back through V1-3 and reread the plot through Ozpin’s and Pyrrha’s POVs, linking up the scenes having them as a focal point together (especially Ozpin’s), the tone changes drastically and it aligns perfectly with the beats of a classical tragedy. As early as V2 you get to see Ozpin growing steadily more isolated (isolation of the hero) as he loses the support of Ironwood and the Council, we see him get irreversibly dragged (and dragging our main cast and Pyrrha with him) into an inevitable confrontation, because of his complacency and passivity (fatal flaw) that ends with Pyrrha’s sacrifice, Penny’s violent death and his demise.

Pyrrha being literally based on a tragic hero, her story fills every single beat of a tragedy, V1 establishing her innocence, inexperience and righteousness, V2 being her high point but also pointing out her “fake” invincibility (thus her fatal flaw), V3 having her grow isolated and then sacrifice herself while staying true to herself and what she stood for (completion of ideal).

One thing to clue you in about Ozpin being one of the Vale arc’s tragic heroes is one of the first things Cinder tells him: “Such arrogance.” Ozpin thus dies for said arrogance, which is basically the moment when a tragic hero is punished for their hubris.

- Mistral is Spring, meaning the Mistral arc is a comedy. Don‘t think about the tone, think about the themes. And sure enough, Mistral was all about the resurrection of our heroes, both literally (Ozpin reincarnating) and figuratively (each member of Team RWBY dealing with the aftermath of V3, growing individually and culminating in them getting back together stronger and a lot more anchored in their respective roles, Yang’s resurrection is as unsubtle a callback to the phoenix’s as it gets tbh). The subordinate characters of a comedy are the mother and the father, and this arc’s primary supporting cast and driving narrative force was without a doubt the parental figures: Taiyang, Raven, Jaques, Ghira and Qrow. This arc was about our heroes going from under their guidance to challenging it, thus getting more agency and control over their own destinies. In this aspect, Mistral is both a rebirth and birth for Team RWBY: their rebirth as individuals after the loss they experienced at the end of V3, and their birth as their own people, as full-fledged heroes, going from the supporting cast of the tragedy of Vale to the main cast of this arc.

Now that we have established that there is enough of a basis to assume the RWBY arcs do in fact build up on the Frye scheme, what does it tell us about Atlas and Vacuo?

-Atlas is winter, so Atlas is irony and satire. We can expect this arc to articulate itself heavily on social commentary; I fully expect the faunus cause and the rising military dictatorship to be the focal points of said commentary. The subordinate characters of satire are the giant and the witch. The witch refers to Salem of course, our resident Wicked Witch of the West, but I also doubt team W.T.C.H’s name is coincidental, so it refers to them as a whole as well. I think by the time the Atlas arc is in full swing, all of team W.T.C.H will be there. There is another witch we’ve lost track of for a while now that this could be applied to, and it’s Glynda (though I fail to see a narrative purpose to her appearance as of now, but I feel the need to point it out just in case). 

As for the giant, CRWBY has proved time and again how they’re prone to using the same theme/archetype both literally and figuratively, and this time will be no exception. Figuratively, both Jacques Schnee and James Ironwood could be called giants, Jacques as an industrial tycoon, Ironwood as an increasingly dictatorial military leader. Moreover, Ironwood’s name quite literally refers to a place in Norse Mythology where giants were born. As for Jacques, his myth basis Jack Frost is thought to be based on Norse mythology giants. But Jacques could have links to another myth:“Jack the Giant Killer”. Quite ominous, isn't it? You see, one of the typical examples of irony in archetypal story-telling is actually the tale of Goliath vs David, where the giant is prodded by a cool and observant but almost invisible enemy into a blind, stampeding fury and then pushed to its own demise. Which, incidentally, follows the exact same beats as the “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale, where Jacques Jack, a poor man climbs the social ladder through a loveless marriage a beanstalk to a land high in the sky (Atlas), steals into an enormous castle (the Atlesian academy slash military enrollment grounds), robs special treasures you’d never find anywhere else (the relic) and causes the death of the giant who owns it. What I’m saying is, I expect Jacques Schnee to go full turncloack and align with Salem and W.T.C.H, help them steal the relic and propel Ironwood’s (self-)destruction, in return for them giving the SDC ground to prosper and it being fully sanctioned by the new regime (as in, everything Ironwood is not doing rn), if not putting Jacques himself at the helm of Atlas. Jacques is a ruthless businessman first and foremost afterall. Give him good enough a deal, and he’ll sell all of Atlas over as long as he profits off the trade-off. And well, as far as irony goes, will there be anything more tragically ironic than Ironwood driving himself in a frenzy, growing increasingly more paranoid under both real and imagined threats, needled by the infiltrated team W.T.C.H and Jacques, until he triggers the fall of that which he so desperately was trying to protect all along. I think Ironwood dies here, and Jacques being on team villains means a 3-way Schneebowl is coming, Weiss vs Winter (who’s 100% team Ironwood) vs Jacques, and I think the outcome will be devastating for everyone involved but especially Weiss.

As for the literal part of the giant allusions, well. It has been a while since we’ve last seen these goliaths, and it seems too good an opportunity to pass up for CRWBY:

Or they could hit us with giant mecha structures à la Star Wars, a project G.I.A.N.T that Watts is all too ready to hack into and turn against the Atlesian military. I’d keep my eyes open for any giant allusions in Atlas’ arsenal, chances are they’ll be playing an active role plot-wise.

Which brings us now to the themes. As stated above, the main themes of satire are darkness, dissolution, the return of chaos, and the defeat of the heroic figure. We can surmise that Atlas will be the lowest point in RWBY. Frye goes as far as link winter to “Götterdämmerung myths” aka the fucking Ragnarok. Wiktionary has a second definition for Götterdämmerung which is a “cataclysmic downfall or momentous, apocalyptic event, especially of a regime or an institution”, so yeah we’re going to see the Atlas regime full on collapse as chaos takes over in there. Team RWBY will experience its must crushing defeat. My guess would be that, after Mistral establishing Ruby’s powers and having them bring a note of hope to the narrative and the upcoming battle against Salem, Atlas will be about the limits of those powers. I think Ruby is about to face the reason Summer died and lose to it, aka the Fenrir of this Ragnarok but this is a whole other theory I might delve into in a separate post since this post is already running too long and Atlas and its connection to Norse Mythology deserves to be delved into in detail. But yeah Atlas will be on SOME shit, my dudes.

-Vacuo is summer, so Vacuo is a romance. The subordinate characters here are the companion and the bride, so basically the lovers are at the center of the narrative here. As far as RWBY goes, 3 pairs of lovers have thematic and narrative importance: Salem and Oz, Jaune and Pyrrha and Yang and Blake.

So now that the Adam subplot was carried to an end in Mistral, and after the narrative centers more around Blake, gives the Faunus cause more depth and prepares her for her future role as a leader in Atlas, what does that leave Bumbleby with narratively in Vacuo, especially Yang? The one remaining hanging thread by then will be Yang/Raven, which prompts me to believe the bees will be confronted to their foil as a relationship, a.k.a Taiyang/Raven, making the latter the fourth lovers pair to mark this arc. Taiyang and Raven coming back into the narrative at this point means we’re gonna get insight about another lover of Taiyang’s, Summer. I think Vacuo is where we’ll get all the answers wrt to Team STRQ, and after witnessing for ourselves how she died in the Atlas arc, we’ll get flashbacks of how she lived in the Vacuo one, which will be the thing to propel Ruby again after losing heart in the wake of the absolute apocalypse I expect Atlas to be. I also think CRWBY would get a kick out of having Summer be a major narrative force of the summer arc in the story.

I personally am a believer of the Spring Maiden!Yang theory and I think there’s enough set-up for it, mainly:

The fact that out of all the students at Beacon, the only contenders for the Vytal Festival by the end were Pyrrha and Yang (who only got disqualified because of the Mercury ordeal)

The way Yang is always set up as the strongest out of team RWBY

Raven was established as a foil to Blake but V5 establishes her as a foil to Yang, which culminates in their confrontation at the vault

The part of her confrontation with Raven where she establishes that not only is she stronger than Raven, but readier to face Salem and thus more fit to have the Maiden powers, which is why she’s the one that retrieves the relic from the vault. Raven might be the one to open the vault but she never gets inside. CRWBY could have had the confrontation happen after Raven retrieved the relic from within but they didn’t and I think it’s significant how Yang is the one allowed inside the vault and to handle the relic first, as if it’s always been her rightful place. 

Which means I fully expect Raven to die at this point of the narrative. There’s a part of their confrontation where Yang tells Raven about the version of her Tai told her about and the one she’s always held out for, and she asks her if she killed her, too. It’s the thing that strikes Raven deeply and completely shatters her composure as she finally runs out of excuses and has to face herself and what she’d become. I think it’d be symbolically powerful to have Raven align with and die for the just cause, thus resurrecting that version of her.

For the remaining two pairs of lovers, Salem/Oz getting a conclusion in the last act of this story comes as no surprise, as for Arkos...tbh I don’t really see anything there (yet).

As for the themes, summer is for triumph, the messianic hero defeats the enemy who is associated with winter, darkness and moribund life (if there ever was a way to perfectly describe Salem this is it). Summer ends with an achievement, usually a marriage.

Now, out of the four pairs of lovers precited, I wonder who the ones getting constant and consistent development still and all throughout the story, are both alive by the end and have been shown to get growing awareness of their deepening feelings could be?

I wonder...

;)

P.S: not saying the bees get married married but yeah I expect them not to get their kiss till Vacuo. I think too much will be happening in Atlas (V7-9) for them to actually get together so they’ll be in this...limbo of not-really-lovers but definitely-more-than-friends and we’ll see them getting increasingly closer (they’ll prolly also blueball us big time with grade A pining) but again I did not expect Adam to die as quick as Mistral so who knows

[sweet-marie]

things i listened 2 a lot in 2019

january

head like a hole / nine inch nails

season of the witch / donovan

moonflower plastic (your here) / tobin sprout

the only thing / sufjan stevens

feel good inc. / gorillaz

february

among the leaves / sun kil moon

i wanna be yours / john cooper clarke

we will commit wolf murder / of montreal

sheetkickers / guided by voices

sin triangle / sidney gish

first love / late spring / mitski

half a person / the smiths

what’s next to the moon / mark kozelek

march

going nowhere / elliott smith

riders on the storm / the doors

what do you want me to say? / dismemberment plan

kb / tall friend

pissing / low

april

bankrupt on selling / modest mouse

femme fatale / tracey thorn

dreamy / tracey thorn

my life in art / mojave 3

may

plainclothes man / elliott smith

pink rabbits / the national

up jumped the devil / nick cave & the bad seeds

my my, hey hey (out of the blue) / neil young

you missed my heart / mark kozelek & jimmy lavalle

you missed my heart / phoebe bridgers

june

these days / dr. dog

roadhouse blues / the doors

skate ramp blues / tall friend

immigrant song / led zeppelin

immigrant song / trent reznor, karen o

right where it belongs / nine inch nails

goodbye horses / venus infers

july

ivory coast / pure bathing culture

everybody cares, everybody understands / elliott smith

loverman / nick cave & the bad seeds

somebody told me / the killers

dancing in the dark / bruce springsteen

die / carissa’s wierd

trouble / yusuf (cat stevens)

trouble / elliott smith

august

people / silver jews

sunshine in chicago / sun kil moon

snow is falling in manhattan / purple mountains

slice of life / bauhaus

needle in the hay / elliott smith

harvey / (sandy) alex g

chicago new york / the aislers set

christian brothers / elliott smith

september

sandy / (sandy) alex g

when it’s over / sugar ray

indian summer / the doors

lord can you hear me? / spacemen 3

bluest glass eye sea / oranger

southern sky / (sandy) alex g

october

what difference does it make? / the smiths

the white lady loves you more / elliott smith

the trip / still corners

snowstorm / galaxie 500

400 lux / lorde

24 / red house painters

lies / low

mis / (sandy) alex g

november

mesmerise / chapterhouse

a passing feeling / elliott smith

ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space / spiritualized

a bathtile green / carissa’s wierd

don’t panic / coldplay

somewhat damaged / nine inch nails

go by / elliott smith

december

ashes of american flags / wilco

teardrop / massive attack

poor places / wilco

gentle hour / yo la tengo

bulletproof / la roux

[snarkybluechristian]

Villainous: Reform School Chapter 8 and 9

Melanie and 505 followed Flug to the elevator and into his lab down below.

When the elevator opened, Melanie’s grew large.  The lab was much bigger than it looked in the orientation videos.

“Right this way,” Flug said walking ahead of the group prompting Melanie and 505 to follow.

They walked through a well-lit corridor pass an innumerable number of rooms.  

Melanie held on tightly to 505’s arm.  She had heard all the bad stories of this place.  She expected literally anything to happen at any time.

RAWR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dementia suddenly popped out of a door and sprang towards Melanie.

Fortunately, 505 was faster.  He picked up Melanie and turned his back towards Dementia as she grunted angrily and tried to claw past the bear to attack Melanie.

“DEMENTIA!” Flug yelled.  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“I want to attack the traitor!” Dementia whined.

“The answer is no!” Flug replied in frustration as he pushed the button instantly summoning a Black Hat Butler Bot that grabbed Dementia with its metal arms.  “You are leaving her alone for the rest of the day or else you will be confined to your room for the rest of the day.  Is that clear?!”

Dementia whined and complained as the robot carried her away. Before long though, they were both out of ear shot.

“So sorry about that,” Flug said to Melanie who was still trembling in 505’s arms.  “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Melanie said attempting to regain her composure as 505 set her back on the floor.  “I’m okay. Just keep her away from me.”

“We’ll try our best,” Flug said walking down a corridor to another area leading Melanie to the part of the lab she recognized from the Orientation DVD’s.  “Here, we are.  Sit down at that counter and I’ll be with you in a second.”

Melanie sat down at the area where Flug usually sat during the DVD’s.  It felt strange.  She never thought she’d be there.

“Alright,” Flug said carrying over an empty syringe and a first aid kit.  “I’ll just collect that blood sample.  Take off your jacket please.”

Melanie reluctantly did what he asked shaking at the sight of the syringe all the while.

Noticing her fear, 505 held Melanie’s hand in his paw and gave it a squeeze.

“Hold out your arm,” Flug instructed.

Melanie reluctantly did what he asked and held her breath.

Flug stuck the syringe in Melanie and collected his blood sample.

Flug noticed that Melanie was trembling and holding her eyes shut while 505 stroked her hand comfortingly.  Interesting.

Once the sample was taken, Flug took out the syringe and put its contents in a vial leaving 505 to take care of Melanie’s wound.

Melanie breathed a sigh of relief and smiled when she opened her eyes to see 505 seal her wound with a cotton ball and a bandage.  

“Thanks, 505,” Melanie said smiling wearily.

505 patted her head and pulled out a drawer in the counter to reveal a drawer filled with lollipops.

505 then looked back at Melanie and gestured his paw to the drawer.

Melanie smiled understanding what he was asking.  She selected a strawberry-flavored lollipop, and 505 shut the drawer.

As Melanie unwrapped the lollipop and put it into her mouth, 505 held his paw up gesturing for her to give him a high five.  She gladly obliged and smiled when he did.

505 was sweeter than any lollipop.  He didn’t belong here…

“I didn’t think a reaper would be afraid of needles,” Flug said storing the blood sample.  “I mean, your primary weapon is a scythe.”

“A scythe is a weapon I can control,” Melanie said defensively.

“I see,” Flug said.  “Well, now that I have your blood sample, we can move on to the next task.”

Flug pulled a piece of paper out of a notebook, grabbed a sharpened pencil, and put both items on the table in front of Melanie.

“Alright, I need you to list ten of the evilest thoughts you’ve had since arriving,” Flug said.  “It doesn’t matter if they’re minor thoughts or unspeakable horrors.  List them on that sheet of paper.”

Suddenly, Melanie had an idea.  She listed ten words on the sheet of paper and handed it back to Flug.

“Oh, that was fast,” Flug said taking the paper and holding it up to his face to read.  “Let’s see what we have here…”

Flug grimaced his brows.

On the paper was written in list form:

“1. There  

2. Are  

3. No  

4. Words  

5. To  

6. Describe  

7. How  

8. Much  

9. You  

10. Suck.”

Flug put the paper back on the counter and visibly sighed.  

“At least, you can talk back to authority figures,” Flug said.

“Can 505 and I play videogames now?” Melanie asked eagerly. “Do you find my list to be to your satisfaction?”

“Close enough,” Flug said with another sigh.  “But there’s always room for improvement.”

“I’d rather be mature in doing good,” Melanie said.  “So, can we go play videogames now?”

505 smiled at Flug and nodded eagerly.

“Of course,” Flug said.  “Just one more thing.  What do you think of the rest of your family?”

“Oh, I love my nun-ja family,” Melanie gushed.  “Even when we're apart, I can feel their support.  Is that good enough for ya?”

“I'm not talking about your nun-ja family,” Flug replied.  “I want to know how you feel about your blood-related family.”

“Why does that matter to you?” Melanie asked suspiciously.

“So, there's nothing that they do that you find the least tad admirable?  Interesting?  Anything at all?” Flug asked.

“You heard my tirade against Black Hat earlier,” Melanie said. “You know how I feel about them.”

“I see,” Flug said.  “Well, I guess that's all I have for you for now.  505, you can go play with Melanie now.”

“Woooooo!!!!!!!” Melanie cheered as she grabbed her bag, jumped on 505’s back, and rode away with him leaving Flug alone with his thoughts.

      After ruminating for a while, Flug walked over to his computer to log a new report for Melanie.

He sat down and typed the following:

“Today, Black Hat has introduced to me a new patient.

Name: Melanie de la Muerte

Gender: Female

Age: 14

Reason for referral: Melanie de la Muerte is a daughter of two of the organization's most powerful allies: Senor Santa Muerte and la Faucheuse.  She has shown signs of drastically stepping out of the line of villainy.  She was unmasked by Wesley Jagger and found to be performing heroic acts.  Severe intervention is needed.

Additional notes:  Subject is a member of the notorious ‘nun-jas,’ a group of ninja nun heroes with a divine connection. They are trained with a will made of iron, so interrogation will prove useless. Trying to turn a nun-ja from good to evil has never been done.  Evidence suggests Melanie may be the student of another previous target known as Kasumi Yamaguchi.

Prognosis:  Due to the knowledge of Kasumi Yamaguchi and her sensei, security has been increased around the manor to prevent a possible rescue attempt.

Subject has been put in the organization’s care under 24-hour surveillance.  Melanie has shown no signs of wanting to change and has resisted and been belligerent with all of the staff, except 5.0.5.

The thing that worries Lord Black Hat the most is Melanie’s connection to…”

“Oooooooooh,” Dementia interrupted.  “What are you doing?”

“¡Vete, Demencia!  (Go away, Dementia!)” Flug said.  “I’m busy!”

After reading the screen for a second, Dementia said, “I’m gonna tell Black Hat you were about to say His name!”

“No, I wasn’t,” Flug said pressing a button on his watch. “Now, get out of here or the Hat bots will be coming to get you in about ten seconds.”

Dementia looked up to see the Hat bots coming her way and yelled, “You’ll never take me alive!” before she dashed off down the hall.

Flug merely sighed and continued typing.  

By the time he was done, it was time for Melanie’s next check-up, so he left his lab and headed to 505’s room where he and Melanie had been playing videogames for the past hour.

Melanie and 505 played videogames for the rest of the morning.  The pair had an amazing time playing and chatting and laughing all the while as they fought bosses, cleared obstacles, and faced challenges together.

505 was over the moon. Flug was his only friend in this facility, and he was usually too busy to spend much time with him.  Everyone else was either mean to him or ignored him.  Melanie was different.  She loved him and everything he did.  It was amazing.  505 finally had another friend.

Melanie was enjoying herself, too.  She forgot she was even in Black Hat's Organization for a while until Flug knocked on the door again.

505 got up and answered it to see his Dad waiting outside.

Melanie grimaced as she remembered what he was here for.

“Melanie, it is almost time for lunch which means it's time for you to have another check-up,” Flug said.  

“My answers are the same as before,” Melanie interrupted.  “Just write those down again and save us both some time.”

“Actually, I have different questions this time,” Flug responded nervously.

He was hesitant to ask her, given her behavior.  And if it went wrong, he'd probably pay the price.

Melanie put down her game controller, turned herself around on her bean bag, and asked, "What do ya wanna know?"

“I need to know about your devotion to...” Flug said with a gulp. “…you know who.”

“Who?” Melanie asked confusedly.  “My nun-ja sisters?  I love them.”

“Uh, I was meaning to ask about your connection to... Ugh.  The one in the sky?” Flug finally spat out.

“Oh,” Melanie said with a smile.

Flug wasn't expecting that.

“It is deep and very personal,” Melanie said.  “Any follower will tell you the same.”

“Hmmm…” Flug said.  “And from what I've seen, you parents and the rest of your family aren't really followers of the Way themselves.  Are they?”

“No.”

“Well, have you ever wondered why?”

“I don't need to.  I'm the descendant of a witch and a corrupted Grim Reaper.”

“It is my opinion that maybe they didn't need his guidance to get to where they are.”

505 stood there nervously hoping that a fight wouldn’t break out between his two dearest friends.

“You don’t believe in Him,” Melanie said.  “Do you?  That’s kind of hypocritical considering who you interact with on a daily basis. Don’t you think?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe He’s real,” Flug said.  “It’s just that I gave up on Him a long time ago. You might consider doing the same.  You have faith in His teachings, protection and assistance, and yet, here you are.”

“He helps those who surrender to His will,” Melanie retorted. “I don’t know why I’m here, but He’ll give me a way out.  You’ll see.”

Flug scoffed and said, “Whatever, but don’t come crying to us when He doesn’t help you.  Anyway, it’s time for lunch.  I suggest you make your way with me to the dining room.”

[limofashion]

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[sunken-standard]

For The Halloween sentence thingy: “Costumes and candy are for babies. You and me? We’re going to raise the dead.” :D sherlolly of course.

(I had a couple false starts with this one, but here’s… something.)

“Costumes and candy are for babies. You and me? We’re going to raise the dead.”

*

Need your help for a thing.  Lab,23:30, don’t be late.

Sherlock glanced at the text one moretime as he walked towards the morgue.  Molly wasn’t usually thiscryptic, typically writing a dissertation spanning four texts ofnegations and apologies and explanations if she ever had to ask afavour.  He wasn’t worried.  Much.

He stopped dead once inside the morgue;the overhead lights were out and the room was lit by what had to be ahundred candles ringing a sheet-covered body on the slab.  His gutclenched until he noticed Molly in the corner, making notes in a filelike it was any other post-mortem.

She turned and smiled.  "Ah, good,right on time, let’s get started.“

“What’s this about?  Is this somekind of— Halloween—” he wiggled his fingers “—thing?”he asked, remembering the date.  She quiteliked Halloween or, at least, always seemed a bit cheerier rightaround that time, much like some people perked up around Christmas.

“‘Halloween thing’ makes it soundso amateur.  Fancy dress and sweets are for babies.  You and me? We’re going to raise the dead.”

You and I, hecorrected on reflex, then absorbed what she’d said.  "Raise thedead.“

“Yes.”

“Have you been inhaling some fumesyou shouldn’t have been?  Maybe ate too much and fell asleep in frontof the telly while a horror film was playing?”

She looked to be taking a moment tosteel herself before saying, “There’s something you don’t knowabout me.  It’s, ah, probably just easier to show you rather thantell you.”

He waited, wondering what he may havemissed.  She picked up an old leather-bound book from next to thefile she’d been working on and flipped through it before recitingsomething in what sounded like Scots; he felt the oddest sort oftingling in his limbs and a bit disoriented as his field of visionoriented itself a foot higher than it normally was.  He looked downand yes, his feet had left the floor.

He ran through all possiblescenarios—accidentally drugged, actually asleep, head injury,sudden neurological event causing hallucinations, some kind of freaklocalized gravitational anomaly, actually levitating as a result ofwhat Molly was reading from the book.  Considering he couldn’t proveor disprove any of his other hypotheses, he chose to temporarily workwith ‘magic is real and Molly Hooper is some kind of witch.’

“So why do you need my help?  Andif you could see fit to put my feet back on the floor?”

“Oh, sorry,” she said,flicking her finger and letting him drop to the floor.  Good thing hehad excellent reflexes, she didn’t let him down gently.  "Bloodof a virgin,“ she added brightly.

"I’m sorry?”

“If I were only trying to contactthe other side, I could just use any old blood, but to reanimate someone, I need the bloodof a virgin.  You’re the only virgin I know and I didn’t have time totroll university mixers for spotty gamers in fedoras.  I’mon a bit of schedule here, so if you could just—?”

“Wh—uh—I’m not a virgin. Can’t you just use Rosie’s blood?”

“The spell doesn’t call for bloodof an infant, who knows what I’d get?  It’s like chemistry, you don’tjust substitute sulfuric acid for hydrochloric willy-nilly.  And youdon’t have to be embarrassed about it, some people are just latebloomers.”

“I’m not a late bloomer and I’mnot a virgin.  I’ve done things.”  Not that he needed toelaborate or defend himself, but he had plenty of sexual experience. He went to public school and he’d had a girlfriend once (even if itwas fake; and sure, maybe they hadn’t had penetrative sex, butgenitals still featured rather heavily in their encounters) and,well, sexting didn’t count per se, but he’d done that, too.  Plentyof sexual experience.  

“This book was written in 1631. The things you’ve done—which I don’t need to know the detailsof—were not the things they had in mind.”

He scowled at her.  Did she read minds,too?  "How do you know?“ he accused. 

"Call it women’s intuition.  And Idosed your coffee when you were here earlier.  If you weren’t avirgin, it would have made you violently ill.  Or killed you, butthat hardly ever happens.”

“You tried to poison me?”

“You’ve poisoned John like sixtimes.”

“Yeah, but it’s me.  Andyou,” he sputtered, “you don't— poison people.”

“Sherlock, focus.  I need fiftymillilitres of blood, give or take, and I can get it out of you theeasy way or the hard way because this needs to happen at midnight andI’m not waiting another year.  So if you please?”

He tried to stare her down, his eyesnarrowed, but she just gave him her very bland, polite, somewhatvacant ‘I’m waiting’ face.  He huffed a sigh and gave in, rolled uphis sleeve. “So how long have you been…?”  

He had no idea how he was supposed tofinish that sentence.

“Born into it.  Last of my line,actually—it’s matrilineal—which is a pity, but, well, you knowabout my luck with men,” she said conversationally as sheprepped his arm for the blood draw.  

“How—how did I miss somethinglike this?  Me?” he ask himself aloud.  He still wasn’truling out some form of altered state on his part, but for now, theimprobable was looking like the truth.

“It’s not something we can reallybe open about, for obvious reasons, Y'know, with the burnings and thedrownings.  And the stonings.  And the pressings, and the hangings,and the beheadings.”    

“But Wicca is mostly accepted andconsidered a 'legitimate religion'—as far as that goes—thesedays.”

“Pfft, Wicca.  'Oh, I can summonthe wind!’  The only wind they can summon is from the lentils theyhad for supper the night before.  This is real magic, not thecartoon Order of Thelema toff 'magick’ with a 'k’ or the sociopathicsex cult that popped up in the States sixty years ago.  Which is whywe’re not supposed to tell men about any of it and especially not letthem see the book—”

Sherlock raised an eyebrow, glancing upfrom where he’d idly been flipping through the pages; surely she’dnoticed and she hadn’t stopped him.

“—because they read one littlesection and think they understand the answer to life, the universe,and everything, and then they go off spouting gibberish and making itall about them.  Crowley did it, LaVey did it, tons of others too,going all the way back.”

“But you’re telling me.”

Molly looked away for a second,colouring faintly.  "Because I trust you to keep my secrets,just like you trust me to keep yours,“ she said softly,sincerely.  Then she shifted back to her usual sunny self.  "AndI’m probably the only person in all of England who can murder you andget away with it.”

He steadfastlyignored the tingle that thought gave him.

“So how does this work?  Raisingthe dead,” he asked, changing the subject before he saidsomething stupid like I could help you with that 'last of yourline’ problem.

“I combine some reagents, anointthe body, say some words, and hey presto, 'it’s alive!’”  Sheended with a dramatic pantomime a la Frankenstein.

Which would make him Igor, he supposed. Wonderful.

“But the physiology, the sciencebehind it, how—”

“No idea.  They don’t usually stayundead long enough to run tests, and it’s not like I canshuffle a reanimated corpse up to Imaging for a CAT scan.”

“So you’ve done this before.”

“A few times…” she hedged.

“Ah,” he said.  Hewatched as she set the second vial aside and withdrew the needle; hepressed the cotton wool over the puncture while she fiddled with apiece of tape.  It was obvious she didn’t do this very often.  "Whatfor?“

"Hm?”

“Whydo you do it?”

“Practice,mostly.  Only get to do it once a year, when the veil is thinnest. And I’ve been testing the limits of the spell against state ofdecomp.  I raised a skeleton last year, but it fell apart after fiveminutes.  Without any soft tissues, it couldn’t really do much ofanything, though, so there isn’t much practical application for that. Remind me later, I’ll send you the video,” she said, pouringthe blood into a latte mug, then adding some kind of (obviouslypre-measured) powder from an envelope.

Abit like instant soup,he thought giddily.  "You take video?“

"Isend it out to the rest of the coven.  Kind of a humblebrag, but youcan only see 'hashtag: love potion success!’ so many times before itgets old.”

“Soyou’re rubbish at potions,” he said flatly.

“They’remostly useless, with modern medicine,” she defended.  He mighthave touched a nerve.  "Sleeping draught?  Sedatives.  Cure fordropsy?  Diuretics and diagnostic testing.  Rickets, scurvy, allkinds of pox—all gone, thanks to medicine.  And love potions arejust… cheating.  What’s the point of someone loving you if it isn’treal?  And it’s a bit dodgy besides with, y'know, consent issues.“

Hetipped his head, agreeing; she probably hadn’t tried one on him,then, and he found himself a bit disappointed at that.  Best to stuffthat down the laundry chute in his Mind Palace with the rest of hisfeelings.

"Justgoing to pop off to microwave this,” Molly said, holding up themug.  "Don’t touch anything until I get back.“

"Youuse a microwave?”

“Can’texactly build a fire in the middle of the floor and hang a cauldronover it, can I?  It only needs to boil, doesn’t matter how it getsthere,” she said before disappearing through the doors.

Becausehe was an adult and he could follow directions, he didn’t touchanything.  Except the book—grimoire, he supposed—which was justtoo much to resist.  Upon closer inspection, he decided that no, thebinding wasn’t cow or sheep or any other ruminant; it was more likepigskin.

Longpig, his brainsupplied.  Human. He was delighted.  Inside was a jumble of pages in different handsand different languages, some runes, some Old and Middle English,some he didn’t recognize at all; aside from the content, a book likethis was a museum piece.  He wondered if she used magic to keep itfrom degrading, then laughed at himself for even having a thoughtlike that.  Utterly ridiculous.

Mollyreturned with the steaming mug, two mismatched oven mitts on herhands.

“Ifyou could just pull back the sheet for me?  And then hold open thebook on page, um…  I don’t know, the one right after the full pageillustration of the orgy with Satan.”

“Isthat a thing you actually do?  I suppose that explains why you sleptwith Moriarty.”  

“Islept with Jim because he was nice and he had a cock like a baby’sarm holding an app—” she cleared her throat.  "He wasnice.  And the woodcut is contemporary political satire.  The Devilis actually James the First.  Huh, James, Jim… whatever.  Hold thebook open please.“

Foronce, he shut up and did as he was told.

*

"Arethey always that chatty?” he asked, hovering as Molly closed thedrawer on the doubly-deceased Mrs. Moon.

“Notusually, no,” Molly said.  "Thank God her tongue finallyfell out.  I think she had a grudge against every single person andautonomous body in all of England.“

"Howmany cats did you say they found with her?”

“Seventeen,I think?  But four were mummified.”

“Mm. Pity I hadn’t known you could do this years ago.  Probably couldhave saved myself a bit of time dismantling Moriarty’s network if Icould’ve just asked him who they were.”

“Well, ah, actually, I did. Wasn’t really able to get much out of him, though, with the braindamage.  He just kept repeating strings of numbers and letters.  I,um, took them to your brother—don’t worry, I lied about where I gotthem—and, long story short, they were offshore account numbers,mostly in the Caymans.  Redid my kitchen and went on holidaywith the finder’s fee.”

“I suppose that explains whyMycroft stopped complaining about my expense account.  I knew it wastoo good to be true to think he’d finally come around to seeingthings my way.”  Then, a thought struck him.  "So what elsecan you do?“

"Lame a horse, blight yourneighbour’s field, inflict pin-vomiting and hallucinations, um…snakes for hair, impotence, warts, turning people into rats, frogs,bats… all the traditional stuff.”

“Will you show me sometime?”

She smiled at him, bright and genuine. “This is going to be fun,” she said.

“Yes, it is,” he said,grinning back.