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evas-spn-thoughts · 29 days

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s01e04 - Phantom Traveler

This episode is one I honestly haven't watched a lot, the first 3 supernatural episodes I know like the back of my hand, but every episode until we get to 'home' I barely remember.

So this'll be fun to rewatch in much more detail.

All I remember about this episode is that it's about Demons - but demons before supernatural understood what they wanted demons to be, and also Dean is afraid of flying.

We start with a demon entering and then crashing a plane. I feel like media in the early 2000s was more careful about depicting destroying and crashing planes, but maybe that’s just me. It feels brave of supernatural to be showing a person actively making a plane crash. I suppose maybe that was more the immediate aftermath of 911 rather than in 2005, but I’m not researched enough to talk about this with any confidence.

We then get a very random full body shot of Dean sleeping. I feel like this type of shot is usually left for woman, while men get the objectifying shots of chests and muscles - the cameras are usually lingering on the one aspect of the man’s body they want to show off. Women are usually the objects of these long panning shots, but in Supernatural it’s Jensen that is gifted these objectifying panning shots and best believe I’ll point it out when I see it again.

I also feel generally uneasy about this start because until you know it’s Sam who walks into the room, it’s a very creepy scene. As a first time viewer it is laid out in a way that makes you feel uneasy about Dean’s safety - especially in the way they linger on him lying in bed, this is the most undressed we have seen Dean and thus the most physically vulnerable.

You get Dean in bed clearly undressed and also it focuses on his legs as an establishing shot.

The camera then pans up his body to his face, showing him with his eyes closed. It not a quick camera movement either, it takes its time.

You hear the door open and linger on Deans eyes opening.

A shadowy man walks through the door and stares through the glass seemingly at Dean - which is not a comforting shot.

Now substitute Dean with a random woman, if you didn’t get the uneasiness that I did, you should maybe understand now.

This doesn’t strike me as a scene meant to imply safety, and I am not implying that they want the watcher to not trust Sam, but until you see his face, it could be anyone and it’s just interesting framing, but Supernatural doesn’t always frame these boys in the stereotypical male way others shows might - exhibit A is the way they show off Dean lying in bed.

I want to make it clear that I am not saying Sam is a bad guy in this, nor am I implying that the show gives me the vibes that Sam is dodgy, if anything, seeing Sam come round the bend is actually a comfort.

Dean asks after Sam, he is making sure he’s okay. We hear that Sam hasn’t been sleeping, Dean makes it out like Sam not sleeping is bad because he’s meant to watch Deans back, but actually Dean is just worried about his brother and trying to pry in a way that doesn’t seem emotional. No chick flicks goddamn it!!

Sam says he’s still having nightmares about Jess and also that the job is getting to him. Dean makes it sound like the job doesn’t ever get to him, and Sam reaches under Deans pillow to pull out a knife, thus proving that the job does indeed get to him.

I like that we hear that after a few years away from hunting, getting back into it is messing with Sam a little bit, because it would.

Then we get a phone call from someone asking for help.

The boys meet up with someone John and Dean had helped in the past, and get the rundown on the hunt.

While this is happening we gauge what John seemed like to others. This man - Jerry - said that John talked about Sam a lot, and Sam seemed surprised by that. While this could be an instance of Sam remembering childhood differently, I reckon it’s more likely that John was actually complementary of his children - or at least Sam when he went to college - but never to their faces because John is just kind of awful. But to others people, John has to look at least semi normal, so he boasts about his kids in a way he would never to them.

We hear a tape from the flight that went down and hear the drama and the boys begin their hunt.

Dean gets them the fake IDs they need, and they discover that the news is saying no one survived the plane crash, but the boys know seven people survived. They throw around ideas for what the monster could be, they never reference it being a demon which shows their inexperience with demons. They immediately assume and guess ghost and haunted plane.

One of the survivors has checked himself into a mental health clinic, which fair enough, if I saw what he did and hadn’t seen supernatural, I’d probably do the same.

The boys go to see one of the survivors and speak to him, I love that they don’t try and assume he’s mad, nor do they disbelieve anything he says, they take it as fact and go along with it. Something like seeing a supernatural being would freak anyone out, and it would be easy to play it as ‘funny’ and try and make fun of someone who thinks they have mental health issues.

They continue their investigation with a lot of failing and confusion, nothing in this case is fitting with anything they have dealt with. Sam keeps saying ‘this doesn’t make sense’ as a transition and I find it very funny.

The boys finally, finally wear their suits.

And as a note to supernatural, trying to play that Dean doesn’t look good in a suit or that he looks like a ‘seventh grader at his first dance’ is just a failure waiting to happen, Jensen doesn’t look bad in things, and as much as Dean may try and say different, he likes clothes and ‘dressing up’.

(I don’t mean dressing up in a sexual way, but I don’t love the implication that changing outfits for hunting and stuff is dubbed ‘dressing up’, also Dean just is fashionable, I mean have you seen the finale of the Winchesters, also some of the coats and suits the boys get in later seasons are just nice and they picked those out).

Anyway… the boys go to the warehouse and look at the wreckage for more clues, some great fake fbi’ing from them. The set of the wreckage is very cool, good set dec and design on the episode.

We get an instance of Deans intelligence where he made an emf reader out of a Walkman, and that is impressive stuff and it takes knowledge and skill. But Sam is Sam, so he puts Dean down, which I kind of hate. Again we don’t need a smart brother and a dumb brother, they can both be intelligent. It makes Sam look bad as well and doesn’t endear him to me in the slightest.

For once the boys are caught out as being fake law enforcement but they get away.

We then see the demon possess someone else, and thank god the demon cgi gets better cause the smoke is way too pixilated.

We see that sulfur is all over everything and the educated among us know that means demons, but the boys… sadly they are still innocent summer children and don’t know the implications.

We get the lore dump on demons and we get a nervous Dean who doesn’t really want to deal with demons saying ‘it’s not their usual gig’. It’s not the usual reaction for dean to wish the monster was something else, which immediately raises the stakes of what a Demon is and how infrequently they are come across.

Dean wishes his dad was here, Sam agrees and then we get the phone call from Jerry where he tells them that his pilot friend died - which we saw a few minutes ago. I hate those tiny 2 seater planes, they freak me out a little bit and I’m not a nervous flyer.

So off the boys go to Nazareth 😂

They see that sulfer is again in this second crash, and that ‘get this’ the crashes happened 40 mins into the flight. We get some more Dean intelligence when he mentions how the number 40 has biblical connotations. ‘It means Death’ and he puts together who the demon is going after.

We hear that Amanda is the only survivor left to get to and it seems like they are cutting it too close to reach her ‘even with Dean behind the wheel’. But Dean saves people and he feels the responsibility to save people so he steps on the gas and he will get there and they do get there.

Dean tries to get her away from the flight and messes up, but here is another example of him going with a lie into another lie after he is caught out. He is however unsuccessful and we get to discover another facet in the complexity of Dean Winchester.

Dean Winchester is afraid of flying.

Sam understands and immediately offers to go on his own, which is very nice. I like this from Sam, other than assuming Deans joking which… fair enough, he takes it very seriously and doesn’t make Dean fly.

Responsibility is however, a very big thing to Dean so he does get on the flight.

Dean humming Metallica is a mood, when I’m nervous I listen to music so I totally get it.

Sam reminds Dean that he needs to be focussed on the hunt which helps Dean to try and ignore his fear and concentrate on the job.

They talk about how to check if anyone’s a demon and mention using ‘Cristo’. WHICH IS NEVER USED AGAIN!!!!!! Make it make sense, but I suppose I do get it, using lube based holy water is much funnier - prop water for tv is water based lube, if anyone didn’t know and there will definitely be gif sets out there of all the times Jensen gets splashed with that stuff.

Dean talks to Amanda and falls into generally easy conversation, as Dean usually does. He’s slightly awkward with the whole cristo bit, but it’s okay.

Dean gets nervous at some turbulence and Sam tries to gently coax him into calming down, but that doesn’t work, so he adopts what I would assume is his ‘John Winchester voice’ and is a lot more firm about Dean calming down and reminds Dean that the more nervous he is the more likely he is to be possessed. The firmness works better with Dean… probably because he’s used to it from John.

There is a weird moment where this man just leers at Dean while he is walking up the aisle, which is weird and unnecessary and slightly uncomfortable. Just another example of Dean being objectified/sexualised in some way, interesting that they make a man leer at him, it doesn’t reflect on Dean in any way, but I suppose it’s meant to make it weirder or maybe in the early 2000s it’s meant to be funny.

The boys discover who the Demon is and immediately talk to Amanda to try and fix everything. They do the speech and try and get her on side, which they do.

She gets the demon out of the cockpit and they subdue him… kinda.

She leaves and Sam begins the first of many exorcisms we will hear in the long running story of Winchesters vs Demons in Supernatural.

The demon distracts Sam by mentioning that he knows what happens to Jess and gets away, the plane begins to plummet, but Sam recites the exorcism while Dean screams 😂 and all is good on the plane.

Sam mentions that it knows about Jess, Dean counters that by saying that demons lie, that’s just ‘what they do’.

John Winchester is a dick. I said what I said. And we have barely even got to many of the clear signs of being a terrible father yet.

We find out he’s changed his voicemail and if anyone has a problem to ‘phone his son Dean’. Sam is visibly upset by the fact that he’s changed his voicemail so is clearly alive, but hasn’t got in touch with his sons in any way. They both listen to the voicemail and then I’m silence, they get in the car and drive away.

Sam is obviously angry, whereas Dean just seems resigned to the fact that this is now happening, he’s being sent on jobs and it’s what he has to do. I like the choice to have the boys sit in the silence.

I’m flying to Amsterdam tomorrow so maybe I shouldn’t have watched this episode but I’m not a nervous flyer so it’s fine.

Generally it was a very good episode and a good way to end with more questions.

#dean winchester #supernatural #supernatural rewatch #sam winchester #spn meta #my thoughts #Eva rewatches supernatural #there is some fun dean objectification in this one #some good Sam teary eyes #and a demon on a plane #also John is a dick #also I joke about Dean objectification #it’s not actually fun #but it’s very interesting from a character standpoint #and what to take from how the show presents him #supernatural studies #phantom traveler #s01e04 #spn 1x04

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godboundrpgfans · 3 years

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Guts in Godbound

Guts, the Black Swordsman.

One of the most badass characters in fiction.

Not just for his sheer, unadulterated power and being everything a 90s Anti-Hero is expected to be, but also for being everything that a 90s Anti-Hero isn’t expected to be.

Guts is a much more complex character than first glances would have you believe, and I don’t think I could do his character justice by talking about it here.

Thankfully, that’s not why I’m here.

I’m here because I was bored and got the bright idea to use the Godbound Character Creation System to create Guts.

Why? Cause why the fuck not?

Now before we start, I’m going to be doing two version of this character creation.

The first will follow the standard character creation for a Godbound. You roll up/pick attributes, pick three Words, etc. For this, I will be creating Guts when he was still in the Band of the Hawk, right before he left. Since you could kind of consider that his “peak” before the Eclipse.

The second version will be the same, except I won’t be using the 6 Point limit that the game gives you at the start. Instead, I will just give Guts any and all Gifts/Artifacts and otherwise that I believe he should have at this point in the Berserk Manga.

With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Standard Creation:

Attribute Scores:

8, 16, 13, 10, 12, 18

I’ll wait until after I choose Words since those will have an affect on the Scores.

Facts:

Grew up in a Mercenary Band

The Raiding Captain for the Band of the Hawks

Has formed a deep friendship with all of the major members

Since this is Guts before the Eclipse, I feel these would be the best Facts to use as his Origin, Past Profession, and Relationship.

Armor: Medium (AC 5; -4 Save Penalty)

Weapon: Greatsword (1d10; Heavy)

Goals: Find his own Dream so he can stand next to Griffith.

I’ll put the penalty towards Evasion (Guts was never known to be very dodgy).

Divine Powers/Words:

Sword (He’s been using a Greatsword since he was about 5 years old. It’d make sense he’s really fucking good with them)

Endurance (Guts is fucking durable. Seriously, even before he became the Black Swordsman he was surviving shit that would kill normal people. See his fight with Zodd or Wyald for examples)

Luck (I was going to put Might here, but as strong as Guts is, during his time as Raider Captain in the Band of the Hawk, he didn’t do anything that really showed off physical strength. Most of the crazy shit he did (such as break through a cast iron door) was with his Sword. So, instead I’m choosing Luck as, let’s face it, Guts has been exceedingly lucky during most of his fights. While it hasn’t exactly made his life sunshine and rainbows, it’s allowed him to survive fight after fight when paired with his unending willpower)

Now to set up the Attribute Scores:

Str: 18 (+3): Check: 3

Dex: 13 (+1): Check: 8

Con: 18 (+3): Check 3

Int: 8 (-1): Check: 13

Wis: 12 (+0): Check: 9

Char: 10 (+0): Check: 11

And here’s our final scores. I set Strength and Constitution the highest for obvious reason (go watch any montage of Guts and you’ll understand). Dexterity is the way it is cause, while Guts is fast, he’s not exactly someone I could see dodging all over the place like a ninja. He’s a much bigger and easier to hit target than someone like, say, Griffith. Wisdom and Charisma are the way they are cause Guts is perceptive, just not too perceptive. On top of that, while he himself is very gruff and not much of a smooth talker, he does seem to attract the opposite sex to him a lot….even the same sex to an extent. And Intelligence is the lowest stat cause….well obvious reasons. Guts is not book smart in the slightest. He knows a lot about surviving on his own or in the wilderness, but he won’t be solving any advanced math problems.

Gifts:

Defy the Iron (While not necessarily negating the damage, Guts is able to ignore most attacks and keep moving even when they should be fatal)

Nine Lives (The dude seems to always luck out on events that would kill him. Look at his fight against Gambino or Bazuso)

Unerring Blade (Do I even need to explain why he gets this one?)

Cutting the Crimson Road (I was actually having trouble deciding between this or Shattering Hand. In the end I chose this one, since one of his most defining moments is when he fought 100 soldiers and won).

Body of Iron Will (Just to give him an AC of 3 and represent how his body is tough as shit).

With that, here’s what the final Character Sheet Looks like for Guts:

Name: Guts

Facts:

Grew up in a Mercenary Band

The Raiding Captain for the Band of the Hawks

Has formed a deep friendship with all of the major members

Attributes:

Str: 18 (+3): Check: 3

Dex: 13 (+1): Check: 8

Con: 18 (+3): Check 3

Int: 8 (-1): Check: 13

Wis: 12 (+0): Check: 9

Char: 10 (+0): Check: 11

Words:

Sword

Endurance

Luck

Gifts:

Defy the Iron

Nine Lives

Unerring Blade

Cutting the Crimson Road

Body of Iron Will

Weapons: Greatsword (1d10; Heavy; Atk Bonus: +1; Attribute Bonus: Str)

Armor: Medium (AC 5; -4 Penalty to a Save)

AC: 3

HP: 11

Saves:

Hardiness (Con): 12

Evasion (Dex): 18 (Base 14)

Spirit: (Wis): 15

And here we are, Guts before he became the Black Swordsman as a Godbound. Now then, on to what I would give him if I had full freedom and didn’t have to worry about point limits.

Free Version:

I’m keeping the same Attribute Scores, but the Facts will be different:

Facts:

Grew up in a Mercenary Band

The Raiding Captain for the Band of the Hawks

Has formed a deep friendship with all of the major members

Is marked by the Brand of Sacrifice

Has given up his Revenge against Griffith to protect/help Casca, the woman he loves

Has killed over 1,000 Demons

Wields the Dragonslayer

Wears the Berserker Armor

Is haunted by his Beast of Darkness

His companions keep him grounded

He lost his arm and eye, now he has a mechanical arm.

These are all of the obvious Facts that would be included after the current part of the manga.

Following that, I would add in these Words:

Might (By this point, and with the help of his mechanical arm, he has shown that his physical strength is just as strong as an Apostle’s)

Peak Human (Guts has gone well beyond the realm of a normal mortal by this point. He has proven that, despite not having any real, inherent magical powers, he is able to go toe-to-toe with Apostles, Sea Gods, Demons, Constructs, and just about any supernatural creature that steps in his path. By now, I’d say he’s right on the cusp of being Superhuman)

Vengeance (Though he has given up on getting revenge against Griffith, it is still a defining characteristic for him, and something he draws strength from)

Gifts:

Fear No Steel (At this point, normal weapons are like tickles to Guts.)

Fist of Black Iron (He literally has a fist of black iron)

Loosening God’s Teeth (He can cut an Apostle in half with one swing of his sword)

Contempt of Distance (Guts seems to be able to move to wherever the hell he wants when he needs to kill something)

Thirsting Razor (There are normally too many enemies in front of Guts for him to even worry about hitting Mobs)

All Natural (Guts’ abilities don’t really appear very magical, and that’s because most of them aren’t. Alot of them are from either pure sweat and hard work, determination, or his own equipment)

Mortal’s Luck (The dude never stays down)

Trained Aim (He always seems to hit whatever he aims at…it’s just that most things he aims at has enough armor or scaled hide to resist it)

Human Grit (And how. The dude is able to heal from fatal wounds faster than any other human in his world)

Indomitable Will (Do I really have to explain this one?)

Street Sweeper (Have you seen the size of his sword?)

Bloody Vengeance (Guts loves to use all or nothing attacks that immensely damage both him and his enemy)

Shattering Hand (Dragonslayer. That is all)

Artifacts:

Dragonslayer:

A great sword that is like a hunk of raw iron. This blade has bathed in the blood of so many demons that it now rest on both the Mortal and Astral planes, turning it into a magical weapon that can harm both spiritual and physical creatures. Due to its massive size, it can also be used to block projectiles and smash through any type of armor.

Effort: 5

Hunk of Raw Iron (Greater Gift): As an Action, the wielder may Commit Effort from the artifact to launch an attack at every enemy within sight, doing a maximum of 1 damage even on a miss. Mobs are automatically hit for 1d10+15 rolled straight.

Too Thick, Too Rough (Lesser Gift): As an Action, Commit Effort from the artifact to immediately break any armor, weapon, or piece of equipment in range of the sword. Any magical substance is not destroyed, but damaged to the point where it is almost useless.

The Berserker Armor:

An ancient, magical armor from the time of the first Emperor, the Berserker Armor is a black and spiked. It completely encases the wearer when it is equipped. It is considered heavy armor and can defend against most attacks, including magical ones. However, the armor’s true ability comes from its power to lock off the wielder’s nervous system, pushing their body to heights that a normal human could never reach. There is a downside to this, as the armor will remove the wielder’s sense of self and cause them to view everything as an enemy. On top of this, the armor does not heal the wearer, instead holding their body together and preventing them from dying to any injury. Once all living creatures have been defeated, all of the wearer’s damage will return full force and can kill them instantly if it is more than their HP can handle.

Effort 10

Unstoppable Rampage (Greater Gift): Commit Effort from the Artifact to immediately gain three bonus Attacks that can be used on this round only.

Jump Good (Lesser Gift): Commit Effort from the Artifact to instantly leap to any spot within double your movement speed. This does not count as an Action.

Beast of Darkness (Greater Gift): This Gift can activate whenever you kill an enemy as long as you wear the armor. At the end of a round, if you’ve killed an enemy, roll a Spirit Save. If you fail, this Gift activates. Commit Effort from the Artifact to remove all limits on your body and lose yourself to your inner beast. You lose the ability to make rational decision on the battlefield, and see even your friends as enemies. In return, all of your attacks now deal 1d12+10 Straight Damage, you gain two bonus Actions, you become immune to all mental, emotional, or psychological damage, your attacks shatter any substance even if it is magical in nature, and your attack bonus is now +10. Whenever you take damage, record it somewhere else. Once the battle is over, you must make a Spirit Save to regain control of yourself. If you fail, you must keep fighting everything around you, even if they are your allies, making a Spirit Save each round to regain yourself. If you pass, make a Hardiness Save. If you pass that Save, you only take half of the damage you took during battle rounded up. If you fail, you take the full damage straight.

So now, our final Guts sheet, looks like this:

Name: Guts

Facts:

Grew up in a Mercenary Band

The Raiding Captain for the Band of the Hawks

Has formed a deep friendship with all of the major members

Is marked by the Brand of Sacrifice

Has given up his Revenge for Casca the woman he loves

Has killed over 1,000 Demons

Wields the Dragonslayer

Wears the Berserker Armor

Is haunted by his Beast of Darkness

His companions keep him grounded

He lost his arm and eye, now he has a mechanical arm.

Attributes:

Str: 19 (+4): Check: 2

Dex: 18 (+3): Check: 3

Con: 18 (+3): Check 3

Int: 13 (+1): Check: 8

Wis: 13 (+1): Check: 8

Char: 13 (+1): Check: 8

Words:

Sword

Endurance

Luck

Peak Human

Might

Vengeance

Gifts:

Defy the Iron

Nine Lives

Unerring Blade

Cutting the Crimson Road

Body of Iron Will

Fear No Steel

Fist of Black Iron

Loosening God’s Teeth

Contempt of Distance

Thirsting Razor

All Natural

Mortal’s Luck

Trained Aim

Human Grit

Indomitable Will

Street Sweeper

Bloody Vengeance

Shattering Hand

Weapons: Dragonslayer (1d10; Heavy; Atk Bonus: +1; Attribute Bonus: Str)

Armor: Berserker Armor (AC 3; -4 Penalty to 2 Saves)

AC: 3

HP: 11

Saves:

Hardiness (Con): 15 (Base 11)

Evasion (Dex): 16 (Base 12)

Spirit: (Wis): 14

Artifacts:

Dragonslayer:

Effort: 5

The Berserker Armor:

An ancient, magical armor from the time of the first Emperor, the Berserker Armor is a black, spiked armor that completely encases the wearer. It is considered heavy armor and can defend against most attacks, including magical ones. However, the armor’s true ability comes from its power to lock off the wielder’s nervous system, pushing their body to heights that a normal human could never reach. There is a downside to this, as the armor will remove the wielder’s sense of self and cause them to view everything as an enemy. On top of this, the armor does not heal the wearer, instead holding their body together and preventing them from dying to any injury. Once all living creatures have been defeated, all of the wearer’s damage will return full force and can kill them instantly if it is more than their HP can handle.

Effort 10

Unstoppable Rampage (Greater Gift): Commit Effort from the Artifact to immediately gain three bonus Attacks that can be used on this round only.

Jump Good (Lesser Gift): Commit Effort from the Artifact to instantly leap to any spot within double your movement speed. This does not count as an Action.

And there we go. I would’ve added another Gift to the Dragonslayer, but I couldn’t think of what to put there.

So, there you go. How I would stat Guts as a Godbound.

Feedback would be appreciated, and if you think there are things I could’ve added or done better, please let me know.

#submission

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acedesigns · 5 years

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Sunshine City Mall [Good Omens: Aziraphale X Crowley]

Word Count: 794

A/N: Y’all, Sunshine City Mall is so much fun. If you get the chance, you should go.

Crowley had surprised Aziraphale with a trip to Japan. The demon knew how much the angel loved sushi, so he figured why not take him to the birthplace of the food. The flight over was relatively nice, especially since Crowley got them first-class tickets. It was roomy. And because he booked it through a Japanese airline, the food was superior. It was hot and actually tasted good instead of the freeze-dry crap that planes typically serve.

After a few days of touring Japan, the two found themselves walking down the streets of Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Crowley kept on glancing at his phone as they attempted to find the Sunshine City Mall. Though, the service was dodgy. He could have miracled some service for his phone, but he was enjoying the walk with the angel. Instead, he’d connect to the free wi-fi whenever the pair passed a Starbucks.

This also happened to be a good thing for Aziraphale. It was near Christmas time and all of the Starbucks in Tokyo had started to serve candlelight cake. It was an extraordinary, moist shortcake. On the shortcake was the fluffiest frosting he had ever tasted. Then, to top it off, was a strawberry to make it look like a candle. He was in Heaven whenever it hit his mouth. He was always sure to order one whilst Crowley looked at the maps on his phone.

Eventually, the pair had made it to the mall. Christmas music was playing and there were Christmas decorations everywhere. The demon and the angel found it somewhat odd, considering most Japanese people aren’t Christian. Still, they shrugged it off and enjoyed the festive atmosphere.

They walked through the mall and were stunned at how expansive it was. There was an entire section filled with allies of different restaurants. They weren’t just fast-food establishments either. There was soba, sushi, ramen, American, and even a little crepe restaurant. Aziraphale couldn’t decide what he wanted to try first, it was simply too much for the foodie! He eventually settled on the ramen restaurant.

The two stood in the fast-moving line. Aziraphale and Crowley both ordered the same bowl and it was almost immediately served. They grabbed their trays and found an empty table. They bent their knees awkwardly, especially Crowley. He was just a tad too tall for the stools.

Aziraphale quickly dug into his enormous bowl. He mimicked the locals in slurping loudly. He had to repeatedly dab his face with how the broth kept on splashing him. Still, it was absolutely scrumptious! However, it was over all too soon. He pouted when he realized he had finished his bowl.

“Here, angel,” Crowley pushed his still hot bowl towards the angel with a soft smile. “You can have mine.”

“Are you sure?” Aziraphale looked at him with surprise. Crowley nodded his head with a hum. “Well, thank you!”

After Aziraphale had his fill, the duo continued on their adventure in the mall. There were shops everywhere. Some, the two recognized as they were world-wide brands. There were also some shops specifically dedicated to a certain show like Pokemon or Hello Kitty.

It was when they were looking at a map of the mall that they hear screaming. They glanced over and saw an excited crowd of girls jumping up and down. Aziraphale glanced at Crowley who shrugged and made his way over to the group. Below them, there was a stage. A boy band had just walked out and started singing.

Aziraphale chuckled lightly and watched with amusement. The angel glanced over at his partner and his chuckle grew into a full-on laugh. Crowley was unconsciously dancing along with the band. Though, it was hard to say that what Crowley was doing was actually dancing. Crowley looked over and smirked at his laughing partner.

“Want to dance with me, angel?” Crowley asked. Aziraphale shook his head, but Crowley’s smirk widened. He grabbed the angel’s hands and forced him to move along with the beat. “Come on, live a little!”

“Crowley!” Aziraphale laughed with a light blush. Still, he didn’t pull back and allowed himself to dance just as poorly as the demon.

When the seemingly random concert ended, Crowley and Aziraphale walked off. Crowley’s arm was slung around Aziraphale’s shoulders as they continued to walk through the mall.

“This was fun,” Aziraphale started. “Thank you, Crowley.”

Crowley looked over at him and smiled, “You’re welcome, angel.”

Aziraphale cleared his throat and looked up. There was a quiet snap from his fingers. “Oh, would you look at that. Mistletoe.”

Crowley glanced up. Immediately, his face was a full-on red. “L-look at that,” he stammered. He looked back down at Aziraphale who was smiling softly at him. Aziraphale leaned up and softly pressed his lips to Crowley’s.

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rahirah · 5 years

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via Barb's Place Ms. Fix-it by Barb C Rating: G Setting: Post-The Gift Characters: Willow, Giles Synopsis: If Willow doesn't take care of things, who will? Author's notes: Written for the 2019 Which Willow Ficathon. This is a stand-alone, canon-compliant fic. (I.e. not part of the Barbverse.) Buffy Summers had been dead for exactly one week, three days, eighteen hours, and forty-two minutes. Not that Willow was counting. She didn't have to; the slow and steady energy drain of the spell she was using to keep the body from decaying while they all decided what to do was counter enough. The click-click=click of her heels on the pavement followed her around the corner as she turned off Wilkins and onto Maple, heading for the Magic Box. The sun's last rays painted the western sky a brilliant orange behind the roofline of the storefronts. The strap of the satchel she carried dug into her shoulder, and she concentrated on the small discomfort, willing it to drown out the whirring of her thoughts. Inside her head, Goody-Two-Shoes Rule-Following Willow kept pointing out that concealing Buffy's death was seriously dodgy, and could only cause more problems the longer they kept it up. Once the authorities did get involved, surely they wouldn't be happyif they found that Buffy Summers' friends had just... buried her in the back yard, well, in Miller's Woods, in a home-made coffin, without a permit or an autopsy or a death certificate, as if she were a pet goldfish or something. Buffy had died without a will, so would the house go to Dawn, or to Mr. Summers? Or to both? Would they have to go through probate? (What even was probate, anyway?) She was pretty sure that they couldn't afford a lawyer, if Mr. Summers wanted to fight for custody, and even if they could, what judge would let a minor stay with a couple of unrelated barely-out-of-minorhood hemselves women instead of her own father? And could they pay the mortgage? Would the bank foreclose? But Dawn didn't want to go live with her father, and no one could contact Hank Summers anyway. And there was also the hiding-the-Slayer's-demise-from-demonkind-because-the-replacement-Slayer-was-doing-ten-to-twentyness of the whole situation. What Willow really wanted to do was curl up somewhere and cry. But if she did that, nothing would get done at all. Dawn was a mess, Xander was obsessing over the planning of the aforementioned back-yard funeral, Anya was great at pointing out problems but not nearly as forthcoming with solutions, Spike was an alcoholic puddle on the crypt floor. Tara could offer emotional support, but not much else. And Giles, the actual certified grownup, was wandering blankly through the motions of, well, just about everything. So (argued Subversive Countrculture Hacker-cum-Superwitch Willow) obviously the only thing to do was fix up the Buffybot yet again, and pretend that Buffy Summers was alive and well. Not that that would really help much on the paying-the-mortgage front, unless they sent the Buffybot out to get a job, which at this point was looking like a better and better idea, but totally aside from all of that, the truth was, part of her simply wasn't able to bear the idea of sealing, stamping, or certifying that Buffy Summers was really most sincerely dead. The sign on the Magic Box door said "OPEN," but only a single light shone in the back of the store, illuminating the rare books section. Willow cupped her hands against the glass and peered through the blinds. She could see a dark figure hunched at the reading table. Was Giles just... sitting there, in the dark? Biting her lip, she pulled the door open. The jangle of the bell was loud in the nearly-deserted street. The hunched figure straightened. "Ah. Willow. I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you." Giles stood, a slow, jerky unwinding, and came to meet her, a particularly musty volume tucked in the crook of one elbow. His deeply line face was unutterably weary. Not just tired, but lost. Not that Willow imagined she looked particularly chipper herself; it had been a rough couple of weeks. He crossed to the checkout counter, set the book down, and flicked on the switch for the front lights, flooding the store with brilliance. Well, relative brilliance. Willow caught a glimpse of The Rituals of Osiris on the cover, embossed in eye-twisting curlicues. Giles adjusted his glasses. "I beg your pardon. I was just doing some, er, inventorying. I've been composing my final report to the Council, and frankly, I needed a bit of a breather." He trailed off, and Willow gulped. Final report? She wasn't oblivious; Giles had been chafing at the bit to go back to England for years. Or was it champing at the bit? Whatever, Giles had been doing it. But always before there'd been something – someone – to tie him to Sunnydale a little longer. "No, no, I was wondering if Anya was around? For financial-type questioning and answering. I can come back tomorrow if it's a bad time." Were there any good times? "You - you're not already finished with the report, are you? Are you sure you included all the relevant details? The monks, the Knights, the minions? Whatever was up with Ben? There was an awful lot going on." Giles replaced his glasses. "It's quite comprehensive, I assure you." He busied himself behind the counter, doing something mysterious with receipts. "I'll submit it as soon as we determine how to best... handle the details of Buffy's passing. Once that's done, I'd expect to hear back from Travers very shortly with my new assignment." Apprehension blossomed into panic. Giles couldn't leave. Not now. Everything was changing, falling apart, and she couldn't move fast enough, hold on hard enough, to keep the shards together. I have to fix this, I have to fix this, I have to fix this. "You can't leave," Willow blurted. "I mean, no matter what we do, the Hellmouth is still going to be here, being all hellish and mouthy, and if we're trying to convince the demony types that Buffy's still around – " she unslung her satchel and plunked it down on the counter top, rubbing her aching shoulder. "Shouldn't her Watcher be around too? For verisimilitude?" Giles straightened, sighed, ran a hand over his face. "Willow... we've had this conversation before." "No. No, no, we haven't." She waved her hands in agitation. "Not this one. We had a similar-yet-different, almost but not quite totally unrelated conversation! Last time you wanted to leave because you thought Buffy didn't need you around, and now – " "Buffy is no longer around to need me," Giles finished. "But that's exactly why you have to stay!" Willow pulled a sheaf of printouts from the satchel and fanned them out across the counter – schematics, wiring diagrams, reams of C++. "Buffy's gone. I've got to the get the Bot repaired if we're going to have a hope in heck of fooling Social Services, but that's a walk of the cake variety compared to getting it to fight demons on the regular, and it's – " His expression wasn't softening. Giles had serious leaving-on -a-jet-plane face. Think, think, think – what had snapped him out of it the last time he'd wanted to leave? Buffy, of course. Buffy telling him that she still needed him. But Buffy was gone. (Did it make it better or worse, saying 'gone' instead of 'dead?') Buffy couldn't need him anymore. Except, except... inspiration struck. "Giles, it's not going well. The demon-fighting of the Bot, I mean. I was hoping you could help." "Er." Giles regarded the stack of printouts with an expression of faint alarm. "I'm afraid that my expertise doesn't extend to chipsets. And what do you mean, it's not going well? The robot was quite successful against Glory." "Not that kind of help. And that's because we were basically just using her as a distraction." She leaned across the counter, voice dropping to a confidential whisper, as if the Buffybot were listening in and might get its feelings hurt. "The problem is, the Bot's strong, but she's not very tough. She's actually pretty fragile – all those delicate gears and servos and circuits. She wasn't engineered for heavy-duty demon fighting. She's got all this fighty-kicky programming based on Buffy's combat style, but when she's actually fighting a demon, if it gets its hands... claws... appendages on her, a lot of the time it can just rip her apart. That's fine if we just bring her out once a year to fight some major baddie, but if she's going to be patrolling every night? She can't heal by herself, and we have limited supplies for repairs, and..." she threw up her hands. The glasses were getting a thorough polishing again. "That's unfortunate, but I'm not seeing how I can be of assistance. I'm neither an engineer nor a programmer, Willow." You're not getting away that easily, mister. "You don't have to be! What she needs is a teacher. That's the beauty of it. She's got learning routines. I don't want to think about whatever it was Spike wanted her to learn, but she can incorporate new options into her decision trees. Someone needs to show her a different kind of fighting style, one that minimizes her chances of getting grappled. And there's nobody who can do that better than you can." Giles was wavering, she could see it. Maybe Fake Buffy was better than no Buffy. She stared up at him, beseeching, willing him to say Yes, yes, Willow, I'll stay, I'll help you. Finally, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Very well. I'll make the attempt, at any rate. But as soon as the robot is capable of protecting herself adequately, I really must – " "Oh, Giles, thank you!" Willow flung herself across the counter to give him an impulsive hug, scattering the printouts and knocking the book to the floor. She let him go with a squeak if alarm and dove after them. Giles knelt to help her pick the papers up, and she stuffed everything back into the satchel willy-nilly. "This will work, I'm sure of it! She's almost ready for a trial run – I'll call you as soon as she's ready! Oh! And I'll come back tomorrow morning to talk to Anya." She couldn't exactly say her heart was lighter as she left the store, but at least one piece of her shattered world was glued back into place, however temporarily. Surely Giles would realize after awhile, that staying was the right thing. Willow hurried along the darkening streets towards Buffy's house, where Dawn and Tara would be waiting. Tomorrow... well, maybe tomorrow Anya would have some ideas for what to do about the money, and the legal questions, and... Willow groaned. There was so much still to do, so many things she had to make right – because who else would do it? It was all too much. Even with the Bot... everything would be so much easier if only... If only Buffy wasn't... She shivered, though the late spring evening wasn't cold, not at all. Buffy was gone. Buffy was dead. And there was nothing she could do to make that right. Her eyes stung. She wiped them defiantly, then ran a thumb under the satchel strap. Her heart might be ligher(ish), but the satchel definitely seemed to be heavier. She opened the flap, peered inside. What on earth...oh. Drat. She'd stuffed Giles' spellbook in there by accident. She should return it. But she was almost back to Revello Drive, and she was going back to the Magic Box tomorrow to see Anya anyway... she'd keep it just for tonight. Maybe read a few chapters. She'd been wanting to brush up on her Egyptian rituals anyway. Maybe it would distract her from her problems, if only for a little while. What could it hurt? End comments

#IFTTT #Barb's Place

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pandylovepost · 5 years

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what are your headcanons for andy and panchos relationships with the other characters in the kingdom? ❤❤❤ I love your blog!!

ohhh i love this question & tysm!! 🧡

it ended up being rlly long so here’s the cut ;)

Pancho

•Julien; Julien is like a brother or cousin to Pancho! He trusts the king more than anything after Julien basically saved .. well himself, but also him. any scheme Julien comes up with that he knows Maurice wouldnt approve of, he’ll go to pancho

•Maurice; maurice has a kind of wary vibe around Pancho ever since Pancho suggested eating him on the sub in exiled. he’s suspicious of him mainly because he wants to protect Julien tho, & he cant shake that Pancho is (or was) a sleeper agent programmed with the sole purpose of killing his best friend so

•Clover: Pancho is kinda cautious around clover since she’s always round the corner ready to bust him & Andy’s schemes. when it comes down to it they DO work together as they aknowledge each others skillsets. literally pancho is the only lemur (from the kingdom) who’s beaten Clover in combat. just once though.

•Mort; Pancho just......aknowlegdes his existance. he’s there i guess. doesn’t find mort as terrifying & creepy as the average citizen but Panch has probably seen worse. or he just doesn’t care. mort also does crimes so theyre just aware of each other.

•Becca & Abner; he’s kinda friends with them cus Andy’s friends with them. he goes round to deliver them stuff sometimes like moonshine or weapons from Andy. He probably shouldn’t pay too much attention to their government conspiracy theories though, they tend to really freak his paranoid ass out

•Timo; Timo is scared of Pancho or at least wary. He admittadly would like to study him tho & Panch is often a great help to him doing manual labour for any of Timo’s big projects

•Masikura; she mindmelded with him once & swore never again. she just doesn’t wanna know.

•Ted; Ted has a lil crush on Pancho (he’s one of Ted’s many crushes) & Panch will lightly flirt with him sometimes when he’s in the mood to. Pancho will bicker & grouch with him but they are really tight friends especially after their time together during exiled.

•Dorothy; at first she saw Pancho as this ideal bad boy type, but then realised how bad he smells cus he hates bathing. She’ll offer him tea like she does with everyone & (begrudingly often) lets him crash with her & Ted when they all stumble back drunk after a night out. Literally her & Ted both just have a mutual crush on Pancho is that not canon though

•Willie; despite being mean to Willie like EVERYONE ELSE IS Pancho and Willie are quite good friends. He’ll go stay with him whenever he’s worried about something cus he knows Willie will understand. sometime’s he’s too panicky for Pancho to be around though cus it sets him off

•Hector; I WANT THEM TO BOND OVER MILITARY HARDSHIPS & EXPERIENCE I THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL & HEALING FOR THE BOTH OF THEM! I should write about this sometime..........

•Horst; the DJ friend who he can always have a crazy sesh with; they actually get along pretty good. except when Pancho’s out here stealing his bolos. Like with everyone, Horst just rambles to Pancho when he’s drunk.

•Tammy, Butterfish & Todd; no real connection to them besides that him & Butterfish will often do the same jobs. They usually just make casual work chat. Tammy thinks Pancho is posessed by demons but he doesn’t let that phase him.

•Karl: he’s not rlly a “kingdom citizen” but he’s about there enough so. anyway Pancho just doesn’t treat Karl like the evil genius villain he portrays at all, since Pancho’s own morality is in the grey area, which kinda infuriates Karl that Pancho just talks to him like hes a normal person. he wants Julien’s people to FEAR HIM!!

•Dr. S; Absolutely not. they don’t even really have a friendship of any kind & Pancho is terrified of going to see the doctor as Dr. S literally experiments on lemurs...he’s not about that after what happened with the previous king.......Andy often has to drag him to the hospital kicking & biting to get him to go to checkups

•Nurse Phantom; u know what they’ve never interacted in canon but I think Nurse Phantom senses how troubled & anxious he is & takes a lot of time to talk to Pancho like if ever Andy or anyone else manages to drag him to the hospital, Rob will hold his hand if it comes to it; he goes into major helpful mode like offering him fruit & telling him he’s gonna be alright. He’ll also scold him for getting into so many dangerous scrapes & tells him he’s gotta look after himself!

Andy

•Julien; for some reason Julien just refuses to exile him even after all the bad shit he’s done BUT i think that’s because Andy is overall helpful to him like he ignores all the weirdness for example when they walked in on him & that rat holding a body wrapped in leaves because hey! we need tropheys Andy fast! thats the issue here!! perhaps its Julien’s awful adhd memory though & he just genuinely forgets. Julien is close with Pancho of course so Andy’s been round to the plane for parties & dinner as Pancho’s +1 of sorts— heck even he can be “polite” when he has to be.

•Maurice; Momo hates him. hates him hates him theres no turning back. i mean its hard not to when most of the citizens suffer from rediculous lemur stupidity & ur the only one who can see through this bat when he’s just standing there chatting shit. Very suspicious of Andy— plus he just thinks he’s creepy

•clover; LMAO bUT .....like obviously she hates him for good reason. but i do have this hc that’s way too long to write out that after Julien, Maurice & Mort literally fucked off to go with the zoosters in madagascar 2 Clover was literally responsible for two kingdoms cus she couldnt just leave them with a gecko in charge. I just want some situation where theres a proper twist & Andy ends up mellowing the hell out & actually being useful to her & the kingdom...he has skills but he uses them for nefarious reasons. She’d probably save his life somehow in the post-Julien chaos & he’d b like....”why would YOU of all people save ME?” n she’d b like... “well you are technically a citizen of this kingdom and ....i’ve gotta make sure you’re ALL safe for when ..... if King Julien ever gets back.....”

•mort; ??? sometimes theyre legit business partners. Mort can get in on a good scam. that second rub’s gonna cost ya. theyve probably been in the same prison before at one point. Mort’s so old.

•Becca & Abner; his fellow anti-establishment pals!! he doesn’t fully believe all of their ideas & theories but he loves em cus they’ll always buy self defence scorps off him. They get along & they drink a lot together by the stagnant watering hole. they’ve seen Andy in horrible states; all 3 of them are an idiot squad when theyre together. Becca & Andy argue a lot cus even she thinks some of the things he says are wack sometimes

•Timo; i have this hc that Timo, Andy & Karl knew each other when they were kids they kinda bonded together during school cus they were three non-lemur losers who got bullied for their eccentricity & varying levels of intelligence. Timo will sometimes go to Andy for stuff but he is his last resort really

•Masikura; probably mindmelded with him once & just saw a vision of him daydreaming about being kissed by Pancho & since then she was like. “Im not scared of the bird demon he’s just a big softie. where is my shipment of “ect” for my tea, that bird demon’s late again—“

•Ted; Ted is such an easy mark he can sell almost anything to him if he’s cheery enough. Helps that Ted thinks he’s really cute so Andy can just easily sweet talk him into buying whatever dodgy product he’s got at the moment. he knows & interacts with Ted mainly through Pancho being his friend!

•Dorothy; rlly wild hc actually that Dorothy used to be a propper crime don before she settled down with Ted— or when Ted was shifting into Snake more frequently back in the day for whatever reason—so Andy knows her from the criminal underworld. Cus of this he’s very respectful towards her... he’s seen what she’s capable of

•Willie; Andy could walk round the corner with his wings outstretched & say “boo” & Willie would pass out from shock. He’s also very easy for Andy to sell to- his fearmongering really works on Willie he’s very suseptable to it

•Hector; Hector doesn’t take any of Andy’s crap he’d probably just hit him with a broom if he came round his hut to sell him dodgy hand cream honestly

•Horst; Andy keeps him topped up with a steady supply of beverages...........Horst will actually sometimes ask him & Pancho for help with importing various new vinyl records

•Tammy, Butterfish & Todd; that family buys a LOT of product off him since they’re just typical americans basically he finds it rlly easy & reliable to sell stuff like drinks & toys to them. Tammy kinda hates Andy though & like Pancho, thinks he’s a demon. Doesn’t help that Mort nicknamed him “bird demon”.

•Karl; like with Timo i hc he knew him when they were in highschool—! Karl found Andy infuriating & so annoying though & didn’t consider him a friend at all. a lot of his early lazer guns were born from Karl’s growing need to shoot Andy out of the sky cus he’d fly up to get out of reach of his claws when he’d annoyed him.

•Dr. S; i hc that Andy and Dr.S are business or trading partners of sorts but they keep it very lowkey. Andy probably handles hits and the crazy snake doctor requires bodies and “test subjects” for his manic experiments. Andy is the perfect guy for the job! When Nurse Phantom is unable, Andy will hide the evidence of Dr.S’ malpractice for a reasonable fee, of course. He dislikes going to checkups himself though— he doesn’t like people knowing too much about him! Plus Dr.S always “””jokes””” about “””studying””” him because he finds the fact Andy is a flying mammal facinating & talks about using Andy’s wings to create a frankenstein flying lemur.

•Nurse Phantom; Rob just lectures him about being reckless & getting into fights everytime he sees him. Kinda the same as Dr. S really, but he does tell him like.. Hey I used to be pretty mean & put people in danger too. And that there’s always time to turn another leaf. Andy usually just scoffs, collects his paycheck, & leaves.

#THANK U SOO MUCH ILY 🧡#HOPEFULLY THIS DOESNT LOOK LIKE SHIT I WROTE THIS ALL UP ON MOBILE TOOK ME LKE 3 HOURS LOL #LOVE THINKIN ABT THIS SOO MUCH MAKES ME WNNA WRITE .....HMM MOTIVATION LOL #ASKS #8⚠️⚠️#ahkj #long post

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hippychick006 · 6 years

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5.01 - Sympathy for the Devil

I had almost completed this recap when chrome decided to freeze on me. Normally I autosave, but Tumblr doesn’t have this feature and I forgot to save as I went along. As a result, I’m slightly more irked than normal so this might show in the writing.

It’s long again. That’s only partly due to the fact there’s so much going on: we have Sam, Dean, Zachariah, Castiel, Nick, Bobby, Chuck... and far from being overwhelmed and giving me whiplash, the story is all linked to a single thread. It’s interesting and engaging, and the actors all do an amazing job, so this episode is definitely worth a re-watch, especially if you like your heart getting ripped out of your chest while it’s still beating.

The rest of the length is due to having so many issues, both from a narrative and retconning perspective. Part of the problem is I’m bringing some of the pandering dialogue from the last few years back to the earlier episodes and it just makes these episodes even more painful to watch than they were the first time around.

Thunderstruck by AC/DC plays as we recap on Season 4. It’s not any less traumatic in recap.

We open exactly where we left off. Sam and Dean are in the convent holding on to each other. We don’t stay there for long though as just when things start looking dodgy, Sam and Dean are transported onto an airplane. I like the inflight cartoon is a clip of Yosemite Sam in front of the devil. Nice touch.

Just when they think they are safe, a bright white light shoots up from the ground (obviously from the convent) and the force causes the airplane to veer off course. The oxygen masks descend, and the plane shakes violently. I think even Sammy might be all aboard the nope to flying ever again train after his second experience of a flight almost crashing.

They land fine though because next time we see them, they are in a car that isn’t baby. The digital readout on the radio gives it away, and I remember baby is back at Bobby’s as Dean was teleported in the last episode. There’s no decent rock music, it’s all hurricanes, nuclear tests, earthquakes and swine flu. Sam turns it off and tries to speak to Dean. Dean says not to say anything, that it’s okay, they just need to keep their heads down and figure things out. First things first, find Cass.

Chuck’s house is an explosion, blood is splattered everywhere. And as they look around, Sam suddenly gets whacked hard in the face with a toilet plunger. Turns out to be Chuck, he’s survived and he’s surprised to see them. He asks if Sam is okay. Sam responds, “Well, my head hurts.” I love sarcastic Sam, we don’t get enough of him. Chuck clarifies: “No, I mean—I mean, my—My last vision. You went, like, full-on Vader. Your body temperature was one-fifty. Your heart rate was two hundred. Your eyes were black. Dean: “Your eyes went black?” Sam turns back to look at him, “I didn’t know.”

Dean asks where Cass is and Chuck says he exploded. After 10 seasons of Cass and 3 years of “Where’s Cass?” on social media, I would be cheering this outcome now, but Season 5 me is a little sad.

Sam indicates that Chuck has something stuck in his hair. Turns out it’s a molar. Chuck: “This has been a really stressful day.”

Zachariah turns up (and for the purposes of my fingers, he’s now Zach), Dean’s pissed and going nowhere with them as “You sons of bitches jump started judgement day”.

Zach: Maybe we let it happen. We didn’t start anything. Right, Sammy? [Zach winks at Sam]. I control my red mist of rage and quietly start a tally of how many times Sam will be blamed by the narrative for starting the apocalypse.

Zach wisely ignores my angry typing and continues: “You had a chance to stop your brother and you couldn’t. So, let's not quibble over who started what. Let's just say it was… all our faults and move on…

Oh Zach, if only we could, but at least twice more in this episode alone, not to mention years later, the narrative will still be pointing the finger at Sammy.

Zach is very keen to put the past betrayals behind them. They’re back on the same team again. As he puts it: “You want to kill the devil. We want you to kill the devil. It's...synergy.” I love Zach. Yes, he’s a dick, but you know where you are with him. He’s not sneaking off stealing colts while pretending to be besties.

Dean unsurprisingly after the last episode has trust issues and suggests that Zach “Cram it with walnuts, ugly.” Zach gets hissy. He tells them they need to strike before Lucifer finds his vessel. Sam asks “Lucifer needs a meat suit?”

Zach confirms this and that Dean can stop him, but he will need the help of the angels. Dean though, doesn’t want jack squat from the two-faced douchebags (his words). Dean soon gets bored with the conversation and pulls a door towards him. We see it has the angel banishing symbol on it. Dean slams his hand on the door and Zach and his goons disappear. Dean: Learned that from my friend Cas, you son of a bitch.

Wait, hold on. Back the fuck right up. The guy that forced you to face and torture Alastair, lied to you about what exactly you were signing up for, betrayed you by not telling you about heaven’s plans for your brother - and you do not want me to get started on the panic room fiasco. He finally does one right thing and you not only trust him, he’s been elevated to friend? That guy? GTFO with that nonsense. Heh, watching when you no longer like a character gets you to see everything in a new light.

Chuck: This sucks ass.

Well thank you Chuck, for that observation. It does indeed suck ass. I had no idea on re-watching I would have so many issues with a Kripke episode.

We next see Sam coming down a staircase to enter a motel. He enters the room and throws a hex bag to Dean saying, there’s no way angels or demons will find them with those. Dean asks where he got it from and Sam says he made it (his face is so earnest here). Dean asks how and Sam’s reluctant to tell him, but Dean looks at him and he says. “I…I learned it from Ruby.”

I love Sam’s face in this interaction, but I’m going to call the scene out. Dean knows about the hex bags. He learned about them in season 3, from Ruby herself. He even used them himself in 4.18. I’m going to ignore the hypocrisy that it seems to be okay to use something learned from an angelic lying skank that betrayed them (the angel banishing sigil), but not something else from a demonic lying skank that betrayed them (a hex bag). Oh wait, I’m not ignoring the hypocrisy at all because I’ve just called it out! Increasingly bitter 10 minutes into the episode, we move on.

Dean asks if Sam’s “jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or what?” Sam says no, whoever put him on that plane cleaned him up. He tries to speak to Dean again. He doesn’t get further than Dean’s name. Dean responds sharply, “Sam” and turns and walks away saying it’s okay, that Sam doesn’t have to say anything.

Sam: Well, that's good. Because what can I even say? "I'm sorry"? "I screwed up"? Doesn't really do it justice, you know? Look, there's nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right… (bolding for the people that say Sam doesn’t own up to his mistakes, even if he makes them unknowingly).

Dean (angrily): So why do you keep bringing it up?! Sam keeps quiet and Dean continues, “Look, all I'm saying is, why do we have to put this under a microscope? We made a mess. We clean it up. That's it.”

Ha ha, if only that were true. Let me just stop you there, Dean and quote your own words, Season 8, episode 23: “All right. Well, I’m just spit-balling here, but if I were you, uh…Ruby, killing Lilith, letting Lucifer out, losing your soul (don’t get me started on this one either ffs or these recaps will turn into war and peace), not looking for me when I went to Purgatory…”

While I’m still not so quietly seething, they talk about what they would do if it was any other hunt and decide they need to find Lucifer.

Cut to our first view of Mark Pellegrino as pre-Lucifer, Nick. I liked Season 5 Lucifer (both Mark and Jared’s versions) so I liked all of these scenes the first watch. I like Hallucifer in Season 7. I like a couple of scenes after that; e.g. Sam in the cage with Lucifer in season 11 and Sam again with Lucifer in the cave in Season 13, but other than that, I’m done with Nick/Lucifer and his storyline (plus all the angels). Anyway, to rudely cut Nick’s scene short, his dead wife appears in his bed and says: “It's you, Nick. You're special. You're chosen.”

Oh, I forgot superfan psycho!Becky (online username samlicker81, webmistress of morethanbrothers dot net) was in this one. Enough said about her the better. I do like her room has a poster of Route 666 and The Benders. The first was Kripke’s least favourite episode, and since the Benders was in no way a clunker episode, I’m going to presume it’s one of his favourites. Becky is writing wincest: "And then Sam touched…No…caressed Dean's clavicle. 'This is wrong,' said Dean. 'Then I don't want to be right,' replied Sam, in a husky voice." I’d have to nope out of that fic, or swap the names around, if only because Sam doesn’t have a husky voice, Dean does. Anyway, Chuck calls Becky, asking for her help to get a message to Sam and Dean.

Back at the hotel, Sam’s at the table reading John’s journal and Dean is watching TV.

Voice 1 on the television: How would you then explain an earthquake, a hurricane, and multiple tornadoes, all at the same time, all around the globe?

Voice 2: Two words. Carbon emissions.

Dean (to voice 2): Yeah, right, wavy gravy.

I love these little pieces the show put in. Much better use of dialogue than pandering.

There’s a knock at the door, Dean readies his gun. Sam answers to reveal it’s superfangirl Becky. Becky turns out to be one of those fans that don’t respect boundaries as she touches Sam’s chest. She says she knows he’s Sam Winchester “and you’re…” Becky looks at Dean who is sitting on the bed watching “… not what I pictured.” Becky invites herself into the room, telling them she’s read all about them and even written a few… Anyway, she tells them she has a message from Chuck but that he’s being watched by Angels, “Nice change-up to the mythology, by the way. The demon stuff was getting kind of old.”

Oh Becky, Becky, Becky. Season 14, and we’re still on the angel crap 10 years later, so stow 3 years of demons getting old bullshit. Weeps for what once was, angels would have finished end season 6, which Gamble tried to do, but no, we get 8 more seasons and counting.

They get the message out of Becky. Chuck had a vision: “The Michael sword is on earth. The angels lost it.” and it’s “In a castle, on a hill made of forty-two dogs.” Did Castiel send this message? It’s got his cryptic fingers all over it. She touches Sam’s chest again.

Jealous!Dean alert!

Omega!Sam glances nervously over at his Alpha before asking Becky to quit touching him (in retrospect, I think that was just the fan fic version of this episode). Becky does not respect Sam’s wishes.

Bobby arrives at the motel and Dean checks to make sure he wasn’t followed. They don’t check him for demon signs and vice versa because they all have anti possession tattoos or charms (this bit’s important in a minute). But Dean does check to make sure Bobby wasn’t followed:

Bobby: You mean by angels, demons, or Sam's new superfan?

Sam (laughing): You heard.

Bobby: I heard, Romeo…

Bobby explains about Michael who used the sword to “boot Lucifer’s ass to the basement” during the last big dust up upstairs. (because over the last couple of seasons, Sam’s forgotten how to do research on his own). They ask the wise one how they find the sword. Bobby responds. “Divvy up and start reading—try and make sense of Chuck's nonsense.” Well thank goodness Bobby’s here! .

Sam gets up and goes to get a book. He looks troubled. Bobby asks if he’s all right. Sam says no, that this is all his fault. Dean tries to warn him to stop, but Sam keeps going; says that Lilith didn’t break the final seal, that she was the final seal and that Sam killed her and set Lucifer free (entirely on his own, because Dean did not break the foundation stone that allowed the others to fall and 64 other seals just magically put their hands up in surrender and keeled over without any intervention). But it’s okay for Dean to be tricked by Hell into doing something, but not Sam. Okay show.

Bobby has forgotten the entirety of season 4 was to stop the seals being broken and that everyone was fully on board with the plan to kill Lilith and stop the final seal being broken as he asks, “you what”

Sam: You guys warned me about Ruby, the demon blood, but I didn't listen. I brought this on.

Bolding this line for the people that say Sam doesn’t take responsibility for his actions, which he’s done twice now in this single episode. Shame no one else is stepping forward and putting their hands up. Also bolding, because they warned Sam about Ruby and the demon blood, but not that killing Lilith was the final seal, because none of them knew that, so how Lilith was killed and who did it is 100% irrelevant, when they all thought killing her would stop the apocalypse, not start it.

Dean says nothing throughout this next piece, watching as Bobby stands up and walks closer. I want to say this scene is set up brilliantly. Both Dean and Bobby are on a raised platform, looking down on Sam as if in judgement. Kudos, because that’s exactly what’s happening here. Bobby: “You're damn right you didn't listen. You were reckless and selfish and arrogant. Sam says he’s sorry. And Bobby responds: “Oh, yeah? You're sorry you started Armageddon? This kind of thing don't get forgiven, boy. If, by some miracle, we pull this off...I want you to lose my number. You understand me?”

Sam just nods, he’s not expecting Bobby’s response to be anything different, and that just breaks my heart. Sam suggests he go to a Church nearby and see what they have on the lore. Bobby: Yeah. You do that.

We see a shot of Sam walking outside and I’m on the point of tears. And if we question why the narrative is written this way, it’s because of Jared Padalecki’s face all the way through this episode. The writers don’t hate Sam, they just love kicking him, so we get moments like this. And dammit, because I do love these scenes we get, even though I hate the narrative that’s giving me them.

Bobby and Dean are doing research. Bobby says he’d never have guessed that John was right about either saving Sam or killing him. That maybe they should’t have tried to hard to save him. “He ended the world, Dean. And you and I weren’t strong enough to stop him proper. That’s on us. I’m just saying, your dad was right.”

I glare at Bobby and remind him he was in 7 episodes last season, not a single one of which did he try and “save” Sam. In fact, he was pushing to use Sam’s powers in 4.21.

Instead of this triggering a punch to the face, or even a protest from Dean, it triggers him to remember something in his dad’s journal. He searches through his bag and pulls out a zip lock bag which contains business cards. The one he’s looking for is to their dad’s lockup in upstate New York which is called “Castle Storage”, located at “42 Rover Hill." The cryptic message is solved and that’s good enough for Bobby who punches Dean, knocking him through the fence on the raised platform. Bobby advances and attacks again. We see Bobby’s eyes go black. And I’m really hoping the show will explain this as Bobby has anti possession protection. (Warning, the show does not explain this).

Two demons enter the room while Bobby grabs Dean by the throat and drags him to his feet. The female demon seems to be the one in charge and does all the talking. Long story short, it’s Meg (Dean incorrectly guessed Ruby before she gave him another try). I wasn’t sure about Rachel’s version of Meg at first, it was difficult shoes to fill, but she grew on me. Meg is delighted the apocalypse has started, and for the third time this episode we get Sam single handedly starting the apocalypse: “We really owe your brother a fruit basket.” Dean on the other hand, is a bump in the road to them getting their demon utopia of hell on earth and every demon is going to be gunning for a piece of him.

Dean (smirking): Get in line.

Meg: Oh, I'm in the front of the line, baby. Let's ride.

Instead of getting her hands dirty though, she hands the knife to Demon!Bobby saying she wants Dean’s surrogate daddy to be the one to kill him. Bobby attacks and we see him struggle, but his eyes turn black. He raises the knife. Dean: “Bobby! No!” The black fades from Bobby’s eyes, the knife comes down, and Bobby flashes that orange colour to signify the demon inside dying. Bobby has stabbed himself rather than Dean and what a sacrifice. Really sad to see Bobby go.

Dean is pissed that his retconned surrogate daddy has been killed and punches Meg. The other demon attacks him, but luckily, Sam’s decided to come back for more judgement and sees the situation. He goes to help and gets slammed in the face with a telephone, knocking him back against the wall. And this really isn’t Sam’s day.

Meg: Heya, Sammy. You miss me? 'Cause I sure missed you.

Sam: Meg

At least Sam knows his demons. And Meg’s happy to be recognised. Sam swings and it’s clear Meg needs to get the upper hand for plot reasons as he completely misses. (this should really go under dumb Winchesters because Sam has an uppercut that would have lifted demon!meg off her feet, but I’ll assume it’s because he has slight concussion from 2 blows to the head and let it slide). Meg takes full advantage of the plot, punching Sam a couple of times, kicking him in the boy bits and knocking him to the ground. I’m presuming this is all so we can get our “Sam lying helpless on the floor with the demon pulling his hair” kink filled. And damn the show for knowing me so well (quietly sends show a fruit basket). “It's not so easy without those super-special demon powers, huh, Sammy?” Meg taunts. Both boys are getting trounced here, but finally it’s time for Dean to get the upper hand and start showing the 20+ years of training he’s had up to this point. He takes the legs out from under his demon, takes the knife out of Bobby and stabs the demon. Orange flashing indicates the demon (and the human he’s hitched a ride with) are dead. Dean stands and advances on Meg who backs away then smokes out of there.

Back to Nick. Upshot of his scene is that his baby died. This was sad at the time, and now I don’t really care.

Sam and Dean are at the emergency room, helping Bobby who… well let’s just say he’s a lot less dead than I was expecting. Back the fuck up for the third time this recap. Checks back to 4.04 (Metamorphosis):

SAM: I'm pulling demons out of innocent people. DEAN: Use the knife! SAM: The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year.

I really hope this gets explained. (Note, it doesn’t seem to get explained this episode, so it now negates Sam using his demon powers instead of the knife, if all they have to do is stab someone in the gut to kill the demon, but not the host). Bobby’s put on a gurney, Sam and Dean try to follow, but Judgy McJudgerson nurse says to not move, she’s got questions (she totally suspects them of being the stabbers). Sam looks distressed (he’s possibly already worried the narrative of the next episode will be blaming him for Bobby getting possessed and stabbing himself). Dean says. “Sammy, we got to go.” Sam doesn’t want to go, but Dean tells him the demons know where the sword is and they’ve got to get it before the demons.

They arrive at the storage locker, but when they get inside, the demons are already dead. They look around confused.

Zach: I see you told the demons where the sword is.

Me (at the TV): Oh great, the angels are here.

Dean: Oh, thank god. The angels are here.

Fine, Dean said it better.

Zach TK’s the doors closed. Long scene short, the angels planted the prophesy inside Chuck’s head. They had lost the sword but the Winchester’s just hand-delivered it to them. Dean is confused saying they don’t have anything. Zach tells Dean that he’s the Michael sword and gets quite nasty about it: “What, you thought you could actually kill Lucifer? You simpering wad of insecurity and self-loathing? No. You're just a human, Dean. And not much of one.”

Dean asks what Zach means by him being a sword. Zach explains he’s Michael’s weapon or more accurately, his receptacle. Dean realises what this means. “I’m a vessel?” Not just a vessel Dean, but the vessel; Michael’s vessel which Zach says is a great honour. Dean begs to differ:

Dean: Oh, yeah. Yeah, life as an angel condom. That's real fun. I think I'll pass, thanks.

Uriel – being the funniest angel in the garrison - might have found that line funny. Zach has a lot less humour. “Always joking. Well...no more jokes.” He raises his hand, fingers like a gun pointing at Dean, then he switches over to Sam. Bang. A bone cracks and Sam collapses.

Dean (angrily): You son of a bitch!

Zach’s completely done with screwing around though and if Dean keeps mouthing off, he’ll break more than just Sam’s legs. Dean figures out though that Michael will need his say so to ride around in his skin and gives his answer “Eat me. The answer’s no.”

Zach tries a carrot, “Okay. How about this? Your friend Bobby—we know he's gravely injured. Say yes, and we'll heal him.” Quickly followed by the stick, “Say no, he'll never walk again.”

Dean says no, even when Zach gives him stage four stomach cancer and he’s coughing up blood. Zach hasn’t got to head honcho for no reason though and goes straight back to Dean’s biggest weakness: “Then let's get really creative. Uh, let's see how...Sam does without his lungs.” Dean turns to look at SAM, who gasps for breath. Dean says to just kill them, but Zach is only just getting started.

A bright light flashes, Zach turns and one of the angel’s has a hole in his throat. It’s Castiel (season 5 me: yay Castiel survived! Season 14 me: oh my god, you’re like a cockroach!). Zach obviously isn’t a fighter because he just watches as Castiel and the remaining angel fight. And this must be an episode where Castiel has to look good, because he’s killing these fight scenes. A second angel dies. Zach’s too important to the plot to die right now so Castiel and he have a conversation (meanwhile no one worry about Sammy not breathing or anything, I’m sure he’s fine).

Zach asks “how are you…” but get’s no further before Castiel answers: “Alive? That's a good question. How did these two end up on that airplane? Another good question. 'Cause the angels didn't do it. I think we both know the answer, don't we?. Zach says it’s not possible. Castiel: “It scares you. Well, it should. Now, put these boys back together and go. I won't ask twice.”

Zach vanishes and Castiel admonishes Sam and Dean, telling them they need to be more careful. Dean says “Yeah, I'm starting to get that. Your frat brothers are bigger dicks than I thought.”

Castiel says he doesn’t mean the angels. “Lucifer is circling his vessel (he looks at Sam). “And once he takes it, those hex bags won't be enough to protect you.” Without warning he puts one hand on Dean’s chest, the other on Sam’s. They wince in pain and when they ask what he did, he says he carved an enochian sigil into their ribs which will hide them from every angel, including Lucifer.

Sam asks if Cass was really dead and he responds yes. Dean asks how he’s back. But Castiel doesn’t answer. He vanishes with a dramatic flap of wings, leaving Sam and Dean alone. FFS Castiel, I thought we were done with this cryptic bullshit and flouncing off when you defected last season.

Back to Nick. His dead wife is back though she tells him she’s Lucifer. He tells Nick he’s special. There's very, very few people like you (true, until later seasons). Long scene short, Nick says yes to being Lucifer’s vessel.

Back to the hospital, Bobby who shouldn’t even be breathing, let alone speaking, is heard yelling from behind his closed hospital room door about being unlikely to walk again. The door opens and a doctor runs out. We see Sam and Dean leaning against the window. Bobby’s in the bed, still yelling after the doctor “…Yeah, you better run!”

Sam asks what they should do now. Bobby says save as many as they can, but whoever wins, they’re boned. Dean left fields with “What if we win?” Bobby and Sam stare at him as Dean continues that he’s serious. Screw them all. "Hell, they want to fight a war, they can find their own planet. This one's ours, and I say they get the hell off it. We take 'em all on. We kill the devil. Hell, we even kill Michael if we have to. But we do it our own damn selves.” Bobby questions how they are supposed to do that. Dean responds: “I got no idea. But what I do have is a GED and a give-'em-hell attitude, and I'll figure it out.”

Bobby looks at Sam who shrugs in response. Dean pats Bobby on the shoulder and tells him to get better then heads for the door, Sam noticeably doesn’t go to Bobby, he follows Dean. Bobby calls Sam and he stops. Bobby tells him, “I was awake. I know what I said back there. I just want you to know that...that was the demon talking. I ain't cutting you out, boy. Not ever.”

If only the episode had ended there, but no. We see Dean and Sam walking across the parking lot. Sam’s enthusiastic after Dean’s rousing speech and suggests that maybe they go after the colt. Dean asks what difference that would make.

Sam: Well, we could use it on Lucifer. I mean, you just said back there—

Dean: I just said a bunch of crap for Bobby's benefit. He stops and Sam also stops and looks at Dean as he continues, “I mean (laughs), I'll fight. I'll fight till the last man, but let's at least be honest. I mean, we don't stand a snowball's chance, and you know that. I mean, hell, you of all people know that.” Dean walks around Sam to get past him.

Sam (heavy sigh): Is there something you want to say to me?

Dean looks at Sam for a long moment: “I tried, Sammy. I mean, I really tried...

Quickly looks to see where in the episode Dean “really tried”, but comes up with a bunch of emptiness. [I need to remind people, I love Dean, I hate the narrative, in the same way in season 8, I’ll be saying I love Sam, I hate the narrative].

“...But I just can't keep pretending that everything's all right. Because it's not. And it's never going to be. You chose a demon over your own brother— (Sam rolls his eyes, as do I) —and look what happened.

Sam: I would give anything—anything—to take it all back.

Dean: I know you would. And I know how sorry you are. I do. But, man...you were the one that I depended on the most. And you let me down in ways that I can't even... Dean pauses, struggling for words:. I'm just—I'm having a hard time forgiving and forgetting here. You know?

Sam asks what he can do. And Dean says nothing. That doesn’t surprise Sam. Dean continues: “I just don't...I don't think that we can ever be what we were. You know?” Again, Sam’s just nodding in agreement. Dean: “I just don't think I can trust you. Sam looks up and we see that he wasn’t expecting this. Not sure why, as this was the whole problem of Season 4.

The episode ends with Dean in baby and Sam standing in the parking lot.

Up next, more heartache and brother angst in Good God y’all.

#supernatural #rewatch #season 5 #5.01 #sympathy for the devil #spn critical

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theparanormalperiodical · 5 years

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The 8 Spiritual Festivals You Should be Checking out This Summer

Summer is hard, ok.

It’s too hot to enjoy anything aside from lying down in the dark, and for the spiritualists among us, you have to ditch the duvet and sacrifice your left foot to the demon from Insidious to avoid overheating.

But this season doesn’t redeem itself just by the blades of fresh sunlight cutting through our grey English skies.

Festivals are now a mandatory summer experience, if the drama of Coachella 2019 clogging up your feed hasn’t told you that, yet.

Calling all paranormal fanatics, pagans, wiccans, witches, and wannabes: if you’re looking to connect with your inner spirit and set it free, here are the best UK festivals which should be on your to-do list.

1 – Stonehenge Summer Solstice Gathering, 18th June – 21st June

Even though the ‘what’s’, ‘who’ and ‘why’s’ still ring out about this mysterious location, one thing is very clear: this reigns supreme as the number one spiritual location in the UK.

And although its history clearly goes back further than the 20th century, it still remains a place of political contestation, despite its mystical setting.

There was once a Stonehenge free festival, yet a clash with the British police ended this celebration, reducing the solstice gathering to the few days it currently has. But nevertheless, you can still gather, get your spooky on, and even sleep at the famous stones as you wait for the sunrise.

The reason spiritual folk flock isn’t just for the location, however: the summer solstice is when the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, and thus the day is the longest in the year. As a result, cultures dating back centuries have celebrated this moment, marking it with the festivals and rituals that are emulated today.

The experience doesn’t stop there – exhibits celebrating this historic location can provide an easy break from waiting for the sun to come up. From reconstructed Neolithic houses to the gadgets kept within them, you certainly won’t be getting bored here (even if it is in Wiltshire).

2 – Buddhafield, 17th July – 21st july

The name should key you in on the focus of this festival – yep, its all about Buddhism.

But the name itself actually derives from a much more intriguing concept than a field just off of the coast of Cornwall; the concept originates in the Mahayana Buddhist Sutras which were believed to be planes of beauty created by Buddha. Thus, they are considered the perfect location for getting spiritual.

So, trade your beer gardens for this small festival in Somerset, and get in tune with not just yourself, but also the land you are walking on. Whether your keen on getting crafty, getting down to the live music, or making a mess of meditation, all are welcome.

The Buddhist teaching and workshops will keep you busy for the whole week. But what if you just can’t get enough?

Head on over to Glastonbury as many Buddhafield fans tend to do.

3 – The Spirit of Awen, 31st July to 4th August

“Join us and experience the magic of Awen, journey with us between the sacred realms of existence.”

Gloucestershire might not sound like a sacred realm, but for this pagan and druid festival, it provides the perfect setting for the workshops to inspire and celebrate our spirituality.

With the promises of music, mutual celebration and mead in toe, this shared experience should defo be on your summer to-do list.

4 – Wild Heart Gathering, 17th august – 21st august

Spiritual festivals might appear as ‘cosy’ – AKA small – gatherings, but did you know that this event actually has 2 festivals due to the volume of demand?

Whether you’re free in May, or feeling lacklustre in August, this festival will have room for you.

And not just in terms of the timing of these gatherings; from workshops, to performances, to healers, you can truly follow your own path of re-connection with yourself and the world around you. Even though it sounds more for the stressed and less for the spiritual, the wide variety of activities you can partake in means all are welcome.

5 – Bestival

One of the UK’s most popular festivals, this might not sound like the spiritual realm for you, but with an inflatable church, an angle temple and ‘sound healing’ (it is a music festival, after all), this 4-day event has something for everyone.

If you’re looking to boogie - or be at one with yourself – you will find it in Dorset (who knew!).

Plus, as an environmentally friendly festival, you can rock up in a campervan or rent out one of their glamping pods and truly get your hippy on. Be at one with yourself? Be at one with the whole damn world.

6 – Mind, Body and Spirit Festival

Okay, this festival wins the prize for most obvious title, but does it do what it says on the tin?

Well, yes, actually.

It has 33 years of history rooted in bringing people together from all corners of the UK and unleashing their inner spirit, as well as opening themselves up to new experiences.

It has even been considered an exhibition for the pursuit of more creative and healthier lifestyles, offering a place of commune and shelter for new ideas to be shared among thinkers alike, and not so alike. The diversity of ideologies brought together here confirms that you can learn and find your own path to reconnecting with your spirituality.

And did you know that it is one of the largest and oldest events of this nature in the world?

7 – Nest, 20th May - 27th may

If you’re inspired by the festivals across the pond, and your back yard can’t recreate Coachella, head on over to Exeter for this festival.

Inspired by Burning Man, this is an event focusing on the togetherness of people, and not doing dodgy drugs and staring at a stage for a few hours.

This year’s theme echoes this: Primordial Weekend.

2019 is all about galivanting in a ‘wonderland’ and recreating the dinosaur days of yonder years ago. Whether your partaking in a primal workshop, or building your forest lair, don’t forget to go wild.

And there we have it: whether your looking to reconnect with your inner peace, get your witch on, or just party to some banging tunes, there is a festival for you, all summer long, baby.

It is only ever a train ticket and a few pairs of pants away. Well, maybe pack a stick of deodorant too, and some sunscreen. Like I said: Summer is hard, ok.

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kristie-rp · 5 years

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Paimon

Royal flames will carve a path in chaos Bringing daylight to the night Hail to the King - Avenged Sevenfold

2750 + Demon King Pyrokinesis Abdicated Demon King, Information Broker

When the deities created earth, they gave it a God. God created a host of angels, and, when one renounced its’ faith, that angel was sent down, forced to fall: this angel, Lucifer, became Satan, and gained infamy as the face of all evil on earth. But this was a job that could not be managed alone, and so Satan created demons to serve him, to make deals and increase his power. Paimon was the first of these.

Paimon was crafted from the deepest pits of the earth, from the places where magma have domain. That power was contained in a human-sized shell, given a humanoid form that was twisted and warped. The thing originally consisted of a gaping black maw, wide empty holes where eyes ought to reside, and a skin that shimmered between gray and a rust red. He dealt in information and made deals with humans to gain and sell whatever they wanted to know, and he was good at it. He had more capacity to learn than his siblings, and more capacity for curiosity. Paimon eventually crafted for himself a human visage, one tall and pale and sharp in all the ways that passed as vaguely unnerving to humans, but not enough to warrant panic. And so he gained the ability to walk among mankind, to offer information and initiate demons without the need for being summoned. He gained power this way, despite being away from his throne in the depths of Hell.

It was at this point that he met Christabella. A mistake on the part of someone else - Death, perhaps, but in that case it was not likely a mistake so much as an ill-advised experiment, or maybe a consequence of a dodgy gamble - led to her soul being sentenced to Hell, and he found her in his throne room assigned to serve him. Only, she was so annoyingly pure, and corruption of that like was not his domain - so he dismissed her from his service, and allowed her to be reborn on the mortal plane, as was the norm for human souls.

He’s not sure when the fascination started, but before he was 500 years old, in mortal terms, he found himself seeking Christabella on the surface. She had begun to influence him, something he refused to acknowledge; at 700 years old, his possessiveness of her was closer to that of a lover than anything else. Their first few experiences as lovers were scattered and awkward, considering the concept of anything less than inherently selfish was entirely novel to him - to any demons.

It was when Christabella birthed a daughter by him that he suffered a wake up call. He didn’t want to lose her - Christabella, that is. He didn’t much care for the child behind an absent pride, a curiosity about this thing he had helped create - after all, Gina was the first half-demon, and he had no way of knowing what her existence could mean at that point. Instead of trying to find out, he used her as a bargaining chip, and arranged for her to be wed to a lesser demon, a non-King with the ability to grant immortality. Real immortality, none of the imitation attempts that had started to crop up in mortal populations through vampirism and the like. But the hybrid rebelled and disappeared from the land Paimon was easily able to sweep across, and it shook his worldview.

Future children were numerous, and eventually, between the efforts of Christabella and their offspring, Paimon was something closer to human than he had been initially. He strayed enough that he abdicated his crown, which caused the chaos rising in Hell to reach a breaking point. He was largely uninvolved in the chaos, and elected to linger in the mortal realm - on Earth, either courting Christabella, or waiting for her.

These days, Paimon continues to work as an information broker in Port Lyndon, though his deals have changed over the years. Prices can range from favours to goods, but he no longer trades for souls unless the summoner is particularly malicious. A hot temper and fierce protectiveness continue to burn within him, but with Christabella’s help, he keeps it tightly controlled - enough to avoid the attention of those who might harm those he cares for. Mostly. His power has shifted to seemingly have an emphasis on flame and pyrokinesis, instead of the abilities given to all demonic Kings. It’s entirely possible his powers have started to shift as his sense of morality has developed - but if they have, he keeps it close to his chest, where those who might use this information to their own ends are not in a position to do so.

#bio: paimon #paimon #fc: ian somerhalder #kgraphics #kristie's graphics #bio

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overfedvenison · 6 years

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Dnd Journal, Session 8

Alright, session 8! Resolution, and a new enemy appears

Characters: CHARNAME: My fighter. A student of the Storm Petrel school, usually goes by Charn Erdrick: A dwarven fighter and prince Tosh: A kitsune ally. Social, talkative... And the only person who can track Charn. Demon Slayer: A demon slaying elf from another plane. Rescued from a crystal isn a hidden Veil outpost. An NPC party member that joins us occasionally Walter: A green and exemplary soldier from the Black Ravens. Always positive.

Rilo: The murderer of Okra, and empowered tiefling, and currently trapped in a scheme. Shira: Leader of the Veil, a neutral demonic faction dedicated to maintaining universal balance. Declared war on the Storm Petrels and Angelpoint The Queen: A power-hungry woman who's ruled over Angelpoint as queen for the past 150 years. Has a peculiar gem that glows when she is angry.

---

A lot happened here, and this investigation ended. But, a new enemy appeared...

This session started with my in hiding... I had planned out many contingencies, and was ready for my own death to save humanity. Everything was just set in order with as many "outs" as I could think of.

I had to hide for three days, and did so by disguising myself as a concubine using a Hat of Disguise in the house of Tosh's adoptive father, Michael.

(Tosh had been with us for much of the campaign as a bit of a mascot - He hadn't played deeply in the plot until now, but occasionally took on a human form to chum it up around town.)

I had purchased a very nice comb to masquerade as the hat if questioned - I would take it off, and turn myself into an old lady while hiding the actual item as a tiny clip hidden under some hair. If they saw through that, I had a potion of invisibility and a smoke bomb for a quick escape. The Shard of Obsidian itself was glued to my back permanently. To get it off, a demon would have to kill me. And, to avoid domination, I'd be unable to get it off myself without dissolving the Sovereign Glue - Which Tosh was helping with by dropping off a universal solvent dropping off 15 minutes into put meeting by dumping it through a sewer grate (so he wouldn't technically be at our meeting.)

In the end... My caution was unwarrented. I survived the days without incident, but the 15 minute wait worked as a stalling method until the Demon Slayer approached and absorbed his soul in an instant.

I had made a deal with Rilo to arrive with a plan to get him the stone, and bring no allies. I told the demon slayer that I'd likely be possessed and I'd become an enemy of the city - And to only come if she suspected as much. In the end, she trusted me and believed I was an ally, and so disobeyed my wishes and captured the demon on her own... By going against my wishes, I brought no allies. I just trusted her to ignore my request.

I thanked her. He got the Shard of Obsidian off my back, and delivered Rilo and the Shard to the Queen...

---

I arrived at the queen. She saw the marks burned into my head - Counting down to my death at the hands of the demon hired by the Veil to kill me.

The Queen was at first angry about speculation and not results, but then I clarified: This was no mere demon I has caught. This was the number one enemy of the Veil, the item he wants, in the hands of an enemy Shira was at war with.

I explained that we had essentially won - Either Shira, weakened from her wars, would either submit to our demands or suffer the worst possible outcome for her - Rilo, with the stone, allied with an enemy army and a school of demon hunters. She thought about this and smiled, taking both objects with a sadistic glee.

Red flags were going in my head. Aside from her odd demeanor, the king was nowhere to be seen.

But... If it's for the survival of Angelpoint, I didn't mind this at the time. I returned to my party, and explained the events as best as I could.

I also told the queen my next step: I have information for the Veil on how they can acquire Rilo, information very valuable to the demon hired to hunt be down by the Veil. I intended to use him as a courier.

---

The next day, our party set out - The situation was dodgy, and there was a high chance we would have to kill a demon.

Charn had come a long way with demons... The first time he encountered one, the presence froze him. Since then, he has grown to be commanding and their presence routine to him. He feels more... In power. More like a confidant superior able to command and bend them to his will, than an unproven student. This reflected in out encounter with this headhunter.

We went out of town a half hour, and waited. The scars on my head were counting down, and so he appeared. I negotiated.

"I don't have your money. But, I know things the Veil needs to" "I do not care for your material plane and it's fate, nor the fate, nor the fate of the veil. Whatever happens, I'll still get money" "Mmm, you are mistaken. The information I have on the Veil might be worth more to you than my soul... But I'll let you claim both, if you just ferry me there to deliver that message first" He chuckles "No, human. If I kill you, you'll go to a demonic plane and never escape. I cannot ferry your soul by killing you."

Walter chimed in, here, with an idea "What if I killed him?" I agreed. The demon looked at us funny.

"You humans are always... Interesting. Unexpected."

He thinks

"Alright, I have this candle - If your whole party agrees to it, I can rip the souls from your body temporarily. But if you die in the abyss, you're gone forever. And, you'll be in agony for the next month"

We contemplate. Charn looks to the party.

Walter and the Aasimar agree immediately, though the Aasimar has second thoughts when he calls her out on using a divine circle of protection before recanting. Tosh debates, and says "Alright, if it'll save the world, but you owe me BIG for all this!" The demon slayer nods without issue.

"Alright. We'll do it."

We gathered in a circle. The demon watches; smirking darkly. The candle burns, and our souls are ripped from our bodies and sent to the abyss...

---

For the second time, we reached the Abyss. The sky is a haze of chaotic colours, and the floor shale and bulging limbs. We have no equipment, no magic, and only our souls and words... A demon looks upon us, and charges us down.

We have to run away, besieged by a demon and the enviornment. We survived by Tosh's natural attacks, able to slice and run with his fox claws. Tosh is chaotic and not careful, being a kitsune, but proved himself to us here. At one point he dragged me out of a collapsing pit by the tail, and by the end was half destroyed by the abyss.

Eventually, we lose the demon and make our way to the Veil

"TRAITOR! WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE HERE?" "We have captured Rilo." "..." "..." "SHIRA, YOU SHOULD COME OVER HERE"

Shira was haggared, and was resorting to draining imps for dark power. Her abilities would fail soon... And she was desperate.

"Charn," she hissed, "What do you want" "I've completed my investigation. The Veil has been cleared of charges, and so we would normally turn over his soul and the stone. Of course, we have a bit of an issue... You have declared war on us, you see" "The demons we send are not a declaration of war-" "No, the dagger driven into the Petrel Academy and Castle was" "...Ah, yes. One of our more... Overzealous... Members..."

Shira was a shadow of her domineering self... For us, it was only a few months. But yo her, it has been years of war. She was at the end of he rope, and was squirreling away from her decisions

"Where is Rilo?" She demanded "In custody" "As usual, you speak in nondescript terms" "...In custody in the Angelpoint Castle, in a soul stone. If you want the information on how to get him, I have two demands" "What's stopping me from killing you here?" "Absolutely nothing. But if I die or you don't agree, Angelpoint would ally with Rilo and have the stone. So what do you say?" "You would... Stand here, in my own home. And give ME an ultimatum?" I nodded. Tosh was terrified and tried to save face, as we was through this entire negotiation. We mostly ignored him. "Would you rather Rilo have an army behind him?" "...Fine" "You have to unconditionally sign a peace agreement, and grant me an unconditional request in the future in case something goes wrong."

In her haggared state, she agreed without even thinking. I had won, and so simply. And, note my phrasing - I get this deal, no matter what happens next. Important, as I suspect the queen is planning something. At first, I asked they stop sending imps through their portal... But actually, they need to do that just to survive the war until we make our delivery.

I informed Shira of the happenings. Since I had, against all odds, survived, I did not need to give her the password and safeguard as I knew them... But, as a final snag, we would need to deliver the items to the veil base in person. I informed her that I would deliver the stone, and that we had arranged a ship to travel already. (A separate statement from the information, mind.)

After Shira healed the Aasimar and Tosh using demonic abilities, much to their terror when they asked, I declared our business done here, and we were spirited away back to the material realm.

----

We returned. We had won, though we awoke screaming and in pain, and the demon laughed and laughed.

In more words than this, the demon said the following...

"Well, consider your debt repaid. I got information worth much more than your soul from these demonslayers... Things pertinent to you, if you have the cash" And Tosh agreed to this term, and his satchel of gold was taken as payment. I was satified, having "won."

It seems that the Shard of Obsidian was not the only artifact of power... The Shard was the result of a union between an angel, a demon, and a devil for the purposes of sealing away their realms. Each shard contains the immense power of their plane - And their true form is but a tiny sliver of power inside the actual stone.

One, a shard of obsidian containing the power of the abyss One, a shard of quartz containing the power of hell And one, containing the power of heaven. It's location is unknown.

If the three are united, the possessor will have unlimited power. But, that power corrupts absolutely - And the current holder of the Quartz Crystal, which reacts to anger, is slowly being corrupted. We soon realized - The queen had a crystal that glowed when she shot a magic bolt at Pavia for speaking out of turn... The Queen now possessed two shards.

Tosh had bought a carrier pigeon, and sent for a carriage. The anonymous guards fetch us as we laid exhausted and fatigued. Tosh complained the whole way.

A final twist... We avoided the city, and moved straight to the boat to the Dwarven lands. The caravan lead removed his helmet, revealing himself as captain of the royal guard - The queen had gone mad.

He explained that she had been going cold, lately. Becoming a cruel tyrant. In the past day, she had declared the party, the storm petrels, the black ravens, and several others as enemies of the state to be executed on site - It seems, we knew too much. The queen is unbelievably powerful, wielding two primordial stones, and so the paladins decided it best for us to flee for now. And, at night, she gloated to the stone containing Rilo and basked in her own glory.

The king and princess are missing, and presumed dead. The population hasn't realized it yet... But the Queen has become corrupted by otherworldly power, and needs to go down. We need to save Angelpoint.

It's not all bad news, though... Of the eight other survivors of the Storm Petrels, it's defenses likely weakened by the Queen, ten now stand - Human potential is great. Fifteen Black Ravens arrived with us, from a much higher starting number, as well as the royal guards. We have Erdrick, the Dwarven Noble, to guide us along. We have a demand we can ask of the Veil, and this paladin - as acting captain of the guard - can write us a peace agreement. (I suggested he request aid in usurping the queen.) And, we have the knowledge of all the happenings we need to move forward. For now. Finally... We know our enemy. We know how to find our enemy. And we know some idea of our enemy's power. I'd much rather have this overt and obvious woman in possession of the stone than an intellectual schemer like Rilo - And I very much doubt this woman will allow Rilo to have this stone.

The fate of humanity, and the material plane, lies with this small force... Within a year, we have to usurp the queen. The most obvious solution is to obtain the final stone, but there may be others.

We departed to the dwarven lands, to the north.

#pathfinder #dnd

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sage-nebula · 6 years

Note

I just want to give you kudos for your reply to the twewy Joshua post you just reblogged. Josh as a soft, lonely woobie that only need Neku to save him and give him the will to live?!?!!? I know the game advocate clashing and changing as a way to grow, but if that's the fandom stance on the story I am perfectly fine staying out of the fandom despite my eternal love for the game itself.

Thanks for the kudos, but I really wouldn’t take this as a reason to stay out of the fandom. I’ve had on-again, off-again relations with the The World Ends With You fandom since 2009, and in my experience that fandom hasn’t ever had an Incident™ that would mark it as a bad fandom. I’ve never seen so much as a single ugly ship war kerfuffle. The worst things I can think of was that people were sporking fics for a while, and also there was an incident where one of my fics was plagiarized (which, don’t get me wrong, made me physically sick I was so upset, but it wasn’t a fandom-wide incident). Other than that, the The World Ends With You has always been one of the better fandoms out there. If there was some huge incident at some point, I’m not aware of it, and it certainly wasn’t enough to gain the entire fandom a reputation as being one of the bad ones. So I really wouldn’t put off the fandom just because some people hold an interpretation of a character that you don’t like. You don’t have to view those posts---you can scroll by, send the post to the Shadow Realm, or block the user---but the fandom itself isn’t bad even if some character interpretations are dodgy. This is one of the good ones.

With that said . . . it’s not just the TWEWY fandom, honestly. It’s every fandom. Every fandom tends to distill and flanderize characters after a while, and few types of characters get hit so hard as the complex, morally grey ones. This happens for a variety of reasons. Maybe people want to make quick and easy fanworks, and that necessitates that characters be shoved into boxes. Maybe someone wants to ship (or wants to bash a ship), and that, too, is easier to do if you shove the characters in boxes and call it a day. To use TWEWY as an example, it’s far easier to ship Joshua with Neku if you portray Joshua as being a depressed/suicidal woobie who really, truly cared about his dear ~*~proxy~*~ and just wants to spend time with him. On the other hand, it’s easier to bash the Joshua/Neku ship if you portray Joshua as an evil, heartless demon with no redeeming qualities. In truth, Joshua is neither of these things. He’s not a depressed, suicidal woobie, and he certainly didn’t like Neku at first (and any respect he has for him at the end is still . . . well, if you’re interested, you can read this fic for how I view their relationship after the game concludes), and “proxy” was never anything remotely close to an affectionate pet name. On the other hand, he didn’t do what he did out of a sense of maliciousness or bloodthirst, either. He didn’t like Neku, but he also had no desire to murder him. It was nothing about that. Neku was a means to an end, and that end was deciding whether or not Shibuya was worth saving. Joshua operates on a higher plane than the other characters in the game, figuratively as well as literally (at times). His sense of morality is different from theirs. And this can be difficult for people to work with, because it requires deep thought and care in order to get right. It also requires remembering that although he looks fifteen, he isn’t really. In reality, he’s probably much, much older (just as Hanekoma is much, much older than his mid-30s despite his appearance---and the same goes for practically all the Reapers, really). This means that he’s also quite a bit more mature than the Players we see in the game, however much his needling of Neku might come across as childish sometimes. It’s another important aspect to his character to consider, but again, it can make different types of fanworks difficult (either quick and easy shitposts, or shipping works, et cetera), so these things tend to get tossed to the wayside.

But again, the TWEWY fandom is not alone in this. Joshua is a character hit by it, but it happens in all fandoms, with all characters. It’s just how things are. If you avoid a fandom because that happens, then you’re going to be avoiding every fandom forever. It’s just how it is on this bitch of an Earth.

#atnak16

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amplesalty · 5 years

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Day 7 - Village of the Damned (1960)

Now you’re thinking “I hope that’s shepherd’s pie in my knickers.”

Some time ago in...*reads notes* 2013? Blimey, time flies. But yes, in my 2013 post on Children of the Corn, I made a vauge allusion to this movie by way of the parody in The Simpsons episode ‘Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken’ in which the kids of Springfield start revealing all the dirty little secrets of the adults. Now it’s time to fulfil the promise of that day by finally watching this movie.

I’ll be up front and say that I really, really liked it. Being of the time it was made and it being set it this small, English village lends it this quaintness that juxtaposes well once shit starts going down.

Actually, this sort of links back to Children of the Corn again because the opening here has the apparent look of a total loss of all adult life. Not quite that bad though, as we come to learn. As dramatic as that sounds though, there’s almost a sort of charm to it?

I think it’s the local army force that is trying to investigate, just the way they’re experimenting, it’s almost amusing in it’s way. Like when they get a canary on a pole to try and establish where the borderline is. That seems really weird to be that this phenomenon just arbitrarily stops at a certain point and you can paint a line on the ground like ‘Anyone beyond this point get’s KO’d’. It’s amusing up to the point when they start flying planes overhead to get a bird’s eye view of the village. I think that idea was doomed from the start.

People do start coming round eventually so it’s only a little, temporary blackout. It’s kinda like that show, FlashForward, only without the futuresight. Does anyone remember that show? You know what these get instead? Pregnant.

Yeah, every woman capable of rearing a child suddenly finds themselves pregnant. For some of our lead characters, this is a wonderful moment but for near enough everyone else we see, not so much. It’s neat to see something you think would be joyous twisted to be this quite dark moment. You’ve got teenage girls facing the prospect of being shamed into oblivion no matter how much they protest their innocence. This was probably still a time when you would be banished from your family for getting up the duff at such an age. Then you’ve got one woman whose husband comes home from a year of working away to find his missus is with child, of course that’s going to look dodgy. Who do you think you are, love, the Virgin Mary?

There just seems to be this general unease and suspicion around the village, really gives the movie an atmosphere. And rightly so too, it is really, really odd that 30 women from the same village would become pregnant at the exact same time. The odds on that must be phenomenal.

Not just the conception is weird, their development is alarming as well. The fetuses developing quicker than normal and, when they’re born, they’re soon capable of unheard of at such a young age. It’s like a hive mind where if one child learns something, they all know it.

Which leads to a demonstration when one of the children is given an Oriental puzzle box to open. I knew it, this is just that Cenobite cult again, isn’t it? Always looking for a way to resurrect pinhead. It was bad enough when that doctor kept that one girl around to solve the puzzle box, never mind making thirty of them. One of the ‘normal’ kids wants his turn with the puzzle box and...

HOLY SHIT! I can’t even begin to tell you how creepy these kids are. Maybe it’s the demon eyes, the editing that leaves them completely still during the eye effect, the way they all dress the same, their weird hair or the fact they’re all of a bunch of Aryan race motherfuckers. We learn later on that more of these childbirths are happening elsewhere around the world and it’s heavily implied that the Eskimo people were having none of this and just killed them all.

There’s just something really chilling about how well spoken but utterly cold and emotionless they are. They seem to quickly understand how powerful they are and that nothing can be done to stop them and it’s almost like they’re rubbing that in people’s faces. There’s this intense foreboding to them, like this inevitable force that you’re powerless to stop. Those Spanish kids in ‘Who Can Kill a Child?’ had to play it cute and bring out the puppy dog eyes to try and stop the protagonist from escaping. These kids here will just make you turn the gun on yourself if you get in their way.

It makes me reflect on Vampires a little bit actually. Even though you’ve got this super vampire on the urge of creating day walkers, it just felt like there was weight or stakes (no pun intended) to the thing. Here, you see how much this tiny village is shaken by their arrival, just imagine what things will be like when they talk about spreading out and that there are pockets of them in existence elsewhere in the world.

As well as a sequel, this also had a remake in the mid 90’s, directed by one John Carpenter. Potential 2020 foreshadowing ahoy!

#Halloween 2019 #Village of the Damned

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dapperfvck-arc · 7 years

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BASIC.

FULL NAME. John Constantine NICKNAME. officially, Conjob, mostly from his days on the punk scene. On the esoteric side of things he may be referred to “The Laughing Magician” or, more derisively “a petty dabbler”. BIRTHDAY. May 10 (by original Hellblazer canon, he was born in 1953, but I’ve taken it upon myself to adjust his birth year to some time in the early 70s give or take) ETHNIC GROUP. Caucasian NATIONALITY. English (with strongly implied deep Russian roots) LANGUAGE. English, basic grasp of most major European languages, profound fluency in dead/magical/infernal languages SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Bisexual af RELATIONSHIP STATUS. Verse/continuity dependent, though this blog is fairly heavily multi-ship. However, it should be noted that on the MCU continuity, John is in an exclusive, committed relationship with Matt Murdock ( @dcviltongued ) CLASS. Middle to lower class. Is very good at getting fast money (scams, gambling, dealing in magic artifacts/antiques of questionable quality and veracity) so may appear to be better off at certain times HOME TOWN / AREA. Liverpool, England, but has been living in London since leaving the family home at 17. CURRENT HOME. Heavily verse/continuity/thread dependent. John is a frequent traveller. PROFESSION. Somewhat verse/continuity dependent. Really it’s just a matter of whether or not he charges for exorcisms or magic rituals. My personal endgame for John is legitimacy. Like becoming a preternatural PI (and sometimes mundane) for hire or whatever. As a general rule though, his profession is con artist. He’s never worked a honest day’s work in his life. The closest he ever got was when he was a “rock star”. He could also be considered a professional gambler, patronizing horse tracks, underground card games, legal casinos, and I imagine can hustle at pool. Scams range from blackmail to using his reputation as an occultist to take advantage of people willing to pay for spell work.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR. Short and usually rather messy. He rocks bedhead pretty aggressively. May be shaved and very short on the sides and styled into a faux to actual mohawk. He’s very blonde despite not getting very much sun as a general. EYES. Electric blue, often almost fever bright. Deep and captivating, extremely intense straight on. NOSE. difficult to pin down due to the range of styles in which John have been drawn. Usually broad and more or less regular, occasionally somewhat crooked from being broken, though by and large, it’s portrayed as straight. Some artists, such as Moriat and Sean Murphy have drawn it as narrow and somewhat aquiline. I guess, I tend lean toward the former despite my deep love for Murphy’s interpretation of John, simply because I feel like my choice in FC is somewhat based on Tim Bradstreet and Leonardo Manco’s artistic interpretations of John, both of which I honestly adore just as well. FACE. Yet another loooong explanation here, I’m sorry. Artists tend to lean between giving him either a square face, classically handsome appearance (Steve Dillon, John Higgins, Ron Tiner, most of artists that have drawn him in the DC titles he’s appeared in), a broader, more every man appearance (Sean Phillips, Leonardo Manco to some degree, though later proved quite capable of drawing him stunningly handsome, and Tim Bradstreet), however still attractive but somewhat more haggard, stubbled, and/or slightly seedy in appearance, and finally a sharper, more diamond shape to his face featuring high cheekbones, a pointed chin and fine bone structure (Sean Murphy, Marcelo Frusin, and Moriat). Once more, in reference to my face claim for John, I suppose I tend to favour a more classically handsome appearance, simply because I like the idea of him having a pleasant, almost trustworthy face given that he is a con artist and considered an extremely good one (sometimes even the greatest con artist alive but idk whatever), and I feel like looking as dodgy as say, Frusin’s interpretation, I can’t imagine him being as successful as he is, you feel me? That guy looks like he’ll fuck you over for a corn chip. LIPS. Sensuous, faintly lined from his his smoking habit COMPLEXION. Like any good Englishman that tends to move about by night and quite a bit dressed, John’s very pale. I do think he has a faintly pronounced undertone of pink. This colour will get brighter when he gets drunk, aroused, angry, or the exceedingly rare instance that he’s embarrassed BLEMISHES. None SCARS. Aside from the scarification, which is better off detailed in the next section, and I ALWAYS FORGET TO MENTION THIS, he definitely has a long scar over one eye from a demon trying to cut it out with a blade. Since many magic rituals call for blood, I head canon that he also has faint scarring on his arms because he doesn’t practice human or animal sacrifice and his own blood instead.

TATTOOS. Arse tattoo of pine tree courtesy of Swamp Thing being a punk bitch, ritual tattoos faded into appearing as scarification. HEIGHT. 5′11 (184.34 cm) WEIGHT: prolly ranges between 150-160lbs (140 at his lightest) BUILD. Long legs, somewhat of a broad upper torso, can be a bit soft in the middle. In general, he’s rather thin but his musculature is not usually very defined. In other words, no big, sexy pecs or cut abs. If anything he’s more sleek lines and narrow planes. ALLERGIES. none USUAL HAIR STYLE. Freshly fucked USUAL CLOTHING. Dark suits, usually dark blue or black and trench coat, usually tan, has also been portrayed as black, yellow, or a mossy kinda green. In theory it could be said that these aren’t just differing interpretations from artists but that John owns coats in different colours, styles, and fabrics, but his favourite is the tan, longer style

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR. abandonment, amounting to nothing, not being able to protect those he cares about ASPIRATION. survival, making some kind of mark on this world, a measure of contentment POSITIVE TRAITS. Compassionate and determined, above all. Though not about to admit to it, he's still deeply idealistic. Strangely forgiving. He doesn’t really keep grudges. Loving, considerate, understanding, and rarely judgmental NEGATIVE TRAITS. Those good things up above? They’re encased in a shell of harsh cynicism and apathy. Depending on his mood or particular part of his life depends on how hard a shell he is to crack. He may also experience depressive periods where he doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything and just wants to drink. VICE HABIT. Chain smokes, drinks, frequency dependent on what’s up in his life, though I do not believe he’s an alcoholic, sorry, because lol look, drinking a lot doesn’t mean you have a dependency. Indulges in drugs infrequently, mostly hallucinogens and weed, though I also tend to head canon that he flirted with a cocaine habit while fronting Mucous Membrane. FAITH. It’s complicated GHOSTS? Duh. He sees them plain as any living person AFTERLIFE? Yeah, but uh, he doesn’t consider them eternal respites. They’re just planes of existence that he can either enter, leave, or pull people out. REINCARNATION? Maybe? ALIENS? I meeeeaannn....technically in DCU he’s acquainted with the concept of aliens and may or may not have fucked Hal Jordan POLITICAL ALIGNMENT. Liberal ECONOMIC PREFERENCE. comfortable SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION. working class warlock EDUCATION LEVEL. Predominately self-educated. His frightfully intelligent and has been cited as having genius level intellect. Although I’m not sure I’d go so far as confirm that, I do thing he’s extremely clever and pragmatic. School bored him to tears and he was the type of kid the counselors and teachers say “exceedingly bright but unwilling to apply himself”. He reads voraciously, has an eidetic memory, and isn’t afraid of putting himself in new situations.

FAMILY.

FATHER. Thomas (dead, murdered by the Family Man) MOTHER. Mary Anne (died in child birth) SIBLINGS. Cheryl (murdered by husband, currently residing in Hell), an unnamed twin brother referred to as the Golden Child or Boy, the true heir to the Laughing Magician (stillborn, soul was later absorbed by John in trippy magic ritual, only to be expelled later in life when it was revealed that...uh...he was influencing John’s destiny to be perpetually sabotaged. Hellblazer’s a weird comic, you guys) EXTENDED FAMILY. Gemma, his niece. They have a rather stormy relationship. Chas, his best mate. Lovers may also be included in this. NAME MEANING. John: Jehovah has been Gracious/Shown Favour (lmao) Constantine: Constant, steadfast, generally referred to as “The Constant One”

HISTORICAL CONNECTION. Is strongly implied that John’s related, if perhaps distantly, to Constantine the Great.

FAVOURITES.

BOOKS. Prefers non-fiction MUSIC. Rock music, most notably 70s and 80s era punk rock. Likes the Pogues. Given the stack of evidence that John skirts the edge of the Goth scene cos he likes the aesthetic on women, I have a feeling he’s adopted into his music tastes. The Cure, Smiths, and Cocteau Twins in reference to an 80s mixtape John might make. Which i question the Smiths heavily, but The Cure and Cocteau Twins seems fairly legit. I bet Kit loved the Cocteau Twins. In that same vein of thought, although I tend to think John doesn’t like electronic music, he may have adopted some industrial bands into his preferences but he’s not about to talk about ti any time soon. DEITY. Whichever one doesn’t hate him HOLIDAY. doesn’t care MONTH. same SEASON. Fall PLACE. London or New York, in the case of sentimentality that he will never be able to get back to, the years when he was bumming around Ireland with Brenden and Kit WEATHER. Overcast SOUND. He’s a city boy through and through, even if he may get frustrated with society on a whole, so he’s comforted by city sounds more than silence SCENT. A freshly poured pint, the first cigarette of the day, skin and sex sweat TASTE. Gin FEEL. He’s a sensualist. Body to body, breathing another person’s breath, his please, another person’s pleasure, his pleasure, all that good stuff. I also feel like he enjoys being drunk or stoned for the sake of having his thoughts dulled to a degree. He’s the sort of man who has lots of thoughts and situational observational input. John is basically perpetually mentally overstimulated and he likes the relief from that in inebriation. ANIMAL. Fox NUMBER. hahaha idea numerology man COLOUR. warm and neutral tones

EXTRA.

TALENTS. So many. He’s a jack of all trades in a lot of ways. He can pick a lock, displays some artistic talent in that he can draw very intricate magic circles and sigils, if you consider that John wrote Venus of the Hardsell, he’s clearly got some ability to express himself in lyrics and words, i like to think he can play guitar, is apparently good with delicate craftsmanship (he used to help Dani build furniture for her dollhouses. This is canon by the way), suppose you could say he can sort of sing, but that’s debatable, and of course he’s very manipulative and speaks very well, is educated enough to be able to bullshit through various situations. TURN ONS. Total ass man, loves a great ass on a man or woman, dark hair, dark eyes, strong men, he’s a switch, but loves being manhandled and dominated to a degree, by either gender, honestly, danger, open affection, being wanted, loved, and cherished. So many things, honestly. John Constantine is easy. TURN OFFS. Hardcore kink HOBBIES. Sleep, pub crawls, pretending he’s normal, reading TROPES. Con man with a heart of gold, charming bastard, unrepentant rogue, urban magician, supernatural detective, living legend AESTHETICS. smoke, chalk dust, wind and rain swept streets, London after midnight, narrow, dark alleys, haunted places, rumpled bed sheets, messy hair, dive bars, wicked smiles, deep kisses

FC INFO.

MAIN FC. Ewan McGregor // comic caps from various issues he’s appeared ALT FC. Keanu Reeves for my filmverse OLDER FC. Don’t have one as yet YOUNGER FC. Ewan McGregor VOICE CLAIM. Jason Stathem

Tagged by: @vamptrampbamf Tagging: lmao fuckin everyone.

#;about

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tgr489 · 5 years

Text

… to another dimension, play close attention

Nice title, befitting of the below and homage to the legendary Keith Flint who tragically passed away recently.

I’ve been lying low for a while, not because I’ve done anything dodgy but trying to make sense of some developments. Always trying to make sense of things me. This is different though. So in the run up to Easter, the end of lent and me finally being able to eat sugar I caught up with Lily a great friend of mine whom I met when travelling through Asia. She’s a real hippy chick that wears lots of tie dyed hemp clothing, has feathers woven into her dreads and is very much in touch with the spiritual plane. She came to town to see someone and wanted to ask a favour so we had lunch, her treat, nothing special. A simple favour really, to design a tattoo. She gave me the details of what she wanted and why so I’m set. Have designed many tattoos in the past and always happy to have a go and even if my ideas aren’t what gets finally drawn the inspiration is there to expand upon. It’s a personal thing she wants so won’t go into it here.

Anyway over lunch we chatted about stuff, my trials of lent and our recent exploits since we last met (nearly 2 years ago!). We got onto therapy and she asked if I’d ever tried Ayahuasca. I hadn’t but read and heard lots about it, she told me more. She spoke of a retreat she was going to, and had been several times, and that she would refer me to the ceremony leader. It sounded interesting and mystical, plus a bit of psychedelic action sounded like it could be good for a change. Have done some good time with shrooms and acid in my youth and always found it awesome, so what could this be like.

Had an introductory call a week later with the Shaman (that wasn’t his title but that’s what I’ll call him) and we delved into lots of therapy type Q&A, to make sure I’m no nutter I suppose and then he said an invite to the week would be forthcoming, along with a diet to follow in the two weeks leading up to it. A diet I asked, what was on it or more importantly NOT on it? he didn’t say but when it came through I had a second thought as to whether I’d made the right decision. No dairy, meat, chilli, peppers, cooked tomatoes, white flour, white rice, caffeine, weed or salt! How was I gonna do it I wondered. Much like sugar, salt is in practically everything so some careful planning was required to avoid it. It was a fucking tough couple of weeks but it was stated it enhanced the ‘ceremony’ without those toxins in our bodies. The email said it may take a day to get back into normal life. Fuck, 4 days on psychedelics would see me needing a bit more than that I thought, so I opted not to take the bike as I’ve not ridden in ages and took the train, and I really appreciated it on the way back. Lily picked me up from the station closest and we made our way, but only after she left her details on a car windscreen because she backed into it…. I haven idea haw she was granted a licence.

There’s something about going to a retreat. If I hadn’t gone with a friend I think I’d have not made the final 400m. The whole place felt like some death cult religion. An old farm house the hills which had been hired for the week…. If I had a bad trip would I be screaming of demons in the woods like the Evil Dead? Knowing Lily had been 3 times before chilled me out. I was introduced to the shaman and after meeting everyone in the group we sat down to a talk through of what would happen. With the formalities out of the way we all sat don to a pretty awesome vegan lunch which I was conflicted over. As this was the last time I’d be eating for 15+ hours my instincts told me to load up, but knowing the downside of sporadical radical purging, I was somewhat restrained. The last thing I wanted to do was to be so out of it I’d be shitting myself uncontrollably. Lunch put me at ease and everyone there had some form of deeper connection to the planet, either in what they did or in what they’d done, spiritually. I had this strange sense of ‘knowing’ someone the group, you know the feeling you get when you’re sure you’ve met someone before? I have a pretty good recall for faces, especially those that have come into my life for a purpose so this feeling is one I tap into when it’s presented. I’ve briefly touched on serendipity andI’ll come back to it I’m sure, meeting people at the right timer the right reason has happened me so often I have to trust it. Everyone I talk to about this thinks I’m bonkers and shouldn’t read too much into it sit happens to everyone to a degree. This I knows true but for me I think happens more than most. I’ve digressed, so I’ll come back. With lunch out of the way we were pretty much left to ourselves to wander around the area and take in all natures beauty, so I took in a long stroll with Lily and Jack, an exec level guy at Warner Music. We shot the shit telling our stories, Jack quite captivated by Lily’s stories of our hedonistic time in Asia, which is how she came to be so into the spiritual side of things.

We reconvened at 5 where we had to surrender our phones for the remainder our stay and change into our ceremony clothes. These were white scrubs so we all looked like inmates, the cult was taking over. I figured if I’ll be sitting in a pile of my own bodily excrements better to be not doing it in my own gear. Walking into the ceremonial hall I had a small streak of fear run through my body. Seeing all the floor mats arranged in a big circle with a bucket at the end of each was a stark reminder of what was almost certainly gonna happen. We got comfy then the ceremony started. Prayers to the spirits, some pipe smoking, blessings and aligning of the chakras and we were all set as the sun dipped below the horizon. We all received our cup of the sacred vine juice, which looked just like bile and when the time came to drink, tasted a bit like liquorice, but muddier. Another prayer of thanks and safe journey and we were left on our own, in the silence. How I wanted my phone to listen to some music. After some time, seemed like an hour, the shaman started singing and playing his drums quite softly, and this was really good as it gave me something to focus on. I realised why the musical interlude when shortly afterwards one by one those in the room started throwing up which pretty much continued for the remainder of the night in varying degrees of intensity. Trying to block it out and focus on myself was hard and I was getting nothing, so was welcoming when the shaman kindly touched my arm and asked if I wanted some more medicine. I accepted, why not, better to be all in I thought and gulped down the cup of allsorts. The night continued, every now again I’d hear a sob between the gut wrenching purging of others and eventually I started feeling the effects. The visuals were so intense and reminded me of occasions when I’d had similar in the past. I was glad I’d brought my sketch book as I wanted to remember this and get it down the following day. The only thing I did manage to reminder the following day was the slime pulling apart which was shown to me in black and white, but in my peripheral vision the colours were so intense I was forced to look at them, but when my eyes made it there the colours bleached. This happened everywhere I looked so I could never experience those colours in full. Every stretching strand I looked at was the same pulled design, but made of glass, or metal, organic matter, plastic, . Within each band I saw more bands and bubbles and within those more of the same.What was this telling me? What was I supposed to be seeing? The shaman sang a song of thanks and told us the night was complete and if we wanted there was some fresh fruit in the dining room. My eyes opened and the visuals ceased immediately. I was hungry so made my way out of the pitch black hall by memory, congratulating myself when I’d made the door without stepping on anyone, or a bucket.

Pineapple had never tased as good as it did that pre-dawn morning. Once started I didn’t want to stop so swapped to apple wedges dipped in cashew butter, of which I ate about 3 apples so called it a day as didn’t want to be labelled as the fat or greedy guy. There were others surfacing and we exchanged stories, most were far more personally revealing than mine. I’d missed out on ‘getting in’ which was common the first time you take the medicine, but I wasn’t down about it because I still had a good time - I didn’t chuck my guts up or shit my pants after all.

The second night followed in the same format, but this time I ‘got in’. I was shown my brain and all the things I constantly think about which is many. It was like looking at all my browser windows laid open from an aerial perspective and I was diving into them, seeing a snippet of it, then through it and into another for the same fleeting views. This went on, over and over and over until I was reaching for my bucket. As soon as my eyes opened the sensation and visuals were gone but every time my eyes closed it was full tilt. Throwing up didn’t help much but when I had no more to give I was euphoric. There was a constant theme of imagery and that was Elise. I was shown videos of us of the times I want to remember and those that I hadn’t remembered, but told of the lies that were there and I’d overlooked, or had wondered about but dismissed. The windows were closing as I came out of them, was this my brain deleting them as I went, forgetting them forever. I tried to remind myself of what I’d already seen but couldn’t because newer things kept coming relentlessly. Was I gonna relive the whole relationship again I wondered. I came out of the diner and I could feel anger and sadness all over my body. The street was busy and familiar but I din’t know from where. It was raining hard and I needed to get dry and there was no respite until I saw an umbrella in the distance, motionless. When I got to the spot a man was standing with his back to meat dry as you like. As I approached to take shelter he turned and it was the shaman and he said ‘time for some fruit’. I was wide awake staring at the ceiling and I could hear some of the group around me making moves for the door.I lay there for a while digesting what had happened and teethings I’d seen. What was the medicine telling me? One to ponder the following day.

The 3rd night was worse, much worse. I saw my friend Andy and he was asking me why I’d not been in touch recently. I could feel guilt but immense sadness at not seeing him in so long. Should I feel this way? I’d not thought of my old college friend for a loooong time which now seems a lifetime ago. He’s dead, has been for a while. A fight on the street one night saw him stabbed many times. The effects of that knocked me for six and I did a runner to Asia. Running away from things… We were talking about an idea without actually saying what it was, but how we’d make this thing into something really big. I was excited at our prospects feeling his energy and letting it flow through me, understanding what he was telling me, without actually knowing what the fuck we were talking about. Someone else joined us but they were facing away, talking to Andy, then Andy said he had to go. ‘It’s been good to see you Rye, will probably be longer until the next catch up’, were his parting words and was gone behind me and when I turned round I was looking back at the other person but from Andy’s position. The newcomer was Rich, his cheeky smile radiating across his face, an older friend from my school days. He’s also dead, killed in a car crash our last year of school, along with 2 others from our year. He just said ‘Well, aren’t you going to ask me?’ I couldn’t think of what he was on about so he turned to leave, handing me a postcard as he did. The picture was of a dark blue car at the edge of a field under some trees, on the flip side was written ‘ call me when you remember. I was offered more medicine by the shaman, I took it. When I settled back down on my bed and closed my eyes I was immediately somewhere else. I was queuing up in the dark standing next to Carly, the sister of someone I’m not really friends with any more (it’s a complicated one). I was watching this event again, exactly as it happened, but I was flooded with absolute fear, even though we were laughing. She was telling me about the guy who was hosting the house party we were going to (and went to) the following day and what some of the people there would be like. Movie people and the hanger-ons. I remembered the party and wanted to tell her things but I couldn’t say anything, it was so frustrating. We were nearing the front of the line and the realisation of my fear became apparent as I knew what was going to happen next so I prepared myself for the run I knew I was about to make. I looked around to see if I could spot the person who was going to commit the crime and grabbed Carla’s hand. Then I saw the incident all over again in glorious technicolor, we were at the front of the line and the doorman was asking us to come forwards when his face exploded and he dropped to the floor, revealing a guy behind him with a gun already making to run. We made off too but in the opposite direction along with everyone else outside to the sound of more shots. I was gripping her hand so tight as we ran, my heart in my mouth, all I wanted to do was stop and puke, which I did when we found the alley way. We looked at each other, covered in that poor guy’s blood, again wondering what had happened and why. As we got up to leave Carla said we should go in here, motioning to a door I didn’t remember from previous. It seemed like the right course of action but it hadn’t happened that way before. I walked with her and she opened the door. Inside was semi dark but there was light from a darkened window framing two people in silhouette. I knew where I was, I’d been here once before, and I knew the people. I turned to Carla and she was gone and I was left holding the postcard. I knew what I wanted to ask Rich now, and I also knew the answer he would give me. I walked further into the room and my mother’s face came out of the shadow. ‘Come and sit down Riley, you look tired,’ she said, motioning the chaise. I will write about this particular moment separately because I’m still trying to understand what exactly happened and how best to convey it. The feeling of cuddling my parents again, smelling them, touching their skin was amazing. As I awoke at the end of the night I was an absolute mess, I’d been crying so hard I could feel the pain in my chest and I had some serious snot all over my face. I was so distraught I didn’t leave my bed until the following lunch.

Night 4 - The grand finale. This night I decided to add fuel to the fire and try some Hapé along with the Ayahausca. It lived up to the description of focussing the mind, once I’d got through the searing pain in my sinuses and the fountain of tears. I saw more of the same visuals from the first night but this time I could actually look into the bubbles in the strands and see what’s actually going on. The bubbles represented decision points in my life, all the important ones and the trivial. As I looked at all the strands I saw the thousand upon thousands of tiny bubbles. Could I go to any point and change the outcome? I was told no, not at this time. The more I looked around I saw more of these strands in their different colours and the colours represented different people’s consciousness that intertwine with mine, some more prominent than others. I asked to see Elise and it took me to that place where we ‘mesh’ and whilst I tried to look at her strands and the bubbles within, they were blocked/blurry. I asked how many of these decisions may have been about her telling me the truth, but got no reply. Our intense relationship, living in each others pockets and it never came up, or it started to surface and I turned a blind eye to it, subconsciously wanting it to not be true. I think I’m done with her now. I woke up and walked to the dinning room for some food, the realisation of what I was telling myself washing over me and it was hard to take. I’ve given her an ultimatum which will be hard for her to deliver against, but not impossible, and I do want her to, but I can’t wait around for that and I should maybe just chalk it up to a a lesson learnt.

There’s some weird shit going on with this DMT and I’ve learnt that we are all connected. The ‘medicine’ we took was like upgrading the operating system on my laptop and watching it all happen and being able to dive into anything at any point. It was an intense time that I glad I went through and I think I’m gonna do it again at some point, it was like 100 therapy sessions in one go without the difficulty of explaining things in great detail. The people I met were amazing and will try and keep in touch, especially with those that live close enough to meet up. I met with Warner Jack last week as he may have some work for me in the form of some music videos. Not made a music vid for ages so If it comes off it’ll be great, although it’ll probably mean working over the summer, which I’d kinda planned not to do, but we’ll see. I was stuck in my head for days once back in town, thinking of what I’d experienced and I even kept my phone off for an additional day to keep the outside world from coming back in too rapidly. The adjustment back into working life was tough, but a few weeks in and lots of social engagements has put paid to that. The one thing I have kept up mostly is the diet regime. I am gonna continue to eat far less land meat and sugar. It’s better for me and more importantly the planet.

This has been far too long a post but that’s done to my own procrastination of pulling everything together. Still lots to get down and that will come in time.

Late Gator.

#Life story #life of riley #ayahuasca #hapé #trippy #retreat #visions #vegan #diet #dmt #dmt trip #death #shaman #puking #purging #transcendence #choices #lies #truth

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overfedvenison · 6 years

Text

Dnd Session 6

Oh dang, I never updated my D&D journal for the past session.

So quick summary of the past events: An orcish princess was murdered, implicating our organizations and causing the orc faction to go to war with us, after we refused to hand over a stone that can empower demons of the Black Veil. We suspected the Black Veil - An organization allegedly dedicated to maintaining cosmic balance, but was clearly playing us in some way. Our investigation uncovered a grand conspiracy where the Veil's enemies, including a demon hunter, were trapped inside crystals in a secret house in the city.

But in the process, one of the Veil's members was interviewed in a circle of truth and exploded, and a shadow demon was unleashed from a crystal sphere from the rolm - The veil then declared war on us. However, we got proof of our innocence in these events, and found the culprit was someone named Rilo...

The party:

Charn, a human fighter from the Storm Petrel Academy currently acting as a revolver-brandishing PI unravelling a demon conspiracy and acting as the party's lawyer Arka, a lizardfolk bloodrager and close ally of Charn who had recently begun studying at the same school Pavia, the victim of a scheme to frame her for murder. She is a soldier of the Black Ravens, and has a colonial mindset. Erdrick, a dwarven barbarian who has recently entered an alliance with a demon to reclaim his lost honor And... An Aasimar I can't remember the name of. Slowly learning to stand for herself, but hasn't had a lot of screentime or character development

(Also Tosh, a kistune)

First, I presented my findings to the king, who was very irate at the investigation that transpired. Since one of the people we interviewed kind of... Exploded? The Black Veil had up and left town, and declared war on Angelpoint and the Storm Petrel Acandemy. I'm alive, though, free of treason for now - I uncovered various conspiracies from the Veil that proved that they were doing some incredibly dodgy things, and it's probably good that they're legitimately our enemy instead of just our enemy in secret. So things are kind of up in the air.

However, it's a bad situation... With the Veil gone and without the stone, there is a chance the apocalypse will happen within two years - If the Veil were telling the truth. What's more is that the person we have in holding is threatening us and saying how the Veil can invade us whenever she wants, etc. Of course, I pressed him: "If she's so powerful, why didn't she just go get the stone herself?"

We have to find a conclusive solution within two years, in any case, and then sailed off to present our investigation to the Orcs of the Mistveil Islands.

----

The orcs were receptive to our findings... We conclusively proved that Rilo was responsible for the murder, and not our ally Pavia as they believed. We also learned a nugget of information: Rilo did indeed bring the Obsidian Shard to the misty isles. The Veil, for all their conspiracies, mind control, and dirty deeds, did in fact have a traitor in their midsts working against them. One who took the Shard for his own means.

The orcs demanded a trial by combat for continued relationships. Through strength and valour, they would judge our valor.

Pavia fought the orc's strongest champion... She was quickly crushed, as he has immune to bullets. Tosh jumped in soon after, only to be overwhelmed as well. But Arka stepped up with great honor

"Heal my enemy. I will fight with all my might."

The orcs were impressed. "Very well," said the chieftain.

...The two barbarians raged at each other and traded immense blows. Arka's new magic allowed him to grow to the size of a giant, while the orc was naturally 8-feet tall and wore a mask of steel tusks that dealt horrible goring wounds.

After leaving his swamp, learning of the outside world, studying at the Storm Petrel Academy, and getting a metal arm in his adventures, and learning of the demons that would control the fate of the mortal realm... Arka died here, defending the honor of a human city. But in his death, he dealt a critical blow to the Orc - He collapsed of exhaustion just after killing the lizardfolk.

----

It was this sacrifice that allowed the orcs to forgive us - Somewhat. The chieftain was pleased, and a day later brought the now-recovered Pavia to his tend as we were readying to leave.

He asked of Pavia a request - To go find the true killer, and return his head to him. That will show that the orcs that Pavia is truly in her good graces, and valued Okra.

Pavia, however... As you'll recall, she hated the orcs. This made her the perfect target to frame in the first place - And all this trouble had only made her double down.

"No," she said "That problem is your own. I may not have pulled the trigger, but I hated Okra and I hate your people. I might have done it myself, had I the chance."

The Orc Chief became enranged, and punished her for this insolence. This attracted the rest of the party, who watched. He gave her one last chance to make amends - And she said "You have proven nothing to me. You are what I thought - Savages"

And so, she was executed. I returned the gifts they had given us, and the party left the island to a rocky and very tenuous "peace." This, too, we will have to fix.

----

The party was down a few members, but upon returning to town, got some back.

Erdrick the Dwarf hired a new Black Raven Mercinary, a skilled but naïve soldier who does everything by the book and who is built to call out assists and spot. He's Pavia's player's new character, and is much more of an idealist (and much less of a racist)

I also encountered a summoner, who began to follow me around. He's Arka's player's new character, a socially-awkward summoner who makes friends with summoned creatures.

Finally, the NPC we rescued from the Veil - An experienced demon-hunter, skilled but unused to having a body after many years in a crystal. She is serious and intelligent.

Together, we had one final piece of unfinished business before we could proceed to bigger issues. - To defeat a shadow demon we had inadvertently unleashed when exploring the Veil's secret room.

-----

While we were planning, Erdrick met with his Patron. As you'll recall, when we refused to return the Shard, Erdrick became enraged and made a deal with a demon to retrieve the shard to restore his dwarven honor... And so he conversed once more.

This demon was Rilo, the very one who had killed Okra and betrayed the Veil, and was now playing him as well - To get the shard, and to betray the Veil for his own ends. He has a new plan - He wants to converse with me. He would come to our meeting place in disguise, and get me to agree to an accord to meet with him later...

The summoner and I spent the time researching the Shadow Demon in the library, getting an entire monster manual entry on the thing and planned out a strategy. Erdrick approached us as well, and got the party together to discuss plans. He took me aside as well, acting friendly and courteous - As far as I know, I'm our issues are over, and so Charn trusts him.

What we were speaking of was mostly irrelevant... Buy while we met, I heard a voice in my head from a passerby - Rilo was offering to explain everything to me. I told him that I would agree, and we would need to work out an accord... No magic, no allies, and no weapons. We would talk... In my research on the shadow demon, I also found the perfect spot - A section of the sewers with a metal grate between us. Furthermore, I agreed to get him to wear gloves and not phase through that grate with his mist form. Not an hour later, I would be in a nearby location to combat a shadow demon.

Charn and Rilo would meet. And talk.

----

The DM and I skipped ahead to the demon fight from this part because I had taken up a lot of screentime this game, and did this later.

The talk was long and tenuous. Charn started incredibly suspicious at first, but through either honeyed words of legitimately speaking the truth, he gradually said more and began to saw Rilo's side.

Charn was suspicious, but as crazy and prepared as always. He had a smokebomb on hand in case he needed a quick escape, and a plan for afterwards.

Rilo told me many things that seemed to make sense...

That the Veil was, for all it's misgivings, actually legitimate about protecting the multiverse from an apocalypse, and needed the stone to do so. Rilo stole the stone in order to seal off the material realm, and in doing so, would free the people of the god's control and the control of Shira so they might stand on their own

Shira, as seen with the followers, was controlling the fates of many humans for her own ends. She cares only for her own goals, and not for the hearts and souls of human beings. She is a villian, but not an evil one... She maintains a status quo in the blood war, but her existence is bad for humanity. Positives and negatives.

Shira can call in forces through the tower - This is something we have to deal with. She can also spy on us, but we are unsure how. The Veil Member in holding is also a liability, and should be dealt with.

He cleared up a bit about the murder... He actually climbed down from the roof, killed, and the became invisible after, for instance. But the broad strokes of Rilo as the culprit were accurate... Rilo betrayed the Veil, gave the Shard to the orcs for safekeeping, then when we didn't return it to him, panicked and killed Okra as a threat. The conspiracy with the Veil was unrelated.

And now, he asks that I help him - Go to the abyss, return his sister who is trapped there, and then seal away the material plane. A tempting offer... I told him that I would have to consider the philosophy teachings of the Storm Petrel Academy - A faction about defending from the apocalypse, the potential of humanity without fate and destiny, and hunting demons - to see what I should do.

This wasn't fast enough for him, so he had an imp slave cast Dominate on me - From a demon's perspective, an imp slave is no ally, just a tool to be used and discarded.

Charn would get him that shard, of his own free will, or not.

----

OR THAT'S HOW IT WOULD GO DOWN, IF I DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING!!

The party was fighting a shadow demon immediately after this meeting. A shadow demon's most dangerous ability is Possession... Which can be warded off with a Protection from Evil spell. Protection from Evil also suppresses mental control for it's duration - And so I had a few minutes to alert someone.

The demon slayer and Aasimar! Aasimar has perspective from Charn's secular humanism, and Seranrae's Church - Both anti-demon. The Demon Slayer is an enemy of the veil, but also an enemy of demons. I let these two in on my plans...

"A word - Before we fight this shadow demon, I was investigating the final aspects of the Okra case. I understand everything now... But I'm not sure why I made some of the decisions I did, and believe I have made an accord to meet with a demon, at 3 AM at (location) three days from now. Neither of us are to bring any allies, weapons, or magic...

Over the next few days, I need you to investigate me. If you think I've been dominated into being your enemy, or have become an enemy of this city, go there with any many forces as you can - But anyone who comes, must come as my enemy, not my ally, ready to kill me if need be. Capture his demon's soul in the crystal ball we retrieved so we can offer it to the veil to leave this city alone - this demon is a traitor to them. Then, give his body to the Mistveil Orcs as justice for murder, for peace on that front. I'm counting on you two... I trust you wouldn't fall in line with demons.

Hrm. Now then, this spell is limited, so lets kill this shadow demon before anything else."

The pieces are all in motion - These two will investigate me, and find out the truth. If they agree with Rilo, of free and sound mind, that is what our path forward shall be. If they come to try and free me, as allies, they will have come against my will - And thus, I have not brought allies, they have shown up on their own and against my wishes. If they show up as enemies, the city will be saved and the war with the orcs will be over. The only thing they have to do is not fail.

...metanarratively, I'm also giving the Aasimar some focus. She's kind of been a wallflower, haha.

----

Regardless, we manage to defeat the shadow demon and had a brief moment of levity with the town wizard which I may detail later... And are set for the next arc.

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