#the world already stole so much from him. his family his culture and community his agency why does he owe the world his death too

[greyswarden]

no because ariel really hates it when others make self-sacrifice into the pinnacle of nobility and the greatest thing you can do for anyone. fawk that he wants you to LIVE

[johnconstantinesdick]

Okay *cracks knuckles, accidentally dislocates fingers* @agentscamander-romanoff and @steel-phoenix took the bait and enabled me by asking me to elaborate on my Children of the Watch origins theory. Which means I am about to go ABSOLUTELY feral.

Apologies to anyone for having incorrect Star Wars lore, I’ve barely consumed canon content and I don’t intend to start now. Also sorry if anyone has already said this! I’ve never seen this particular theory/interpretation and it’s made me go a bit insane.

Warnings: discussion of child abuse, cults, and the aftermath of genocide. I don’t go super in depth on any of it but it’s there. Also, I typed this in the notes app of my phone and autocorrect hasn’t quite submitted to some of these names.

SO. I’m going to break this up into sections. 1. Exploring canon 2. Extrapolations/Connecting the red string 3. What does this MEAN??? 4. Complaining about Bo-Katan.

First off, though, here’s my thesis: Children of the Watch is a “splinter group” made up of the children that Death Watch stole, indoctrinated, and abused. They’re also not a cult (Death Watch is though lmao).

1. Exploring Canon:

Okay, so. Canonically, Death Watch has abducted, tortured, and brainwashed children. Arla Fett is an example of that, having been abducted at the age of 14 after her parents were killed and she was subsequently brainwashed into becoming an assassin for Death Watch. She didn’t even hesitate when she found out her brother was alive! That’s how strong the conditioning was! She was so fucked up from it that she spent YEARS in a mental facility, and she outright begged a Jedi to wipe her memories in exchange for a favor. DEATH WATCH DID THAT. And you CANNOT tell me she was the only one they’ve done this to. PLENTY of fic writers have extrapolated off of this and mentioned it, but it’s important to me that everyone know this shit is absolutely rooted in canon.

Another Death Watch Child Abuse Fun Fact: Dred Priest and Isabet Reau, two of the trainers of the clones, canonically had Death Watch leanings and tried to instill Death Watch beliefs in the clones by FORCING THEM TO FIGHT EACH OTHER IN SECRET BATTLE CIRCLES THAT ENDED UP KILLING SOME OF THE CLONES. THEY WERE CHILDREN AT THE TIME, IF IT WASN’T CLEAR. WHAT THE FUCK. If THAT’S not an example of Death Watch abusing the kids under their care then I don’t know what is. It’s suuper not a stretch for me to think that this wasn’t an unheard of thing in more official Death Watch circles.

Also canonically, Bo-Katan has referred to Din’s covert as “Children of the Watch”, and Din, despite obviously being an important and respected member of his community, doesn’t recognize the name, which implies to me that it’s not a name the covert chose for themselves. Rather, a moniker that was given to them after they splintered off of Death Watch. Since this isn’t an opinion and it’s more just… information, I’ll trust Bo-Katan on this one.

We also know for sure that Din’s covert IS connected to Death Watch in some way, seeing as the flashback sequence very clearly shows Mandalorians in blue and gray beskar’gam, the colors of Death Watch. HOWEVER… the Armorer, who seems to hold a high position of authority in the covert, wears gold and copper beskar’gam. Din wears unpainted (v2) or mismatched colored (v1) beskar’gam (I do grant that his paint color counts less towards this because he’s pretty much one of the only people interacting with the outside world and so colors associated with Death Watch are probably a no go no matter what). Paz Vizsla’s armor is a very dark blue with yellow and cyan details and, oh my fucking god I didn’t even know this but he has a fucking MYTHOSAUR SYMBOL ON ONE OF HIS PAULDRONS. THE FUCK???? THAT’S LITERALLY THE SYMBOL OF THE TRUE MANDALORIANS IM. Ok. Okay. I needed a minute. Like I KNOW that the mythosaur skull is Mandalorian symbol in general but I think it just hits different when a Vizsla is wearing it, you know? Especially because the placement is the same as Jaster Mereel’s???? Literal founder of the True Mandalorian movement????? Excuse me???????

Let’s uh. Let’s get back to armor. I can address that… later. So. Anyway. Armor is super important, and it’s uhhh very telling that the covert doesn’t emulate the Death Watch colorscheme strictly. Like, yeah, there’s gray and light blue in there, if you go through some wiki pages, but they’re not the only colors they use, and the Armorer doesn’t even have either of those colors! And she’s the biggest authority we’ve seen! Very fucking interesting!! Bo-Katan still has her armor painted in Death Watch colors! And yet she’s derisive of Din’s covert! Verrry interesting!

We also know that Din’s covert emphasizes children VERY much, more than Death Watch ever would have, imo. It’s expected for the adult members to provide for the foundlings (and it’s VERY interesting that the kids are seemingly all referred to as foundlings iirc. More on that later.), and even though Paz disagrees with Din working with the empire, he and the other members of the covert immediately and with no hesitation come to Din’s aid for this child that Din hasn’t even claimed as his own—it’s amazing! And I will note that Bo-Katan and her warriors do the same upon their initial meeting with Din—Koska dives into danger with no hesitation as soon as Din says the child is still in danger. We see that this solidarity does come at a price for Bo-Katan, though, while the Armorer sees protecting a foundling as a duty that is completely worth all the trouble it brought.

Fascinating also that Boba was 100% on board to help out Din to save Grogu past what Din or anyone else would have expected of him, while Bo-Katan had to be bribed into coming by the promise of Moff Gideon and the darksaber. And she thinks she’s somehow more Mandalorian than him.

And NOW, going way back in time to the beginnings of the True Mandalorian movement, we know that Jaster Mereel originally authored his Supercommando Codex by looking back through history to the Canons of Honor and the Resol’nare, and he took those ideals and ideas and he modernized them to create a set of moral guidelines to follow. And people loved that shit! Death Watch had to infiltrate the True Mandalorians and then trick the Jedi into slaughtering them just to get rid of them, because Jaster’s charisma and his sexy sexy morals were too strong. (God. I fucking LOVE Jaster Mereel if you couldn’t tell.) Anyway, there’s precedent for Mandalorians looking back to their history to bring forth old ideas, repurposed to a modern context. We also know that, canonically, Din’s covert follow the “old ways” of not sharing names and of never taking their helmets off in front of others.

Moving on.

2. Extrapolations/Connecting the red string:

So if we extrapolate from the fact that Death Watch are, uh, super fucking abusive towards the kids that they stole/their own kids, then we’re left with… this group of kids, who have been mistreated and indoctrinated for a LONG TIME, and possibly don’t have that great an understanding of non-toxic Mandalorian culture. And if they’ve been abducted or rescued, whatever, they might not fit back in with the places they were taken from, or they may not have a place to go back to, or they may not even remember where they’re from originally. It’s some prime angst material! Good stuff.

And if we pull the implication from the names that “Children of the Watch” is a splinter group off of Death Watch, it really does make you think… huh, you know what? These two things may be one in the same. Maybe.

And, like, we know that Jaster Mereel and Din’s covert both looked to Mandalorian history to find pillars for their community’s morals. Jaster did so in the middle of a lot of political turmoil, as a way to say “Hey, we can still be Mandalorians in the ways that matter, but being Mandalorian doesn’t mean being a morally bankrupt conqueror. We can have honor and still wear armor and fight and uphold the Resol’nare.”

And I think Din’s covert did so when they were struggling with unlearning the toxic ideals that had been shoved onto them by Death Watch. I think they had to figure out their own way of being Mandalorian or else they would have crumpled under the pressure. And so they looked back to the old ways and picked out the more extreme interpretation of Cin Vhetin (clean slate) which says that, once you swear the Resol’nare and become a Mandalorian, your past doesn’t matter, it’s what you do now that does. You don’t take off your helmet, and you don’t let others know your name, because those things don’t matter to who you are and what you do. (There’s also the issue of the helmet and name rule being an important defense tactic to protect the covert, seeing as how Mandalorians post-Empire are the survivors of genocide. There’s already a fantastic post on it here)

Related, another Mandalorian saying is “Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaas'la.”, meaning “Nobody cares who your parent was, only the parent you’ll be,” which IMO fits in very nicely with how I’m interpreting Din’s covert. It’s all about your actions and future mattering more than your past. I think that when the covert was splitting off and being built, this would be a huge component of them healing. Because the way they were treated and indoctrinated by Death Watch doesn’t have to affect their future actions. They don’t have to perpetuate the cycle of abuse, they can build a covert and a community around caring for foundlings.

Now, onto the foundlings! I find it very interesting that, whenever the covert’s younglings are mentioned, it’s always as foundlings. I think this implies that there’s a focus on saving and raising children more than there is on sharing blood with them, and I think that the covert would be more inclined towards communal raising than typical family units, if only to keep everyone in check and to protect the children from ever being treated as they were. I also find it VERY interesting that there’s a lot of emphasis put on returning children to their own kind. I don’t think Death Watch would have employed that practice, and I think that’s another example of the covert wanting to make their community a better place for children. I think it’s likely a lot of them didn’t get that choice, and they had to leave their cultures and people behind. And so they want to give that choice to their children.

I think it’s also amazing that, like. They keep finding and raising children instead of deciding they’re too damaged or whatever to have kids. Because it doesn’t matter if they have baggage or trauma when a child needs them. That’s FANTASTIC. I’m losing my MIND. It really doesn’t matter who their parents were to them, just the kind of parents they will be. It’s all about breaking that cycle and deciding to be better and I LOVE THAT.

3. What does this MEAN???:

Well. What this means is that Din’s covert has a very clear set of motivations and structure when it comes to how their covert is run. It’s not a cult; in fact it is specifically a group created by cult survivors who are determined to not do to others what was done to them. The rules may seem weird and strict at first glance, but they have a clear purpose and rationale, and no one is trying to amass power. They’re just… trying to do better, and be better.

(This also means that I’m 99% sure that, with the assistance of time travel, at least half of the covert would be SUPER INTO Jaster Mereel. I like to imagine that Paz had, like, a poster of him on his little sewer bedroom wall. I fully believe he painted that mythosaur skull on his pauldron in honor of a good man who was killed by Paz’s own relatives for standing by his morals and daring to try to reform and rally Mandalorians. I also think it would be funny if, like, Din doesn’t know shit about ANYTHING to do with modern history, but Boba mentions that his grandfather is Jaster Mereel and Din is like “OH I KNOW THAT GUY! Yeah he’s cool, he’s the historical crush of like, my entire covert.” And Boba is like. What.)

It also means that it can be up in the air about whether Din was found by Death Watch before his covert splintered off, or if his covert was still just wearing Death Watch colors when he was found. Fun thing to play around with, but right now I don’t want a solid timeline.

Hmm just thought I should add: while the Armorer does seem to have a position of authority, I don’t think the covert can be structured politically with clans and houses like other Mandalorian groups. Like, clan just means family in this context, and is less a part of hierarchy, and I don’t think they would even recognize houses within the covert? Like they MIGHT decide to call themselves part of House Djarin now that Din is Mand’alor, but before that they weren’t like. House Vizsla with Paz as the leader just because they used to be Death Watch. I don’t vibe with that. This isn’t really super relevant, I just wanted to add it.

4. Complaining about Bo-Katan:

Anyway Bo-Katan is absolutely full of shit and it’s doubly disgusting that she’s standing there in Death Watch armor, seemingly still allied to this fucking cult of imperialism and conquest, and she accuses Din of being in a regressive cult, and she implies that the way he engages with the Resol’nare is wrong and like. Repressed or something. God I hate Bo-Katan. But I love to hate her. She’s horrible but I want her to be included in the list of Din’s friends but not the list of people he’d trust his kid with. I have contradictory Bo-Katan feelings, whatever. The most important thing is that all of her opinions are horrible, like, all the time. And we shouldn’t trust her when she says Din’s part of a cult. Literally why does anyone take that at face value. If we’re taking her word as the authority on Mandalorian issues then I guess Boba and Jango aren’t Mandalorian!!! Seriously.

TLDR; Din’s covert (aka “Children of the Watch”) is made up of survivors of childhood abuse, torture, and brainwashing at the hands of Death Watch, and they’re dedicated to making sure their children don’t go through the same thing. They’re not a cult, but Death Watch sure was! Jaster Mereel is the love of my very aromantic life and Bo-Katan’s opinions can’t be trusted. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[purple-goo-writes]

Young and Beautiful Part 2

Taglist: @clumsy-owl-4178 @myazael @woe-is-me0 @midnightmode @t1dwarrior-of-earth @stainedglassm

@catthhay @dorkus-minimus @maskedpainter @waffleyunsure @marinettepotterandplagg @demonicbusiness @mystery-5-5

@justafanwarrior

I've seen the world, lit it up As my stage now Channeling angels in a new age now Hot summer days, rock and roll The way you play for me at your show And all the ways, I got to know Your pretty face and electric soul

Will you still love me When I'm no longer young and beautiful? Will you still love me When I've got nothing but my aching soul? I know you will, I know you will I know that you will Will you still love me when I'm no longer beautiful?

He didn’t see her again until three years later after he took in his first ward, Richard Grayson. 

He didn’t know how she knew that he needed her support or how she was aware of his new ward, soon to be adopted son. All Bruce was aware of was of the fact that his shoulders finally released the tension he had not been aware that he was carrying when he came up from the Batcave after Dick’s first patrol and felt her familiar and welcoming calm aura. Even Richard noticed the distinct change in his guardian’s demeanor once they exited the Cave and entered the manor. And though the young Robin didn’t necessarily feel the new aura of calm permeating the Manor, he certainly does relax the moment he steps out of the Cave and feels the tension he had carried since his parent’s murder leave his own body.

It felt as if he was finally coming home and not just coming back to the house he inhabited with his guardian and the butler. 

Bruce could only watch in awe as Marinette breaks through all of Dick’s walls and within a week he walks in on Marinette holding a crying 12 year old boy as he finally griefs for his parents. Not long after that Marinette joins them on patrol as PopinJay using the fixed Peacock Miraculous.

Her suit looked like an odd mix of leather and spandex, a deep dark blue with black accents with some dark green detailing here and there; black gloves with blue fingers, black boots with blue heels and a dark blue domino mask with green detailing that mimicked feathers. Attached to her waist was a partial skirt that mimicked peafowl tail feathers with an ombre effect- starting black before fading to dark blue then green at the tips. Her hair was put up in an elegant bun pinned in place by two golden peafowl quils and held in a holster around her waist were two steel fans tipped in gold that when spread resembled two beautiful yet deadly fans of peacock feathers.

“Why the Peacock?” Batman enquired with a raised eyebrow while Robin squealed happily as the preteen danced around PopinJay taking in her suit.

The masked woman snickered softly, her lips tugging into a small smirk, “I figured it would match well with your theme.”

Bruce should not have been surprised about how flawlessly she joins into their routine and patrols. Marinette had always been able to adapt to any situation easily after all. It was something that the Guardian was still trying to teach him how to do.

She would pop in randomly over the years that followed, always seeming to know when Bruce and Dick needed her the most. She was a part of their small family after all and Bruce’s oldest friend. It was why he did not protest when Marinette whisked Dick away to the Temple to train after he and Bruce have a fight again when Robin talks about heading out on his own and becoming his own hero, outside of the Young Justice. After all he was turning 18 soon and was outgrowing the Robin mantle.

“Just because he is growing up, doesn’t mean he no longer needs his father, Bruce.” Were Marinette’s parting words before she left with Dick for Tibet.

When they returned a year later, it was to a relieved, if sheepish, Bruce who had just returned from patrol with a very angry preteen in tow dressed in a new Robin suit. Instead of feeling threatened, Dick grinned, causing Bruce to sigh in relief, “So does this mean I have a little brother now?”

“How did you end up adopting this one, ma nuit noire?”

“He stole the wheels off the BatMobile.”

“Only you, Bruce, only you.”

A month later, Dick became Nightwing after a conversation with Superman when the young man asked the super if his culture ever had vigilantes after Dick moved to Bludhaven. With the alien’s permission, he took up the mantle of Nightwing and officially passed on the Robin mantle down to his younger brother, Jason. Bludhaven gained a vigilante and Jason gained a new confidence with his older brother’s approval, not that the angry teen would admit it.

PopinJay made return to Gotham to help train the new Robin. Bruce was surprised, though he shouldn’t have been, at how fast Jason took to Marinette. The former street kid would even slip and call her Ma now and then, especially when the peacock heroine was being extra motherly. That Bruce wasn’t surprised about as Dick would, and still did, call Marinette Mama Bird. He tried not to dwell on how much his heart warmed at the thought of Marinette as the boys’ mother figure. Especially not when he was currently dancing around Catwoman and their odd relationship or his thing with Talia Al Ghul, who he knew disliked PopinJay greatly. Though his relationship with Talia ended when she drug him.

It was after a routine patrol when PopinJay came sauntering back into the Batcave carrying a confused, if exited, little nine-year-old boy with dark hair and bright blue eyes dressed only in his pajamas and holding a camera. The dark blue haired woman was smiling motherly down at the little scamp in her arms as Tim babbled excitedly about meeting one of his favorite heroes and how he couldn’t believe that MDC was PopinJay.

“PopinJay, what is the meaning of this?” Bruce growled in confusion as he turned from the BatComputer to address his partner, who simply giggled at his attempt to intimidate her. 

“Bruce, come meet your biggest fan.”

 “PopinJay!” 

“Oh, don’t be a stick in the mud. He already figured out our identities from Dick’s quadruple somersault.”

“He what? But, how?” This had Bruce intrigued as he stalked close to the woman, who was practically the mother of his sons, taking in the sight of little Tim, “He is the Drake heir...what is he doing out so late?” The fact that he was still in his pajamas without shoes on brought the father in Bruce to the forefront went without saying. 

Jason watched all this with a sigh and grumbled, “I’ll go tell Alfred to get a room ready for him.” Looks like he would be sharing his Ma with another brother...He best tell Dick about Tim, Jason just knew their parents (Marinette was their Mom no matter how oblivious Bruce was to his feelings) would be adopting the boy.

And wouldn’t you know he was right, somehow not even three months later Tim was now Tim Drake-Wayne due to his parents being found neglectful in a hush-hush trail. Dick was ecstatic about having another little brother to dote on and even Jason was happy to have a little brother, having grown fond of Tim during all the times the youngest Drake stayed at the Manor or BatCave when his parents went out of town on one of their frequent business trips. 

If Bruce wasn’t already thankful for Marinette’s presence in his life, he would have been after Jason ran off to track down his birth mother after finding out that Catherine was not his mom. He understood that Jason simply had questions he thought only his birth mom could answer, but it still broke Bruce’s heart that his middle son thought he would not help him find the woman. If it wasn’t for the multiple trackers he had placed on Jason, he would not have known that the young Robin was in Ethiopia of all places. Batman wouldn’t make it in time to save Robin, but he knew one person who could. 

It was the only time his composure had came so close to breaking as he called Marinette and begged her to save their son. Batman arrived just as the building went up in flames and would have broken down if not for PopinJay informing over the comm that she had Jason and that they were at the Cave. Unfortunately, Jason was in critical condition and had slipped into a coma by the time Bruce made it back to the Manor. After a long talk, it was decided that Marinette would take him to the Temple to heal and recover. Tim would be taking over as Robin in his absence, though the 12 year old wished it was under different circumstances.

Marinette kept Bruce updated on his status using the communicator he had given her. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he cried when she called him and informed him that Jason had woken up. Jason and Bruce had a long discussion when he was fully coherent, thankfully Jason understood why Bruce gave Tim the mantle and even asked him to inform Tim that he had his blessing to be Robin. This talk was also the first time one of his sons’ called him Dad.

“Dad, I don’t think I can be Robin anymore, anyway...I think it’s time I branched out.”

“Will you be using a Miraculous?”

“No, Ma asked, even said I would be a good fit for the Eagle, but I turned her down. I want to make my own way without fancy powers.”

“You know we will support any decision you make.”

It was two years after that that Jason fully recovered and returned to Gotham as the vigilante, Red Hood. Thankfully, Marinette talked him out of that outrageous helmet and helped him design his new costume, his suit he wore had a red hood attached to it and he wore a red metal face mask with a black domino mask. He still managed to keep the leather jacket though. Even if Bruce frowned at his use of guns, at least the rounds were mainly tranquilizers, the Bat was proud of his son.

Tim made an amazing Robin and detective. Though Bruce was suspicious when Marinette would disappear with Tim to train him in secret or take him to the Temple. But, it was Tim’s choice and if he choose to join the Order, Bruce would support him. Marinette loved their sons equally, but Bruce knew she was closer to Tim.

He was thankful for Marinette being there for him when Barbara joined the team as Batgirl. Even more thankful for when Stephanie joined and then Cassandra was adopted. He was not sure how to handle daughters and the girls having a positive female role model relieved him greatly. Even if he did get a few grey hairs now and then from some of their more interesting purchases.

Talia dropped Damian on Bruce when Tim was 16 and had just become co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises, after both his older brothers refused the position. (Dick was now a Cop in Bludhaven and Jason had taken over Security for the WE.) Bruce was still reeling from the shock of finding out he had a blood son and Talia just dumping the ten year old on him without so much of a by-your-leave. Bruce had finally put his past with Talia and Selina behind him and finally moved on when this happened. He was unsure how to process this new situation. Though after stopping Damian from killing/attacking Tim once again, he knew what he had to do.

He called Marinette.

Bruce isn’t sure what she did or said to his youngest son. But after whisking Damian away for a few months at the Temple, the child that came back was changed. Still the same arrogant cold ex-assassin, but he had started to open up to his family and follow his father’s code of honor. Though, things were still shaky between him and Tim, the older boys were all amused when Damian bluntly asked them why Father hadn’t proposed to Marinette, or Mère as he called her in French, yet.

“Because Dad is really, really oblivious to his own feelings.”

“He’s a fucking idiot.” 

“Jaybird!” 

“What? You know it’s true!” 

“Little ears, Jay!”

Damian turned to his only intelligent sibling, and most dangerous outside of Cain, "Drake, I presume you have plans ready to set in motion?"

There was a reason he considered Drake his highest threat to his position as blood son. Ra's had stated time and time again that he wished to induct Tim into the fold, one way or another. Many times his grandfather had stated this when he found Damian's own performance lacking, making comments on how the young Detective would have done things. Drake had plans within plans, a mind like a steel trap mixed with a twisted maze and a tenacity most assassin's would envy. It was why Damian grudgingly respected the teen, even if he would rather bit his tongue off then admit it.

Tim gave his youngest sibling a rather maniacal grin, some of his Red Robin persona (A mantle he took up recently) shining through, "Oh do I."

Unfortunately, their plans to trick their parental figures into realizing their feelings would have to wait.

Because Darkseid came and Bruce was gone...

[princeanxious]

A random logicality fic i didnt realize I wanted to write until just now, that i can't write out into an organized fic story atm but I can ramble about its whole world and character settup! So like. Take this as a massive bullet point fic if you will, but, yknow, minus the bullet point part..

[[MORE]]

Some background info: this is an omegaverse idea BUT it primarily focuses on the worldbuilding, character dynamics, and relationship dynamics and doesnt focus or even really mention nsft stuff. At least not in this post! Another fact abt this au is that there are no betas in this au, just alphas and omegas representing as the primary biological differences. Same general biology applies, and there is this worlds own version of the LGBTQ+ community as well, ect ect.

Logan is a highclass omega that lives on a large estate and is the only omega, let alone male omega(which is uncommon in this au), in his well known family's current generation. Hes got two other older alpha siblings Thomas and Deceit(named Dorian in this fic) and theyre all p close to eachother and wellknown to the public for being anti-classist despite the rest of their highclass family's history of being generally snooty and classist and not very family-oriented. They probably run a big entertainment company named after the family line and thats where most of their wealth comes from. Their family surname is probably Sanders. Logan is like, an inch above normal height for an omega and is sort of a frail, lanky, and uber pale man who doesn't eat well and doesnt exercise often and doesnt get enough sunlight and is often bored out of his mind, frankly.(all of this is due to his parent's terrible job of raising him, both from the servants (unhappily)following their orders for his care and from their blatant disregard for his health and happiness as a male omega. His brothers and the servants do the best they can to sneak around the rules, at least for food and sneaking Logan books and candles to entertain himself late at night or in his freetime when they arent hanging out together)

Patton, on the other hand, is a mid-high class Alpha in a little less well-known(in comparison to the Sanders family at least) but still well-respected family in a slightly smaller estate, known from their history of being a long line of hardworking successful people and being a very big and far reaching family. They probably breed a few prized mostly pure-bred and cross-bred horse breeds (the ethical way of course). And perhaps they(at least at Patton's estate specifically) also have their own fruit tree plantation that is known for selling its fruit as well as making said fruit into jams to be sold locally. Theyre family also has ties in helping many local businesses as well as a few larger companies ect. ect. The main family branch name is Crofters. ;p Patton is a v tall boi, and like his father, works hard around the estate just as much as any other worker. He helps harvest fruit from the plantation when its time and gets to help turn a good portion of the fruit into their famous crofters jam, and he helps tend to the stables and horses and chores all around the estate, does lots of heavy lifting ect.ect. So. Tall buff boi who's v suntanned and v freckled and made of friendliness and sunshine smiles yknow?? Hes an only child with just a father by the time hes 21 and a ton of extended family but he makes an effort to check in and make sure the local youth and elderly are well taken care of.

So in this fic, like, these things that are sort of like coming-of-age courting parties/festivals are held? It's a big cultural thing that happens each season to allow un-courted young adults a chance to meet and socialize with other un-courted young adults at their own leisure and pace rather than being subjected to family-directed arranged courtings(which are mostly a thing of the past at this point for their culture)

So like, p much Thomas and Dorian have to step in to help Logan persuade their parents into letting them take Logan to a local coming-of-age festival bc his parents are like this close to just making Logan go through w/ an arranged courting from some other highclass alpha, bc omega males aren't as 'prized'(to the highclass) or seen as desirable as omega females so getting Logan to marry into another wealthy family solely for maintaining status and making wealthy ties is the only use they see for him. Which of course,, his alpha siblings are having none of that if they have anything to say about it.(and they do. Logan deserves as much freedom as they do if not more, especially at this point in their lives. And Dorian spends the whole walk back to their bedrooms venting about the stupidity and blatant sexism of the fact that Dorian and Thomas are freely allowed to go wherever and do whatever they please because they're Alphas, "but Logan can't and has to be escorted everywhere that he is allowed to go if he wants to go anywhere as if he doesnt have his own autonomy! Why can Thomas and I go to the festival's without any fuss or escort but Logan is almost two steps from forbidden to even chose his own attire for the day? Highclass society is bullshit!")

So, with the eventual hard-won mutual agreement that Thomas and Dorian will be Logan's direct and only escorts to the festival who will not be left alone(they wouldnt leave him alone anyway, though not out of thinking that Logan is a dependent helpless omega that needs to be attended to and directed at all times, bc they dont believe that like their parents do, its out of the fact that theyre not about to leave their two years younger baby brother who has virtually no experience in socializing, let alone making friends, alone in a loud activity-filled festival w/ a large amount of varied attendance.) They head off during the winter festival season(as Logan's 21st birthday was in late autumn) to at least introduce their own friends that they've met over the years to Logan(who many of them have heard about but never met previously due to their parents toxic outdated mindsets on how omegas needed to remain shielded from the world and obediant, so Logans only friends for the longest time were his brothers themselves and that was it.).

So, the cast fic placements sorta go like this: Dorian has his intentions set on courting this very chaotic very non-conforming omega male named Remus(bc really, both of them just wanna say fuck you to the Sanders' parents' outdated ideals of societal conformity, really. However, Dorian pursuing Remus is like 5% driven by saying suck it to society, 15% spite towards his parents, and 80% because Remus stole his heart the first time they met by being unabashedly himself and being super interested and forward towards Dorian without being patronizing or disgusted with his birth scars and blind eye. Remus without prompting settles up against Dorian's blindside at all times when in public to work as a barrier to others sneaking up on the visually impaired alpha, all unprompted. Remus really really likes Dorian, and the feeling is mutual.) And! it works out bc even tho Remus is about as wild and as independant and inobedient and non-fragile and as far from the rest of the perfect omega stereotypes as they get, he's part of a family that is even higher in status than the Sanders family. Remus and his twin Roman are both male omegas born into a wealthy and publicly generous family that honestly is probably the most well known in the entertainment industry for its long line of professional actors, singers, and popular film/stage play writer and producers. Remus and Roman are naturally charismatic, Roman being a talented singer and trained actor while Remus dabbles in script writing and producing. Their mothers are respectively an omega and alpha and have their own accomplishments. And, are infact very progressive, and they plan to hand off the company to Roman and Remus to run when the twins are ready to, marriage not required. So, like. The Sanders parents cant exactly find a reason not to let Dorian pursue Remus without being openly obvious in their conservative views about omegas. (Which The Twins' parents already know about through Remus's recountings of Dorian's venting abt Logan's childhood mistreatment) so, safe to say, everyones in on pissing off the Sanders family in ways that they can't openly be mad about.

Anyways, to tie this all back in, the festivals mentioned above are both for meeting mutually un-courted young adults/adults and also for individuals to pursue courting who they want to court without family/class bias ect. (So like, un-courted/non-courting individuals dress/wear a main article in a certain color, while courted/courting individuals wear any other colors but that color, and said color depends on what season its in, and this coloring isn't something that varries from town to town, its universal in their culture. For Spring, un-courted individuals wear Green, in fall its Orange, in Summer its Yellow, and in Winter its Blue. And thats how you differentiate) so Thomas and Dee return to attend each of the seasonal festivals to court who theyre pursuing as a special time alone from either family watching as well as it being another way of meeting up with their friendgroup to have fun.

So, through Dorian, Logan finally meets Roman and Remus, and honestly its a real struggle for them to get along at first bc Roman and Remus are loud and brash and opinionated and independent, and rather unfiltered. And. Well, Logan grew up being trained to be the opposite, so he doesnt think they're compatible friends. But thats how he’s been raised to think. They lead and smother him in their conversation for a hot minute before realizing Logans just politely listening and not even attempting to join in, looking mildly uncomfy and out of his depth. And Romans a little offended before he remembers that what Remus relayed to him about Logan's uprising. So, Remus finds a way to get under Logans skin just enough to break down the polite walls that have been trained into him. Remus states stating false facts to Logan that he knows Logan knows are false and is able to get Logan just incredulous and heated enough to debate back. And Roman joins in just in time to change the subjects just a bit, and it takes some time but they get into a grove of getting Logan used to talking without being talked to, giving his own opinion on things without fear of repercussion and just generally conversating.(and they find, very smugly, that Logan can be just as loud and passionate about facts and his own thoughts and opinions if given the right outlet and the push to do it.) And it finally gets Logan to loosen up just a bit, to relax and smile and laugh(!!), and his brothers are just as excited for him bc Logan's finally getting to break out of his shell without the oppressive control of their parents directly looming over him.

So, okay okay, I'm getting to the logicality part, shhh, perfection takes time!! So, okay, I forgot to squeeze this in earlier but Thomas is courting Remy, whos a talented and smart as fuck, independent male omega from a family from their neighboring country. Remy has a big fam, but hes the head in charge out of all his siblings, ect ect. He’s an omega and the oldest, with three younger alpha siblings and one younger omega sibling. His parents are headstrong people who’ve raised a take-no-shit omega who will not be pushed around and will gladly do his own thing, thank you. If we’re being honest, its really Remy courting Thomas, whos a big-hearted softy introverted Alpha, like they are mutually interested in one another but Remy is a massive extrovert and theres no misunderstanding whose taking charge when theyre together. Remy’s existance alone is enough to Piss off the Sanders Family parents, especially after Remus enters the picture, however.. Remy takes it to the next level by being the more incharge, natural born leader, therefor flipping the old dominant alpha and obedient omega sterotype on its head. Thomas is happy to piss them off in doing it bc letting Remy take the lead makes Remy happy and keeps Remy from getting ansy and makes him happy bc he was never going to fully fit the dominant alpha sterotype anyways. Further still, out of the three siblings that are part of the Sanders family, only Thomas keeps the Sanders surname name in the end, as Dorian plans to take Remus’s and (future)Logan plans to take Patton’s surname. Which sets them up for: Remy chosing to take the Sanders Surname therefore becoming a direct part of the Sanders family name lineage, which the parents have no say over bc its technically up to Thomas by law, who gives Remy the option to chose on his own, ect.

Okay okay, w/ that set up, lets move forward.

Its p much a one-by-one meeting basis as Logan meets Dorian and Thomas’s partners and friends. So, Roman, Remus, and Remy all p much take Logan under their collective wing as soon-to-be omega brother-in-laws do. They all realize they’ve got a lot to teach Logan, and more importantly, kinda really need to get him courting soon bc Logan really needs to get out of that toxic household. They’re planning to keep it slowish bc Logan doesn’t know quite yet how to talk to people that arent his brothers, let alone have any knowhow on consentual courting?? But yeah, they’re keeping an protective eye out alongside Dorian and Thomas while still letting approaching un-courted alphas and omegas come close enough to interact/flirt w/ Logan. About mid-day Roman’s courting partner finally arrives:

A slightly withdrawn, tall and quiet Alpha who looks fairly intimidating until Logan realizes just how anxious the lanky Alpha is and how Roman is definately leading when he needs to to keep Virgil from overthinking. They end up hitting it off very well, unsurprisingly. Virgil doesn’t really know Logan’s whole story like Remus does bc Roman didn’t know to tell him in time so it takes some catching up and trading of their home lives to get to speaking terms but, Logan is soon to be the Twin’s brother in-law soo.. that p much makes Logan his family to be anyhow, so. Safe to say Virgil plays a minor part in warding off all too-cocky alphas thinking theyre about to find an easy catch in approaching Logan. Though, realistically, its the fact that a small group of courting young-adults are guiding and staying w/ said un-courted young-adult that keeps Logan from getting approached too much. It may not have allowed him to get the full festival experience, but, its likely Logan would not have been able to handle the Full Experience, especially not on his own.

Finally, incomes Patton. Patton, wearing blue just like Logan, stands out because he approaches the group fearlessly and full of sunshine, going through and greeting each familiar face before he realizes Logan is a new part of the group and politely and warmly introduces himself. Though well known to the group through being Virgil’s longstanding childhood bestfriend and part of a very openly interactive and helpful w/ everyone around them family, this is actually Patton’s first coming-of-age festival, as he’d just turned 21 two weeks prior. And hes very excited to meet new people, he always is! He’s quick to tell Virgil that the jam they’d made earlier in the fall(it was tradition at this point that Virgil helped Patton with the jam making process every year) had been successful in sales and smiles, and hes content to ramble to Virgil about the progress of the stables’ new foals. Logan would have thought Patton had out-right forgotten about him had Patton not begun turning to ask Logan an excited question every minute or so. And he always listened to Logan’s answers completely with rapt attention before asking or saying something further.

Niether of them know they’d both had the same thought when they’d first seen the other. A very sappy, very flustered thought of ‘Oh god, he’s cute.’ The moment they’d made eye-contact.

And, well, Logan is a tad overwhelmed, for many reasons. For one, Patton, on the very surface, is very attractive. Tall and well-built, sunkissed and freckled with curly blond hair and a dashing smile that lit up his entire expression, and Logan couldn’t help mirror Patton’s infectious smile with a shy one of his own. Another was that Patton’s voice was warm, not too loud though it carried well, it was welcoming and unashamedly happy. Patton was patient and kind and friendly, yet still felt reminiscent of an excited puppy. He was unabashedly himself in the nicest of ways, and Logan’s heart kept fluttering everytime their eyes met, everytime Patton asks him a question or answers his own. Patton leads the conversation, but leaves plenty room for Logan to take his own direction if he pleases. He’s considerate and thoughtful and actually treating Logan like a person, not some dependent omega or a possible mate. And it definately doesn’t go unnoticed that Logan’s blushing and slightly flustered, but Patton doesn’t push about it, he just lets the conversation stop and go as they please as the group wanders around and take part in the festivities.

And.. well, the group does take notice that Patton and Logan have started ignoring outside signals of omegas and alphas that wanna get close and interact with either one of them, but they don’t tell them about it. Logan and Patton are pretty obviously interested in each other, and honestly no ones gonna interrupt them while they figure things out. Patton is the only one who definately doesn’t know about Logan’s situation, but he picks up on it’s cues pretty quickly and treads carefully without prodding, though Logan is upfront about himself being raised under opressive conservative ideals so hes pretty new to everything, but he leaves it at that for their first interaction.

P much they spend the rest of the festival together, Dorian and Thomas directly checking in once or twice to confirm Logan is doing okay and happy. Thomas is met with a soft “yes.. Is this what romantic attention feels like?” And Dorian gets “Yes, though i’m not sure how long i’m going to be able to keep functioning if he keeps smiling at me with his handsomeface.” Which these things are said obviously w/ Patton out of earshot And both brothers have to keep themselves from cackling bc their brother is very gay for Patton. And Patton is very openly gay for Logan right back, not that Logan really knows how to read that yet tho.

By the end of the festival, Logan just decides that he wants to pursue courting Patton, h’s very sure of it especially after bringing it up with Dorian and Thomas and getting their approval. Then Logan brings it up with Patton directly and it goes something like this:

Logan shyly but determained asks Patton if he would consider courting Logan, and Patton just smiles warmly and leans down to take Logan’s hand and kisses it. Then says “I did consider it, Lolo, and I’d be more than blessed to get to court you.” And Logan just blushes so bright he has to hide his face and Patton just laughs and hugs him.

Skipping forward, Patton gets the Sanders families hesitant approval to let him directly court Patton, which involves them sending Logan over to spend periods of time at Pattons estate, and Patton coming to stay with Logan at the Sanders estate during the other half of the time. Cue Patton learning just how bad Logan’s home situation is and would be without his brothers there to buffer some of it, and Patton stepping up to curb it back as well while being non-aggressive about it.

Cue Patton taking Logan to meet riding horses directly for the first time, as well as meet baby horses. He eases Logan into the concept of being free to do almost whatever he pleases while staying at the Crofters estate, which is pretty mild for the longest time but watching Logan smile excitedly when he got a new book, or got to walk around town with Patton, or got to say yes or no just because he finally could? It means all the world to Patton. Cue the scene of them resting under a tree near the front of the estate during the day, easily seen and watched but relaxing and napping atop of one another all the same. Logan’s head against Patton’s board chest, listening to Patton’s heartbeat while patton runs his hand through Logan’s hair. Then, Logan tenatively asking about laying out front to stargaze in the evening, and honestly the night they finally get to stargaze for the first time a few days later is when the really fully fall in love.

Cue Virgil coming to visit with Roman in tow when its that time of the year to make the famous Crofters jam, and Logan is staying over at the estate at the time. And Logan finally tries Crofters jam for the first time, as he’d been putting it off before as not being a jelly person. And he just. Finds he really really likes it, probably an inproper amount. Patton takes notice, and doesn’t hesitate to spoil Logan with it every once in a while. Logan also learns how to make Crofters jam, and it was alot of fun to do! Hes tuckered out by the end of it, but thats not surprising.

And okay. Another major fun plot point is that during times that Patton and Logan are staying at the sanders estate, Dorian and Remus, Thomas and Remy, and Roman and Virgil also often are found staying at the large estate, and its no coincidence. Now that Logan is being directly courted(and its going very well), Logan’s autonomy now falls under Patton’s command, not Logan’s parents. And, well, Patton lets him make his own decisions as long as they stick together, as Pattons not comfy leaving Logan alone unless hes with one of his brothers or their omegan mates(bc at this point, Remus and Dorian finished their yearlong courting and married and are official mates, and same goes for Thomas and Remy. ) and well. My favorite concept is that Logan now has the guidance of 3 firely independant omegas to help him learn to strive for the independant mindset that had been robbed from him in his youth. Safe to say, Logan comes out just as stubborn and independant and passionate as the other three. He just tends to be the one out of the four who is the most content with their alpha being a bit more in the lead on a daily basis.

Didn’t really think abt an ending too much but like, Logan and Patton get married and become mates and move to Patton’s estate permanantly and just being so happy and inlove with Patton. And everythings?? Good?? So yeah.

[usagi-mitsu]

This is something I never thought I would ever write – or would have even considered writing down even a few hours ago. But I feel like this needs to be addressed and I hope you all can forgive me for venting my feelings – about art, the reader/author relationship, art-theft, and the following consequence: deleted art.

And… this is also some kind of diary entry for me, to never forget.

About three to four hours ago, an artist who I truly admire, closed their account on Wattpad. Wattpad is not my personally preferred platform, simply because I’m not sure it’s ok for them to monetize an authors content the way they do – and that is a topic for a whole different discussion. But they had pulled their stuff from fanfiction.net a few years prior and (if it even was their account) even from AO3.

The last message they posted on Wattpad reads as follows:

“DUE TO PEOPLE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO STEAL MY FICS AND CLAIM THEM AS THEIR OWN, I HAVE REMOVED THEM ALL FROM THIS PLATFORM. VERY SORRY TO THOSE WHO HAVE READ AND ENJOYED THEM BUT ALREADY MULTIPLE TIMES MY WRITING HAS BEEN STOLEN AND IM DONE.”

 The author I’m talking about was called “Lusterrdust” on Wattpad and wrote the very popular Skyrim Romance Mod fanfiction about their Dragonborn Niamh and the mods main character Bishop. Their first story “Ranger of the Woods” covered the whole of the mod in about 52-53 chapters and told it beautifully: From when Niamh and Bishop first met in Riverwood (?), to them fighting side by side, him leaving her to go fight Alduin alone, them reuniting a few months later, the journey to Solstheim, the battle with Miraak and finally a small wedding far away from the public. The second story was called “Saviour of Tamriel” and was set about four years after the first one, with Niamh yearning to be a mother, while the Aldmeri Dominion was planning on slowly expanding it’s … well … dominion across the continent, with Niamh and the High King Ulfric receiving death threats, her actually getting pregnant and Bishop trying to keep his family as safe as possible. A meeting with the emperor Titus Mede was on the way and I think Niamh and Bishop were about to drop their baby boy Julian off with the greybeards to keep him safe, since the Dominion had already put a hefty price on the not even three month old infant.

 The reason for why I write this, why this is affecting me like this, is that Lusterrdust was the first author I ever interacted with: I wrote comments when I read the story and I left my impressions and came back to read it again and again. I even dropped theories in the comments, even though I knew the story was not yet one and when I left my ideas and theories at the end of one of the last chapters, they even asked me, if they could use my idea. And my comments were not there anymore, since I offered them to delete them – just so that nobody else would be spoiled by my … inspirational rants at the end of each chapter. (Which is why I assume Niamh and Bishop were in Ivarstead at the end of the last chapter – it was my suggestion to place the baby with the Greybeards. Who better to look after a baby, than a bunch of super powerful elderly men and an elder dragon..?

But aside from having a baby at the worst possible time, aside from Niamh and Bishop still trying to learn how to communicate with her being the Dragonborn and therefore a person of public and political interest, aside from a potential alliance with Titus Mede and a hopefully good ending for them all.. there was so much more: There was the sub-plot with Breezehome being remodelled to be an orphanage, Niamhs brother having been brainwashed by the dark brotherhood, Lydia and Farkas having a third baby, Vilkas being with a Mere (elven woman), the implication of Ulfric slowly growing old and openly admitting to wanting Niamh to be his High Queen …

There was so much yet to explore.

But the author stopped updating in 2018, when their grandfather died. Which was ok. And everything was still ok to this day. At least for me: Even though they did not publish any new content, I still had all those many chapters to read again and again in my own time, whenever I got to it.

And it inspired me. It inspired me so much, that I went ahead and dove head first into Elder Scrolls Lore. A few years back, I could name all the Daedric Princes (Sanguine is the god of tits and wine – change my mind) and tell you which of Tamriels nine gods ruled over which dominion and why the fight between the Elves of Summerset and the other peoples of Tamriel was utter religious bullshit.

It even inspired me to think about my own Dragonborn, a nord woman called Kahira van Rae, and what she would do in a situation like Niamhs. A train of thoughts, that lead to me having RP sessions with my friends via WhatsApp and hour long talks about the politics of fictional lands. It even made me call my new character in the next fandom I’d dive into “Shia Tamriel”. In honour of a story and fandom I had come to love deeply.

And while it has been some time since I last checked in with these stories, I never forgot them. I did keep on coming back, enjoying them again and again. And every time I read them, I discovered something new.

These two stories were important to me.

The author was important to me.

 And now, all of those things are gone, because someone apparently copied their work and posted them as their own.

And that’s what really gets me.

Some random person out there on the internet thought it was ok, to simply copy-paste another persons hard work and put their name on it.

And let me put this as simply as possible:

THAT IS NOT OK! NOT IN ANY WAY!

 Because of your selfishness, a few hundred people will never get to know the end of Niamhs story.

Because of your selfishness, a few hundred people will never get to reread the story.

Because of your selfishness, an author was hurt and annoyed so badly they decided to pull all their content.

You should be ashamed.

You stole someone’s precious art that they decided to share with the world and let me be clear – just because they shared their art, you are not allowed to simply make it your own!

 Copyright is an iffy topic in fandom culture, with different countries having different rules and different companies going after fan works in highly differing intensities. But it should be common curtesy to not simply steal another persons art! Be it literal artworks as in pictures or edited videos or cosplay ideas or written art like fanfiction!

If something inspires you, that’s great! But you always ask consent before doing anything with the art! And if asking consent is an entirely new concept to you, I’d like to ask you kindly to go educate yourself on it. It will not only pop up in fandom culture.

 To conclude this…

I’m just sad at this point. I remembered the story two nights ago and I jumped right back into it at some random point and read it. I even put up with Wattpads shenanigans like forcing me to log in to keep on reading or requiring me to download the app so that they can show me stupid 30 second long ads in between reading.

I know that the world is not ending because of this.

I am well aware of the fact, that it was just a story.

And I truly support the authors decision.

 But until they pulled all the content, until they deleted their account, I had always hoped to maybe one day read more about Niamh and Bishop. And Bragor and Julian. About their Ulfric and Ralof, Lydia and Farkas and their children. I had hopes to discover their Titus Mede and how they were going to resolve the conflict between Skyrim, the empire and the Dominion

But now I cannot even go back and reread the sassy exchanges between Casavir and Bishop. I will never again be able to experience Bishops anguish when Niamh receives an almost mortal wound. I’ll never again know the inner thoughts of the Dragonborn, who thought she was barren, getting told that she is pregnant.

 I think the author did the right thing. It saddens me nonetheless.

 So let me end this here with one last plea to everyone in every fandom out there:

Do not steal art.

 Thank you for reading.

[ask-sincerely-sea]

A rundown of the Mermaid AU

Here’s a bullet list of my Mermaid AU and most of the content I have imagined for it! These are taken from three different posts on my main blog, but for simplicity, I compiled them all here! It is long, but feel free to read and get a feel for this universe!

All the Murphys are sharks, but they’re all different types of sharks.

Science doesn’t exist in my world so don’t expect genetics and aquatic ancestry to be something that is strict. Most families tend to stay within the same family and/or genus.

Connor is a Shortfin Mako Shark.

Zoe is a Blue Shark (Fun fact: Blue Sharks are a species of Requiem Sharks).

Cynthia is a Whale Shark.

Larry is an Oceanic Whitetip Shark.

Evan and Heidi are both octopus.

Evan is a Coconut Octopus.

Heidi is a Mimic Octopus.

Alana is a Pacific White Sided Dolphin.

Jared is a White Spotted Pufferfish.

Although intelligent like humans, mermaids will exhibit behaviors akin to their aquatic ancestry.

Evan being a Coconut Octopus will hide within ocean debris as a form of camouflage. This is often triggered by spikes in anxiety, but he also uses it to avoid interaction.

Jared absolutely puffs up. It’s usually caused by elevated emotion. Sometimes he’ll puff up because he’s upset, other times he’ll accidentally cause himself to puff up just from laughing too hard.

The Murphy family is a family a predators. They all have an acute and accurate sense of smell. Larry, Connor, and Zoe are active hunters, and when they are in hunting mode it’s hard to break them out of it until they are satiated.

Merpeople do form societies and interact with each other. They don’t hunt each other and unlike their aquatic ancestors, they don’t all follow migration paths. Some merfamilies will migrate.

Now I’ll give you all the cute and fun and interesting stuff…

Connor loves to explore any wreckage he can find. He’s super fascinated by human life and loves finding shipwrecks, plane wrecks, and even leftover skeletons.

He frequents the wrecks of military vessels most often and collects dog tags from fallen soldiers. He refurbishes them as much as he can because he likes to see the names of the men and women lost.

He often spies on humans who are boating as well. Be it a wedding boat, fishermen, or just vacationers, he just loves watching them from afar. However, the moment they spot him (usually only his dorsal fin on his tail), he dives away

.Hes accidentally becomes and ocean cryptid when a group of divers got a photo of him, albeit it fuzzy/blurry.

He’s obviously not aware of human cryptid culture.

Redditors think his viral photo is photoshopped.

Zoe isn’t as curious about humans. She is curious of the sky above and loves to watch birds as they fly around and feed on fish.

She goes stargazing a lot against her parents wishes. It’s dangerous at night and her parents (and most merpeople) fear poachers.

Zoe collects starfish on her tailfins. Since they are living creatures, she always communicates with them and makes sure they are okay with it.

Connor will leave jewelry and funky human artifacts he finds in Zoe’s room. She doesn’t know Connor is the one that leaves her random items and just assumes it’s Cynthia.

Cynthia is fascinated with human artifacts and frequents a lot of merpeople who are traders for human trinkets.

However, she is terrified of humans and doesn’t dare go near them. When she was younger, she got tangled up I’m a fishing net that belonged to poachers.

Larry is also fascinated with human trinkets, but not as much as Cynthia. Being an Oceanic Whitetip, he loves the tale of the USS Indianapolis.

He and Connor used to search shipwrecks together, but they’ve since grown apart and haven’t hunted or scavenged together in a long time.

I already said a bit of this in my last post, but being a Coconut Octopus, Evan uses physical objects to hide in and behind as a form of camouflage.

Though camouflage isn’t really necessary for merpeople being that they are able to fend for themselves and create/use tools, weapons, utensils, etcetera.

Evan’s camo is more of a reflex with his anxiety. If he’s nervous, anxious, or embarrassed, he’ll find the nearest Evan-sized object and fold himself up to fit. His tentacles can fold together tightly, he just has to account for his upper body not being as flexible.

Heidi is a Mimic Octopus as uses her camo as more of a fun party tricks. Mimic Octopus are able to disguise with many backgrounds, but are also able to contort and arrange their tentacles to resemble other species.

When Evan was little, they would travel to shallow banks along islands where the sun shone through the water really brightly. She’d contort her tentacles and do little shadow puppets of other species for him on the sand.

So, Jared is a pufferfish and not a porcupine fish. He has spines, but they’re very small and thin. They usually only show up when he’s inflated.

He HATES being inflated but it’s happens a lot.

Basically any elevated emotion inflates him. He’s angry? Puff! He’s playful? Puff! He’s excited? Puff! He’s sad? Puff! He’s [redacted]? PUFF!

He doesn’t care too much about human culture, but he is aware of this cursed video. He was hanging around a boat with a bunch of spring breakers and slipped a phone for a few minutes, stumbling across Youtube. Connor thinks it’s the funniest thing ever.

Oh, yeah, so merpeople don’t have any sort of electronic technology, but some of the most curious ones will snatch devices from boats. They are aware they don’t work underwater, so it’s usually like a dramatic spy scene of mermaids hanging out by boats with phones and tablets and messing around as much as they can for five to ten minutes.

Alana is super social and during vacations from school she’ll travel with merpeople and regular aquatic life and migrate around the world.

She’s traveled literally everywhere and has been doing it since she was a child. Her whole family used to go, but now it’s just her. Her parents trust her to be alone.

Alana has come across Sea World and other marine parks with Orcas and it makes her incredibly angry. There have been a few instances where animals in captivity have… Mysteriously escaped back into the wild…

She does have a super playful side and is very curious of humans despite often having a negative judgement/attitude towards them. When she just wants to have fun or relax, she goes bow riding along the wake of boats. She’s clever enough to not be seen.

Yes, there is merpeople high school because why not.

Again, science doesn’t exist and this au honestly doesn’t have rules.So just go ham and make mermaids, y'all!

I’m still deciding on how I want to portray Miguel, but right now I’m thinking Red Lionfish or Pacific Seahorse.That boy is something very colorful and proud!

So previously I mentioned there being an education system for merpeople as they do form societies.

So all the teens (minus Miguel) go to school together.

Their school, as well as most of the buildings in their particular society, is made up of scrapped parts from shipwrecks and other human debris. There are also some buildings and landmarks carved out of the landscape, but they gotta keep it fresh, keep it interesting. They’re still discovering and learning technology, but in their own unique ways.

(Okay, you probably didn’t even care about that fact but as an enthusiast for a “rebuild from the remains” aesthetic, I have to sprinkle in my little funky twists.)

The particular “town” of merpeople they live in isn’t very large and is constantly changing size and population due to some mers moving in and out.

Evan broke his arm over summer break in a coastal accident.

Seeing that merpeople don’t fully abide by the living standards of their aquatic ancestors, they tend to mix, mingle, and migrate without too much structure. Obviously certain families with stay together and there are some pockets of merpeople who live by more strict cultural rules. But for the sake of au, Evan and the gang live in a more relaxed mer civilization.

So, over the summer Evan was working with a group of mers that focus on coastal wildlife. Evan in particular focused on coral health and how it was being affected by human activity.

But our boy is depressed and lonely, so one day he strays from his usual group of coworkers and ventured toward a cluster of fishing boats. The general rule is don’t go near humans, especially when on the job.

He noticed that some of the boats were anchored, so he grabbed one of them from the seabed, hoisted it up the surface, and launched it above water for his to come crashing down with force behind it.

His arm got pinned under the anchor, thus breaking it.

Now, the rest of the AU at the moment is more freeform and doesn’t follow the plot of the musical, but I did want to included how Evan broke his arm.

Connor is not dead in this particular version of the AU, but feel free to craft multiple storylines and arcs with different outcomes!

Connor does paint his nails!

As previously mentioned, he is very fascinated by human society and like to get a little too close.

So, one day he came across some spring breakers and watched as they went about their activities sunbathing and painting their nails. As soon as they looked away, he stole several bottles.

It’s rare for him to find nail polish, especially since he ruined his first bottle by opening it up under water and losing the contents. But whenever a party boat or a boat of spring breakers rolls by, especially with a bunch of girls, he always has to check.

He quickly learned that whenever he wants to do his nails he has to make a whole thing about hauling himself up to surface and propping on a rock or a beach for some time.

He’s collected his signature black as well as a metallic purple, glittery pink, and bright turquoise. He wears the black and purple the most. He loves the other two colors, but poor baby is insecure and wearing nail polish as a mer is already enough to cause stares.

Jared also thinks that human legs are hot.

When Jared is puffed up, other mers will bop him around like a volleyball. It’s an unfortunate thing for any and all puffers.

Evan’s dad is a Barracuda mer, which for a Barracuda and an Octopus to mate is incredibly rare. It’s a wonder that Evan didn’t come out a totally wack and new sea monster.

But like I said, science doesn’t really exist here! Anything goes! Be whatever mer you wanna be! Love whatever mer you wanna love!

[sedehaven]

Saving Ophelia Grace’s Toe

Y’all seem to like my stories about being a witch in the Bible Belt, so here’s another one. This is a coming of age story about a young witch (me), a bunch of adults of various degrees of uselessness, and Ophelia Grace’s rotten toe.

This is not a happy story.

Names changed when necessary.

CW: Body squick, graphic injury, incompetent nurse, malevolent nurse, poisoning, bureaucratic nightmares, dark DARK shit ahead

So, in spite of the crushing poverty that I grew up in, I was given the opportunity to attend a very prestigious boarding school for Juniors and Seniors in Klan Kountry, LA. It’s a public school, so it takes kids from all over the state.

My school was run by a dude named Brother Dave.

Brother Dave was so awful that one of our senior pranks (I DID NOT DO THIS) involved a password-protected screensaver on every communal computer in the school (including, I think, Brother Dave’s office computer) of a bouncing, 3-D image of this:

Dude was NOT well-loved. It is important to know that he and I did not get along. When I was still a prospective student, he told us that our mascot was the mighty Eagle, because Eagles Flock Together.

Y’all. Someone watched himself too much Mighty Ducks.

I replied, loud enough for the whole auditorium to hear, “That’s not true, sir. Eaglettes push their smaller and weaker siblings out of the nest as soon as they can.”

He looked to the staff for support, red-faced and embarrassed by this ninety-pound child who stole his thunder.

The biology teacher (who left for greener pastures after my first year--rumored to have been forced out for being too fabulously dykey for the new administration) looked at him and stated, in her very particular and crisp fashion, “Well, she’s right.”

Safe to say, he hated me from the start. So, if you read this and you wonder, “Why didn’t this silly kid just go to the grown-up?” That’s why. He was our grown-up.

Brother Dave started at the school the year before I did. He was brought in by a local Senator, because said local Senator Fucked Up Colossally.

Senator Fuckup was running against Mr. Sketchy Businessman. Mr. Sketchy Businessman was backed by the Ku Klux Klan (a big deal in parts of the world, folks. My school was in David Duke country.)

Senator Fuckup had a fancy name--well-respected all around the state. Like, several statues of one of his relations decorate the state capital. Big name.

Problem is, Senator Fuckup is half-Black.

In Klan Kountry.

Y’all.

So he’s already at a disadvantage. As it turns out, it takes a village to start a magnet school. Senator Fuckup was one of the founding board members, and promised all kinds of benefits if they put the school in HIS district.

Their other offer was in my own hometown, the Hub City, where several of our major state highways cross with two Interstates.A place with art and history and culture. A place with one of the largest outdoor music festivals in the state--a multicultural, international music festival! With art walks and museums and Mardi Gras parades! With a three-story library, a library for French language and culture, and the second-largest university in Louisiana!

Senator Fuckup PROMISED that the school wouldn’t want for anything if they went to Klan Kountry.

So they did.

It was no great secret that this school was Senator Fuckup’s baby. At the time that I attended, the school was number one in the nation. Something to be proud of.

Except.

Except.

Except that in order to keep various forms of funding, the school was required to take in more melanin-blessed individuals than the locals liked.

Enter Mr. Sketchy Businessman, who ran a series of TV and radio ads claiming that our STATE funded school was stealing money from the local school district.

That’s right. He claimed that our school took money away from the poor Whites of Klan Kountry and gave to the diverse and metropolitan school for the gifted.

Senator Fuckup tried to deflect and dismiss, BUT did NOT rebut those claims. He didn’t believe that the school’s funding was THAT MUCH of an issue.

Any reasonable person would understand that the school was funded from the State taxes. Right?

As it turns out, Klan Kountry is not filled with reasonable people.

Senator Fuckup is a member of a particular subgroup in Klan Kounrty--a not-insignificant population of Catholic Creoles. So, after he wins his election--barely--he realizes that Something Must Be Done to help the image of the school that everybody knew as HIS baby.

Enter his old friend, Brother Dave. Brother Dave, who nearly bankrupted his previous school. His brother-in-law was a contractor who got a few really juicy contracts through him.

Protip: Nepotism only works if the person being nepotized is competent.

Spoiler: Brother Dave’s brother-in-law built schools about as well as Brother Dave ran them.

Brother Dave’s old school is attached to an order of monks who build cheap and simple caskets for people who are into that kind of thing.

They bake bread for the poor. These are good people.

Y’all, these people made it KNOWN--statewide--that they had a casket ready for ol’ Dave if he ever stepped foot in their town again.

Still, Senator Fuckup decided that THIS was the man who would lead my school into a glorious future.

Brother Dave took an aggressive stance on admissions. He wanted kids who didn’t have a lot of drama, and kids who looked (WHITE) good on the recruiting materials. He pulled hard from the local Catholic (Segregation) Academies.

Y’all.

Our Black kids were nearly White-passing mixed-race kids, one kid who was ACTUALLY from Africa, a couple of kids from Catholic schools, and one dark-skinned Baptist girl who is bombshell model-gorgeous. (For those glossy brochures.)

So as many White Catholic kids as possible.

Y’all.

I’ve competed with private school fuckwits in academic contests my whole life, up to that point. If it was something that required preparation (science fair, for example), they wiped the floor with us.

Because daddy the petroleum engineer did the project for them.

If it was a you-know-it-or-you-don’t thing (quiz bowl, for example), they lost so brutally that I might have felt bad for them. You know, if they had souls. Which they did not.

So Brother Dave populated our school with what he thought were “good kids”. White, Catholic kids.

Spoiler: My class started with 250 students. We graduated less than half of that, even after he backfilled our class with new kids between junior and senior year. The class after mine was worse.

Why is that?

White Catholic kids at segregation academies in the late 90′s basically did busy-work worksheet stuff all day. They were not ready for 10 page papers and 5 page lab reports and 100+ pages of reading and 20-50 math problems and projects, projects, projects!

Also, if all you do is worksheets and sit-down-and-shut-up, there has to be a certain...chemical element...to cope.

So, yeah. Drugs. So much drugs. And booze.

Brother Dave also hired Nurse Bitchy Fuckface. She was actually his first hire.

Nurse Bitchy was a walking disaster.

I was sixteen when I first met her, and because she didn’t smell like street drugs (I KNOW WHAT THAT SHIT IS), I missed a lot of signs.

Looking back, I think that she might have been a Prozac-and-wine kind of person. But, as the only drugs that I was familiar with came from street pharmacists, I thought she was just evil.

Hateful to the queers, pagans, Goths, and all assorted weirdos.

You know, all the kids who could actually handle the schoolwork and the pressure. *eyeroll*

I’m allergic to Sudafed. Weird, huh?

A senior at my school told me to be careful with Nurse Bitchy. She has a sensitivity to acetaminophen (Tylenol) and couldn’t have it. Nurse Bitchy had given it to her a couple of times.

It was on my senior’s medical chart. If you’re keeping score, that’s felony attempted murder.

Nurse Bitchy gave me Sudafed seventeen times (that I remember) while I was at that school. She very nearly killed me doing it. Some times I knew, and some times I did not.

“But why did you take it, if you knew?”

Well, you innocent dove, if I refused to take the medicine that the Nurse gave me, then I got written up. Enough write-ups and I got kicked out.

My home school in the Hub City? Eh...as bad as Klan Kountry was, I didn’t have someone assaulting me daily. I didn’t have a gang of girls who got away with attempting to rape me with a broom handle. I didn’t have a very big kid who was given liberties with me (BY THE STAFF) because he was special ed.

Or, as my guidance counselor liked to say (after my father was murdered and I was flunking chemistry--not because of dad’s death, but because the chemistry teacher put all the girls and Black boys in the back of the class--which had NO air conditioning on hundred-degree days--after Brother Dave’s brother-in-law “fixed” it that summer), “Stephanie, you know that you’re the poorest student here. Do you really want to go back to THAT?”

No. I did not.

Under pain of going home to poverty, rape, assault, and maybe death, I took her poison. She watched me do it. And she smiled.

I only went to Nurse Bitchy when I was forced to. This happened far more often my Junior year. The teachers would send me because I was sick (I come from a smoker’s home, and I’m an asthmatic who is allergic to tobacco. My family never quit, so I’d end up with smoker’s pneumonia most times that I went home. Thanks for the lung scars, fam.)

Eventually, when I was a Senior, my computer science teacher realized that I was unresponsive with a fever in her class. She was new that year, and didn’t know any better. So she woke me up and sent me along. Nurse Bitchy gave me the usual and sent me back to class.

Very few humans retain the ability to projectile vomit after age seven. Did you know that?

Lucky me, I did. I still can.

I hurled all over my keyboard. I hurled and hurled. My classmates screamed and ran.

My computer science teacher, an ice-cold woman of Indian descent with a very posh English accent, unplugged the vomit-soaked, ruined keyboard. She took it and me to the nurse.

She slammed the keyboard down on her desk and screamed at her to NEVER send a sick child to her class again.

Nurse Bitchy was (shocking, I know) a racist. She feared the angry Indian lady.

My computer science teacher, I believe, spread the word about Nurse Bitchy’s ineffectiveness. Teachers stopped sending students to her.

That left a vacuum. Nobody was being forced to get medical help. But medical help was still needed.

Before going to school in Klan Kountry, I was a veterinary technician. I worked under-the-table from too young. Illegal-child-labor-too-young.

But, I knew my stuff. I had a stocked medicine cabinet and a dissection kit.

I started doing everything up to and including prison surgery in my dorm room.

I could handle most anything. Which was better than worrying that the nurse was going to poison one of my friends into the ground.

I didn’t ask for money or food or anything (food was a commodity at that school because our cafeteria was infested). I worked for the goodwill of my classmates, which is the shiniest coin in the realm.

I’d gotten into witchcraft earlier that year. People trusted the witch over the nurse. That’s where my school was.

I only had one case that I really couldn’t treat.

Y’all.

It was traditional in the girls’ dorms that unless you were asleep or studying, you kept your door open. Mine was open that night. I was writing Sailor Moon fanfiction, procrastinating on one project or another. I don’t remember, it was twenty-two years ago.

Ophelia Grace (not her real name) came to my door in Doc Martens, favoring a foot. Her roommate or a suitemate or maybe another theatre kid was holding her up as she hobbled into my room.

I hadn’t heard that she’d been hurt, but apparently she had been. She was feverish and weak. Her face was bright red. She was babbling.

“I’m sorry,” she said over and over again. She apologized for coming late. She apologized for coming at all. She was shaking.

I sat her and her friend on my roommate’s bed (we’d bunked them, and I had the top bunk). My roommate was out, in the art lab working on a particularly tricky painting. Probably for the best. He was squeamish (my ex-roommate is a transman, so I’m using his preferred pronouns.)

I grabbed a large bowl and a mug, filled both with water (salted the bowl of water), and went down the hall to the microwave.

The water in Klan Kountry was filthy. It smelled bad and tasted worse. Remember Mr. Sketchy Businessman? He wanted to relax EPA regulations for himself and his sketchy business friends.

They were actively dumping into the city reservoir. But Mr. Sketchy Businessman promised to KKKeep KKKlan KKKountry Lily, so he got 49% of the votes.

Racist douche.

I boiled the water in the microwave--first the mug, then the bowl. It was a walk I’d make several times that evening.

Ophelia had a fever, holding steady at “fucking HOT” by the estimate of her friend. My thermometer pegged it at 102. Not good.

I put a teabag and two whole cloves in the cup and let it steep while I took her temperature. I asked her what happened. I don’t remember the specifics of the injury, but I believe that something got dropped on her toe. I think it happened in the theatre.

Ophelia thought she could walk it off. I remember that.

She kept apologizing. I honeyed the tea and shoved it in her hands. The tea helped. She was shivering--hard--from the wracking chills of her fever.

I remember how her febrile shivers made the bunk beds shake.

I remember thinking that I was in over my head.

I remember grabbing my oldest towels, and closing my door.

I remember praying.

And then I took her boot off.

Y’all.

I’ve smelled rot. Some people think that all rot smells the same.

It does not.

Corpse stink has its own bouquet. Blood rot has a distinct stench. Necrotic yeast infections almost smell good--like yeast rolls and something meatier.

I’d smelled Ophelia’s particular rot before.

I was fourteen. A momma dog was brought in, heavily pregnant. She’d been delivering, and the third pup got stuck. There were 11 left. The stuck pup was dead, but we managed to save 4 behind him, plus the first 2, born healthy.

The uterus had begun to rot inside, and several of the pups had been dead for some time.

The spaying that happened after the pups were removed was green and black, with the consistency of pudding. We pulled as much out as we could, but the rest had to be rinsed out.

Thankfully, I’ve smelled that smell very few times after. It smells pungent and strong. Like garlic. Like a cream of garlic stew.

I thought I’d gotten a whiff of THAT smell when Ophelia walked in, and again when she sat down. Pulling her boot off was like the first deep cut into momma dog. Garlic and blood.

The smell of something rotting in someone still alive.

She had on two socks. I peeled off the first one. There was a stain at the toe. The second sock was worse. The smell hung around.

Our windows were screwed shut. I couldn’t do anything about the smell.

Ophelia cried into her tea. She was still apologizing.

The toe was purple and black. There was a lot of yellow pus under the nail, which was leaking out on either side. Red streaks ran up her instep, tracing her veins.

The toe was swollen and needed a lance.

I had no idea how she climbed the stairs to get to me. (I was on the third floor, and she lived below. We had no elevator.)

She started to get loud (peeling those socks off HURT), so I asked her a question. I asked about her history paper. The ten-page history paper was a rite-of-passage at the school, and I knew it was coming due for her. I told her to tell me about her topic and her sources.

She did.

Thank the Lord and Lady.

I got my dissection kit and rubbing alcohol. I made things as sterile as I could.

I told her that it would probably hurt, but that I would work quickly.

Her friend left after the first cut. She didn’t stay gone long, but I heard her vomit in our suite’s toilet.

Ophelia kept talking about her paper. I led her around on that topic, asking questions and asking for clarification. Asking about the books she’d read, and offering a few that I was familiar with on the subject.

This is why doctors and dentists know so many things about so many subjects. Talking keeps the patient calm.

Meanwhile, pus and blood dripped from the slits that I made in her flesh, onto a towel that bore the stains until I donated it to the animal shelter, years later.

I soaked her toe in the bowl of water. The salt burned, but she couldn’t scream.

There was an adult who was supposed to be watching us. If she was alerted to my low-tech medical unit, she would have stopped me and sent Ophelia to the murder nurse.

I filled another bowl, salted it, and microwaved it.

Ophelia’s friend rejoined us, and watched as I squeezed the rest of the pus out of her. Her toenail slipped off in the third bowl. The toenail was cracked. Ophelia kept it.

I wonder if she still has it?

Triple antibiotic ointment and a sterile dressing later, I told her to tell the nurse that she needed a doctor. Nurse Bitchy couldn’t keep us from a doctor if we asked for one. She said that she would.

I gave her a few oral anti-inflammatory pills and some Benadryl to get a good night’s sleep.

She left, with her boot in her hand and a soft smile on her lips. I cleaned my tools, my bowls, the floor where her foot was, and had to do a load of laundry because that one rag smelled so awful.

My roommate came back in time for headcount, and asked if I’d made ramen. Said it smelled pretty good in there.

It did. Rot can do that.

It was hard to sleep that night. I cried quietly until sleep took me.

Ophelia recovered. She became a witch some time later. In college, I think. We’re still friends, in a Facebook kind of way.

Brother Dave is still alive. After working for my school, he ended up helping the Church cover up three decades of sex abuse at a diocese school. Not sure what he’s up to, but probably nothing good. He’s a garbage human.

Nurse Bitchy just retired. She lasted twenty years at that school. God knows how.

Senator Fuckup died in a car crash and the school is being renamed after him. So are the new dorms that are being built.

Klan Kountry cleaned up their water after I left. That’s really good news.

The school continues. Apparently, it got better with Brother Dave’s leavetaking. I hope that’s true.

And me?

I’m still a witch. I’m still here.

And I can still smell that rotten toe on the edge of nightmares half-remembered.

~*~

I don’t want my diploma revoked or to be sued, so disclaimer time.

This is fiction. Any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.

[emeraldspiral]

You know, the more I think about it, Aang and Toph actually do have the makings of a good couple, not just an arbitrary alternate pair that frees Katara up for Zuko.

Like think about it; the first time he sees her is in an enchanted forest (well, a swamp, but a magic spiritual swamp) and she’s all ethereal, laughing, dressed in white. He realizes it’s his destiny to someday meet her. He finally does, and she’s nothing like he expects. He pursues her, but she brushes him off. Desperate to get her attention, he challenges her to a duel. Despite her formidable skill, she has a glaring weakness that Aang is uniquely equipped to exploit and he defeats her easily. He follows her home to try and convince her it’s her destiny to be with him, and even asks for her parent’s permission. He tries to figure out why she rejects him and learns that she’s living a lie and denying her true self to appease her family. Finally, she decides to run away with him and her father gets pissed and sends some goons to rescue her from the boy who “stole her away”.

Also, Toph being an aristocrat makes her something like a princess, and a Rebellious Princess at that.

Already, they’re using way more classic romantic tropes for Aang and Toph than they ever did for Aang and Katara. But let’s dive deeper.

Aang’s whole story is about trying to find the balance between being true to himself as a human being and being what the world needs him to be, something Toph could probably relate to having spent her whole life pretending to be a proper lady and a helpless blind child to appease her parents when she really wants to be an independent outspoken tomboy and ends up accomplishing way more by embracing her true self than trying to be what others want to force her to be.

By design, as Aang’s earthbending teacher, she facilitates character growth in him by helping him overcome his difficulties bending earth, which requires a temperament opposite to his own. It was likely her influence, helping Aang become more assertive and steadfast, that played a crucial role in developing the unbendable spirit that allowed Aang to overpower Ozai and take away his bending.

Aang and Toph also have some unique qualities that make them special, but can also be isolating. Aang of course has his Avatar powers, which puts a huge burden on his shoulders, but it also allows him to see spirits and access the spirit world, while Toph’s blindness comes with some obvious disadvantages, but also allowed her to sense the world in a way others couldn’t, which helped her to pioneer new earthbending techniques such as metalbending.

Aang and Toph also have pretty good chemistry together as friends. Toph, being a tombody, likes playing in the mud and other activities that Aang is into but Katara isn’t. Toph also includes Aang in her scams while Katara doesn’t tell Aang about dressing up as the Painted Lady.

Aang and Toph also have a lot of complimentary qualities. Aang comes from a monastic order of peaceful communal living, world travel, and few material attachments, but has a strong desire to remain attached to things like pieces of his culture, his bison, his beliefs and practices, his friends, and the girl he loves while Toph comes from an aristocratic family of great wealth and restrictive formalities, which she gladly gives up to live a free and independent life, though she struggles to reconcile that with her homesickness. Aang is highly spiritual, even for an airbender, because of his status as the Avatar, while Toph is especially physical, even by earthbender standards, because of how she compensates for her blindness. Aang is pacifistic, introspective, unsure of himself, but strongly principled while Toph is aggressive, abrasive, confident, and mischievous. There’s a lot that Toph has to offer Aang besides just being an earthbending teacher and there’s a lot that Aang could offer her in turn being so different from her.

Aang and Toph being the same age also allows for their relationship to come off as more equal, which would go a long way toward making a friends to lovers romance come across as more natural and believable.

I really like the platonic friendship they had in the show just fine, but if romance is meant to play an important part in Aang’s journey, he and Toph are a much better fit for each other than Aang and Katara. If they had just cut out all the moments of Aang mooning over Katara in season 1, and moved the season 2 opener with the Earth Kingdom general who used Katara to force Aang in to the Avatar State to the tail end of the season, like right before or right after arriving in Ba Sing Se, after Aang’s had plenty of time to get to know and love Toph, nothing would be lost by making her Aang’s love-interest instead of Katara.

[motherstone]

So, I was looking at your AU (So well developed I must say) and there's this question in my mind, is Emily... dead?? In your Oc universe I mean, no need to answer if you don't want to

Haha! Anon, be prepared for a rant because you have pressed my Hyperfixation Button.

Warning: this rant shows how bias I am towards a character and certain places in Amulet and contains real world opinions and issues that I am Absolutely Pissed about so I retconned a couple of things in my OC world. It addresses issues that is very much happening and if it makes you uncomfortable, well, it’s never meant to comfortable. This contains a lot of sensitive themes and frankly I am still doing research 

Technically speaking, the entire Council is gone along with Cielis (although the Surface knows it’s still alive they just ceased contact). Vigo died quite some time ago, along with several of theoriginal crew. Emily and Trellis are what remains of the Council but theresponsibilities are split because Trellis stayed on Alledia while Emily assistsin Space as a fighter (she’s not a leader). Elves age differently here, so Emilyis well in her senior years while Trellis is in his early 20s. Emily found Moze(already having a stone) abandoned as an infant in a wreckage after a fight inGhen-7, and brought him back to Alledia to raise him. Here Trellis actuallyserved as Moze’s adoptive father with Emily as his mom (but they’re not in arelationship, more of QPR because Emily is aroace while Trellis is a demi throughand through). 

He’s p reluctant at first and suspiscious where Emily gothim and if she just “stole” him without, I dunno, searching for his parents butultimately agrees because Emily has to be in Space and the safest place sheknows is Alledia and the most trustworthy person she knows is Trellis.Fortunately, he genuinely loved him and raised him as his own despite being differentspecies, even more so as from different planets. The problem is, Emily was kindof… Emotionally neglectful. The only time she ever bothers to visit Moze iswhen she wants to train him and bring him to space so he could join her in herfights but nothing beyond that. Trellis is a bit more affectionate, butconsidering he is recovering trauma from his own abusive childhood, strugglesto communicate properly with Moze and tries to feebly and reluctantlyunderstand and justify Emily’s action.

Unfortunately, this just bred resentment in Moze, as most ofthe time he’s complimented and recognized based on his skill and power, ratherthan his worth as a person. It worsens to the point that he believes that theonly reason Emily adopted him in the first place because he’s a weapon they canuse in their “war” (considering Alledia’s mandatory 500 years of peace is ineffect, Moze interprets that his parents has not yet switched out of their “atwar” mindset. And considering Emily’s actions, it’s quite hard to blame Mozefor drawing up that conclusion). The fact that Trellis is training him as astonekeeper to one day become a Guardian of the Council and didn’t evenconsider if THAT’S what Moze wants…. Moze was in a very claustrophobic anddistressing situation. When he does try to bring it up with Trellis, he’llreceive excuses. When he does try to bring it up with Emily, he gets dismissed.His lack of friends because of prioritizing his training made him deprived of agood support network (which a weakened Ikol took advantage of)

Contrary to what Moze thinks, Trellis DOES notice Moze’sdistress and worries about it, but is torn from defending his best friend ofmany decades to defending his beloved son. After he remembers how he alwaysyearned to be an adult his younger self needed, he goes off to confront Emilyfor her actions. Now I have to tell you, they both loved Moze, but they areindeed terrible parents with flaws they didn’t properly addressed, leading totheir kid suffering for it (considering Trellis has little proper adult guidanceand Emily is also emotionally neglected by Karen… It’s inevitable). That’swhere he realized Moze was just “taken” and Emily never bothered to search forhis parents. Trellis nearly broke down then and there because he realizes theySTOLE Moze. Moze is a Ghensepta (citizen of Ghen-7, it still hasn’t fallen tothe shadows yet), but he was raised Alledian, taught Alledian culture, taughtAlledian history when he already has ONE of his OWN. Moze was forced to take anidentity that wasn’t his and was absolutely isolated from his real culture andheritage. He is horribly sickened by what he and Emily has done and is outragedby it.

(Trellis’s and Emily’s relationship isn’t abusive per se, andit was genuinely a good one from the start but as they spent of the timeseparated from one another and be desensitized and cynical by their traumaticand heavy issues they encounter in their duties in either ruling or fighting…Well, it dissolved to the point that they only bothered to listen to oneanother because of past yearnings and insistence to try to stick of what they wereinstead of accepting the other as now. They still do care one another though,and consider each other family, but the former passion and harmony is long gone.Trellis do ended up going along to what Emily desires instead of protestingback in the good ol days)

Trellis demands that Moze be returned to his home planet butEmily declines, as they are his parents now and Ghen-7 will be safe no longer. Whatkind of parent that endangers their child? Trellis dissents that they are not Moze’sparents and that he doesn’t belong to Alledia and deserved to return to hisreal home and family. The argument heated to point it dissolved to a fightwhere Trellis is nearly crippled from Emily’s attack. Her own actions horrifyher, and in the gist of the moment, Trellis begs to understand, that they didMoze wrong, that he’s sick of always compensating for Emily since the start oftheir friendship, and that she at least don’t do it for him, but for Moze. ThatMoze still loves her, and she undoubtedly loves him, but they need to talk, andshe needs to listen this time. That Moze was hurting and that they failed himlike the adults in their lives failed them. Realizing the truth, Emily breaksdown as well. The thing is, Moze overheard some of their fight, andmisinterprets this as Trellis becoming sick of him, hating him, and desiring todisown him (it doesn’t help that to Moze’s unawareness, that Ikol is amplifyinghis self-hatred)

Utterly heartbroken and crushed, Moze felt sick when Trellisvisited him in his room that night, to tell him that he has to go with hismother for a while. Believing this affirms his worst fears, he promptly acceptsit (Moze prefers Trellis over Emily clearly and loathes spending time with thelatter). Trellis looks like he wants to say something and Moze was about toanticipate it, but he shakes his head, and leaves him alone. The last timeTrellis saw Moze was when he was leaving with his mother

When Emily returns, Trellis is overjoyed to greet her,although surprised they got back early but presumes that they must have quicklyresolved things.

He stops dead when Emily was there alone, with Moze’stattered blue cape.  

His whole world shatters when Emily disappears to get Mozeback when he lost control, never to return. 

Destroyed by his son’s and best friend’s death within ashort span of time, Trellis fell into depression and suicidal tendencies,abandoning his position and duties as both Guardian and King, leaving a powervacuum and a fragile peace and structure his Cabinet and other offices try tofill and stabilize. Ultimately Riva is forced to shoulder his position asGuardian. The entire world goes into a shitshow when he’s gone for 3-4 years,isolating himself in his home village with only Luger keeping him from killinghimself but it’s clear he’s lost the will to live. He only returns when Gulfenis threatened to be overthrown by a tyrant and start another war again, andonce again usurps the throne to his great reluctance and despair (he hatesruling tbh and would rather live a normal life til he dies but duty has brandedhim to the bone), becoming Alledia’s sole ruler as the only remainingstonekeeper alive (the motherstone is actually still intact but no one knowsthat except him, because they are saving the stones for a new Council once the500 years of peace passed and the cycle of discord becomes anew). However,traumatized with rollercoaster of recovery and relapses and mental healtheducation and treatment virtually next to nonexistent yet, he spent most of hisearly reign with and emotional limp. Navin, last of the original group asideTrellis and his first friends, dies. 

Fortunately, he’s REALLY good at ruling and ended upimplementing laws that revolutionizes Alledia, especially Gulfen, but strugglesto implement it in other countries, especially Windsor due to racism and many ofthe country’s authority resisting him, and thus simply left them to their owndevices if they desire to implement it or not. Thus, his power as a Guardian isreduced considerably because of it, meeting resistance and suspicion ineverything that he does, no matter how well-intentioned. Still, believing thefight is not over, Trellis the forms strategies and plans to prepare Allediawhen the shadows return, and that includes warnings of rising fascism and discord.He prioritizes public education, equal rights (be it in gender, sexuality,disability or race), and (mental, physical, and emotional) health oversecurity, intending to help Alledia recover first before preparing for a war.He also tries to unify Gulfen by solving the divide of the East and West after itscivil war, and tries to harmonize and fix the racism that divides the elves andhumans, by allowing elves to reside in more friendly cities, such as Lucien,Ippo, and Frontera. Cielis, hated by the surface due to their actions andabandonment in the war, was dropped as Windsor’s capital and acknowledgesLucien instead. It became Alledia’s first metropolis, boasting as the richestand most diverse city in the world.

With that in mind, he forms the Lufenian Green Cross (acharity volunteer organization that spreads welfare and healthy internationally,its HQ based in Ippo, Lufen’s capital), Frontera Science Prefecture (and whereGulfen’s Space Program members aka the Elvem Resistance operated in secret to assistwith the war in space), and the Alledian Auxiliary, a cohesive paramilitaryorganization that is formed by the remnants of the Elf Army and the HumanResistance (sure enough, early days were bad but over time formed a s trongbond, contributing to the Hamony movement). He’s done a whole lot more but let’smove the fuck on

Eventually, around 23 he started dating Riva (after dating afew people to test the waters. He’s dated only three people before Riva, but he’sdated both men and women, human and elf), and then marrying her after a fewyears. It was a private ceremony, but Alcyone claims it was the only day shenever saw Trellis frown and was happy throughout. Still, he never fullyrecovered from his PTSD and clinical depression and anxiety, often overworkinghimself to compensate. Although as mental health becomes more widespread andrefined, Trellis allows himself to go to therapy, but struggles to recover.Succeses are far and few in between, and healing was hard work on top of hisoverwhelming duties. Nevertheless, he actually manages a happy and healthy marriagewith Riva regardless of his deep rooted mental issues thanks to it. Riva andTrellis never never had any children, as Trellis was far too traumatized and guilt-riddenfrom what happened to Moze, believes himself to be a curse like his father towhoever his child may be. Yet feeling like he owes Riva, they eventually haveRavis when they are around their 40s (in Elf age, so 300 after the events inAmulet).

Trellis didn’t want Ravis to suffer and experience thedangers of Royal life, thus kept the existence of the child secret and keptthem both in Lucien as simple citizens, with him separating personal life and leaderwork, thus he visits from time to time. But he refused to be more active inraising Ravis in his toddler years in fear of hurting him and guilt yet treatedhim genuinely well (he is also scared of loving him, and then losing him). He onceagain experiences a relapse and isolates himself more, leading to a few suicideattempts. When Ravis is around 5, Trellis’s condition worsens, to the point heis frequently hospitalized and isolated to keep him from his self-destructiveand suicidal tendencies (it happened enough times that the staff knows him wellenough, but he’s never hurt Ravis or Riva). Fortunately, after extensivetherapy, Trellis finally chooses recovery and affirms himself that he is worthyof the good life he is trying to cultivate, now tries to be a more active andgood father to Ravis. And sure enough, he did, absolving himself of mistakes hedid with how he raised Moze (but the fact that Ravis and Moze nearly have thesame personality tells that their kind and rather timid nature comes from him)

He does have relapses from time to time, but now he’s relieving himselfof his duties more and more to leave it to his subordinates in order to spend moretime with his family. Besides, it’s just 400 years, they have a century ofpeace. It comes to the point he’s considering to abdicate his throne and dissolvethe monarchy. Unfortunately, the last gadoba (the plant Riva saved in bk 6)warns him that the shadows are returning much earlier to exact their revengeand commit the genocide they intended from the start. Knowing full well theyaren’t ready, Trellis despairs, that why now of all moments, the moment wherehe is now desiring to live did the gadoba ask him to die to sacrifice himselffor Alledia. But Trellis comes to terms to impending death and plans to facethe shadows on the new moon, which is a month later. Father Hope tells him thathis century will only end under the light of the full moon with his son in hisarms.

He does tell Riva all of this, and she despairs as well, buthe tries to reassure her. He then goes on behind the scenes to prepare Allediaonce he’s gone, all the while spending whatever time he has left with hisfamily. Ravis thought their father was feeling sad, and tries to cheer him up, andalthough he does smile, it cant seem to reach his eyes. Thus, when Trellis isaround his 50s, he suddenly disappeared from his chambers in Valcor, the dooropening to his balcony and into the red rocks bellow. They can’t find his body,and the scene was ruled as suicide.

Thus to answer, Emily is dead, and Trellis is “dead”.

[eotheria]

The World of Eotheria According to Lady Valentine

Part 18: The Kingdom of Ledo

Although there is some debate on where in Suvitha the humans originated from, most everyone agrees that the oldest active human nation in the world today is the Kingdom of Ledo, located in northwestern Suvitha. Formerly known for their isolationist ways, Ledo is known for its unique cultural identity. In this chapter I will discuss the high and low points of the Kingdom of Ledo, and their shift into a vassal state for the Kresnik Empire.

People of Ledoese descent have a distinct appearance from other nearby humans, owing to their long years of isolationism. They are yellowish-bronze in hue, with black hair and dark eyes. Ledoese surnames are usually presented before the given name, though outside of Ledo this practice is rarely used. Nearly ninety percent of humans in Ledo are ethnic Ledoese, but Kresniks and LaCroixians are also known in Ledo.

Founded in 1,323 BGE as an amalgamation of the various city-states in northwestern Suvitha, Ledo is the oldest of the Seven Human Kingdoms, and believed to be the oldest human nation period. Known to be inhabited by humans, vulpine beastfolk, oni, and black winged aarakocra, ancient Ledo was known for its isolationism and xenophobia, with the Galan River to the east and the Lichthonas mountains to the south as natural barriers. The descent of the Seven Goddesses and the Third Age forced Ledo to open their borders to their neighbors, but their previous isolationism has made their culture unique, as well as their dedication to maintaining their culture. As a result, Ledo is the slowest of the Seven Kingdoms to accept new technology

Despite their xenophobic ways, Ledo in the Second Age was not very well known for expansionism, which would make them an anomaly among the major human nations during that time period. They had natural borders to protect themselves from Kresnik and LaCroix, and they rarely bothered the elves of Elondel, preferring to keep to themselves. Aside from expanding west and conquering lands once controlled by orcs, Ledo was in the Second Age as it is today. That’s not to say they were pacifists, of course. They had a very powerful military in place, in case any of their neighbors wanted to test their borders.

Ledo went through several regime changes in the earliest years of the kingdom, but eventually, in 733 BGE, the Shuu Dynasty took control of the kingdom, and the Shuu family would hold power in Ledo for nearly sixteen centuries, which is quite impressive. Though to be fair, succession has not always been cordial within the Shuu family. More than a few incidents of family members plotting against other family members have occurred. To describe them all would be beyond the scope of this book, but I highly recommend Akio Satoru’s “History of the Shuu Dynasty” if you’re interested.

The Ledoese have always had an affinity for green dragons, who once lived in the forests of Ledo. One of the nation's symbols is the "jade dragon", which represents strength and perseverance. An interesting custom among Ledoese royalty involves a two foot high statue of jade in the shape of a dragon, meant to be owned by the ruler of Ledo. This statue has existed since the First Age. Signifying the right to rule Ledo, it is passed down from ruler to ruler. Often willingly, sometimes forcefully.

The Fall of the Shuu Dynasty

Ledo remained a powerful and prosperous kingdom until 878 GE, when King Amon Shuu took power. Though outwardly he seemed a competent ruler, he was a very corrupt man who stole from the kingdom and wasted his money on luxuries that the kingdom could ill afford. He would be tried for his crimes and convicted in 898 GE, but the damage had been done. King Amon had drained Ledo's coffers dry, and the kingdom turned to their neighbors to the south, the Kresnik Empire, for aid. Kresnik annexed Ledo and made it into a vassal state, taking power out of the hands of the Shuu dynasty and giving it to the Ishidos, who were largely loyal to Kresnik. While many Ledoese are quite annoyed by this, most accept that the Ishidos have been fair rulers, and that Kresnik has always kept the best interests of Ledo in mind. At least, that’s how it used to be. The Cataclysm, the subsequent dissolution of the kingdom of Laguna, and (most importantly) the recently declared independence of Creat Pristan have all stirred the Ledoese, and as the years go by, support for a free and independent Ledo continues to grow.

To make the situation worse, in 983 GE King Yashiro Ishido suddenly died of illness, forcing his younger and inexperienced brother to take the throne. Twenty-two year old King Jiro Ishido has only been king of Ledo for a year. While some Ledoese see him as a puppet and little else, most are quite fond of his handsome looks and his spirited attitude. However, his reign has been plagued with troubles already. His coronation ended in riot when a number of Ledoese separatists attempted to storm the throne and assassinate him. It does not help that he has a younger sister who is far more of a firebrand than he ever was. Though Yayoi Ishido has, according to all who know her, always spoken favorably about her brother Jiro, she is proud of the history of Ledo and feels that subservience to Kresnik is an insult to the great kings of Ledo that fought so hard to keep it independent over the years. And she is not ashamed to say it. Needless to say, there have been more than a few rumors going around that she is secretly plotting to overthrow her brother, which is only serving to bolster the Ledoese independence movements.

The Inari

I’ve mentioned Beastfolk in a previous chapter. While most types of Beastfolk are native to the Beastlands, Vulpine Beastfolk are unique in that they are native to Ledo. While most have long migrated to the Beastlands, one notable group of vulpine beastfolk--the Inari--has remained in Ledo, in defiance of the encroachment of humans over the years. The Inari are widely regarded by the Ledoese as tricksters and scoundrels. A reputation not undeserved. Much like the foxes they resemble, the Inari are wily and cunning. They have a love of playing pranks on humans and other races, and are well known for cheating rubes out of every copper they have. But don’t be fooled; the Inari have been a fixture of Ledo for centuries for a very good reason. They are highly opportunistic and not above taking advantage of incidents (or causing them) to get what they want. Most likely they are looking at the current political climate in Ledo and seeing it as a time of great opportunity, and it would not surprise me if they were subtly pushing things in one direction or another.

Needless to say, everyone is quite distrustful of the Inari. The foxfolk are smart enough to ensure that all that they do is within legal boundaries, though they very often dance on said boundaries. This has not stopped calls for the Ledoese government to exile the Inari from Ledo over the years. A few Ledoese kings have actually attempted to rid Ledo of the Inari, but nothing ever came of it. Probably because they didn’t realize the Inari were already operating in the Ledoese capital of Kompira right under their noses.

Youkai

Possibly owing to its close proximity to Elondel, which is a part of Suvitha very strongly tied to the Feywild, Ledo is home to a number of fey creatures, or “youkai” as the locals call them. One of the most notable of these is the kappa, closely related to the vodyanoy of Kresnik that I’ve spoken about earlier. It resembles a lanky turtle which walks upright and, like the vodyanoy, inhabits lakes and rivers. They are alternately described as both helpful and harmful to humans, but in truth most kappa prefer to be left alone and are not actively malicious. There is also the yuki-onna, an almost ghost-like entity that appears in great snowstorms as a stunningly beautiful woman who is known to either lure travelers to their doom or guide them to safety, depending on the story.

Perhaps the most widely known of Ledo’s “youkai”, the oni are quite interesting creatures. Widely thought to be related to ogres, the truth is they, much like trolls, are actually a type of fey. Like many youkai they have a tendency to be portrayed in a villainous nature, and stories of oni coming down from the mountains to pillage, burn, and loot human communities are very common among Ledoese. And while such raids do tend to happen, the vast majority of oni are far too lazy and hedonistic to be bothered to leave their mountain homes. In fact, most oni are usually quite welcoming to humans who visit them and bring them alcohol, though this is not a good thing, as they will then demand that said human join them for a night of drinking and cavorting. Such incidents tend to result in said human getting so drunk that they wake up in the morning with no memory of what happened the previous night. Assuming they don’t just die of alcohol poisoning. Oni have a love and passion for the creation and consumption of alcohol that rivals that of the dwarves. Due to the distance between the two races, oni and dwarves rarely meet one another, but when they do, they have been known to compare and enjoy each others’ brews.

While the oni are fey, I can’t help but wonder if there’s some demonic influence involved in their creation, not unlike how tieflings are humans with demonic ancestry. There is evidence to support this. Besides their appearances, they also have a reputation for hedonism, suggesting an influence from Saya, Demon Queen of Desire; and a reputation for laziness, suggesting an influence from Belphegor, Demon Queen of Sloth. Despite this, oni give praise to neither of these Demon Lords. Instead, they revere Shuten Doji, the great oni king, who is actually one of the Fey Lords of the Unseelie Court.

Penemuel, the Shepherd

The primary goddess of Ledo has always been Penemuel. With both life and death in her portfolio, Penemuel is seen as a gentle soul who guides the dead to their final resting place. According to the Ledoese, all who live meet Penemuel twice in their lifetimes: once to breathe the breath of life into the unborn, and once again to comfort the souls of the newly dead. Unfortunately, due to her association with death, Penemuel tends to be the most maligned of the Seven Goddesses, particularly among humans outside of Ledo.

To further tarnish her reputation, there is a certain sect of Penemuel worshipers who take her teachings to an extreme, being obsessed with the concept of death. These worshipers often engage in depraved acts in her name, most notably the creation of undead, which is strictly forbidden by the Church of Galan. These blasphemers keep their beliefs very secret and hide their true nature from the Church and the public. Some even go so far as to attempt to gain undeath themselves, attempting to walk the path of the lich. Thankfully, however, none have succeeded.

That wraps it up for Ledo. In the next chapter I shall speak on the nation by the Western sea, Pecra.

[things2mustdo]

In one of the most nauseating displays of overt racism ever seen in modern times, Jesse Williams, an overpaid actor who pretends to be a doctor on TV, spewed venomous bile which showed hatred towards his own mother as much as it debased an entire race while accepting a BET Humanitarian Award. It’s yet another chapter in the reality is stranger than fiction world of social engineering we have entered over the past several years. Here is an excerpt from his speech, which is loaded with race baiting and villainization.

We’ve been floating this country on credit for centuries, yo. And we’re done watching, and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us. Burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil — black gold. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them. Gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. The thing is, though, the thing is, that just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.

Williams also figuratively sent people who won’t agree with his ideals to the back of the bus.

If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression. If you have no interest, if you have no interest in equal rights for black people then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down.

The studio audience went wild. They loved it, as the speech clearly touched a nerve with them. But, it also touched a nerve with other people who were left aghast at its insinuations. Telling an entire race of people they’re an invention and don’t really exist is one thing. But how could Williams say that whiteness is an invention, denigrating his own Swedish mother? And with the knowledge he is half white himself? Does that mean blackness is also an invention? What does the rest of this diatribe even mean? Most of that paragraph seems rhetorical. Ask yourself a question. What if an overpaid white actor got up on stage at the White Entertainment Awards and said the following:

We’ve been floating this welfare state on credit for generations, and we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called blackness uses and abuses us.

I think the country and media would rightly be preparing for World War III after a comment like that. But Samuel L. Jackson lauded the hateful Williams speech as he accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award.

That brother is right and he’s true. Make sure you vote and take eight more people with you. We gotta fix this. Don’t get tricked like they did in London.

Making this entire fiasco even more unbelievable, Jackson told blacks to vote for an old white woman who is going to “fix” what 7 1/2 years of a black President couldn’t? What does he mean? Jackson’s comments capped off a bizarre turn of events at the awards show that raise more questions than answers.

Predictably, the Marxist media hailed the Williams hate speech as wonderful. The New York Times wrote How Jesse Williams Stole BET Awards With Speech on Racism. BET wrote Jesse Williams Spits Knowledge Like a Seasoned MC. CNN lauded the race hatred with a headline stating Jesse Williams’ speech stole the BET Awards. And USA Today rounds out the echo chamber with Jesse Williams takes racism to task in powerful BET Awards speech.

What kind of world are these media people living in writing headlines that praise a man who tells an entire race they don’t exist, and conjures up mental imagery of Evil White People and the Evil White Man rather than seeking unity? You can see why I left The Twilight Zone that is the mainstream media behind. Meantime, the media jumped all over Justin Timberlake for offering this timid rebuttal on Twitter.

Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation.

The knee-jerk reaction shouting Timberlake down and attacking him for daring to make a comment that calls for healing racial divisions shows us the real agenda of the puppet masters who control the media marionettes. There is a segment of society that is not into equality as much as getting their turn to oppress. This speech and the media reaction to it marks a worrisome shift in the narrative, one that has already become increasingly hostile to one group of people, singling them out as the enemy of every other race in the world.

Racial Bolshevism

Communist revolutions are often accompanied by atrocities such as genocide, which scapegoat certain groups as “oppressors”

The push to broad brush white people as villains must be seen for what it is as a socialist revolution proceeds through America and Europe. Speeches like these are intended to be intimidation and marginalization tactics, indicitive of a type of Racial Bolshevism that has developed within the current socialist revolution in America. I featured the idea of Racial Bolshevism last December with this commentary by Jack Borroughs, even before the Beyonce Black Panther Super Bowl, the targeting of Trump supporters by ethnic rioters, Black Lives Matter violence, and other racial pot stirring that has taken place in 2016.

That’s why contemporary Progressivism should really be called Racial Bolshevism.  The psycho-political profile is identical: whereas the original Bolsheviks believed that the Communist utopia could not be achieved without the elimination of the bourgeois class, the contemporary Racial Bolsheviks believe that the multi-cultural utopia cannot be achieved without the elimination of white people–especially white men.

That doesn’t mean that they’re *planning* to kill you. That’s not how mind control works. They think they’re just “seeking justice” for non-whites. But of course they will never define in concrete terms what “racial justice” actually is. It’s all kept tantalizingly abstract for a reason–namely, so that there is no end game, ever. That means that they can never stop. Every defeated injustice yields a new racial injustice on the horizon, which must then be defeated. Finally, the unacceptable injustice will be the very existence of white people.

After all, the only way to truly “stop white men” is to kill them. Right? Because if you don’t kill them, then they can always keep right on acting white, and doing white things, in that white way that you hate so much. But if you just kill them, then the problem of whiteness is permanently solved. And then the world will be saved! See how that works?

The Williams speech stripping an entire race’s humanity as he collected a “Humanitarian Award” marks the beginning of a new narrative that does exactly what this prescient statement warned us about—it makes the very existence of “whiteness” or white people an injustice that must be defeated. Already, the left is coming after white historical symbols—taking Jackson off the $20 bill is only their first volley. This speech marks the beginning of a new offense to debase your entire existence if you are of European descent. Could Black Lives Matter or a group like them be the new Khmer Rouge? Socialist revolutions are often accompanied by atrocities such as genocides. A quick refresher on the Khmer Rouge:

The organization is remembered especially for orchestrating the Cambodian genocide, which resulted from the enforcement of its social engineering policies. Arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements are considered to have constituted genocide.

Money was abolished, books were burned, teachers, merchants, and almost the entire intellectual elite of the country were murdered to make the agricultural communism, as Pol Pot envisioned it, a reality. The planned relocation to the countryside resulted in the complete halting of almost all economic activity: even schools and hospitals were closed, as well as banks, and even industrial and service companies. Banks were raided and all currency and records were destroyed by fire thus eliminating any claim to funds.

During their four years in power, the Khmer Rouge overworked and starved the population, at the same time executing selected groups who they believed were enemies of the state or spies or had the potential to undermine the new state. People who they perceived as intellectuals or even those who had stereotypical signs of learning, such as glasses, would also be killed. People would also be executed for attempting to escape from the communes or for breaching minor rules. If caught, offenders were taken quietly off to a distant forest or field after sunset and killed.

All religion was banned by the Khmer Rouge. Any people seen taking part in religious rituals or services would be executed. Several thousand Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians were killed for exercising their beliefs.

Almost all privacy was eliminated during the Khmer Rouge era. People were not allowed to eat in privacy; instead, they were required to eat with everyone in the commune. All personal utensils were banned, and people were given only one spoon to eat with. In many cases, family members were often relocated to different parts of the country with all postal and telephone services abolished.

Save a few minor details, the play by play of the Communist Khmer Rouge’s activities as they conducted a socialist revolution which marginalized religious people, teachers, doctors, and intellectuals could easily be seen as playing out any day in the United States and Europe. Indeed, some aspects of the atrocities that happened in Cambodia are already here – the elimination of privacy, for example, or the marginalization of religion by Christophobic leftists. The largely white middle class would likely be the target of a new revolution in America. We are beginning to see a lot of smoke signals telling us some kind of fire is being stoked which plausibly could turn into the targeting of one ethnic group as scapegoats.

Brexit has already made today’s Communist and globalist revolutionaries show part of their hand in the poker game, as the European Union moves to create a European superstate that echoes the Soviet Union in a last ditch effort to create one of the linchpins of world government, which would run all of Europe out of Brussels. Indeed, world government of the type we are beginning to see the picture of as the puzzle pieces fall into place was championed by none other than Marx himself. One must wonder if the intent of those pushing centralized world government follows Ayn Rand’s analysis:

There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism — by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.

Since instituting world government with the vote is obviously presenting problems for the elite as people wake up en masse, are we seeing the stoking of racial fires and class warfare as a backup plan, that if needed, will enslave the world by force instead of by vote? Make no mistake, this speech marks a turning point in the popular narrative, and with other world events taking place, it is nothing to be dismissed. It truly makes one wonder if a new genocide is an agenda item of the globalists.

Why else would they be pouring salt into old wounds and targeting an entire race for the crime of “whiteness”?

https://www.returnofkings.com/48402/the-drunk-girl-in-public-scandal-makes-both-feminists-and-the-mainstream-media-look-foolish-but-who-was-behind-it

THE “DRUNK GIRL IN PUBLIC” SCANDAL MAKES BOTH FEMINISTS AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA LOOK FOOLISH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO96JFxLAnU

Within the past week, the feminist movement and its many outlets that claim to be “news” attempted to make another viral propaganda push with “Drunk Girl In Public (Social Experiment).” The video’s objective was to show men as prowling jackals yet again, with the parameters of the self-proclaimed experiments being fairly unrealistic.

Recently, however, it has been revealed that it all was apparently a hoax. The guys in the video saw it themselves later and were understandably pissed about being asked to do something under a false premise, and more importantly, portrayed as potential rapists by feminists all across the internet for their compliance.

As hilarious and satisfying as it is to see the feminist movement blow their load, unashamedly backpedal in their argument, and create even more elaborate routines of mental gymnastics, the whole thing seems off and has brought a number of questions. The questions are in no way to make any claims or insinuations, and are purely from personal speculation that are felt needed to be shared as food for thought:

1. What are many of the outlets that claim to be news to do now? Will they at issue an apology at least to their followers, for the failure to check their sources as they claim to be a source of news for them?

2. If this is the matter of them failing to check their sources before perpetuating the articles, what does this scandal say about the legitimacy of the claims made against them in regards to the ethics and practices exposed by Gamer Gate?

3. More importantly, what exactly is the role and the motivations of the creator of the video, Stephen Zhang, since he is the one who produced and originally released the video?

And that is where most of the interest lies. Stephen Zhang, the owner of HYGO, Inc., seems to be the linchpin in these events, and he is refusing to comment even though hoax claims and slandering the men in the video paint him as a dishonest asshole to everybody. From what is gathered, Stephen seems to be running a pretty successful company and has been in the marketing industry for five years. Impressive, considering he’s only 20.

HYGO, being his current venture, is primarily focused on social media optimization and it has a few portfolio examples to show the success of his company’s effectiveness for maximizing social media traffic and using it to yield a profit. However, he states that due to the elite status of his company, only 6, 7, and 8 figure contracts are the only things they work with.

This brings about other questions. Why did Stephen create the Youtube account that the video was originally posted, only recently, on 11/3/2014? And why did he add 3 other random videos a day beforehand, label them as pranks, then just a day after upload drunk girl and label it as “social experiment” instead, then cease all activity?

Since no statement has been made, what could the motivation be to fund, produce and promote this video? Anybody with a hair of business understanding would deduce that it’s unlikely to be just for shits and giggles. Going off that assumption, there are only two logical possibilities: 1) This was a part of some strategy within HYGO to increase their reach and revenue 2) HYGO or Stephen was commissioned to produce and distribute it, possibly with a non-disclosure agreement.

If this video was, indeed, commissioned, who then could possibly be the client? Who could possibly want to contract a business that specializes in the return of investment on social media, to create a video that depicts only men trying to take advantage of a drunk girl? Why would this video come out so quickly after the Catcall video, with the same framework of trying to demonstrate that men are degenerates?

Was it supposed to be that in this video, the appearance of the men’s race and socioeconomic status just happens to conveniently show a more diverse and varying demographic, one of the major argument against the Catcall videos? What does it mean in one of the messages they sent out among the men in the video after they began protesting, when they’re talking about the future success that this video is going to bring about?

Now, there are a lot of ifs and hypothetical scenarios that these questions are asking, and no one else has presented a similar opinion yet that I have seen. But given the course of events this year, I feel that this is not completely implausible. This video and its revelation that it was a hoax seem to allude to the possibility of being a part of a larger picture, one that they are more than likely going to try sweep under the rug.

Or maybe the questions have no grounds, imply a crackpot conspiracy theory, and I’m full of shit. Because there’s no way that various journalists, writers, content creators, social justice advocates, advertisers, and whoever else could be collaborating with each other behind the scenes to make some tangible gain off the target audiences of various industries under the guise of social justice and feminism. That’s just misogyny.

[aion-rsa]

Ranking Every Krampus Movie by Krampus Lore Accuracy

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Christmas horror movies have long been one of the best parts of the festive season, and over the past decade interest in the festive beastie known as the Krampus has been on the rise. 

But who is the devilish creature? And which of the eleven feature films (of vastly varying quality) that have taken their name from the Krampus mythology are most similar to the actual ancient folklore that inspired them? 

2020 has been a year of horrors so it seems only fitting to do a deep dive investigation into this most important of Christmas horror queries so you can celebrate this year’s Krampusnacht in style and accuracy! 

The Origins of the Krampus

So the creepy European tale of the Krampus goes a little something like this: Krampus accompanies St. Nick (that’s right, Santa Claus) on his gift giving rounds, but instead of offering rewards for good kids he punishes bad ones. It adds an enticing little bit of nastiness to the classic Christmas traditions which makes it all the more understandable that it’s become such a large part of the cultural consciousness over the years. 

So what is the actual history of the Krampus and where did it first spring from? Encyclopedia Britannica gets into deeper detail, explaining that Krampus “was thought to have been part of pagan rituals for the winter solstice. According to legend, he is the son of Hel, the Norse god of the underworld. With the spread of Christianity, Krampus became associated with Christmas–despite efforts by the Catholic church to ban him. The creature and St. Nicholas are said to arrive on the evening of December 5 (Krampusnacht; “Krampus Night”). While St. Nicholas rewards nice children by leaving presents, Krampus beats those who are naughty with branches and sticks. In some cases, he is said to eat them or take them to hell.” 

Lovely. 

We wrote more about Krampus traditions here.

Mother Krampus 2: Slay Ride A.K.A. Lady Krampus (2018) 

Though it’s titled as if it’s a sequel to our next entry–which is also not about Krampus–there is little to no connection between these movies. This film has no Krampus accuracy as it is not in any way, shape, or form about Krampus. 

What it is about is a group of women who are about to finish their community service but have one last task: to visit an elderly woman and check in on her before Christmas. Turns out that she’s not the weak old lady they were expecting and instead is a slasher who loves terrorizing families and young women. Like I said, there’s no Krampus here and it’s also not a supernatural film. It is exceedingly strange, though, and features an OAP slasher suspect, which is rare. So even without the mythical creature this micro-budget murder movie might bring you some enjoyable Christmas horror chuckles during the festive season. 

Mother Krampus (2017) 

The reason that this movie is close to the very bottom of our rankings is simple. Mother Krampus isn’t actually based on the lore of Krampus at all and is instead inspired by another creepy Germainic folkloric figure known as Frau Perchta. Seeing as the Krampus is more well known, the filmmakers decided to misleadingly name this movie Mother Krampus. 

But the two creatures do share some similarities, hence why the simple but comedic OAP slasher Mother Krampus 2 takes the “prize” as our least accurate title. Frau Perchta is also not too fond of children and in the ancient myths surrounding her it’s said that “she flies through the night sky attended by an army of lost souls, including the demonic-looking Perchten, her army of servants who are visually nearly indistinguishable from Krampus. The only way to know for sure is context; Krampus rides abroad at St. Nicholas Eve while the Perchten tend more toward Epiphany, and the last three Thursdays before Christmas, also known as Berchtl nights or Knocking nights.”

This non-Krampus movie is at least a sort-of accurate version of the Frau Perchta legend and sees a town terrorized by a curse that was put on them by a woman (maybe) wrongly accused of stealing missing children. Now 25 years later, it seems like the Christmas witch, Frau Perchta, is upon them and is planning on stealing 12 children over the 12 days of Christmas. Scary stuff. 

Krampus 2: The Devil Returns (2016)

This incredibly low-budget sequel to Krampus: The Christmas Devil (more on this in a minute) centers on–like so many bad straight-to-streaming horror sequels–some useless cops. They’re searching for missing children who it seems have been stolen by Krampus, so this at least gets one point for a classic Krampus trope. 

There is a naughty list in this film too, although it’s actually held onto by the grimy mall Santa who plays a truly horrible role in this movie that is utterly unpleasant to watch. Generally this movie has little to no Krampus accuracy with most of the plot following the useless cops as they struggle to battle a gang of low level violent criminals including the grimy Santa Claus. 

Read more

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The Anti-Christmas Spirit of Krampus

By Tony Sokol

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Doctor Who: The Weird Anomaly of the 1965 ‘Christmas Special’

By Andrew Blair

That gross Santa actually poses one of the biggest issues to the Krampus accuracy as the movie is more concerned with making a bleak festive crime flick ala Silent Night Deadly Night–but nowhere near as good–rather than making a movie about a scary folkloric figure. That’s why this one ends up near the bottom of our accuracy list, not just because it’s really not about Krampus at all but also because it’s gross, exploitative, and is more concerned with lazy “shock twists” than the story of Krampus. 

Krampus Origins (2018)

Seeing as this movie begins in WWII with Nazis trying to summon Krampus and American soldiers stealing the Krampus summoning machine, this is surely the least accurate… but shockingly, no. 

The film follows the young inhabitants of an orphanage who end up with the Krampus box. From this viewer’s perspective it’s definitely a movie that probably began life as a non-Krampus film and had the folkloric figure hamfistedly added at a later date because Krampus barely makes an appearance. Also, does this title imply that these are the origins of the Krampus? Because that doesn’t make any sense, seeing as the box summons him from his ancient world, so he clearly already had origins there that are not explored here at all!

Read more

Movies

The 21 Best Christmas Horror Movies

By Rosie Fletcher and 5 others

Movies

The Christmas Chronicles 2: Who or What is the Belsnickel?

By Natalie Zutter

Despite the fact this is mostly a not very entertaining film about ye olde depressed kids in an even more depressing orphanage, like most of our other entries the 2018 film does stick to two key Krampus lore points: the Krampus (briefly) featured here does love to hunt kids and has big scary horns. His arrival is also heralded by an enigmatic child called Nicholas, which seems like it’s a reference to Krampus’ connection to St. Nicholas, but maybe we’re being too generous. 

Krampus Unleashed (2016)

Apparently the idea of the Krampus just appearing each Krampusnacht and terrorizing local kiddies is a bit too much for filmmakers to stomach as this is the second movie in our list that includes a very specific plot line about Krampus being trapped in the past and then freed by Americans. Here, though, he’s freed by a group of prospectors who at the open are looking for the mythical treasure of Eric Klaus. They come to a very gnarly end at the claws of the old Krampus who is looking very much like a goat-man here which is a step up from the usual red horned devil representations we’ve gotten in some of the other Krampus movies. 

Alas, this is otherwise pretty light on Krampus-accurate lore as we spend most of the runtime with a family having some Hallmark-esque Christmas gathering in a desert ranch. For most of the movie the Krampus seems to be controlled / represented by a magical orange shiny rock which doesn’t appear in any lore we’ve seen but is a smart way to keep the budget low.

Krampus: The Christmas Devil (2013)

A voiceover gives us a slightly confusing rundown of Krampus history as we venture into this micro-budget movie. Apparently in this world Krampus is St. Nicholas’ brother which is definitely not the case in any Krampus lore we read about. But we do get to see Krampus putting a naughty kid into a sack and then trying to drown them which is both brutal but also pretty accurate for Krampus lore. The creature also has some solid claws and has a naughty list which he uses to find the bad girls and boys that he has to kill. Krampus: The Christmas Devil is also the only movie in our list that specifies that Krampus has just one night to do his terrible deeds. 

Read more

TV

DuckTales Season 3 Episode 18 Review: How Santa Stole Christmas!

By Shamus Kelley

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How Darlene Love Brings the Holiday Spirit and Soul to The Christmas Chronicles 2

By Tony Sokol

In this film’s defense, it does have more Krampus action in its opening than some of the films on this list do in their entire runtime, and it makes use of some good weird out-of-license Krampus art during the opening and credits. 

But after the first few minutes we get sucked into a boring crime story about (you guessed it!) useless cops trying to find kids that the Krampus has apparently stolen. When Krampus does pop up in brief moments throughout the film, he’s killing anyone who gets in his way, losing the spirit of the Krampus Christmas. Plus, the original folklore doesn’t have any mention of cops let alone an entire Krampus duology of low-budget movies centered on them. 

Krampus: The Reckoning (2015)

This one begins with a solid retelling of the Krampus legend which makes it one of the most Krampus-heavy offerings in our list. According to this flick, Krampus is as old as time itself and as the grandma warns her child “as Santa rewards good children, Krampus punishes the bad.” Which is all very true! Congrats creepy, horror grandma! 

Interestingly, this film adds in a weird Krampus voodoo doll which is created by a young girl so she can wield the power of the monster against those who do her wrong. In a non-lore but still entertaining twist, the Krampus here is essentially a Jason Voorhees-style killer who just murders everyone including beginning with an abusive couple who’ve been having some pre-marital sex. On the naughty list you go!

Read more

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New Netflix Christmas Movies in 2020 Ranked from Best to Worst

By Delia Harrington

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13 Best Blumhouse Horror Movies Ranked

By David Crow and 3 others

The big change from the legend is that Krampus is controlled and summoned by a little girl who uses the monster to exact revenge on adults who harm children. So ironically this one would have been better under the title Krampus: The Avenger. Revenge movies are fun, but even though there’s some good “what is Krampus” wiki moments, that big twist means this one slides down the Krampus accuracy rating pretty quickly. 

A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

This freaky and festive anthology is a whole lot of fun and includes an interesting visual representation of Krampus. To really get into this entry would be to ruin its secrets, but on the surface it’s about Santa Claus as he battles his elves and Mrs. Claus who have been turned into nightmarish zombies. During the finale, Santa battles the Krampus who is definitely one of the best and most interesting versions that we’ve seen on screen: a true representation of the half-goat half-man creature that we’re all desperate to see. 

This is a really cool Christmas anthology that utilizes the Krampus in an interesting way that adds to the story, even if when all’s said and done we can’t say that this is a wholly accurate Krampus movie. 

Krampus: The Avenger A.K.A. Krampus vs. Vikings (2019)

This historical horror entry is at moments surprisingly “accurate” (well, at least as far as Krampus movies go). 

Set in England during 820, the film centers around a Viking troupe trying to take over the castle of the British king. But their plans are waylaid by a demonic horned beast who lives in the forest and comes each “Yule Day” to kill families. This isn’t technically correct as Krampusnacht is usually on December 5th, the night before St. Nicholas Day on December 6th, plus Krampus is usually most interested in stealing/harming children rather than whole families. But early on in the movie we see Krampus talking about the naughty list, which gains the movie another accuracy point, and visually the practical effects heavy Krampus looks relatively like the creature we all know and fear, although it’s arguably more like a standard devil than a half-goat half-man beast. 

Read more

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20 Christmas Movies for Badasses

By Michael Reed

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Best Modern Horror Movies

By Don Kaye

Just like the majority of this list, Krampus the Avenger is a super low budget movie that is mostly concerned with the easy to shoot action of the Vikings and the royal family and less so with the Krampus. In fact, I would go so far to say this likely could have been a random Game of Thrones style knock-off that added a few Krampus reshoot moments… but that’s just a guess. Either way, the miniscule but present Krampus storyline is more accurate to the lore than usual until it gets lost in a strange wishing / vengeance / murder twist which makes little to no sense. 

Krampus (2015)

A modern Christmas horror classic, Krampus is truly a joy to watch. With an all-star cast featuring Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, and Allison Tolman, this dark comedy is all about that titular creature even if it strays a little from the classical lore. 

When a family gathers for Christmas, their stress, tension, and bitterness around the season begins to seep into their celebrations which comes to a head when the young son tears up his letter to Santa and throws it outside. It’s a mistake that will change all their lives forever as it summons the Krampus, a huge blizzard, and a nightmarish evening they’ll never forget.

This Krampus looks just how you’d expect the beast too, with huge horns and ghoulish goat hooves. But a big change in his motivations means that this Krampus is sent out to punish those who have lost the Christmas spirit, which is very different from dragging bad kids to hell or whipping them with sticks. Saying that, the entire family is objectively very badly behaved and really deserves the punishment the Krampus gives them. The final twist also strays from Krampus lore but is really creepy and overall this is a magnificent example of a Krampus tale. 

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Ironically, the film that feels closest to the origins of the Krampus doesn’t use the word Krampus once. It’s also one of the best films on our list, so if you haven’t seen this cult horror hit now is the perfect time. Rare Exports does feature a horned beast but here he’s known only as Santa Claus and is only ever seen frozen in a block of ice, which to be honest makes him even scarier. Directed by Jalmari Helander, this creepy classic begins when the local people of a small Finnish province which is thought to be home to the original Santa Claus, Joulupukki (which translates as Yule Goat), discover something incredibly strange. Their entire town was built on an ancient burial ground used to trap a strange ancient horned creature…

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The legends of Joulupukki and Krampus are incredibly similar, though the most interesting difference–which the film plays on–is that rather than being St. Nick’s helper, Joulupukki is the original Santa Claus. While we don’t get too deep into Krampus lore here, there is an evil horned beast, kids in peril, multiple evil Santa-type figures, and some good chilly Christmas horror. If you want something that lives up to the creepiness of the Krampus, and adds lore and depth to the story you already know, then Rare Exports is the ultimate Krampus movie pick. 

The post Ranking Every Krampus Movie by Krampus Lore Accuracy appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[wits-writing]

Rock Candy Mountain Vol. 1 comic review

Folk music as artistic expression of “the people”, namely the dispossessed left behind by society, goes down the roots of the genre. Harry McClintock’s “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, a Depression-era song about a paradise for hobos, play on that concept explicitly with lyrics about a land where “the box cars are always empty” and there are “streams of alcohol.” It’s a pretty jovial song about a ridiculous fantasy, though the original version McClintock played before he recorded it included lyrics that make the empty promise of that fantasy clear with some darker implications (“I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore/And I'll be damned if I hike anymore/To be buggered sore like a hobo's whore/In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.”). However, even if that fantasy is false or dangerous, it can still fill the gaps where life has fallen short.

Trying to reach that goal is exactly what the main character of Jackson in Rock Candy Mountain, an Image Comics published series from writer/artist Kyle Starks with colors by Chris Schweizer. Set in 1948, it’s a journey towards a promised land of crystal fountains and cigarette trees following the main character, Jackson, as we see him navigate the culture of the hobos living along the rails. A blend of humor, action, and urban fantasy, Rock Candy Mountain is one of the most entertaining comics to come out this year. This volume collects the first four issues of the series and gives readers a well-structured intro to Jackson, the hobo culture, and the threats he needs to outrun.

[Full review under the cut]

We first meet Jackson in the middle of his journey and most of his past gets left a mystery in this volume. There’s not even much to gather from what is revealed; he has (or had) a family, fought in WWII, stole something valuable from the US government, has a magic book that seems to always be pointing in the direction of Rock Candy Mountain, and sold his soul to the Devil so that “no one man will be able to defeat him in combat.” There’s much more to gain about him from how he acts than whatever’s in his past. He’s been living a hobo life long enough that he has a reputation (“Everyone knows Jackson”) and that experience pays off in an uncanny ability to plan his way through plenty of close calls that could end his quest to find Rock Candy Mountain. He’s ready to help people, but he has no patience for the mobsters, tramps, and yeggs of the world looking to get by for nothing in return. Jackson tells another character “I don’t live in a world of hope. I live in a world of solutions and plans.” That one line says all there is to know about the way Jackson presents himself to the people around him. But that’s clearly not the whole truth of who he is, since his quest seems entirely built on hope for some form of salvation despite what he’s done in the past.

On the other end of the spectrum in terms of composure is Pomona Slim (or “Fire Kitty Dragon” if he had gotten his way with his hobo name), a Kentucky man whose entire life has been defined by ever-present bad luck that culminated in him striking out trying to be an actor. When Jackson hears his story, he’s happy to help the poor guy get to Lexington. He’s clearly not suited for a hobo’s life on the rails and every aspect of him down to the clothes he’s wearing gets that across. This is also what makes him work so well as a point of view character. His first meeting with Jackson is the point where the story begins and how he reacts to it does a lot to set the tone. Once he finds out that Jackson is on his way to Rock Candy Mountain, he starts to worry he’s traveling with a crazy man. A fear that encountering the supernatural seems to confirm rather than assuage. Most of this volume shows how Pomona gets increasingly frustrated with having to go through Jackson’s various plans, which all sidetrack his personal goal of making it back to Lexington. All made worse by the fact that they both end up in prison by the fourth issue.

The fact that Jackson is willing to do so much to get to Rock Candy Mountain and why is the driving force of the narrative and the backbone of its theme. When Pomona starts questioning other hobos if they think it’s real, one of them replies “Is hope real?” Jackson clearly feels finding Rock Candy Mountain is his only option to finding something better for himself and why it’s driving him is summed up when he says, “Everything I do is about getting back to my family.” There’s a little quirk to the lyrics of “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, it’s not about a general idea of paradise but a paradise in the context of the hobo life. It’s why the lyrics aren’t about never ending up in prison or being chased by cops, but rather about how at the Big Rock Candy Mountain running away from cops and breaking out of prison are easy. How Jackson thinks of himself comes into focus with these ideas in mind. He’s not looking for redemption, he’s looking for a way out.

The hobo culture as presented in the comic informs a lot of the atmosphere around the characters. There’s an emphasis among the more helpful side characters on everyone in a group being able to pitch in, put on display literally in the second issue when everyone in a group of hobos put up an ingredient to be made into stew. If someone’s able to give you a little extra help, then that’s more reason to entertain their eccentricities, it’s why Jackson bows to one of the chickens of a man who gave another bird for the stew and why most of the other characters are willing to entertain Jackson’s notions of being able to find Rock Candy Mountain. The characters make deals so that they can each get something out of them, but trying to get out of those deals can be dangerous when they’re made with the wrong people.

The Devil obviously presents the biggest threat to Jackson’s journey towards Rock Candy Mountain. He gets Jackson’s soul when he dies and has decided he’s going to collect as soon as possible. The interpretation presents the Devil as violent and a little overzealous in his methods of getting what he wants, at one point nearly killing everyone at a camp before he could get the information he wants out of them. He doesn’t like having to take physical form or coming to Earth at all to accomplish his goal. Though he certainly finds ways to pass the time, like massacring an entire town. There’s an impatience to this Devil that comes through in the way he gets annoyed at inconveniences throughout his confrontation with Jackson in issue three, where the deal they made ends up being the thing that helps Jackson escape. His little moments of disbelief at people thinking they can find a way around his actions provide some good comedic moments.

Kyle Starks’ distinct sense of humor always helps to make his books stand out from everything else on the shelves. While Rock Candy Mountain puts the humor in less of a focus than some of his other works, like Sexcastle, it’s still present throughout. There’s no one quite like Starks when it comes to building a moment to the point where the perfect line of dialogue or small payoff action can feel as satisfying as some of the one’s here, like Pomona’s reaction the first time he sees Jackson in a fight or Jackson taunting one of his opponents when they’re at an underground fight club. His art style keeps the flow of events clear from panel-to-panel and page-to-page, making the major comedy and action bits in the book land so well.

The fight sequences in Rock Candy Mountain end up needing to get creative because Jackson’s deal with the Devil only helps him under the specific circumstance of a fight against “one man.” He’s unstoppable under that condition, which can lead to some very satisfying moments when it’s time to throw down. When he does have to work around it, like when he’s has to beat up a half a prison’s worth of inmates before he can escape, it’s one of the best moments in this volume in a sequence reminiscent of Old Boy or The Raid. Still needing to think of his feet like this helps Jackson’s character get communicated through the action scenes.

The mood throughout the story is enhanced by Chris Schweizer’s colors. It matches Starks’ linework in how it does a lot with a little. There’s a fair share of moments defined in Rock Candy Mountain by minimalist color palettes, particularly scenes set at night where almost everything is kept in shades of grayish-blue. It’s a simplicity that builds the atmosphere of the book, like when red prison lights flash over the previously mentioned sequence of Jackson fighting the prison inmates. Outside of these singular palette moments, the comic’s color scheme is defined by earthy tones that communicate the time and can create contrast in moments where the bright red Devil shows up to menace people. Schweizer’s coloring adds so much to the story that it would be quite the same if it was in black and white like Starks’ other independent comics.

There’s plenty more in the first volume of Rock Candy Mountain to recommend it that I haven’t even touched on. The colorful side characters of the book, including; Black Orchid, Hundred Cats, Gumpy Tom, Big Sis, and FBI assistant director Babs Bardoux, all breath further life into the world the comic builds around the main characters. Then there’s the backup material about the real-world history that informs the events of the story which only come with comic in the single issues rather than the trade. But all of that would only reiterate the point that it’s a book well worth reading. So pick it up in whatever form you like and read it all this coming fall*.

*(Okay, I know it’s already fall but I wanted to do something with the song lyrics for the closing line.)

[sheikah]

A Hunger Like No Other

I wrote this Vampire Knight fic back in 2010 when the manga wasn’t quite finished, but the anime had just ended. Based on the anime ending and where the manga was going, I was very frustrated at a lack of meaningful closure for Zero and Yuki and decided to rectify that. Then it turned into a lemon. (A pretty graphically NSFW lemon btw.) In light of the resurgence of Zeki fans everywhere because of Hino’s latest work, I decided to post this to tumblr for the first time in case anyone else would like a smutty trip down memory lane. This is a very long, fluffy one shot lemon that features my headcanon of the post-Rido reunion of Yuki and Zero after that long year apart. Enjoy! FF.net | AO3

A lot could happen in a year. The delicate fluctuations of seasons, the glorious beginning of new lives, the violent endings of others. No one knows the weight a year’s time can carry better than Yuki Kuran, for even the name of Kuran is a new addition to her life this year.

More than anything, Yuki wishes she could turn back the clocks a year, to a time when her name was Yuki Cross and she was nothing more than a compassionate, human high school student. But the previous year had seen the abrupt end of Yuki’s youth, her innocence, and her blissful ignorance.

The night that Yuki awakened as a vampire was also the night in which her memories were returned to her at last, when she discovered that she was a proud pureblood daughter of the Kuran line. After her traumatic experiences during the near-destruction of Cross Academy, Yuki knows she is no longer a child. She is a woman, and a lethal weapon who does not even truly know the extent of her own pureblood powers. She doesn’t really care to know.

It’s midmorning on a day like any other when finds herself standing quietly in the living room of the home that Kaname has secured for her secret dwelling. Until the cultural climate of the outside world is safer for the vampire community, she’s confined to the house, and she feels like little more than a prisoner. She is grateful to Kaname for taking her safety so seriously, but also tired of being treated like a child. 

Kaname stole any childishness from her long ago, and she wants nothing more than to be treated with the respect that her age and lineage should command. She knows that although she was not the most experienced fighter, there are few left in this world who can pose as a threat to her now; but Kaname still insists on keeping her under lock and key and exerting his influence over all of her doings.

When Yuki thinks of things that can threaten her, her mind unwillingly strays to the one person that she tries her hardest not to think about. Zero. Sweet, tragic, deadly Zero. The thing that he became on that roof top during the fight with Rido was nothing Yuki wanted to face again, but in her heart she knows that her most beloved childhood friend still remains beneath the stormy surface.

It is painful to reflect on their final encounter, their kiss that had seemed to be filled with more hatred than love. Why do I think of this so often? Yuki wonders, scolding herself sadly. The past can never be rewritten now.

She is brought forth from her musings by a cold hand sliding along her neck.

“Kaname-sama,” she breathes in mild surprise.

“Yuki, please just call me Kaname. We are equals now, and hardly strangers to one another, in mind or body,” he replies smoothly. A deep blush steals its way across Yuki’s cheeks as the meaning of his retort strikes her. Of course they aren’t strangers. They are like family, they’re lovers, but sadly Yuki has begun to suspect that her lust for Kaname’s blood is far greater than her lust for his body. Her reddening cheeks draw Kaname’s attention to her own blood, and she feels his fangs graze over her neck, politely requesting entrance.

“Go on,” Yuki says dryly. “It’s been days since you’ve fed.” Without hesitation Kaname sinks his fangs hungrily into her neck. The pain is distant to her now. She focuses on the steady sound of her breath and the firm grip of Kaname’s hands which squeeze her shoulders forcefully. When she tires of the suction she breaks free of him easily enough, grabbing onto his arm and spinning around to face him.

She loathes herself for what she wants next. Yuki has not come to accept fully her new set of vampire needs, but nonetheless they will be satisfied. Kaname knows her desires well and lifts the sleeve of his tailored black silk shirt, offering her his wrist. She takes his hand, studying his face for moment before feeding; she sees the affection written in his eyes, a trickle of her blood lingering on his chin. He is so good to me, she remarks to herself sadly before delicately sinking her fangs into the throbbing vein of Kaname’s wrist. So why don’t I love him anymore?

The exchange of blood is an intimate act. For Yuki it feels more personal than sex, and in her current state of confusion regarding Kaname, drinking his blood feels almost like a cruel exploitation. Kaname’s blood is spiked with his regard for her, almost possessive in its intensity. But she doesn’t reciprocate those feelings. Yuki can’t help but wonder if Kaname can sense her own doubts when he feeds on her. She hopes not. The thought makes her nervous.

Once they’ve fed, Kaname had attempts to bring Yuki to bed, but she lamely excuses herself to her parlor to read. She hates that she doesn’t want to make love to him anymore, but the fact remains that something is missing between them. Yuki feels nothing while wrapped in his strong embrace. Nothing when his lips hold hers, nothing when his commanding voice tells her that he loves her.

I just need a break, Yuki decides resolutely. I need to take a walk, to get out of this smothering closeness. So she resolves to leave. The next time that Kaname departs to speak to the Hunter Society, or what remains of the council, or with Aido, or wherever the hell he goes all day, she will sneak out, disobeying his will for the first time in her memory.

Her chance comes sooner than expected, for she hears the front door slam shut a few short hours after their rendezvous. She knows that Kaname is gone when his scent has left the house. Yuki stands from her easy chair in the parlor and ventures back into the living room, looking out the front window as Kaname disappears down the front drive in a sweep of his long, dark travelling coat.

When he’s out of sight, she cautiously opens the front door and steps into the chill autumn afternoon. Autumn, Cross Academy has just begun a new semester, Yuki recalls sadly. Clutching her arms tightly around her slight frame, she realizes that she didn’t even bother to don a coat before venturing out. But it’s no matter; she feels free, happy, liberated. Breathing in the fresh air, her eyes well up with joyous tears. This is exactly what she needs.

Yuki sets out down the empty lane. The house Kaname chose is not in a neighborhood but in a small forest outside of town. Her leather boots thud lightly on the dirt path as she makes her way quickly in the direction that she hopes will lead her to town. Already she can smell the city filth, along with cooking food, human blood. When she finally emerges from the dense trees, Yuki finds the urban center looming ahead. Although she hasn’t been out in some time, she isn’t afraid or nervous at all—only excited and brimming with anticipation. It has been too long since she has had a day to herself that didn’t follow Kaname’s strict itineraries.

She walks along the city streets, window shopping and watching the people for near an hour. She gets a few strange looks along the way, and attributes it to her extremely long, rather unkempt hair, and the fact that there is probably blood on the collar of her grey blouse. I must make quite a sight, she thinks with a chuckle, catching her reflection in a well-polished shop window. Her waist-length chestnut hair still retains its healthy sheen and her pale skin is smooth and unblemished. Her brown eyes glow with the light of new possibility, but they are ringed by dark circles from a lack of restful sleep, and her hair is tousled and wavy. Just as she expected, there is blood on her collar and even on her neck itself. She wipes at her skin hastily before moving on. It won’t do to arouse too much suspicion in the human citizens.

Rounding a corner, Yuki proceeds into an alley that she thinks will lead to an iced cream shop she used to go to with Zero when they were students together. The alley is dark, shaded by overhanging tall buildings on either side, and deserted. Just as she considers taking a more public and likely safer path, she is suddenly startled by strong arms grabbing her and a hand flying over her mouth to cover her screams. Though she fights against her unseen attacker, their grip is strong and Yuki is pulled out of the alley and into a dark apartment.

When the door shuts behind her, she frantically tries to regain her senses and forcefully pushes herself out of her attacker’s grasp. A little too forcefully, for she staggers backwards and falls to the floor before a dark shape. Paralyzed with fear, Yuki stares up through the murky darkness of the windowless room, trying to make out the tall figure standing a few feet in front of her. Whoever it is, they make no move to harm her.

When Yuki’s eyes finally adjust, her heart skips a beat, her breath catching in her chest. No, she thinks frantically, her eyes filling with tears, a sob welling in her throat already. Silver hair, falling carelessly across lavender grey eyes, a dark tattoo inked onto a scarred neck, the glint of a piercing on the ear, and the strong stature of a familiar boy—no, a man.

“Zero!” Yuki cries, rushing to her feet and flinging herself at the man before her. His last promise to her is ringing in her ears but she pushes it away when, to her surprise, Zero relaxes his stiff stance and returns her hug, his long arms enveloping her in comforting and familiar warmth. The past year of no contact and the ominous threat he made at their last meeting melt away into irrelevance. Yuki can tell by the gentleness of the eyes she knows better than any others that Zero would not hurt her. Not now, not ever.

“Yuki,” he responds simply, his voice a choked whisper. Her name on his lips is almost more than she can bear, something she never dared to hope for again. In spite of herself she gives way to sobs of sadness at their long separation and relief at the sight of him alive and whole. Zero merely strokes her hair in silence, trying to calm her.

“What are you doing here?” he asks at last. “It’s dangerous for you to be out. I thought that he made that clear to you.” Zero spits out the pronoun as if it’s something filthy and obscene. It’s obvious that his disdain for Kaname hasn’t diminished, but Yuki doesn’t blame him.

"I felt like a prisoner,” she explains through her tears. “I needed to see outdoors, to see people.”

“Well. You were obviously not well prepared for an attack,” Zero points out stubbornly. “I got you here effortlessly.”

“Where is here?” Yuuki asks in confusion, looking around the modest apartment. It features a living room that apparently doubles as a bedroom; a small bed is situated in the corner next to a table with two chairs. A kitchenette and a small bathroom is visible on the other side of the room through the dark. The whole place is simple and unadorned. Very fitting for a pragmatist like Zero, she muses.

“My home, for now. The Chairman gave it to me, because I cannot take living at the Academy anymore. You seem to be having a lot less trouble dealing with the past than me, though. Cozily situated in your new country home with Kuran.” Zero’s answer is cold and Yuki finds herself recoiling from him involuntarily.

She’d wished for this reunion every day for a year, but would their differences divide them again after all this time? No, I won’t let that happen, Yuki says to herself firmly. Looking up at Zero indignantly, she finds she can’t be angry. Not really.

She misses him too much. She misses happily touring the halls of Cross Academy by night with him, coaxing the smitten day class girls back to their dorms. She misses accidentally walking in on him getting ready in the headmaster’s bathroom, misses late nights doing math together, taking care of each other the way best friends should. She loved Zero so much then, it seems insane to her now to let the horrific events that had torn them apart continue to drive a wedge between them. “I’m sorry,” she says simply.

“I know.”

"But I… I’m a vampire. A pureblood vampire, aren’t you going to kill me?” Yuki asks in wonder, looking up into Zero’s beautiful, unreadable eyes.

“No, Yuki,” Zero replies in a barely audible whisper. “I know what I said, but I could never do that. All I’ve ever tried to do is keep you safe. It would kill me to cause you harm.”

She’s unsure how to respond, having wanted nothing more dearly than to hear these words from Zero; it almost feels too good to be true. The silence is dragging on for an uncomfortable span but Yuki finds herself unable to break it.

Mercifully, Zero speaks instead. “Surely you know that. You have to realize by now that everything I’ve done, it’s been for you. Isn’t it obvious that all this time I’ve lo—"  

Yuki quickly silences Zero with a finger to his lips. She can’t stand to hear those sentiments now. Not when so much fear and doubt hangs between them. Not when she doesn’t know what the next moment, much less the next day holds for them.

Zero solemnly assents, lifting his hand to hers and lacing their fingers together. He places a gentle kiss against the back of her hand in a wordless endearment. Yuki can feel her heart pounding from nerves, but Zero’s proximity isn’t helping matters much. All of the chemistry they’d had before was evidently still there and the very air between them feels like its vibrating with tension.

She leans in closer, tilting her head to the side, pulling her hair out of the way and exposing her neck to him. She can sense his thirst, it’s palpable, tormenting him as it always has. “Drink,” she says, standing on the tips of her toes to whisper softly into his ear. “Like old times.”

At first, Zero is hesitant, she can tell that he isn’t sure what to do next, but she won’t be deterred. There’s a yearning inside her—perhaps it’s always been there—to give herself to the tortured man who meant so many things to her. She wraps her arms around his waist, pressing her body against him firmly. The scent of his own blood assails her nostrils, mingling with the familiar fragrance of his hair, a hint of cologne perhaps. It all works together to ignite her own appetites, but they can wait.

Zero’s hesitance evaporates under her assertive touch, and she feels his calloused, battle-worn hands at her neck just before he digs into her throat with his fangs, abandoning formalities as if no time has passed at all. It’s like they’re back at school, stealing away into dark corners so that she can satisfy his thirst. She supposes that some small part of her has always enjoyed it, even when she was human. Zero’s rough handling has always made her feel desirable, made whatever was between them seem primal and inevitable, so very different from the easy manners of Kaname.

Zero lets out a strangled moan as her blood rushes past his lips. His grip on her is so tight that it’s almost uncomfortable, but she’s limp in his arms, eyes closed, relishing the sensation of his hot mouth on her skin. What is this? Yuki wonders as her pulse pounds harder in her ears. What am I doing? If Kaname finds out… She’s unwilling to even finish the thought. His rage would be beyond measure. She falters at that, pulling away from Zero suddenly, peering up at him with an apology in her eyes.

“You were thinking of him,” Zero says knowingly. “I can taste it.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Yuki stammers, “I snuck out… I’m afraid of him finding me, especially here.”

“You’re free to go at any time, Yuki,” he reminds her, looking away dejectedly. “You know that.”

Yuki stares at Zero, at his powerful frame that’s been reduced to a miserable shell of a man merely by her presence. He really does still love me, so what do I feel for him?

Stepping back up to Zero, Yuki pushes him up against the wall of the apartment. “My turn,” she announces gravely, pushing his high-collared coat off of his shoulders for better access to his throat. Zero is wide-eyed, astonished that she’s staying, that she wants to drink from him. She grabs his broad shoulders, drawing him closer, standing up on her toes again to reach him. When she bites, just beside his familiar tattoo, the hot liquid hits her mouth with startling force. Zero’s blood is thick, so warm, so satisfying. She sucks harder, crushing him to her as the crimson liquid flows into her. She can taste Zero’s passion in his blood, his love for her, his thirst for her own blood, and his surprisingly heated lust.

Yuki is caught off guard by the intensity of it, by the depth and sincerity and Zero’s emotions as they come in through her parted lips. His love is as strong as ever—it’s all so clear. Zero’s been her devoted admirer from the first, and the realization has her reeling.

Zero brings her back down to earth with the pressure of his own embrace, grabbing her slender waist and lifting her off the ground to give her lacking height better access to his neck. She wraps her legs around him and breaks her face away to take a breath. Her chest is heaving, breaths raspy and uneven.

Her eyes meet Zero’s as his blood runs off her lips and drips onto his chest. Yuki leans down to lick it off, tasting the salty sweat of his skin. 

“Yuki,” he says in a shaky whisper. His eyes drop to her lips in an unconscious signal, and he presses his mouth to hers with a heated kiss.

There’s no time to be shocked; Yuki knows in the back of her mind that this is exactly what she wanted to happen, and now is the time to react. She kisses him back in earnest, tasting her own blood on his lips. Zero’s slick tongue winds its way into her mouth and involuntarily Yuki groans with longing. He bites at her lower lip in response and she exhales sharply in pain, but in truth it only stokes her desire further.

Hurriedly she begins to unbutton Zero’s shirt, but he sets her back on the ground, bracing himself with a hand on each of her shoulders, pushing her back.

“Yuki, what are we doing?” he asks, his hands trembling, sweat dampening his shirt.

“Something we should have done a long time ago,” she answers seriously. 

A tiny voice protests in the back of her mind, reminding her that this is wrong, that Kaname will be hurt, betrayed. But what she has with Zero is something she and Kaname never quite managed to find. She needs Zero because he needs her. She’s always known, really. It’s been clear in each brush of his hand on hers, in every lingering look of his captivating eyes. Some part of her has always known that Zero loves her fiercely, is addicted to her very essence.

Kaname loves her too, it’s true. But at times his love for her feels almost fatherly. The spark is gone.

For once in her life, Yuki does not want to do what is expected of her. She wants to do what feels right, something reckless, something heartbreaking in its beauty. Being with Zero is something she has unconsciously yearned for for what must have been years, and she is finally going to answer her heart.

But despite her resolve, Yuki finds that now that the opportunity is here, she feels shy. She’s had sex with Kaname before, but it has always been careful, calculated, missionary position. It didn’t hold a candle to the unbridled passion she feels now with  Zero. She isn’t sure where to go from here.

Yuki looks up at Zero’s now exposed chest, at his milky vampire skin, so smooth as it ripples over a warrior’s muscles. There’s a deep-seated need within her that has nothing to do with blood, and she suspects that Zero feels it too. But she also senses that he is equally shy; after all, Zero has loved her since childhood and here they are now in such a compromising position. She decides to make the first move.

Summoning her courage, Yuki steps backward until she can feel the bed behind her knees. She sits and then lies down, motioning Zero toward her with one finger. He’s frozen for a moment before walking over to join her on the bed. He climbs up, the sheets rustling under his weight as he positions himself over her, looking down at her with his characteristically grim face, but behind that expression Yuki can see the yearning in his eyes.

Leaning in, he kisses her again, taking his time and slowly moving from her mouth to her jaw line, her ear, her neck, her throat. He unbuttons her shirt and slides the blouse from her shoulders as he kisses down her chest, stopping between her breasts. It’s the most assertive Zero’s ever been, and the image of him straddling her body has Yuki overwhelmed by her need for him.

Suddenly all of their clothing seems to her an absurd barrier between her flesh and his, and she reaches behind her back and unclasps her bra herself. Zero smirks in amusement at her urgency as she tosses the bra aside, leaving her nude from the waist up under his scrutiny.

Zero pauses then, drinking in the sight of her but seeming a little uncertain. Yuki grasps his hand, guiding his palm to her chest encouragingly. He takes her cue enthusiastically, moving to massage her breasts with both hands, his deft fingers working her nipples and sending shivers down her spine. A slow moan of approval escapes her lips and she notices Zero blush at her reaction. She realizes this could be his first time with any of this. After all, he’s been devoted to her for as long as she can remember, never straying. But even if Zero is inexperienced, his hands feel knowing and right on her body and she can’t imagine a more loving touch than his.

Yuki reaches up a hand and knots it in his smooth silver hair, pulling his face down to her chest to signal what she wants next. Zero’s eyes flick up to hers in a heated glance before he obediently sets to licking  and sucking her nipples. His sharp fangs hurt a little but she finds that she likes it. “It feels so good, Zero,” she murmurs, her breaths coming fast and hard.

He grunts in reply, his aggressive nature bubbling to the surface. Desire replacing his apprehension, he bites her gently, earning him a squeal of delight from Yuki. Without needing to be prompted he’s kissing down her belly and pulling her skirt insistently off.

Yuki kicks off her boots and moves to unclasp Zero’s belt but he grabs both her hands and holds them still. “Let me take care of you,” he says forcefully. Intrigued, Yuki lies back and raises her hips to assist as Zero removes the last troublesome boundary: her lace panties.

He simply stares for a moment at Yuki’s womanhood, appreciating her flawless pink folds, glistening with arousal for him. He runs a shaky hand between her legs and Yuki gasps when his fingers graze her most sensitive spot. “Here?” he asks hesitantly, touching the area again.  Somehow she finds the focus to nod her head and Zero rubs the spot gently with this thumb, watching her face intently.

The friction is exquisite and after only a moment she’s panting and thrashing under his attention, her insides coiling with tension as she approaches climax. Sensing this, Zero stops for a moment and strokes his hands over her snowy thighs, leaning up to kiss her waiting lips.

“Don’t tease me,” she pleads desperately, breaking away from their kiss and entreating him with her eyes.

 "Alright,“ he says with a smug smile, clearly pleased to hear her begging.

He resumes the work of his thumb, tracing small circles against her swollen flesh before carefully inserting two long fingers into her opening, eliciting a small whimper of surprise from Yuki. He sets a swift rhythm then, pushing inside her roughly. It’s not long before she’s close again and Zero pulls his hand away, scooting down the bed and situating himself between her knees. “Please don’t stop,” she asks him again in a small, helpless voice.

Zero chuckles at her eagerness. “You’re greedy.” She simply nods in agreement as he presses his mouth to her skin, kissing up her thighs, but stopping just short of her sex. She feels a sharp jab as he sinks his teeth into the flesh on her inner thigh and drinks from her, raising his eyes to meet hers as his lips redden again with her blood. The pain under these circumstances is a heady pleasure and Yuki grips the bed sheets furiously. 

When he’s had his fill Zero retracts his fangs carefully and trails his tongue up to finally kiss her there softly. Instinctively she arches her back in response and he reaches out with one hand to steady her before deepening his kiss and pressing his tongue in past her folds. "You taste even better than your blood,” he murmurs against her with a devilish grin. “I think I want some more.” Yuki spreads her legs wider to allow Zero better access and he licks up the entire length of her, pausing to close his lips over the sweetest spot. He sucks gently on the sensitive nub and then slides his fingers inside her again.

The feel of his supple lips and strong hand is deliciously exhilarating and Yuki gropes her hands on the back of his head, pulling his face against her hungrily. Zero gives in to her body’s demands, cherishing her sharp responses to his every move. He flicks at her hard with his tongue, all the while crooking his fingers inside her to brush at the deepest part of her core with every push of his hand. “Mmm,” Yuuki manages, writhing on the bed in ecstacy as she clinches around his fingers, her body shuddering into orgasm at last.

Zero withdraws his hand and delicately licks her clean even as she flinches away, hyper-sensitive in the wake of her release. “Was that okay?” he asks, his voice soft.

“’Okay?!’” Yuki is incredulous, giggling. “Zero, that was … “

She shakes her head, unable to find the words, choosing action instead. Sitting up shakily, Yuki removes his belt and unbuttons his pants, pushing them down his hips along with his boxers until he assists her and sits back to pull them off entirely. She fails to stifle a gasp at the sheer size of Zero’s erection.

Without thinking, Yuki gets on her hands and knees, bending down to take him into her mouth. His breath hitches with at the sensation and his fingers find their way into Yuki’s wild hair as she works, sucking him vigorously, desperate to show him the same acute pleasure he’d given her. But when she sits up to take a breath, Zero grabs her before she can return to her task. Effortlessly lifting her up, he lays her back on the bed and straddles her waist.

Yuki understands instinctively and is eager to finally feel him inside her, but at the last moment Zero hesitates. "Are you sure this is what you want, Yuki?” He asks, averting his gaze. 

She’s seen this look before. He’s always so uncertain when it comes to her, and she knows it’s her fault. She hasn’t exactly been straightforward with him over the years, and she feels a little guilty now, seeing him so vulnerable. “I love you,” he goes on, his voice thick with emotion. “I know you don’t want to hear it but I do, and if you still prefer Kuran I don’t think we should take this any further.”

Yuki swallows hard at his confession. Of course she wants to hear it. How long has she been in love with Zero? It feels like some part of her always has. She can’t remember a version of herself that didn’t love him, didn't want him. “I’ve never wanted anything more,” Yuki replies with tears in her eyes. “Of course, I love you, too.”

Zero is speechless, but her words light a fire in his eyes as he lifts her arms over her head and pins them down on the bed with one hand. Yuki raises her face to meet his lips with hers, sighing into the kiss as Zero shifts his hips, pushing inside her with tantalizing gentleness.

Yuki exhales in surprise when he fills her up, his angle offering deeper penetration than she is used to. Zero is far bigger than Kaname, but as he slowly grinds up inside her, she takes up a rhythm against him, appreciating his size and skill as the maddening friction wracks her body with pleasure.

Their pace increases and Zero is breathing heavily, gripping under Yuki’s thigh and pulling her closer with each ramming thrust. It’s everything she’s wanted, everything she ever dreamed it could be in her dizziest fantasies. They’re perfectly in sync, their bodies melding together like the pieces of a puzzle. His eyes are locked on hers, piercing straight to her soul as he shows her with every caress that it’s been him all along, that no one else could ever make love to her like this. Yuki tosses back her head and cries out his name with reckless abandon as Zero hammers her over the edge again, her seizing muscles coaxing him to his own climax.

Her whole body is trembling and sated and she lifts her hand to brush Zero’s sweat-soaked bangs aside. He leans down to kiss her once more before collapsing beside her on the bed, trying to regulate his breath. Yuki snuggles close, pressing her forehead against his, and he smiles at her faintly before shutting his tired eyes.

A lump rises in her throat at the tenderness of the moment, and she cannot for the life of her think of a time that she has felt this happy. She has no idea what tomorrow or even that night will bring, but she does know that she is safe and free for the first time in a year. It’s all because of Zero Kiryu, and Yuki decides she’s never letting go of him again.

[dunnystuff]

Hi to all -

Kamala visits Guatemala

Well, this did not go well. Instead of a reception by crowds of fawning locals, she was met with signs demanding she 'go home' and 'Trump won', and suggesting she fix her own house, and stay out of the house of Guatemala. No one was buying her talking points about addressing the 'root causes' of immigration, legal or illegal. Well, she did not handle this graciously. The president of that nation noted that while he had cracked down on crime and other problems, Kamala is ignoring those issues in her own back yard. It is safer to walk in Guatemala than in many US cities. That is saying something since just a few years ago, Guatemala had the highest murder rate in South America.

Virginia

Judge James E. Plowman, jr. ordered the school that fired a teacher named Tanner, for expressing his views that allowing transgender men to compete in women's sports was discrimination against actual women, against his faith, and an offense to God, to reinstate the man. The judge said that Tanner had First Amendment rights to speak his views, and that the school acted in a way that was 'unnecessary and vindictive'. The school countered that they did not fire Tanner for his views, but because his expression of those views caused 'disruption'. The judge did not buy that poor excuse.

Kentucky

In Boone County, Judge Richard A. Brueggemann struck down the edicts of Governor Andy Beshears regarding Covid mandates. especially masks. This was a permanent injunction, not subject to appeal or review or reinstatement after making minor changes. All of these actions were declared 'unconstitutional' and void.

Now, these mandates were set to expire Friday, anyway, and the Governor did not plan to extend them. But this ruling is important as precedent for actions all over the nation.

TikTok

Trump revoked the right of TikTok to operate here, since it was an agent of the CCP. Biden just revoked this ban.

New Orleans

A man was filmed wandering down a residential street, trying door handles to see if he could enter. He appeared very drunk, and overweight. He went down one side, and up the other, as pedestrians watched, and moved away. Finally, someone opened their door, and this man lunged at the resident. The resident, however, was prepared, and armed. He shot this intruder, killing him. No charges will be filed, thanks in part to the clear video evidence.

Crypto Currency

This was the stuff used in the Colonial Pipeline hack. Crypto currency is not issued by governments, and governments hate this stuff - since they cannot control it, or steal it from citizens. Things like Bitcoin or Dogecoin are examples. Smaller scale things like coupons, bonus points, and rewards points are also examples of non-traditional currency. We should expect to see a lot more activity in alternative currencies.

Bill Gates

He will not give up on his plan to vaccinate everyone, whether they want it or not. He just gave a 'starter' payment of $100,000 to Hiroyaki Matsuoka of the Jichi Medical University to develop mosquitoes infected with vaccines to be released into populated areas, and 'vaccinate' just about everyone. If successful, a million-dollar grant will follow. Of course, if this can be done with medicines, it can also be done with poisons. Both the Japanese and Germans did exactly that back in WWII. Japanese biowarfare experiments killed at least 250,000 Chinese, and continued to kill people for generations. Germans flooded areas that would breed mosquitoes, and unleashed diseases on the locals. They also poisoned crops, affecting others.

Bill , who is not a doctor, is intent on reducing the world population by 15%, to 'save the planet'. Perhaps he might do well to remember that even though there are a lot more people on the planet today than a few years ago, food supplies and distribution has kept up, and in fact, more people are better fed today than at any time in known history. Most people do not live at subsistence levels today, when for most of recorded history, they did.

Bill is treading on dangerous ground. The unintended consequences could be beyond horrific. Back when I was a child, I lived overseas in a mosquito infested area. Every evening, the jeeps would come by spraying clouds of DDT, to control the mosquitoes. Of course, that effective chemical was banned a few years ago. Never mind that mosquito borne diseases kill ten times as many people than the DDT did. I, for one, do not want to breed 'genetically modified mosquitoes', even for good causes.

Burger King

Did I already say this one? Seems that Burger King wants to celebrate Gay pride month. So, they took some cheap shots at Chick-fil-A over their stance, and Sunday closings. Then, to top it all off, they said that Burger King will donate a sum of money to gay pride groups for every Chick-fil-A sandwich sold. Anyone hungry for a chicken sandwich?

Fargo, North Dakota

This hotbed of racial strife saw one 23-year-old Arther Prince Kollie attack 14-year-old Daisy 'Jupiter' Paulsen. She was stabbed 25 times, beaten and strangled by this man. Then, he stole her backpack and phone. He was later captured, and she later died of her injuries. Wonder how the judge will rule in this case?

In another incident, a young black man was yelling racial slurs at an Asian police officer. When confronted over his behavior, the man said that 'blacks cannot be racist'. Didn't we hear Obama make that same argument?

France

President Macron was doing a meet and greet with the public, when a man slapped him across the face, yelling bad things about Macron's policies. That is a serious insult in French culture, and, police took down this guy, and I think a couple of others with him, very fast. Guess the president is learning that at least some of the public does not agree with him.

New Handbook

Parents are getting concerned about Critical Race Theory in the schools. Many do not want their children indoctrinated with racism. Some have spoken up at school board meetings, and the board members have tried to shut them down. But, now, there is a new handbook for these parents, with instructions on how to fight this battle. It is called "Combatting CRT in your Community". It comes from Parents and Citizens for Renewing America. Bet the leftists are getting worried, and plotting in dark back rooms how to fight back.

Atlanta

During the riots that followed a police shooting of a man found dead drunk at Wendy's, where the Wendy's was burned down, there were also many other injuries. Eight-year-old Secoriea Turner was shot and killed, as she sat in her parents car. Her family is suing the city, the mayor, and others for negligence, for allowing the riots to proceed without intervention. They did not agree that 'armed vigilantes' should be allowed to run rampant in this city. This could be a real landmark case. If the parents win, mayors all over the place will not sleep well - like Portland and Seattle.

FBI Sting

Three years in the making, an FBI sting has sprung. This operation was known variously as 'Ironside', 'Greenlight', or 'Trojan Shield'. It involved undercovers selling encrypted satellite phones to criminals, which the FBI had the keys and codes for. This allowed them to track and monitor the activities of more than 300 criminal gangs, in 18 countries. More than 800 people were arrested, and literally tons of drugs, weapons and cash were seized.

Meanwhile, back at home, the ATF is trying to re-define some guns. For many pistols, you can purchase a 'stock', so that it can be fired like a rifle. This improves accuracy. The ATF, with their devotion to disarming Americans, but not others, wants to classify such weapons as 'short barreled rifles', and apply restrictions to their sale and use. These guys never give up trying to bypass the Second Amendment.

Fauci

He was planning to release his new self-praising book this November. It was to be called "Expect the Unexpected - Ten Lessons on Truth, Service and the Way Forward". The irony of this, in light of all the email revelations and his endless flip-flopping, was just too much for the major retailers. Amazon and Barnes and Noble have dropped this book like a hot potato.

Did you know that the 'excuse' to do all these mandates was based on a PCR test to show the presence of Covid. Sadly, the test was badly flawed, with up to 97% false positives. Add in the 'creative reporting' of deaths, (how anyone could sell a gunshot wound to the head as a Covid death really stretches the imagination), and the distortion of cheap, alternative cures to expensive experimental vaccines should have made more people skeptical. HCQ had been a proven anti-malarial drug for 60 years or so, and effective on Covid, used in a timely fashion, at a dose of 200mg daily for 10 days. But, to discredit this treatment, tests were conducted using 8800 mg, and that was a toxic dose. Add to that, all the new regulations banning this as an over-the-counter drug, and requiring a prescription, then barring doctors from prescribing it, and you have a genuine conspiracy. But I digress. The evidence against both Fauci and 'the cure' is overwhelming, except to the superstitious and gullible.

Seattle

Woke gone wild. The Seattle Department of Finance, in a rant produced by David Holmberg, called all cops 'white supremacists'. Cops took exception to this, as you can well imagine. How long can that city stand, divided against itself?

Next time you hear someone claim ``It's all Trump's fault" - ask them how they know this, and will they offer the proof. Those conversations could be interesting. Of course, the answer will always be 'You is a racist'.

Rich

[theartist-duke-nise]

✌🏾Nise Lyfe Movie Part 1

Inspired By Real people, Real Relationships, and Fake Events

INTRO.

*Riding down the street, leaning on window smoking and driving. Credits go by. Flatbush zombies song Bumps. Phone rings, music stops*

Duke: hello??

Greg: Ayo Duke

Duke: Yo wuddup nigga

Greg: Aye bro, you got your strap??

*Duke looks down at cup holder* Duke: Always!

Greg: Listen bro, I need you to come pick me and Mark up rightnow and not ask me any questions.... you down or what??

Duke: .....................where you at??

Black screen

CHAPTER 1: The Story

Female Narrator:

Black Americans ...... Culture.... somehow, for the majority anyways, no matter how much money our parents had... no matter which City, State, neighborhood, or family you come from, our families all have things in common. Have you ever wondered about that?? I mean think about it. Somehow, weather your from Connecticut, New York, Florida, Texas, Cali, Virginia, Illinois, or the Carolinas, we all have fatal similarities without ever meeting or even knowing the same people. Our grandmothers have always told us things like "stop letting all my AC out the house, go fetch me a switch, come here baby, you know grandma loves her baby, stop running around my damn house, I'm praying for you baby" and that world famous, stand on the porch with the sun in her eyes and hands on her hips, wave to watch us drive off from her house. Grandmothers keep the world spinning!! They cook everything with love and have that magic hug and kiss that fuels us like a pump at a gas station. There is truely NOTHING like the love from an elderly women! .... for the majority

Then there are mothers and aunts. The rib of the family. Always putting on fronts when people come around. They can be both your biggest motivator and entagenizor, or both at the same time. They wake you up, get you dressed, feed you, and get you out to school on time day in and day out. They manage a very strict schedule and do it so amazingly. Weather they have a significant other or parental spousal support, they manage with grace and elegance. *Black mother cursing kids out* most of the time anyways.....

And then there are Black Men... the back bone that keeps America standing up straight. The shoulders in which a majority of Americas problems sit on. The brains behind more than 50% of American culture if you ask me. Now I'd like to break the idea if the black man down into 3 categories, which in my opinion isn't exactly fair, because I feel as if all black men share all 3 attributes if enticed to show them in the appropriate time or place.

The first... of-course the typical idealistic black man that Brainwashed America would imagine at first thought. The "GANGSTA". Smh.... typical... This man isn't a bad person. He does bad things from a normal perspective, but no worst than an unordinary American would do. Don't agree?? Well check this... the gangsta sells drugs to the public. Mostly addictive substances to keep his clients hooked, squeezing every silver dime and red penny that they can get out of said person before they either die or overdose.... sound formillior?? Kind of like a Doctor without the license. Cures for things like diabetes, HIV, high blood pressure, cancers, they have been around for years, but we all know there's no economic longevity in corporations curing people. The profits comes from sustaining their illness enough to giving temporary relief of symptoms but not enough to eraticate them. The goal is to keep them coming back..... I.E. "Drug Dealers. Plus ide imagine the "typical" black man would have a bad temper and ofcourse drinks Hennessy and smokes newports all day ".

The second we'll bring up is the "Baby Daddy". Unfortunately this is a legitimate cultural problem for OUR community. Weather the man stays in his child's life as much as anyone would like is besides the point. The biggest problem is that the babies are often made at a young age of the man in which he is not ready to instantly drop the childish antics and mentality at that very moment. Which brings the conflict between said man and the women enpregnated because as females tend to mature faster than males, she is usually raised with a specific image of what a man should be. Her immaturities sway her from being patient enough to help the father of her child to grow into the man he needs to be. The conflicted situation dominos into their split up in which the mother usually takes the custody of the youth, leaving the man to continue exactly where he left off before the pregnancy, living in his immaturities.

And lastly... the comeillian. He isn't a gangster or gangbanger, he doesn't accidentally enpregnate a female before he intends to. He typically is very comfortable being around anyone of any race, religion, or sexual preference. Mentally he feels as if he is a bit of an outcast. He typically has a bit of rebellion in his blood that people find ok, only because he regularly turns it on and off, depending on the environment he is in. I personally like to think of them as an untapped well just under the surface. The possibility of this person swaying into any job, place, environment is up to them. They're just waiting for the decision to be made.

Now on first instinct, Humanity has conditioned us to always look at things as 2 sided. Either right or wrong, good or bad, black or white. But I'm here to show you.... it's much deeper than that. Bad things happen to good people that make bad decisions with good intentions.

Chapter 2: the Team

*Duke pulls up to location, cuts off music, calls greg. Him and mark come out and fast walk to car. They dap up Duke and he pulls off.

Duke: so what niggas bout to do?? We got static??

Greg: nah, but first things first, niggas need to go get some weed. Pull up at Chris crib.

*Duke pulls out blunt and lights it.*

Mark: my nigga, hahaha

*Car pulls up at Chris's house. All three get out of car. Duke pulls gun from cup holder and tucks on waist. Flips shirt over and proceeds to door. SPECIAL KNOCK ON DOOR. Chris comes to door with chinky smile, holds hand out. All 3 greet and walk in. Greg and Mark pull out money hand to Chris and he walks to backroom of apartment. In living room, Dorcey is counting pills and bagging them up. Lean bottles as well as other known drugs cover table. Dorcey sees us and daps us up while still counting, trying not to loose count. All 3 sit down. Duke pulls out another blunt and sparks it.*

Duke: so bro, what's tha move?? Why I need strap.??

*Greg and Mark look at eachother*

Greg: go on and tell him about your boy.

Mark: aight, so me and this nigga was walking down the street by my crib, by the park and we smell weed in the air, so I look across the street and we see this tall ass nigga walking, smoking a blunt.

*Greg interrupts*

Greg: bro... that nigga was tall as shit.

Mark: word, so I yell out "that shit smell good bro" and he reply "I got that if you need it homie. Just got a pack in today."

*Dorcey stops counting and looks up

Dorcey: so y'all don't know this nigga from nowhere and he stay on yo block Mark??

Greg: aye bro, I ain't never even seen this nigga before and I use to stay out there too. Maby he just moved out there or something..

*Chris comes back and hands mark and greg their bags of weed and tosses a pack of backwoods on their laps, then takes a pack of papers out of his pocket and tosses that too. Chris says jokingly*

Chris: so we gona rob this nigga??

*chris cheeses hard*

Mark: ayo, can I finish tellin the fuckin story??

Dorcey: as long as you can roll up and talk at the same time.

*Duke shakes his head and grins*

Greg: so boom. Long story short, we ask the nigga to get us a 8th. He tells us to just walk to his house to get it with him..... bro. We walk in and this nigga has EVERYTHING!!! Coke, heron, Molly, pills, x, xans, liq, syrup....

*Dorcey and Duke both focus up

Duke ashes the blunt and passes it*

Duke: GTFOH

Dorcey: well what tha fuck we sittin here for?? Let's go get at that nigga.

Greg: see y'all niggas ain't letting us finish.... so we walk in and see all the drugs, then this big ass pit runs up.

Chris: that nigga jump on Mark?? You know that nigga smell like beef jerkey.

*Chris smiles hard again. Mark rolling the blunt looks up*

Mark: nah, they had this nigga on a leash..... INSIDE THE CRIB BRO. They had that nigga INSIDE THE CRIB bro!! Like a whole bear on a leash inside the crib bro. Like these niggas had the chain wrapped around the Middle of the piece of wood going from the ceiling to the floor in the living room b. I ain't gona lie bro. That nigga was big as fuck.

Duke: damn, so what happen next??

Greg: so boom. He tell the nigga to sit and he sit instantly. Not like Boosie.... OH SHIT!!! Yea bro, so his bowls are behind him and I peep a big bloody piece of meat in the bowl, so I ask dude, "ayo, that's steak and pepper you feed your dog?" aye bro.... nigga looks at me and says "Nah homie, that's a human kidney and gun powder on that shit. I bought it using Big Coins."

Chris: get the fuck out of here bro

Greg: swear to god bro. He said it's so that nigga don't mind killing and ripping a nigga apart. Shit was crazy but anyways, so boom we walk past the dog and I think that was his pops or his uncle in the back with his girl and a few more niggas. And we meet them niggas, chop it up for about 5 minutes but we end up only buying a blunt. We told him we wanted to see if it was some flame. It was so we told him we're gona go get some more money and be back to get more than a half.

Dorcey: aye bro, please tell me y'all tryna rob this nigga bro!!

Duke: nigga, ain't you JUST come home?? your still on supervised probation nigga.

Dorcey: and I'm ready to go back so what you sayin??

Mark: Aye look, me and greg already said we GATA hit that nigga so we down.

Chris: and I'm down. Sheed lost $600 last week when somebody stole her purse so I'm down. I need a come up cuz rents due next month.

Dorcey: so Duke, you got the whip so your driver.. and I know your klizzy ass got a few masks..

Duke: you already know

Dorcey: So what you gona do?? You down or what??

*Everyone freezes and stares at Duke. He hits the blunt, looks at it as he inhales, sits it in the ash trey and blows the smoke out. Duke takes gun from pants and drops it on table.*

Duke: we gona need some more heat...

CHAPTER 3: THE PLAN

Greg: aight, so it's a lock.

Duke: aye, I just have 1 condition.

Dorcey: NOOOO NIGGA, we not wearing no super hero masks. Lol, goof ass nigga

*everyone laughs except Duke. His face is stiff

Duke: chill... but first, nobody gets killed bro!! I ain't going down for murder!! Especially if my ass ain't squeezing a trigger.

Greg: FACTS!!! If it's our life or there's, that's one thing, but I can't do life. I got daughters nigga. I can live with 5-10 though. Can y'all??

Dorcey: word! I got a seed too nigga. I GATA be here for baby girl, but I need paper for baby girl too!

*everyone nods their heads agreeing*

Duke: good. And second. We need another car. Y'all niggas tweeked if y'all think I'm using MY car to hit a lick! Like y'all really bugged out on that!!

Dorcey: nigga, shut yo ass down! Just get a rental, or a zip car or sum shit. When we get close enough, we cover the plates and the.... got damn, what you call that shit on the car... like what kinda car it is?!?

Chris: the emblem

Dorcey: YEA!!! Just make sure it's a dark color...

Duke: aight, well before we jump the gun, let's really make a plan!! Ayo, Chris, you got some paper and pencil??

Mark: so y'all niggas about to write down our plan so the boys can find it?? Smh, dumb ass niggas

Duke: chill out string bean head ass... that's why we're writing it with paper and pencil. we destroy the papers the day before we hit tha jawn kuz by then, we'll have everything in our heads. This is just so we're on the same page. And another thing... don't be stupid enough to talk or text about this shit... like EVER!!!! AT ALL!!! Any discussion we have about this is in person, face to face only! Agreed?

*everyone nods again*

Duke: ok, now first things first. Mark, why tha fuck you still ain't finish rollin up and greg what you waitin to light that shit for?? You waiting on Jesus second coming?? Lml, but on a serious note now. How big was the crib??

*greg lights blunt, takes pull and passes it

Greg: what you mean??

Duke: like what kinda house was it?? Like a 2 story?? 1 story?? Trailer?? Town house?? What??

Mark: uhhhh. Townhouse... 2 story though...

Duke: aight, how many bedrooms??

Mark: idk, prolly 2-3...

Duke: and how many couches downstairs

Mark: 2... a small one and a big one... why does that matter??

Duke. Because nigga, 1 master bed room means a dope boy prolly keeps a bitch at his crib, plus the other 2 rooms means 1 person can live in each. That's 4 people that can live upstairs. Plus 1 person sleeping on the big couch. They prolly try to keep 2 or 3 people home at all times. We need to either wait until they all leave, which might never happen, or we can get everyone out of the house. Now New Years is in 2 weeks. No real niggas stay in the house on New Years! They're either outside selling drugs, tryna get em off, OR they're out partying, using drugs. That's when we get em.... plus Erica having some kinda party for New Years. I figure we all hit that shit first. Take a bunch of pictures, give her our phones, and I'll get her to text from them and post pictures every few minutes. Perfect alliby. We have pictures and texts as proof of where we are. Plus the location on our phones to verify.

Dorcey: damn nigga... how long you been waiting to rob somebody?? Nigga already have everything planned out!

Duke: nah bro. I'm just going with this shit. I ain't never caught a lick in my life. I'm just smart enough to pay attention to how people get caught and learn from there mistakes so I don't have to make my own.

*duke points to the top of his head*

Duke: 2 steps ahead bro.... Now, we can assign jobs... I say, Dorcey, you should be the one to see if you can get some more hammers. 1 damn sure ain't gona be safe, especially kuz ain't nobody holding my shit except me. My shit is registered...

Dorcey: say less

Duke: now... Greg and Chris, y'all take Chris's car back over to fuckboys crib, park far enough to where they won't notice you but don't be hot and spook the neighbors either. Last thing niggas need is the cops called on y'all to looking suspicious. Take this paper and a pen or something and write down what kinda traffic they have. home many people come in and out. How many are plucks and how many live there. How long they stay there and how long they leave before coming back. Which ones drive and get picked up. And what time people stop coming and going. That's prolly what time they sleep. And since greg is blind as fuck, Chris your gona be the eyes so take som carrots.

Greg: fuck you

Chris: carrots??

Duke: yea... good for eyesight. And greg, you just write down what you s..... well you write down what Chris sees. lol,

Greg: nigga fuck you. Give me the damn paper

*greg snatches paper from Duke

Duke: and me and Mark will pick up the clothes and masks. Here everyone write down shirt and pants sizes so we don't forget.... Everybody good??

*everyone agrees

Duke: good, now somebody help this nigga mark finish rollin up, kuz he's blowing mines.

Mark: nigga fuck up, I been done. Lol

Chapter 4: Dorcey

The next morning, Dorcey wakes up in his bed with naked female next to him sleep. He moves her hand off of him and tosses it, rolls over, and picks up his phone and sits on the edge of his bed stretching.

*Dorcey grabs bottle of Hennessy, and takes gulp. Then finds contact and calls

Kev: yo wuddup

Dorcey: Yooooooooo

Kev: wuddup fool?

Dorcey: aye bru, I need a few tools, niggas bout to build a bridge.

Kev: what kinda tools you need?? Wrenches or Drills??

Dorcey: nah , wrenches is good. It's more for emergency.

Kev: aight, you need more than 1??

Dorcey: I need 4

Kev: damn nigga! Fuck I look like?? Home Depot?? You need em for the keep or the rent??

Dorcey: the rent

Kev: for how long?

Dorcey: prolly just one night.

Kev: well this ain't no free ride homie. Ima need some collateral or sumn nigga.

*Dorcey thinks as he scans his room then stops when he locks onto the naked girls head in his bed*

Dorcey: I think I got sumn you'll like bru

Kev: aight, when you gona slide threw??

Dorcey: give me 2-3 hours bru

Kev: aight bet... just come around the back

Dorcey: aight bet

Dorcey and female walk threw cut into back of Kevs house trying not to step in dog shit. They knock on sliding back door. Kev walks up, peeps out back window with Rifel in hand.

Dorcey: yoooooo

*Kev sits gun on couch and unlocks screen door and opens. Dorcey and female walk in and close behind them.

Dorcey: aight Kev this MeeMee... MeeMee this my nigga Kev

Kev: what's up shorty??

MeeMee: hey

Dorcey: aight you can sit here for a minute. Watch out for the gun. And don't answer the door for nobody.

*Dorcey turns to Kev

Dorcey: aight, lemme see what you got bru.

Kev: aight bro, follow me

*they small talk as they walk to back room

Dorcey: yea bro that bitch ready..... Daaaaaammmmmmnnnnn.

*dorceys eyes wide and jaw drops

Dorcey: nigga..... what tha fuck you this strapped up for?? Nigga got enough guns to lock up the whole neighborhood! Every thing between 2'2s and 45s. Then machine guns, choppas, shotguns.. you got the double actions, single loads, pumps, twin barrels.... nigga got aks, m-14....ohh shit, tha m-16. Aye bro, you got tha baby K??

*kev smiles and points

Kev: yea right there by the rifles.

Dorcey: daaammmnnn, and you got the crazy ass monkey nuts. How much this bitch hold??

Kev: 200+1 in the chamber

Dorcey: this nigga said plus 1 in the chamber...

*Dorcey shakes his head*

Dorcey: but back to business. I can get 2 30's and a 9 and a pump?

Kev: gochu.. you need bullets and packs too??

Dorcey: yea. Just a clip for each tool and 7 or 8 shells for the pump.

Kev: ohh, y'all movin light huh??

Dorcey: yea bruh, hopefully we don't even GATA bust nun.. but better safe then sorry, na mean??

Kev: I feel you bro..... aye before you leave, you GATA check this shit my whiteboy just brought me.

*kev pops a lock on the dresser and takes out a RPG

Dorcey: a RPG?? Nigga, who tha fuck you got beef with?? North Korea??

*Kev smiles slyly

Kev: Better safe than sorry. Haha

Dorcey: heard you. But good looks bro.

*Kev packs guns into a bag that looks like it's used for a tent or something, then they dap eachother up and Dorcey walks out

Kev: good luck bro.

*Dorcey nods

Chapter 5: Greg & Chris

*Greg wakes up on couch, reaches on table for glasses. Get up and yawns. Knocks on Chris's door to wake up.

Chris: yea, I'm up

Greg: I can use the bathroom??

Chris: yea.

*greg uses bathroom, gets dressed. Knocks on Chris's door

Greg: you ready bro??

Chris: yea give me like 10 more minutes

Greg: aight

*greg sits on couch and lights clipped blunt and scrolls down twitter feed

*Chris comes out room and greg gets up passes blunt as the walk out house to car. They get into car and door closes. Drive to work playing music. Get out of car at work, dap eachother and walk away. *Cut To End Of Work Day*

Greg: wuddup bro??

Chris: what's up brooo??

*Chris cheeses hard

Greg: aye bro, you tryna head over to scope out that crib for a little before we go home??

Chris: yea bro, I don't care. But all the weed is at the house. You want to go get some first??

*Greg pulls jar from glove compartment

*chris cheeses hard and pulls off while greg rolls up.

Greg: so bro, I been thinking about how niggas gona split up all this shit.. or even, you know like... what if they sold everything by the time we get there??

Chris: yea bro, that would be fucked up, haha. But if they got that much stuff in their house, I doubt they would let it run out. Haha

Greg: yea, you right. But idk bro. I kinda got a bad feeling about this shit. I aint tryna jinx it or nun though.

Chris: bro, don't even think like that dude. Positive thoughts, positive vibes, you know??

Greg: yea, word... pass me the lighter

*they pull up at the end of the block.

Chris: oh shit bro, look

Greg: nigga, you know I can't see all the way down there.

Chris: ohh shit my bad bro, lol

Greg: what you see?

Chris: it's like 4 females outside

*greg starts writing on paper*

Chris: 6 cars in front. But there just standing at the car. Shit that's a really nice car bro. Ohh, wait... like 4 guys just walked out the house and got in the cars. They're pulling off now... duck down

*both duck down in seats. Greg blows smoke up

Greg: shit my bad

*both sit back up

Chris: aye bro, another car just pulled up.. it kinda looks like an über.

Greg: you sure it's an Über and not just a regular car??

Chris: we duhh it's a regular car, but it has an über sticker on the window and it's just siting outside with the car still running.

Greg: yea it's prolly an über

Chris: ok, now there's an older guy and an older chick getting in the über. And it's driving off in the opposite direction.

Greg: should we follow them??

Chris: fuck that!! I need to go home and take a shower. Get out these clothes.

Greg: it don't matter to me bro

*greg takes out his phone and called Duke

Duke: wuddup blacky??

Greg: ayo, we here now. Everybody just left the house I think.

Duke: You gona follow em to see where they go??

Greg: chris said fuck that..

Duke: exhale... y'all niggas kill me... but aight

Greg: aye, I ain't even driving

Duke: aight I'll halla at y'all niggas later

Greg: bet

*Car pulls off*

Chapter 6: Duke & Mark

*Duke is at 7-11 pumping gas. Cute women next to him pumping gas looks over and smiles. He finishes pumping his gas, puts cap on tank, gets phone out of car, cutting off music and walks around pump to her

Duke: excuse me, how are you doing today??

Lady: I'm fine.

Duke: well my names Duke. Um... would you mind if I help you pump your gas for you.

Lady: not at all

*she steps back and I squeeze the trigger of the gas pump. As I glance back I start at her feet. Pretty toes, red polish, red pumps, and long fitting red dress showing amazing curves. Going up to her amazing smile surrounded my red lipstick.

Duke: so I didn't get your name.

Lady: ohh, lol, my names Jazmine, with a Z... not a S

Duke: ok, very nice to meet you jazmine with a Z.... not an S... lol. You mind if I ask how old you are??