#we had the swedish in here at some point

[theminecraftbee]

Doc's about four beers in by now. It's just enough to loosen his lips, especially with Etho eating most of the pretzels so Doc can't eat them. Compared to almost any other hermit under these circumstances, Doc seems barely tipsy at most, but, well, it's not like Beef needs him drunk to vent his latest frustrations at the world, he just needs him tipsy enough not to notice he's talking.

"--and I just don't understand why people are so surprised, man. You--you all have teased me too much to be surprised!" Doc is saying. "Ren laughed at me. Laughed!"

He also, for the record, seems to need to complain about... apparently his husband? Which is new. Beef had been surprised. He's not going to say so, yet, because this is Doc's very belated NHO bachelor party--can they call it that when it's more "sitting around a TV drinking, eating snacks, and not doing anything because they're all too old to be partying", and when Doc is very clearly not a bachelor?--and that would be rude.

"That dog," Bdubs says loyally. "I can kill him for you. I'm the judge so I wouldn't get arrested and I'd make sure you get all his money as a widow."

"No, you can't kill him, man, I still need him for tax benefits!"

"What taxes?" Etho asks, sounding vaguely panicked.

Everyone stops to consider this.

"Beneficial ones," Doc finally says.

"I don't think that's what--I think you're misunderstanding your English again," Beef says.

"No, I'm always right," Doc says.

They sit in companionable silence for a few moments. Someone shouts on TV. The show is in Swedish. Beef has no idea what's happening. He's honestly just kind of waiting for someone else to notice.

"It's just. I don't get it, man! Why are you all acting so surprised I called Ren my husband? You! You all know me!" Doc says, somewhere between accusing and despairing, and hm, maybe these beers were higher alcohol content than normal, if he's already on despairing? "Ren and I have been--after season eight, making it official, it is only a natural thing, yes? But we had--he's asked to have my puppies. You've heard him say our babies would be beautiful."

"That dog," Bdubs says loyally again, this time in a much more suggestive tone.

"More than once," mutters Etho.

"It's not--I mean, we all knew you and Ren were... how do I put this?" Beef says. "It's not surprising that you two are. Er. Help me out here."

"Boning," Etho says.

"EXCUSE YOU?" Bdubs says, scandalized.

"Yeah. Boning," Beef says. "Doing the horizontal tango. Probably some vertical ones too. I mean, you're definitely into some things--"

"Fighting dragons," Etho dryly adds.

"THAT WAS STILL GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE," Bdubs shouts, apparently over being scandalized and moving straight to offense.

"Two seasons later? Man, you just wanted to wring as much alimony out of me as possible," Doc says immediately.

"And? I'm a judge now, I know these things."

"My point," Beef says, before they can start arguing again, or before Etho can point out that they hadn't ever really been married to get divorced in the first place. "My point. We, uh, all knew you two had a thing. It's just, uh, marriage is... different! It's different, and--"

"You didn't INVITE ME TO THE WEDDING!" Etho says, finally unable to hold it in. "Whyyyyyyyyy? Doc, I thought we were friends! I thought we were friends, Doc! I wanted to go to the wedding!"

"It, it was a little thing," Doc says. "A common law marriage as much as--"

"Hey, wait, why didn't I officiate it, huh?" Bdubs says.

"That's not fair, you can't be mad at me for not inviting you to the wedding, the moon had just exploded!" Doc says.

"It had?" Etho says.

"Yeah, well, I exploded too and I still would have shown up," Bdubs says.

"I don't remember an explosion?" Beef says.

"Wait, the moon did something?" Etho says.

"Focus," Beef says. "Look. Doc. Also, love you man, but I always figured that if anyone was going to propose, it was going to be Ren."

Doc scoffs. "Clearly you don't know my husband, then."

Everyone waits for him to elaborate. Ren, after all, is the one known for dramatic emotional appeals. While Doc is equally dramatic--that's why Beef is throwing a bachelor party for the great fit as opposed to off showing him that Big Salmon can still show someone how to sleep with fishes--he's not exactly great at emotions. Surely, he will elaborate on why Ren would never be the one to propose between the two of them.

He doesn't.

"Anyway, I think it's been obvious for, for years, and you all are morons, and--why is the TV in Swedish?"

"THANK YOU!" Bdubs says. "I thought it would be rude to point out."

"Oh, I like it, though," Etho says as Doc changes the channel to a home improvement show. Yeah, sure. Fits the vibes of this bachelor party as much as anything else. Beef grabs another beer. He pauses.

"Wait, you said a common law marriage. That means you haven't actually had a wedding yet, right?"

"Not really," Doc says.

Beef considers being reasonable, and then he lets it go.

"Dibs on planning it," he says.

"WHAT?" Bdubs says, rounding on Beef.

"I--hey, I didn't agree to this!" Doc says, as Beef begins negotiations with Bdubs. Etho laughs, louder than he normally does, and throws an arm around Doc.

"Let it happen, man. Let it happen."

It's a good party, and a good night.

[pitchsidestories]

long story short II Fridolina Rolfö x Reader

masterlist I word count: 1170

a/n: hi, it's based off this request here, we'd love to read your thoughts on the oneshot. 🫶🏻

“Do you have photos of the two of you through the years?”

The interviewer’s question made you smile amusedly. Of course, Fridolina and you had memories together framed in pictures.

Although you were still getting used to the change to now call her your fiancée.

The warm afternoon light which filtered through the curtains of the living room let her light hair appear golden.

They the film crew were working on a small documentary about the Swedish woman. Today the topic was focused more around her personal life offside the football pitch.

“I’m sure we have some. Do you know where they are, love?”, Fridolina looked at you.

“Yes, wait here, I’ll get them.”, you nodded, before getting up to step into your bedroom. It was the coziest part in the whole appartement.

While the rest of it was very Scandinavian and chick with expensive furniture and a lot of warm lights which were carefully selected by your fiancée this was the warm heart of your home.

Your favourite pictures were all in a dedicated box, and you were pretty sure they were rested somewhere on the shelf until you realized your girlfriend, no fiancée you corrected yourself in your mind put it high up there out of your reach.

Unless you could possibly grasp it when you stood on the chair. “Uhm Frido?”, you called for her nervously.

To the interviewer the defender apologized in a polite tone. “Excuse me for a second.”

“What are you doing?!”, she raised her voice, there was a hint of worry in it too.

“You put the photos up there, Fridolina. Why do you have to be so frigging tall?!”, you exclaimed.

“I didn’t think you were that small.”, Fridolina chuckled.

“I’m not small you’re just tall.”, you protested as you lost your balance and were about to fall to the ground luckily the blonde caught you.

“Why didn’t you wait for me to get them down for you? You’re so stubborn.”, she shook her head.

“I thought I could do it on my own.”, you admitted biting your lip.

“Why did you call me then?”, the defender raised an eyebrow, she still held on to you as if you were as light as a feather.

“After I realized how high up it was.”, you answered, twirling a lock of your hair with a finger.

“Don’t ever climb on our furniture again.”, Fridolina asked you to, her voice slightly shaky.

“I promise. Thanks for catching me though.”, you replied, pressing a soft kiss to your lover’s high cheekbone.

“You don’t have to thank me for that.”, the fellow football player shrugged.

“Well, you saved my life.”, you said half joking and half earnest.

Fridolina shook her head with a gentle smile as you both walked back into the living room.

“We got the photos.“, you announced happily, presenting the photos to the interviewer.

“Sorry, took a while to get them. Someone must have placed them at the wrong spot.“, Fridolina added. You smirked at the sideway glance she sent your way.

In contrast to her, you weren’t so subtle about it. “That someone was her.“, you explained and pointed your thumb towards your fiancée.

The young interviewer just smiled politely, clearly focused on getting the job done. “It’s fine. Tell me more about the photos. How are they connected to your career?”

You rummaged through the box of photos and pulled out an old newspaper clipping. The photo showed the two of you hugging after a game, Fridolina in a Wolfsburg shirt and you in a FFC Frankfurt one.

“I love this one. It’s the oldest we have together and it’s from a German newspaper. It shows we haven’t always played for the same team.“, you explained.

Only months later you had joined Fridolina in Wolfsburg and the two of you had been inseparable ever since, hitting off your relationship fully.

The interviewer looked at the photo with a thoughtful nod while Fridolina started to look through the box of photos. She happily pulled out another one.

This one was taken on your first day in Barcelona. You both smiled into the camera in your Barcelona warm-up shirts with your arms around each other.

“I like this one. It’s our first one in Barcelona together when we just joined the team.“

You remembered that day. It was a big step for the both of you, joining one of the best teams in the world. But with Fridolina by your side even this felt easy. Looking back, you had to admit that it was one of the best decisions of your life.

“Oh yes. That was a wonderful feeling.“, you agreed.

“And the first time, we moved in together.“, Fridolina added.

You smiled at her: “Exactly.“

Your apartment was small but you loved how it overlooked the city. The balcony was just big enough for the two of you to have breakfast outside in the mornings or to drink coffee together in the afternoon but you wouldn’t swap it for anything else.

“It was a big step.“, Fridolina explained to the interviewer.

She had been the one who had asked you to move in together when you both signed for Barcelona. Shortly after, you asked the her to marry you.

You pulled the matching photo for that memory out of the box.

“So was this one.“

One of your friends photographed you kissing on the beach right after she had said yes.

Fridolinas face lit up: “That’s true.“

After the filming was done for the day and the documentary crew has left you softly tucked at your fiancées sleeve. “Frido?”

“Yes, love?”, she hummed.

“Can you the photos somewhere not so high up?”, you asked her with an innocent smile on your lips.

“Sure., the blonde paused before recognizing that another photo has been added to the box, wait that picture wasn’t here before.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be seen by the camera or the interviewer.”, you told her, your heart pondering nervously against your chest.

“So, you hid it?”, Fridolina raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, you can take a look pretty sure you haven’t seen it before.”, you requested.

Cautiously the Swedish footballer glanced at it, letting out a squeal of pure bliss and joy before clicking her tongue. “How can you put this up there?”

“Oh, you want to keep it down here with you?”, you wanted to know, eyes shining amusedly.

“I want to keep it somewhere where no one can see it. That’s only for our eyes.”, she confessed, pressing the ultrasound picture close to her heart as if the tall woman wanted to protect this from the outside world.

“Do we want to get the autumn decoration out now or..?”, you changed the topic swiftly.

“No, too dangerous. I don’t want you both to get hurt.”, Fridolina declared. The blonde made a promise to herself that she’d always be there to protect the two of you.

A new chapter in your lives has just begun. The rest was still unwritten.

[woso-dreamzzz]

Hammarby

Hardersson x Child!Reader

Georgia Stanway x Child!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: Georgia's new shirt is horrifying

You stare at her, eyes wide.

Georgia isn't quite sure why you're staring but you are.

You'd come into the locker room this morning with Magda and Pernille and sat in Pernille's cubby like usual.

Unlike the team, you come into the locker room already wearing your training shirt and boots. Pernille had once said that it's easier to get you ready at home then let you change with everyone else.

Georgia's frown deepens the longer you stare at her.

At some point during the time Georgia's been here and the time you've been here, you've slipped away from Pernille's cubby to stand in front of her.

"You feeling okay?" Georgia asks, confusion still seeping into her bones the longer you stare up at her," Is something wrong?"

You bite your lip and point at the shirt she was just folding up.

"Is that an AIK shirt?" You ask.

"Er...yeah?"

You wrinkle your nose up in disgust and turn away, hurrying off like Georgia's just murdered a kitten or something. You duck behind Magda, clinging to her tightly.

"Morsa!" You say, looking halfway to tears," I don't like Georgia anymore!"

"Hey!" Georgia exclaims," What?! I haven't done anything!"

"You have!"

"I haven't!"

"You have!"

"I haven't!"

"Georgia," Pernille pipes up," You're arguing with a child."

"We're not arguing!"

You scoff. "Yes we are!"

"We're not!"

"We are!"

Magda sighs, lifting you up onto her hip. You're getting a bit too old for her to be doing this but she doesn't really care.

"Why don't you like Georgia anymore?"

You shake your head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, you can't just say you don't like Georgia and then not give a reason."

You take a deep breath before pointing accusingly at Georgia. "She came in wearing an AIK shirt!"

Pernille buries her face in her hands. "Oh no."

Magda whirls around. The fond smile she had previously been wearing was contorted into a look of pure horror.

"An AIK shirt?!" She demands and Georgia gets the feeling that she's done something egregious.

"Yeah? What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong-? What's wrong with that?! Are you serious?!"

If Georgia wasn't currently terrified for her life, she'd make a joke about how similar you and Magda clearly are because you've get matching looks of outrage on your faces.

"Now you've set her off," Pernille mutters.

"AIK are shit!"

"Princesse! We don't use that language!"

You give Pernille a petulant look. "Morsa says that I can call AIK shit because they are! She said it's the only time I can use that word."

"She's right!" Magda declares decisively," AIK are shit and I can't believe you've done this! In front of my child?!"

"It's just a shirt!" Georgia sputters," What is going on?!"

"Magda is a Hammarby fan," Pernille explains," And so is Princesse. Both clubs play in Stockholm so..."

Georgia nods. "A City and United situation."

"A little bit."

"I can't believe you've done this!" Magda continues," This is meant to be a safe space! Look at her!"

You're sobbing now and Georgia's ninety percent sure they're crocodile tears but still, they make her feel awful.

"AIK is shit!" You repeat through your tears," Hammarby is better!"

"Hammarby is the best!" Magda says," It's okay, princesse, Georgia didn't mean it. She doesn't understand because she isn't Swedish. We'll help her learn from this."

"You're both so dramatic!" Pernille rolls her eyes, pushing you both out through the door before turning to look at Georgia again. "Don't mind them. This always happens when they find out something related to AIK."

"And the-?" Georgia gestures over her eyes.

"The tears? Yeah, a hundred percent fake. Magda told her it would make more people change their allegiance to Hammarby."

"They have...strong opinions."

Pernille stares at the closed door. "Yeah, Princesse inherited the flair for the dramatic."

Georgia chuckles. "How do you put up with them?"

Pernille gives her a sly smile. "I just don't mention AIK."

[vivwritesfics]

Hi ❣️❣️❣️❣️

So.. let get this started lol

Ps If nothing makes sense, I will blame eo4k and it being late lol

So thinking one of the driver getting caught fucking their parents on like their boat/yatch?

Thinking either max, lance or fernando

Thinking aslocmayve a social media au?? With if possible twitter reaction?

Otherwise written 🫶🫶

Love you or as we say it in Swedish älskar dig ❣️❣️❣️❣️

*SHE MEANS PARTNER I WAS A TYPO

Hc's bc... i can lol

ALSO I READ THIS LOWKEY WRONG, WROTE A WHOLE FIC AND HERE I AM -- i mean its basically the same thing but still

warnings: smut, oral

Jos was lucky he was even invited onto Max's yacht

Max's girlfriend hates Jos

of course she did, he's an asshole

but she was still max's dad

so she couldn't really say no to him being there

but the yacht had a special place in her heart

the yacht held many... special memories

a lot of sexy ones

aka they had a shitload of sex on the yacht

and Jos Verstappen wasn't going to ruin it for her

max took some convincing

'no, i'm not going to rail you until you forget every other name but mine with my dad here'

jos was ruining everything

queue pouty , lowkey bratty reader

bc max isn't giving her what she wants

(to ride him on the sun lounger)

(but she can't do that with fucking jos there)

she couldn't help but thought that she brought all this pretty lingerie for nothing

she had no choice

she had to corner him

she got max into the bed (while she herself was wearing nothing but said lingerie) and shut the door as soon as he was in the room

leaning against it

refusing to let him out

"no way you're getting out of here until you've been inside of me, verstappen"

he needed very little convincing

like, has her on the bed, underwear pushed to the side as he drove his cock through her folds

but it was like a drug

he had her cumming around him once and suddenly he can't stop

fucking her within an inch of her life, burying his face between her legs

and then fucking him again

its never ending

until she's so overstimulated that she can do nothing but whine

BUT

it never gets to that point

because Jos doesn't know boundaries

he couldn't hear what they were doing, and they didn't hear him knock

but then jos opened the door

"Holy fuck"

she leapt away from max, leaping off the bed and hiding down the side of it

max cursed as he stuffed himself himself back into his pants

"Get the fuck out!" she shouted from her hiding space

but jos was still standing there for a minute

"jos im serious! Fuck off!"

he backed out of the room after that

she sat up, glaring at the door

"max, i'm gonna kill him."

"baby-"

"no, let me get dressed and then I'll fucking kill him"

[doomdoomofdoom]

If you've been boycotting Eurovision, you may have missed out on how bad it truly was, so here are a few events in no particular order:

The opening act of the semi-finals was Eric Saade, a swedish-palestinian singer who participated in Eurovision 2011. He wore a keffiyeh, a palestinian headdress, around his arm like a wristband.

Despite not making any political statements or drawing attention to his accessory, he was reprimanded by the EBU for "compromising the non-political nature of the event".

During their semi-final performance, the Irish contestant had the word "ceasefire" in old irish runes painted on their face. They were ordered to change it for the final, as it was deemed too political.

The contestant from Israel was not allowed to mingle with the other contestants, due to supposed security risks.

During an Interview, she was asked if she felt any concerns over her participation potentially endangering the event and the people present. The host told her she did not have to answer this question. Dutch contestant 'Joost' asked "why not?"

Joost, while not openly antagonizing the Israeli contestant, has made covert critical remarks about the EBUs decision to allow Israel to participate.

On Friday, the day before the Finale, Joost was investigated by the swedish police for a supposed incident where he threatened an EBU crew member. Thursday, a female camera operator had followed him off-stage to continue filming, even though there was an agreement not to film him off-stage. After she ignored his requests to stop, he threatened her with some sort of gesture.

Joost was disqualified mere hours before the finale. He was slotted to perform just before Israel and considered a favorite and potential winner.

The show itself did not address his disqualification. The dutch entry was simply skipped with no further comment.

Israeli broadcaster KAN was confirmed to have broken EBU rules during their coverage of the Irish act in the Semifinal. The commentator spoke negatively about their act, condemning the very scary goth aesthetic, and noting their willingness to criticize Israel's actions.

Despite Irish contestant Bambie Thug lodging a complaint with the EBU, there was no penalty or other repercussion.

If you were hoping that the event itself would turn into some sort of protest, I have to disappoint you:

Despite rumors of other contestants dropping out over Joost's disqualification, all of them performed.

There was audible booing every time Israel was on-screen, including their performance, announcement of points, and every time they received points. There was equally audible cheering.

No contestant or spokesperson directly addressed the ""controversy"" (read: ongoing genocide being artwashed), although very few made covert remarks about peace, love, dignity, and equality.

The most explicit it got was the Austrian spokesperson, saying something along the lines of "It's hard to find only positive words in a time where heartlessness prevails. But we hope everyone can unite through music and show that everyone deserves to be treated equally"

No one stormed on stage or held up a palestinian flag or anything, if you were hoping for that. I certainly was.

Israel gave its 12 points (both Jury and public) to Luxembourg. The singer is half-israeli and born in Jerusalem.

Jury votes mostly ignored Israel, netting them a total of 52 points through jury votes, which put them somewhere in the middle of the scoreboard. Norway, Cyprus, and Germany awarded them 8 points each, making them the main contributors.

In contrast, Israel received 323 points from the public voting. They were second only to Croatia with 337. 15 public votings, including "rest of the world" awarded Israel their 12 points, more than any other country would receive. The only countries not to award any points to Israel in the public vote were Croatia and Ukraine.

Israel thereby placed 5th out of 25.

But hey, at least the winner (Switzerland) was nonbinary, diversity win amirite. Notably, they had to smuggle in their pride flag, since EBU guidelines only allow flags of participating countries and the rainbow flag. (This is also why palestinian flags were not allowed. It's not a new rule, but they certainly weren't going to start bending it now.)

If there's one thing to take away from this: Do not ever think the rest of the world is on your side, just because your social media is. The rest of the world has shown their allegiance, and it lies with Israel and Genocide.

Do not stop fighting for what is right.

[russo-woso]

Falling in love || Kyra Cooney-Cross x Catley!reader

Prompt list here. Request here.

Summary The beginning of yours and Kyra’s story

“Kyra meet my sister Y/N, Y/N, Kyra.” Steph introduced you both as Kyra walked into the living room.

Kyra had just moved to Arsenal and still didn’t have any electrical products, like a tv, sorted so Steph had invited her round for a movie night to save Kyra from boredom.

Unlike your sister, you didn’t play football, instead you dreamed of becoming a teacher, but you didn’t want to live in Australia, hence why you followed Steph to England.

Steph had promised your mum to look after you and the best way to do that was if you moved in with her and her fiance, Dean.

“Nice to meet you, Kyra.” You told her, jumping up from your spot on the couch to greet her.

Kyra didn’t respond straight away, instead just looking at you.

You had to admit, she was very cute but you couldn’t date one of Steph’s teammates.

Although she’d never stated it, you felt like you were betraying her if you did.

“So, I thought we could just order some pizza and then watch some films, sound alright?” Steph asked you both, desperately wanting to change the subject to save the awkwardness.

“Sounds perfect.” Kyra spoke up

—

After watching a movie and putting on another, you looked over to find Steph fast asleep, but Kyra still wide awake.

As you were looking over at her, she looked at you.

There was clearly a sense of awkwardness that had risen so you tried your hardest to try come up with a conversation starter.

“So, Kyra, how are you enjoying London?” You asked, stuttering a few times as you looked at the girl.

“It’s nice, the weathers bad, better than Sweden though.” Kyra responded, a small smile resting on her face.

“I know, I went to Sweden last year with my friend from uni and she’s Swedish and had pre-warned me that it would be cold. Long story short, it snowed the whole week I was there.” You explained, and Kyra let out a giggle.

“It does tend to snow a lot there. You mentioned university, what degree are you doing?” Kyra questioned, continuing the conversation.

“An educational degree, I want to be a primary school teacher.” You responded and she nodded.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and getting to know each other.

The sounds of talking and giggles taking over the sound of the movie.

Steph, who had woken up at some point due to laughter erupting from you and Kyra, couldn’t help but smile at the sound of her sister and close friend.

That night, as Kyra was leaving, you swapped numbers, promising to meet up again soon.

What you didn’t realise was that soon meant soon soon. Like in the morning soon.

It was a last minute decision but you’d asked Kyra if she wanted to meet for a coffee before she had training.

Kyra messaged back saying yes almost immediately and you replied back with the address of your favourite cafe.

“Hey, Ky.” You said as you saw her sat down at a table.

She got up and hugged you, before you both sat down opposite each other.

Similarly to the previous night, the conversation flowed and you found yourself staring in awe at Kyra.

There was just something, everything, that you loved.

After that morning, you both found yourselves making up excuses to see each other.

As much as you loved seeing Kyra, you couldn’t help but feel guilty.

You could feel yourself falling for the girl but she was your sister’s teammate.

Could you do that Steph?

You didn’t know the answer to that question until the match against Chelsea.

A few nights before the match, you had been at Kyra’s apartment, her having cooked dinner for the two of you, when she’d asked in conversation if you could come watch the match.

Now, normally, you didn’t go to many matches, only going to watch big games that meant a lot to your sister.

But Kyra asking you was different, you wanted to watch the match, you wanted to watch her play.

Steph couldn’t believe her hearing when you told her.

She must have asked about four times for you to repeat before the message actually went to her brain.

The following Sunday, you travelled to the sold out Emirates stadium.

Although you hated watching football, you had a really good time, getting to see your sister and Kyra win 4-1 over Chelsea.

You made your way to the players exit, hoping to see Kyra before she went home.

“You played amazing, Ky.” You whispered into her hair as you hugged her tightly.

“I only played like five minutes.” Kyra pointed out, a saddened smile on her face.

“Yeah but you changed the whole play when did come on.” You tried to cheer her up, genuinely telling the truth.

“I guess.”

“Anyway, Steph’s waiting in the car for me. I told her that I wanted to wait to see you and that I’d only be five minutes but someone is a slow changer.” You teased her, and a light pigment spread over her cheeks. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

As you were walking away, you heard your name being called.

“Y/N, wait.” Kyra shouted. “Go on a date with me.”

“A date?”

“Yeah, only if—” Kyra started but you cut her off.

“—I’d love to, Ky. Message me.” You told her, pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek, before walking away.

You got into the car with a massive smile on your face making Steph look at you with the biggest smirk ever.

“Something’s got you happy, huh? Is it Kyra?” Steph playfully questioned you. “Aw, look at you blushing.”

“Fine, fine. Kyra asked me on a date. Would you be okay with that?” You asked her hesitantly.

“Of course I would. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because she’s your teammate and I don’t know.” You told her

“Ladybug, you’re my sister, I just want you to be happy, and if that’s with Kyra, then I’m happy for you.” Steph said, using your childhood nickname.

“Thanks, Steffy.”

“Now, when’s the date? What are you wearing? Where is it?”

You groaned as the questions kept coming.

“Do you know what? I really do love you Steph, and I know I don’t mean this, but I really hate you right now.”

—

The following Saturday, Kyra took you to a small restaurant on the outskirts of st albans which just so happened to be your favourite restaurant.

“How did you know this was my favourite?” You asked her as you sat down at the table.

“I remember you telling me back when we first met.” Kyra replied, sending you a smile.

Your heart melted at the fact she’d remembered something so little from months ago.

Over dinner, you and Kyra laughed, and spoke, and just told each other everything and anything.

To say it was an incredible night was an understatement.

After paying the bill, you and Kyra went back into the car and started to drive back to Steph’s house.

Once more, the conversation never died down, you and Kyra finding something to laugh about.

The drive came to an end as Kyra pulled outside the house.

You turned to look at her, resting your hand on hers which was still perched on the gear stick.

“Thank you for tonight, Ky. I think it was genuinely one of the best nights of my life.” You told her and she smiled.

“Me too.”

As you went to leave the car, Kyra grabbed ahold of your arm.

Without needing to be told anything else, you turned to face her again, but smashed your lips onto hers.

Kyra immediately kissed back, smiling into the kiss as it came to an end.

“That was amazing.” Kyra said, a smile taking over her face.

“I’ve waited to do that for months.” You told her and she hummed in agreement.

“You know, my mom used to tell me what it was like to fall in love. Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought it'd be this good. The past few months have been the best ones of my life because I’ve been given the gift of falling for you.” Kyra admitted and your heart melted at her words.

“Oh, Ky.” You didn’t know what to do, there was no words that could express how you felt so instead, you placed your lips on hers. “I can’t believe you chose me to fall in love with.”

“You should believe it. You’re kind, you’re gorgeous, you’re clever. Ways there not to like?”

“You know, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about you over the past few months, it’s that you’re a sweet talker, Kyra.” You joked, and she laughed lightly.

Once again, you connected your lips together, but it was soon interrupted my your sisters face staring at the two of you through the car window.

“Steph!”

[desideriumwriter]

Anyone But You | Chapter 9

Chapter Summary: The first tournament task goes down, reader has an annoying partner for the Yule Ball Dance practice, and ends up with a ruined dress.

Pairing - Fred Weasley x Fem!Gryffindor!Reader

Category - enemies to lovers + hurt/comfort

Content Warnings - cursing,

Word Count - 4.0k

Series Masterlist | F.W Masterlist | Previous | Next | Navi

The cold November air nipped at your face, it felt like you’d been standing out here for ages. You’ve lost count at the amount of times you heard someone say the first task of the tournament could start any moment now.

You had no idea who’d be going first, what dragon they’d be fighting, or what type of dragons there were, but you were horrified.

The familiar shouting of those two annoying twins you hated interrupted your thoughts, now you really regretted allowing yourself to be accidentally separated from Katie and Angelina.

“Gonna place your bets before it starts?” Fred hopped down next to you.

“See if Mr.Diggory will be able to outsmart the dragon?” George added, holding open a suit case, the names of each selected scribbled across the top, the bottom part was covered by a good amount of knuts, sickles, even some galleons.

“Or outcharm?” Fred looked at his brother as they both snickered. You let a heavy breath out through your nose.

“If I give you a sickle will you two leave me be?” You stood up from your leaned position on the wooden rails.

“Probably not-” George shrugged.

“We’ve already gone around the entire pitch now-”

“But you could still try and see!” George pretended to close the suitcase then reopen it, wiggling his brows. You glared at him and shut it.

“Worth a try.” He mumbled, snapping the latches shut.

You turned your attention back to the field, waiting for someone to walk out, for something to happen. The air was especially chilly today and you could feel your nose start to run, making you sniffle a bit. Unwillingly getting the attention of Fred.

“Those earmuffs can’t be doing much for you.” He nudged.

“They’re doing enough.” Which was a lie, they were doing so much less than enough. You’ve had those things since your first year and they were absolutely past their prime, they were barely blocking the cold from your ears.

“We both know that's not true, how ‘bout we swap?” He grinned as he pointed to his green and white beanie, you shook your head and grimaced in response. As always, Fred would not be taking no as an answer.

You tried to protest as he took off your earmuffs, hanging them around his neck and then taking off his beanie, shoving it onto your head and tugging it down until it went past your eyes.

Originally you were going to rip the beanie off, steal your earmuffs back, and maybe give Fred a harsh shove. But once you shifted the hat to where it wasn’t blinding you, the new warmth spreading around your head and across your cheeks was so much better. So comfortable.

“Nice, eh?” Fred smirked at you, you shrugged off his words, quickly turning your eyes back to the field as the stadium began to roar. A knot formed in your stomach once you saw the yellow and gold uniform, Cedric was first.

A silvery blue scaled dragon came out next. It was chained, but looked as if it still had enough room to move a good amount around the field. Its screeching roar made the knot feel tighter.

Hermione, who was just a row in front of you yelled something about it being a Swedish Short-Snout and flames being able to turn “your bones into ashes in seconds.” God, you felt terrified.

What if something happens? What if the chain breaks? What if Cedric gets truly hurt?

The creature whipped its tail just a few feet in front of Cedric. You gasped as the rest of the stadium did.

Cedric was able to get the golden egg in fifteen minutes, though it felt like an hour. You spent most of his turn with your hands over your face, peeking through your fingers.

Watching closely as he transfigured a rock into a dog to distract the dragon and began to run towards the egg. A yelp emerged from your throat once the dragon opened its mouth, turning its head towards Cedric letting blue flames blast out towards him, who was now jumping for cover behind a boulder.

You could see him sit up, back against the rock and hand hovering over the side of his face, which was now badly burnt.

“Well done dragon!” Fred cheered and clapped. You looked at him with a face of utter shock and disbelief.

“What is wrong with you? That thing’s gonna kill him!” You shoved him, your throat hurt from screaming.

“Oh he’ll be fine, he’s got a thick head.” Fred shrugged, continuing to cheer for the dragon.

Cedric successfully got the golden egg, then was shipped off to Madam Pompfrey for his face. You weren’t able to leave until the first task was officially over for everyone. Yet, you were already on the move to get out as soon as Dumbledore announced everyone could go. You left the pitch, immediately making your way towards the Hospital Wing.

Somehow you were able to have Madam Pompfrey let you see him this soon, she was already ushering a group of hufflepuff boys out when you were approaching the wing.

She let you go in when you promised her three minutes.

Cedric was laying flat on his back when you walked up, The one side of his face was covered in a slimy thick orange paste, you were still able to see some of the nasty marks.

“Charming right?” His voice was sarcastic as he noticed your grossed out staring, “It’s for my burns.” He frowned.

“Yeah, you look amazing.” You scoffed out a laugh, sitting down in the open chair next to his bed, “Do you know how long you’ll be here for?”

“A few days, hopefully.” You watched as his brows knit together as his eyes darted to your head, then to your face, then to your head again. “Whose hat is that?” He said blankly, eyes narrowed.

Your eyes went wide when you realized. Merlin, you didn’t even notice you still had Fred’s beanie on.

“Nobodys, it’s mine.” You stammered out, ripping the hat off and holding it tightly in your lap. Cedric stared some more at it then smirked, he could clearly see the F.W. knitted into the side of it.

“Unbelievable.” He shook his head, still smirking.

“So what's the egg do?” You ignored his silent speculation.

“I can’t believe it.” He chuckled, continuing on.

“Shut up, it was just a small favor.” You smacked his arm with the hat, “What does the egg do, Ced?” You leaned back in your seat.

“It wails. Like an ear-shattering shriek if you open it.” He said flatly and you scrunched up your face at the disappointing thought of it.

“All that struggle just for a screaming egg?” You let out a breathy chuckle, Cedric didn’t respond.

You saw his head lift up slightly and eyes glance to the entrance doors, they lit up. Looking behind you to see Cho standing there, a bouquet of freshly picked flowers in her hands and a nervous smile on her face.

“I’ll let you two have some time alone.” You looked at him in amusement, standing up and nudging his foot before leaving. You gave Cho a sweet knowing smile as you passed by her, she smiled back and nodded.

Harry was opening the golden egg by the time you entered the common room, now you knew exactly what the shrieking Cedric was talking about sounded like.

Katie and you walked into McGonagall's class confused, the floor had been cleared of all desks and chairs, except one in the corner that had an old dusty phonograph sitting on top of it, Flich standing by it.

“What do you think this is for?” Katie giggled to you as McGonagall directed the girls and boys to separate sides of the room.

“How much do you want to bet that she’s gonna make us dance?” You giggled back.

“If she does, I know who you should pick.” Katie smirked as she nodded her head to where the twins were standing. You were able to let out a sound of disgust before McGonagall began to talk.

“The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since it’s inception. On Christmas Eve we and our guests we'll gather in the great hall for a night of well mannered frivolity! As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward. I mean this literally because the Yule Ball is, first and foremost…a dance.” The room erupted into gasps and silent yet excited whispers.

Katie looked at you with a lit up eyes. You gave her your best faux grin, all you felt was dread. A dance meant getting a date to go with. You weren’t very close with any of the boys in your house, Cedric would definitely use this as his chance to ask out Cho, and you wouldn’t even dare to think about asking either of the twins. Not even as a last resort.

“Inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight!” McGonagall turned to the girls side of the room, going on with her lecture. After a crude comment from Ron and an awkward yet humorous dance tutorial including him and McGonagall, you were instructed to find a partner to practice with.

“Everybody come together! Boys on your feet!” Of course Katie made a beeline towards George while you looked around the room. You tried your best to find a boy to dance with before they all got claimed by another girl.

There seemed to be no luck, everyone was already standing or making a way to their partners. Oh God, you were terrified this would mean you’d have to dance with Flich. You turned without looking and bumped into someone.

“Need a partner?” That someone being Fred, grinning with his hands behind his back. No luck.

Before you decided whether to reject him or not, you looked around the room one more time, looking at Filch then back at Fred who held out his hand for you. Fuck it.

You took his hand hesitantly and got in position as the music started. Fred had that same stupid smile on his face, the one that always looked like he was trying to hold back his laughter, the one he always had on when he knew he was pissing you off, when he knew you were annoyed.

“Why do you find me being miserable so amusing?” You scowled at him as you both shifted around.

“I reckon you look a bit cute when you’re frustrated.” Fred shrugged. Your eyes went wide and your feet jerked, making your movements stutter at his response.

“What?” You’d lost your train of thought, any snarky responses were gone.

“I’m being honest.” He hummed, “Now come on, let that secret slumbering swan take flight!” He encouraged, beginning to count along with the steps.

After what felt like ages of dancing around the room in circles and “accidentally” stepping on each other's feet, you exited that room as quickly as you could.

The next class was already coming down the corridor by the time you burst out the doors, you stared at the ground as you walked, mind plagued with Freds comment.

Your name being called pulled you out of your thoughts, you looked up to see a concerned Cedric walking up to you.

“You look…mortified, what’s happened now?” He lowered his chin, trying to make eye contact with you.

“I just had to dance with Fred, that was bad enough but then he…nevermind.” You chose to cut off your rant, if you told Cedric what Fred said, you’d never hear the end of it. “Anyways, we have a dance coming up on Christmas. You better ask out Cho while you can. I-I can’t talk right now, I’ve got to get to herbology.” You spoke quickly, not letting Cedric even have a second to respond before you were already on your way.

It’s been over a month since the Yule Ball has been announced. It's happening tomorrow, your dress your mum said she sent was supposed to be here by today, and you still haven't gotten a date to it. It felt as if every single person around you had paired up with someone. Even the bloody twins had scored dates with Angelina and Katie.

“And you said yes?” You gawked at Angelina as you entered the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Of course I did!” Angelina scoffed playfully.

“He threw a paper ball at you! What kind of crummy way is that?”

“It was Snape's class! We couldn’t talk, I think he was just trying to give an example to his brother too.” She shrugged.

“Great example that is.” You huffed as you three approached the table and sat down. “Still can’t believe you both agreed to go out with them.”

“They really aren't all that terrible! Sure, they’ve had some bad pranks, but they’re not evil. You just hate them.” Katie shook her head at you.

“So maybe they’re not as bad as I seek them out to be, whatever, that still doesn’t change the fact that they’re annoying. Or that you both have dates and I don’t.” You muttered out the last sentence, resting your chin on your hand.

Speaking of the twins, you hadn’t seen them all morning. It wasn’t uncommon for them to sleep in on weekends, but usually they’d be wandering around in the Great Hall or somewhere near by now. You were quickly pulled out of your self mulling when Colin, a first year, nervously tapped you on the shoulder while holding out a large box.

“Parcel for Ms.Y/L/N?” He handed it to you anxiously, you smiled and thanked him before he ran off. You felt your own face light up as soon as you saw that the package was from your mum.

“What’s that?” Katie asked, watching you stand up and excitedly tear off the wrapping paper.

“My dress for the ball!” You grinned as both girls gave you an “ooooo!” in response.

“About bloody time! I was starting to get nervous that you’d have to show up in your robes.” Angelina chuckled.

“Right?” You nodded. “I just hope it’s the right one I asked my mom to grab.” You thought out loud, and it was.

Angelina and Katie both shot up as you gasped at the sight of the dress. All three of you stared at it in awe as you carefully pulled it out of the box. God, it looked better than from when you last tried it on after you saw it sitting in your mum's closet.

It was the most beautiful shade of a pale blue you’ve ever seen, delicate yet elegant embroidered into the fabric, and a flowy skirt.

“Merlin, that’s gorgeous.” Angelina commented as you held the dress up your body. “You’ve got to try it on.”

“Yeah!” Katie agreed as she stood up. “We’ve got to see what it looks like on you!” You just waved them off.

“You two can wait until tomorrow night.” They both let out groans of protest.

“Shove off, you got to see us in our gowns!” Angelina rolled her eyes playfully.

“Yours both arrived early!”

“So? It’s only fair we get to see your late arrived one too!” Katie tugged you by the arm, beginning to try and drag you out the Great Hall. “Plus you’ve got to make sure it fits! If it doesn’t, I know some tricks.” You gave in, holding your dress up carefully and making your way towards the stairs.

The three of you grinned and giggled like you were twelve as you moved quickly up the changing stairs, it became a race of who could get to your dorms faster, and you were winning.

As you got closer to Gryfinndor tower, you felt less like an anxious bundle of nerves, forgetting about the stress of not having a date, only focused on wanting to put on that beautiful gown.

As you made your way to the Fat Ladys portrait, you ignored the giggles coming from behind the door, you thought nothing of them, it was probably girls talking about the ball and their dates. It’s been most of what you heard these past few weeks.

Angelina and Katie jogged up behind you as you showed off your dress to the woman in the portrait, earning a compliment and saying the password to be let in.

The three of you were merely entering the common room when you were met with two grinning freckled faces and some sort of liquid being thrown at you.

The twins stood across from you, holding now empty bottles. There were no longer smiles on their faces or yours. Only horrified expressions.

The room was quiet. The only noise left being a gasp leaving your lips as you looked down at your ruined gown and the sound of the droplets of ink falling from your now soaked dress hitting the common room floor.

Whatever potion/sludge/ink- Whatever disgusting watery liquid they’d thrown from the bottles had splashed all over your dress, some of it hit Angelina and Katie behind you, and your skin. But those were the least of your worries, the pale color was stained with streaks and blots of hideous orange ink.

Tears were already brimming in your eyes as the twins both began to babble apologies at the same time, their voices overlapping each other, eventually going back and forth.

“We thought you were Ron! We were trying to prank Ron!” Fred sputtered out.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen to you, this was for Ron!” George added.

“We’re so sorry y/n, we really didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“A prank?” Your voice was already wavering. “You call this a prank?” You cried out, shaking the stained fabric at them.

“Listen, we can clean it up! We’ve got-” Fred tried to explain. Angry tears began to fall from your eyes before you stopped him.

“Piss off! The Yule Ball is tomorrow night! How could you get all of that out in a day?” You shouted as you threw the dress at the two boys, not caring about it anymore now that it was all messed up. “Actually, I don’t care, it doesn’t matter, you’ve ruined everything! Are you happy?” You turned on your heel and stormed out of the common room, letting out an embarrassing sob while going to the nearest bathroom on the floor.

You could hear the girls begin to tell them off.

“What is wrong with you!” Katie shrieked at them.

“We never thought it’d be you three walking in! It was a prank meant for Ron!” One of the twins defended.

“It was a shitty one at that!” Angelina barked.

“We never meant to hurt anyone with it!”

“Yeah? Well now you’ve made her cry!” Angelina continued on, while you felt more embarrassed than ever.

You’ve now failed at the one thing you thought you’d never do, you promised yourself you’d never do: Cry in front of Fred and George. Let them see you vulnerable.

You couldn’t believe how you were just beginning to tolerate the twins. Just starting to believe that maybe they weren’t all that bad.

It wasn’t long after you hid in one of the stalls when you heard Angelina and Katie's sympathetic calls for you. Soon you saw the two pairs of feet outside the stall door.

“We know you’re in there. It’s just us. You can come out.” Angelina's voice was gentle, holding the same tone as if she was talking to a scared puppy.

You wanted to respond, you tried to speak but all that came out was a pathetic cry. The disappointed breaths from both of the girls didn’t go unnoticed, you just knew they were frowning at each other pitfully.

“I look like a fool.” You whispered out, voice hoarse.

“It’ll be alright, there’s got to be a spell to get the sludge and stains out of it!” Katie tried to help.

“Do you know it?” You rasped out, you didn’t mean to be so snappy towards them, but you were pissed and embarrassed beyond belief.

“No…but maybe a teacher does! Flitwick basically knows every charm in the book!” You let out an unamused breath at Katies words. Yeah, sure. Flitwick will take time out of his day just to fix some stupid girls dress.

You didn’t say anything, you ripped off some toilet paper from the roll and wiped your cheeks with it. The first bell of the morning rang, which was a five-minute warning until the first class of the day.

Fuck, was it already 9?

“Don't let me hold you up, just tell McGonagall I'm sick if she asks.” You sighed. Katie said your name sadly.

“You can’t stay in there all day.” She tutted.

Yeah? Watch me. You almost wanted to say, but again, they weren’t the ones deserving to be snapped at.

“Just go!” You cried, “I’m not going anywhere looking like this.” Neither of them responded, you held in your cries until you saw their feet walk away and the bathroom door shut.

It wasn’t until the end of lunch when you finally left. It was pathetic, skipping two full classes and most of lunch because you were too busy crying in the bathroom and attempting to scrub the stains off your school robes and hands.

The least you could do was make it to Potions, though you really didn’t want to face the twins after your outburst at them. But, maybe when you walked in there puffy eyed and with tear-stained cheeks they’d feel bad, maybe that could be your silent revenge.

However, when you did enter that classroom. Neither of the boys were there, neither of them showed up all class period. They didn’t show up at dinner either. Which was a relief but also puzzling. They usually never skipped meals unless they were up to something. Were they too ashamed to see you after what they did?

Angelina and Katie already told you in the morning that they both wouldn’t be able to make it to dinner, they’d be busy helping Madam Hooch with something Quidditch related. Maybe that’s what Fred and George were doing too.

You left the Great Hall feeling worse than when you came in. Eating alone was never fun, especially when you were already feeling mopey.

“Oh God I was wondering when I’d see you. Angelina and Katie told me what happened.” Cedric said as he caught up to you as you were walking in an empty hallway.

“Yeah?” You stopped and looked at him, he gave you a sympathetic nod. “Good, now you know I’m gonna take out the twins.” You scoffed.

“What? Take them out on a date or in a deadly way?” Cedric chuckled.

“It’s not funny, Ced. They’ve fucked it all up.” You scowled, crossing your arms.

“There’s got to be something you can do?”

“I haven’t got a date nor a dress anymore. There’s no point of going.”

“Don’t be like that, you can still go.” Cedric sighed as you only shook your head slowly.

“There’s no point.” You dropped your arms to your side and shrugged, “Think I’m just gonna go to bed early. Goodnight Ced.” He frowned and watched as you drug yourself down the hallway.

The Fat Lady gave you a sad look as you muttered the password to her, entering the common room with slouched shoulders and a low gaze. You stayed that way until you entered the girls dormitory.

There was no way of missing the dress that was now laid nicely along your bed. Your steps quickened as you approached it, the dress was cleaned of all stains. You picked it up as if it would crumble into ashes when you touched it, it looked even better from before it was ruined.

There was a small gift box sitting with it, you stared in shock as you popped it open to reveal a necklace laying inside, an aquamarine pendant sparkling off of it. It came with a small note card with the writing nicely written down.

A replacement since the old one broke. We suck, we’re sorry. xx - F & G

tell me what you thought! <3

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[slavghoul]

Interview from Metal Hammer 8/2023

LIFE LESSONS from TOBIAS FORGE

Shock rock, bad glam bands and wanting to be Venom: inside the brain of Ghost's benevolent overlord

Tobias Forge is the mastermind behind one of the 21st century's hottest metal bands, but even he’ll admit that success was a long time in the making. Hailing from the Swedish city of Linköping, the Ghost frontman dabbled in everything from death metal to glam before donning the iconic Papal attire and paint to transform into Papa Emeritus, transcending his roots to become a larger-than-life character. Here are the key parables he has to share, gleaned from more than 25 years on the heavy metal frontlines.

MUSIC AND MOVIES ARE GATEWAYS TO OTHER WORLDS

“Linköping was a nice city to grow up in. It wasn’t so small you felt like you were cramped in a village, but it’s small enough that you’d still want to eventually move somewhere else. You’d have access to all these gateways to other worlds through the record stores and the local video store. My dreams started there - everything I do now, I dreamt back there.”

I WAS A TEENAGE HEADBANGER

“I had a teenage brother growing up, so I had a free pass into teenage culture. Whatever they consumed, I got a whiff of - how they dressed, what they watched on TV, what films they rented... The lifestyle and expression that meant most to me was shock rock. Twisted Sister were a wrecking ball into my life with I Wanna Rock. That song made me want to bounce!”

THE HEAVIER IT GOT, THE DEEPER I WANTED TO GO

“When I first heard Candlemass, I was eight and I was blown away. I already liked Black Sabbath, Metallica and Motorhead through my brother, but Candlemass were local and sounded so heavy, it was like doomsday. King Diamond and Candlemass served as a segue for me to discover death metal and black metal in the early 90s. It became my calling. From the ages of 12 to 22, I spent my life in death and black metal bands.”

FOLLOW YOUR HEART (AND SOMETIMES YOUR WALLET)

“My mom is from Stockholm, so when I was 15 and started saying I wanted to move there, she was just like ‘Finish mandatory school’ and we moved together [after I graduated]. I moved back to Linköping when I was 25, because Stockholm is a big metropolitan place and it’s not fun living in those places if you don’t have money. Now I’m in Stockholm again; it’s more fun now I can afford it!”

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS, FEET ON THE GROUND

“I learned the hard way in the late 90s that wanting to play 80s-inspired death metal with my band Repugnant was     painfully out of touch with what was going on at the time. It broke my heart; I wanted us to be signed to Roadrunner and support Slayer. That never happened unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately, as it kept me grounded for a few more years and if those things had happened maybe I wouldn't be here today.”

TAKE CHANCES, BUT STAND YOUR GROUND

“Repugnant had a close shave with success. We signed to the label Hammerheart, which at the time felt like we’d made it because the first thing they did was take us out on our first tour, supporting the American band Macabre. They were a favourite band of ours - still are, and whenever we play Chicago they come to the shows - and at that point it felt like we might be going somewhere, but we quickly parted ways with Hammerheart because we couldn’t agree. It felt like our chance and we’d blown it.”

NOT ALL 80S BANDS WERE CREATED EQUAL

“With Crashdiet, we never really went beyond our home. I can’t say how many shows we did, but I don’t think it was more than a handful. For me especially there was conflict with the singer, Dave Lepard. We were friends, but he clearly wanted to take his band into some sort of glam-sleaze direction, whereas when I think of ‘glam’ I’m more Hanoi Rocks and Guns N’ Roses - never, ever the other bands. I know Poison kinda came before a lot of the latecomers, but to me they were repellent. Dave wanted to go all neon and I wanted it so that if we were glam, we’d be Hanoi Rocks meets Lords Of The New Church or The Dead Boys. I don’t want to be fucking Stryper! Fuck that!”

THERE’S NO POINT TRYING TO FOLLOW FASHION

“It was a confusing time in the early 2000s – rock was all of a sudden in fashion because of bands like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs. Everyone was always looking for the next big rock band and in Sweden The Hives were huge, as were The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Hellacopters, Backyard Babies...so many rock bands! But there we were in Subvision, influenced by The Dead Boys, with a little-too-long hair, leather jackets, just a little too ‘metal’... yuck! You’re supposed to be more indie; heavy metal is about having the biggest dick and indie is the opposite.”

FIRST IMPRESSIONS REALLY DO COUNT

“I hated The Strokes when they first came out. Back then, everyone described them as being so natural, that they weren’t interested in being rock stars, and I was like, ‘No. They didn’t wake up looking like that.' They chose to do that to be rock stars. And they can really play! Then when First Impressions Of Earth came out it was like, ‘There you go! That's what they really sound like! After that, I loved The Strokes, because they were showing they actually did love the music, but a lot of indie rockers treated it like it was their sell-out record.”

HAVE A VISION IN MIND

“Ghost started with a song, Stand By Him, which ultimately came out on our first record. I wrote it spontaneously, as an experiment - almost a joke, if you will, in 2006. When I recorded it the first time, I had no equipment in my home, so I had to go to a friend’s house. We did this very rough demo. He said it was great. He’d been in Subvision, Repugnant and Crashdiet with me, but we’d stopped playing together. He was like, ‘Can we form a new band?’ and I was like, ‘This song is the only thing I have. If I can come up with two more songs and there’s a pattern, then of course.’ But they needed to be as playful and spontaneous, and sure enough they were.”

PRESSURE CAN DO WONDERS

“Around 2008, when Ghost were first getting properly started, my girlfriend told me she was pregnant with twins. I never said it out loud, but I was preparing for my dream not coming true - maybe I wouldn’t become a rock star, I’d never be successful... So I had to at least have something that I could live with, a hobby that I could feel strongly about and get all my inclinations filtered through. I wanted to play metal, but also write pop music, have this horror rock show with theatre... Still taking inspiration from Venom pictures in 1982 where they looked like bikers surrounded by smoke and red lights. Ghost felt like a combination of all those things. Lo and behold, when I didn’t have all the time in the world, like I had before and gotten nowhere, when I could only put so much effort in, everything changed.”

THE MYTHOS IS NICE, BUT ONLY THE MUSIC MATTERS

“It was so weird, being threatened with a ‘reveal’ [Tobias’s public identity was revealed after ex-members took legal action against him in 2017I, as if people knowing who I was would be such a turn-off that they’d never listen to Ghost again. Here I am, most of my life wanting to be known, but then I was fighting to be unknown? What a paradox!”

ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

“I’ve always tried to be like a general – have a goal, like, ‘Let’s take that castle’, but knowing that things can change in the field. You need to conduct yourself with a certain level of elasticity. I know I’m a control freak and want things to be done in a certain way, but I’m also aware things never work out that way.”

CHALLENGE YOURSELF

“One of the biggest weaknesses with modern metal - and horror - is that it’s being created and curated by people who only like that thing, so it becomes regurgitation. The best horror movies I’ve seen - Jaws, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Exorcist, The Omen - were made by people who never made horror films elsewhere. They wouldn’t limit themselves. If you don’t like other things, that’s fine, but if you ever feel stuck creatively it might just be that you’re sticking too close to home. I can’t even imagine just sticking to one lane these days.”

[3liza]

the other thing about duvets is i dont like that theyre a big pillowcase. this is more trouble than its worth imo. i think duvet covers should actually be two separate pieces, or one long piece in a taco format, and you just spread it out on the bed or floor, spread out the duvet on top, and THEN fasten the top of the duvet cover closed with either buttons or a concealed zipper along the edge. zipper texture unpleasantness could easily be tucked inside a padded border so it doesnt scratch you at night.

duvet covers were introduced to the usa in the 1960s as a part of the "scandinavian" interior decor movement during midcentury modern (they were brought from Sweden, so not actually scnadinavian, but americans dont know the difference and we dont care [edit: i am being informed sweden is actually considered part of scandinavia, i had been previously misinformed]), apparently from the Habitat store in London. i thought Biba was involved for some reason but I may be confusing a bit of documentary i watched with something else. in the documentary, the older lady they were interviewing who used to work at the department store that she claimed popularized the duvwet (either Habitat or Biba) talked about how the sales girls were trained to "demonstrate" the "convenience" of the duvet vs the traditional British method of quilt+sheets, and she remarked she got so good at it she could put the duvet in the cover in about 30 seconds. however when she tried to demonstrate for the presenter she got completely flummoxed by the damned thing. it was at that point i knew duvets were a mistake

anyway im finding some interesting gadgets for securing duvets rn, the one that looks least ugly is a thing that looks like a fabric-covered button that snaps into another button using a tack that pierces the duvet and cover layers. the other solutions also seem fine but are all ugly plastic doohickeys that would bother me on an aesthetic basis. the tack would probably damage the fabric but if you're not using your nice linens i bet it doesn't matter much, especially if the duvet cover is a rustic textile of some kind

the wikipedia article about the duvet is very interesting. i especially liked the part about how previous attempts to introduce it to england were failures

one of the other home bedding issues in the usa is that home washers and dryers and apartment washers and dryers are generally not big enough to effectively wash a down duvet or a quilt thats larger than about a Full, depending on thickness. this bothers me. feather down is especially irritating in this respect because it will get mildewy instantly if it isnt bone dry immediately after laundering. mentioning Sweden yet again, a friend showed me her shared laundry facilities in her Swedish apartment once and they DID have large, industrial machines that could easily take a duvet. she said this was typical. america continues to be difficult to live in for no good reason. its like literalyl everything you do here is 160% harder and more expensive than any other "comparable" country

[cityofmeliora]

Terzo mentioning Secondo 😎

Terzo mentioned Secondo many times during his first year as Papa, which gave us some insight into their relationship that i really love.

Secondo and Terzo learned music together. they were taught songs / trained for the band by their father, Nihil.

PAPA EMERITUS III: […] But this is something me and my brother were taught by our father. Believe me, there are worse fish in the sea. Yes– Papa’s papa. The grandpapa. You will meet him one day, I promise. And he told us, “As long as you have one thing, it’s okay, y'all. The whispering walls. The spirits around you. The darkness inside.” So he looked at us and said… You know what he said? “If you have ghosts…” Unholy / Unplugged - Baltimore, Maryland, USA (August 22, 2015)

when Secondo stepped down so Terzo could replace him as Papa, Secondo gave Terzo a lot of entertainer advice. he talked to Terzo about what it's like to be Papa, how a concert usually goes, what the audiences are like in different cities, etc.

PAPA EMERITUS III: I’ve heard from my brother that you are somewhat of a singing crowd. So you like singing, eh? That is fantastic because that is exactly what we’re gonna do right now. [...] So everybody knows the lyrics for this last song, huh? It’s a damn predictable band, always playing the last same song. I told him, but… apparently, it works. Sweden Rock Festival - Sölvesborg, Sweden (June 4, 2015)

PAPA EMERITUS III: Thank you. We are so happy that New York loves us, because we love New York a lot, too. We've had so many beautiful evenings here. Or at least my brother told me about them. He told me that New York has always been treating Ghost very, very well. And he said that, "Y'know, I'm giving it to you now. As much as I would like to keep them all –do them all– sometimes, there isn't just enough time to do everybody. You could do one, maybe two." […] Um. But he also told me something before he pissed off: "I'm giving you this now, and as long as you have your sanity, and you get a lot of the right claps –the claps you do want– you will be in a good place." But he also told me something useful. There's one thing that he gave me, and he said… "If you have ghosts…" Unholy / Unplugged - New York, New York, USA (August 23, 2015)

PAPA EMERITUS III: How are you doing tonight? It's been some time ago that Ghost was here last time, eh? Well, it was my brother at that point, but he told me you were a rocking crowd. Silver Spring, Maryland, USA (September 22, 2015)

it's so clear from the way he speaks that he and Secondo hang out and talk to each other a lot, but also Terzo can't stand him. typical brother behavior.

Terzo notes that Secondo is a lot more sexually active than him, emphatically replying "Yes." when someone in the audience calls Secondo a whore. Secondo has also apparently also given Terzo advice on how to pick up partners for hookups. 😂

AUDIENCE: I saw you got a little kid now, in Los Angeles! PAPA EMERITUS III: Oh, yes, yes. They have a tendency to pop up, ha. Yes. Maybe it's my brother's, I guess, because he has been around the block a few more times than I have. AUDIENCE: What a whore! PAPA EMERITUS III: Yes. Unholy / Unplugged - Baltimore, Maryland, USA (August 22, 2015)

PAPA EMERITUS III: I'm gonna need your assistance a little bit later, giving me some claps. [CLAPS HIS HANDS] Those kind of claps. AUDIENCE: If you want the claps, I know where you can go. If you want these claps. PAPA EMERITUS III: Alright. Yes, my brother has told me a few– he has given me a few tips. Unholy / Unplugged - Baltimore, Maryland, USA (August 22, 2015)

Terzo called Secondo an "imbecile" and "a fucking asshole" for his silly prank where he pretended to (badly) speak Swedish.

PAPA EMERITUS III: Thank you very much. OK. So! Let me bring you up to speed. That guy –my imbecile brother– has somehow fooled you into thinking he can speak some fucking Swedish– pidgin Swedish. No more of that! I do not speak Swedish, OK? Do we have an agreement with this, OK? Thank you very much, Lincopia… Let’s enjoy our first “Ritual” together now! Linköping, Sweden (June 3, 2015)

PAPA EMERITUS III: How are you doing? It's nice to see so many of you here. What has it been, a little over a year? My brother told me about you. And you do know that I'm not gonna trick you with any fucking pidgin Swedish, huh? I know he fooled you into believing he could talk. He sounded like a fucking asshole. Stockholm, Sweden (November 13, 2015)

Terzo also refers to Secondo as "my asshole of a brother".

PAPA EMERITUS III: [SEES A SECONDO COSPLAYER IN THE AUDIENCE] Very good work, my friend. Please give it up for Papa Emeritus II! Yes. My asshole of a brother! Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA (April 27, 2016)

[grimm-the-tiger]

Misadventures with Google Translate

I put Life Series quotes through Google Translate too many times. Please help me, I can't stop.

The Names

Bdubs -> Bduby

BigB -> Capital B

Cleo -> Language

Etho -> line

Gem -> Decoration

Grian -> Shooter

Impulse -> Road

Jimmy -> Jimmy

Joel -> Hurrah

Lizzie -> Lizzie

Martyn -> Martyne

Mumbo -> Explosives

Pearl -> Beer

Ren -> Ren

Scar -> Right

Scott -> Scott

Skizz -> Writing

Tango -> Background

The Watcher -> Inspector

Some highlights

Scott: this house Jimmy: And street. [Original line: "It's home?" "Home."]

Language: Be good to me: die for me. [Original line: "Do me a favor: Die for me."]

Lizzie: And I left this world the same way I entered it: troubled. [Original line: "And so I left this world just as I had entered it: confused."]

Shooter: Scar, I think we are spirit descendants and you are too busy catching fairies!! [Original line: "Scar, I think we're soulmates and you're too busy chasing fairies!"]

Scott: They tear up carpets and kill farm animals. It immediately burst into lava. [Original line: "They break carpet and kill cows. And they mine straight down into lava."]

Language: Look, if you have a lost father, you might lose it? [Original line: "Look, if you're gonna be an absent father, could you be at least absent?"]

Scott: Our theme is ABBA's summer house, is it there now? Dead metal?! [Original line: "Our theming was once Cottagecore ABBA, now it's what? Death metal?!"]

Martyne : Tell me something before you go. Why are you attached to the sun? Inspector: Hmmm... HE. It was never meant to be. He just wanted to look. [Original line: "Just... tell me one thing before I go. Why were you so set on Grian?" "Hmph... HIM. He was never meant to be there. He was only ever meant to watch."]

line: I'm a good person to have someone light my tree. [Original line: "I was a good person till somebody burned down my tree."]

Decoration: God, that seems like a recipe for anxiety. Yes I am. [Original line: "God, that sounds like a recipe for angst. Yeah, I'm in."]

Lizzie: Follow it! No friends! [Original line: "Ha! You've got no friends!"]

Beer: Something bad is happening here. [Original line: "Something wicked this way comes."]

Shooter: Here we show our true truth? For yourself or for someone else? Are we all excited? [Original line: "Is this where we show our true allegiance? To each other, and no one else? We turn on everyone?"]

Background: It's not fair, it's not fair, I'll come back to it. [Original line: "This is unjust, it's excessive, and I will return."]

Capital B: No holes! [Original line: "There is no hole!"]

Some notes

I thought it'd be funny if the translations I used were all into languages I either knew off the top of my head that the creators speak or are official languages where they live. This got really convoluted really fast, because Ren was the only person I could think of who speaks a language other than English and I completely ran out after French and Scottish Gaelic, so I added languages spoken by Hermitcraft members instead, then threw Maori on for good measure because New Zealand's close enough to Australia (sorry, New Zealand) and I couldn't find any aboriginal Australian languages on Google Translate. So the translation order roughly went Afrikaans -> French -> Scottish Gaelic -> German -> Swedish -> Polish -> Maori -> English.

Ren's line "Red Winter is coming, me laddie" line got translated as "The red winter is coming, my lady." Honestly, it still kind of works?

"Watcher" got translated as "Inspector", which gives me the mental image of Inspector Gadget in a Watcher costume.

I don't know where the extra e at the end of Martyn's name came from.

I don't know why Etho's name is the only name that got translated into lowercase.

The fact that Mumbo's name somehow got translated as "Explosives" made me start cackling as soon as I saw it.

There were several points where Grian's name got translated as "The Sun" instead, probably because "Grian" is the word for "Sun" in Irish and Scottish Gaelic is from the same language family, so they probably share the same or a similar word.

"Soulmate" somehow got translated as "Spirit descendants". I'm pretty sure it's because it got split up into its component words; "Soul" corrupted into "Spirit", and "Mate"...I honestly don't know.

I translated a grand total of one line from Bdubs, and for some reason when I translated the document back to English, that one line stayed stuck on what I'm pretty sure is Maori except the word "Boogey", which stayed exactly the same.

I'm genuinely surprised by how many lines stuck remarkably close to the originals. Aside from his name, one of Joel's lines ("Where's the fun in that?") somehow survived perfectly intact, and one of BigB's lines ("There is no hole!") got pretty close ("No holes!").

I think the best part about this is that you can tell how and why Google translated some things the way it did, and then others you're just left completely stumped about how the hell it happened.

[the-snake-and-dove]

Thorfinn, Sasappis and an Analysis of Language

I often see many people talking about how both Thorfinn and Sasappis would've had to learn English, and many are confused on why Thorfinn speaks it less fluently despite the two of them learning it at the same time.

I have a few theories on this. I spend hours upon hours specifically analyzing their characters and connecting it with my knowledge on history, so I wanted to share my own thoughts!

Starting off, Thorfinn's first language is a 11th century form of Old Norse. After dying and getting stuck in America, he would've gotten very accustomed to the traditions and culture of the Lenape. The Lenape speak in the Algonquin language and they had two different dialects (from what we know). The Lenape were not a unified tribe, and in fact had three different matriarchal clans within the "tribe" which can explain the different dialects. It is likely Thorfinn grew very used to the Algonquin language and dialects over the centuries he observed them, and learned even more when Sasappis died and Thorfinn now had someone else to speak with. The two would've been surrounded by this language up until Dutch settlers first arrive in 1624. The Dutch mostly coexisted with the Lenape for awhile, so it's actually likely they did not actively try to become fluent in Dutch, but still picked things up here and there from observing them.

But then things quickly get a bit wild when more and more Europeans begin to arrive, starting with a mass immigration of English Puritans to upstate New York in 1630, following the establishment of Plymouth nearby in 1620. This is when English would've been first introduced. Keep in mind, 1630s British English was a little different than the English they would be hearing today, so there was also the factor of adjusting to the evolution of English throughout the centuries.

Swedish settlers then arrive to upstate New York in 1638. At this point, there are three new languages that have been introduced within less than 20 years, and the French are beginning to make minor appearances while they colonize the area above New York, in modern-day Canada. I can imagine they both stuck with Algonquin for quite some time still, since there was still no one main language used among settlers and people were often coming and going but still picked up on a few things here and there. The Lenape were still on the land at this time as well, so there was likely not a huge urge to abandon the Algonquin language.

We now know that Patience was a ghost on the property as well. Based off her costume (what I could see of it, at least) and my knowledge of Puritan migration in New York, I can guess she likely died around the 1640s-1660s. We don't know enough about her to know if she got along with Thorfinn and Sasappis but I can assume they likely had to start learning English to communicate with her.

The 1670s then brings in a whole lot more French immigrants, so French is now also being spoken. Around 1675, the English began to fight with the Algonquin nations, causing mass devastation. We can assume the Lenape were very dwindled by this time and beginning to be run off the land. Overall, there's a lot going on from 1620-1675, so I can imagine learning English was still not a huge priority for both of them.

Now jump forward to 1722. The Lenape are very very scarce and being pushed westward over the decades as the Europeans take over. We know from Isaac that Thorfinn had two girlfriends during the span of 1775-1895, since he mentions that Hetty didn't know of their existence. Now, we know absolutely nothing else about these girlfriends of his other than the timespan and their names, but by using my knowledge of history and migration to New York, there are assumptions that can be made.

One of Thorfinn's girlfriends is named "Luella." Luella is a German name meaning "Warrior." It is also French, but I have reasons to believe she was German.

In 1772, there is a mass immigration of Palatine Germans into upstate New York. It's a huge part of New York history, so we can assume Luella was likely a nod to the German immigrants from the early 18th century. She very likely died before Isaac, and would've likely spoken a mix of German and broken English. If she was an immigrant like I speculate she was, it's likely she worked as an indentured servant for English-speakers in New York City. Once her contract ended, she likely lived and spent most of her life amongst other German immigrants, and would still favor her native language over English.

Seeing that Luella and Thorfinn dated, it's likely he had to grow accustomed to German to communicate with her, while also learning English to talk to Patience.

At this point, Thorfinn would be on his fourth language, now knowing Old Norse, Algonquin, English, and German.

We obviously don't know how much Sasappis and Luella interacted, but it's likely he did not spend as much time learning German as Thorfinn did, and probably got a better sense of English while Thorfinn was stuck trying to be fluent in both.

It's likely once Isaac died they got a better grasp on American English, but Thorfinn would've still been occupied with his girlfriends. This grants Sasappis another chance to get a better understanding of English, while Thorfinn is likely behind on it.

While we don't know when Luella was sucked off, we know Thorfinn also had another girlfriend before 1895, called "Flat Maria." There was a mass immigration of Italians to New York in the Regency era (1800-1830s) and my assumption was that Maria was one of these Italian immigrants due to her Italian name. Now, if she was, she would've also spoken a mix of Italian and broken English, which means Thorfinn is having to learn yet another language to interact with a girlfriend, putting him onto a fifth language. I assume Sasappis also did not try very hard with learning Italian since he had less of a need to. Maria would've been sucked off before 1895 (since she wasn't present in the 'stuck in a hole' endeavour) and from then on the only language they all would've been interacting with would be English.

So, my guess on why Thorfinn's English is so broken, whereas Sasappis is very much fluent and up to date, can be tied to the languages/people they would've been interacting with as well as their general personalities.

Sasappis is very interested in what's going on in the world of the living and pays a lot of attention (which he's said before), whereas Thorfinn is still very much stuck in his ways and often doesn't care about the livings as much. We also know that he is not as dumb as he makes himself out to be, and while I could rant about the reasons as to why he likely does this, I won't. We know he does actually pick up on things like technology and modern terms. It's very very likely he just chooses to not use them and sticks with the words he's been used to. He's also just very blunt in general as a person, so it makes sense he would be more straight to the point with his English. He also often ignores grammar rules, as we see by his poor sentence structure and his lack of pronoun and filler word usage. Part of that I think is just because of who he is as a person, honestly. He very much likes to be blunt and straight to the point, and I can tell by his avoidance of pronouns that he might just think it's easier to say people's names instead of using "I, me, you," etcetera. Plus, keep in mind pronoun usage is different in other languages, so that might've also just been something in English that he never truly got adjusted to. It's also likely he just didn't learn grammar very well and was more so focused on what words meant, whereas Sasappis had nothing better to do but learn the grammatically correct form of English.

Overall, I think there's a reason why the writers choose to have them speak the way they do. It makes sense for their characters that Sasappis would be fluent, as he's more invested in the living world, whereas Thorfinn has been a ghost for so long that he really doesn't care. I know a lot of it regarding Sasappis is to avoid stereotyping him or portraying him in a harmful light, which I do think is good. It's again not out of character for him, plus he's one of the younger ghosts so he's not as set in his ways as the others might be. Meanwhile, Thorfinn is pretty much a walking stereotype of how modern Americans view Vikings. He's stubborn and "old fashioned" and still very much holds all his 11th century beliefs while simply existing in a modern world. I find their language very interesting and loved getting to rant a little about my thoughts on the matter!

[dresshistorynerd]

Hey, I noticed that in one of your posts you showed an Iron Age Finnish woman's dress. Would you happen to have a good idea of what Finnish men were wearing in that era? The information on it seems sparse. I do have a relevant book that I'm about to look through, but I'd like to hear your insight too!

Hi! Thanks for the question (and sorry for the slow answer), I do love Finnish Iron Age clothing so it's always my pleasure to write about it. I've been wanting to do a deep dive into this for a long while, so maybe I'll do at some point a post about women's dress too.

Unfortunately no one has good idea of the Finnish Iron Age men's dress (and if you find any book or other source that claims otherwise, do not trust it), since there's much fewer archaeological finds of men's dress than women's dress. The most accepted theory on why the textiles of women's dress survived surprisingly well is because of the bronze ornamentation commonly sewn into especially the fine women's dresses of the era. The bronze protected them from decomposing fully. Presumably men's dresses were not decorated similarly then. There are some finds though and we can piece together at least some kind of vague picture.

I will be discussing the period from Viking Age to Crusade Age in Finland. Viking Age is often defined to cover 800s to mid-1000s and the Finnish Crusade Age started right after the Viking Age and ended in the end of 1200s, where the Finnish Medieval era begins. Crusade Age refers to the period where mostly Swedish (also German) crusaders in the span of couple of centuries conquered lands of the Baltic-Finnic pagans. The crusades of this period targeted pagans all over eastern Baltic Sea, including Baltic-Finnic Karelians, Livonians and Estonians, and Baltic peoples, and the Scandinavia too, where Sámi people were targeted. After that the Finland and Sápmi were colonized by Norse people and stayed that way untill Finland was transferred under Russian rule, but to this day Sápmi still stays under colonial rule, including Finnish colonial rule. The current Finland was very multicultural area, mostly populated by Finno-Ugric peoples, including Sámi people, Karelians and various Finnish peoples.

It's important to understand that even just Finnish peoples where not homogeneous, but had distinct, yet of course strongly related cultures. These were Finns (suomalaiset) (yes most people we now call Finns were not in fact called that) in the coast of southwestern and western Finland, Tavastians (hämäläiset) in central-western lake-Finland and Savonians (savolaiset) in central-eastern lake-Finland. This means we can't mix findings from all over Finland to reconstruct a dress without evidencing that all the elements were actually used in one place. These three tribes had broadly similar base for their clothes, but distinctive jewelry and detailing. The big divide was and has always been between eastern and western Finnish peoples. This is because western Finnish people were in close contact through the sea with Norse people and southern Baltic-Finnic peoples, while eastern Finnish people, Savonians mostly, were influenced a lot by their proximity with Karelians. Another dividing factor was the very different environmental conditions between western and eastern Finland. The Finnish coast especially in west is very flat and fertile land, while the lake area, especially in eastern Finland is very rocky, hilly and quite infertile. The main way it effected clothing differences was that western Finland being more wealthy had more elaborate clothing. Tavastians in both occasions fall quite in between, but they tended to be more in the western cultural camp.

My most important sources are a study by a doctor of cultural anthropology, Jenny Kangasvuo, Savon historia I (Savonian history) digitized and open sourced here and the digitized archeological collection of Finnish Heratage Agency. They are all in Finnish so not very useful for most people unfortunately.

Finnish Men's Dress in Viking and Crusader Ages

The basic garments men wore were broadly similar as women. They wore a shift/shirt, knee or above-knee length dress, cloak, belt, shoes and some kind of headwear. Wool was used most commonly, though the shirt would sometimes be linen too. Even evidence of silk has been found in some western Finland graves. I would assume that would be from a dress of some great man, who traveled to gain riches, possibly with vikings. Embroidery and decoration with metals was a typical feature of the whole Eastern Baltic Sea area. In Finland during this period bronze was the most common decorative metal, but silver was used too. Decorative elements were usually woven with small bronze spirals into all kinds of patterns. Here's examples from the reconstructed Ravattula's dress (Finns) used by women.

Shirt

The shirt (in Finnish shift of both women and men was called shirt) was basically a long shirt or under dress. We can assume it was similar to those of women's except shorter since the dress men wore was shorter too. They were made from wool or linen, I would assume wool was used in winter and linen in summer, when linen was even available. The neckline had a cut and closed with a bronze brooch. Horseshoe brooch was common. The first one is a quite typical bronze horseshoe brooch with a bit of ornamentation from Salo (Finns). The second one is from Tuukkala, (Savonians), it has exceptional ornate detailing and is uncommonly silver, not bronze. The third picture has two quite uniquely ornamented horseshoe brooches, first from Köyliö (Finns), second from Kurikka (Finns).

Legwear and footwear

Very little of men's legwear has survived and it's unclear weather men wore pants or separate pant legs, leg wraps or perhaps long socks. Evidence of strings decorated with bronze spirals and tablet woven band has been found in leg area of men's graves. This could mean that they wore either leg wraps, long sock or some sort of pant legs that needed to be secured with string or band under knee. Women used strings and tablet woven tape to secure leg wraps and socks, which I think supports that theory. Sometimes both bronze decorated string and tablet woven band was found in the leg area, which would still be explained by this theory, since it was common to decorate the ends of the bands with bronze decorated strings. Here's an example of sock bands just like that from the earlier mentioned reconstruction of the Ravattula's women's dress. Since men's dress was shorter, I think it would make sense if they still wore some kind of pants or separate pant legs with socks or leg wraps like that.

However, the strings and bands could have also been part of the shoes. Everyone probably wore similar shoes - laced leather shoes with a bit of pointed end. They might have been short or ankle length and the lacing was done with either leather cord or tablet woven band, which would also explain the findings. Socks or feet wraps would have been used in them, and straw or wool could be added as filling for warmth. Here's a pair of traditional Izhorian shoes from Estonia from early 1900s, and a pair of traditional Sámi shoes. The designs were likely roughly similar in Viking and Crusader Ages, though obviously more simple, and it's probable that Finnish shoes very something like that too. Here's a 1893 drawing of what findings of shoe material from Korpiselkä (Savonian or Karelian) might have looked like. Considering the quality of archaeology of that time, copious amounts of salt should be applied. And finally as a fourth picture there's reconstruction shoes from Ravattula's dress.

These are not necessarily mutually exclusive theories. The lacing of the shoe could have been laced up the leg and used also to secure either sock or leg wrapping, or they could have been separately secured in ankle and knee respectively.

In some graves twill fabric has been found in the leg area. It could be part of pants or for example leg wrapping, which was often made of twill. One theory about pants is that they were similar as some findings in Sweden, where fairly tight pants made of twill were secured at the hem with buttons similar to cuff studs. These kinds of cuff stud buttons are quite a common find in Finland and some have been found in men's graves close to legs.

Dress

Again there's not much findings of dresses, but a little more perhaps. It was usually from wool. The shape was either a tunic or an open coat. In Karelia there's findings of men's dress suggesting tunics thicker than women's dresses and made from sarka, a type of broadcloth. On the other hand, in Masku (Finns) they found buttons in a row on top of the torso, which suggest a coat closed with buttons. The first picture is a drawing of the grave find. Similary coak closing amounts of buttons have also been found in other places in western Finland. This suggests that Finns and probably Tavastians too wore long coats buttoned to the waist and Savonians wore tunic of Karelian influence. Below there's couple of version of what might this western Finnish men's coat dress could've looked like. The first is an imagined version of the coat based on the Masku grave finds, second is just as imagined version based on Eura (also Finns) grave finds.

Take these "reconstructions" with a strong dose of salt. These are more artistic reconstructions than scientific, since there's not enough material and too much guesswork needs to be done. And because we can see in the Masku grave drawing right here that the other deceased has a large buckle to (probably) close the shirt (to be fair, it could for a cloak too), like was typical, I find it implausible that the coat neckline would be small and round covering the buckle. If you make a decorated big buckle, I assume you want to show it. I would find a v-neckline more probable. It's also easier to make without wasting expensive fabric.

The buttons are interesting. There were what you would imagine - your typical buttons made of bronze like seen in the first artifact from Hattula (Tavastians). But then there was silver jingle bells used as buttons, found for example in both Masku and Eura graves, Eura findings pictured below.

It's possible, even probable I'd say, that the hemlines of men's dresses were finished with tablet weaving patterns, like women's dresses. Also I would assume the pattern of the men's dress (and shirt) was mostly similar to the women's underdress/shirt patterns. So here's couple of different reconstruction patterns for women's dress. Different historians have made different interpretations of the patterns, so it's very much undecided what it really was like.

Belt

This is likely the most ornamental part of men's dress. They could be made out of leather or tablet woven band. And there's another east-west cultural divide here. Karelian belts were made out of leather, were usually 1,5-2,5 cm wide, decorated with iron or bronze studs and had a buckle made out of iron or bronze. These types of belts have been found in Savonia too, for example in Tuukkala grave find, which you can find very cool pictures of in this photo documentation of the dig in pages 173-175. In western Finland a "hela" belt was the common style. I don't think there's a world for hela in English. It's a sort of decorative lamella, small metallic plate (not necessarily square but often so) attached to fabric or leather with studs or sewing. Hela belt came from the Permians of Kama river, who were one of the many Finno-Ugric peoples who used to populate much of European side of Russia. Karelians lived closer to Permians, so you might think Permians would influence eastern Finland more, but my theory is that the costal Finns, who frequently joined viking crews and at least were in close contact with merchants including vikings, who would travel along the eastern route through the eastern European rivers, where they could go all the way to Kama river or at least meet traveling Permians. Here's yet another Finnish source more on the Finno-Ugric people around Kama river.

Anyway, hela belt was made of leather and filled with small decorated lamellas, often in square shape, but various other shapes too, like animal ornamentation. In this period hela belt helas were bronze. First image is a nice full set of hela belt metal pieces found in Pirkanmaa (Finns). Second is an older example, right before Viking Era, from Vaasa, costal settlement, (Finns), depicting a very Permian style. The third one is a lion hela found separately in Pälkäne (Tavastians). They are also found in Tuukkala, showing that both eastern and western cultural influences were present there at the same time.

Another western Finnish belt type for men had intricate tassels decorated with bronze spirals hanging on the waist at the end of the belt. They could be made out of leather or tablet woven band. First image depicts a reconstruction of such tassel. Belts in east and west would have strap dividers to hang straps for things like purse, knife and sword. The first picture above has couple of those, but the second picture below has two more of them in more detail in the middle of the picture. These finds are from Lieto (Finns).

Cloak

Like women's cloak, men's cloak was woolen and either a square or trapezoid. Cloak is yet another east-west divide. In western Finland men's cloaks have embroidery with bronze spirals. They in fact appeared earlier in men's cloaks (in 900s) than in women's cloaks (1100s). They were also a little different in men's cloaks. The spirals and the patterns themselves were bigger and the fastening thread itself was also used for the pattern creation, unlike in women's dresses, where the thread was mostly covered. In eastern Finland there has been no finds of bronze decorations in men's cloaks, mostly only cloak brooches have been left of them. Unsurprisinly same applies to Karelia. This also means there's very little fabric left too. There's one exception. In Tuukkala (Savonians) they found a piece of fabric probably from men's cloak, though it could be from a men's dress too. It was striped, with possibly white or brown base and wide stripes of red, blue and yellow. So perhaps eastern Finnish cloak was not non-decorated, but the decoration was in the fabric pattern. Unfortunately it's hard to know how common fabric like that was, when so little of it is left.

Accessories

It's safe to assume men too wore some type of headwear, but none of those has survived. It probably means it was entirely made out of fabric whatever it was. Some type of hat or cap was certainly used in cold weather at the very least. Tablet woven headband was also possible option for not too cold weather.

In Tuukkala there was couple of interesting jewelry finds too. Two graves had a necklace type mostly found in Karelia. It was birchbark tape covered with nettle fabric and had square helas sewn into it. There were also more typical Finnish necklaces made of beads and bronze spirals.

Razors have also been found with men in their burials, so we can assume shaven faces or at least trimmed beards and moustaces were fashionable.

[fadingdaggerr]

crystal clear

pairing: melissa schemmenti x gn!reader

summary: five times other people realized melissa was in love with you and the one time she realized it herself

warnings: mostly fluff, reader gets called a slur but it isn’t written

note: sorry i’ve been slow on updating, it’s finals week and a relative has had some a health scare :/

ava

when ava introduced you to the other teachers in the break room, she truly wasn’t going to give them much of a glance. a new teacher here that understood all the references she throws out instead of squinting? now that was someone she could hang out, and party, with outside of work.

but ava coleman is nothing if not observant. she sees the way melissa is struggling not to stare at you, the way her blinking looked almost forced. she brushes it off. you’re hot. at least she knows melissa isn’t blind, being down a teacher when she just hired one would suck.

it wasn’t until months later that ava actually noticed just how much of melissa’s attention was specifically for you. jacob had gotten you hooked on some show, now the two of you were excitedly talking about last night’s episode. ava listened to none of the nerdy word vomit coming from the two of you, but instead watched melissa gaze at you while you spoke. the soft look in her eyes and the barely noticeable smile almost made ava laugh, but she kept quiet.

this could be fun.

jacob

movie night this week was replaced by you and jacob watching the two hour finale of your show together. just as you got your snacks and drinks spread out, as well as every throw pillow you owned, and the ones jacob brought, arranged into a makeshift mega-couch, the buzzer of your apartment went off.

you scrambled to your feet, “melissa is here!”

jacob nearly choked on a swedish fish, “melissa? melissa like schemmenti?”

“what other melissa do we both know?” you laugh as you buzz her in, “she caught up so that she would watch with us,” you say with a big smile. jacob had thought melissa wouldn’t come to this movie night, the way barbara, janine, and gregory didn’t for tonight, and ava never came to any, claiming she was ‘too fine’ for the occasion. they didn’t watch thisv show, neither did melissa, until now.

“yeah… us,” he mutters under his breath.

“what?”

“nothing!”

jacob watches you nearly bouncing when you hear the knock on the door, rushing to answer it. he hears a muffled mel! followed by hey sweetheart. no one else, except barbara, could call her mel. he tried once and got a glare that still haunts his dreams. she was so easy to reply to you with a pet name, too. usually she called everyone dude, or kid, or just plain you. but not you, no, you got sweetheart.

jacob was almost convulsing, the realization was just too good. he covered his mouth in order to not scream. melissa schemmenti, notorious hardass, had a big, fat crush on you. he squeals at the thought.

“do not tell me you looked at a spoiler jacob abernathy hill!” you shout as you walk back in.

“abernathy?” melissa laughs, stopping the second you look at her, before looking at jacob for an answer.

he stiffens, “nope. just super excited to see this all happen.”

janine

being yanked by the sleeve into her classroom like a raggedy anne doll was not what janine expected on a monday morning. jacob shut the door and turned to look at janine, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“i have got to tell you something,” jacob says with excitement practically oozing from him.

“what is it? is barbara okay?” janine asks quickly.

“no, no. barbara is fine, it’s something good. i’m not going to spoil the big surprise, i wanna see it on your face,” jacob answers, “but i’ll give you a hint.”

“oh my god, jacob. please just get to the point.”

“yes, sorry,” he clears his throat, “melissa has got one of the biggest crushes i’ve ever seen, second only to yours on grego-”

janine smacks a hand over his mouth, “uh-uh. who is it?”

“i can’t tell you!” jacob sing-songs as he rushes from her classroom.

the next week has janine practically stalking melissa around every corner. she watches her hold the door for you, shove jacob out of the way so she can get the last iced tea, roll her eyes aggressively when ava spoke, hold tacks for you as you hung up the new monthly decorations, then hold your hand as you stepped down from the from the chair.

janine saw in real time how melissa’s tough exterior dropped with you. she watched her handle you so gently, anyone would think you were made from glass, but you didn’t seem to notice. it was so normal for you to see this side of melissa, you couldn’t see that it was different. janine scurried to her classroom to happy dance quickly before calming herself, as much as janine is capable, before leaving to get the kids from the art room.

gregory

thankfully, janine’s knowledge of melissa’s feelings for you did not make front page news or into the morning announcements. janine felt it a safer choice for her and jacob if they just kept this secret to themselves, which left gregory in the dark.

gregory only heard mutters of your name and melissa’s, which gave him some sort of direction about their whisperings. he looks towards you, seeing you leaned into melissa while looking at something on her phone. totally normal. gregory continued to eat his also totally normal sandwich, boiled chicken is not weird.

it feels a little less normal after janine called melissa a bad teacher, leaving janine unprepared for the might of courtney’s troublemaking. when the kids are at recess, gregory starts towards the lounge but is stopped by voices inside your classroom. he stops to listen, suddenly intrigued.

“do you think she’s right, though? she wouldn’t just say that normally,” melissa says, her voice tense and sad.

“no, i don’t think she’s right. she got an ego trip from thinking it was a real requested transfer and it spilled over, i don’t think she meant it,” your voice is calm, soothing in a way.

“are you sure?”

you laugh softly, “of course. you’re one of the best teachers in the world. i know it, janine knows it, hell, stanley tucci knows it.” your words make melissa laugh, something she very much needed it seemed.

gregory feels the need to take just a tiny peek. he sees your arm around melissa’s shoulders, her head on your shoulder while yours rests on hers, your fingers gently playing with the loose curls in her hair. melissa looks relaxed, content even. he’d never seen her showing physical affection to anyone, except the occasional side hug to barbara. but she was leaning on you, playing with the hem of your shirt as she spoke, letting you playing with her hair.

gregory stepped away from the door and started briskly walking to the lounge. so that’s why jacob and janine were so giggly about you two.

barbara

barbara knows her friend very, very well. she saw the look she gave you the first time she met you. she also clocked every other look melissa has sent your way since. at first she thought melissa was just checking you out, but after a few weeks the heat in her gaze turned to cartoonish heart eyes bulging out of her head.

barbara was no fool, she saw how you acted with melissa. it didn’t slip her mind once that you also had feeling for the red head. she watched the dance between you two, smiling at the fact her best friend was so happy, even if she didn’t realize it. barbara keeps her smile to herself.

legendary schools was a hyperactive bull running through abbott elementary’s very delicate china shop. parents were snapping at teachers left and right, one setting off melissa’s ‘fight-or-fight’ response. jacob walks in, babbling about a commercial. he almost asks where you are so you be part of the conversation for the take-down plan, but he’s cut off by yelling in the hallway.

everyone rushes out to see the mother of one of your students in your face. barbara can see that you’re trying not to cry at the cruel words, but she also sees how you’re holding your own. you don’t yell back, only speaking when the mother takes a breath. a word barbara cannot and will not repeat strikes through the air, silencing everyone around you. your face drops immediately, looking like you’d been harshly slapped.

melissa is walking down the hall before anyone can stop her, immediately in front of you. “you got some nerve talking like that around here. what is this, 1951?” melissa barks at the parent, holding herself back from swearing at and beating the living day lights out of someone on this seemingly normal thursday afternoon.

“you have teachers in this school pushing their own shit onto our kids, and you’re defending it? you’ve got a cross around your neck!” the mother yells.

“liberation movements are part of the curriculum. i asked the kids what three topics they were most interested in and we covered those, i didn’t choose,” you try reasoning from behind melissa, she won’t let you move from your spot.

barbara heads over and speaks to the mother with a plastic smile, “i’m going to have to ask you to leave, the school day is done. i’m sure you’d prefer to re-educate your child with some ignorance at home, correct?”

ava leads the mother away and barbara focuses on you; your breathing is fast and you can’t tear your eyes from the floor, lip wobbling. melissa’s hands gently go to your shoulders, you barely nod before she’s pulling you into a hug. barbara can see that melissa is whispering to you, but she can’t make out the words, she just sees you nod. you pull away from melissa slowly before taking off to your classroom to get your stuff and leave.

barbara comes to melissa’s side, “going back to your place?” melissa nods and follows you down the hall.

she filled in barb later that you watched golden girls on the couch until you fell asleep against melissa’s shoulder. barbara watched the muted smile on melissa’s lips struggle against her efforts to conceal it. lord this woman was whipped.

melissa

melissa knew she loved you, but truthfully not to the extent in which she did. she had spent so long convincing herself she cared about you the same she cared for all her friends, that she didn’t see the love for you was different. somewhere between you bringing her lattes and her letting you use her lap as a pillow on movie nights, the lines between what was friendship and what was maddening love for you blurred.

melissa’s first hint that she had feelings for you should’ve been when she started looking for you. it was so small but when she realized she was doing it, she’d blush and force herself to look down. during meetings she watched you take notes, then watched as those notes slowly turned to doodles of flowers and fossils. you’d given her a very accurate drawing of a bumble bee after an ava-centered meeting. you’d told her it was because her name meant honeybee in greek, before walking back down to your classroom, leaving melissa with honeybees buzzing in her chest.

—

the day she actually realized she had full on, gross, huge feelings for you, you’d been running late. you ran into the break room with a mug already in hand, bag haphazardly over your shoulder. everyone collectively looked at you with a little bit of shock.

with a stern face you stated back, “speak now or forever keep your two cents. i’m not a fan of staring.”

immediately all eyes dropped back down, except for melissa’s. she just kept watching you move about with quick steps, pouting at the change in the normal routine. she moves to the coffee maker and pours you a cup, using the creamer you prefer from the fridge. you only responded with a relieved smile and a mouthed ‘thank you.’

she watched you hurriedly get your classroom ready for the students, a small smile across her rosy lips. “you want help or are you enjoying the crazy chicken dance?”

you huffed at her, “ha ha, schemmenti,” your fake glare dropped, “could you pass out the science quizzes? they’re on my desk.”

melissa looks over your desk as she grabbed the papers, taking note of the knickknacks and pictures. the funko pop of dorothy from golden girls makes her smile, so does the sketchbook with a bee sticker on the cover.

she passed out the quizzes, and helped you prep the whiteboard for the day. you chatted lightly, but mostly just moved around each other while music played. it was so incredibly peaceful, the ease of it made her feel this warmth in her chest.

“thank you for helping me, melissa. truly. you didn’t have to,” you say as you finish rearranging the classroom chore chart.

“it’s no problem, really… i like spending time with you,” melissa says tentatively, gauging your reaction.

any nervous energy she may have had dissipates when you smile and duck your face down. you look back up at her, shy smile on your lips, “i like spending time with you too.”

you walked with her to get the kids from drop off, standing just a little bit closer than usual.

—

today was different. this beautiful saturday morning with you practically pulling her around the flea market. you inspected every item on the table with equal curiosity, always showing melissa your favorite things and things you think she’d like. her smile never fades and her eyes never leave you.

as you finish having lunch under the large center tent, she sees your eyes widen with excitement.

“what? what is it?” melissa says through her final bite of a hotdog.

you grab her hand and pull her towards what she now sees as the mini petting zoo. your immediately cradling the face of a goat, baby talking it to high heaven. she walks up next to you, gently petting the top of the goats head.

“he likes you,” she says.

“only him?” you say with a laugh, watching another goat approach, now wanting the attention his friend was getting from you two.

melissa laughs to hide her shock at your words before facing you, “no, definitely not just him.”

your smile grows at her words, the way you bite your lip makes melissa feel a little faint. thankfully she gets a moment to breathe when you’re distracted by a piglet coming towards you, making you squeal in delight. in this moment, melissa was sure she loved you.

melissa stands back up after bit, going over to grab both of you a lemonade. when she walks back, the words she hears only solidify her thoughts.

an older gentleman approaches you, “you and your wife are a beautiful couple.”

his words clearly shock you, “oh,” but she sees you push it down before responding with a kind smile, “why thank you, that’s very sweet! she’s definitely the beautiful one.”

when you turned, you see melissa and immediately move towards her. she wordlessly hands you a lemonade, which you accept as well as loop your arm with hers. she’s quiet as you walk back to the car and place your purchases in the backseat.

before she can start the car, you place a hand on hers, “you okay? you’re just a little quiet.”

“yeah, sweetheart. never been better,” she says, squeezing your hand. she relishes in your tugging her arms and hugging it, stretching across the console to rest you head on her shoulder as she drives you back to her place for dinner and a movie, as always.

melissa ann schemmenti realized she was big time in love with you that day.

not sure if i love this but let me know what y’all think :)

[adobe-outdesign]

a while back I mentioned The Muppets Sex and Violence pilot and seeing as most people haven't seen it I wanted to bullet point out some of the insanity in it for everyone

This was the second pilot produced, with The Muppets Valentine Show being the first

The entire thing USED to be freely available on YouTube but Disney decided a pilot from 1975 that you can't watch on Disney+ anyway was losing them money so I had to cobble these notes together via memory and YouTube clips

The setup is a bit different from the actual show. There's no guest star (this idea was instead used for the aforementioned first pilot), there's very little backstage story and more focus on unconnected skits

There's no background music throughout most of it and pacing is sluggish at best, leaving periods of silence behind. about halfway through you WILL start to wonder if you're in Muppet Purgatory

Instead of Kermit the host is a guy named Nigel. I'll probably make a separate post on him later but for right now all you need to know is that he has the personality of wet cardboard and looks like he wants to lie down and take a nap 24/7 which like. same

For some reason the main three characters are Nigel, Sam the Eagle, and Floyd(???). Kermit shows up for like 30 seconds

Crazy Harry is in. the ceiling??

Animal is there but he's literally so feral he's kept locked in a dungeon that they have in the conference room (as you do)

Janice has a line and sounds absolutely nothing like herself (as Fran Brill is her performer here instead of Richard Hunt)

There's a wiseman in the backstage area and nothing about him is ever explained. they're just like "oh and that's our wiseman"

The seven deadly sins are there. that sounds like a joke but it's not

Their version of Lust is a Muppet made entirely of tongues that flirts with the female secretary then proceeds to say "love you, sweetheart" to Nigel after giving him a full-body look-over. To date this is unironically the best depiction of Lust I have ever seen

Actually a few of the sins have cool abstract designs. for example, Vanity is a literal vanity desk and Avarice is a cash register

Their proposal for an eight deadly sin is "wearing funny pants to a funeral"

at least one of the female Muppets that Kermit briefly dances with looks like This

There's a sketch just called "Aggression" that's done entirely in gibberish and about halfway through I wondered if I was having a stroke

There's also a sketch involving living pencils and puns

The Electric Mayhem perform a song and it's just straight up 90% innuendo

Statler and Waldorf have a few scenes but they're just sitting in a room instead of heckling and come across like they're Literally Dying

at one point the grandfather clock in the background stops ticking and Statler just says "either that clock is stopped or we've just died" and that's the last we see of them

The Swedish Chef segment has Chinese subtitles under it and honestly that kind of makes it funnier

also at the end of the segment the Chef takes out a blunderbuss and shoots a sandwich with it

During the credits the camera pulls back to reveal all the Muppet performs running around. Disney would NEVER

Sloth shows up fifteen minutes late with Starbucks

[mischiefbuckley]

This post on the 🐦 app made me think about your post about wanting them to show more of Eddie's Mexican heritage.

omg thanks for sending this to me Morgan!!! ☺️💖

yes yes yes would love to see more of Eddie’s Mexican heritage in a way again that feels true to his character and his journey so far and I think also true to Ryan and the way he grew up if that makes sense because again Eddie is a Mexican character who has a Swedish mother and a Mexican father and raised with more Catholic traditions on top of the whole navigating different cultures of being Mexican, American and Swedish(?) while living in Texas

I think there’s like another reason for the whole we haven’t seen Eddie celebrate Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) and it can be tied into the Catholic religion.

So it’s not typically a holiday that’s celebrated by Catholics if that makes sense, but it blends into the Catholic culture and traditions of Mexico. I grew up with family and family friends that were very devoted to the Catholic religion I myself am just talking as an outsider because I wasn’t necessarily raised a devoted Catholic, but I know some of the ideals of the religion and how that plays into Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Mexican culture, but again they didn’t celebrate Dia De Los Muertos here or anything, but they would just attend mass during those days in a way to honor the dead, but by praying not setting up ofrendas or anything so that’s kinda why I took it as why we have never seen Eddie celebrate Dia De Los Muertos on our screens.

Again it depends on the people if they choose to celebrate it or not, but again just based on what has been said about Eddie’s character in regards to the Catholic religion and although I do appreciate the tweet I think again it’s an interesting way to look at things with some of Eddie’s decisions, but I personally don’t think that’s the reason why Eddie didn’t set up an offends in his house.

I just think again his family might be way too into the Catholic religion growing up, so I think them celebrating Dia De Los Muertos wouldn’t have happen for Eddie growing up, so if Eddie did learn about those cultural aspects it would have either came from his Abuela or other family members from Ramon’s side of the family, but his immediate family no. He did mention in Cursed how his Abuela had gone to a Curandera and had spent a lot of money trying to contact Abuelo after he passed away because he passed away so suddenly and how the family had to bail her out because she almost lost all her money just over trying to get in contact with her late husband, so to an extent I do believe that his Abuela celebrates the holiday with her being again portrayed as a devoted Catholic, but the minute her husband passes away she does anything possible to try and get in contact with him when the religion has failed to provide a comfort during this difficult time not only for her, but the family as well.

Again just my whole point of view on what we have been presented so far regarding Eddie, Eddie’s family and his whole Catholic upbringing and different details we have heard through the seasons since Eddie was introduced

Thank you again for sending this to me Morgan definitely brought up lots of different thoughts on Eddie’s Catholic faith and I hope we get to explore some of the impacts the religion has had on Eddie growing up for the next episode!!!