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zzencat · 4 months

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Paid Readings Info!! - zzencat

Confidential + Personal + Raw + Clarification

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Feedback 5 (currently updating)

-> Last updated: September 24, 2024 PST

Hey guys!! This is everything you need to know for personal paid readings. Why pay? You will help in supporting me in my daily life and I hope to support you in yours with guidance. - Teddy :)

• My readings are sent through email or Tumblr DM, and are in the form of Google docs.

• Regular paid readings take 1-7 days maximum to complete upon payment. For Packages, please allow up to 7-8 days max. I will be transparent with you about how much time and how much I’ve finished for any reading.

1) First and foremost, you HAVE to be a follower of my blog and you have to have seen my readings before.

Why? Because I need you to be familiar with how I do my readings—which include of bullet points, hella commentary and extra notes from the Teddy + spirit team pov (which can be funny, helpful, or both), some slang, cursing, and letting my spirit team ramble. A lot of the info is blunt and very no bullshit. (Bear w/ me; I got the Queen of Swords on my spirit team lmfao 😂) My readings could get a bit long, thorough, and maybe overly detailed, varying from the info I receive. My body serves as a host for my Spirit guides, and connecting with Spirits :)

Make sure you read through my Quick Starters Post (it’s pretty short n simple). Keep in mind that tarot readings are a tool for clarity, and not an all seeing eye. Everything is susceptible to change. Time is fluid, and nothing is fixed. The readings are based on your energy now.

***When to request? You can request at any time. (I’m in the PST timezone so if I don’t respond to you, that’s because I’m sleeping or doing summer hw. I always respond within 24 hours tho!)

Where + How?: You can dm me on Tumblr or email me ( [email protected]), and state the reading number that you’d like. Your reading will be received in 5 days or less. and I’ll send you the PayPal link where the money will go through. You will choose 3 photos out of a pile of 9 (that I have chosen for you.) The decks I use: Tarot of Sexual Magic, RWS (circular edition), and Deviant Moon! Oracle cards will be pulled if I need more info or further clarification.

***ALSO IMPORTANT, if you’d like me to do readings for you, please leave your door or window open at any point of our session (for at least a couple of hours.) You may close when you’ve received your reading. This helps me connect with your Spirit team better :)

Readings I do are belowowowow👇

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• • • • • Readings (for now) • • • • •

Reading #1 (and also my most requested reading):

(*For Singles*) Future Spouse (with optional brief 18+ section) | $8 USD

Note: This is different from final spouse bc I can’t say whether you will or won’t face divorce/separation 😅). However, I can give you a vibe of where it’s headed. (Prepare yourself!!)

HEAVY DISCLAIMER: We will take a look into your past and your future lover’s past to see if there should be any trauma to be worked on. This means we will potentially cross very private and vulnerable information on both yours and your lover’s side.

↳ We will cover:

• their current energy now—if you met now vs when you meet later.

• positive and negative aspects of this person/relationship, and how this can develop (pos or neg.) over time (with examples. Like I said, these readings will be similar to the ones I have posted but a lot more in depth and personalized.)

• rockiness and toxicity within the relationship; what to expect while dating; how you both can help improve the relationship; a look into their past selves (relationship, hardships, IF THEY ALLOW THIS INFO TO BE TOLD, but I will try to reason with them.)

• things they need to work on before and after meeting you + what you can do to prepare for this person coming in

• how will you recognize them + how they will recognize you

• their possible occupations at the moment and later — basically where they’re at in life ( + emotionally)

• overall advice for both you + future spouse

🔓 $2.44 USD to unlock: a brief, general overview of sexual relationship + potential kinks. there will be a small deal of vulgar language and graphic descriptions. BUT the 18+ section here is not as detailed as #2.

***PLEASE KEEP IN MIND !!!!! that I will give you “warnings” here and there, and will be transparent if their inner child or spirit guides do not want me discussing some issues/does not want me going in depth.

This is how you’ll get an idea or hint on what they might be secretive about, and personally, this isn’t a good sign, especially if they’re likely to hide mistakes. I would advise you pay attention to these *cryptic* areas, because those are where the bigger problems are at. Yes, some are insecure about it, but that just means they have some work to do. The more open they are about their past, the better. It shows maturity and a desire for growth, and that they won’t hide if they’ve messed up somewhere. That’s a good sign to me.

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Reading #2:

(18+) What does your sexual relationship say about your overall relationship? - Next Partner/Final Spouse | $7 USD

↳ We will uncover:

• Your person’s 18+ thoughts/fantasies from your first meeting/impression to developing friendship to newly dating stage.

• What will lead to your first time with them, feelings + emotions on their side, what will happen during the act?

• Their feelings/overall sex life mood when you’re both comfortable with each other (including yours!) Stagnancy? Contentment? Needs more spice? Sexual conflicts?

• Their kinks!!! Graphic imagery and descriptions, but not at a smut novel level haha (maybe tho…depends on the cards and context)

• Fears and how to improve the relationship, where it could go wrong

• Honestly this reading could get suuuper thorough real quick- hopefully your partner gives me permission to pry heheh 🙂‍↕️

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Reading #3:

(18+) What Your Sexual Energy Says About Your Past + How To Achieve Peace in Your Life | $7.44 USD

↳ We will uncover:

Intrusive-ish reading to an extent. It shouldn’t be too bad (I hope...) But there’s no need to be embarrassed! (I used to write smut lmfao)

This is where I will do a regular card reading for you to see where you are, mainly relying on my Sexual Magic deck (which is cleansed before each reading.)

• your desires/hidden fantasies (now + possibly future) and potentially why you have them

This reading lets us know where you are in your life, what blockages or concerns your subconscious is facing and how this affects your daily life and even future.

Note: I personally like doing sexual readings and they come out very accurately since my sacral chakra and sensuality is so essential to me as…well, me hahaha. My highest good keeps me in high sexual energy, which is probably why I connect to the Tarot of Sexual Magic deck so well :)

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Reading #4:

“I’m Still Feeling Stuck. Where Did This Come From? What can I do about it?” (95% Trauma based.) | $6 USD

↳ We will uncover:

If you‘ve seen my reading on stagnancy or reading on little things to uplift your life, this will be pretty the same BUT more in depth and in accordance to your energy. It’ll be personalized to you 🤗

advice!!

I think the messages do need to be taken seriously so if you learn a bit about yourself in this reading, I’d be seriously happy.

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Reading #5:

Wtf happened in my past life? What did I do to deserve this? Can I still turn things around? / Past Life Reading | $7 USD

↳ We will uncover:

One of my favorite concepts ever. We all wonder where we went wrong to go through such hurt in this life. Wtf exactly happened? You and I will unlock what and who you possible were, your occupation(s), family life/relationships, conflicts, romantic relationship(s), potential betrayals, life lessons your soul carried from that life to this one. This can also be read as just a past life reading!!

Approx. 10-12 questions asked about past life during reading

What can you learn from? What can you let go and move on?

Or perhaps…this is your first life? What lessons do you need to learn in this life?

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Reading #6:

A question and some advice (can get pretty deep depending on the person.) | $3 USD/per question. You can ask any question of your choice (read “no questions about” for more info), as many questions as you’d like, but each question is $3 USD., relating to a specific situation or different things.

❌ No questions about: if you and [celebrity] will date 😂😂, altho you can ask about what your compatibility would be! Singular future spouse, warning, or what to look forward to, 18+ questions in your current/future relationship are welcome. No death-related or specific physical + mental illness/disease questions please.

Feel free to reach out for further questions or details, or if you’re confusion as to what you can or can’t ask! And please don’t feel embarrassed (I’ve seen it all fam ✋🥲)

One of my readers,🫀(on feedback), has become a regular and a friend of mine!! She’s asked if it was okay to do an anime character relationship compatibility between her and said character with her personal list of prompts/questions!! Pricing varies based on how many questions there are. | $3 USD / question

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Reading #7:

Warnings in the near future based on your current energy? (within 3 months to a year from now) - $4.44 USD

↳ We will uncover:

• advice, how to see it when it comes, what to look forward to, what’s likely to happen?

+ $3.22 USD to unlock: Your prediction sounding kinda rough? How can I likely prevent it? Can I change it or do I need to go through this?

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Reading #8

“Okay, be honest. Does this person like me? Do I stand a chance with them? Are they the right person for me?” - $8 USD

↳ We will uncover:

• applies to situationships, potential partners, the person on your mind, secret admirers, unrequited love

• get ready for honesty right here babyyyy (if you buy this reading, ya gotta brace yourself. I’m telling you here and now and when you dm me as well!!)

• things they need to work on before they’re ready for commitment

• How will I know if they’re the one?

• red and green flags about your person

• personalized advice to you

+2 USD to unlock: How do they see me in general?

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Reading #9

(Single or Currently Seeing Romantically) Future Spouse’s Past Life!! - $7 USD

• Refer back to reading #5 about your past life!! Everything there is applied here but about your future spouse this time!

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-> Introducing Packages! :

1) Cat-Sees-All Package - $26

↳ We will uncover:

• reading #1 - future spouse reading (optional brief 18+ section)

• reading #5 + #9 - past life reading on yourself

• overall advice

Disclaimer: these can get heavy realllllly quickly. My future spouse ones are usually extensive and deep anyway (especially since we look into more subconscious and past issues/trauma so I suggest you grab some popcorn. Maybe some tissues too if you need.

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2) LENZ Package - $24 (minors dni)

↳ We will uncover:

• dark, sensitive, mature and potentially triggering material

• this is pretty much a combination of readings #3 + #4, but we tap into your future spouse’s/lover’s sexual energy/preferences/lifestyle as well yours through kinks!!

• figuring out significant events in yours and their childhood and if trauma has played a role on your daily life and theirs; AND both yours + their individual feelings/energy/view towards and of sex (including deep rooted trauma)

• how sex preferences heal their inner child + how your sex preferences heal yours

• how do they seek this in daily, normal behavior and communication with others + how do you seek it? how does this seep into your daily lives?

• overall advice

🔓 + 2 USD to unlock: Will you be able to heal your wounds together through sex? What is it about you that attracts your partner, personality and sex-wise?

Disclaimer: this is also a really deep reading that includes psychological factors and sensitive topics, so if you’re an empath or are sensitive to this material in general, you might wanna take a couple breathers and come back. It can get pretty dark and negative as well, so I recommend that you don’t get to your reading until the end of the day or when you’re certain nothing can ruin your day.

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3) Custom Package!!

• here, you’ll be able to create you own list of questions (within the boundaries ofc- rmr, nothing about death, illness, politics, etc.) | $3 per question

this is catered towards those who have very specific questions they want answered, anything they’re curious about that hasn’t been answered in the “we will uncover” section of the readings! This allows for modifications or adjustments to be made in order to create the best list of questions well suited for you 😎👍

Ex) 5 questions = $15 USD

7 q’s = $21 USD, etc., etc….

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-more coming soon…brr brrr

**Constructive feedback is heavily encouraged so pls lemme know how it was for you, how it resonated, however many paragraphs you’d like. I’m happy to talk about it w you!! No judgment here.

- Teddy :)

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solarwynd · 3 months

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just a rant lmfao, but if jimin didn't release sgmb as a pre-release, would tumblr pjms be writing think pieces on his musical ability and lack of getting out of his comfort zone or nah? would they even think that if they heard when the album released instead of as a prerelease? it's so warped because people are now attributing sgmb as like a failure of his musical identity and how he needs to experiment when sgmb is pure experimental for jimin in terms of a sound he never gravitated to before in his music.

I watched this conversation unfold and it really had me scratching my head. I’m always very open to differing takes and POV but I was real 👎🏾 on that one. Jimin doesn’t have a comfort zone to begin with. No set style or sound and I prefer that from him because I love his range of musical variety. Just because he doesn’t pigeonhole himself into a specific sound does not make him “aimless” or mean he lacks identity. Nor does it mean his music isn’t cohesive. Because when has all the tracks on an album sounding similar mean it’s more cohesive? Sonically sure, but cohesion is not limited to sound. FACE was extremely cohesive because of the flow of storyline with the songs sounding completely different from each other.

Jimin’s already experimenting. There’s no two songs in his discography that sound the same. The only thing left for him to do is try out new music genres which he’s doing. So yea I do think that people’s lack of enthusiasm with SGMB (and CTT) has them feeling like he needs to settle into one thing so they know more or less what to expect. Had it been a bside that we didn’t hear until release day, I don’t think the takes would be as critical on the direction of his music. it probably would’ve just ended up a lesser liked one or maybe for some (and like myself now) come to appreciate it more thematically with the album. I still acknowledge that there are still people who don’t like it as a song, but in no way do I think that SGMB should be the draw point where people start trying to put Jimin in a box. (Even if it’s not a strict one) I just don’t think that’s fair to him and I hope he never does that to himself.

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aihoshiino · 10 months

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can i interest you in a penny for your thoughts about aqua and ruby's relationship in the current stages of the manga? ruby's clearly projecting and im pretty sure aqua is kind of blocking that entire conversation? hes acknowledged it but i think hes avoiding thinking too much about it (in part due to *waves hand at entire movie arc* all that)

gosh since you've twisted my arm i have NO CHOICE...

But yeah, I think Ruby is pretty clearly doing a lot of projecting here — the consistency with which she's started calling Aqua 'Sensei' really jumps out to me and it makes me pretty certain she's basically completely overwritten Aqua with Gorou in her brain, completely discarding the 18ish years he's lived as her brother in favour of just viewing him as the doctor who supported her.

This is a two-part process of denial, imo. The first and most obvious is Ruby trying to convince herself that her supposed romance with Gorou can still happen and it's not the first time her sort of naive stubbornness on that topic has come up — we saw this before during the Private arc when it came to their age gap.

Like girl, I respect the cope but he would be nearly fifty old by now. That man would be old enough to be your dad LMFAO.

If Ruby can delulu herself about an age gap of that size, she can easily also come up with an excuse for herself as to why she would be able to date him now he's her brother. I mean, if you think about it, they're not really actually twins, right? They're just strangers who happened to be born together! Since he's really Gorou and NOT!!!!! her brother, there's nothing wrong with it!

It should go without saying that this is a pretty absurd justification and imo, not one I think the manga is wanting the reader to uncritically buy into. Ruby's feelings here are, I think, intentionally being portrayed as naive and pretty childish. The framing around Ruby when she talks about Aqua in this regard is consistently exaggerated and comedic in a way that is a pretty clear signal, at least to me, that she should not be taken seriously.

This could only read more plainly as shoujo brainrot exaggeration if Aqua's chin was seven inches long and sharp enough to cut glass...

Beyond the denial of convincing herself that this romance still has any chance to happen, I also think this is denial in the sense of grief, too. In a very real sense, by entirely superimposing Gorou over Aqua, Ruby is denying that his death has happened at all. She doesn't want to acknowledge the possibility that he could be different now, especially not in any way that is emotionally inconvenient for her. Because acknowledging that this change occurred and that Gorou is no longer the Gorou she needs him to be would force Ruby to accept that her beloved sensei really is gone forever.

It should go without saying but this erasure of Aqua's identity is, of course, cruel. It's a dehumanizing rejection of his personhood. That's not to say that Ruby is A Bad Person for doing this— she's a fucked up kid dealing with a INSANELY fucked up situation and I think it would be unreasonable to expect her to handle all this entirely gracefully. But I also don't know that Ruby is even aware that she's doing what she's doing, because she doesn't quite get that her relationship with her identities and her reincarnation is different to his.

The continuity of identity between Sarina and Ruby is more or less entirely unbroken— she sees herself equally as both girls. More specifically, as Ruby herself puts it in 115, Sarina and Ruby are both 'roles' played by the 'real her'; both equal in weight and authenticity. I think she expects this to be the same for Aqua as well but this simply is not the case, or at least it's not anymore.

My read on Aqua's identity is that while he used to have a similarly unbroken continuity of identity, the trauma of witnessing Ai's death created a split and separated the two. It's not that Aqua is entirely separate from Gorou or entirely unaffected by his past life but Aqua himself & the supporting framing of the manga draws a pretty clear line of distinction between the two of them that does not seem to exist for Ruby and Sarina. In fact, Gorou is explicitly portrayed as a negative, invading force, an unnatural encroacher whose presence in Aqua's life is actively preventing him from finding happiness and stability.

To Ruby, it seems natural for these two identities to comingle, or for one's priorities to cancel the other's out. For Aqua, this same overriding of priorities is the thing that causes him anguish. In fact, I don't think it's too much of a leap for me to say that Aqua does not want to be Gorou full stop.

With all that laid out, I think you can pretty easily see how that conflict starts writing itself. Ruby ignoring and erasing the 18 years that Aqua has lived as her brother to assign him the identity of a man he doesn't want to be... the discomfort of someone he has only ever had familial feelings towards projecting romance onto him... the Squick of it all... no wonder Aqua is doing his best to just not deal with it. I can't really blame him.

Something I also think is informing Aqua's behavior right now is guilt. As he puts it to Memcho in 130, he's using everything he can to ensure the movie's success and I think this also includes manipulating Ruby.

We get some hints at this idea from Crow Girl both in 123 and 127. She sardonically notes "aren't you glad?" that Ruby seems to have reacted so positively to this reveal and explicitly ties Ruby's wellbeing to Aqua being able to make the movie. Later, after Aqua's just witnessed the final script be delivered to the B-Komachi girls, she notes that Aqua has the expression of a person who has made the choice to "hurt people and to get hurt".

Ruby's shoujo brain reads of Aqua's intentions also are important in establishing this, I think -- these clearly read as intended comedy beats to me, both in their exaggeration and the fact that she is so obviously misreading Aqua's character and his intentions because of her rose tinted glasses. As that Netflix show about the cartoon show once said, the thing about seeing someone through rose tinted glasses is that all the red flags just look like flags. In keeping Ruby happy, Aqua is making sure she herself doesn't become inconvenient to the movie's creation.

I think you can see that idea of like, guilt and discomfort manifesting as avoidance in the twins' first proper on-page exchange since this reveal, in 132:

I didn't catch this initially (so sorry to the person on the OnK subreddit who did -- I completely forgot your UN!) but not only do we never get a proper unobscured look at Aqua's face during this exchange but he also never once looks directly at Ruby as they talk. His body language & expression at the end (literally averting his gaze!) just screams discomfort to me.

That's not to say that Aqua revealing himself to her was entirely cynically motivated -- I think he completely genuinely loves her both as her brother, Aqua, and as Gorou, the man who cared for a deathly sick child when she had no one else in the world by her side. But that's just the problem— Aqua's love for her is the thing that makes his manipulation of her so painful. He's taking advantage of his sister's emotional vulnerability and their unique connection to use her in a way that completely betrays and desecrates the bond of trust they should otherwise share. And he's aware that if (or, as I'm beginning to worry, when) this comes out, Ruby is going to crash even harder as a result.

#oshi no posting #oshi no ko #aqua hoshino #ruby hoshino #hoshino family

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butch-reidentified · 11 months

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“ask the average reader to guess whether a male or female wrote this based on the fact that the author used coarse language I bet they’ll tell you male 😏” this is what you sound like. that person clearly wasn’t even saying that women with body hair are disgusting, they were likening themselves to them, and condemning holding yourself and others to pedophilic beauty standards and you have to be reading it in the worst faith possible to have any other takeaway

yeahhh you're making shit up lmfao

post being referenced:

I never said he said women with body hair are disgusting. I never thought he said that; he was clearly trying to say that we're all just gross animals. If other people claimed he said that, talk to them. HOWEVER. he said "u are a nasty little slug too and having a vachina does not absolve u of that." I take issue with this specifically because radfems take a very "humans are just animals like any other" view. We do not believe "having a vagina" makes us superior or cleaner or less animalistic or whatever the fuck he was trying to say with that weird ass sentence.

my saying that any rando on the street would more than likely read that and assume it was written by a male is not about "coarse language" (this literally made me laugh out loud, so ty). have you looked at my blog?? it doesn't get much more "coarse language" than my writing 💀 you can say "this is what you sound like" all day, but you made that up completely while dozens if not hundreds of women knew exactly what I was referring to. Not that I actually believe that you were confused what I meant by that, but to be clear, his post reads as male because it reeks of porn-induced brainrot. "breedable 12 year old anime girls floating in a glass jar of formaldehyde waiting for some old man to come and fuck them and tell them they are so teeeeeeeeny tiny and worth it" specifically is simply not a turn of phrase (or even abstractified image) that would ever enter my mind in a million years, nor that of any woman I know. I've never seen a woman say something quite that far porn-rotted. not that it's never happened at all, but I've never seen it and I would bet my life it's exceptionally uncommon.

Everything within that image he painted is the polar opposite of how radfems see women/what radfems want for women. "Holding yourself and others to pedophilic beauty standards" - you mean the exact ones radfems speak out against relentlessly every single day??? Search my blog for terms like "female body hair," "shaving," "beauty myth," and the like, and tell me how on earth you came to the conclusion that I think women should shave or tweeze or laser or whatever a SINGLE hair even once in their entire lives. I don't shave my legs, which were wildly god-tier hairy BEFORE even I was on T. I don't shave my bush, I don't shave my armpits, I don't shave my mustache or the chin hairs cross-sex hormones gave me.

Radfeminism is opposed to every single thing that has to do with the gender construct. We absolutely do not have any requirements or expectations or criteria for womanhood beyond simply being a human + female. Like I said about viewing humans like any other animals, radfems see "woman = female human" the same way one means "doe = female deer." Woman is not a gender; it's a term referring simply to species (human) and to sex (female). That's it. No further expectations or criteria apply.

Before you try to argue that this definition excludes women who are infertile or intersex, let me be very clear about sex:

> "of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs"

"the sex that CAN" is crucial to defining female/male. the female body has biologically, genetically, and physiologically developed from before birth to support the POTENTIAL capability of producing large gametes (eggs aka ova). It is totally irrelevant if one has a medical complication that prevents her from actually producing those gametes; which gametes your body has clearly developed structurally and functionally to produce is what defines your sex, no matter what.

The fact that this is how we view "woman" and "man," as simply referencing one's sex and humanity - this is why we maintain that trans-identified males are men. Again, we don't see "man" as a gender in the slightest. We don't engage with the gender construct at all beyond our desire to dismantle it entirely so that everyone would be able to live free from those roles/stereotypes/expectations that are assigned on the basis of sex.

This makes it a ridiculous thing to assert that we have to "go so far to prove that trans women are actually men...." We do not feel that it requires any effort at all to say "a drake is a male duck, a buck is a male doe, a man is a male human." It CERTAINLY does not in ANY capacity require us to "reduce women" to that horrific sentence, or to "reduce women" at all. Is it "reducing" a doe to state that she is a female deer?

It also makes it ridiculous to insist radfems "dehumanize" women by using this definition - the definition which includes "human" as a non-negotiable criterion.

About the first of his two-part post pictured above, last but far from least: There will NEVER come a day when women - ESPECIALLY lesbians & ESPECIALLY extremely gnc lesbians - calling out misogynistic males for their behavior counts as "punching down." No matter how he identifies, how he dresses, where he works, what his talents are, what he likes/dislikes, his sexual orientation, or anything else, women (and again, lesbian women especially) do not hold institutional/systemic power over men.

as for the 10 foot pole part, I really couldn't care less what he meant or why, tbqh, because the supremely creepy pedophilic rant that made up the first part was the thing we all truly took issue with in that screenshot.

and let's not forget, this all started bc he called an ND woman the r slur for her critique asserting that he was appropriating a type of religious trauma specific to the sex-based oppression of women/girls, and profiting from doing so. personally, as a human female with a history of such religious trauma, while this has been resolved for approximately 7 years in my case, I still vehemently object to any male claiming it as his own for profit. especially if said profit is hoarded rather than given back to victims of such trauma.

NOTE: this answer was written while I'm barely staying conscious. I will come back to edit/clean up a bit later after getting some rest 😴

#mine #ask #anon ask #anon #radblr #ethel cain tumblr meltdown 2023 #hayden silas anhedönia #sex vs gender #what is a woman #what we believe

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borisbubbles · 4 months

Text

Eurovision 2024: #20

20. LUXEMBOURG Tali - "Fighter" 13th place

youtube

Decade Ranking: 73/153 [Above Electric Fields, below Emma Muscat]

For a grand, greatly anticipated return, "Fighter" has always been just there for me. It's summery, upbeat, lightweight and frivolous. Not a shabby, nor a moneymaker. This entry is an FFF (Fun Finale Filler) and it knows it.

How do I know that it knows itself? Well,

BADLY ANIMATED CGI LEOPARDS 😍 😍. You know how I feel about staging tricks like that. They're tacky and ugly and stupid and transparently try to cover up a middling composition.😍 idk, I love Leopards and I love the colour purple, so maybe it was just tacky ENOUGH to be funny, but I stan the decision-making because Tali > Ochman.

It was quite amusing 2 me that Luxembourg made their grand return after 31 years, only to try to throw vast swaths of cash at unnessecary embellishments because they KNEW it wasn't a high flier and needed to throw in SOMETHING, ANYTHING to make it work. Shirtless sexy dancers, badly animated VR, all the pyrotechnics in the world. It feels... very emblematic to them as a country even though this was their first ever modern era contest? "Money fixes everything", no wonder the EBU wanted their opulent arses back.

And it is funny they staged "Fighter" like that because "Fighter" always kind of worked, anyway? It was a plucky power-up song, and a clear qualifier in semi 1 no matter from which position it performed.

It didn't NEED the leopards

it didn't NEED the gratuituous sexual tension lmao

The way to go with a song such as "Fighter" is by finding a balance between tough and cute. The balance swung a bit too heavily in favour of "tough", because "Fighter" just isn't that kind of song, despite the reworks Lux tried to force. It's whimsically French foremost and while "France was historically a militaristic powerhouse,"toughness" suits France historically, nearly everyone associates it with cultural sophostication and romance. (hence why France is always culture focused in Civ, and never the feudal, chivalry-themed warmongering menace it actually was for most of its history ♥)

As ridiculous Fighter's staging got (and how lowkey BAD Tali'Golergant vas Eshkoli's styling was), it still vibed as a fun time. It might just be my latent alcoholic ass imprinting on the tequila sunrise colous scheme, but still. Tali took command of her dancers, showed her inner strength by fistpumping the air and thickened her braids so they no longer resembled antennae.

And she kinda ate those lives, yo.

In semi 1 Lux made for an excellent palate cleanser, a burst of energy after the period of inaneness Rim Tim Tagi Dim left in its wake. I love Raiven dearly and I really like Iolanda, but excitement was not their game. Tali came to the rescue when needed.

In the finale it was less necessary, though it did make Israel stand out as even more miserable to me, so there is that.

Sigh, I have to address the Israeli thing, don't I?

Look, I don't fucking CARE that Tali is proud of her Israeli-Jewish heritage. Nor that she visits the fake country twice a year. Nor that her song was produced by that other israeli Tali. I think her views on the matters are misguided and warped, but I get it. She's going to stick up for her OG country and her people, and we'd be foolish to expect her to do a 180° turn just because we believe she should. She has her stance, I disagree with it, but I can respect it. Civilians aren't responsible for whatever bloodthirsty maniac rules the roost or their actions, regardless of whether they elected them directly or not.

(though I will say that her transparent and overtly cheerful agreement with Joost's DQ all "YAY! HE BROKE THE RULES AFTER ALL ^_^ :claps:" made me ALOL. That DQ is still a grim affair, but lmfao what a scrump cheerleading bitch ♥).

But in a sense I wish Tali had been Israel's entrant himself. The only thing that erases Israel's controversy is their withdrawal, true, and Tali would have beenthe perfect horcrux, but if we WERE to have that country at Eurovision, I'd rather have them with Plucky Apolitical Filler (ft. Three Giant Leopards) rather than Teary Propaganda Ballad (Eurovision Reskin), y'know?

Also note, dear Israeli's, that -by my knowledge- Tali was NOT shunned by the other acts or the fan community, nor by the media and the professional juries, despite being half-Israeli and Jewish and zionistic. The few strays that she did end up catching were by the usual dumbfuck bigots on social media and amounted to nothing. So much for antisemitism, huh?

It's difficult to end the write-up after that rant that had little to do with the performance, so I will just say this: Tali's placement, while a tad high, proved that there's always a place for positivity and acceptance at Eurovision, no matter your background or your political colour.

With retrospection on our side, it makes sense juries would vote for "Fighter" as everyone agreed Nemo should win anyway, allowing them to siphon away twelves like a vacuum on amphetamine. With Croatia, Italy and France picking up the scraps, anyone with a modicum of inoffensiveness would be favoured to do well, (since this finale was HIGHLY jury unfriendly) which also favoured Lux because of the novelty coming with their return.

Ultimately it's our choices in life that define us, and Tali's were to give us a fun time unburdened by shackles of war, and that, in THIS FUCKING YEAR, was worth a lot to me.

THE RANKING:

#eurovision #eurovision song contest #borisbubbles #ESC #ESC 2024 #Eurovision 2024 #Malmö 2024 #Luxembourg #TALI #Tali Golergant #Fighter #Youtube

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chunkymamatam · 5 months

Note

Hi omg welcome back! Thank you so much for the detail on your description about the classes! When and if you have time, I would love to hear more! Have you had classes with Crewel yet? And are there any other teachers aside from the ones we know from the game? Thats something Ive always wanted to know! Also, have you gone to Sam's shop yet? How is he? He is my favourite staff member!

Oh and how long did you stay? Did you experience any events ingame and maybe some that werent in the game? Have you gone to anyones homecountry like the events?

PS: If there are too many questions, feel free to chose some to skip! I dont want to overwhelm you :) <3

It's not too much to answer the questions! There's only 2 asks now including this one and the other one if for one of my fanfic blogs so I should have enough energy/time now lol

First The rest of my classes for the current semester:

Animal Language Class

No Magic required

Consists of basic body language of different animals that might accompany you on your journey through being a "Proper mage" as Professor Trein would put it lol. This includes cats, dogs, rats, etc (basically any animal you can find in a Disney film.)

As the class goes on you learn how to decipher what they're actually saying verbally and non verbally. Unlike here animals are sentient, they will make fun of you later trust me. Ace and Deuce are frequently the victim of this lmfao

Its pretty difficult for me personally but I'm bad at communicating with humans so I wasn't really expecting any less lmfao Its as difficult as learning any new language in all seriousness so if you find that hard then welcome to the club I made cookies.

Difficulty: 4/5

Potions/Alchemy (Creation/material studies)

Magic materials will be provided by class instructor, minimal magic is needed from the mage

Consists of different creation techniques, what materials have what properties, what the different potions do, etc. There's a potion for anything and everything, most only having temporary effects but some are more permanent (base level and under specific conditions). Honestly this is one of my favorite classes. Its the most fun in my opinion.

It's not at all difficult because we're allowed to have our recipes at all times.

Difficulty: 1/5

Spell casting

Magic required

Now this is where being magicless really sucked (I still got a really good grade). I wasn't able to participate much in the begining and I was stuck memorizing spells I would never be able to use. I shit you not this man (The prof) looked at me and said

"You may not have the proper abilities to cast spells but I'll be sure to turn you into a grimoire of them by the end of this class"

Honestly stayed true to his word ngl. The amount of notes and textbooks and reciting the damn things, practicing proper spell casting formation/posture. I could instruct the other students at this point. I'm having flashbacks just thinking about it lmfao

The class consists of the actual spells, the motions needed to enact each spell, the proper posture to take when casting. We learn what each spell does, and the proper situations to use them in, etc. It is mostly just actually casting spells though and a I've only relatively recently learned how to use magic. I'm getting there with the help of Azul and my professors tho.

I wouldn't say its the worst difficulty wise but my memory is decent when it comes to academics.

dificulty: 3/5

Astrology

This class consists of studying the stars, constellations, planets, and the moon cycles and how they affect the magic we produce.

"Just as the ocean is affected by the moon and the stars, so too is our energy and magic."

Corny shit but accurate and factual lmfao. It's a really easy class and that's really all there is to it. It's mostly so you understand why your magic is stronger/weaker on different days. this also used as a reference in other classes. Like "X spell is more affective during Y Moon cycle"

Difficulty: 1/5

There's definitely more classes that I don't know of yet but we'll get to them eventually!

''Have you had classes with Crewel yet?"

Yes! I'm actually his favorite student weirdly enough lol. He's chill as long as you act right (paying attention to the lesson, doing your classwork/homework, etc). This man fr defended me from these bitch ass guys who were like

"She doesn't even have magic why does she have the top scores????"

To which he responded "Maybe if you were as diligent of a student perhaps you could also be part of the top scores, until then however, return to your seat"

Never felt safer with a teacher I swear.

"Are there any other teachers aside from the ones we know from the game?"

Yeah. I can't remember their names right this moment cuz I haven't been back there in a minute. My mental health has been ass and I fell out of love with shifting for a long while but I'm back now! I'm hopefully going back soon. I miss my boys and my classes. Mostly my boys tho. I'll have to share who they are and what their names are after I go next.

"Have you gone to Sam's shop yet? How is he?"

I have! Actually when I got my monthly allowance from Crowley (I manifested that in with the intention method cuz I'll be dammed if that cheap bitch fucks me over) it was the first place I visited. He sells damn near everything you need to live on campus. I got soap, an African net sponge (its called Savanna net sponge cuz ✨Afterglow/Sunset Savanna✨) and some lotion. I barely had enough for my groceries after that month. I was living on Ramen and the school allotted lunch (。﹏。*) This being said be prepared for Sam to over price everything. This is a rich people school and I mean eat the rich and all but PLEASE HAVE MERCY

As for how he is as a person, he's really chill. Very nice but he is still a salesman so keep that in mind with your interactions. He may have mercy if he's feeling generous (pity) lmfao. Jokes aside hes actually pretty nice outside of his business. He allowed me to talk to him about struggling with living with Vil for that month with his unseasoned dry ass chicken 😭

"How long did you stay? Did you experience any events in game and maybe some that weren't in the game?"

Currently I'm dealing with STYX and Idia's overblot. Up until that point its been about 6-7 months over there. Everything in the main game happens so fast and in such quick succession. I've experienced the Halloween events, birthdays, and the New Year events. I didn't participate in Sams event cuz I was dealing with living with Vil training for the SDC/VDC and calming down from everything with Jamil. TBH there might have been events that weren't showcased but I was just too busy with the main events and classe/hanging out with other students.

"Have you gone to anyone's home country like the events?"

Not yet but we are staying at Rooks many homes while on our way to STYX to rescue everyone rn. Hopefully soon tho because Idk it seems like a lot of fun to learn more about my friends and their homes.

#shifting realities #shifting to desired reality #reality shifter #shifting community #reality shifting #shifting blog #shifting antis dni #anti shifters dni #shifting to twst #shifting to twisted wonderland #shiftblr #desired reality

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teetle-time · 8 months

Text

Time Is All We Have

A Doctor Who x Rise of the TMNT Xover interest check/story prologue because i'm losing all control of my life lmao

Quick mini-primer for where in both timelines we are:

Non-teetle fixaters, you can just watch the first few minutes of the Rise movie. Bad future timeline shenanigans wahoo! You should probably also get a feel for the regular present timeline from the show if you can, though we won't be directly interacting with it for a quite a bit. Because Reasons. :)

Non-Who fixaters, we're rolling with David Tennant Doctor The First and the companion named Martha Jones. The name similarity to the Casey Joneses makes me giggle, especially now that I've watched through the (REDACTED) episodes where she ends up with some more Caseys parallels. Those haven't happened yet for her though lmao. Frankly, she's only had a few episodes'-worth of adventures with the Doctor by this point. :)

anyway. shoutout to my brother purpletango for having this idea. i believe what i hurriedly jotted down in my notepad app went like this:

the rise movie begins, mikey gets ready to send junior back in time- -and something goes wrong. welp, the gateway's there now. may as well use it. junior gets yeeted through (and my brain is now adding the idea of leo realizing something's up and going with him) and junior (and maybe leo) land…in the TARDIS. now they gotta get back to earth (hoping they're at least in the right dimension) to find the key and stop the krang. NO PRESSURE LMFAO

with a lil tweaking to the premise that just sorta happened as i was writing, i'm now at 26k words of combined fic and notes. it has been 2.5 weeks. i am nowhere near done. help lmao

gonna be doing something a bit funky with the tardis here just to get the ball rolling. idk if it's a canon thing that can happen but if it's not then shshshshshshsh just pretend with me. take my hand

〜

Almost exactly twelve hours prior to the moment he died, when the rest of what remained of the Resistance had been asleep and it had only been the turtles awake to keep watch, Michelangelo had looked to his big brother and said, "We can't beat them, can we?"

Last night, Leonardo had swallowed and given a slight shake of his head. "We can't."

"They've even stolen the night sky from us somehow," Michelangelo had said, lifting his gaze to the cloudless, crimson sky. "Look, there's no stars anymore."

"When did that happen?" Leonardo had asked under his breath. "We still had at least a handful last I checked…"

"Sometime since the last time we had enough peace and quiet at night to actually look up. I'd say…in the past few weeks?" Michelangelo had suggested.

There had been silence for a long moment after that, broken only by the quiet, deep breathing of the few who were left, as well as the shifting of Michelangelo's cloak as he scooted a bit closer to his brother.

Between the two of them, Leonardo and Michelangelo had enough organic fingers and toes to count everyone else who'd survived the past twenty-odd years. Then again, with only two toes on each foot, three fingers on each hand, and three organic hands left to use…well. Less than twenty wasn't exactly an army.

Casey had shifted in his sleep, eventually, mumbling something incoherent the way his mother always had.

Leonardo had swallowed.

Michelangelo had pulled his gaze back down to Earth and looked at him.

"The Krang won't give us the mercy of dying," Leonardo had said grimly. "Not if they can help it."

"They won't," Michelangelo had agreed.

"The others chose to fight with us. Humans, yokai, and mutants. Even Todd. Never would've expected him of all yokai to be so kickass, back in the day. But…this is all Casey's ever known," Leonardo had continued.

"It is."

There had been a shifting in the shadows off in the distance, then, and while it had turned out to be easily taken care of, it had still put a pause on the brothers' conversation for a bit.

When they'd gotten back, but before they'd woken the others and gotten moving again, Leonardo had nailed Michelangelo with a solemn look. "We can't avoid this forever, but Casey…"

"I know you're not talking about that thing we talked about never talking about," Michelangelo had said, raising the ridges of his brows for a deadpan look and a wry smile.

Leonardo had jabbed an elbow into his plastron with a thick snicker…but he hadn't denied it.

Michelangelo had sobered up, then. "Oh."

"Do you think you can do it?" Leonardo had asked as he'd knelt to shake April awake, pausing before he did to meet Michelangelo's eyes.

"I know I can," Michelangelo had said, remaining quiet about how 'it' would very likely be the end of him.

They'd both already known as much.

"When?"

"I-I don't know. When things look bleakest," Leonardo had tried. "If it comes down to us. If it's just you and somebody else. If…if it's just you."

Michelangelo had nodded, then put a hand on his brother's carapace. "The Krang'll get front-row seats to Earth's very own home-grown sun. And that's a Doctor Delicate Touch guarantee."

"Wouldn't expect anything less, little man," Leonardo had chuckled. "Give 'em a light show that'll have 'em running scared."

"I can fly, Leo. And 'little man' was always Raph's thing," Michelangelo had snickered, reaching down to wake Casey. "Hey, Casey, we gotta get moving. Mind waking up and reminding your sensei that I win all height contests forever, no take-backs?"

The noise had begun rousing the others, and Leonardo had scoffed. "Turning my own student against me, Mikey? Low blow."

"Nah," April had said from where she lay. "This is a low blow."

She had snapped an arm out to smack Leonardo's shin, and the rest of the survivors had woken to quiet laughter.

It had been nice.

The last moment of calm within the storm.

In the present, Michelangelo winced as the mystic energies swirling through him reached a crescendo, but still pushed further, digging his fingers into the fabric of reality and wrenching it apart.

With Leonardo wounded, everyone else outnumbered, and Krang closing in on all sides, it was definitely pretty bleak.

There was no better time to make a time gateway than when there was no time left, after all.

His heart pounded in his tympana, loudly enough he almost could have sworn it echoed, a thud-thud-thud-thud that wanted to shake him to the core.

For a moment, with the Krang bearing down on him, his brother, and his nephew, it felt like he was losing his grip.

Casey's voice managed to overpower the thud-thud-thud-thud: "Master Michelangelo, no! You're gonna-!"

He knew.

How could he not, with light cracking his skin and his scales into little flakes of dust on the wind?

But Casey…he was the future.

The best of all of them.

As long as Casey would be okay, Michelangelo could do anything. Would do anything.

He turned his head back over his shoulder for one last look.

Casey looked horrified.

Leonardo looked resigned.

There was no one else left.

(He didn't want to go.)

Michelangelo smiled and gave his family a cheeky little wink, then turned his attention to the time gateway in front of him, threw his arms out to his sides with one last heave-!

-and like Earth's very own home-grown supernova, like the very last star in the universe, he imploded into golden light.

〜

Leonardo felt himself shatter inside as Mikey disintegrated and the time gate stabilized, but the Krang were still closing in.

"Casey, when you're done saving the world, do me a favor," he said, putting a hand on the kid's shoulder.

Casey looked up at him with wide eyes. "Sensei, don't-!"

Leonardo just smiled sadly and shifted his grip from comforting to more of a ready to throw.

He ignored the fire in his side and the trickle of blood down his plastron as he hurled Casey into the gateway. "Grab a slice-!"

"NO!"

Casey's scream was the only warning Leonardo had before the wrist-strapped grapple (standard issue, at least before Donnie had gone out with a bang) streaked back out of the portal, latched onto Leonardo's good shoulder, and yanked him off his feet.

"Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa-!"

The deafening thrum of a Krang laser and a flash of heat at his back told Leonardo exactly how he should have died, but the sensations vanished just as quickly as they'd appeared, leaving only the golden light of Michelangelo's ninpo and the silhouette a few yards away that told Leonardo where Casey was.

Leo almost let himself go limp in the rushing mass of energy as it faded from golden-orange to something more bluish-gray.

Almost.

Instead, however, he grit his teeth against the way his wound flared up and started swimming for Casey.

The light around them grew brighter with no signs of stopping.

By the time Leo reached the kid, he had to screw his eyes shut to avoid going blind.

He managed to grab Casey's hand, then wrap himself protectively around him-

-and then some kind of metal grating slammed against his carapace, his head snapped back, and he knew only darkness.

〜

The Doctor blinked at the sudden sound of beeping. "Oh? That doesn't sound right."

"Doctor? What is it?" asked Martha.

"I'm getting an alert," said he, darting over to one of the TARDIS' monitors for a look. "An alert that there's a lifeform catapulting through the timestream almost completely unprotected- two! Two lifeforms!"

Martha blinked. "What? How did that happen?"

"I don't know, but if we want to find out, we'd best get them onboard before whatever shielding they do have is eroded away." The Doctor studied the monitor for a moment more, then slid around the console and started throwing the appropriate levers and flicking the appropriate switches. "I need to focus on getting close- would you mind peeking out the doors to make sure my aim isn't off?"

"On it!"

The Doctor grinned, then turned his focus back to steering. "Aaalright then! They ought to be coming up just ahead, maybe a smidge to our left-!"

"I see them!" Martha called. "One of them- one looks human!"

The Doctor blinked, then looked up. "Only the one?"

Martha nodded, not tearing her eyes from the window. "The other looks almost like a turtle! Except, well, it's person-sized!"

"Curiouser and curiouser," the Doctor mused. Then, looking back down at the console, "Well, I think the simplest course of action would be to just…scoop them up!"

Martha glanced his way in confusion. "What, just open the door and grab 'em?"

"Exactly. You'll want to be quick and precise," the Doctor recommended. "Good to know we're on the same page."

After a moment to process what he'd said, Martha nodded slowly. "…right."

The Doctor carefully piloted the TARDIS close, and as he watched the energy readings of the two lifeforms get close enough, he heard Martha open the door, then yelp in surprise as something hard hit the metal flooring with a clang.

"Sensei?!" squawked the thick and emotional voice of a pubescent human boy.

"Oh, my," said the Doctor, skirting the edge of the console as he jogged over for a look.

Immediately, he could tell that whatever the circumstances were that had led to the two strangers being catapulted into the timestream, they had not been pretty. Between the apocalyptic fashion and weaponry, the fact that the turtle had seemingly been curled around the boy until losing consciousness, and the sight of tear tracks on the boy's face…well, a billboard would have been less obvious.

The boy glanced between the Doctor and Martha, wide eyes quickly shifting into suspicion as he slid off "Sensei's" plastron and placed himself between the turtle and the Doctor. "Who are you? What do you want with us? Are you with the Krang?"

Huh. He sounded American.

"Krang?" asked Martha, turning to him. "Doctor, what's a Krang?"

The Doctor frowned, mulling the word over. "Krang? Krang, Krang, KrangKrangKrang… Can't say I recognize the name. Bit of a shocker, really, and somewhat worrisome."

The boy's face spasmed, confusion clearly welling up, but the door chose to remind them all that it was still open by letting a tannish cloak drift through and land next to the two newcomers.

The sight of the cloak made the boy's eyes moisten further.

Oh, dear.

"Martha, could you get the door?" asked the Doctor, shifting his voice into something a little softer as he knelt next to the two strangers.

"Oh, uh- you got it."

As Martha did exactly that, the Doctor met the boy's eyes. "I'm the Doctor. Behind you is Martha, and this is the TARDIS. I don't know what it is you're running from, whatever this 'Krang' business is, but I promise you, you're safe here."

The boy's suspicion slowly lessened, the tension in his shoulders loosening some- though, notably, nowhere near completely. "And…what's a tardis?"

"My spaceship," said the Doctor modestly. "'S how I get around. What I want to know is, how did a humanoid teenager and a turtleman with a robotic arm end up hurtling through the timestream all on their lonesome?"

At that, the boy's gaze flickered to the cloak on the ground, and his jaw hardened in that way jaws tended to do when the only other option was to sob.

"…I see," said the Doctor quietly. "While I'd like to know the specifics, pushing this sort of thing never really seems to work out well. So I won't."

"You-" The boy's voice cracked, and he tried again. "You said you were a doctor?"

"The Doctor," corrected he.

"Though I've been training as one for quite some time, myself!" Martha reminded.

The boy visibly warred with himself for a moment, then grit his teeth and pulled slightly away from the turtle's side, revealing a nasty gash that had gone clean through his shell. "Help him. Please."

Martha gasped. "Oh, God-!"

The Doctor's eyes flew wide, but then he nodded firmly. "We'll do everything we can."

#tenth doctor #martha jones #tmnt leonardo #tmnt michelangelo #casey jones junior #rise #tmnt #doctor who #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rise of the tmnt #save rottmnt #self fic #if you listen closely you can hear the faint sounds of slow jazz 1920's-style 'having a good time' by queen in the distance #TWO ANGSTY YOUNG-OLD MEN IN THE TARDIS WITH THEIR COMPANIONS SURNAME JONES #WHAT WILL THEY DO

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songbirdtales · 11 months

Text

The Devil You Know (AstarionxTav) SFW

Author's Note:

Hey folks! So I've been writing these based on my play through and I'm realizing now my first encounter with Raphael was... not typical... but anyway that's why this is set in the underdark lmfao. Enjoy! Game spoilers ahead!

The group had taken a pulley down from a hideout into the underdark. Wandering aimlessly, the group would eventually find an old Selunite outpost guarded by magic from the outside. With Astarion’s sharp eye and a quick reduce spell from Gale, Tav slipped through a small crack in the wall, and emerged into the abandoned outpost. Despite their dark vision, the shroud of the underdark veiled everything in a gloom.

“Are you alright in there?” Gale called after in a hushed tone.

“Aye!” They called back, the innate magic of their voice was able to warp in a way that made their whisper more direct and clear. “I’m on the other side. I’ll open the gate.” The outpost was deathly still, the silence only broken by the natural sounds of the underdark. Each step forward echoed on the stone as Tav crept towards the statue. The statue of Selune held a staff above her head adorned with a moonstone that fueled the magical protections of the outpost. It only took one well aimed arrow to crack the stone.

As soon as the magic was gone, Astarion sauntered over to the gate. He, Gale, and Karlach stood around as the rogue played with the mechanism. It only took him the briefest moment before the iron gate fell down into the floor and the three casually stepped inside. Astarion had expected Tav to be right there waiting with their arms crossed and a playful comment about taking so long, but as he strolled towards the statue he’d look left and then right. No Tav.

Gale called for Tav, his voice reverberating through the stone outpost. The only response he recieved was silence.

Astarion’s eyes darted around the dark as panic began to set in. Was this it? Had Cazidor come and started picking off his allies? He was consumed by the though he didn’t even notice-

“Sulfer.” Karlach growled as she moved towards a soot mark on the ground. It would have been a perfect vantage point to hit the now shattered moonstone.

The sound of Gale and Karlach’s worried bickering was drowned out by Astarion’s thoughts as relief instantly slammed into a whole new fear. Gale and Karlach had begun to argue as he tuned back into the conversation.

“I just don’t understand why either of the devils we know would go after Tav and not you or Wyll?” Gale mused aloud to Karlach

“There’s another.” Astarion blurted out before, but hesitation set in. Should he have said that? As far as he knew, he was the only one who knew Tav was a half devil. He understood the stigma of such a thing, even worse than the stigma of simply being seen as a tiefling, but this was important. Tav was gone, they could be in danger. He needed to say something. “There’s… a third devil it could be.”

“What?” Karlach looked to Astarion with an anger that bordered on betrayal.

“It’s nothing to do with me!” He snapped back defensively. “I just- well- know there’s a third devil.”

Gale narrowed his eyes, tilting his head up to glare down at Astarion. Perhaps Gale was actually intimidating for once, or maybe the absence of his tiefling shield had Astarion off his game. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Astarion took a sharp step back. “You’d have me break Tav’s confidence?” He shot back with far less sass than he’d normally have. “If it is this third devil,” Astarion raised his hands defensively. “Which it might not even be, I doubt they’re in too much danger.” He desperately tried to convince himself of it too. He didn’t actually know. All he did know, from what little he could pick up, there was bad blood.

Gale was not satisfied with this. He took a step towards Astarion and Karlach put out her arms. One hand was held out towards each man, easily keeping them apart between her size and her heat. Flames licked at Gale’s clothes as he had to pull his momentum back. “Woah now! Fighting each other won’t help us find Tav.” She said to Gale, before her eyes turned back to Astarion with a stern disappointment. “You’d better be right about Tav being okay.”

Meanwhile…

As soon as the moonstone had shattered Tav heard a throat clearing over their shoulder. When they turned around, crossbow at the ready, they’d find they were no longer in the outpost. The dark stone walls were now draped in red. A fireplace roared behind a human looking man as he smiled devilishly.

“If it isn’t my favorite bard,” The familiar man opened his arms as if asking for a hug, a perfect charming smile plastered on his face like a mask. He’d put on a refined face though Tav wondered why, with all his illusions, the man didn’t make himself look… better. Less like him.

This wasn’t the first time Tav had been to the Hells, nor was it the first time they’d been to his domain. They knew the feeling, the smell, the cold of Cania. There was little else for them to say than, “Put me back.”

“And deny you my hospitality? What would father say?-” His smile twisted broader and Tav bared their fangs. They despised the familiarity with which the devil spoke. They knew his face from afar and his name from the mouths of others, but they did not consider him their brother. He was a stranger, even if they shared a sire.

“Now.” Their blue eyes flashed, pulsing with magic as their body surged with the infernal essence of Cania itself. Ice began to crackle and spread from under Tav’s feet.

“If you’re worried about your companions, I can fix that.” He hummed as he watched Tav’s defiant glare broke to dread. Before they could say anything, the devil snapped his fingers which magically summoned Astarion, Gale, and Karlach. Karlach had just told them all to calm and still had her hands out to keep the men apart. The three found themselves in the lavished dining room and all quickly broke apart to look around.

“Gods…” Karlach’s voice dripped with terror as she knew exactly where she was, back in Hell.

“Please relax, have some food, I just wanted to talk about your tadpole problem.” The man was still playing human, but Tav knew him by another form and wasn’t in the mood for his games. They tried desperately to contain their anger, but their devilish affinity for the infernal powers in the air was obvious as the cold of Cania threatened to over-flow from them. What would their father say?

Breathe. A devil’s worst enemy is their own mouth.

Tav closed their eyes and took a deep breath in, collecting themself before those sharp blue eyes came back to cut the man’s appearance to pieces. “Rude of you to not properly introduce yourself.” Their voice was still stern but their anger was far more honed, each word hit their host like nails.

“Ah, yes, my apologies,” The man bowed, and as he did the human form he’d once held faded. His structure remained mostly the same save for the addition of horns and membrane wings, his skin turning vivid red. “I am Raphael. Welcome to my House of Hope.”

There was some vague resemblance between the red skinned hellion and the Drow toned tiefling, but if Astarion was being honest he wasn’t good at telling tiefling apart. Whatever familiarity Tav had with this Raphael, they were hiding well. Astarion assumed this wasn’t Tav’s sire… but that was indeed an assumption. He glanced between the others who’d glanced at him for any sort of que, and shrugged. Neither Gale nor Karlach seemed satisfied with that, their mouths both falling open to protest, but Tav didn’t notice. Their focus was on the devil.

“We’ve no need for a devil, so you can send us all back where you found us.” Tav said with a visibly forced politeness. Their words eased Gale and Karlach, their outright rejection falling in line with who they knew Tav to be.

Raphael laughed loudly in Tav’s face, bringing a finger to his eye to brush away tears that had instantly evaporated on his skin. “So cold! I’d heard ‘The Songbird of the Gate’ was charming and sweet. You’ve quite the reputation down here.” He was taking great pleasure exposing them to their friends. He smiled too wide, his excitement too apparent, he could barely contain himself. “But you don’t have to give me an answer now. Just think about it. You can explore your other options, visit every healer you can find, and when they all turn up empty you will come knocking on my door. When you are most in need and all hope is lost, I will be there.” He looked at the four as if they were the real feast.

Tav didn’t move, still stood with their arms crossed, glaring hellfire at Raphael. “If that’s it, send us back.” Each word was clipped, biting off each one.

Raphael rose a hand in ceremonious flourish. “Of course, of course.” His shape teeth on full display as he smiled hungrily. “He won’t even know you were home.”

There was a flash of light and then darkness, pitch and utter underdark darkness. The four were practically blinded as they returned to the outpost.

Gale was the first to get his bearings. He took a few slow steps towards Tav, reaching a hand out for their shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Tav’s face was locked in a look of frustration, anger threatening to boil over as they dove deeper into their thoughts, losing track of their senses as everything turned red.

“Darling?” Astarion’s voice pulled them from their head with a flinch before their body relaxed.

“I’m ok.” They sighed, bringing a hand up to rub their temples.

Gale couldn’t help but ask what they were all thinking, “Who was Raphael talking about, just before he sent us back?”

“I-” Tav hesitated, clearly scared, terrified even, but as their gaze locked with Gale’s, they could feel his hand give a reassuring squeeze. Each of them had shared such deeply personal problems with them. They could trust them, right? Still, Tav’s eyes turned to Karlach, apologetic. The last thing they wanted to do was scare her. “The devil my mother had a pact with…” They swallowed the lump in their throat as they continued. “My… father.” There was an obvious pain on their face as they admitted. Karlach was visibly shaken but their trust in Tav was strong, and even she could see the self loathing at what they really were clear on Tav’s face. Tav had never shown a fondness for devils, that seemed to extend to themself. “I have no intention of making a deal with any devil.”

Karlach was still shaken from it all, angry even, but not at Tav. Her frown relaxed, an apologetic look of her own coming forward. “Never doubted you for a second.” The underdark filled the pause in her words. Tav didn’t need to tell her what had happened, she knew what they meant. “Sorry about your mum.”

Tav smiled, letting out a sigh of relief as they nodded. “Why don’t we make camp?” The suggestion was not refused. As the party met them and set up their things, Tav lingered by the gates of the outpost.

“Can you believe it,” Karlach was practically bouncing by the fire. “Tav, our Tav, is the songbird of the gate!”

“I would have thought you’d be more focused on… the other part.” Gale said with a hesitant smile. He was very thankful no one was fighting about it, but he was still deflating from the tension.

“Explain.” Lae’zel demanded as she set up her tent. “What is this Songbird?”

“The Songbird is a fairly popular bard. One of their songs about Elturel really hit it off among tiefling, but they’ve always had a reputation for their break up songs in Baldur’s Gate.” Wyll said with a grin.

Shadowheart and Gale stood around the fire, listening between the two as they went back and forth, Karlach scolding and Wyll poking at Karlach’s taste in music.

“Don’t be like that! Love songs are powerful - and their songs are so dark and heavy. Perfect for a rager!”

“Yeh and aren’t they all about one guy? Sounds like a big warning to me.” Wyll said, wagging a finger at her.

Karlach’s face flushed as fire started to lick from her skin. “I-it’s not like that, I just like their music. I’d even call myself a fan.” Karlach said with a pout. “And they’re not all about the same person. There’s at least three different people they write about.” She really was a fan.

“I’ve only heard of the Songbird. I’d not mind hearing some originals around the fire.” Shadowheart chimed in.

“I second that.” Gale added. “Might even be comforting to have a wanting, captive audience.” He’d glance back to where Tav had been at the gate of the outpost only to see no one. Worry peeked on his face. “Where’d they go?”

“Probably just needed some air,” Astarion called as he came down from the top of the gate. He’d been listening to everyone, but he’d been watching Tav. He saw them go around the outer wall, and there was nowhere else for them to go from there. “I’ll go, they couldn’t have gone far.” He said with a shrug, Gale’s gaze hardening as Astarion slipped from view.

“How’d you hear about the Songbird in Averus, Karlach?” Shadowheart’s voice just barely reached Astarion’s ears as he walked out of the outpost.

“Their music’s pretty popular in hell.”

In the darkness Astarion found Tav sitting, their feet together and knees spread, elbows pushing their knees apart as they held their head in their hands. They were muttering curses, their tail thrashing violently on the ground. “This is bad…” They didn’t notice him at all, consumed by their mind.

He knelt down beside them, reaching a hand out, but not touching. His voice made Tav jump as his voice came soft and deep. “Darling?” He saw something too familiar in the fear on their face, their head snapping in his direction as Tav was torn from a troubling thought. They were shaking. His hand withdrew as he stayed at their side. “What’s wrong?”

Tav’s breath came in stuttered heaves of their chest as they jolted back against the wall, relief only washing over them when they registered who it was. Their eyes looked so big in the dark, thin rings of fire burning between spheres of pitch over tearfilled reservoirs. As their breath stilled, Tav relaxed against the wall, letting their legs stretch out before them as they slumped. “Everything.” Their voice dripped with sarcasm as their anger melted into despair. “Raphael… Me.” The last word came out as a sob.

Astarion didn’t understand yet, his mind trying to work out the next part but there were too many holes in the story still. He’d sit against the wall beside them, settling close, lingering at the edges of their senses but never meeting. “Do you know him?”

Tav’s hardened worry began to melt to sorrow and resentment. “He’s my sire’s heir.” They admitted so easily. He’d already admitted he was a vampire spawn being hunted by his former master, he’d been waiting for the crazy circumstances of their own predicament. “We’ve never met but I know of him, clearly he’s heard plenty of me. That he’d come to us like he did, corner me while I was alone like that…” That had bothered Astarion too, just recalling that brief moment of panic as he looked around the outpost made him feel sick. “I hate that it feels like one of our few real options is a devil, but if he’s family, perhaps it could be good.”

“No!” Tav snapped, the fear in their eyes spiking to a new high. He’d never seen them so frightened. “No deal with any devil could be good.” Tav said firmly as their gaze grew harsh. “Raphael might say he wants to help us with these tadpoles, but that can’t possibly be what he really wants. No matter which devil we dealt with, if they wouldn’t want us to sacrifice Karlach or Wyll…” their voice had risen with emotion before catching in their throat. Their last words croaked out with for. “They’d want me.”

The two of them stared at each other in the dark, Tav’s eyes pleading as they studied Astarion’s face, begging him not to sell them off. Their words pulled the corner of his lips down, his brow furrow ever so slightly as displeasure settled into his features. “That won’t do at all.” He said as he stood, a pale hand offered out to Tav. “Come.”

Tav didn’t need to be told twice, reaching for Astarion’s hand and pulling themself to their feet.

He leaned closer, his voice barely a whisper as the sound of the camp’s chatter became just another part of the natural sounds of the underdark. “Let’s find somewhere quiet, forget all this for a spell, lose ourselves in each other?” It wouldn’t be the first time they’d snuck away for a fuck, it was becoming almost as frequent as his feedings. Yet he’d never prompted it like this. Typically he let things happen in their own time, and nightly they seemed to. This was forward of him.

At first Astarion had felt like he was going through the motions with them, but over time he’d begun to find himself longing for those quiet moments after. When he could be close, listen to their heart beat and lungs breathe, when he could be alone with them. He usually found them eager for that too, but as he studied their expression something was wrong. Tav had an uneasy look, the one they got when searching for the right words. He’d wanted to offer comfort in the only way he knew how, but it felt more like he was offering them a drug they were reluctant to take. He was bad at this, emotions. He knew he was bad at this, but he was trying so hard.

“Do you think-” They were nervous, glancing away as his gaze became too intense for them. They couldn’t stand up to him and look him in the eye. He braced for the rejection, for the questioning of his motives, for all the cards that they’d each precariously placed to build something strange and comfortable would come fluttering down to the table. They’d paused to reword their thoughts, starting over comepletely. “Would you be opposed to… taking a walk… with me?” Their eyes finally came back to him. All that fear he’d just felt, he could see it teeming in their eyes, worried he’d say no, that he only wanted them to lose himself in, that this request would be met with sarcasm and ridicule.

Astarion squeezed their hand as his own eyes searched the floor for an answer, a soft, real smile eased across his features. They could tell when his smiles were honest, the lines on his face more visible in ways that Astarion might have thought unflattering, but Tav thought it made his face all the more enchanting to see the proof of his life. “Honestly, I don’t care what we do.” The words fell from his lips like a sigh of relief before his gaze finally flit back up to lock with their own. “As long as you come out of that pretty head of yours, darling. I demand your attention.”

Tav blinked a few times, their jaw relaxing, lips slowly growing back to a smile to match his own. They tilted their head and squeezed his hand back as their eyes turned out towards the dark. “I saw a strange light in the distance earlier, I wanted to check out, but I didn’t want to go alone. Could even be trouble.” That bright, mischievous smile was back, fangs on full display. There they were.

Astarion’s own fangs flashed in turn. He’d let go of their hand and turn to the side, gesturing as if holding a door open for them. “After you, my sweet.” He always sounded sarcastic when he called them such things, but the mischief in his smile was one they knew well. It was the look he got when he was about to pick a lock; thrill.

Tav let out a soft giggle, a dark violet flush coming to their cool toned face as they stepped towards him. “Come on,” They whispered happily as the two ran off gleefully into the underdark. They could still see the outpost from where they wondered, the two following a golden glow in the distance.

“Are you sure it’s not just more mushrooms?” Astarion asked as boredom quickly set into his voice, the walk longer than either had anticipated.

“Don’t you see it?” They pointed, holding still so he could lean over their shoulder with one eye closed to see exactly what they were pointing at. He was just a little taller than Tav when barefoot, but the heels of Tav’s boots made up the different, Astarion’s chin barely hovering over Tav’s shoulder

“Hmmm. It does look metallic…” He’d admit.

“That’s what I’m saying,” They glanced back to him, their faces nearly cheek to cheek. “Looks more like gold, maybe brass.” They’d put their arm down and took a few steps forward, continuing towards the shine. “Maybe it’s a magic weapon that’ll solve all of our problems.” They joked as they spun back around towards him. They’d wiggle their fingers at him, their hands hanging lazily up near their shoulders, palms turned down, as if mimicking casting a spell.

“If it’s a magic weapon, I’ll eat my bloody boots.” His eyes rolled, but a soft smile couldn’t help but linger on his lips. He did enjoy their dungeon crawling, the thrill of disarming traps and picking open locks to treasure hordes. He lived for the face Tav made when they took the spoils of his plunders in their hands. He thought they looked so good in gold.

The odds of the strange glinting light being a magical weapon were so low, so when they two came around the bend of the path to where the light had been Astarion’s jaw dropped. Plunged into the stone, standing at perfect vigil was a beautiful sword with gold inlay. It pulsed with magic as the two approached what looked like a shrine.

Tav stared in awe at the sword as a smile grew on their face, the two standing side by side just a little away from the sword. “Woah…” Tav said before turning their head towards Astarion. “You don’t have to actually eat your boots though.” Their fangs flashed as they smiled, true and honest, he was always thrown off by how quickly they could rebound emotionally.

Astarion watched as Tav approached the sword, kneeling down to examine it. They stared in quiet contemplation for some time before reaching a hand back towards him. “Can I borrow your dagger?”

The request tore him from his own frozen thoughts about the odds of this being here and what the hells this shrine even was. He pulled a blade out and handed it to them without resistance. “You think you can get it out?” He asked skeptically as he offered them the hilt end of the dagger.

Tav nodded as they took his dagger, bringing the blade straight to their palm and slicing. Astrarion could smell the blood before he saw it, blinking in surprise at how easily they’d hurt themself, and how little it seemed to actually hurt. They’d pass the dagger back as if it were the spoon of the camp stew, as if he’d want a lick. He did, and he’d take it, but he was baffled as he watched Tav let the blood fall from their hand to the stone that held the blade in place.

The blade rang, singing into the dark as it rose from the stone, waiting to be claimed. Tav stood slowly as they stared in utter awe of the magic in front of them. Astarion’s eyes were on them, watching that face he normally yearned to see, the face of wonder and glee that came with finding treasure, yet it didn’t make him feel the same this time. Was it because he was not responsible for causing it? That they didn’t really need him to have such magic in their life? It came so naturally, adventure and fortune finding them even in the darkest place. What did they need him for? “How did you know to do that?” He asked softly, his voice fragile and unsure.

Tav’s eyes stayed on the sword. They’d whisper a healing word into their cut hand before answering him. “My dream visitor, or should I say the person who’s face it wears, He was a treasure hunter. I learned a lot from the books he’d leave behind at my mother’s while he was on the run from whoever he owed coin or flesh to at the moment. Every now and then he’d stick around long enough to tell me a story.” They’d reach for the blade, but pause to smile back at Astarion. “And, contrary to Gale’s insistence, I did study magic formally… Even if it was from a college of swords.” They’d shrug, grinning roguishly at him before turning their gaze back to the sword. “An offering of blood calls for an offering of blood.”

Finally their fingers closed around the hilt of the sword, grasping it in their hand and taking it from the shrine for good. As they did the blade began to sing louder, the magic of it washing over them both, empowering them. He could feel it too, the strength pulsing through him from the radiant harmony. Tav’s face grew bright and sure. When their eyes turned back to him, he couldn’t help but stare. Their smile was like sunlight, warm and wonderful and terrifying.

“Thank you.” Tav practically whispered. How two little words could light something in him that he didn’t recognize. It felt familiar, like an old acquaintance whose name escaped him. He knew it was part of that thrill when he’d popped a trunk and Tav washed their hands in gold, but he didn’t feel like he’d earned it.

“For what?” He scoffed as he stood back, resting a hand on his hip as he looked away. “Standing around looking pretty?” He was still cleaning the blood from his face after licking his dagger clean, sucking his thumb clean as he wiped the smear at the corner of his lips.

“For indulging me.” Tav didn’t stare as he cleaned his face, their eyes on his as they spoke. He’d expected to at least distract them from his insecurity with lust, but Tav had a one track mind and lust was not the current track. They still held the singing sword in their hand, turning the blade down towards the ground as if it were an umbrella. “You didn’t have to come out here with me, but you did. I know we’ve much bigger problems right now, but these little adventures with you-” Their voice caught in their throat, hesitating before averting their eyes towards the outpost. “A-and everyone- mean everything to me…” Their cheeks were flushed again, their gaze softening but dared not look back to him. It was all they could still do to deny the obvious.

He had slowly been starting to realize that Tav was not as young as he’d assumed. The more they spoke, the more he saw the years to them, and even then, how packed those years had been. Stuffed with pain and loneliness and suffering, and joy and magic and love. He’d thought it unfair before, that they could still have the good things he’d been denied so long, but he was beginning to see the true wear all that pain had on their soul, how hard they struggled to rebound, how much of that joy and magic and love they had to make for themself. They were becoming more real to him by the moment. “If all of this hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be off having a better adventure?”

He watched Tav’s smile die on their lips, a hesitant laugh coming from them as their expression grew hollow at the memory. “I’ve not really felt like myself since Elturel.”

He’d heard them mention it before to the tieflings in the grove. He knew what Elturel was, where it was geographically, but he’d been locked away for much of the last 200 years, he’d only picked up passing bits of information of what happened there. It had something to do with devils, perhaps the blood war, whatever that was. He didn’t really know.

Tav took a deep breath, pulling themself back together and focusing on him once more. “This isn’t the first time I’ve survived the end of the world.” They joked. “Nor would it be the first time my sire attempted to use my magnetism for danger to get what he wants.” The hair that framed Tav’s face shifted as they tilted their head, getting lost in their memories. “But it felt like I left something behind in Elturel.”

“Have you found it?” He leaned into their vision, drawing their eyes back to him. Those demonic blue eyes were so alien to most, monstrous even, but he found them comforting. They made him feel less like a monster himself.

“I’m not sure,” They admitted with ease before hesitation slipped in. “But… I want to help the people I care about. You-... make me feel like I can.” There was a bashfulness to them as they were the first to address what neither of them were willing to admit was very much there. The feelings Astarion didn’t want to name, the same ones Tav pretended weren’t growing in themself too.

He wanted to collapse into those feelings, drown in them, gorge on them, but the thought was almost as frightening as his darkest nightmare. He could bear their rejection, but there was a far worse outcome. What if he let them in, and they were true? What if they changed him for the better, made him good, all for him to still be too weak to protect himself from Cazidor? Worse even, what if he couldn’t protect Tav from Cazidor? He certainly couldn’t protect them from their sire. He was just a spawn after all.

They had won this round. If his heart were still beating it’d be jumping from his chest, his face only warming from the tension in the muscles of his jaw. Astarion’s eyes locked forward, his whole head having to turn to avert his gaze from them. It took all his strength just to move. “We should probably head back to camp.” He said flatly as he turned away fully, hiding his face from their sight. Astarion waited for them, offering a hand back without looking. “Come along.” His fingers flexed, closing and opening again as he waited for them to take hold.

Tav’s bashfulness turned to embarrassment until he offered his hand. He was still so hard to read at times. They tucked the sword into their belt and the thrum of the blade stilled. He could feel the absence of that thrum in the air when he felt their calloused fingers against his skin. He laced his hand with theirs, squeezing tight but keeping a pace that kept them from seeing his face. Hadn’t this been the plan; seduce them, make them fall in love with him so they’d never betray him? So why did it feel like this? If he was so scared, even disgusted by himself, why did he still need to feel their hand in his?

The two silently made their way back to the outpost, an awkward distance forming as they made it back to the others, the hold of their hands growing loser until his fingertips were all that held on. As they walked, that strange voice whispered into Tav’s mind.

Why would you say such things? You’re not stupid, so why think a vampire spawn could feel anything for you? And telling him so much sensitive information could only be a tool for him to use against you.

‘You’? Tav couldn’t help but notice the wording, as if the voice was not their own, but someone else, whispering dissonant thoughts into their mind. The thought sored their face as they came back to the camp. Tav let go of Astarion’s hand first, separating before anyone could see as Karlach and Wyll still sat around the fire with Shadowheart and Lae’zel.

“How’s it going, soldier?” Karlach’s smile was enough to bring Tav back into good spirits.

Tav let a hand rest on the hilt of the magic sword now hanging at their hip. “Astarion and I found a singing sword in a rock.” They announced as they came to sit on their bedroll, Astarion lingering not far but staying in the shadows. He didn’t correct what he felt was an overstatement in his participation as Tav recounted the tale to the camp.

The group passed the sword around, looking it over and chattering about the odds, a few magic sword jokes were made until Astarion made an innuendo that made Shadowheart blush and the camp erupted in laughter. Tav had begun to tune their lute as everyone bantered. It was in the lull of the laughter when Karlach spoke up.

“Tav,” Nervousness laced her voice. “I know you didn’t tell us you were the Songbird, and I’m sure you had your reasons, but I just wanted to ask, if it’s not too much…” She struggled to the words as Tav looked at her curiously. “Could you play for us? I’m… actually… sort of… a pretty big fan.” Wyll couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath from behind his tankard, Shadowheart had settled into a comfortable lounge as Lae’zel crossed her arms and legs in her typical stern concentration. Astarion rose a brow as he watched Tav put on a new face. He’d seen a version of it when they put on any other performance, an air of showmanship coming over them. He’d seen them perform with Alfira, but this was different. It was as if they’d slipped into a new skin. They were the entertainer.

Tav beamed with that warmth that held one captive in their gaze and made them feel singular, special. A charisma that charmed anyone they aimed it at. The performance had started. “Anything for you, Karlach.”

Karlach burned almost as bright as the fire, waving her arms a little as she tried to contain herself. “Oh! Uh-” Her excitement faltered as she now desperately tried to recall any song at all, but especially one of Tav’s. “I know it’s old, but, the one that goes-” She sang a little bit of the song, vocalizing the guitar line.

Wyll hummed loudly in excitement from his seat atop the keg, recognizing the tune. “That’s a good one!”

“I think I know the one.” Tav hummed to Karlach as they retuned a few strings.

Astarion had quickly gotten bored of the conversation at the fire, tuning it out as his eyes turned around the outpost. It was so incredibly dark, hard to see anything even with his very keen vision. It made him feel confined, as if invisible walls were closing in around him. Yet there was a strange freedom here, the intrinsic fear that sunlight had begun to trigger in his mind was a non-issue. To live without needing to worry about dawn… He wondered what it was like. His gaze turned back to the fire as Tav began to strum rhythmically. His eyes scanning the fireside audience. Everyone was so fixated, even Lae’zel gave her whole attention. That’s when he’d notice the absence of one wizard.

He would have thought Gale would be eating this up, but he was nowhere to be seen. His gaze took another scan of the camp only to catch a Gale shaped shadow coming down from the top of the gate. Odd. Had he been watching Tav and Astarion’s little adventure? He would have been able to see them easily with a scroll of darkvision. With how many he had, the wizard surely had one. Maybe Astarion was being paranoid, but he felt like there was something to worry about.

The entire camp was pulled towards the fire as Tav’s voice joined the pulse of their strings. Their eyes were closed as they played, only opening for brief moments as they swayed and bobbed with the music. They didn’t need to check, they could play blind if they had to, but their eyes seemed to lull open on their own as their body channeled the music. It was like they were in a trance, their harmony infusing the vibrations of sound with magic. The magic drew them into the harmony as well, soothing the group as Tav serenaded them.

Wyll tapped his foot as Karlach rocked her entire body, Shadowheart swayed at the same pace as Karlach but much less forcefully and Lae’zel seemed to fall more still than she’d been this whole time. You’d think she’d fallen asleep meditating. Karlach couldn’t help but start mouthing along to the words until finally she joined in. Tav peeking an eye up at her and keeping her gaze, inviting her to harmonize on the chorus.

The voices paired well, their energy fueling the pulsing strums that powered on like the beating of horses in gallop. The two tieflings sang about disillusion and growing old, the words angsty and nihalistic, while also pointedly poetic.

Tav let Karlach get the second verse, their eyes stuck on her as they kept the beat steady. Karlach seemed to change a lyric, replacing what had been a ‘my’ when Tav sang it with their name. The improvisation made Tav smile even wider, now being serenaded by Karlach. Their smile was honest and fanged. They tried to hide their pointed teeth around others in an attempt to humanize themself, but they were actively falling deeper into the trance of their own magic.

Tav joined back in at the last line of the verse, the two harmonizing again as they echoed the lines from the chorus. The two weren’t the only ones fully engrossed in the song, Wyll and Shadowheart were both fully absorbed in it. Gale finally returned to the firelight, his gaze on Tav as he came to stand beside Scratch. He’d reach down to pet the dog while Astarion’s attention flit between the performance and the wizard.

The group that was into the song began to vocalize together, Karlach began to clap, bringing everyone to do the same. Tav’s body moved with more force, their eyes falling closed as they lost themself completely in the physicality of playing their instrument. The excitement of the group fueled the force of the thrum, and vice versa.

As they moved freely, head swaying side to side, the marks from Astarion’s feeding repeatedly poked into view from the collar of their shirt. He couldn’t help but stare, the sight captivating him more than the performance had. He liked it, seeing proof of himself on them… That’s when Tav looked up from their frets, their gaze coming to lock with his own. It was as if they were singing just for him. He could feel the playful fun of it all, a luxury he’d scarcely known until recently, but the feeling that swelled in him as he watched them work in total peace was almost as addicting as Tav’s blood. He had to protect this.

They sang to him in a self deprecating way, as if they were the charlatan. Added with an innuendo, it made for a breath of relief in the middle of an otherwise depressing song. Tav fell back into the show soon after, readying for the end. The others joined in as the lyrics repeated, the camp alive with only a few silent parties among them as they chanted. The swell that had built over the song calmed as Tav went back to the chorus one last time, alone. They fell into the same vocalizing as earlier, quiet and small as the guitar began to gradually slow and eventually stopped.

Everyone clapped, Wyll and Karlach the strongest. Shadowheart’s was contained while still enthused while Gale seemed more impressed than entertained. Astarion restrained himself, his applause casual at best while Lae’zel stayed sitting in her meditative stance. Once the applause had died, Lae’zel spoke a single word. “Invigorating.”

“Very.” Astarion couldn’t help but agree, his well trained smile back on his lips.

“You can thank Karlach’s musical taste.” Tav grinned. “Don’t write many songs like that these days.”

“Next time you’ll play us something new, yeah?” Karlach was scorching the stone under her as she tried desperately to contain her excitement. “Nothing that’s not finished though, I’d never want to rush an artist.”

Tav was relaxed in a way they hadn’t been since the start of their journey. They set their Lute aside and lay down on their bedroll, ready to sleep. “Sure, I’ve got some in mind, but we might have to wait for an inn for me to do any of them right.”

The camp would settle soon after, everyone tired and ready to rest. Tav did their best to get comfortable at a bedroll by the fire, Scratch curling up near their head. Even once the fire had finally died they couldn’t stop staring up at the stalactites above them, wondering about what Raphael really wanted.

In that moment a cold chill came over Tav, their breath escaping their lips in a cloud. You know exactly what he wants.

There it was, that dissonant whisper. This time Tav recognized the archdevil's voice echoing from deep inside their blood. They had called for him in Cania and now they realized he hadn't left.

He wants the same thing I do; power.

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bellelvrs · 2 years

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XXX / GHOSTFACE X READER

summary - ghostface decides this particular memory is worth being recorded.

warnings - filthy smut, dub/non con, abuse and violence, cursing, fingering, gagging, dom/sub, wounds, indication of kidnapping, possessive behavior, edging, stockholm syndrome.

a/n - sorry I literally died for a few months there lmfao. thought I should feed y’all with a classic for my return. 2k words, afab reader, no cohesive plot pure filth.

The darkness of a silent conscience was peaceful. Weightless, completely unaware of the happenings in real time. It was therapeutic to sit in nothingness and just…float. Although, in a sudden jolt, you awoke to a dim-lit, muggy cell of a room that made you wish you could bask in that vast darkness for eternity.

Time and place was irrelevant, as you could only focus on the ache pulsing through your entire body. Blurred vision could only discern a weak lightbulb hanging from the concrete ceiling.

Everything was concrete. Except for the thin cushion, possibly weathered mattress, that engulfed you whole.

Attempting to hold yourself up on your elbows, you produced a raspy groan and found yourself falling back into the helpless position you were in prior.

Your mouth is dry, tasting metallic. Now, your mind begins to clear and your heart shatters at the rusted punctures in your thighs and the less vulnerable sections of your stomach.

Whoever kept you here kept you practically naked. Vulnerable. Accessible. The murder scene covering your body insinuated that your captor had expelled all their rage onto you.

What had you done?

At this point, whatever happened between you and your captor had no importance in pursuing survival. The wounds were near infection, you were barely clothed, you were concussed to confusion and dizziness. The state you found yourself in showed that you had become this monsters toy. Defiled and destroyed. It would foolish to wait for death to come knocking upon the door.

…There’s a door.

If there’s a door, there’s a hall, and a hall leads to a room which could lead to somewhere outside. Away. Far, far away.

You utilized that pain and fear and disgust to pull yourself away from the bed. The surrounding room was barren.

As soon as you had crawled off the mattress you pushed the side of your head to the floor and tried to look as far as you could underneath the door.

A glint of light gave you an unbreakable hope.

Until you heard steps coming down the hall. Slow, plodding steps of a heavy boot made deliberately to intimidate.

Scattering back into a corner, you held your knees back as far as you could to your heaving chest. Body cramped and folded, overwhelming panic numbed the pain of the stab wounds.

In this room of filth and shadow, there was no god near. No one to protect or save you. The bruised knuckles of your pathetic fist were your only weapons. Even then, what was behind the door was much more threatening.

The door creaked open and a monster stepped through.

He had expected to see you sprawled on the mattress, but showed no surprise when he saw his balled up in the corner.

A low chuckle left his lifeless face. Seeing you bloody and petrified warmed his cold body.

‘Ghostie’s back.’ He shut the door gingerly and locked it, shoving the keys into his pant pocket. He held an old camcorder beside him.

You scooted farther back into the corner as Ghostface slinked towards you.

‘Don’t come near me.’ It felt as if you hadn’t spoken in years as the words spilt out of your mouth, ‘Don’t come fucking near me.’

‘Oohh, tsk tsk, having a bad day are we?’

His presence loomed over you although he wasn’t as close as he could be. There was nowhere to run, but you still tried. Lunging forward, attempting to slip past him, he grabs you by your lower torso and tosses you back onto the mattress with harsh force. That hope you had before dissipated by the second.

A raspy groan leaves your arid throat and Ghostface waltz back in front of the mattress. He laughed again at how weak you were.

Your gaze did not leave the voids of his eyes. You couldn’t even tell if he was human. Nonetheless, you felt something stare right back into you.

‘What-‘ you clutched your side and glared at the ghost, ‘what do you want..from me?’ You questioned sharply.

‘What do I want? Baby, don’t you remember me?’

Ghostface dug into one of his many pockets and took out a stack of Polaroids held together with a rubber band. He took a knife and slit the band, throwing the pile carelessly onto the foot of the bed.

You reached forward, a trembling hand gathering only a few of the small prints. Displaying them in front of you, you closely examined the photos, your eyes widening and mouth left slightly agape.

Each Polaroid presented you completely disheveled, being fucked senselessly by the figure standing over you at that very moment.

‘Earlier I had a fun idea for the two of us, but you refused to comply.’ Ghostface mentioned as you ogled at the images.

‘What did you do to me…’ your voice cracked, on the verge of an angered sob.

‘The day I found you I had to have you,’ There was a faint cheeriness in his voice, as if he was reminiscing fond memories.

‘But of course, being the stubborn bitch you are, you tried to run. So I had to remind you of how small and useless you are.’

You looked back up, and he had leaned in closer.

‘How much of a whore you are to me.’

‘Fuck you!’ You cried, scooting back away from him.

Ghostface, with a swift move toward you, grabbed your leg and pulled you underneath him. Pinning you body down as he straddled you, you seethed through your teeth.

‘I’m not your fucking whore! I would never fuck you! Never!’ You hissed.

Ghostface exhaled a wolfish laugh,

‘You want to know the best part?’ Ghostface pried your legs open and pressed his erection against your throbbing core,

‘You like it. You’ve always liked it.’

You screamed and struggled in his clutch, kicking your legs and contorting your body to escape. Adrenaline fueled your fear and you begged, pleaded, that what little strength you had could overcome him. You muttered your hate for him, i hate you, but his touch calmed that brewing storm within you. He was poison, and you were to die by him. Every bit of morality you had faded as your mind only could feel and focus o him.

‘Tell me you hate me all you want, but you always end up screaming my name, baby.’

He holds you down into the mattress with a hand to your throat. Life drains from your face as the pressure of his grasp presses down on your windpipe.

A blade is unsheathed, foggy from continuous use. The reflection of the lightbulb on his knife blinds you as he lowers it to your skin. He glides the tip of the blade on your stomach, drawing shapes, relishing the fact that he could impale you on impulse at any second and you wouldn’t be able to revolt.

Leading the knife down to your underwear, he slices down the center of them and tears them away.

Ghostface cocks his head to the side. Amused, he tosses the knife to the side and creeps his hand into your cunt. The smooth, thick fabric of his gloved fingers slide through your folds. His thumb pressed circles onto your clit, changing directions every so often. Even held down to the point of suffocation, a pitiful, hoarse moan bubbled out of your mouth.

As your cunt slicked, he teased a pair of fingers around your entrance. Your body took over your mind, and in these blurred moments your entire being yearned to be touched.

Then, he pulled his hand away.

Bastard.

‘You liked that, didn’t you?’ Ghostface released your throat and you gasped in relief. That same hand reached back to grab the cam corder. Now preparing the tape, his soulless gaze had left you, but his thumb, glazed with your wetness, reached up and dipped into your mouth.

‘C’mon baby, tell me about it.’

A light blinked at you, and you felt nausea accumulate inside. Under heavy breath, you whimpered. It was a contradicting fight within your mind, what you wanted versus what needed to be done. Had it not been from a blend of fear and pleasure, you would’ve had your entire sensibility. You could’ve found an opportunity to run. And yet, you didn’t.

In all of that resentment and fear, there was a possibility that you let him do this to you.

His thumb withdraws, and he hurriedly unbuckles and tugs his pants down. The overhead light outlines the shifting outline of his deprived cock. It practically leaps out of his boxers when he begins to jerk himself steadily.

There’s no need to release his arousal so soon, though. The very sight of your terrorized eyes had his cock hard, dripping pre-cum onto your stomach.

‘God, I’ll thank myself later for this.’ He breathed, trying to jest, but he too had succumbed to his overbearing lust, unable to stall any longer.

His hand returns and rounds around your throat, grasping it tightly, but not dangerously. He positions the camera so it can record both his abdomen and cock and your entire naked body. As his cock rubbed against your entrance, wiping itself on your folds, your mind clouded.

The world surrounding you dissolved into a darkness, that same darkness from before. Yet, Ghostface did not disappear, he was merely blurred in your line of sight. And that blinking light.

That fucking light.

Reminding you, forcing reality back into your head, one flash at a time. Those flutters in your stomach unveiled a feeling you began to remember. A feeling you only had felt with him.

Not love, not fright.

A strange, undefinable feeling.

This state you had been left in turned you completely dependent. You needed connection in this dreary prison. He was all you had. And if he was going to use you, you were going to use him back.

With a jerk of his hip, he thrusted his thick cock inside of your cunt. You and Ghostface moaned in unison. He drew back and forth, watching your walls stretch against and wet his length.

Every thrust sent your body back, shadows dancing on your breasts as they recoil, now glistened with sweat. Ghostface leaned back as he plowed into your cunt so the camera could capture all of it.

‘Fuck me..’ he muttered, admiring your scared little face with it’s little furrowed brow. Eyes tired, pillowy lips forming an O as you moan desperately.

And so, he fastens his pace. Pushing and pulling himself in and out of you at a rapid pace. He bends his abdomen towards you, leaning in with the camera to capture your face and breathing. He doesn’t even hide his labored panting, making sure to do it loud enough so you can hear how much he is enjoying himself.

Your hand darts up and grab onto his bicep, digging your nails deep into his muscle.

‘When we’re done,’ You whisper in his ear, white sparks beginning to fill your vision; His pelvis grinds against your clit, and you jolt against his weight, ‘I-I’m going to fucking kill you.’

Ghostface breathed out in pleasure, watching your exhausted face stretch into a smile.

You spill all over his cock, a moan drawing from your lips. Your hand falls from his arm and the room starts to darken and shake through your view.

All the wounds he had left you, the scabbed gashes and green bruises painted on your limbs, meant nothing in this brief moment. You weren’t afraid, you begged to continue. This wasn’t your first time and it surely wasn’t your last with the monster. You loved the way he made you feel, in pain and in pleasure. Then it comes to you, that vague memory, in a moment of pure bliss,

Danny.

Throughout all the sloppy and reckless thrusts of his body, it only took one hard push and the sound of his name from your quivering voice to have him fall limp. As he cums deep inside of your cunt, he lets himself sit inside of you for a time. Reveling in his seed rushing inside of your pussy. When he pulls his cock out of you, he barely is able to hold himself up on his knees. Fidgeting with the cam corder, he stopped the recording and studied the screen for a few seconds.

‘Even if I kill you,’

He sits atop you, cupping your cheek and turning your head side to side, admiring the extent of his damage.

His gaze flickers back between your face and the screen.

With a long sigh, he moves in closer, cool breath tickling the heat of your skin,

‘I’ll still have a part of you forever.’ He gestures the camera in his hand.

You couldn’t faint. Fall asleep. Die.

Realization flushed your wearied mind like a raging flood as he gathered himself, standing up and heading toward the door. Before he left, he stared at you for a long minute. The lightbulb flickered and threatened to burn out.

The darkness couldn’t protect you anymore.

#ghostface x reader #ghostface #ghostface x y/n #danny johnson #danny jed olsen johnson #danny johnson x reader #slasher x reader #scream #scream 6 #scream 5 #jed olsen

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