#yeah it's spelled in welsh what of it

[royalarchivist]

Aimsey: [While watching a Hideduo compilation, and seeing Fit message Pac "It's going to be ok"] Aww... That's fcked! Wait, what is it? "Sau–" wait, hold on. How do you say that? "Saudades?"

[He plays a clip of someone pronouncing Saudades and repeats the word several times to copy the pronunciation]

Aimsey: Ohhh, nostalgia! [Reading the definition] "Saudades is a word in Portuguese that claims no direct translation in English. However, a close translation in English would be "desiderium," defined as an ardent desire or longing, especially a feeling of loss or grief for something lost."

Aimsey: It's like "Hiraeth," yeah! It's like the Welsh word! Guys, I can teach you something! Wait- wait- wait– Chat I can teach you something!!! So, in Wales, in Welsh, we have a similar word! We have a similar word, ok? Um... [She plays an audio clip of someone pronouncing "Hiraeth"] Ok, ok, hold on, hold on. We have a similar word, yeah. So, in Welsh, there is the term "Hiraeth," which is a home– ok, I'm gonna explain: "Hiraeth" is a homesickness– lemme, lemme say it in chat... [They type out the word and verbally spell it out letter by letter] I'm gonna spam it.

Aimsey: SO! In Welsh, we have a very similar word, and the- like, the description for it is basically a deep longing for something, especially someone's home. And it's like a homesickness. [Pauses] And there are no direct English translation, but it basically mean like, a homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed. [Reading chat] Yes, you're all saying it right! Yeah, you're all saying it right! You're all saying it right!

Aimsey learns what "saudades" means, and teaches chat a similar word in Welsh. One of my favorite things about QSMP is seeing people learning about other cultures and seeing them get SO EXCITED when they get an opportunity to share their own culture or language with others :')💕

[uss-genderprise]

okay the new episode has people poking my sleeping special interest like a bear and it was about time to wake it from hibernation anyway so here are some fun facts about welsh fairies

it's spelled fairy. it's always spelled fairy. not faerie, faery, fae, or fey. fairy. please. or tylwyth teg if you want to be proper about it

fairies are not inherently malevolent. they work by their own rules that sometimes don't make sense to humans but there are rules, if you pay attention.

yes fairies will punish you for doing something they don't want you to do

they will also reward you for doing things they do want you to do

fairy rings are circles of green grass. they sometimes how up as a different shade of green than the grass around it and are generally markers of where fairies dance, as well as portals to the fairy realm. mushrooms aren't really a thing for that in welsh folklore.

string and bones and flowers are man-made and possibly supposed to bind or protect against fairies (though i haven't seen anything quite like what we see in the episode described in any of my sources) but generally breaking one of those doesn't immediately anger fairies, just lets them in to affect whoever put the ward up in the first place. that's not called a fairy circle.

changelings exist in welsh folklore. have fun with your theories.

fairies will generally let you leave the fairy world if you ask nicely. yes even if you've eaten the food and drank the drinks

however time moves differently so when you come back you might be super old and/or turn to dust the moment someone touches you

dancing is a different thing tho. they don't exactly want you to stay dancing with them until you die of exhaustion but like that's on you my dude get your friends to help you

if you broke fairy rules like kicking them out of their meadow to build a castle they will count eight* generations** and come back to turn that castle into a lake and drown everyone inside. you have been warned (repeatedly. usually by old ladies and/or bards and/or birds or sometimes just. A Voice™)

* the number of generations can and does vary but in welsh folklore it's generally 8 that's an important number, not 3 or 7.

** also the way generations are counted is. weird. idk if it's that i'm bad at math or bad at welsh or that the book i read explaining this is over 100 years old but i don't think i fully got how many generations this actually is.

oh and they only wait if you beg enough otherwise they kill you now

so basically. no getting trapped in the fairy world as punishment. they just kill you

personally i think the closest thing in welsh folklore to that old woman is a weird lady but even that isn't a great fit

yeah fairies bend time and space to always be far away from you if they want to but that's generally because they're trying to avoid you not following you at a distance

i am fully aware rtd probably couldn't care less about any of this. he definitely didn't do the work that i did to learn all this and incorporating this into your theories is probably shooting yourself in the foot as far as actually being correct goes. HOWEVER i do think it's more interesting and fun this way :) theories are gonna be wrong anyway might as well respect the culture that's inspiring them while we're at it yeah?

i will cite my sources if anyone asks but i doubt many people care to read hundreds of pages of edwardian non fiction novels just to fact check me. trust me on this guys

[nadiajustbe]

Underrated HMC moments I've never seen anyone talking about part 2

Howl choosing "H. Jenkins" for the shop's sign wich is the one and only moment in the series he actually uses his legal initials, as "H" can stand for "Howl" and "Howell" in the same time

Lettie being so angry about Prince Justin calling her "a sweet lady" that she said that she would prefer ever Howl over him. Wich is. Telling.

The King assuring that he never pushed Justin off and that everyone who knows them both wouldn't assume that.

Sophie being so RAGED with the whole weedkiller and daffodils situation she wasn't saying A SINGLE FULL WORD for about a page in the least. All of the sounds were like "argh!" and "Sophie gave the wordless glump of range"

The seven-league boots having the funniest description of use ever, as every time someone used it then the effects were simply narrated as "Zip!"

Howl raises the skull and quotes Hamlet directly to it, wich becomes a hundred times funnier when you remember that this Skull is canonically and ironically the only "person" in the room who can understand the reference.

Howl saying "Denmark" in the same sentence. And, again, they're in a fairly tale fantasy word. Sophie has absolutely no clue what to hell is Denmark. For Howl this is the basic knowledge of elementary school level.

Poor Percival being almost KILLED for transforming in the middle of a valley because people thought he's a WEREWOLF.

Poor Percival being STROKED with information of him being made of part of two other people right after experiencing heavy trauma, beheading, physical damages, not really well-planed adopting and moving a house.

Percival describing laying on the shelf and looking at the other parts of himself. What a lovely kids book.

Sophie accidentally making cayenne pepper magical. She would make a great seller-witch career because she doesn't need to know the spell in order to make. She takes random powder. She says it will do the duel fair. It makes the duel fare by making an opponent sneezing uncontrollable (wich is also just a way cayenne pepper affects people lmao)

Sophie's first thoughts after she heard that Howl is leaving the black door knob where it is being "Of course! There's miss. Angorian!'. Sophie, dear, he has a family out there.

Michael, apparently, hiding the money under the same brick Sophie will soon describe in CITA as "the brick where we're hiding money from Howl"

Miss Angorian and Howl acting like the spell in a modern Wales is the most normal thing ever. "That's a spell!!" "Oh yeah of course I suspected that"

“Didn’t know I used to fly up the wing for my university, did you, Mrs. Nose?” “If you were trying to fly, you must have forgotten how,” aka Sophie absolutely not understanding modern world sport terminology

Drunk Howell trying to get through the door MULTIPLE times, bumping on it before "discovering" the door

Calcifer "taking" that huge mention they lived (and almost never visited) in without buying it. It was literally said the owner is just Not Here.

Sophie loosing an acces to her own room. Wich must be really sad.

Witch of the Waste leaning on a swing when literally capturing Howl's family

Additionaly: Howl canonically NOT altering his clothes while rushing to save his family. He was running around in a long-sleeved medieval closes on a welsh playground

Sophie and miss Angorian having a whole fight over the guitar pulling it back and forward while it was making horrible sounds

Sophie literally pushing miss. Angorian off the house using the said guitar

Howl immediatly reacting when someone mentioned that the star Michael tried to catch looks sad.

Scarecrow literally running around with parts of Justin's body on its sticky shoulders for eighty percent of the book's finale

Howl saying he could be "the evil fairy at his own christening" which is probably a reference to the "Sleeping Beaty". Also. rises a question: did Howl HAD a christening. There's a huge chance he actually did.

Ben and Justin just. smiling at each other for enough amount of time for Sophie's narrative to say "If she had paid any attention she would see them". Am I interuppting something???

Lettie hating Howl's courting SO MUCH she asked Percival to bite him several times.

Additionally: Ben apologising to Howl for trying to bite him. That's also probably first time they're interacting

Howl ignoring all of it because sOPHIE HATTER

[poppitron360]

Hii! Can I ask for some of your more lighthearted (as in not too angsty) Leo Valdez headcanons?

1. CANNOT SIT ON A CHAIR PROPERLY

FOR THE LIFE OF HIM. YOU COULD POINT A GUN TO HIS HEAD AND HE STILL COULDN’T DO IT.

I NEED MORE FANART OF THIS PLEASE

2. Can in theory breathe fire but doesn’t bc it gives him a really bad sore throat.

3. Still reading TOA- I just found out that Leo’s full name is “Leonidas” (either that or it’s a nickname Calypso gave him, but the fandom seem to agree that it’s his real name) but he HATES it when Calypso calls him that, so my hc is ANNABETH is the ONLY one with “Leonidas” privileges. And that’s bc he’s so fucking terrified of her he doesn’t DARE appose her on it. I feel like she does use it respectfully though.

Hazel is also allowed to use it sparingly.

4. Oh yeah fuck canon Leo and Annabeth are besties and they bond over both being runaways and also engineering/architecture stuff. Leo’s DEFINITELY had a peek around Daedalus’ laptop- his design for an automaton that can house a human soul got him thinking about his mom. He always planned on maybe taking a closer look at those files but then the laptop got lost in Tartar Sauce. I know you said no angst. Whoops.

5. Leo and Hazel start a support group for demigods who have come back from the dead. Every Wednesday in New Rome. Biscuits and Orange Juice will be provided. They call themselves the “YOLTers” (You Only Live Twice- because YOLO is for the weak). Thalia is also a frequent attendee.

6. I hc him as hard of hearing after the explosion in Blood of Olympus. Specifically deaf in his right ear and chronic tinnitus in his left. He uses hearing aids sometimes and also uses ASL and Morse Code to communicate. I choose to view that as wholesome bc we need more disability representation.

7. He is a “Leonidas” ONLY at Starbucks. He then follows it up with a bunch of equally hard-to-pronounce middle names (which he completely made up) said in a rapid-fire Spanish accent and watches the Barista panic as her white ass tries to spell it all. It’s even funnier when she tries to say it back to him when giving him his order. He takes the cup (leaves a generous tip) and says “but usually I just go by Leo” and walks away.

That is pretty much my entire understanding of American culture right there-

8. Trains autistic. He loves them. In the one I’m currently reading- The Dark Prophecy- Calypso and Apollo go on a train without Leo and I’m just imagining them getting back and him being “But what kind of train was it? Standard gauge or narrow gauge? Man, I love narrow gauge trains. Did you know that there’s this place in Wales called the Ffestiniog railway, where they have this special type of locomotive where the engine- the sicky-outy bit- is like, either side of the locomotive, so that there’s no need for a turntable-“

Okay I might also love narrow gauge trains (I’ve been on the Ffestiniog railway, it is amazing) (Also that is not a typo, in Welsh I believe the double f makes a soft sound (like in “off”) and a single f makes a hard sound, more like a v (like in “of”) you learn a new thing every day!)

9. Ambidextrous but Left-hand dominant (Often has to specify to his tool belt that he needs left-handed tools)

10. When speaking will put weird pauses in the middle of a sentence and not stop between sentences like talkingreallyfastwhenhe’sreally exited and talking slowly when he’s tiredit’skindaweird and choppy like hisbrainisgoing a million times faster than hismouth.

11. His favourite Disney film is Frozen.

12. When he’s comfortable around you, you start to hear more of his hispanic accent.

13. Said it before, will say it again. Headcannon no. 13 is ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL “They’re a Swiftie.”

He has to listen to music as a way of not being alone with his thoughts. I discovered Taylor at a young age, and she has remained one of the few consistencies in my life since then. She got me through some tough times (Not as bad as Leo, but she helped me survive 2020). I feel like Leo would be the same- not always knowing where he’ll be sleeping that night or if food will be on the table, he’d want comfort, stability. Taylor would be there.

14. He wakes Frank up at 3am with “Hey I can’t read that what does that say?” “…Leo you wrote this. You’re telling me you can’t read your own writing?” Little does Leo know that Percy came in with exactly the same request half an hour before. Frank is finding being the only non-dyslexic on the ship incredibly frustrating.

15. Has the philosophy “anything is a fidget toy if you fidget with it” and STICKS to it

16. If Piper sees an item of clothing with an ungodsly amount of pockets, she is contractually obligated to buy it for him.

17. Eats cheese straight off the block. Like doesn’t even bother cutting it, he just *noms* straight into the block of cheese like it’s a chocolate bar. Similarly also eats Nutella straight outta the jar, sometimes without even using a spoon (and y’all know he doesn’t wash his hands).

18. Slightly more immune to electric shocks than normal bc of his way with machines (Valgrace nation do with that what you will)- similar to how Percy, as seen in botl, is a little bit fireproof.

19. You can’t tell me that during his first quest with Jason and Piper, they didn’t at least once triple-spoon with Leo in the middle bc he’s warmest.

20. In fact, “Cuddle Leo” is a common pastime for Jasiper. Particularly when it’s cold.

21. HE. CAN. SEW.

I saw a lot of people hc that Leo makes Percabeth’s wedding rings but that is factually incorrect. TYSON makes the ring. LEO makes Annabeth’s dress. I just started this fic where Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Reyna, and Rachel all go wedding dress shopping for Leo to get ideas, but he makes absolutely the most BEAUTIFUL gown for her- much better than any store. It puts all other wedding dresses to shame.

22. He can also knit, crochet (This hc was supplied by my mum who I’ve forced to read Heroes of Olympus), weave, and do macramé. He’s gone down rabbit holes about old-fashioned lacemaking. Him and Annabeth have sewing/crafting competitions at camp and on the Argo.

23. Autistic hand-flappy stim

24. He watches Stand-Up Comedy specials with Jason. I feel like if he wasn’t a mechanic he’d be a comedian (or run a taco truck, like Jason suggested in TLH). He takes his friends to as many comedy shows as he can. He loves them.

25. A Valgrace hc but it relates- while I was thinking up ways for Leo/Jason to propose (just a regular day in my brain), I had an idea for Leo to take Jason to one of those comedy shows that does crowd-work, and sits in the front row to get their attention. When the comedian asks who they are, Leo introduces Jason as his fiancé. When Jason goes, “Wait, no I’m not!” Leo yells “WELL WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE?” And gets down on one knee.

Also, sorry it’s taken me so long to respond. I’ve had this saved to my drafts and I’ve been slowly adding to it every time I get a new headcanon.

[serpentsillusion]

|| Sex on Fire ||

Sebastian x Ominis x F!MC (Aneira)

Aneira teases both her boyfriends Sebastian Sallow and Ominis Gaunt too much to the point they've decided to beat her at her own game. She's probably going to be in BIG trouble. 🥴🤭

Word count: about 4.5k

Warnings:⚠️🔞 DIRTY SPICY! MDNI, NSFW, explicit sexual language, agressive sexual intercourse, polyamory, double penetration, choking.

And special thanks to @rhewart for helping me with Aneira's Welsh Dialect. Here is a special one shot just for you! 💚😅

(I've read this 12 times, sorry if there are punctuation or spelling mistakes)

This is my first short story on Tumblr! 😁

ENJOY!

The familiar sound of a gate descending onto the floor startled her awake. Was she really asleep on the floor this entire time? She groaned and turned over to her right side, avoiding anything that might disturb her rest.

"Wake up, darling; you're going to be late for class."

In the undercroft, a familiar voice echoed slightly to the left of her. Her eyes opened as she was trying to process the lingering voices in her head.

"Yeah, who would have guessed the night we spent together would have left you lying on the floor like Ominis?"

She turned back over and sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Much to her very own surprise, there they were: Ominis Gaunt and Sebastian Sallow, both staring in her direction, waiting for a response.

"Dim Siarad," she grumbled to herself, picking her smaller, framed self off of the floor and dusting her clothing off before realizing she was being confronted by the two nimrods.

"What was that, love?" Ominis spoke softly.

"Nothing." Aneira muttered, looking around, trying to avoid his gaze.

"Do you know how difficult it is for the two of us to understand your Welsh, woman?"

Aneira shot a quick look at Sebastian, who was smiling cheekily at her. "Obviously not good enough, pretty boy." She snapped back, glaring into his eyes and then at Ominis'.

"You love, hmph. You are one wild little thing, you know that? Ominis started to cock a smile, but not before Sebastian interjected at his remark.

"Absolutely! I agree with Ominis entirely. I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm a little sore from the extensive "escapade" we got ourselves into last night."

Sebastian's eyes were slow to retract back to his young girlfriend, Aneira, who was standing there casually with a sinister smile starting at her mouth.

"Surprised me entirely that our girlfriend could single-handedly handle not one but two men last night? But, you are right, Sebastian. I could use a nice message right about now... Gods, sex on a solid concrete floor doesn't hold very well the next morning." Ominis says, bending his back and rubbing his neck.

Aneira scoffed at the very thought of both of them still being unable to keep up with her antics. She waited months to finally have sex with them both, especially since Ominis was the youngest of the group. She waited until his 18th birthday recently before presenting herself to him naked one night alone. Sebastian was shockingly okay with it. Ominis was his best friend, so why would she choose anyone else? He was not jealous in the slightest. In fact, he thought it was incredibly hot to see her fucking his best friend. It really turned him on.

"Hey! You both challenged me and, without warning, simultaneously cornered me. The next thing I knew, my clothes were coming off." "Oh, whatever shall a poor woman do?" She said, giggling. "You both deserved exactly what you got."

Sebastian and Ominis both glanced at each other and started to laugh. "Rightfully so, love. It's just surprising that you had both of us at the same time; I'm impressed." Sebastian said, looking at Aneira lovingly. "Are you not in pain?" He asked.

"No, actually, I'm completely fine. I can handle the both of you anyway; I already do." She smarted off, still with that smile on her lips. "I love a good challenge, and you two already know that."

"And that is precisely why we love you, dear. Lucky for Sebastian and me, one of us didn't have to wait for you this time. I'm actually glad I agreed to this relationship with the two of you." Ominis added. "It was your idea, to be honest, Aneira, and I couldn't be happier about it."

"Yeah, and not to mention the other worldly sex!" Sebastian said, smiling brightly, "God, you really are an amazing little goddess, aren't you?"

"I may be." She said it cockily.

"Sebastian... How much time do we have left before our next class?" Ominis asked curiously.

Sebastian pulled his pocket watch out of his robe to look at the intricate hands on the face of his heirloom watch.

"approximately 32 minutes."

****

Aneira tousled with her beautiful jet black hair, pulling pieces together quickly before the boy's eyes and wrapping pieces around her fingers to form an elegantly twisted bun.

"How sore are you boys again?" She asked, not making eye contact.

"Uhm." Sebastian looked over at Ominis for a moment before looking back at Aneira quickly.

"Why?"

Before Ominis himself could answer, Aneira pulled her black twisted wand with the white marbled handle out of her robe sleeve and quickly conjured a very large and comfortable couch behind the two boys, practically throwing Ominis down first with her right hand and almost immediately shoving Sebastian down next with the other. Both of their eyes widened, and Sebastian said with a laugh, "What do you think you're doing?" Ominis added, "Are you mad? We're going to be up late for class!" There was an obvious smile on his face as well.

“No we won’t, I just want to cwtch my two favourite boys."  Aneira boldly states in her thick Welsh accent. "I can be finished with you both in 15 minutes." Sebastian and Ominis smiled. They sometimes had a difficult time trying to decipher her Celtic words; however, both of them knew what a cwtch was. The look on her face was quite seductive now, and her tone told Ominis what her true intent was. Sebastian already had an idea of what was going to transpire soon. "Shit." He says this, running his hand through his warm brown hair.

Aneira starts to undo the buttons on her blouse, looking at both Ominis and Sebastian with ill intent on her mind. She starts moving her tie off and discarding her green vest on the floor before saying sternly:

"I want to see you two with your tongues down each other's throats." She sharply looks at Sebastian and Ominis, eyes scanning half lidded.

"No problem at all sweetheart." Sebastian states, going for Ominis' neck.

Sebastian grabs the side of Ominis' face before slowly placing needy kisses along the nape of his neck, eliciting a blush and small giggle from Ominis.

"You're just as bad as she is, you moon mind." Ominis states, laying his head back slightly as he is being taken over slowly by his sultry brunette freckled boyfriend.

"You two are so hot to watch kiss." Aneira says smiling, still slightly toying with the buttons on her blouse.

Sebastian moving his way up to Ominis' mouth, kissing his mouth and starting at his bottom lip. They move together fluidly, in expertise, before Sebastian very skillfully and agressively slips his tongue into Ominis mouth.

"HMPH!" Ominis mutters, attempting to smile through the quickly agressing affection his boyfriend is displaying before Aneria's eyes.

"Good boys." She says. Sultry eyes watching her prey.

Then at once Aneria grabs Sebastian by the shoulders, moving him backwards and laying him completely on the couch and climbing on top of him, laying firm and slightly aggressive kisses on the side of his freckled face, moving down somewhat quickly, making sure he could feel her teeth gently moving along the crook of his neck and down his throat, her hands reaching for his belt to undo.

"Stay right there, Ominis." She demanded.

"Yes ma'am!" He saluted her, smiling. His hands retracting to the inner parts of his thighs, he listened intently to what was going on with his surroundings.

Sebastian lets out a single chuckle before saying excitedly, "Ominis, my friend, I hope you're ready for more practice, because she is a relentless beast." His words are muffled by Aneira sharply grabbing his chin to turn his mouth to hers, expertly shoving her tongue down his throat while her other hand flawlessly undoes the buttons on her own trousers. Sebastian breathes out shallowly, trying to catch his breath while growling excitedly.

***

After a few moments of a steamy little make-out session, Aneira straightens herself up, pulling herself away from her smoldering brunette boyfriend and taking her thumb up to her mouth to wipe her bottom lip from the exchange of saliva coating her. Her eyes are gleaming and almost back in nature before slightly coming down from her animalistic adrenaline high just for a moment to speak to her other lover.

"My dear Babi Bach, would you be so kind as to help me remove the rest of these bothersome linens from my body? My sweet, my annwyl aur." Her accent was rolling off her lips like sweet, honey  wine.

"Music to my ears, darling." Ominis says softly, moving his hands up the opposite of hers to remove her blouse. His hands start to come across her chest as he unbuttons the rest of her top, pulling it off of her until she is left with only her sheer black lace bra. Ominis is not shy about his hands exploring her breasts as Sebastian still lays, watching his girlfriend being fondled with by her other boyfriend, his best friend, and sometimes his experimenting partner.

Sebastian's hands attempt to help Aneira undo her zipper, pawing at the metal piece. Ominis adjusts himself off of the couch, grabbing her shoulders to lay her down so she is on her back this time, just for a moment so Sebastian can move himself off the couch as well so he could finish removing her pants for both his and Ominis' pleasure. He only grabs the fabric of her trousers, taking them off slowly but in one fell swoop. Her panties matched the sheer lace bra that was also quickly going to be removed and flung across the undercroft. Ominis takes out his wand, very quickly transfiguring the couch into a much larger bed for their comfort.

"Putting a silencing spell on the undercroft was one of the best ideas I've ever had." He says, his face blushing red from the building adrenaline in his body. Ominis attempts to undo his trousers himself, but Aneira quickly intervenes, laughing softly in a coy manner.

"No, sir," she adds.

Aneira moves her mouth over the button on Ominis' pants, moving her teeth gently and covertly flicking her tongue around to undo it with her mouth, using her teeth to move the zipper down while her hands gently grip his hips, but then suddenly gripping firm as she uses them to manipulate his lower body around to help her maneuver her trick.

As this is going on, it seems that Sebastian has already removed most of his clothing by himself in eagerness. Slowly starting to stroke himself by the sight of Aneira and the way her body is arching in the dancing fire-lit lighting.

When Aneira is quickly finished removing Ominis' lower half, still in his underwear, he works to undo the top portion of his body, discarding his clothing quickly into a pile at his feet and kicking them away until he is left bare naked, simulating the same technique as Sebastian. She starts to paint little kisses and bite marks over Ominis' chest and neck. Sebastian removes his vest coat and undershirt until he is also bare. He watches Aneira as she is about to work her mouth on the dirty blonde throbbing cock in front of her face. A larger hand behind her quickly grasps her throat and quickly pulls her back, a veiny grip starting to tighten a little bit around the front of her neck.

"Sebastian!" She chokes, slightly growling and gritting her teeth. "Mhmmhmhm." She breathes out of her nose, her eyes darkening again and becoming narrow as she is trying to analyze the situation about to unfold.

"Not so fast, our little Vixen; you don't get to make the rules this time." His hands are gripping slightly tighter as he whispers in her ear. "You'll be good for both of us now, won't you?"

Aneira's face starts to turn hot and red as she is being held tight by her throat, and Sebastian's other hand and arm wrap tightly around her abdomen, firmly holding her in place to keep her from moving around. She lets out a muffled laugh, knowing fully well that she will allow these two men to do whatever it is that they want to her because she knows that they understand that this behavior is always consented to in this manner. They are in a relationship, after all, and they've been more than communicative about these things.

"Ominis, take her underwear off. I want to see how wet she is for the both of us." Sebastian states assertively.

"Gladly," Ominis says, quickly obliging to the request.

Quickly, he slips his two fingers around the fragile fabric and jerks his wrist back quickly and forcefully, ripping the delicate framing off of her small frame. Ominis then almost immediately slips his two fingers inside of her perfectly tight and petite vagina. Aneira lets out a built-up whimper as Sebastian continues to hold her tightly, keeping her from moving a single inch.

"That's it; who's a good girl? You like that, don't you?" He says he is watching Ominis harshly invading her, already pounding her relentlessly with his fingers. Aneira starts to build up her whines. She was huffing slightly at the overwhelming feeling of being pleasured and restrained at the same time. Ominis continues to work at her for a few moments.

****

Ominis bends his fingers slightly to form a hook-like shape that almost sends her into another dimension as he stimulates her internal g-spot with his fingers. Her eyes were watering from the overwhelming feeling of ecstasy flowing through her entire body. Ominis slows slightly to move this thumb upwards, stimulating her sensitive nerve above his other fingers, and continues with his original pace.

Aneira shutters, her legs shaking slightly. Her breathing is increasing as she starts to quiver on top of Sebastian, and just as she is about to yell out, Sebastian quickly realizes it and covers her mouth with muffled cries.

She attempts to cry out as she climaxes, but Sebastian is muffling her mouth firmly. She is almost convulsing at this point, a hot surge of an adrenaline burst coursing through her body. She repeatedly starts whining, breathing faster and faster through her nose, huffing about, letting both of the men know she is cumming and is currently experiencing an intense orgasm. She bucks her hips a little bit upwards as much as she can, and a spurting wet-like sound can be heard by both Sebastian and Ominis.

"Yeahhhh, you're a good girl. You like being fingered, don't you?" Sebastian says this in her left ear as he starts to bite at her lobe with gentle teeth, flicking his tongue about to tease her. Aneira nods in agreement, humming sweet noises that please both males in her presence.

"Sebastian, she's dripping down herself already; it's everywhere. I can feel it." Ominis says, listening to her breathing slow and feeling her pelvis move about, matching his movements almost perfectly.

"I know; I can feel it all over me." Sebastian says. His hard cock was becoming increasingly harder and stiffer, as if her ass lying on it was going to snap it in half.

"Hang on a moment."

Sebastian uses his hips to adjust her upwards slightly so he can free himself from the pressure of her, but as he grips himself, he moves the tip of his cock around the front of her, slipping it in the front of her soaking wet cunt, teasing her with it, and making sure that he is good and lubricated fully before moving his cock back a little bit, lifting her, and positioning himself at her rear. He moves his hips up into her and enters her backside, pushing his girthy length into her slowly so he doesn't hurt her until he is fully in as deep as he can possibly go.

They both let out a breathy moan, and she whines again at the sudden fullness she is experiencing. She is very tight, and Sebastian can definitely feel it. He lets out another breathy moan, feeling her around him so tightly, like she was going to snap him in two. Sebastian lets her adjust to him inside her rear end before he decides to move his hips to start thrusting himself into her. Ominis isn't far behind, following Sebastian at her other entrance.

"Are you alright, my dear?" He asks Aneira. She nods her head, yes, so they can continue. "Mhmm," she says, muffled.

"Okay, Ominis, you can go in now." Sebastian verbalizes with his friend looking down at him and watching.

Ominis places his tip directly at the entrance of her still-incredibly-wet vagina, slightly teasing her before he himself also makes sure that he is properly wet before doing the same thing. Ominis takes his free hand and bends over slightly, positioning himself to face her and placing his left hand on the mattress to support himself. He can feel her breath on the right side of his face, and he adjusts his hips until he is also positioned correctly, ready to enter her. First feeling the tip of his head enter her, he slowly pushes himself completely inside her, also going as deep as he possibly can.

She is impossibly tight there as well, and Ominis is visibly shaking slightly from his nerves, almost like every time is the first time for him with her, and her tightness makes it hard for him to consent to not completely cumming inside her already. Aneira's eyes are wet as she blinks repeatedly, processing the double intrusion that is both her lover's hard, girth, thick, and lengthy cocks inside her. Sure, she has been sexually intimate with both of them multiple times, both rough and sensual at separate times, but never at the same time until the night before this. She starts whining breathy whines as both men work in sync with each other slowly now, almost like they've done this before, but they haven't. Not with anyone else but her. She lets out small whimpers again that turn into whines.

"Sssshhhhh." Sebastian asks her, "How does that feel, love? How does it feel to be taking us both at the same time? Filling you up completely like we were going to rip you in two." He grunts, thrusting inside of her. Sebastian then starts to bite down on the sensitive muscle between her shoulder and neck. His arm back gripped more and more tightly around her waist. Both of them begin to get slightly rougher and harder with her, having their own obligations to pleasure her and themselves in her two incredibly tight holes. She nods quickly in agreement, still muffled moans coming from her mouth, still covered by Sebastian's larger hand. Her eyes start to flutter in the back of her head. Her adrenaline is showing in the tears that are running down her cheeks. She shudders at the feeling of stimulation.

"We're not hurting you, are we, darling?" Sebastian asks, almost wondering if they are actually hurting her. He removes his hand from her mouth to only have both men be met with a very loud and needy "FFUuCK NNOOO!! AHh! FUCK! This feels so good!" With that, Sebastian and Ominis both smiled widely, proud of themselves at that moment. The outburst was almost driving them both mad. Both men almost act instinctually, stimulated by the outburst.

"Fuck, you are so fucking tight, I feel like I'm going to break you!" Ominis lets out, moaning and grunting, dropping his head slightly and screwing his eyes shut by the intensity of the feeling of her coiled around him.

"She is so fucking tight, Ominis, and she is doing so well, fucking us. This is fucking intense. F-Fuck! You're doing so well, Aneira." Sebastian grunts loudly, trying to control his urge to cum inside her already as well.

Aneira continues to throw her head back, reacting rather vocally and vulgarly to the intense fucking. Both Sebastian and Ominis are getting harder, faster, and rougher with her. Almost to the point where, physically, they are wondering if she is going to pass out and end up in St. Mungos, and they have to lie about why she's there. She is animalistic, almost feral at this point, acting like she wants to be savagely fucked hard, and they both are very well to agree and oblige. What is a ragdoll at this point? Both boys have things in their lives to be frustrated about, and Aneira is happy to be the one they vent their frustrations to. Whether verbally or sexually.

****

Ominis, Sebastian, and Aneira are all three letting out hums, grunts, moans, and mismatched breathing patterns as all three are working in unison to please themselves. After a few more intense strokes from both men, Aneira can feel herself on the verge of a second climax. The men both worked themselves to the point of sweat beads forming around their faces. Fuck! I'm going to cum! She blurts  out, positioning herself to make herself steady.

"Oh yeah? Is that right, Angel?" Ominis asks inquisitively, moving his hand down once more to stimulate the poor girl and rubbing his fingers aggressively over her nerve. "Right here? Does that feel good?"

YES! HOLY SHIT! FfuuckK!

She can feel herself filling with hot heat; it washes over her, entirely feeling millions of tiny electrical pulses flowing through her.

FUCK GUYS!

DON'T STOP!

DON'T STOP!!

ARGH!

FUCK!

FUCK!!

FUCK!!!

I'M GONNA CUM!

I'M GONNA CUM!!

"Fuck, I'm going to come too!!" Ominis blurts, throwing his head back.

He takes his hands away from her clitoral area and places them on her hips for leverage. Sebastian catches quickly, moving his hand up to take the place of where Ominis' was. He quickly changed the direction of his fingers to stimulate her in a different way, moving counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, like his friend not even seconds ago.

OHh, MYY FfUuCcKk! Aneira yells. FUCCCK ME! Her body begins to convulse, and her legs begin to shake as she cums HARD. It is possibly the hardest she has ever done, even between the two of them separately. She finds herself spilling everywhere. All over the front of Ominis and down onto Sebastian's stomach from the angle she was in. Ominis follows directly behind her, pulling out of her quickly to spill out all over the front of her breasts and slightly on her face. Fucking HELL! He quivers as he strokes himself off onto her bare, naked chest, barely containing himself from falling over slightly, catching himself by placing his hand on her thigh.

"That's so fucking hot, Aneira, watching you get coated with cum all over you." "You're so fucking hot." Sebastian calls out. He shudders a little bit. Moaning and grunting, he continues thrusting inside her, lifting her up slightly as he watches her legs spread wider and then close around him, stiffening her grip on him.

"Holy fucking Merlin!" He sharply states

Sebastian continues to fuck her, letting her continue to ride out her orgasm, still rolling out of her, as she's still moaning from Sebastian's continuance. With Ominis coming down from his high and trying to regain his breathing, Sebastian, in one quick movement, flips her over onto her back, lifting her legs up over her and bending them over her head so he can release himself inside her. He aggressively re-enters her. Continuing his anal penetration with her.

Aneira screams at the sudden deep penetration, and Ominis continues listening as he cleans himself off and tries to get himself looking presentable, searching for his clothes that are strewn about all over the undercroft. He bent over to put his hands on his knees to breathe and catch his breath.

"Fuck the shit out of her, Sebastian." He says it supportively, clapping his hands together as he speaks.

"Oh, ugh, I plan on it!" He says, breathing heavily, watching her contort to his bending and fucking. Aneira is breathing faster and faster, almost as if she's going to pass out from the sudden burst of energy he has. "You're not going to be able to sit down for weeks after all of this is over, Aneira."

Sebastian adjusts slightly, moving his arm back over her to put his hand around her throat again. Applying just enough pressure causes her to see galaxies from the euphoria.

She starts pulling down and gripping the blankets underneath her, which are entirely ruined at this point. "FUCK ME, SEB! MMh.. FUCK. ME!!" She cries, looking up at Sebastian and watching him fuck her roughly. Sebastian gazes into her eyes for a moment before bending over to adjust her and kissing her passionately on her lips. He pulls away just slightly to speak to her through their kissing. "You're so fucking beautiful, my love." Aneira moves her hands to grip his face and kiss him more.

For just a split second, Sebastian pulls away again. "I'm going to cum. I'm going to fucking cum, fuck." Without warning, Sebastian quickly moves his hips into a position that allows him to cum deep. Aneira lets out a sharp hiss as the depths deepen but is met immediately with a quaking, faltering moan from Sebastian. He throws his head back, and his eyes flutter a little bit before she can feel everything warm inside her. It was a lot, she wasn't going to lie, more than he normally does.

Sebastian and Aneira stay motionless for a second, trying to catch their bearings. Both of them took a few deep breaths. Sebastian slowly removes himself from her and helps her legs relax down, taking the stress off of her back.

"Ow, ow, owww." She hisses.

"Oops, sorry, darling."

Sebastian laughs to himself, "So are you sure you're not sore now?" He says this, giving her a cheeky little smile before kissing her once more and moving off of the bed.

"I wouldn't be if you hadn't just folded me like a pretzel, Sebastian. BUT fuck me, you two, that was fantastical! Oh, my gods!" She says she is trying to breathe. Her face was still heated and slightly red from the absolute thrashing she just had.

"Well, I just did fuck you. In...your... butt." Sebastian says quickly, flashing her a cocky ass smile before trying to evade the pillow she expertly throws at his head.

"Fucking.. Anging!" Aneira says it again in her thick Welsh accent.

"I have no idea what that means, but I love getting you worked up!!" Sebastian teases her and laughs before walking over to Ominis on the other side of the bed.

"Did you cum in her?" Ominis says with a coy smile starting on his mouth.

"Yeah, always; you know that." Seb raises his eyebrow and laughs, "Well, we ought to get ready. Class starts in..8 minutes!"

"Aneira, Come here, darling, we'll get you cleaned up." Ominis requests lovingly.

"Hmm ?" She replies, straightening her hair again. "Oh, it's okay, I got it." She already had her wand out and pointed at herself when Ominis asked to have them assist her, still trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, by the way, that wasn't just a quick cuddle either, you liar." Ominis stated quickly, smiling.

"I know...haha, but it was quite a lot of fun, was it not?" Aneira smiled at them and said, "I love being around the two of you."

Sebastian added, kissing her on the temple, "And we love being around you, you feisty little beast."

Ominis grabs her left hand and brings it to his lips to kiss her fingers, stroking them with his thumb. "We love you, Aneira."

[forgottenroisin]

Malconaire Samain Traditions

AUTHOR'S NOTES

ok so!!! before i get into this too much, some author's notes, starting w fun facts abt irl samhain (which i wrote samain above bc that's the old irish spelling and we're mostly going w old irish spellings here -- caoimhe rather than keeva, etc) that im running w here are as follows: ancient celtic tradition holds w largely two types of major celebration on their quartered calendar: Beltaine and Samhain which occurred on opposite times of the year, and Imbolc and Lughnasa which also straddled the year. The latter set marked important crop rotations: sowing and harvesting the fields.

The former, however, are said to have been dedicated to the movements of cattle herds and their shephards. At Beltaine, the shephards and their flocks would wrap up their half year of having held their beasts at home amongst the village in the valleys where they were safe from winter snows. at samhain, the shephards would do the opposite: begin driving their herds home across the treacherous montain passes from where they had been grazing in upland pastures for six months, and heading home to the valleys. Both Samhain and Beltane were seen as liminal or threshold holidays. Yet, they were also seen as inverse of one another, with Beltane being a festival for the living and Samhain for the dead.

Many Irish and British Neolithic tombs are aligned such that they are illuminated by the light of the sun as it over Samhain and Imbolc.

In Celtic belief, all spirits appear to be interlinked, w ghosts alternately appearing as faries or gods and vice versa, so I've used guardians, gods, and ghosts here where I thought most appropriate as stand ins but yeah this is just my interpretation??? Anyway, fairy mounds are often literally burial mounds so make of that what you will! I did ultimately choose to include ghosts but I strongly considered restricting it to purely guardians and gods, but yeah! Lmk if you think I should go back and restrict it to just those two!

Samhain in Ireland and Scotland are pr similar, so there'll def bc riffs from both cultures but, bc Rosie's name means little rose, and the very related ancient Welsh tradition of Calan Gaeaf ties in both roses AND ivy v strongly, I'm gonna be pulling a lot from that, as well.

I'm also gonna steal some Venetian St. Mark's Day beliefs and practices and English St. Mark's Eve ones. I have zero excuse except that it dovetails really nicely, and that its frankly sooo fitting for our Miss Rosie.

all the 'tales' here are inspired and even drawn directly from ancient lore!

Cleansing fire and light, cleaning, divination, guising (dressing up and trick or treat-esque shenanigans), dancing, mummery, saining (blessings), feasting, belief that spirits (good and evil, human and fae and godly and demoic, etc) walk amongst us that night, and veneration of the dead are common themes, and it is believed that it is this time when the veil is thinnest between the various otherworlds and our own.

Samhain is a last deep breath before the plunge. It is a time of preparing for the death of winter to come. Interestingly, Samain, the Old Irish root word for Samhain, is thought to come from an ancient word for 'summer,' though it was celebrated in November. No one knows why, but imma lean into it as a rebirth kind of symbolism -- yknow that 'spring in winter' sort of concept. Another explanation is that Samain comes from yet another ancient word that means 'reuninion, assembly,' and imma lean into that, too.

There was initially a fortnight of celebrations for Samain, which overtime got cut down to our modern night of Halloween, so idk how long this celebration should last hahaha and i deliberately left the timeline vague bc of that

Conveniently, I'd already hc'ed that Rosie actually views autumn as more a time of rebirth than spring (weirdly enough, it was actually one of my v first hc's for her!), and all this will allow me to tie it in nicely with her character theme of wonder <3

(Also disclaimer that you might notice some similarities between this and my TFW not!halloween traditions in which case...no you didn't ;DDDDD its just that i was inspired by the same sources hahaha except here i pulled in welsh and venetian things as my secondary instead of ancient roman and greek things aklsjdflkjdfdf)

SAMAIN TRADITIONS

like her sisters, rosie was born around the time of an ancient astairan holiday, causing the celebrations to overlap in malconaire

hers falling near samhain, an autumnal festival celebrating the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, and is held to mark the beginning of winter

it is said that it is at this time that the veil between this world and the other is said to be at its thinnest and, thus, the guardians are feted in an effort to strengthen them during this most dangerous period, w seers and all the ppl of astaira gathering to do whatever they can to help

it is a time of unity and mutual faith, generosity and thanksgiving, of finding strength and hope and cheer in ourselves and in one another even as things grow their darkest

as twilight gleams its last, all the fires in the region are put out and a great bonfire lit by a seer at the local shrine. from this protective blaze, every fire in the region is relit so that cleansing, protective fire burns for the guardians against the gods in every home, every shrine, and every gathering place across all malconaire

it is said that on this night, sometimes even non-seers can hear the whisperings of the guardians -- and that, at times -- the howls of the gods echo across the world, but beware to any who hears ought, for gods can appear and speak as any being they wish and, it is said, one must never trust a stranger who arrives upon samhain who will not go into the light

according to ancient tradition, anyone who believes w a true heart may wield some of the powers of a true seer because the veil is so thin, and in addition to being able to hear the voices of gods and guardians, can also sometimes hear the voices of their deceased loved ones

sometimes this is said to be a trick of the evil gods, but many believe that deceased loved ones do in fact arise

in addition to the fires, many gifts of food and drink and harvest and flowers etc are offered to the guardians, in addition to gifts of delights and entertainments such as dances and plays

as it is said that ghosts rise from their graves at this time, whether crossing over from an otherworld or revived by the power of the wicked gods, welcoming feasts are held in every home and, during the feasts, in addition to offerings made to the guardians, places are set for dead members of the family who may be visiting their loved ones while they are able

hoping to thwart any wicked spirits or gods who might be walking the earth, many wear a guise each night when the protective power of the sun is snuffed out

bc it is said that everyone may have use of a seers powers, it is also tradition to go from house to house and give offerings and blessings back and forth there, and this is often when fires from the great shrine bonefire are brought to each home, as well

following feasting in homes, there is also a tradition of gathering around the great bonfire in the evening and sharing sweets

while there, dancing and plays go on with gift-giving continuing well into the night

traditionally, one carves their name into a stone and then tosses it into the fire. those stones that had had the name burned clean off of it will receive good fortune. those whose names are still writ upon the stones will do well to take care over the course of the winter, with death or misfortune said to hunt them

Myths, legends, and ghost stories are all frequently told around the bonfire, with some tales being considered specific to Samain, and others simply tall tales or simply invented stories, but whatever their origin, stories play a highly important role on Samain, both as offerings and as entertainment. i'll include one or two as a sample somewhere in here

traditionally, all across astaira, peace was delcared during samain and it was a great time of unification, of treaties, of mending fences great and small, neighbor to neighbor and nation to nation, alike, w any conflict or even grudge, save that against the gods, being seen as borderline blasphemous, and an insult to the guardians for all efforts must be communally poured into that conflict at this time

in this same vein, it is a time for housekeeping, both great and small -- houses are cleaned, spick and span, and great councils are called by the rulers to undergo yearly reforms

anyone who broke laws during this time would, therefore, be banished for the rest of the year for the grievous offence of having wounded the goodwill of the guardians

traditionally, astairans avoid crossroads during samain, said to be haunted by nefarious deadmen and gods

on the morning samain, young and unmarried people traditionally go out into the fields and collect ivy and autumn roses. traditionally, girls collect ivy while boys pick roses, after which they come together again, with the girls presenting the boys they admire with ivy and the boys presenting roses to the girls they fancy. if a couple's presentations are mutual, they then wind them together and create crowns of roses-and-ivy to wear. at the end of the day, each girls collects all the roses she has been given, and each boy all his ivy and mingle them till they do not know who gave which. then they toss one into the bonfire for the guardians are return home, placing the remaining plants under their pillow. it is said that they will then dream of their future and, if they remember any of the dream, some of it will come true in the coming year. it is also sometimes said that if they dream of a particular other person, they will likely wed that person.

unmarried women are instructed to darken their rooms in the evening, and then a married woman can look into the mirror to see the face of the future groom. If a skull appears in the mirror, the unmarried woman is meant to die within the year. If a future groom cannot be seen, unmarried women are instructed to peel an apple and throw the skin over their shoulders. The shape the apple skin makes is said to show the first initial of her future husband

just before midnight, any remaining children are bundled off to bed and, then, it is tradition for those who wish to see to gather on the holy ground of the shrine, for surrounded by the guardians is the only way one may safely witness what is to come. those who do not wish to see must return quickly home and close all their windows and close their eyes and try to sleep, for any not protected by the guarian who looks upon it shall die on the spot. those who stay at the shrine may see, but they must maintain absolute silence or it is said they shall never see again. at midnight, the dead walk. a whole squadron of them troop by, but if one should spot oneself or any known to one trooping with them, that person is doomed to die within the year. some say the cause of death may even be observed, drowned victims soaked to the bone or hanged men marching with nooses around their necks, and such the like.

games and friendly competitions around the bonfire are common, such as dares and apple bobbing

two hazelnuts roast near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person the desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly, it foretells an excellent match. 

Items were hidden in food���usually a cakes and breads — and portions of it served out at random. A person's future is foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring means marriage, and a coin means wealth

A salty oatmeal bannock was baked; the person ate it in three bites and then went to bed in silence without anything to drink. This was said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst

Egg whites are dropped in water, and the shapes foretell the number of future children

SAMPLE OF SAMAIN TALES

story of a seer who rushed up to the door to the otherworld in the repulsion of gods, but closed the door as the gods were sealed off on his thumb. he then sucked on his wounded thumb and, from that moment, was said to have gained otherworldly wisdom but the cost was that he was, too, a link that the gods had to this world so he ultimately sealed himself, too, away inside a tree using their own magic to bind himself so that he could harm no one, but it is said that the gods have no mercy and that they force his ghost to walk the world on the night of Samain and sow the seeds of their ill-will for the year to come.

the monstrous gods used to demand two-thirds of the ppl's crops and livestock and even children during samain before they were sealed away, causing many to starve

a certain god, it is said, would command three men to go to a certain goddess every Samain to seduce her. when they inevitably failed, he would take their lives and force them to walk the world as his undead vessels for the rest of the year, wreaking untold havoc upon the world till at least one did succeed and the goddess gave him her magical garter. before the god killed his two companions, the goddess' lover, said sometimes to be from the snail house and alternately from the frog house, warned the vile god that it would spell his own doom if he struck those men down. laughing, the evil god did so, and so the lover used the magic girdle to fight and defeat him and help the guardians seal him away ((fun fact, this is drawn from a story said to have been the origin of the bog men...hence the frog or snail house being involved!))

one samain night, before the veil was raised against the gods, the king offered a prize to any who could tie a band around a hanged man's ankle. each challenger after the other fled in terror to the king's hall but one. when the band was tied, the dead man asked for a drink so, feeling pity for the hanged man, the challenger carried him on his back, stopping at three houses. when they entered the third, the dead man drank and spat it on the householders, killing them. returning to the gallows to bind him again, the challenger spotted an army of the gods burning the king's hall and slaughtering those inside. the challenger pursued the host through a portal into an otherworld where he learned that what he had seen since touching the hanged man was only a vision of what would happen the next samain unless something was done. he returned to the hall and warned the king, and astaira began to arm themselves against the gods who plotted against them.

another tale tells of a man who fell deeply in love w a goddess before the veil was raised against them. so in love was he that he followed her to an otherworld, despite her warnings that if he followed her, he could never return home. they lived happily together for two years before he began to long for home. watching him pine away, the goddess agreed to allow him to visit the mortal realm on her own horse, but only if he solemnly swore never to dismount the horse which would take him there and then back to her. he hastily agreed and started on his way. yet, when he arrived, he found that in the mortal realm two hundred years, and not two, had passed and that everyone he loved had died. distressed to see their graves, he fell from the horse to kiss them, but as soon as he stepped upon the ground, mortality found him and he grew old and died on the spot, collapsing as no more than bones and dust upon the earth of the graves of those he loved.

according to legend, the tradition of presenting roses and ivy to a lover originated when a man of low social standing is said to have fallen in love with a lady of house malconaire known for wearing ivy in her hair. in order to win her father's approval -- who said he might only wed his daughter if he could prove his love for her was true -- he became involved in a distant war. he was mortally wounded in battle, but managed to pluck a rose from a nearby rosebush for his loved one. a companion was entrusted with returning the blood-stained rose to his lover, who cast the ivy from her hair and wore the rose until the day she died. from their graves, buried beside each other, ivy and roses still grow.

CHARACTER HC'S

it was during samain, many years ago, that domhnall and later his heir, eilionora, offered roderick a treaty but both efforts he rebuffed. to the first effort to achieve peace he did not reply. yet when eilia tried again, he did, sending her only a piece of paper that bore simply a list of the countries he'd already conquered, with astaira's name listed at the bottom. eilia did not try again.

on the samain before bran and sorcha began courting, he decided that he would woo her with the traditional roses. sadly, however, he wasn't able to get out into the fields until late and, when he finally did, all that were left were very, very small roses, indeed. fortunately, she had the same idea and presented him with ivy as well. when she saw the wee rosebuds, which he presented with some embarrassment, saying he ought to have given her something far greater, she laughed and declared that someday he would -- if they ever had a daughter born in autumn, her name should be roisin, for the first gift he had ever given to her.

last samain, rosie presented edmund with ivy, forgetting he problably knew nothing of the tradition (and would likely consider it heresy, if he did!) realizing too late that he probably didn't know what she was telling him, she laughed and made a joke of it, weaving him a ivy crown, anyway, saying that if he meant to rule over astaira, someday, he best pay attention as he would have to know how to make a flower crown. she never mentioned it again.

bran threw eggs into water with sorcha the year they were married. when her egg predicted four children and his six, he was terrified it might mean he would outlive her and she laughed and told him that was a ridiculous thing to suppose, for he'd come to their marriage with two children already: his raven, and malconaire.

the year of sorcha's death, she stayed out to watch the ghosts walk, hoping for a last glimpse of a loved one whom she had just lost, while bran took the children home to sleep. she was drawn and white when bran awoke the next morning and, though she made jokes of it when he mentioned it and proceeded about her day, she seemed distracted, but would say nothing of what she had seen. at the time, bran only assumed that she was distressed about her loss, but after she died, he always wondered if perhaps she had seen her own spirit on the march that night.

though usually done privately for their parents, rosie always enjoyed mumming with her sisters at samain, telling tall tales and dramatic ones alike amongst themselves

while she hasn't done any mummery since childhood, as she imagines its likely not dignified for a lady of her age and position, she does still enjoy guising and generally dresses as favorite heroines from fairy tales and other stories. she is convinced cassandra would enjoy this as well and wants to bring her to such an event one of these years. no o ne can seem to convince her this is terrible idea.

cillian stays out late every year to watch the souls pass and, every year, he informs saoirse that he has seen her go by, but she says she'll have her revenge one of these days, because someday he ~will see her, and then he'll be sorry when he has to tell her so and she laughs in his face.

[atlasdoe]

you should soooo tell my your remary thoughts

HI HERE ARE MY FAVE REMARY HEADCANNONS

They love holding hands and always do whenever they walk together. literally these two never stop touching each other even if it's just their pinky's they HAVE to be holding each other some way otherwise they'll explode

Remus doesn't like parties and Mary does so whenever Gryffindor have a party Remus will sit in the corner by the window with the smokers while Mary goes out to socialise with her friends and dance. Before she leaves him tho she'll put on a shit tone of lipstick and kiss his cheek so it stays on just to make sure that nobody thinks he's single and tries anything before she goes back. Remus pretends to hate it but really loves how wanted it makes him feel

Remus' favourite thing about Mary is her confidence. he admires her so much and how she can always hold her head high despite the prejudice she faces for being muggleborn. he can only wish that he will be even a tiny bit confident as she is despite him being a werewolf

Speaking on werewolves. In a cannon universe where they're together i imagine the prank happening on the same day or the day after Mary getting attacked by Mulciber. In this universe i'm saying that Remus did care about the prank for the plot. So Mary is shut out in her room because of Mulciber and doesn't want to speak to anyone but Lily is trying to get her talk to her about what happened and while she's doing so makes a comment about Remus also refusing to come out of his room. Mary immediately thinks that the Slytherins had also hurt Remus and goes to the boys dorm to see him (she is the most protective gf in the world) but when Remus opens the door and tries to get out of telling her what happened she mentions that the Slytherins hurt her too in a way to tell him that she understands and Remus sees RED

Hear me out. Remus Lupin is not intimidating in the slightest. So when he goes to Mulciber he's laughed at for even thinking that he could take him. But i hc that Remus knows every defensive spell on the book (because he wants to be able to protect those he loves like his dad protected him)

Remus does eventually tell Mary everything and that's how Mary finds out that Remus is a werewolf

SPEAKING OF PARENTS. Lyall and Hope ADORE Mary. Mary is literally every in laws dream. She's polite and helping and all smiles around them and they can clearly see how much she cares for Remus and how happy she makes him

AND MARYS PARENTS LOVE REMUS TOO. They were skeptical at first because of the scars and the scrawniness of him but once he started talking they fell in love. (and they're obsessed with his welsh accent. they love how he speaks)

AND MARYS YOUNGER SIBLINGS ARE OBSESSED WITH REMUS. Mary in my hcs has an older sister and two younger brothers and because her brothers are so small they think Remus is the coolest person ever. They very bluntly asked him where he got his scars from when they first met and Mary told them that Remus fought a dragon

Yknow the "she's like a shot of espresso" audio of Andrew Garfield talking about Emma Stone?? Yeah that's actually Remus Lupin talking about Mary MacDonald

Remus loves burying his face in Marys neck. It's his favourite place to be and he loves kissing her there

Mary loves kissing Remus' scar on his face and hands. She's always sitting on his lap and running her hands through his hair

Remus LOSES HIS MIND when Mary wears short skirts

THEYRE JUST SO PERFECT YOUR HONOR IM GOING TO THROW UP AT THE THOUGHT OF THEM

[camlannpod]

first of all: I am having a blast with Camlann, it's been a while since I've excitedly awaited the new episodes of an audio drama! Thank you for putting this amazing story out in the world :) I have Very Important Burning Questions after the main character descriptions - 1) what type of dog/breed is Gelert? 2) is Gwaine a snapback guy? 3) are there any sort of headcanons floating around regarding Kay's appearance (ngl, I heard him speak and I was immidiately like. yeah. this checks out. annoying little shit :) ) bonus question: has there been any concious choice made for the spelling of the names? as someone who has studied the mabinogi and had to translate sections pwyll and branwen (and voluntarily had a go at Yr Afallenau Myrddin), I have noticed my brain tends to default to certain spellings, so I was wondering if there is a reason for the spellings you've chosen?

Hello hello hello!!!! Thank you so much for the kind words this is lovely of you!!!!

Regarding your questions:

Gelert is an Irish Wolfhound! Big grey boi

Hmmm, snapback might be slightly too American for him. Gwaine is quite proudly Scottish. He was living in Bristol though, so he's definitely a fashionable sunglasses guy.

Hahaha yep! Honestly with Kay the defining feature is Forgettable. Like, I'm kind of joking and I'm kind of not. He's someone who easily blends into crowds and who people tend to pass over and underestimate. He was a scrum-half on the rugby team, so he's definitely wiry. But he's not bulky, and I always imagine everything about him being a bit washed out. I also imagine him as shorter than Arthur and Gwaine.

Kind of! Also hell YES fellow medieval Welsh person!! So broadly speaking when it comes to the character's modern names I wanted very modernised, easy to pronounce names. This is partly a practical issue - the actors have to say the names a lot, and not all of them speak Welsh. But it's also about the fact that Camlann is very much a story that rejects the premise that there is a 'pure' or 'true' version of any story, or the idea that you need the oldest or most accurate name to really connect with it. So with Gwaine - Gavin, Owen, Owain etc could work just as well as Gawain. It's also sometimes a character choice - for example Dai very specifically wanted to keep using a Welsh name when he moved to England. Dai is easy for English speakers to say, but still distinctively Welsh, so it was the compromise he settled for. And then sometimes it's kind of a backstory thing - Gwen's Dad Kai taught Western Literature at a university in Hong Kong. He was a single dad, and Gwen was his only child, so they're very close. Gwen's mother gave her her Chinese name, Shújūn, but left when she was a baby. So, (unusually), Gwen and her Dad chose her English name together when she was a teenager. But because Kai taught broadly Western Literature, he was working with English Arthuriana rather than Welsh, hence Guinevere/Gwen instead of, for example, Gwenhwyfar.

Thank you so much for the questions, andf for listening to the show!!! It's always exciting to get a chance to ramble about it.

[taleweaver-ramblings]

Taleweaver Rereads Prydain: The Book of Three (Part 2)

I decided to do these as separate posts instead of reblogs because otherwise the post will get really long. Click here for Part 1 (Chapters 1–9, also a lot of facepalming at Taran and appreciating Gwydion.)

Also, as a note, I am putting very little effort into avoiding any but the most significant spoilers. The books are 50+ years old. I know the lucky 10,000 is a thing, but yeah.

Chapters 10–13 Thoughts

Despite the fact that Fflewddur Fflam is, again, my fourth-favorite literary bard, I apparently forgot about half of his backstory. Shame on me.

(It's ok, Fflewddur. You may not be an official bard, but I like you anyway. You can still be on my list.)

I cannot remember if the fact that Fflewddur is technically a king is ever addressed again. What is going on in his kingdom? Did he abdicate? Or is his kingdom just small enough that it can run itself without him looking after it?

While I retract none of my past comments about Taran's intelligence or common sense, I will give him this: once he gets some weight of responsibility on his shoulders, he learns fast. He's still a goose at times, of course, but he's less of one.

Contradicting this: "There is risk enough without having to worry about a girl." Taran. Dude. Eilonwy is, at this point, arguably the most competent member of your group. I know part of this is that you've been taught to protect girls, but trust me, you want Eilonwy along.

"In Caer Dalben, he had dreamed of being a hero. But dreaming, he had come to learn, was easy; and at Caer Dalben no lives depended on his judgement." Like I said: Taran does learn fast. Also, a lot of wisdom in that statement. Dreaming is easy. Doing is harder.

I do not ever remember reaching a point the first time I read these where I liked Gurgi. I could tell that I was supposed to like him, and I remember appreciating that he had a good character arc, but I didn't enjoy his scenes.

On the reread, thus far, I still don't enjoy his scenes (mostly because I find his manner of talking annoying), but I do have a lot more appreciation for his character (notably, the fact that he has more courage than it seems at first) and his situation (having "lost the wisdom of the animals without gaining the intelligence of men" — not an exact quote, but close enough; it's an interesting state to consider).

All Taran's conversations with Eilonwy seem to go sideways from how Taran wanted them, and sometimes that's his own fault, but sometimes that's on Eilonwy, and I do feel for Taran in those cases. "Somehow I can never seem to make it come out right" indeed, dude. I know exactly what you mean.

I forgot that there was a reference to Culhwch and Olwen in this book! (Though Alexander spells Culhwch as Kilhuch.) That's my second-favorite Welsh myth!

I also appreciate the implication that the in-world version of Noah is just hanging out in Prydain, never having died, looking out for the animals. It's great.

I may or may not finish the book tonight; if not tonight, 'twill be tomorrow for certain. We shall see.

[ladybrainrot]

*raises hand* what is ydy??? 😭😭 and why is their a difference in telling your friends no you won’t/weren’t?

I’m using a welsh learning dictionary and omg theres:

Na

Nag

Nage

All meaning no IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?!

I’m so sorry my brain cells are being fried trying to figure this out 😭😭 please help-

ydy is just like "yeah" or "yes" but can also be used for "is", so when you ask someone "is she here?" (ydy hi yma?) you would reply "ydy" it basically just reinforces an answer?

and yeah! certain combinations of words change grammatical structures and the spelling of words. in welsh their called treigladau or in English, mutations.

btw i don't know a single welsh speaker who understands treigladau completely so don't feel embarrassed by it.

heres an image of the letter mutations

and those mutations happen bc of words that immediately come before them; which are; am, ar, at, dan, dros, trwy, heb, hyd, gan, worth, i, and o.

that is probably the simplest way of explaining :3

[tommy-doubterson]

hey. What the hell.

Just for that, here's a few more.

Small is bigger than big. Tall is shorter than short. You get "on" a horse but "in" a car. "No yeah" is yes, "yeah yeah" is no, "yeah no" is no, and "no no" is yes. There is no plural for the word "you". "Queue" is 80% silent letters. You say "unbelievable" but "intolerable".

Don't fucking test me.

The English language is a mess. Here's a list of some more oddities I just looked up.

“Rhythms” is the longest English word without the normal vowels, a, e, i, o, or u.

Excluding derivatives, there are only two words in English that end -shion and (though many words end in this sound). These are cushion and fashion.

“THEREIN” is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein.

There is only one common word in English that has five vowels in a row: queueing.

Soupspoons is the longest word that consists entirely of letters from the second half of alphabet.

“Almost” is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

The longest uncommon word whose letters are in alphabetical order is the eight-letter Aegilops (a grass genus).

The longest common single-word palindromes are deified, racecar, repaper, reviver, and rotator.

“One thousand” contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A.

“The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

Cwm (pronounced “koom”, defined as a steep-walled hollow on a hillside) is a rare case of a word used in English in which w is the nucleus vowel, as is crwth (pronounced “krooth”, a type of stringed instrument). Despite their origins in Welsh, they are accepted English words.

“Asthma” and “isthmi” are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between.

The nine-word sequence I, in, sin, sing, sting, string, staring, starting (or starling), startling can be formed by successively adding one letter to the previous word.

“Underground” and “underfund” are the only words in the English language that begin and end with the letters “und.”

“Stewardesses” is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.

Antidisestablishmentarianism listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, was considered the longest English word for quite a long time, but today the medical term pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is usually considered to have the title, despite the fact that it was coined to provide an answer to the question ‘What is the longest English word?’.

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”.

There are many words that feature all five regular vowels in alphabetical order, the commonest being abstemious, adventitious, facetious.

The superlatively long word honorificabilitudinitatibus (27 letters) alternates consonants and vowels.

“Fickleheaded” and “fiddledeedee” are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

The two longest words with only one of the six vowels including y are the 15-letter defenselessness and respectlessness.

“Forty” is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. “One” is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

Bookkeeper is the only word that has three consecutive doubled letters.

Despite the assertions of a well-known puzzle, modern English does not have three common words ending in -gry. Angry and hungry are the only ones.

“Ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully.

Source

I hope you like being outsmarted, English Oddities Anon.

[silurisanguine]

Names for characters So, why is your oc's named what they're named? ;)

(All of them)

Ah thankyou for asking about them all!!!!! Aeryn Ryder (recent changed as i changed her name) Aeryn is most well known from the show Farscape. But it's actually a version of the name Eiren, which i found out can be a version of welsh for berry. Fitting as purple is Aeryn's favourite colour! It's also Irish for being from Ireland. Ryder of course is the in game surname for the character so i didn't change anything there. For Seren Jones. Seren is welsh for star and I've always loved the name. it's such a pretty name and it suits characters in space based scifi. There is an irony there that comes into her story. As she becomes Starborn and her partner Sam often calls her Star as a nickname. The irony of being Starborn when her name literally means star is not lost on her. So yeah, it has a double meaning for them both. I gave Seren the Jones surname as well, she is the OC most based on me! So i see her as some distant descendant of my family. Zofie Deryn Orel : As she is my Assassin in a Deus Ex world, i wanted to continue the theme Assassins often have in their names as double meanings, often with some sort of bird of prey word in there. Zofie is the Czech spelling for Sofie and that name means wisdom, which I'd like to say Zofie has a lot of. Deryn , her middle name is welsh for bird.....same theme there! Orel is Czech for eagle, which follows the game naming theme. Her grandparents come from Czechia, (then Czechoslovakia when they left to live in the UK) and her father, although born in England, wanted to honour his parents in giving her a Czech first name but that was western enough to not cause her problems. Kiara Black - Okay, originally she was called Aeryn Black, as i've loved that name since Farscape! But the sound of the name is too close to a character in Thief called Erin and i didn't want to get her confused. So i looked around for names that had meaning to her and found Kiara which depending on country can mean two different things! In Italian - Kiara means "light" or "clear" as a variation of the traditional Italian spelling of the name Chiara. Chiara is the Italian form of the name Clare or Clara. In Gaelic irish - Kiara is also a variation of the Irish name Ciara, which means "dark" or "black." Ciara is the feminine form of the Irish name Ciar or Ciarán. As she is a thief she lives in the dark, but she becomes a light for Garrett, so i loved that dual meaning. Her surname Black comes from Claudia Black, the actress who played Aeryn in Farscape. Black as a surname historically can mean Blacksmtih or Black as in these people have black hair (common in western world) I also like the idea that as a 'blackhand' - aka what some people call thieves in the game, it's a fun irony again.

[tarotofbadkitties]

Whenever I decide to watch or read something, I always make a point of completely avoiding looking it up on social media first.There’s a variety of reasons, but the main reason is to avoid spoilers. That also has the side effect of me finding out how both the fandom and the general public feel about a thing AFTER consuming it, rather than having it in my head while I’m reading or watching.

The most recent thing I checked out is the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik. I read through the trilogy, thoroughly enjoyed it, and then got curious what folks had to say about it...and found pretty intense accusations of racism. I thought that was kind of strange, because nothing jumped out at me, but I’ve read and watched a lot of problematic stuff and didn’t notice so I decided to check out the claims. A couple of them I was like yeah, that was some problematic wording, okay, makes sense I missed this other thing because I don’t know enough about the culture in question to be offended by this, alright...then we hit the one about El’s race. I saw a bunch of people say that because El (biracial half Indian half Welsh protagonist) lacks connection to the Indian side of her family, and thus lacks obvious Indian cultural markers, she “might as well be white.”

That’s a WILD claim, in my opinion, and I’m surprised it flies with people. The notion that white is the default, and if a character is going to be non-white there needs to be a “reason” is intensely racist. It’s also untrue in this specific case that there is nothing significant in El’s characterization or in the plot connected to her race. But even if it was true, and it didn’t come up in the plot at all, why should she be white? Nobody ever asks why a particular character is white, or suggests if a white character isn’t interested in stereotypically white things that they should be another race. There are plenty of non-white people who assimilate into the white-majority cultures they live in, anyway. But El doesn’t even really fall in that category.

El’s mother makes sure that she speaks her father’s native language, and it pays off for her in the narrative with the first person to trade with her and later, her first friend being Aadyah, a character who is Indian. Language is a huge part of the world-building and narrative, with characters having a tendency to form bonds and clique up based on what languages they speak. It tracks that they would do this, given the school’s tendency to give you spells in any language you have any knowledge of, deciding that qualifies well enough as a language you speak. I would avoid spending too much time with people that speak a language I wasn’t prepared to learn in that situation, as gaining a passing familiarity is enough to run the risk of suddenly having all of your coursework in that language.

It’s also a huge plot point that speaking less-commonly used languages gives you access to less-commonly used spells, and that’s a HUGE deal. Marathi, her father’s language, is related to Sanskrit, and the most important spell in the entire series is a spell written in Sanskrit. It’s a thing with languages that it’s easier to learn another language if you’re already familiar with a similar one. She would not have been given that book at all if she didn’t already have a passing familiarity with Sanskrit based on her fluency in a similar language leading her to be willing to try to take it on.

Besides the language aspect, it’s also mentioned as part of El feeling alienated, that she grew up surrounded by people that didn’t look like her, and it’s pretty significant that people not know who her mother is. People would likely guess who she is if she looked more like her mother. But...even if there was nothing plot-relevant about her father’s culture, and she wasn’t interested in it as a character, it would still be fine for her to not be white just because everyone in a narrative doesn’t have to be white. Non-white people don’t need a narrative justification for existing in fiction. It’s not “checking a box” for non-white people who are assimilated into white cultures to be allowed to exist in fiction the same way they exist in incredible numbers in reality.

[a-study-of-grief]

Chapter 1: The Calling

My eyes creak open and I am greeted by emptiness. There is nothing and no one except for me inside these awful walls. At least, nothing meaningful. There’s supposed to be meaning. There’s supposed to be love, but there is nothing. And that’s what’s wrong here.

Everything changes and nothing persists. I stay like this for a little longer, wallowing in my own woe and misery… then I get a call. The sound of California Boyz makes me jolt upright and grab the phone. It’s an unknown number. “This is Kieran Roe speaking.” “Do you give out yer name to everyone like that, boy?” They had a thick, Welsh accent. I couldn’t quite place it as either northern or southern. It seemed to be leaning more north, though. “Who is this?” “No, seriously, do you really just hand out yer true name to every bloody person you come across? Like fuckin’ candy at a parade. I’d expect better of someone as educated as you.” This time I clock the words. So they’re magical, or at least, aware of the supernatural. I sigh, “Look, if you’re just gonna reprimand me then we can just–” “No, no, yer gonna wanna hear what I have to say.” “Then say it.” “Feisty, innit?” They audibly click their teeth together. “Alright, well, to introduce myself, people call me Collector.” “Oh... You.” “My reputation precedes me then?” He giggles. “Yeah. What’s your business with me?” “I hear ya got a story. A few, actually,” Collector explains. “Newest one bein’ some real Orpheus and Eurydice shite, I hear.” I hang up and he calls right back. I let it ring twice before sighing and hitting the answer button. I know he doesn’t just take, he trades, but that doesn’t stop the fact he struck a nerve. It’s a wonder he gets any clients with this dogshit business strategy. “Leave me alone,” I bark. “Wait!” He yells through the phone. “Listen, I’m sorry ‘bout it. Really am. It’s tragic, innit?” Collector clicks his teeth together again. “I didn’t call ya to tease. Really.” “Then why?” The question came out shakier than I wanted. I was practically oozing venom. Who gave this bastard the right to talk to me like this and then backpedal. Hell, all I know is his title and his pronouns. I don’t even know who he is. “I got whatcha need.” I inhale sharply. “And what is that?” “You wanna look for yer lover boy, yeah? See where they are in all of the realms? A way to divine ‘im?” “... Y-yeah. Actually.” I take a few deep breaths. I fumble with the day-old braid in my hair to ground myself. This is it. This is my shot, but why would it fall into my lap like this? It just didn’t sit well, but I couldn’t just let it pass me either. “Great,” Collector continues, noticing my baited breath. “I got just that. But business is a face to face affair I reckon. So listen up. Grab a pen n’ paper, or whatever you have to fuckin’ record this. I don’t care.” I quickly scavenge my nightstand like a man possessed. I shove magical artefacts of unknown power and origin aside and onto the floor. I need this. Finally, I find my journal of spells. I don’t even care if it wasn’t made for this purpose. I just have to record this. I have to know. And so I do as told. I transcribe it and even have him repeat it for good measure. “When?” I asked. “Whenever. ‘Fore you do, you’ll have to scrawl a lil symbol on the door. It oughta be in…” He pauses. He pauses for so long, in fact, that I start wondering whether or not he had hung up. Or died. Eventually, he pipes up. “You got a copy of ‘Sigil Magick and How To Annoy The Gods’, yeah?” “Yeah. How’d you know?” “I assumed. Anyhow, page 54. If you have the first edition, then it’s 52. If you have the collector’s edition, 69.” “Thanks. Anything else?” “Yeah. Be ready to impress me.” And he hangs up. “Yeah, definitely not ominous at all,” I mumble. I flop onto the bed, flip phone still in hand. And I stay like that for a while, occasionally letting out loud, dramatic sighs. I even move to put my hands in my face. Before I can even grumble out the rest of my grievances, I fall. I fall deeper and deeper. The dull sunlight hitting my eyelids falls away into nothing. It’s just a void. A sea of nothing but stars. Me and the stars. Millions of stars surrounded by billions of worlds. So small. So alone. It’s cold in the vastness. It always is. Without love, there’s nothing left but a cold eternity. The love of friends and family. When you cannot claim or create happiness in a cruel world, what’s left but that world? I fall deeper and into a memory. Suddenly it’s a tepid day and I’m on that old farmstead. Scarless hands feel the grass and I look over to see them. “Blaidd,” The name rolls off my tongue naturally. In this state, the horrors have yet to touch me- us. Everything’s alright. “Yeah, what’s up, Roeboat?” I roll my eyes at the name. “Tough crowd… How about Roebot?” They ask. “I think Roeboat was cuter,” I shake my head, “Listen… I was thinkin’-” “Dangerous thing for you, y’know?” Blaidd interjects, now laying in the grass. Limbs spread. “Yeah, I know. Don’t wanna strain my brain cells.” “All two of ‘em.” “Yup,” I start joining them in the grass. I turn and stare at them. They were so beautiful. In so many different ways. I loved every part of them, even the parts they thought unlovable. It was an unconditional kind of love. My favourite sort. I blink and continue. This is still a memory and I am forced to play it out as planned. Lest my brain twist it. “Anyway. I wanted to ask you. Do you think this’ll last? Us? This view. This life.” “I dunno. Prolly not, but that’s fine y’know?” “Yeah?” “Yeah,” Blaidd plants a little kiss on my cheek. “Things change, but that doesn’t mean things are gone. Got it? What’s with the existential questioning anyhow?” “I dunno. I guess I just get like that sometimes.” “Pft. Brains are weird,” Blaidd chuckles. “You gotta try livin’ with no thoughts sometime.” “Like you?” I look over at them. The grass only slightly gets in my eye, but that’s alright. I get to look at them and that makes it okay. “Yeah! Ex-act-ly.” I giggle and fall asleep, content And so, I fall up. My flesh begins to sear painlessly again as new scars begin to reform. I am no longer untouched, but rather, in the present again. I rise above the vastness and eventually into consciousness.

[gellavonhamster]

monthly media recap: may 2023

the lusty month of May! this one is gonna be long

read:

The Terror by Arthur Machen - a properly unsettling short novel about strange murders happening in England and Wales during World War II. I gotta say, I think the narrator is wrong :D as in, based on the story, I have a slightly different opinion on the cause of what happened

The Great Return by Arthur Machen - a novella about the reappearance of the Holy Grail in a small Welsh village; short, but beautiful

The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood - not bad apart from, as usual, certain period-typical yikes, but after Machen and M.R. James it just doesn't seem as good, and the endings to many stories felt too abrupt to me. However, I am a big fan of the character whose rooms were haunted by his friend's ghost, so he went to his other friend's place to study because "there's no hallucination about that exam; I must pass that whatever happens."

Issues No. 1-3 of the Hellebore zine - yep, still reading this, still in an absolutely random order. Witch trials, poison plants, the cult of Pan and other good shit; I've bookmarked the names of some books I might give a try later. I feel like the articles in earlier issues were more, uh, informal and essay-like and became more scientific as the zine continued to be released, which I think is a good change tbh

Temeraire series, Books 4-7 (Empire of Ivory, Victory of Eagles, Tongues of Serpents, and Crucible of Gold) by Naomi Novik - hell yeah! I started this series in 2019 (I believe?), read the first three books, loved them, but then kind of forgot to continue. Catching up on it now and greatly enjoying the alternate history (in very broad strokes: Napoleonic wars with sentient DRAGONS in the air force), constant adventures, anti-colonialist themes, and the extremely likeable cast.

+ progress on Lancelot-Grail: done with The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Death of Arthur, and the first part of Post-Vulgate (The Merlin Continuation). Currently reading the Post-Vulgate version of the Grail quest and Book 8 of of Temeraire - Blood of Tyrants

watched:

Daisy Jones & The Six (2023) - there were changes in comparison to the book that I liked (loved Simone's storyline in the show, for example) and that I disliked. I think the novel and the adaptation work together best. The soundtrack is amazing, and the original songs are very good even out of context

Valkoinen peura / The White Reindeer (1952) - older horror films often are more haunting than the newer ones despite limited special effects and mostly relying on things like lighting and music - or maybe because of that - and this Finnish film is a good example of that. God forbid women do anything (turn into a murderous reindeer)

November (2017) - fascinating folk horror set in 19th century Estonia - mundane magic, deals with the devil, and the unrequited love no spells can fix. Beautiful and sad and very well-made

Yellowjackets (season 2, 2021-?) - AAAAAAA!!! I know many people found this season much worse than s1, but I honestly enjoyed it, even if I didn't agree with all decisions (they better do something unexpected about Van's cancer, or I'll be mad). The finale is devastating, but I kinda expected that to happen :( it was one of the most likely character deaths. Alas, the only one of these women I'd be ready to let go is the one who's certainly not dying unless they all die in the end (which is not that unlikely, I guess). Anyway, this is one of my favourite shows at the moment, and I'm really excited for season 3 (and the mysterious bonus episode?..)

[shiningstages]

@feveredbcnes - [ AWOO. ]   the sender howls at the moon. + [ DARK. ]   the receiver finds the sender out on a full moon.  (either Lil or Thomas!)

          The howl pierces the night, almost like a siren for the hunters to hone in on. Trails of soft white smoke pouring out of their mouths with every exhale, huffed constantly through their light jog towards their destination. Expertly dodging anything in their path with the help of the light of the full moon, they hiked through the forest and up various inclines until they came upon him - The werewolf. Bigger in size than the Welsh man usually was, a hulking figure against the powerful light that made him this way. Full moons were when many creatures of the night were the strongest, but werewolves were the ones that could control themselves the least under the influence - or so it seemed from the hunters’ observations. They had to transform; they had to feed the beast in any way they could, or at least exhaust it into slumber once more.

          It was when he needed the most help. A shrill whistle from between his teeth signaled his boy to turn and look at him, the hunter getting a good look now at the bandana that was stuck through one of his front claws. It was supposed to go loosely around his wrist…Guess that hadn’t worked out, though Thomas only gave it to him as he was rushing out the door, with the instructions of “Put it on just in case.” barely out of his mouth before Rey was gone. The woods were his safe space during these times, after all, and he probably felt such an urgency to get here to just be on the safe side of things. He never wanted anyone to get hurt anytime he transformed, and especially if it was a particularly strong draw towards hunger and bloodlust, and of course he'd be back by the morning…

          …But of course Thomas worried for him. Now more than ever - even if all the hunters in the area knew Reynardine and his relationship to the Marchands, and even though he knew Rey could handle himself and had grown so much since they first met, after seeing him like he had…Thomas couldn’t take a chance. It was panicked thinking that made Thomas shove a bandana in Rey’s hands once he realized what day it was, as if that was a protective spell to help him avoid getting shot by a friend. Then calls to Matt and the butchers around town for help and backup plans, even the calmest voice he could muster shaking slightly. Then it’s off to the woods in his old truck, crossing trails and unmarked territory alike while carrying all their gear, along with cheap duffle bags weighing them down more. By the time they get to Rey, they’re both panting up a storm, but Thomas can’t help but smirk upon seeing the werewolf he knew and loved. 

          “You doin’ okay?” He shouts it against a chilly gust of air, putting his bag down next to a nearby tree and then walking a good distance away from it, adjusting his gear - classic shotgun now swapped with the biggest tranquilizer gun he ever did see. He was surprised Matt had actually bought it “in case of emergencies” back when Rey first became a friend, but as a mortuary in a town crossing paths with the supernatural, it was always good to have anything at hand. 

          “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” His friend hollers as he places his bag right next to his own. “Oh, wait, of course you’re not asking about me.” Annoyed tone filled with love. Thomas can’t help but chuckle at the comment, yet his eyes stay on Rey the whole time. Matt can only sigh when that’s his only response, slapping Thomas’ shoulder, “You’re so very lucky that I was feeling very generous tonight, or else I would’ve let you do all this stupid shit on your own.”

          “You could’ve.” Thomas simply states back, finally giving Matt a glance, smirk gleaming against the moon.

          Matt just groans, “This old man paid a month’s worth of rent on you just in case you needed it, kid.” shouted over the downwind, though he’s hidden fairly well behind Thomas for safety. “And he has clothes for you in the truck, for whenever you get tuckered out and de-transformed and…Stuff.” He waves his hand around, as if that helps wrap up his sentence neatly enough. 

          Thomas just chuckles again, feeling his breathing finally even out, and a shiver goes up his spine from the cold air. “We’re just here if you need us, okay?” He shouts through a large exhale, one foot behind himself just in case he needed to book it back to the truck, fist gripping the strap of the gun hanging on him. He knows he’s probably being stupid and dumb, but…Well, he was allowed to be every once in awhile, right? “Just give me a sign to let me know if you need anything.”