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headspace-hotel · 9 months ago

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i'm...thinking about writing a book?

I mean. I feel really silly at the thought because i'm not like a scientist or anything, i'm barely at the beginning of my knowledge journey, but...being a writer was what I always wanted to do. It's what I've been doing ever since I could remember. And I'm constantly, constantly just so full of things that I want to tell the whole world. I will have a realization or idea and think, oh my god. Everyone needs to know this. But I can't tell everyone. I'm not good at talking.

I'm good at writing. But I will sit down to write a post on my silly little blog and get so overwhelmed by the SCALE of everything I want to say.

I think I've already started to write a book. I think the space for these ideas to fill is already the size of a book and it will never have any smaller of a size, and no one else will come along to write the book, and no one else CAN write the book, and IT HAS TO BE WRITTEN.

I want to write about the ways of the plants, of course. I want to teach how to transplant and how to gather seeds and the properties of keystone species...but more importantly, I want to write about how to learn the ways of the plants. I want to promote the habit of insatiable curiosity and intense observation. I want to show everyone that everything everywhere is infinitely interesting and mysterious, and if you pay attention to the plants, they will teach you.

I want to write about Symbiosis. I want to write about how we are connected to every other thing, how we have our own ecological niche as Caretakers, and our own special adaptations of curiosity and love. I want to write about how the ecosystem needs us to participate in it, not to cut ourselves off from it, and how our powerful influence on ecosystems can be for good or for bad. We are not a disease. We are a Keystone Species.

I want to discourage this Euro-centric idea that sees humans as separate, and recommend more reading from indigenous points of view that understands ecosystems better and sees humans as participants in nature, engaging in a reciprocal symbiotic relationship. I want to speak against all this talk about removing humans from half of the Earth or reducing the human population, and show other people that despair and fear make you paralyzed and powerless, but hope is powerful.

The most important and powerful thing you can do for your ecosystem is to love it. It is necessary to have hope for the future—to learn to imagine a future of restoration and renewal, and to build community with other people working toward that future.

If we don't imagine a future for our ecosystems, imagine them boldly and audaciously in ways that feel crazy and impossible, those futures will not happen. But just the act of saying, "This WILL happen. We WILL be okay." gives you the strength and energy to fight and it gives you the creativity to come up with solutions you never could have thought of before.

And I feel I have to explain, how did I end up listening to plants? And how did the teachings become so important that I had to write about them? There's this black, swallowing abyss underpinning all of who I am, some intimation of a reality so terrible the human spirit breaks beneath it. I had a mental health crisis back in 2021 where I was pulled deep into that abyss, and when I started rescuing little plants and caring for them, I was basically re-learning how to be human.

I feel like I was seeking answers to "How am I supposed to live in this world?" in the natural world because the human world of poetry and books and articles and think-pieces had utterly failed me in that regard. I had taken multiple poetry classes where I had read all the best contemporary poems, and all the poets just wrote flat, plodding, blunt descriptions of their trauma and despair. Nothing is wrong with these topics, but the worst part was how these authors didn't even take themselves seriously; they had to be detached and ironic about their own pain, like a snarky dystopian novel hero who jokes casually about the horrific reality they live in so the reader knows that this reality is normal and unremarkable to them—and even more importantly, that the hero is ironic and cool instead of responding in a vulnerable, human way.

And speaking of dystopian novels...there were a lot of those! It was like all the visions of the future I had read were dystopian. Even I had been writing a dystopian novel. But I realized that I wasn't wise enough to tell that story yet. I didn't know why at first. But then, as I was reading everything people were writing about climate change, I began to realize.

I saw a lot of patterns between the way people wrote about climate change and the tendencies of self-harm and self-defeat that gnawed inside me. Suicide was something that I had never struggled against, but I understood that suicide was only the most striking manifestation of a self-annihilating way. Sometimes you feel like by hurting yourself, you are being transgressive, exercising autonomy against an absolute, crushing reality. It doesn't have to be physical hurt; it can just be deciding no one will like you and denying yourself love, or thinking "Well, there's no use hoping for anything good to happen."

This is how people talk about climate change. They fantasize about extreme, horrific scenarios and talk as if the Earth is already dead and destroyed, and they talk about humans hatefully and as if they were a disease, and then congratulate themselves for seeing how bad it REALLY is instead of being in denial. It is easy for people to get attached to this and even get mad when someone suggests there might be hope, simply because self-harm can be very psychologically reinforcing.

It is common to call these responses "climate grief." But as I came into this very simple and quiet yet profound encounter with Nature, she had an answer to this philosophy that was perfectly gentle and placid and yet caustic enough to strip paint:

"HOW CAN YOU WISH FOR THE STRENGTH TO GRIEVE THE EARTH, WHEN YOU WERE NEVER STRONG ENOUGH TO LOVE IT?"

I realized, with a breaking heart, that I had always hated and resented my back yard and my home town, because it was an ugly place that seemed to me "Already destroyed," and my soul ached for woods and wilderness.

It had taken me 20 years to fully admit my love of nature, because I felt like there was no point in acting upon it—everything would get destroyed anyway.

I had not been brave enough to love the woods across the road, the creeks and the hills, because they were so fragile in a world that didn't respect them, they could be destroyed by some housing development at any time. So I just accepted that it was already a lost cause.

But it was time to be brave enough—not to accept despair, but to choose hope.

To grow up, first we had to become strong and get rid of silly beliefs like hope and fairness and love. But now, we have to become even stronger and start believing in those things again.

#the ways of the plants #learning to imagine the future

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notafragilething · 2 months ago

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Late Night Buck & Tommy Rambles: Surprise, Bitches. I'm Back!

It has been a very long, chaotic summer but I'm back. Now that we've gotten more than some CGI bees and mustache jokes I'm emerging from hiatus and ready for season eight of 911 to consume far to much of my time.

We have several new quotes from Tim, some stills from the season premiere and my predictions for this season. This is going to be a long one but I hope you'll read and comment. I've missed y'all and need to ramble because I have thoughts!

So let's start with the interviews. There are two that dropped that have caught my attention because they confirm that Tommy will be back and that Buck & Tommy are still together.

So What's New? These Articles! (They include stills from the episode as well)

There is the TVLine interview here from the 9th that gave us the following quote: "On the bright side, Buck’s relationship with Tommy is going strong (“They’re still getting to know each other a little better”), so at least he’ll have someone to complain to after a long day of putting up with his racist, sexist, homophobic boss."

Second, today we got an EW interview here by Patrick Gomez. I bring up the interviewer because you might recognize him as the same one who did an article on the Tommy deleted scene over the summer (which I swear, PR or marketing had to be involved with).

The important Buck & Tommy bit from the EW interview: Minear says not much time has passed between the events of the season 7 finale and the season 8 premiere, so there haven't been many developments in Buck and Tommy's relationship. "But we see that they're more comfortable together," he explains. "We'd definitely call them a couple. Obviously they're comfortable hanging out with Eddie, but when you couple with somebody, it takes up some of your time, so that also leaves Eddie a little bit out in the cold. Well, not out in the cold, but Buck doesn't have as much free time as he did before, let's put it that way."

So what do I think this means? Let's get into my predictions!

I'm going to start out by saying this is 100% speculation. I may be right, I might be wrong. I don't have some secret inside source that is sneaking me information. I'm just going off what we've gotten so far and vibes.

But...I've had the feeling for a while now that the show was going to commit to Buck and Tommy going into season eight. This started with the joint interview, the release of the deleted scene and the following articles about it (which did seem to possibly be influenced by PR/Marketing) and the lack of Buddie we've been getting so far in bts stuff.

Now, I know some buddie shippers have taken the Eddie mention in that EW quote as proof it's happening but truthfully? That seems like a very, very bad sign for them. To me, this seemed like a gentle way of preparing the fanbase that Buck and Eddie weren't going to be spending as much time together in season eight as in the past.

This lines up with what we saw at the end of season eight with Eddie really depending far to much on Buck to handle his issues (something Ryan himself commented on). We saw that didn't work out in the finale when Buck couldn't and wouldn't attempt to make Christopher stay for Eddie. I think this season is going to make Eddie face and handle his own issues without Buck. I predict they'll still be friends but I wouldn't be shocked if the "family" dynamic started to fade away.

The fact that they're also saying Buck and Tommy are comfortable and getting to know each other makes me think that they want to show us their relationship building and getting serious. Which would make narrative sense if you were planning this relationship to be long term.

I'm intrigued to see if this pattern continues with future interviews and promotions that will be dropping over the next two weeks.

I do have a theory of what might play out in the first three episodes but that includes some spoilers (and I like to keep these mostly spoiler-free outside of what is in articles and official promo) so I'll be posting that in a little bit as a separate post.

With all that said. I'm pretty excited for this season and Buck's storyline. How are you all feeling? You getting the same vibes as me?

#911 abc #bucktommy #evan buckley #tommy kinard #tevan #firepilot #evan buck buckely

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whysperingwoods · 1 month ago

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Ethics in Witchcraft: Empowerment vs Cheap Tricks

Witchcraft is mainstream-- a reality I never would have imagined ten years ago. With that rise comes a surge of offerings on various platforms, from spellwork to tarot readings, along with it the need for deeper questions: What's real? What's empowering? What crosses ethical lines? I want to explore the ethics of witchcraft, and how we can empower ourselves without resorting to cheap tricks.

The Etsy Dilemma: Quantity Over Quality?

What inspired me to write this article was setting up my Etsy shop. A few years ago, when this blog as last active, I sold tarot and fire readings on Etsy, and I was curious to see how things had changed since then. So, I decided to do a little research and see what other people were offering.

I was surprised to see how much the popularity of not only tarot readings, but spell work has skyrocketed in the last few years. Initially, I thought "Great! People are more open to witchcraft and divination!" But a closer look at the listings-- the quality, the prices, the speed of turnaround-- my excitement faded.

Let's take a look at some of the top listings that come up when you search for "tarot reading" on Etsy:

Most of the top results use stock images, some are obviously AI generated. The turnaround times are incredibly fast, and the prices are strikingly low. It's hard to imagine the quality of a 12-month tarot reading done in under an hour for a fraction of the usual cost. Now, let's look at the highest-selling listing:

The listing has racked up around 51 thousand sales in only 1200 days. That's 41 readings per day, just for this one listing (and this shop has several). Can you imagine providing 41 readings per day? It raises important questions: How much personal energy and focus can truly go into each reading when it's churned out at such a high volume?

When I adjusted the price range to being between $25 and $100, the listings were much more realistic. Photos of real people, with reasonable turnaround times and expectations. Phew!

What if we look at spellwork? This is where things get even more complex.

We see the same trend we saw with the tarot readings: Quick fixes, AI-generated images, extremely low prices.

Any experienced practitioner knows how much time and energy can go into a spell. Everyone has their own personal style-- sometimes I favour small workings that can be done in the span of a breath, and other times I like to prepare something elaborate that will take weeks to prepare and execute. But it raises a critical question: Can real intention be poured into something that’s mass-produced and requires only the click of a button?

At the heart of witchcraft is intention. Without it, what are we really practicing?

Love Spells and the Ethics of Consent

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about love spells here. This topic easily warrants its own post, but let's touch on some key points. Love magic is one of the most popular types of spells on Etsy, and I wouldn't be surprised if it holds true on other platforms. A quick glance through old grimoires and folk traditions reveals countless examples of love magic. In a world where connection feels more elusive than ever, it makes sense that these workings are in such high demand. But where do we draw the line?

Navigating consent in magic is tricky-- where do we distinguish between influencing the world in our favour and infringing on someone else’s free will? It’s a deeply personal question, one that each practitioner must answer for themselves. It's easy to tack on an "and it harm none" at the end of a spell and hope for the best. But that sidesteps some important questions: What is harm? How far do we take that? Sometimes, giving one person favour inevitably affects someone else. For example, casting a career spell to improve your chances of a promotion may unintentionally take an opportunity from another person. Can that not also be seen as harm?

This is why it's important for practitioners to reflect on what level of harm they are comfortable with. It's not an easy question, and the answers may shift over time and with experience. Ideally, none of us want to harm others, but that's something we have little control over. Maybe a better framework to consider is reducing suffering, rather than trying to avoid harm altogether. For example, while aiming for that promotion, you could also wish for your competitor’s contributions to be recognized in other ways. Instead of trying to avoid all harm, perhaps the goal can be to soften its impact and ensure that success isn’t gained at the expense of someone else's misery.

Rather than an “and it harm none” approach that could render a spell ineffective, asking ourselves how to minimize harm while still achieving our goals can lead to more balanced, thoughtful outcome-- ones that benefit everyone involved.

When it comes to love spells, another way to navigate this ethical grey area is by focusing on influencing your own circumstances rather than someone else's free will. I see this as putting something in the person's path, and allowing them to approach it themselves. Rather than casting a spell to make someone fall in love with you, how about casting a spell to increase your confidence, making yourself more noticeable, or drawing more positive attention your way? These types of spells empower you without infringing on someone else’s autonomy or agency.

Final Thoughts

At its core, ethical witchcraft is about empowerment—honouring the free will of others, practicing with intention, and ensuring that our magic comes from a place of authenticity. As practitioners, we have the power to shape our craft in a way that’s meaningful and respectful. Let’s choose paths that uplift and empower us, and the people around us.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you approach ethics in your own craft? What ethical issues have you had to navigate, and how did you handle them?

#witchblr #witchcraft #ethics #spellwork #tarot

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gentlebeardsbarngrill · 10 months ago

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01/21/2024 Crew Recap

Well holy shit all.

We finally fucking did it! We hit 75,000 signatures! That's crazy! The next goal line is literally twice that, and I know it seems daunting but don't give up, the more we get the more we show how much people want OFMD picked back up! We don't have to make that goal to show how passionate we are, we already have!

I know it feels like we've been doing this forever (12 days can you believe it?) but the scuttlebutt around deck is that we are making waves, and it's good to keep up the engagements so studio execs can see just how much we care!

We've been kicking ass on the #AdoptOurCrew hashtag on twitter and other platforms

===Articles===

I'm starting with articles tonight because this first one is phenomenal so please read it, it's by our very own @celluloidbroomcloset who if you follow them, you know their analysis is top notch. If it doesn't give you hope I don't know what will!

Our Flag Means Death And The Fight For Queer Joy

Cancelled Max Show Fans Utilize Netflix Billboard Trend, Creator Responds to Campaign Efforts

=== CREW KUDOS ===

We've had SO MUCH to be proud of about the last almost 2 weeks (oh my god I still cant believe it's been that long). Our efforts have been coming to fruition in a thousand different ways! Here's a couple more!

=First up, is the Fandom Project!=

As always thank you to @renewasacrew and in this case @tealknives and everyone else involved in this particular project for all your hard work!

Twitter / Tumblr

CW: FLASHING LIGHTS/ COLORS

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=Next up, Cool Descriptions of all of you=

Thanks to @aproperpirate on Twitter for putting this together:

Just some cool descriptions of how unhinged we've all been, and I think you should be incredibly proud!

==How To Help==

Since this section has gotten to be a bit long, I'm separating it out into a separate post -- please go here for the details of the day that will be kept updated whenever I'm awake.

Here's the HOW TO HELP SECTION please visit it!

=Cast and Crew News=

Samba had a baby!

Also, Errol Shand (Ricky) has just been promoting the crap out of SaveOFMD Stuff on his IG so I just had to shout out to him here. What a guy.

=Cross Fandom Watch Party!=

Looks like there's gonna be some cross fandom watch parties on twitter you're welcome to tune in for Jan 23-26 on twitter. They'll be watching good omens in an effort to try and get engagement up with PrimeVideo. It sounds like it'll be similar to the LubeAsACrew but with Good Omens fans! Thank you to @Dandeebakes on Twitter for getting these organised!

Hashtags to use: #PirateOmens #AdoptOurCrew #SaveOFMD, and helps to @PrimeVideo

=== Contests ===

Looks like there's a contest for 2023 Reader's Choice Performer Of the Year, and you can go vote over here:

=Other Platform Recaps!=

It's been brought to my attention there are some other recaps going on on various platforms, feel free to check them out!

Twitter: @Mytabsclosed

Website: omfd-crew.com

These lovely folks have a full week wrap up if you wanna check it out here!

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A wonderful note from @RedsiesWorld on Twitter, something to remember is we are in fact fighting for our crews jobs as well (not just s3) and you're kicking ass!

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So all in all, 12 days of Polite Menacing has been BAT SHIT INSANE and every one of you should feel super fucking proud of all the hard work. This is a break checkpoint however ---PLEASE TAKE A BREAK IF YOU NEED IT (or even if you don't think you do). It's super important you take care of yourself! No one on the crew is going to be upset or disappointed that you took a break! We all are contributing in our own ways, so no need to worry if you're not doing the same as someone else! You are doing plenty!

Remember:

Drink Plenty of Water (Hydrate!)

Eat something good for you!

Get Some Sleep!

Do something Creative that makes you happy!

Go outside for a few minutes! (weather permitting)

Shit is hard, life's a dick, but you are stronger and more capable than you can possibly imagine, and you've got 10's of thousands of people out here rooting for you. All the love folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. You are wonderful and you are enough <3

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Tonight's random Rhys picture is what I can only assume is Murray getting a leaf blower blown in his face. You're welcome.

#ofmd #our flag means death #save ofmd #renew as a crew #save our flag means death #rhys darby #renew ofmd #hoist the ads #finish our stories #adopt our crew #ofmd fandom #ofmd daily recap #ofmd daily recaps

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thehaniverse · 6 months ago

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HYBE vs Min Hee Jin - The Full Timeline

[Last updates: June 1st 2024]

Hi guys, Han here, and LORD, this has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I hope this is helpful to all those who are trying to follow this mess in its entirety.

Important notes:

I've included the pre-audit timeline to help you understand the history and context of everything that's happened

I will be updating periodically with new information

I will try to keep entries to the point, and highlight the main points given by each side without adding too much of my own opinion - so make your own conclusions!

Credits to TMIKpop on Twitter for most of the translated news articles as I'm far too lazy, busy (and dyslexic) to read all those Korean articles myself.

I tried to include sources as much as possible in the more recent news, but honestly, I'm going to be a little lazy with this as I don't have enough free time to go back and find sources for things that happened way in the past or are already well-known up to this point. Feel free to send me sources in my ask box though!

Green text indicates the latest updates for those following!

Also for reference, here are the key involved characters (and name abbreviations that will be used throughout this post.)

Bang PD (Bang Shihyuk, HYBE Chairman & BigHit CEO)

PJW (Park Jiwon, HYBE CEO, ex-CEO of NEXON Games)

MHJ (Min Hee Jin, ADOR CEO, ex-SM employee)

VP L (Lee Sangwoo, VP of ADOR, ex-financial division at HYBE)

VP S (Shin ??, VP of ADOR)

NJs (NewJeans), LS (Le Sserafim), IL (ILLIT), GFRIEND & BTS

BHM (BigHit Music), SouMu (Source Music), BELIFT & ADOR

Items with * are accusations by either ADOR or HYBE, but that haven't been 100% verified as true or false. Things that have been verified won't have any *.

Similarly, (RUMORS) that seem to have some basis in reality based on existing evidence but have not been explicitly stated by either side are also included. Also disclaimer: I am not pro-HYBE nor pro-MHJ, I have my personal opinion but I've tried to keep this as impartial and unbiased as possible. I've just presented the news that has been released, if it tills one way, that's just how it is.

Without further ado(r LOL), let's begin!

2019~2021

MHJ joins BigHit Ent as Chief Branding Officer for all labels - this is in preparation for Bighit Ent becoming HYBE.

*Between then and 2021, MHJ suggests making a girl group to Bang PD, and they agree to make the group under SouMu rather than BHM. However, MHJ is never officially employed at SouMu.

*Bang PD promises that MHJ's group will be HYBE's first girl group.

All NJs members join SouMu (Minji joined in 2017 / Hani 2019 / Haerin & Danielle 2020 / Hyein 2021)

*NJs' debut is pushed back initially because of COVID, then again due to contract issues, resulting in LS being ready to debut first and PJW telling MHJ that NJs will no longer be the first gg from HYBE. MHJ claims the reason for NJs' debut delay is because they didn't like her creative vision though.

2021

Q1 (Exact Timing Unknown)

Bang PD starts developing LS with SouMu as he wants to create a group featuring known members, Chaewon and Sakura from Iz*one.

*NJs' debut is pushed back initially because of COVID, then again due to contract issues, resulting in LS being ready to debut first

PJW tells MHJ that NJs will no longer be the first gg from HYBE.

*MHJ is upset that another gg is being developed under Source and claims that it's because Bang PD didn't like the direction she was taking NJs and abandoned her to work on LS instead.

MHJ later agrees to the new debut schedule, with LS debuting just 2 months before NJs, and decides that is enough time for her to promote NJs.

Feb/Mar

HYBE is officially established as a company with Bang PD as CEO.

May

PJW is announced as the new CEO of HYBE.

Bang PD continues as CEO of only BGM but only the chairman of HYBE. This means he has no say in the daily operations of HYBE, but can make big decisions that go to the Board of Directors (BOD). Note: Each label under HYBE has its own individual CEO.

GFRIEND is officially disbanded without any notice from SouMu.

*MHJ is accused (by HYBE staff) of taking almost all of the SouMu staff to ADOR resulting in SouMu not having enough staff to manage GFRIEND and LS. SouMu also had a lot of debt from the training of NJs that they would no longer see a return on as the profits would go to ADOR so they needed to take dramatic measures. (RUMOR) SouMu had already sunk a lot of money into LS (and NJs) and expected LS to be more popular as they were debuting under HYBE, so they decided to terminate GFRIEND at the end of their contracts without warning.

November

ADOR is officially established so that MHJ can have full control over her group's image and development, rather than answering to SouMu CEO and Bang PD.

HYBE gives 16.1B won investment for the establishment of ADOR

Bang PD gives MHJ 2B won to buy 2.8B won worth of ADOR stocks (amounting to 20%, 2% of which she later shared out to her two VPS.) He also gave her 2.9B of HYBE stocks as part of her official recruitment package as CEO of ADOR at only 23% of the actual share value (aka she got a 77% discount). However, MHJ sold 1,000 shares in mid-Nov and another 1000 shares on 8 Dec 2022, earning 760M, and walked away with an additional 120M in cash just 15 days after her investment. // Source: Silsa Journal

2022

May

LS debuts from SouMu

*HYBE claims they shortened their promotional period in order to give MHJ enough time to promote NJs ahead of their debut, but MHJ shows Kakao messages of PJW specifying that NJs should not be promoted ahead of LS' debut so they can benefit from the speculation of them being MHJ's group.

LS' debut is overshadowed by the Garam scandal.

(RUMOR) While Garam was later found to be innocent and misrepresented in the media (ie she was protecting a friend from a bully, not actively bullying someone), many believe MHJ was the one who leaked the information to the press to jeopardize LS' debut. This comes from the statements from HYBE that they have evidence of her collecting and leaking artists' private information.

July

NJs debuts with ZERO pre-debut promotion, instead dropping an incredible amount of content for the debut promotions. Note: While MHJ claims HYBE tried to stop her promoting at all before their debut, she has not provided any evidence. It is the responsibility of each individual label to plan and execute their artist's promotions.

End of Year

Thanks to NJs' successful debut, ADOR has paid off a majority of their debt to HYBE, and now only owes 4B won.

2023

Dec // Source: Donga Ilbo

Bang PD lends MHJ money to buy cheap stock options (intentionally discounted by HYBE for her to buy) and MHJ uses the loan to buy a 20% stake in ADOR. This means she gets paid her shares on top of her 1M USD annual salary as CEO. Note: I couldn't confirm this, but it's believed she is the only CEO of any HYBE label that has stocks in her company. BHM is private so there are no stocks and it is owned completely by Bang PD, while the other labels' stocks are owned 100% by HYBE.

MHJ buys the shares on the following conditions: + If she decides to quit, HYBE is obliged to buy the stocks back and pay MHJ 13 times [ADOR's profit from the last 2 years x her % of shares] + She can quit from Nov 2024 and has a non-compete clause for 2 years where she must maintain a 4.5% stake in ADOR. Note: This means as a stakeholder she can not establish her own company or work for a company that will directly compete with ADOR for those 2 years, as she can not do work that can potentially devalue her shares. This is standard in many industries.

MHJ later shares 2% of her shares to executives of ADOR: VP S and VP L. Note: It is unclear if she sold them or gifted them.

Q4 (Exact Timing Unknown)

VP L leaves their position in HYBE's financial team and starts to work at ADOR under MHJ.

*HYBE accuses VP L of downloading a bunch of HYBE's private financial data that he should no longer have access to, and giving it to MHJ to later use to try and blackmail HYBE into selling their ADOR stocks with the investors she is colluding with. This would mean the majority of ADOR stocks would be controlled by people who support MHJ's decisions.

2024

Feb // Source: Donga Ilbo

MHJ tries to negotiate the terms of her contract with HYBE. She requests the following: + The 13x valuation of her shares be increased to 30x. Taking their value from approximately 100B won to 270B won. (This would be 5.5x the amount of profit she actually made with ADOR in 2023.) + The complete removal of the non-compete clause, allowing her to cash out all of her stocks and start/work for a competitor company immediately after leaving the company.

Additionally, she asks for the ability to make decisions regarding outside investors by herself as the CEO without HYBE's input.

HYBE rejects all of her requests because they would be complete financial losses and risks to HYBE. Negotiations stop as neither side will budge.

It is also around this time that HYBE gets the tips that MHJ is planning a management takeover with outside investors.

Mar

HYBE received a tip that MHJ is planning to try and make ADOR independent by gathering investors who support MHJ to buy up the majority of ADOR shares.

[23rd~29th] MHJ and VP L share messages about selling ADOR after 'emptying it like a shell', how to make ADOR independent, and how they should blackmail HYBE and ruin HYBE's reputation. *HYBE believes the 'empty shell' comment means terminating NJs' contracts with the majority shareholder power from the investors MHJ was meeting. Note: MHJ has confirmed the existence of these messages but insists they were just jokes between disgruntled employees. HYBE retorts that these plans are too specific and detailed, and they found additional evidence to prove they were more than just empty words.

[25th] ILLIT debuts with 'Magnetic'

April

[3rd] MHJ submits an internal complaint to HYBE and BELIFT that IL's concept is copyright infringement of NJs and that HYBE has the obligation to protect them. She requests they respond by April 23rd or 24th (not clear.)

MHJ also complains to the parents of NJs that HYBE is trying to sideline NJs with IL.

[22nd] HYBE and BELIFT submit a 6-page response to MHJ. Note: She later claims that she didn't receive any response, but HYBE provides proof that she received it, so she changed that they replied last minute so she couldn't prepare for the audit, but the response doesn't mention the audit because they are separate issues. However, MHJ believes the audit is all because of the IL situation.

HYBE carries out and publically announces the ADOR audit. This results in an 8% drop in HYBE stocks. (Whistleblower will be revealed later!) *They claim to find evidence of her plans, the illegally obtained company and artist information, and more.

[23rd] MHJ holds a 2.5 hour press conference in retaliation. *She doubles down that she believes this is all because of the complaint she filed and that HYBE (and particularly Bang PD) has hated her and NJs from the beginning. Conference Transcript Here:

[24th] This was also the deadline for which all company devices needed to be returned for the audit but MHJ refused to return her work laptop (and still hasn't as far as I know.) *MHJ claims the timing of the audit was intentional to jeopardize NJs' comeback, however, HYBE provided copied devices to all the employees. She has since not given any justification for not returning her laptop and NJs comeback is continuing as scheduled.

[26th] While HYBE initially stated they wouldn't respond on the day of the conference, they later released a full statement addressing the key points of MHJ's argument. HYBE's full response in English:

NJs's fans (Bunnies) sent trucks to HYBE requesting that MHJ stop using NJs and their parents to protect herself and that NJs stay within HYBE.

NJ's parents refuse to accept calls from HYBE but express their support through newspaper interviews.

Both NJs and BTS RM announce their comebacks set for May 24th. (HYBE's stocks recover thanks to this.) MHJ paints this as HYBE trying to crush NJs with their biggest group because NJs surpassed BTS - HYBE retorts that BHM picked the date first and advised her to change the date, but she insisted on having NJs' comeback on the same day.

[30th] HYBE calls an extraordinary general meeting with the BODs, but the ADOR executives and MHJ do not attend, meaning they have to file a legal suit requiring the MHJ, VP S and VP L to attend the ADOR BODs extraordinary general meeting on May 31st instead.

Other things of note that happened between the 22nd to 30th:

News reports broke that a petition for re-investigation regarding a 2017 allegation against BTS for Sagaeji was passed to the KFTC & Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism. Days later the organizations responded by clearing the charges and asking that all musicians be as honest and forthcoming as BTS. It was later discovered at the hearing that MHJ was behind this situation, and ordered her VPs to create a buzz around the issue to distract attention from her. // Sources: Link / Yonhap News

Similarly, following the accusation from HYBE that MHJ was talking to her 'shaman friend', a rumor broke that BTS were members of a cult that the chairman of their university (Cyber Global University) is rumored to be part of. The Chairman denied being part of a cult, and HYBE/BHM released statements denying the allegations too.

(RUMOR) "K-ARMYs" sent trucks and funeral wreaths to HYBE dissing the company and pleading allegiance only to BTS until May 7th. The following day, these were replaced by trucks from "Bunnies" showing support for MHJ - contradicting the prior trucks sent criticising her. The suspicious timing, the unusually fast fundraising, the contradictory message, the hiring of bodyguards to protect the wreaths, and other strange coincidences cast doubt on if any of these trucks are actually from fans. Many believe MHJ is funding these herself to paint the image that fans are on her side, or at least hate HYBE, justifying her own discontent with HYBE.

May // Source: Biz Chosun

[7th] MHJ files an injunction to Seoul District Court to block HYBE from using their 80% share of ADOR to vote her out (fire her.)

[10th] ADOR BOD agreed to HYBE's request to hold the extraordinary general meeting to discuss the dismissal of MHj (and the two VPs.)

*The same day, prior to the BOD announcement, MHJ's side said a styling team leader was subject to improper coercion during the audit. // Source: Lee Daily HYBE later retaliated explaining how the audit was conducted and that when the staff wanted to stop, they respected her wishes. Furthermore, HYBE said they found evidence of embezzlement and improper payment receipts for ADOR staff. // Source: Newsen ADOR denied that the payment methods were normal and legal, but definitely they are not. // Source: Newsis However, the staff did come forward to say she felt pressured and blackmailed with the embezzlement claims if she didn't comply with the audit. // Source: Ilgan Sports

[12th] An email from "NJs Parents" to HYBE is released to a newspaper, the contents of the email describing how Bang PD did not greet the girls in the elevator, and how they are their parents were upset by it. HYBE retorted that this was not true, and that the email was fabricated by VP L and MHJ and they had proof of this. // Source: YTN A parent of NJs later gave an interview with Ilgan Sports revealing the email was in fact written by MHJ, based on conversations she had with the parents. She also claimed PJW had said the girls would take a break for 1.5 years in order to find a Grammy worthy producer for NJs and that the parents were worried about their careers. // Source: Ilgan Sports HYBE denies any such statement and that they plan to continue NJs schedules as planned. //Source: Seoul Newspaper

[13th] YTN reports HYBE has selected a new CEO for ADOR to replace MHJ once she's voted out, and that they will reveal all of the results of the audit at the court hearing.

Controversy about NJs new song 'Bubble Gum' being plagiarised from a 1982 song called 'Easier Said Than Done' by British Rock Band ShakaTak. // Source: Biz Chosun

[14th] HYBE filed a complaint with the FSS due to insider trading carried out thanks to a tip from MHJ's side about the upcoming public scandal. Note: It's complicated and is about additional people not mentioned until now, so I will link the thread explaining it. It is relevant however, as it backs HYBE's claim that MHJ had planned to ruin their company image as part of her management takeover plan even before the audit. LINK

[17th] The hearing for MHJ's injunction takes place. Each side has 30 minutes to present their arguments and evidence. The below tweets summarize the main points.

HYBE's Side:

ADOR's Side:

Although MHJ requested her Kakao messages not to be shared publically (despite her already showing some), a reporter did recreate the messages. (He copied them word for word but recreated the image so it doesn't break the rules.) The messages show her hatred for women in general, particularly a female employee who was reported assaulted by one of the VPs. Messages Translation: LINK Message Source: LINK LINK

[17th] NJs members and their parents all submitted petitions to oppose the dismissal of MHJ and request that MHJ and NJs continue to stay under HYBE - these petitions were submitted before the hearing where MHJ's disparaging comments against NJs were revealed. // Source: Hankook Ilbo

A petition signed by 10,000 NJs' fans, and various petitions from ADOR staff members was also submitted to the court in favor of MHJ.

Various staff from HYBE (Pdogg (BTS producer), CEO Han Seongsoo (Pledis founder and producer of Seventeen), CEO So Seongjin (Source Music), Son Seongduk (BigHit performance director), Kim Seonghyun (BTS and Le Sserafim’s creative director), and Slow Rabbit (TXT producer)) filed petitions in favor of HYBE showing strong loyalty from various labels and artists. //Source: News 1

[17th] HYBE's Q1 results were released and showcased how NJs/ADOR is not as valuable an asset as MHJ is painting them out to be. This goes against MHJ's argument that HYBE is trying to crush her because NJs are getting 'too big'. LINK

[17th] The whistleblower who tipped HYBE off to make them do the audit is revealed. Long story short it was one of the associates of the investors MHJ had been trying to get to buy shares of ADOR who reached out to HYBE. MHJ has claimed during her conference she never met any investors and that HYBE should prove who they are. Now that they've been named, she's still deflecting because it was VP L who met with the investors rather than MHJ herself. // Source: LINK / Biz Chosun

[17th - yeah, a lot happened this day] MHJ accuses HYBE of trying to make her commit 'Albun Pushing', as well as complaining about the distribution deal with UMG - HYBE retaliates denying the allegations and provides evidence of MHJ doing the exact thing she accused them of, and also explains how the UMG benefits all artists and has already benefit NJs. // Source: LINK Note: This is NOT Sajaegi, but it is still a tactic to inflate sales. The difference is Sajaegi is the company buying the albums themselves, whereas this album pushing is forcing distributors to preorder more stock and then hold events (like fansigns) to help them sell out after.

[22nd] BELIFT also filed an official defamation suit against MHJ. // Source: Hangkook Finance // Note: In Korea, you can sued for defamation even if what you said is proven true if it is deemed not beneficial to the general public and detrimental to the person/entity who was defamed. If found guilty, this would be grounds for MHJ's injunction to be canceled.

[24th] This day is the deadline by which both sides can submit additional evidence before the courts make their decision on whether to pass MHJ's injunction (stopping HYBE from voting her out) or not. // Source: YNA

[24th~19th] Various text messages, supposedly from HYBE's legal argument are leaked to the public. They contain damning messages that show that MHJ was planning (in detail) the takeover of ADOR/NJs prior to the debut of ILLIT. As the messages are 'leaked' it is hard to prove their validity, but MHJ later states (on the 30th] that the messages were taken out of context (not that they were lies/edited.) // Source: KBS

KakaoTalk Message Translations are available here: PannKpop

[25th] PJW met with 3/5 NJs' mothers and guaranteed that they would be able to carry out their Tokyo Dome performance plans regardless of MHJ's status after the injunction - despite MHJ refusing to share the files/information related to the concert plans. // Source: Ilgan Sports

[30th] The court rules in favor of Min Hee Jin. They admit that while she did plan a management takeover and take action that could be harmful/disadvantageous to HYBE, she did not do anything that would be detrimental to ADOR which is her prime responsibility, and that the loss of MHJ to ADOR could be harmful. // Source: Hankook Ilbo

This injunction temporarily stops HYBE from firing MHJ unless they can prove she is bad for ADOR or that she has committed some sort of criminal offense against HYBE. // Source: Kyunghyang Newspaper

HYBE says they will respect the court's decision and act accordingly (likely file an appeal.) MHJ announces she will do a press conference the following day. She also claims that the dismissal of her two VPs will be against the court's decision, but technically they aren't covered by the injunction. // Source: Seoul Newspaper

[31st] The ADOR extraordinary general meeting takes place.

HYBE fires the two VPs who worked under MHJ and replace them with with three Hybe officers. Kim Joo-young, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Lee Jae-sang, Chief Strategy Office (CSO), and Lee Kyung-joon, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) were appointed at the EGM. //Note: The CHRO is a woman, which is interesting due to MHJ's disparaging comments about working with women according to the messages allegedly leaked by HYBE. // Source: Yeonhap News

This new BoD line-up for ADOR means MHJ is outnumbered 3:1 in any decision and is seen as a way for HYBE to keep her in check.

Note: I haven't included notes from MHJ's conference yet as I haven't watched it for myself yet! I also don't know what parts will be relevant to the main timeline later, so I will update again a bit later.

This is all the information so far, I've skipped some of the common knowledge things like the details of the IL plagiarism or cult accusations because I think they just muddle the whole timeline and are very inconsequential.

I will continue to update this page as things continue to happen. And I want to show out TMIKPOP from Twitter one more time as I wouldn't have been able to put this together without their tweets.

#HYBE #BANG PD #MIN HEE JIN #park jiwon #ADOR #HYBE vs ADOR #Min Heejin vs HYBE #Min Heejin #BTS #NewJeans #ILLIT #Le Sserafim #Kpop News #Kpop #K-entertainment

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makeitmingi · 1 year ago

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Cause Baby You're My Muse [Chapter 51]

Genre: Romance, Idol!AU, Music, Slight angst

Pairing: Mingi x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Producer!Reader, IdolLyricist!Mingi, IdolProducer!Hongjoong, Idol!Seonghwa, Idol!Yunho, Idol!Wooyoung, Idol!San, Idol!Yeosang, Idol!Jongho, cameo(s) by other celebrities

Summary: You always preferred producing underground, having an unknown face and governed by your own rules. But when you start freelancing for idol groups, you say goodbye to your lone wolf lifestyle as you learn to work with idol producers and lyricists.

Word count: 3.2K

Comeback season was in full swing. The promotional interview and showcase were a success, the public was hyped up for the titles songs and the album. The ATINY and other Kpop fans were making the song trend.

'Just did the first sound check. I'll see you tonight! - Mings'

'I'll be there to cheer all of you on. I'm excited to see what a music show taping is like. - Indigo'

Tonight at M Countdown, Ateez was going for 1st place against another group for the title song. If they win, it would be the first 1st place trophy this comeback season.

This was also your first time seeing the filming and performance venue of a real music show so you were excited to see the process.

"Why am I feeling nervous when I'm not even performing?" You chuckled. But you believed in the boys and the power of ATINY to win 1st place.

'An overnight hit to kick start their comeback. But who is this new producer in KQ?'

'The other hit songs produced by Producer Indigo, the mysterious producer, who played a big part in producing the new comeback song and album for Ateez.'

Another thing with this comeback was that people were now curious about you and who you were. There were some articles. Thankfully, there were no leaks to any information about you. You stayed off social media so that front was safe. There was no gender, no face, no name to use to find you.

Although, some people have been trying to reach you through the server that music artists and companies usually use to engage you.

'Hi Producer Indigo. I'm an ATINY! I'm not sure if you will ever read this or if this is really the only way to contact you. But thank you for your hard work, the ATINYs appreciate you!'

'I think you gel well with the Ateez boys. Can you tell me what it's like working with them? From a curious ATINY'

'How do you capture each of the boys' musical personality and put it together in a song? This song is like a perfect blend of all the boys.'

'Are you a girl? Is your identity being hidden because you're dating an Ateez member?'

You finally understood what people meant when they spoke about the extreme some fans would go to. Some questions were really personal, as if you would reply to them. But most of the ATINY sent messages of compliments to you.

"Oh, I need to get ready." You went to shower and change into some outing clothes. One of the Ateez managers were going to take you to the M Countdown film site.

'Mings, what should I wear? - Baby'

'Hahahaha. You're so cute, baby. It doesn't matter since you will be backstage with us in the room. Wear anything you want. - Mings'

'Anything? Well, I guess this is the perfect time to pull out my ball gown then. I'm asking because I might see some other artists there so I don't want to dress like a slop. - Baby'

'If you wanna wear a ball gown, go ahead! But you're far from a slop, baby, no matter what you wear. - Mings'

With a sigh, you picked out some ripped jeans, a short sleeves turtle neck and an oversized black hooded bomber jacket.

"Sorry for the wait, manager nim." You said as you climbed into the van while fixing the mask over your face. M Countdown meant there would be fans and you did not want to risk anyone seeing you or being suspicious of your identity so you even brought a cap if the hood and mask weren't enough.

"No worries, Indigo. We're glad you could make it. The boys are excited for you to be there at your first music show taping." He chuckled and began to drive.

"I'm nervous. Not sure what to expect." You chuckled.

"Nothing to be nervous about. Just follow our lead on where to go and you'll be fine." He assured.

"Before I forget. Here. You will need to wear this to get in and out of places. Plus, the security won't think you're a fan that snuck in and try to kick you out." He handed you an Ateez crew tag to wear.

"Thank you. Definitely wouldn't want to be kicked out of my first show." You laughed as you slipped it over your head.

"Omg, who is that?" As the van went past, some fans waiting otuside the venue pointed at your van.

"Don't worry, they can't see you. But every time there's a security van, they think a celebrity is inside." The manager told you as he waited for the guard the check the van's number plate before letting the van drive into the carpark.

"Alright, let's go." He parked the van. You checked your reflection in your phone to make sure that your mask and cap was adjust well then pulled your hood up.

"Just follow me." He waited for you. You trailed behind him, tucked your hands into your pockets.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"Ah! Someone save me!" You were nearly mowed down by Wooyoung who was being chased by Jongho. But luckily, the manager tugged you out of harm's way.

"Kids! Stop yelling and running around! You're being a nuisance!" Hongjoong scolded. That was when he stopped, staring at you weirdly for a few seconds before he recognised you.

"Oh my gosh, Indi. You scared me! You're wrapped up, I can hardly see you." He put a hand over his chest. He wrapped his arms around you to hug you. You let out soft giggles of happiness, you've missed him. With his arm around your shoulders, he led you into the dressing room where the others were.

"It's the masked stranger." He announced.

"Indigo. We're glad you could make it." San grinned and came over. He hooked an arm around you, patting you on the back.

"Hwa~" You waved to Seonghwa through the mirror as he was getting his hair and make up done. He reached to the back to hold your hand, swinging it happily.

"You look really handsome, Hwa." You complimented.

"Thank you. How have you been?" He asked, changing the subject as his ears got red from your compliment.

"Good. I'm going to say hi to the others. I'll be back." You said briefly and patted his shoulder before going to greet the others. Yunho hugged you, teetering from side to side as he laughed.

"He's glaring at me, isn't he?" He whispered playfully. Your eyes shifted and saw Mingi staring at you and Yunho through the mirror. If looks could kill, Yunho would be six feet under. You hummed in reply to Yunho, trying your best not to laugh.

"It's less hectic than I thought it would be back here." You noted as you leaned against Yunho's larger frame.

"Because we already did the sound check so it's just getting ready. That's why Yeosangie is sleeping." Yunho nodded over to the male.

"How is he so pretty even when he sleeps?" You scoffed.

"That's the question on everyone's mind." Yunho chuckled. Soon, you both felt an ominous shadow looming over the both of you. You turned around to see Mingi there.

"It's your turn." He frowned, almost snapping at his best friend. Yunho snickered, patting your head before walking away.

"Hi, Mingi." You looked up at him with a small wave.

"Hey." Mingi breathed out, trying to keep his jealousy at bay. Even if he couldn't see the rest of your face, he could see the playful glint in your eyes. If he could, he would back you against the wall and kiss you in front of everyone now, just to show that you're his, but he had to control himself.

"Wait, why was Wooyoung getting beat up by Jongho again?" You asked, remembering the youngest chasing after Wooyoung when you entered the room earlier.

"Why do you still bother asking at this point? Wooyoung always does something that gets him beat up by the maknae." Hongjoong sighed.

"He provokes Jongho but gets scared when Jongho retaliates." You replied with a scoff.

Mingi subtly nodded over to the couch and you sat next to each other. It didn't seem out of the ordinary with the way the side of his thigh pressed against yours. No one thought anything of it.

"Did you come from your home or the office?" He asked. Of course he knew the answer, he just wanted to talk to you.

"Home. I had a meeting with those drama producers regarding their OST and sent over the final revision earlier today. So now my focus now will be Wooyoung's recorded song cover, get that ready for the first round of submission and review with Eden." You informed.

"Hopefully things can slow down a bit for you. You deserve a break, Indigo. You're always working in your studio, day and night." Mingi smiled. You nodded your head.

"Are you nervous for today?" You asked.

"There's always a bit of nerves but not too bad. If we win, we win, if not, that's fine. As long as we have a stage to perform, we're happy."

"That's a very optimistic way of looking at things. But I agree, there's no need to be nervous. I'm glad the song has been well received by everyone." You laughed.

"It's a great song. What's not to love?" Wooyoung asked, coming back into the room with Jongho behind him.

"Indigo~" He bent down to hug you. You squeezed him as he sat on your other side.

"We'll win today, for sure. For you. We'll make your first time at a music show a memorable one. You're our lucky charm, I just know it." He winked at you.

"Now that's some pressure on me." You joked.

"Just go and have fun, alright? I love watching you guys perform." You softened, feeling tears brim your eyes. There was a lump in your throat but you tried your best to swallow it. Luckily Wooyoung and Mingi were too distracted to notice the big but shaky breath you took to calm yourself down.

"We need Ateez backstage in 10 minutes." One of the stage crew came in. Hongjoong gathered the boys together to brief them. You sat there, watching them quietly.

"Whenever you're ready." The manager told them as Hongjoong wrapped up his words of encouragement.

"Do you want to watch them perform from backstage?" Another manager offered.

"Can I? I assumed I would be watching through the screen that's in here. I wouldn't want to be in the way or distract anyone." You chuckled. He nodded and waved for you to follow.

"It's your song after all." He added. You stood at the side, watching him and the others help the boys with their microphones.

"All the best, Ateez." You wished softly, wary of where you were. Seonghwa waved you over to where they were gathered in a circle. You blinked in confusion but obediently stood between him and Mingi. You looked at Seonghwa whispered something to Hongjoong while Mingi smiled softly at you.

"Today, we're 9 makes 1 team." Hongjoong said. The others nodded in agreement as they put their hands together in the center. You chewed on your lip as you put your hand on top of theirs.

"9 makes 1 team!" They all chanted as they threw their hands down. You didn't say anything but waved at them, you didn't trust your voice to not break.

"Ateez, ready for the stage." The crew announced and the fans cheered loudly as the boys went up.

"Aish." You wiped the stray tears that fell. Luckily the Ateez boys didn't see this.

"Here you go." One of the managers handed you a tissue.

"Ah, thank you. Sorry, I don't know why I'm tearing up." You laughed as you received the tissue with an embarrassed bow and quickly wiped the tears.

You watched the performance intently, giving them all your focus and attention because that was what they deserved after working so hard. You were so proud of them and this song. After the first recording was done, the boys interacted with the fans.

"Thank you for coming out and waiting for us. Do you like the song, ATINY?" San asked.

"Yes!" The fans all chimed.

"I'm glad to hear that. Like I said during the promotional interview and showcase, I think this is the first time all Ateez members were involved in the song writing and producing." Hongjoong said.

"But the hardwork was all worth it for you, ATINY." Yunho charmingly smiled at the fans, making them cheer again.

"Ateez members, ready for oneshot take. Positions." The director spoke into the microphone.

The boys did the another take of the performance and waved to the fans before exiting the stage. It took a lot of will power not to throw yourself at them to hug them.

"You all did so well." You told them as you walked alongside them to return to the dressing room. The boys all looked at you, feeling pride swell in their chest at the thought of making you so happy with their performance of the song. Yes, they worked hard on this song but you worked even harder.

"Sorry, is it okay if we have a short private meeting, please?" Hongjoong suddenly requested the few staff that were loitering in the dressing room.

"Sure." They all moved to the door, seemingly used to this. You were about to leave but Yeosang held your hand to stay.

"Now you can comfortably interact with us." Seonghwa smiled.

"You really did well. I was so proud watching you all perform on stage, I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching you perform." You said, hugging each other them.

"There's another reason we got people to leave the room." Yunho chuckled as you hugged Mingi last.

"Huh?" You were confused. But Mingi surprised you by yanking your mask down and pressing his lips against yours. He gently cupped your cheek as he smiled into the kiss. The other boys turned away to give you both some privacy.

"There. I've been wanting to do that since you walked in." Mingi panted as he pulled away, adjusting your mask over your face. You stared at him with a dazed look.

"Mings!" You finally realised what he just did and slapped his arm in embarrassment. How could he do that with the others here?

"What? Serves you right for hugging everyone else in front of me." Mingi smirked.

"And you! Think you could get away with hugging my girlfriend so close." Mingi glared at his best friend, slapping the back of his neck. Yunho just snickered.

"But you did great." You smiled, hugging Mingi. His arms hooked over your shoulders as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

"Of course, I had my lucky charm with me right here." He said. You couldn't take too long or the staff might get suspicious so after another quick peck, Hongjoong opened the door for the other staff to come back in. He bowed in apology for making them leave but they waved him off, understanding the need for privacy.

"Everyone have your meal then we're back on stage for the announcement of today's first place." The manager said, wheeling in the food boxes on a trolley.

"Have you eaten?" Jongho asked you as he received the styrofoam box with his name.

"Yes. I ate before I came. Thanks." You told him.

"Here. I'm not feeling it today." Mingi handed you his drink, making sure to stick to straw in. It was watermelon juice, the song he would adorably made up on an Ateez logbook.

"You sure? It's your favourite..." You looked at him. Mingi couldn't help the lopsided smile that formed when he met eyes with you.

"It's fine. I'd rather finish my coffee." He said. You receive the drink, slipping the straw under your mask.

"Why are you all sitting on the floor? There are couches here with tables." You asked them while laughing, noticing how some of them were bent over awkwardly, trying to get food into their mouths. The space next to you and the adjacent couches were empty.

"Trust us, we've tried. They always like to sit on the floor and eat." The managers sighed, shaking their heads. You migrated to sit on the floow with them.

"Hehe, did you like the stage?" Wooyoung asked as you settled beside him.

"Yeah. It's very different compared to watching you guys dance in the pratice room for sure." You nodded your head.

"For one, we're not dressed in sweatpants, drenched in our own sweat in a stuffy room. There's pretty lights and costumes now." Seonghwa pointed out, laughing.

"You're always pretty, Hwa." You rolled your eyes, making Seonghwa blush at your offhanded compliment.

"What about me?!" Wooyoung exclaimed.

"All of you. You always look good, no matter where you are or what you wear. I'm sure the fans can attest to that." You corrected yourself. Hongjoong shook his head with a sigh at how they could all act like immature kids. When your phone rang, you stood up and moved to the bathroom to answer it.

"Finish up, brush your teeth and get ready to go on stage for awards." The managers said. You came out of the bathroom, tucking your phone back into your pocket.

"Everything okay?" Hongjoong asked. You nodded your head. The boys were rushed to brush their teeth after eating.

"Let's go!" The managers filed everyone out of the room. You weren't sure if you should go since the final stage with the other idols would be crowded.

"Come." Yeosang smiled and gestued for you to go with them. The stage crew got all the idols lined up to go on stage.

"Good luck, boys." You said softly to them. They smiled and waved to you before going up.

"Excuse me. Are you Producer Indigo?" One of the idols asked. You nodded your head, subconsciously pulling your hoodie over the cap a little tighter. He reached out to shake your hand.

"I heard from someone that you were here to support Ateez sunbaenims but didn't know if it was true. I'm a big fan of your work." He said enthusiastically. You bowed your head gratefully as his other group mates shook hands with you.

"Please move to the stage." The crew moved them away. But the other people backstage were suddenly aware of your presence.

"Come on, come on." You chanted to yourself. It was so noisy you couldn't really hear the announcers or see what was happening on the stage.

"And the first place goes to... ATEEZ! Congratulations!"

That was all you heard. You didn't care anymore, throwing your hands up in the air in excitement.

"Manager nim! We won!" You hugged the managers that were there, trying not to cry from happiness. They all patted your back, congratulating you as well.

"We would like to thank all the ATINYs who have been supporting us non-stop! Thank you to our CEO Kim, Edenary members, all the staff that work tirelessly! Also, this trophy goes to Producer Indigo and all the hardwork, time and effort put into the studio. Thank you, ATINY! We love you." Hongjoong said.

Series Masterlist

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dotieeee · 1 year ago

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A Small Act of Kindness

A DARK one-shot

Pairing: Dark!Morpheus x you, afab reader

Warnings: dark!Morpheus, obsessive behaviour, dark!Dream won't take 'no' for an answer, disturbing themes like kidnapping, imprisonment, isolation, etc, 18+ only!!

Inspired by this ask for @roguelov See: https://www.tumblr.com/roguelov/721739134130143232/this-isnt-smut-but-dream-has-strong-miette?source=share

Summary: You were at the cusp of making a life for yourself when you bought a loaf of bread for a stranger, who seemed a little bit too taken with such a nice gesture.

When you were a kid, everybody around you seemed to think you got a great life ahead of you. You kept hearing them comment how bright you were, how talented, how lucky your parents were to have such a behaved, wonderful child - and for a time, it got to your head.

Until life proved you weren't really any of those things.

It started creeping in when you went away to college. You had a taste of freedom, of zero expectations, and a glimpse of a world suddenly leagues beyond yourself. It was one class at first, then another, until you started dropping out of every class and left college altogether.

Many therapy sessions, and a couple of therapists later, you found out what it was called: burnout. It just so happened it plagued you a little early in life.

In retrospect, perhaps you could've tried harder - if you had just snoozed your alarm off a little less; if you had just grit your teeth and stomached your way through a few more algebra periods instead of sitting alone in that little corner of the library, reading whatever, hidden from a world you barely knew - perhaps it all would've been different.

Perhaps, you wouldn't be stuck in this small, glass cage floating in a vast chasm, in a place you hadn't thought existed even in your wildest dreams.

It was a day like any other, you supposed: the day you met him. You had to go to work, to a desk job that you actually liked, writing for a local food magazine. You were quite good at it too - it's a skill you had when you were quite young and had not had a chance to cultivate until late. Sure, you were barely making ends meet and had very little time to spare, what with taking a certificate course at a nearby university and recently moving out of your parents' house to rent your own little apartment, but you were feeling optimistic for the first time in a long while. Your boss just let it slip the other day that you were due for a well-deserved promotion soon. It was a slow process, but you were finally on your way to getting your life back together. You had a future you looked forward to.

Having already established your morning routine, you were on your way early to the office and decided to stop for coffee at this corner bakeshop you had once featured in one of your articles. The smell of freshly baked bread distracted you from a mental draft you were making for an article due tonight, so on impulse, you asked the cashier for a plain butter croissant at the counter. You looked to your right where the pastries were to see whether you wanted something else (the danishes looked scrumptious). You opened your mouth to ask the other lady behind the bread counter for a cherry danish, but her attention was already on the man beside you, clad in a thick, woollen black coat, collar upturned, his chiselled jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly at the question the lady posed for him.

"Uh, sir? I asked what you'd like to have?"

He tilted his head imperceptibly and for a moment, you thought he couldn't speak, until he opened those pursed lips, and finally, came out the most velvety, alluring voice you've ever heard: "I'd like some bread, please."

"Well, we've got quite a lot of them," the lady replied slowly as if she was trying her best not to be snarky at the stranger. "Might I recommend the baguette? It's fresh out of the oven."

The man nodded curtly as the lady picked the steaming bread from the basket display using a pair of tongs and placed it inside a brown paper bag.

"That'll be one twenty-five, sir."

The man made no move to shuffle in his pockets for money. In fact, he stayed still, stiff as a board, staring at the lady behind the counter who was getting rather irritated at his dawdling, probably keeping her from attending to the growing line of other customers waiting to get their breakfast. Perhaps, he didn't have money? Perhaps, just like your first few weeks out of your parents' house, he was struggling and he had no one else to depend on?

"I-I'll pay for it."

You didn't know what it really was that compelled you to say it - maybe it was that draft you were itching to get to, maybe you found empathy in his situation, whatever it was - at that time, you had no regrets. Seemingly surprised by the gesture, the man in the black coat, with his dishevelled hair and his pale countenance, stared at you intensely through those long eyelashes of his, and for a few moments, you held his gaze.

His eyes. They were a nice shade of ocean blue. They were the most beautiful pair of eyes you had ever seen.

You would later discover they could bleed to depthless black - ruthless, vindictive, inhuman.

The cashier handed you your change and your croissant, effectively breaking the spell the stranger beside you had on you. The cherry danish all but ignored, you flashed the man a small smile and headed out of the bakeshop, going about your merry way to the office with nothing but that article in mind.

And for the next two weeks, you had already put the rather bizarre incident (man) behind you, having been assigned to another place to visit and write about.

The man, however, never forgot.

The place you had been assigned to, called the New Inn, actually belonged to a professor in your university. You've had quite a lot of fun in his classes, so this was a gig you were pretty excited about.

It was a little over five in the afternoon when you stepped inside Professor Gadling's pub. He was already there in the corner booth, grading several essays. He put them aside as you arrived and asked a waiter to bring you both coffee. You were in the process of bringing out your digital recorder for the interview when you heard a voice so familiar it sent shivers down your spine.

"Hob."

Completely taken by surprise, you dropped the recorder to the floor, and it landed just a few inches from a pair of black boots. You tried to reach for it, but a pale, bony hand picked it up and wordlessly handed it to you. You looked up, only to get lost in a pair of ocean-blue eyes focused entirely on you.

It was the stranger from the bakeshop.

You took the recorder, muttering a flustered 'thank you,' before Professor Gadling greeted him like an old friend. He then introduced you to the stranger, who oddly enough just stared at you the entire time.

"She's interviewing me for the pub. I'll be featured in a magazine, can you believe it?" Professor Gadling said to the stranger who stepped inside the booth, intending to take the empty seat directly across from you. Turning to you, he stated, "This is my friend -"

"You may call me Morpheus." The man interrupted, a ghost of a smile visible on his usually blank features. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

It was unnerving the way he held your gaze without blinking, but perhaps it was just your imagination - after all, you hadn't had anything to eat since that leftover Chinese noodles this morning.

“Pleasure’s all mine,” was all you could come up with.

You were grateful when the waiter arrived with two cups of coffee and a dessert platter, and the interview with the professor went well and without interruptions. You both had so much fun, you ended up having dinner and drinks at the pub, and while it struck you odd that your third, silent companion did not partake in any single morsel of the food, by the time the evening ended at half-past ten, you had enough material for your article and were in great spirits. You thanked him for being such a gracious host and politely bid your farewell, as you were anxious to get a headstart on the draft.

The three of you simultaneously got to your feet - Professor Gadling to walk you outside, and the odd man named Morpheus trailing behind.

"Do come by again, my dear, and good luck with the article. I know you'd do a fantastic job." The professor said as he waved farewell outside the pub. He turned to Morpheus, who stood just a few feet away, watching the interaction, and gestured to him inside - presumably for them to continue their conversation - but as soon as you waved goodbye, he made a beeline for you, stopping just a few inches away and towering over you.

Too close, you thought. Wait, were his eyes twinkling? It must’ve been the streetlamp, the lights outside were pretty dim.

"I would like to accompany you on your walk home."

His words threw you off because they were so unexpected. He had no reason to do so, after all. Shyly, you beamed at him and replied, "I'd appreciate it, Morpheus, but I wouldn't like to impose...weren't you meeting with the professor?"

Professor Gadling, who apparently was in earshot of your conversation, waved you away.

"No, it's fine, dear. Besides, a young lady such as yourself shouldn't be walking alone at night. I'll see you some other time, my friend," he added, winking at Morpheus, who just tilted his chin in reply.

The professor had a point. You lived nearby, that was true, but the streets weren't safe on a Friday night, especially at this hour. You chewed on the insides of your cheek, nervous at the fact that you have not had anyone walk you home in a long while.

It's just a walk home. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Okay."

You would come to regret your response.

***

Inwardly, Morpheus rejoiced at the thought of you lowering your guard with him. He motioned with a hand to let you lead the way, not that he needed it - in two weeks after your fateful encounter at the bakeshop he had gotten to know every little detail he needed to know about you, including where you lived, of course. He had seen the little apartment himself when you were out at work, and while it irked him that you had to live in such a humble abode, he knew through your dreams that you had filled the apartment with love and considered it your sanctuary. It wouldn't matter once he took you home to his kingdom as his lover - for you, he'd craft an entire palace carved in precious stones in the blink of an eye, and it would be your sanctuary, just as much as this tiny home.

He did a fine job, too, of luring you into the place his centuries-old friend now owned. It took him only one dream, planted during your boss’s deepest slumber, for you to get sent right where Morpheus wanted you to be. All this planning and you were right there, with him, just as the fates would have it.

He had to ask you tonight. He has waited long enough.

***

You were just a few blocks away from your apartment building when you finally gained the courage to break the awkward silence between you two.

"Thank you for walking me home," you said quietly as you eyed him sideways. Your eyes widened at the sight that greeted you: he had a genuine, warm smile on his face you'd never seen on him before, and if his demeanour is anything to go by, you knew this was a rarity.

He looked like a prince, even with his hair sticking out in all directions.

"It is I who should be thanking you for your kindness to me at that establishment," he spoke with conviction. "I have not forgotten."

Surprised, but overall glad that he remembered, you matched his expression as best you can and replied, "You're welcome."

Nothing was ever exchanged until you reached your apartment door, but he seemed to draw closer to you, your shoulders almost touching.

Your hand was already at the keys to the doorknob when you asked him if he wanted to come in.

"For tea, perhaps?" You added. "I couldn't help but notice you didn’t eat at dinner, so…”

It was a last-minute decision, seeing as he was kind enough to ensure you got home safely. He could do with a few biscuits, too, in your opinion, judging by his pallor and his refusal to eat anything at the pub.

There it was again - that captivating smile, but behind it, you see a flash of something else entirely. It was gone even before you could fully take it in, so you shrugged inwardly. The hallway’s lighting has always been too dark to see a damn thing.

“You need not concern yourself over me, I am much stronger than I look,” he said in a light, teasing tone. “However, your effort would be appreciated.”

“Oh, it’s no problem!” You waved him off and pushed the door open to your home. “I just hope you don’t mind tea without milk, I haven’t done any grocery shopping yet…”

Morpheus followed you inside, closing the door behind him, as you went off to your room to drop your bag on the bed and set up your laptop on your work desk. As soon as you got out of your room, you found him with his back to you, rummaging through the copies of the magazine you wrote for.

“Nothing interesting in those, I’m afraid. Still, not bad for a would-be writer, don’t you think?”

Chuckling to yourself, you made your way to the tiny kitchen to put the electric kettle to boil, then rummaged through the cupboards for a mug you were saving for when you had guests over. Not that you’ve ever had any - so far, he was the first you’ve had since you moved in.

“‘A would-be writer?’”

The proximity of his voice startled you, seeing as you thought he had still been reading back in the living room. It’s admittedly only a few steps away, but you hadn’t heard him approach. He was at the kitchen doorway, casting a long shadow in the dimly lit space. You had forgotten to turn the lights on, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

“You give yourself very little credit for such riveting work,” he said as he closed the distance between you. The kettle had just turned off by itself, so you concentrated on pouring the boiling water on the mug and dropping a Ceylon tea bag inside. Leaning on the tiled counter, you watched the tea leaves bleed into the water, turning it to a lovely amber colour.

“I don’t know about that -”

Your sentence was cut short as you felt his fingertips subtly stroke your elbow, giving you goosebumps all over your arm.

He’d gotten so close…

Scooping up the mug with both hands, you turn around to hand him the mug, only to find yourself inches away from him you almost spill the hot liquid on his woollen coat.

“Your writing has soul. I should know: I have read every word you have ever written.”

Blinking up at him, you saw him dip his head closer to yours as his pale, warm hands enclosed around yours, still holding the tea.

You were trembling, it seemed, but he stilled it.

“Th-thank you," you whispered, unable to avert your gaze from those piercing blue eyes that seemed to pin you to place, as was his tall, imposing form enclosing you between him and the kitchen counter. He was so close you could feel the heat emanating from him. "That means so much to me.”

Or was it the heat from your cheeks you felt?

Seemingly oblivious to your increasingly flustered state, Morpheus made a deliberate move to extricate the cup of tea from your grasp so he could set it back down behind you (it was probably already over-brewed, you thought), while you try to compose yourself and ignore his fingers softly grazing your knuckles. You didn't have much time, however, because the next thing you knew was those same hands cupping your cheeks and his soft lips brushing over yours in a chaste kiss that stole your breath completely.

You felt him release his hold on you, perhaps to observe your reaction. Perhaps, you could’ve pushed him away right there and then; screamed at him for touching you and thrown him out of your home; but you couldn’t summon your limbs to respond. He took your momentary lapse of judgement to crash his lips on yours once more - it was a more heated, more insistent kiss, and as if to seal you to him, his hands travelled to your back to encase you in an embrace and pushed you further into the counter.

This was wrong.

It was all your instincts could tell you. So you heeded them and pushed against the lapel of his coat with all your strength. It was like pushing against a wall, but you managed to wriggle free from his grasp, so you made an effort to put as much distance between you and him as your tiny kitchen would allow. You glanced immediately at his face to gauge his expression, and to your utter shock, his eyes had gone entirely black. One blink, and it was blue once more, maybe even a tad regretful.

It’s the lighting in this damn kitchen, you assured yourself.

“I understand I may have been too forward,” he began, “But I assure you, my intentions are pure. I have waited for this since our fateful meeting.” He took slow steps towards you, and unconsciously you backed away until your back hit the fridge. There was nowhere else to back into. He halted as soon as he sensed your guard up.

“Morpheus, it was just a loaf of bread, really…”

Morpheus’s eyes softened visibly at your words and simply continued, “And by that selfless act, you have saved me in more ways than you could ever understand. I have held you in my heart since, my precious little saviour.”

“I-I'm sure it's nothing...” you stammered.

“Allow me the honour of courting you, and in turn, you shall know of my gratitude, and my love, until the end of my days.”

Your heart sank at his declaration. Somehow, you knew in your heart he meant every word he said. You couldn’t have this, not when everything in your life was just starting to fall into place. You put on the kindest smile you could muster and spoke slowly as you chose the right words, hoping he wouldn’t be too downcast with what you were about to say to him.

“I'm sure you're a wonderful man, Morpheus. I just…I don't think I can make that commitment right now. I mean, I just met you, and all I know about you is that you’re Professor Gadling’s friend.”

“That can be rectified.”

You let out a sigh. This was going to be difficult, but you really didn’t like the idea of egging him on. “I know that, but…I don’t think I have time for that, you know?”

“How so?” he asked in a low voice, tilting his head slightly.

“It's been a struggle just to get to where I am today… I have my work, which I love, and for the first time in my life, I feel like I'm doing something right and…one wrong move could make me lose my footing. I’m sorry.”

Morpheus seemed unconvinced, taking a few steps forward to close that gap between you. “You need not worry yourself over such trivial matters. I know what you dream of. I can give you the recognition you deserve, the stability you crave and more… Come with me and I can show you.”

He offered an outstretched hand, urging you to take it. But if you were being honest, you just wanted to crawl into bed, the draft be damned. Exhaustion was starting to creep up on you.

“‘Come with you…?’ I'm sorry, please don't take this the wrong way, I'm sure you mean well…but-but-th-this isn't really a good time for this…” you stammered as you crossed your arms to make a point, which you hoped he’d finally take. “I think I'd like to be alone now, please. I-I have that…thing I want to finish, and it's getting late…I’m sorry, Morpheus. I really am.”

Morpheus’s hand lowered steadily, but all the softness he had in his expression was gone without a trace, replaced with cold, hard eyes and furrowed brows. The warmth you have loved your apartment for all but disappeared, replaced with a clammy air that seemed to come from…from him.

“You have no idea what you've just turned away…nor who I am, and what I can do,” came Morpheus’s voice, lowered to an unrecognisable timbre. “I will give you this final chance to amend your answer, my little saviour.”

“E-excuse me?” you said, fighting the urge to run away from him and hide. This was your home, you had no reason to. Who the hell was he to threaten you in your own home? “I'd like you to leave, please, or I'm calling the police…”

He was only a few feet away from you now, and the wind somehow grew stronger, you could feel its rough caress on your skin.

Sand.

The light in your kitchen turned on without a warning, and your eyes widened at the sight of the man you had so carelessly allowed into your home:

A dangerous man - now a being transforming right before you - with chilling black eyes, a heavy flurry of sand circling him, and waves of black smoke emanating from his growing form…

Paralyzed in utter fear, your heart pounding in your ears, all you could do was hold on to the fridge as you watched him approach your cowering form on the floor. Gone was that princely face you shared a gentle kiss with, replaced by a bony, skeletal mask with hollow cheekbones, his mouth contorted in a snarl that revealed razor-sharp fangs.

His voice echoed as he spoke, raspy and deafening:

“I am quite disappointed in you, my precious saviour. No matter: I am not unmerciful.” A pale hand, now with blackened, sharpened nails, made an appearance before you. “Take my hand, my beloved, and I shall forgive your error.”

In your terrified state, all you could muster was an adamant shake of your head.

This can’t be real. It couldn’t be.

“I’m dreaming, I'm-I’m dreaming this, this can’t be real, you’re no-not real…” hunched on the floor, hugging your legs, you muttered to yourself.

“Very well,” he thundered. “You have made your choice. ”

You would later discover just how real dreams could be, and that they weren’t that much different from the nightmares.

***

Morpheus released a small sigh as he watched you in your spherical compartment, deep in troubled slumber. He had not meant to frighten you that much with his nightmarish form. Admittedly, he could’ve done a much better job with reeling himself in, but the pain of your rejection felt to him like a thousand daggers being plunged into his heart. All he wanted was for you to be happy with him. He could’ve given you everything he had seen you dream of - he still could, but not before he heard from your sweet lips an admittance of your guilt, and a vow never to spurn him again.

He held the tiny sphere that contained your form in his palm and drew it closer to his face to get a better look at you. He had fashioned you a dress that brought out the colour of your eyes and soul: you looked ravishing, even in imprisonment. In his mind, he had played the memory of the kiss you had shared with him in your home a thousand times over. You were intoxicating, and the thought of kissing you again and finally marking your skin cemented his decision of keeping you in this space he crafted in his kingdom. You needed time to consider his proposal, that was to be expected. He would allow you the time you needed. All he had to do was assure you of your safety and well-being, seeing as scaring you even further might prolong his wait.

He knew you would wake soon, and he would explain his actions when you do. You would have no reason to refuse him, then.

***

You woke with a start, rubbing the sleep off your eyes, just to sit up and think.

You had lost count of the number of days you had spent in your glass enclosure, and there was nothing much to do except to observe your surroundings - nothing but a vast space, where distant stars glittered in the black tapestry that was space, with a single source of light in sight, like the sun, only that it offered no warmth. That, and to ruminate on the events that led you to this situation.

You remembered when you first came to, locked in this glorified cage. You still thought you were dreaming then, so you did everything you could to try waking yourself up, only none of it worked. That was when he appeared.

Dream of the Endless, he had called himself. The King of Dreams and Ruler of the Nightmare Realm.

He claimed to rule the place he had taken you to, which he called the Dreaming. He had then explained that everything humanity (‘your kind,’ you recalled him saying) had ever dreamed of in its sleep was as real as everything it sees, hears, and feels in its waking hours and that he presided over them since the first living creature dreamed, and will do so until the end of all life.

He had revealed that he had watched over you, your dreams and your waking hours, since your first meeting, and that he had not meant to scare you, only that he wished for you to accept his advances.

That was the first of his many attempts to get you to say ‘yes.’

He would ask in many ways: a long walk in this garden he called the Fiddler’s Green; a sumptuous dinner in one of his many grand halls; an adventurous tryst in one of the humans’ dreams. He had promised that if you agreed to be courted by him and be with him, he would take you out of your enclosure and release you, allow you to roam his kingdom as his lover, forever wanting nothing and lavishing in all the riches and trinkets he could offer.

From then, you knew you would never be allowed back into the life you had worked so hard to build, humble as it may have been.

At first, your response to his attempts of coaxing you into a relationship with him was a string of incoherent curses and screaming. After a while, they were plain ignored - his face would remain blank every time, if not a tad disappointed, or hurt.

You didn’t care.

But you were also lying if you said it hadn’t worn out your resolve. This day was one of them.

You missed food. Not that you were ever hungry - he had removed hunger from you in your imprisonment. He had given you the gift of dreamless sleep as well, but in your time alone with nothing to do except wake and sleep, you’d give almost anything to have dreams again. You had no other company except him and the vast, endless space beyond your cage that he had conjured for you. You being sealed away from everything was driving you closer to insanity every day, and that was his design: to make you desperate enough to submit to his will.

Without warning, your hair stood at the back of your neck, your senses on high alert.

Dream of the Endless had arrived.

“My precious little saviour,” he greeted in that deep, velvety voice you had grown to hate and find comfort in at the same time. “I have come for you.”

Your captor had a warm smile on his regal features, one that didn’t match his true intentions. You stared at him with a blank expression and let his greeting go unanswered.

“Will you join me for a walk in my garden?”

He kept his eye contact with you as he waited for your response. It unnerved you to no end, the way he held your gaze with those ocean-blue eyes of his, knowing a single ‘no’ from you would instantly turn it to the black ones you have known to fear. When you opened your mouth to speak, it actually hurt your throat - you hadn’t spoken in a long time.

“Will you be locking me up again, after?”

He grinned at you and tilted his head slightly. “If you behave and do as I say, I will not.”

Only a single tear that escaped from your eye betrayed that gnawing feeling of defeat in your gut. Finally swallowing whatever pride you had left, you made a decision.

“Yes.”

You should never have bought him that damned loaf of bread.

***

Just a little one-shot I wanted to write to get myself out of a writing rut I've been stuck with wanting Comatose to be perfect it stressed me out too much :// I will still work on it, I promise! I just need to get this out the way to get my writing mojo back :D

PART II here!!!!

Thank you for reading!!!! Please engage and all that it's really appreciate iiiit

***

#dark!dream x reader #dark!dream x you #dark!morpheus fic #dark!morpheus x you #dark!morpheus x reader #dark!dream oneshot #dark!dream of the endless #dark!morpheus fanfic #the sandman #the sandman fanfiction

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writing-with-sophia · 10 months ago

Note

Miss Sophia, I have a question. Um, well first of all...

I actually like slice of life, fantasy, romance, horror, sci-fi.

But my question is... Ahem. How do you make romance scenes non cringy?

Becsaiw sometimes when I'm writing them, I cringe, and feel weird. Others, my my heart flutters.

How to make romantic scenes not cringe?

Well, honestly, for me, this question is so hard to answer... As my strength is romance, I can't give you any advice based on my experience. What I do when writing romantic scenes is simply… imagine and write. So, I searched the internet, read some articles and learned a few things. Hope it will help you.

Tip 1: Develop realistic and relatable characters

Ensure that your characters are well-rounded and have depth. Give them distinct personalities, flaws, and motivations that readers can connect with. This will make the romantic interactions more believable and engaging.

Tip 2: Show, don't tell

Instead of explicitly stating how characters feel, demonstrate their emotions through their actions, dialogue, and body language. How do they treat each other? How do they talk to each other? When one person is sick, what will the other person do? Are they shy or bold when meeting the person they love? The more details you tell, the more genuine the feelings between them will be.

Tip 3: Build emotional tension

Establish a strong foundation of emotional connection and chemistry between the characters. Develop their relationship gradually and create moments of anticipation and longing. This will make the romantic scenes more captivating and less cringe-worthy.

Tip 4: Prioritize consent and respect

Ensure that the romantic interactions include clear communication, mutual respect, and consent. Avoid any scenes that may promote unhealthy dynamics or non-consensual actions, as they can easily become cringe-worthy or uncomfortable for readers.

Tip 5: Use subtlety and restraint

Sometimes, less is more. Avoid over-the-top gestures or exaggerated romantic dialogue that can feel forced or insincere. Instead, focus on small, genuine, and meaningful moments that allow readers to connect with the emotions being portrayed.

Tip 6: Balance romance with other elements

Incorporate other elements such as humor, conflict, or character development alongside the romantic scenes. This will add depth and prevent the story from becoming overly focused on romance, which can sometimes lead to cringe-worthy moments.

Tip 7: Read romance novels

You cannot write a beautiful love story without reading any romance novels, unless you write it based on your own story. You can read famous works like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Red, White & Royal Blue, or anything else that interests you, and learn how the characters interact with each other. This is the best way.

That's all. Good luck!

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the1975attheirverybest · 11 months ago

Text

Being Funny In A Foreign Language

Chapter 3- somewhere in your heart/ somewhere guaranteed

read all other chapters here

A/N: this was weird to write. Let me know what you think.

Warnings: smut? Kinda?

——-

“2:00AM” the digital clock on the wall announced. Matty rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, a small cappuccino in his hand, sighing loudly as he entered the rehearsal space.

The sound of his echoing footsteps and the smell of his coffee alerted Tobias to his arrival promoting him to rustle through some documents to locate Matty’s copy of the setlist.

“Yo,” Matty mumbled a general greeting around the room intended for all attendants. “Where’s Amelia?”, scanning over the setlist that Tobias had handed him.

Tobias sighed, knowing where this conversation was headed. He looked up at Patricia, who sat on the couch in the middle of the stage, scribbling notes into her notepad. She shrugged.

“She’s out with her boyfriend.” Tobias replied, cautiously. “And, Matthew, I know this is going to make you feel things. But can we please focus on this?”

Matty’s face deceptively hid the way that the word ‘boyfriend’ had shattered his heart. He took a long sip of his beverage. “Yeah. Okay. Focusing on this.” He said, calmly, his eyes fixed on the work presented to him.

He tried to keep his thoughts on the task at hand, but the empty chair where he’d expected Amelia to be sitting felt as if it was mocking him. Like it knew that the cup of coffee in his hand was intended for her. It made his stomach turn.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to change any of the visual backdrop along with the setlist so….i’ve prepared some options just in case…” Tobias attempted to begin the meeting, but, even as he spoke, it was clear to him that Matty’s mind was elsewhere. “Matty? Thoughts?”

“What?” Matty seemed startled. He cleared his throat aggressively. “Yes, anyway” straightening the setlist in his hand. “Right. Okay, so, we have a gap where ‘Then Because She Goes’ originally was,” Matty mumbled, more to himself than to his co-workers. He moved songs around on the board for a moment. “we’ve got ‘Me,’ as an alternative to ‘Bagsy,’ and….” His train of thought seemed to cut short. “Sorry, ermmmm.” He rubbed his eyes. “Shouldn’t George be here?” Tapping his phone screen and watching it light up and display the time.

“Texted him.” Patricia said. “He’s on the way. Said he overslept.”

Matty, once again, did not seem to be listening. This time, something on his phone had caught his attention. Even through sleep-laced vision, he could see a toggle of Twitter notifications, all of which contained his name. He slipped his phone into his pocket. Out of sight; out of mind.

He stared blankly at people’s faces, “Sorry, erm, just….just a moment. Smoke break.” He whispered, hesitantly walking away.

“Matty!” Patricia called after him. “You forgot your cigarettes!!” But he murmured something about needing to pee, instead.

***

Matty could barely hear the bathroom door close over the sound of his own heart pounding against his chest like a drumbeat. Honestly tight. His breathing shallow. He pulled out his phone, watching the notifications roll in. His stomach tightened as he scrolled through, quickly gathering that a ‘Pop Culture news source’ had just published a profile on him and revived the same old grievances that the internet has had against him for a while lately.

@Mattyfrnglomg have you considered that your jokes just aren’t funny and people hate them cuz you’re a racist twat?

Girlies, no. @mattyfrnglomg is not hot. It’s 2023 stop making being a n*zi ‘hot.’

Matty Healy is a racist, homophobic pos. Hope he ODs and fucks off.

Oh okay so I guess racism is ~high art~. Really needed an ugly white guy to teach me that. Got it thanks, Matty Healy.

This article is taking his words out of context. You don’t understand how much different he is once you actually take the time to find out what he means to say.

|___ You don’t understand how much idgaf. There is no out of context bigotry. Shut up and get a life.

He swiped out of the Twitter app and put his phone away, leaning against the sink and staring at his reflection in the mirror. He wondered if the reflection staring back at him was anything like what the internet says.

He’s been here before. Countless times, in fact. The internet turning against him every few weeks has become a constant that he can always count on. Whats the point of going through this song and dance every single time? Besides, on the other side of this bathroom door, there is a room full of people waiting for his direction. He doesn’t have time for wallowing.

He waved his hand underneath the faucet, triggering its sensors.

“Right.” He spoke to himself in the mirror, drying his freshly washed face. “Back to work.” He tossed the crumpled paper towel into the bin and watched it bounce and fall outside the rim.

“Fucks sakes.”

***

“Tobias! Swap out ‘Frail State of Mind’ for, uh, ‘Heart Out’.” Matty’s voice yelled out even before he was all the way back in the room. “Also, could we rehearse some Drive Like I Do bits?

“I must still be dreaming” George’s groggy voice announced his entrance, “surely you’re not suggesting we do Drive Like I Do songs…”

“Listen,” Matty jumped up on the balls of his feet, too impatient to wait for George to get settled, he met him at the door, handing him a copy of the setlist on which he’d scribbled some thoughts. “What if we just took out this bit, and instead did, like, Self-Titled, or DLID songs. The cyclical conclusion of the individual show would, sort of, mirror the trajectory of the tour as a whole.”

George wondered to himself if he’d simply spent too much of his life in Matty’s company or if what his friend was suggesting actually made perfect sense.

***

Matty’s leg bounced nervously under the table. He tugged at his sleeves every time that Amelia and Joshua got a bit too close to each other. He couldn’t help but look in her direction all the time. She’d burst into the room, hours late, but her smile and the fact that she’d brought food and coffee for everyone made it alright. she wore the same perfume that she’d had on the first time that Matty had ever undressed her. He caught a whiff of it when she’d zoomed towards him, setting down a pastry and a cup of coffee by his notepad and whispering “your favorites” with a playful wink. He was too overwhelmed to look her directly in the eyes. The scent is now forever intertwined with his memories of their first time together. Though it felt wrong to reminisce, a disrespect of her burgeoning relationship with Joshua, he couldn’t help but recall her trembling fingers, eagerly reaching for his belt buckle, the timid blush in her cheeks when he said that he wanted to see her touch herself first, and, of course, her breathily calling out his name when he guided her through her own self-pleasure. What he wouldn’t give to be back there now.

Being so close to her yet so far away, watching her smile at the man by her side, it all felt like a knife to the chest. The throbbing of his heart was impossible to ignore. Every time that someone had said anything clever, or funny, he would find himself turning around to check if she’d laughed too. If she’d had the same thought or reaction as him. When George had asked her how her night had been and she hinted that the reason for her late arrival had something to do with her and Joshua having a little too much fun, Matty couldn’t not watch as Joshua’s hand reached for hers, gently.

“So, what’d I miss?” Amelia asked, setting down her coffee. “You rockstars have weird business hours, by the way.”

George handed her a copy of the new setlist to get her caught up.

“Excuse me you took out ‘Bagsy’? What the fuck for??” Her outrage directed towards Matty.

He remained silent, so she returned her attention to the paper in her hand.

“‘Frail State of Mind’ too?? Are you insane?”

“We’ve already discussed it. Just….move on.” He mumbled, avoiding looking at her.

“ yeah, but I remember you saying this tour is meant to include more Notes tracks and now you’re axing half of them. Oh and I suppose you expect me to find ‘You’ totally self-explanatory, too?”

Matty scratched his forehead, irritated in silence for a moment. “Maybe if you hadn’t been late, you’d have been around for the conversation. Guess you’ll just have to schedule your dates around your work next time, won’t you?”

Amelia was stunned into silence, simply shaking her head in disbelief.

“Amelia, uhh, I wondered if we might place some lights around the door frame for the second half of the show?” Tobias asked, mostly to cut the tension. “If they end up doing 28, that is.”

“That makes no sense.” She said without a second thought. “28 pre-dates the box iconography.” Her response was to Tobias, but her eyes still watched Matty, astounded.

“Why don’t we take- uhh- take 5 minutes while I bring us copies of the apology speech.” Tobias rushed to escape the room.

“I was thinking,” Amelia mused out loud breaking the silence that had covered the room as everyone read Matty’s Better Help ad. “the sentence that starts with ‘there’s nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself’ how about we change it to-“

“No,” Matty stated, firmly.

“Beg your pardon?”

“I said ‘no.’” Matty kept his eyes on his paper.

“But you haven’t even heard what I think you should replace it with…”

“Don’t need to. Pretty attached to that sentence. Don’t wanna change it.”

Amelia stood out of her chair and walked, stiffly, over to Matty, slamming the paper out of his hand. “Can I see you outside for a second?”

He shrugged, following her out.

“What the fuck’s the matter with you?”

“Amelia-“

“How dare you speak to me like that in front of everyone?”

“You’re asking questions that you shouldn’t-“

“I’m doing my job! The job that you hired me to do, by the way.”

“Doing your job would’ve been coming to work on time. Leaving your boyfriend at the door. Being a professional. Having those conversations when it was the right time to have them. Not- not now!”

Amelia shook her head, looking directly at him. He took off his glasses, wiping them off with the end of his shirt.

“Maybe the internet is right about you.” She spoke after an uncomfortable beat of silence. “Maybe you have turned into an arsehole.”

***

At one end of the hallway, Amelia laid in bed in her hotel room, watching Joshua undress and get ready to slide into the empty space next to her. She crawled into his arms as soon as he laid down.

“You alright? You seem upset.” Joshua kissed her forehead.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Matty’s face as she’d called him an asshole. A look that she’d only seen once before. At George’s house, two years ago, hours after his long term relationship had ended. He’d gotten drunk and cried himself to sleep on George’s couch. She wondered if that’s how she’d find him right now. If she walked over to the other end of the hallway, to the Royal Suite, would she find him in that same state?

“I’m okay.” She whispered into Joshua’s chest. “Kiss me please.”

***

George grew increasingly worried the more that his knocks went unanswered. He pulled out his phone, sending “anyone hear from Matty yet?” To Adam and Ross before deciding to go down to the front desk and ask for a spare key.

His heart sunk at the sight in front of him. Several empty bottles of wine around the room, Matty’s crying muffled by the pillow that he’d buried his face into, the notepad on the floor, Matty’s body shaking, his hands fisting the duvet. He was right to be concerned. He was right to come here.

“Matty,” he whispered, laying a gentle hand on his friends shoulder. “Matty, mate, c’mon. Look at me. C’mon, let’s g- please, sit up for me?”

***

“ I know this isnt what you want to hear, but…There are only two options, I’m afraid.” George said softly, his head dipping to the side. “You either tell her how you feel, or you move on.”

“But she’s got a- a- Joshua!”

George tittered, trying not to be too amused. “I know, but what does that matter? They’ve only just met. You should still tell her. Let her make the choice for herself.”

“Nothings really changed, though. She was crushed when she told me she loved me and I didn’t say it back. And-“

“Why, exactly, did you not say it back?”

“I’m not- I don’t think being together would be a good idea. I’m not good enough for her yet.”

“But, Matty, you’ve had this— thing— for her for ages.”

“Yeah, but I was a fuckin mess for the first couple of years. I mean; I was addicted to smack- and - and then she got a boyfriend. And I got a girlfriend, and th-“

“I know. I was there.”

Matty fell silent for a moment, looking down as his hands fiddled, nervously, with the end of his sleeves. “It’s just….when I’m with her….when we’re together….everything feels right. Everything feels good — ‘m not even talking about sex; not that the sex isn’t good. Cuz it is. It’s fuckin great but that’s not all there is to it— Doesn’t matter what it is that we’re doing, if we’re doing it together, then I’m happy.”

“I haven’t heard you speak about anyone this way in a long time.”

Matty smiled, a tired, defeated smile, shrugging, “right.” He looked up at George, “but….im still not the kind of person that she can depend on. I couldn’t even say ‘I love you’ back. And- she’s got someone who…clearly knows how special she is. Who’s willing to take a risk on her.”

“Matty, there is no perfect redemption arc or whatever the fuck you’re on about- you’re don’t have to wait to become a different person- she said ‘I love you’ to you. Not some….potential of a perfect version of you”

Matty wanted to remind George that she’s wrong about him. That all the reasons she loves him for are not real. Simply a product of her misplaced faith in him. A mistaken understanding that he’s a better and stronger person than he is. But he didn’t have to say all that. He had a shortcut right at his fingertips. “Look at this!” Matty held up his phone, displaying a vast number of notifications, all of which contained derogatory and disparaging attacks on him, available for the whole world to peruse through at any moment. “Do you honestly think a new relationship would be good right now?”

The glimmer of conviction in George’s eyes began to fade. “So….does this mean….you’re letting her go?”

They were silent for a moment, then, George got up and pulled Matty into a hug.

“About that stuff in your phone-“

“I’m fine.”

George knew he wasn’t fine. But he also knew he wasn’t ready for help yet.

***

The show was perfect. Amelia had to hand it to Matty. She couldn’t see the vision at first. Especially when he’d changed much of the setlist, but onstage, it made perfect sense. Watching the audience’s shock and awe at witnessing those lesser known songs be played live for the first time in years only made the night more exciting. Matty appeared to take in the positive, instant feedback as well. Thanking everyone and taking a bow before getting off-stage.

She meant to inform him of how impressed she was backstage, but he was instantly swarmed by techs, unhooking him from the equipment and checking with him about next show’s instruments. He disappeared into the dressing room shortly after, and in the chaos of the post-show action, she was distracted. Before she knew it, Matty’s driver —who’d been reassigned to her and Joshua as soon as they’re joined the tour— was driving them back to their hotel room.

***

The silence was deafening. Matty laid in bed, struggling to sleep, lonely, cold, and contemplating going downstairs for a smoke. He picked up his phone and scrolled through his Instagram messages, his finger hovering indecisively over a woman to message. The routine —something he’d done before, on many a lonely night— made him feel sick. He didn’t want that anymore. He buried his phone under his pillow and tossed to the other side.

Minutes turned to hours as Matty laid, wide awake, tossing and turning in bed. His hand slowly sliding down his body, wondering if he could relieve some stress and distract himself from the pangs of loneliness. He closed his eyes, dipping his hand into his briefs and grabbing himself. He worked himself to the memories of his best sexual encounters, trying to recall how he’d felt, what it had been like, how he’d made his partner feel. The pleasure, the intimacy of that deep connection, the rush of giving someone else overwhelming pleasure and hearing them moan and whine. None of it seemed to be working, only building his frustration. He turned to lay on his stomach, still jerking himself off. As his frustration continued, he decided that perhaps humping the mattress may help. And he really tried his best, getting closer and closer to feeling something, he dedicated all of his focus towards remaining in his body, working hard at shutting away any thoughts, his hips grinding against the bed. He groaned and whined into the bedding. Had he been quieter, or moved slower, he might have heard the soft beeping of the door lock as a spared key swiped into it, or even the footsteps approaching his bedroom. Unfortunately, he only heard “Matty?” When it was too late. Amelia was already standing in the doorway.

“Fuck! Oh my- Christ!” Matty jolted at the sound of her voice. “A-Amelia. Wha- what- what’re you- doing here?” He cover himself up with the duvet, sitting up against the bed frame.

She smiled, walking towards him. “Sorry. I clearly interrupted something.” She teased.

Matty’s lips parted. He wanted to speak, but nothing came to mind. He watched her approach him, reach out her hand, and cup his face gently. God, he needed this. A human touch. Amelia’s touch.

“Amelia I’m so-“

“I know. I know. You don’t need to say anything, Matty.”

She leaned in kissing his lips. Her hand dipped under the duvet. “Let me help with that.” Wrapping her hand around his cock. Matty stiffened to her touch, swallowing a gasp.

Her hand jerked his length over and over, she’d sat in his bed, settling into a persistent rhythm. Matty cried incoherently, fucking into her hand and desperately hoping for pleasure. Nothing helped. She noticed his hips moving more aggressively and heavily m as his frustration peaked.

“Hey, easy, easy, Matty. Not like that. You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

“It’s not working. I’m so sorry- I- it hurts….”

“It’s okay; it’s okay. You don’t have to be sorry.” She let go of him, moving her hand away.

Matty blushed the words left his lips before he could stop himself “please don’t leave me.”

His genuine plea caught her off guard. “Matty….” Perhaps hes been worse off than she’d imagined. “I’m not gonna leave. I’m just…can I ummm…can I hold you?”

He nodded repeatedly, a wordless and enthusiastic plea. She wrapped her arms around him, doing her best to tighten around his thick, strong muscles. Amelia kissed along the expanse of his shoulders as she shook and wept in her arms. Despite his massive build, he felt so small and fragile. She put all she had into those gentle kisses, hoping his skin would absorb her love, her care as she grazed it with her lips. They stayed that way until Matty had no tears left to cry. He fell asleep.

***

The sunlight felt harsh against Matty’s eyelids. He stirred in bed, not ready to open his eyes yet. As sleep weaned its hold on him, the events of last night came rushing back. He was filled with a mix of different emotions. Comfort, embarrassment, anxiety, and a sliver of joy. As he prepared to open his eyes and turn to the other side of the bed, he prayed to a god that he didn’t believe in that he would find her sleeping right next to him. He waited a moment for his heartbeat to come back down. Then, he turned around, slowly, and opened his eyes. She was gone.

#matty healy smut #matty healy fanfic #matty healy fluff #matty healy angst #matty healy fanfiction #matty healy x oc

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the-witchy-housewife · 1 month ago

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｡+*✧ 5 Witchy Ways To Make Your Home More Magickal ✧*+｡

This is an article from my website, The Witchy Housewife. You can read it at the source here or look under the cut to read it here on Tumblr. If you enjoy my work, please consider subscribing (at the bottom of this page) to receive articles as they're posted via e-mail, exploring the shop, leaving a tip, or reblogging this post. I run this all myself, so all support is greatly appreciated. 💜🔮✨

Most practicing witches, whether just starting out or involved for decades, have carved out a sacred space for themselves. It is rare, however, that I see that same level of attention given to the rest of the home. In doing so, we risk the stagnation of energies in just about every other room of the house and miss out on this beautiful flow dancing about room to room. Today, I would like to share five simple ways to make your entire home a more magickal place to live in.

1. Regularly cleanse, bless, and ward.

It is so important – both for the success of workings and the overall energetic wellbeing of the household – to have a regular routine of cleansing the home, refilling it with positive energies, and charging the wards that surround it. This habit breaks up energetic stagnation, deters lingering negative energies, and promotes a sacred feeling of warmth that permeates throughout the entire home. In addition, I think you will find that this sort of energetic housekeeping will improve the results of any future magickal workings performed within it. Not to mention, making a habit out of any sort of magickal working – cleansings included – will naturally “exercise” and improve your own magickal abilities overall.

For those new to the ideas of cleansing, blessing, and warding, this is how I generally define it: To cleanse is to rid a person, place, or thing (in this case, the home) of stagnant, unwanted, draining, counterproductive, or otherwise negative energies. After a cleansing is performed, a blessing may follow. In my opinion, blessing a space with more productive energies serves two purposes: To set the tone for desired future outcomes and to further deter negative energies from re-entering the space. With that said, to bless – again, as I define it – is to invite in and refill the recently-cleansed person, place, or thing with fresh, positive, intentional energies. And finally, to ward is to create an energetic protective barrier around the person, place, or thing as a more passive and longer-lasting preventative measure. Some people may also refer to this as bubbling or shielding, though different people may have different definitions for each.

Now personally, there are different cleansing rituals I use for different circumstances, but my most often used rituals take place monthly or as-needed when energies get too muddied.

My Monthly Cleansing Ritual: I perform this ritual on the first of each month. Any cleansing tools to be charged on the altar should be set at least a day before performing the cleansing. The morning of, weather permitting, open windows and play uplifting music or cleansing affirmations, frequencies, or subliminals of choice. Take a cleansing shower. Clean the home as you normally would. When physical cleaning is complete, use a smoke or spray cleansing blend of choice, walking with intention from room-to-room. Pay special mind to corners and doorways. I like to use sound cleansing – bells, drums, or even snapping your fingers will do – in these spaces to really ensure the breaking up of any “stuck” energies. If you are someone who performs banishing rituals, you may choose to do so now. At this point, I also take a moment to cleanse myself, particularly as an empath. I then tend to my wards by first taking a blessed salt blend around the perimeter of the property, followed by sitting at the center of the property and funneling my own energy into the ward. If you would prefer to instead bless first and ward after, feel free to do so. It is your ritual, after all. Regardless of which order you perform the ritual in, the blessing process may be a deeply personal one, so this is a step I suggest thinking on a bit rather than following to the letter. In my ritual, I use a spray with positive energy-promoting herbs (as well as herbs that may promote the intention I wish to set for the month) and follow up with prayer to my deities. If you’re interested in a more in-depth look at my Monthly Cleansing Ritual, I do have detailed instructions available on my Monthly Blessings Patreon.

My As-Needed Cleansing Ritual: This is essentially a truncated version of my monthly ritual. If the energies are something I’ve tracked in or absorbed too much of, I will take a cleansing shower first. Following this, perform your usual smoke or spray cleansing, focusing especially on any room(s) that may be the most abundant in the energy that brought about this need for an emergency cleanse. You may also like to perform a shorter version of your regular blessing ritual. Unless the situation is really dire, I will generally stick to my spray in this case.

In regards to the physical cleaning portion of this, I do have to recommend Grove Collaborative for cultivating a more natural-based cleaning cabinet. In the future, I’ll be looking into more do-it-yourself methods for cleaning essentials, as is part of the focus of this blog, but in the meantime – and for anything that may be too tedious to make – I really do love Grove.

And one final thought on the cleansing process before we move on: If nothing else, it would at least be worth it to regularly cleanse yourself. I’m afraid your floors (and your home overall) will never be clean if you are consistently tracking in the (energetic) mud.

2. Arrange altars around the home.

To some, an altar may just be some simple magickal workspace, but I tend to view an altar as a sort of energetic nexus – a point of focus in (or out of) the home enchanted with a specific intention. Having a variety of these energetic points all across the home can promote different energies in different places and act as a sort of battery for the mood you wish to set in any room you wish to set it. Here are just a few ideas for altars around your home:

• The Shrine Altar: A space dressed with statuary, artwork, trinkets, and offerings honoring the deity or deities you are devoted to in your practice. This is your place of divine worship.

• The Working Altar: A space with all the tools and dressings to make magick happen. This, combined with a Shrine, is what most people traditionally think of when referring to an altar.

• The Divination Altar: A space with all the tools and dressings for divination, spirit communication, and other sorts of communion that take place beyond the veil. You may wish to set aside a space here for your spirit guides and teachers to provide their own guidance.

• The Ancestor Altar: A space for maintaining connection with your ancestors. When decorating and leaving offerings, keep in mind the things that your ancestors would enjoy.

• The Protection Altar: A space for gathering protective energies to keep yourself, your loved ones, and your home safe from harm. Think of it as a battery specifically for your wards.

• The Hearth Altar: A space for inviting warm, positive energies into the home and transmuting any negative energies that may enter. Even better if you can get your family involved.

• The Prosperity Altar: A space for inviting wealth, prosperity, and abundance into the home. Similarly to the Hearth Altar, It’s a good idea to have this altar face the front door to act as a “greeter” to these energies, and you may even choose to combine them.

• The Creativity Altar: A space for encouraging a steady flow of inspiration. This is ideal if you have any sort of creative pursuits and/or are subject to frequent creative blockages.

• The Study Altar: A space for encouraging focus and memory retention. Perfect for a library or an office where lots of learning takes place. Rosemary would be an excellent addition here.

• The Garden Altar: A space in your garden for promoting the growth of your plants and bonding with the fae and genius loci native to your area.

3. Celebrate with the changing seasons.

When I was younger, much of the year was quite boring to me, and I found myself always pining for Hallowthanksmas to roll back around before returning yet again to “business as usual” come January 1st. I think an unfortunate amount of people operate this way, as well. It was only when I started observing and appreciating the year in full that my life turned around in a big way, and I began to realize there is always something to look forward to.

Whether this means celebrating the sabbats, the seasonal shifts, or your own set of scattered observations – you can make holiday magick a year-round experience just by opening your eyes to Gaia’s natural cycles. In addition, I think you’ll find that matching the energetic ebb and flow of the Earth will serve to optimize your success with spellwork overall. Very simply:

During the spring… New beginnings are abundant. Appreciate the budding flowers, the baby animals, and the fresh spring air. Start new projects and/or take on new endeavors.

During the summer… Passions are at their highest. Host bonfires and barbecues and let yourself live life. Soak up the energy of the sun and transmute it into raw motivation.

During the autumn… Our efforts may be harvested. Bathe in gratitude for the abundance of this beautiful planet. Review and appreciate all that you have done for yourself.

During the winter… The world is at rest. The cold decelerates the very flow of time. Take a much-needed break, and plan to return or renew come the first signs of spring.

Consider also bringing the outdoors in – particularly during the colder months when it is too difficult to spend a significant amount of time outside. Foraging with the local flora in your area and using your findings for food, medicine, and decor is an excellent way to become familiar with the cycle of the seasons as it functions in your very own neighborhood.

4. Ritualize your everyday routines.

We often don’t realize just how many rituals we perform each and every day – repetitive, but necessary, processes that lull us into a meditative state. There is opportunity here. In our day-to-day life, there are so many little pockets within our routines to tuck intention and purpose into. And why shouldn’t we? Here are just a few suggestions for enchanting your daily routine:

In the Morning: Do affirmation work upon waking or in the mirror. Alternatively, listen to affirmations or subliminal audio on your ride to work or while getting ready in the morning. Incorporate color and shape magick into your wardrobe – including any accessories, makeup, or nail care that you may do.

Throughout the Day: Enhance your meals with carefully chosen herbs to improve wellbeing or attract specific energies. After workouts, take a moment to meditate on advancing muscular growth or expelling fat from troublesome areas. Use showers as mini cleansing rituals or put oils/herbs in a bath to attract energies.

During the Night: Do affirmation work just before falling asleep. Keep a small (non-fragile) stone under your pillow to regularly fill with energies of gratitude. Set an intention for your dreams. Keep a dream sachet under your pillow to help with achieving lucidity. Diffuse oil for a specific intention to set the tone for your dreams or even to set the tone for the next day.

However you spend your days, consider altering your home’s decor room-by-room to cultivate a specific tone and energy depending on the daily rituals you perform there.

5. Build a garden you can bond with.

One of the things I love most about being a witch is the awareness that magick really is all around us. In my opinion, cultivating a garden is the best way to go about experiencing this, and it offers so much versatility. On a very basic level, a garden offers a wide variety of personally-selected plants that can be used for cooking, medicine, magick, decor, aroma, and so much more. On a deeper level, a garden offers the space to get to know the spirits of these plants as they thrive and flourish prior to receiving their gifts – and this, in turn, will improve upon many of your more subtle spiritual abilities.

And for those of you who don’t have much of a yard to work with at this time, keep in mind that plants in any pot – that require any amount of sun and attention – are still living beings. Lavender, for example, is one commonly-used plant in the craft that can be grown indoors.

Pinterest, for the record, is a great place to collect gardening information tailored to your tastes (among other things like recipes and crafting tutorials). And for the more daring, you may choose to expand your horizons by looking into things like food forests or guerrilla gardening (bonus points if it yields something edible).

Regardless of what endeavors you decide to take on, darling, I wish you the best of luck in making your home, your community, and your life more magickal. Many blessings to you.

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forhappysake · 1 year ago

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What Lurks Within, Pt. 4

Author's Note: Simply enjoy!

Content: When the BAU has their first solid lead on the Denver case, Y/N volunteers to interview the suspect with Luke's help. After gaining a fresh perspective and a new lead, the group decides it's time to examine the personal lives of one of Denver's most important officer's: the police chief.

Warnings: General anxiety, brief mentions of Cat Adams, some bickering, sexism and mentions of domestic abuse, brief mentions of drug use and adultery, established relationship, fluff

As I went to follow Luke out of the room, Spencer caught my arm, taking me by surprise. “Why are you doing this to yourself?” he asked, a hint of anger burning in his eyes.

“What do you mean, Spencer? I’m doing my job,” I tried to pull my arm away, but he kept me in his solid grasp.

“You haven’t been in an interrogation room since…” he trailed off, letting the silence overtake us. I knew what he was thinking. You haven’t been in an interrogation room since the night you and I took on Cat Adams.

I paused for a moment to take a breath. “I know that, Spencer. Do you think I don’t know that? It’s time for me to stop being afraid and start getting back out there. Besides, this guy is a detective in his own department’s interrogation room, I don’t think he’s going to do anything crazy.” I tried to reassure him, but he kept staring at me with a look that I couldn’t quite read.

I gently removed his hand from my arm, bringing one of my own up to cup his cheek. “I’m fine, Spence. You said it yourself, I can’t be sidelined.” He met your eyes, and the anger burning there had morphed into genuine concern.

“I’ll be behind the glass the whole time,” he said quietly, leaning into your touch.

“I know you will.” With that, I slowly removed my hand from his cheek and followed Luke down the hallway to where he waited outside the interrogation room. Luke opened the door for me, allowing me to slip in first. As I waited for Luke to shut the door, I saw Spencer disappear down the hallway, into a room where he could watch the interrogation behind the protective, one-way glass.

The door closed with a click and I turned to face the man in front of me. Up close, the forty-something year old Jason Andrews was no looker. His slicked back dark hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in months. His teeth were an odd shade of something yellow, and I thought I noticed the faint scent of body odor wafting about the room. He was relatively short with an average build, and a suit that was a size too big. Luke and I sat down across from him, as Luke rested his file on the table. I could feel Andrews’ eyes on me, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of my acknowledgement just yet.

“What’s all this about?” Andrews asked, leaning back in the metal chair he’d been sitting in for nearly an hour.

“We want to talk about your coworker, Ryan Whittendon,” Luke said. I watched Andrews’ expression for any sign of response, and for a brief moment I thought I saw a hint of malice cross his face.

He let out a breathy laugh, “What do you wanna know? The kid’s a good guy.” Luke opened the file in front of him, thumbing through some papers. He pulled out the article about Whittendon’s promotion to Head Homicide Detective, setting it in front of Andrews.

“I want to know what you have to say about this.” Andrews crossed his arms in front of his body, tilting his head to examine the article.

“What am I supposed to say?” Andrews deadpanned.

I took the opportunity to speak for the first time. I feigned sympathy. “Whittendon beating you out after all your hard work must have been pretty disappointing, huh?” I offered him an empathetic smile, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I could see the smirk forming on Andrews’ face. He turned to Luke. “Well, isn’t she a doll?” Though I couldn’t have seen him behind the one-way glass, I could almost feel Spencer’s eyes boring into the back of my head. I continued my act, twirling a pencil innocently between my fingers.

Luke chose not to respond, shuffling through the papers again before pulling out the document Emily had shown us minutes before. The number of complaints against Andrews highlighted in neon yellow on the front page. Luke set the paper in front of him, covering up the article about Whittendon. “Are comments like that the reason you have twenty-seven harassment complaints from coworkers?” Luke asked.

Andrews looked at the file, his smirk replaced by a grimace. He picked up the document for a moment before grunting and setting it back down on the table. “It’s not my fault,” he started, “all these women are just too sensitive to accept good loving from Jason.” His use of the third person almost made me bust out into laughter, but I maintained my persona. I saw Luke’s tough exterior almost crack before he took a deep breath and held on to his tough-guy act.

“So, it’s not your fault that you weren’t chosen for the promotion? It’s the fault of all those women who just couldn’t see what kind of genuine guy you are?” Luke raised an eyebrow at Andrews.

“You get me, son,” Andrews smiled. “If they’d loosen up a little bit, this office would be a lot more fun.”

“Uh-huh,” said Luke. “But like Agent L/N said, it still had to hurt pretty bad when you were passed up for the promotion.”

Andrews shrugged. “I mean, yeah, it sucked. What are you going to do about it, you know?” I scanned his face for any sign of malice, but found none resting behind his colorless eyes.

Luke mirrored his shrug. “That’s exactly what we’re here to find out. What did you decide to do about it?” If it was possible, I saw Andrews’ blank stare become even more devoid of thought. There’s no way this guy was smart enough to come up with a scheme of altering files… let alone be our unsub.

Luke sighed. “Excuse us, Agent L/N and I have to look over something. We’ll be right back.” Luke stood up from the table, walking over to the door and waiting for me to follow. As I rose from my chair, I heard Andrews’ clear his throat.

“She’s a pretty little thing. I bet she wouldn’t turn me in for trying to have some fun.” I turned to see his dark eyes raking over me. I bit my lip, calculating my response.

“I’m never opposed to some fun,” I said. Not waiting for his response, I turned quickly and followed Luke out of the room into the area where Spencer waited for us.

“Well, what do we think?” Luke asked.

I laughed, running my hands over my face and dragging a hand through my hair. “He’s gross. He’s a misogynist. He’s sure as hell not smart enough to be behind all this.” I looked at Spencer, but his eyes remained focused on Andrews in the interrogation room. “What do you think, Spence?”

“I think you’re right,” he said, only glancing away from Andrews to address Luke and I for a brief moment. “He’s not shown any signs that he isn’t telling the truth. If I’m being honest, he just doesn't fit the type, regardless.”

A disappointed silence filled the room as we realized we were no closer to solving the case than we had been before we picked Andrews up. “What a waste of time,” Luke mumbled, plopping down in a chair in the corner of the room. I paced for a moment, wondering how to execute our next moves. A thought hit me.

“What if I go in there alone,” I started, as Spencer turned towards me with his eyebrows raised, “and see what he has to say about his colleagues?” Spencer and Luke exchanged glances.

Luke shrugged, gesturing towards the door, “I’ve heard worse plans. Maybe he’ll be more open with you. Be my guest.” I didn’t wait to examine the look on Spencer’s face before I turned and headed out of the room, taking a deep breath before I reentered the interrogation room.

Andrews’ eyes lit up when I walked in. “Ah, she returns, stunning as ever.” Despite the icky feeling his attention gave me, I offered a flip of my hair and a shy smile in response, sinking down in a chair across from Andrews.

“Detective Andrews,” I said, raising my voice an octave or two in an attempt to sound as sweet as possible, “we’ve had a lot of trouble with your office lately.” The smirk he wore turned to a confused frown as he uncrossed his arms and leaned back in his chair once again.

“What do you mean, doll?” he asked, genuinely curious as to what I had to say.

“Oh, you know,” I twirled a strand of my hair around my fingers, biting at my lips. I hoped whatever I was doing was working. “Just unorganized stuff… messy files… lack of cooperation… you know how it can be,” I shrugged.

Andrews seemed more serious now, as he lowered his voice. Dropping the nickname, he addressed me by my professional title for the first time. “Agent L/N, I hate to talk bad about my coworkers,”- could have fooled me- “but this office hasn’t been run right in years.”

I felt myself perk up at the statement. “Care to share?” I asked, leaning forwards to make sure he knew he had my attention. He seemed satisfied by my response, as he leaned forward over the table.

I could smell the coffee on his breath as he started to speak again. “Off the record,” he shot a glance towards the one-way glass behind me. Andrews looked back at me again, “Chief Graydon never should have been put in charge of this place.”

I leaned back a bit, tapping my pointer finger on the table. “Why’s that?”

Andrews scoffed. “He can’t control his own household, how’s he supposed to run an entire police department?” I cocked my head to the side, a sign that I expected him to continue. He sighed. “His daughter’s a druggie, his wife has slept with half the guys here, and his son- don’t get me started on Phillip.”

I nodded. It didn't sound like much to go on, but a lead was a lead. “Well, thank you for the information, Detective Andrews. If we need anything else from you, I’ll be sure to let you know.” I offered him a playful smile and a wink, sticking to my persona as I packed up the items on the table. “Sure thing, doll,” the nickname returned. “Oh, and if you ever want to have a little fun, I’d be more than happy to-” before Andrews could finish, the door to the interrogation room swung open.

Spencer stepped into the room. “Trust me, she doesn’t want to have any fun with you, Detective. If you’ll excuse us,” Spencer’s hand on my lower back guided me out of the room and back to the bullpen of the police station. I felt a mischievous smile creeping on my face as he continued to guide me towards the conference room.

“What was that, Doctor Reid?” I asked him as we entered the conference room.

He raised his eyebrows, “You’re telling me you didn’t want me to come save the day.”

I laughed. “Not particularly, I felt like I was handling myself quite well.”

“You were-” Spencer’s agreement caught us both off guard. “Maybe I just didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”

“So the truth comes out, Doctor,” I smirked at him again, a hint of amusement in my eyes. Spencer rarely displayed jealousy and tried his best to avoid being overly protective, but when he did, I always found it quite entertaining.

“Really, Y/N, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were enjoying yourself in there.” He walked around the conference room table, taking a seat at the head again.

I shrugged. “I was, just a little. I forgot what an actress I am.” I sat down in a chair next to him, reaching for his coffee cup and taking a drink for myself. He sighed, covering my free hand which rested on the table with his own.

He suddenly became very serious. “You did great,” he said.

I nodded. “Thank you, Spence,” I said quietly. Silence fell over the conference room for a moment before Luke walked into the room, carrying a new folder we hadn’t seen before.

“What’s that?” Spencer asked.

Luke held the file up. “This? Funny you’d ask,” he tossed it on to the table, sitting across from me on the other side of Spencer. “This is Chief Graydon’s file.”

My jaw dropped a bit. “We’ve only been out of the interrogation for five minutes. How did you get that so fast?” Luke looked over my head, nodding in the direction of the police station’s main office. I turned to see Richie, the techie, peeking out from over his cubicle, his thick glasses and messy blonde hair evident over the divider. When he saw us looking at him, he immediately ducked back down.

“You made the tech analyst pull his boss's file?” Spencer asked.

Luke shrugged. “What’s the problem? He seemed a bit sketched out at first, but I just told him you wanted the file,” he gestured at me. “After that, he was more than happy to. I think he’s got a little crush on Y/N over here.”

I giggled, leaning back in my chair. Spencer gave me a look laced with warning. “What?” I asked, feigning innocence. “I’ve always liked the nerdy, scrawny type,” I patted Spencer’s thigh as Luke let out a roar of laughter.

“She’s so right, Spencer,” Luke nodded. A bit of a blush had come over Spencer’s cheeks, as had a playful frown. He rolled his eyes, before rising from his seat.

“Anyway,” Spencer tried to change the subject, “what’s in the file, Luke?”

Luke set the file on the table, spreading out the papers to allow himself a better look. “Graydon’s had some questionable arrests in the past, but he’s always gotten off clean. He was suspended in ‘04 for a pending domestic case against him, filed by his wife, but those charges mysteriously disappeared.”

It was then I noticed that JJ was standing in the doorway of the conference room. “What is up with the treatment of women by leadership in this office?” she asked, shaking her head incredulously. I nodded in agreement as she pulled the door shut behind her and sat down next to me at the table. Andrews with the verbal harassment, Graydon’s domestic charges… what a lovely bunch.

“What about his kids? Andrews was pretty adamant that they were a part of the problem.” I asked.

Luke shuffled through the papers. “There’s nothing in here about his kids. If they’ve been in trouble with the law before, Garcia can pull their information.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket before pressing a few buttons, the line rang to life.

“Penelope Garcia, knows what you want and has got what you need,” Penelope’s voice rang through the conference room.

“Hey, Garcia. We need to know if you can tell us more about Police Chief Graydon… specifically about his children.” Luke said.

“If? If I can find anything? Do you even hear yourself?” Penelope’s scoff was evident through the phone.

“I know, I know. If anyone can do it, it’s you,” Luke joked.

“Give me thirty minutes, I’ll call you back with the rundown.” Her end of the line died once again. Luke wore a small smile, which he tried to hide by running a hand over his mouth. I made a mental note to ask him about his little banter with Penelope later.

“Until then,” I said, looking around the room, “where are Emily, Rossi, and Matt?”

“Well, let’s see,” JJ started, staring up at the ceiling and counting off team members on her fingers. “Matt and Rossi are at the coroner's office getting updates on the final cause of death for the latest three victims. Last I knew, Emily was going to talk to Whittendon about his original files to see who all would have had access to them prior to their arrival in D.C.”

“I see,” I looked around the room for a clock. “What time is it?”

Spencer pulled back the sleeve of his suit jacket, checking his watch, “It’s 8:30 a.m.”

I sighed. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t eaten real food since noon yesterday.” The three others nodded in agreement.

“I saw a diner down the street. Do you guys want to grab some breakfast?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, actually. That sounds really good to me,” JJ said, looking to Spencer and I for our response. I nodded in agreement and Spencer shrugged, as if to say he’d follow us wherever.

“Awesome,” Luke said. “Don’t worry, it’s my treat.”

“Whoa,” said JJ, taking a step back in fake shock, “when did you start throwing money around?”

Luke laughed, “When I found Rossi’s wallet in the back seat of the SUV.” He held up the small leather wallet and my jaw dropped.

“Luke, you can’t use our boss’s credit card to buy us breakfast!” I said with wide eyes.

“C’mon, this guy’s a millionaire. I don’t think he’s gonna notice $30.” Luke opened the door to the conference room, allowing JJ to walk through first before following her towards the precinct door.

To be continued...

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