#everyone has their own method that works for them
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Wet & Wild II
pairing: art donaldson x reader
synopsis: in which you, a swimmer, and art, a tennis champ, change each other's lives for the better when you challenge his match-like stance on life
warnings: SMUT, porn with a plot, sexually explicit language, cursing, oral sex (f receiving), p in v sex, nipple play, locker room sex, swimmer lingo
word count: 5.5k
part 1
tags💜: @midnightwrriting @no1runawaymilkdad @ihave-aboringlife @blahhucantmakeme @laniirackssss @blood-bloss @lmaoyani @geminiflanagansblog @ruyaas-world @hrlzy @povobsessed @stephstephstephsteph @chakin @10ava01 @lem0ns77 @velvrei @hdhdhdndhdndk
masterlist
a/n: sorry if the tags aren’t working, I tried to include everyone that wanted it. lmk if you have questions on anything. hope you enjoy!!
A week has passed since the last time you’d seen Art and you try to rid any thoughts of him from your mind as you enter the women’s locker room, the day so early that the sun has only just risen. You’d only spent a few hours with him, but he feels more important to you than a mere acquaintance, especially considering you’d let him have more of you than most people would ever get to. You try to tell yourself it won’t matter if he shows or not, but deep down you know that it will. Regardless, overthinking won’t help you in the water so you shove it down as you steadily pull on your tech suit, careful not to rip the delicate fabric. Your headphones are currently blaring your hype playlist in your ear, but you slide them off once you notice movement to your left as Chloe opens her own locker.
“You ready?” she asks you, pulling out her own racing suit from the depths of her swim bag.
“Not really,” you admit, giving up on stretching your tight suit to your full body frame for the time being as you opt for a tie-back bikini top instead. Your shoulders are ever so grateful. “I’m so nervous.”
“Why? Because of your race or your little tennis boyfriend?” she teases, lips quirking into a classic Chloe smirk. As your best friend, she was the first and only person you told about your interaction with Art at the party and, of course, she had been teasing you about it since. While during practice it was amusing, you are not in the mood for jokes right before a race, especially one of such importance.
You furrow a brow, shaking your head to signal that it’s not the time for such jests concerning the blonde. As the good friend that she is, Chloe immediately understands as she moves to help tie your suit straps, a simple task that you are unexpectedly failing at due to the pressure of the meet ahead of you.
“You’re going to do great,” Chloe comforts, placing an assuring hand on your shoulder once she’s finished with your straps. “I’m sure of it.”
“What if I don’t break the record?”
“Who cares? You can try again next time. If that’s the worst that can happen, you don’t have anything to be nervous about,” she smiles in assurance. “Besides that record is as good as yours -” she makes a gesture to your tech suit that has the most magical of time bending abilities if wielded by the right swimmer. “You’ve worked so hard for this. Nothing can stop you now.”
“Thanks Clo.” you grin at her appreciatively, and though your nerves don’t settle in the slightest, you feel more comfortable living in cohabitation with them now. They’re so much easier to manage when you’re not alone.
It’s only minutes before the rest of your team has arrived and you have hours before your event is scheduled to take place, yet it only feels like seconds before you’re being seated in the waiting room amongst your competitors, tech suit finally fully on. Rousing music plays through your headphones though you are sure to skip any songs that seem even the slightest bit romantic. You try to slip into the right headspace, the line between confident and cocky that has always aided you in not panicking just before you step up to the blocks in the past. You try to find it, using any method at your fingertips, but it’s no use. You can’t seem to find it no matter how hard you try and suddenly it feels as if the weight of the world is crashing down on you when the door opens and your event is called. You stand with the other women and together you line up behind the blocks.
The sun shines much higher up in the sky than it had been when you dove in during warm ups, blaring down to reflect off the red of your cap that bears the Stanford logo in white along with your last name. You take your rightful place behind the starting block of the middle lane, and though you already wrote your heat and lane in black sharpie on your forearm just to be sure, you can’t help but worry that you’ve already missed your race.
It’s only when the head announcer calls your event on the loudspeaker that you stop dwelling on it, her voice echoing through the stands that seem so much taller now that you're in the center with so much pressure resting solely on you. You rake though the rafters to your left, hoping to be comforted by the sight of Chloe or one of your other teammates until you realize that they are more than likely preparing for their own events in the warm up pool.
It's then, just when the swirling hurricane of emotions is hurtling toward you, that you see him. He’s seated in the first row, blonde curls circling his head like a golden crown and a wide smile lighting up his face when he sees that you’ve finally spotted him, one that you can’t help returning as he mouths sweet wishes of luck to you.
Art came. He actually came!
The storm subsides and all of a sudden you’ve lost all your inhibitions. Instead of buzzing anxiety, you are filled with a new light and the confidence of a record breaker. It’s all so clear with Art in the stands and as his presence wafts away your storm of worries, you come to the realization that you can do it. You know you can.
The whistle of an official blares through the speaker and on cue you slide on your goggles and mount the block. You’re really starting to feel the compression of your suit as you bend into your diving position, waiting for the magic words. The signal that it’s time to race and leave everything you have in the pool as you go.
“Swimmers, take your marks…”
You take one last breath before the sound blares and you dive off the block. It all comes naturally to you and with the help of your suit, you find yourself breaking out farther than ever before.
You only have a few strokes until you’re at the end of the pool when out of nowhere, the girl in the lane beside you starts to catch up to you until the two of you are neck and neck and it doesn’t escape your attention when she flips a split second before you’re able to.
You know it’s not about winning, you told Art that, but it’s as if a fire has been lit behind you and you’re suddenly determined to go for the gold. You push yourself harder than you ever have before and though you're not sure where the energy has come from, you know it’s exactly what you need. You’ve failed if you’re able to get out of the pool without stumbling.
Before long you catch up to the swimmer beside you, taking your first and only breath as you summon the last of your power, pushing through the water like a jet-ski. At once you’re behind the flags and unlike before, there’s no one beating you to the touch pad resting on the side of the ending wall as you slam your hand down and come up for air.
The crowd erupts with applause once you finish and at first you’re under the impression that it’s because of your win until your eyes glaze over at the scoreboard and nearly burst from your skull at the sight of the result.
You had accomplished your goal. There it was, a time faster than the Stanford record glowing right beside your name. But you didn’t just pass it by a few flimsy hundredths. Your new record was more than a second faster.
You can hardly believe it and you know if the proof weren’t right in front of you, there’d only be disbelief instead of this crashing wave of accomplishment and pride. Though you’re in severe oxygen debt from the race, you find yourself screaming in excitement at your gigantic accomplishment.
“We have a new record!” an official announces through the loudspeaker once the other girls have returned to the starting wall, followed by your name and new time. You search for Art again once you’re out of the water, all but failing to suppress your grin as you find him clapping in the stands and smiling down at you as if you were the most precious stone in the world.
Your teammates are filled with the same immense pride when you join them in the locker room once the meet is over. You’ve since changed from your tech suit, switching out the tight fabric for your cozy hoodie, tie-back bikini top, and a towel tied around your waist. The suit in question now hangs in your locker with the rest of your clothes that you had been in the middle of putting on before the congradulations began.
“I fucking told you!” Chloe shouts, clapping you on the back like you had just won the lottery. You imagine such a feat couldn’t match the pride you feel now.
You almost say that you can’t believe it, but the words stall on your lips. You actually can believe it, this is something you’ve been working tirelessly for. And now, after a long hard race, the record title is finally yours.
“Did I see a certain blonde in the audience?” Chloe smirks, nudging you as you wave goodbye to one of your other parting teammates.
“Maybe,” you drawl, trying your best to hide your growing grin, but the thought of the man makes you feel like flying through the air as year worth of buried emotions bubble up to the surface. You haven’t felt anything like this for a very long time.
“You know what that means…” Chloe whispers to you after you pull away from a hug with one of the other girls who like everyone else, is on her way out. The night’s party is being hosted at a house that’s a longer commute than usual in honor of the women’s tenth annual win and unlike your teammates, you aren’t in any hurry to get there knowing the a portion of the celebration will surround you.
“Drinks on you?” you guess, pretending you are clueless as to what she’s getting at. You hope it’s enough to deter her from whatever inevitably grotesque she’s about to say, but you know it’s to no avail as she laughs and shakes her head.
“Nice try,” she smiles, nudging you with her elbow. “I meant that he’s definetly going to fuck the shit out of you next time you see him.”
You cringe bashfully at her words, hitting her on the shoulder as she backs away from your shrunken form.
“Chloe!” you chide, though you both know no real anger lies within your tone. She’s been like this since the day you’d first met her: always the same old loving, indecorous Chloe.
“Just saying.” she shrugs before turning to say her goodbyes to the last lingering one of your other teammates.
You turn to open your locker, finally ready to change out of your damp towel until you’re startled by the clacking footsteps of unfamiliar tennis shoes heading in your direction. You assume it’s another random spectator who had bypassed the many signs clearly stating that the locker room is for athlete occupance only, but at once you find you’re very wrong when you turn to see who it is.
Art stands before you and though it was his decision to invade the women’s locker room, he looks as surprised as you.
“Hey,” he says, almost breathlessly. You’re thankful when you notice that Chloe is fully dressed to your left, just pulling on her knit cardigan.
She smirks smuggly at the sight of him, swinging her bag over her shoulders before sending you a wink and a swiftly muttered, “Told ya.” Without another word she exits, leaving you and Art utterly and completely alone.
“You realize this is the women’s restroom, right?” you jab as you hear Chloe shut the door behind her, though it’s all in good fun. As far as you know, no one is coming anywhere near the locker room for the next several hours.
“I was waiting outside for you,” he states, gradually lifting his hands from their tense place in the front of his jean pockets. “I thought everyone else had already come out, but I guess I was wrong.”
“That’s just Chloe,” you laugh, gesturing in the direction of the exit path your best friend had just taken. “Don’t worry, she won’t tattle.”
He chuckles, amused by your jest before he takes a slow step closer to you. Like a sparkler to your stomach, you become acutely aware of the tension between the two of you, growing like the blush colored blossoms of a cherry tree in spring. “I’ve thought about what you said.”
This makes you smile.
“And?”
“You were right.”
You’re heart flutters, so light that if it weren’t encaged within your chest you’re sure it would’ve floated away. He pauses to take another tense step in your direction, now only a foot away.
“Do you know how Tashi and I met?”
“I don’t, actually,” you say, words laced with a twinge of sarcasm.
“Right,” he laughs, realizing the folly behind his question. It was more rhetorical than anything, but he begins the story like a spider spindiling its web. “Well it was only about a year ago. We met at the US open. Patrick and I both went after her and you know what she told us?”
You wait for the answer.
“She said she’d give her number to whoever won our match. That was the first time I ever lost and it was to my best friend.”
“That’s who was at your match, wasn’t it?” you ask.
Art nods solumnly, though the pain that had been etched on his face from your last meeting has vanished, as if the thorn in his side has been replced by a budding rose.
“I didn’t know Art, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he urges. “It’s all okay now. I’ve realized that none of it matters anymore and it’s all because of you. If I’m being honest, I thought maybe if I won my match, then Tashi would leave him. But it’s not what I want anymore. I don’t want to be the winner she’s running to. I don’t want to have to earn her love.”
“What do you want?”
There’s a pause, a distinct moment where the glint in his blue eyes from the bright lights above conveys a clever message to you than any words could. Then he speaks.
“I think you know what I want.”
It’s all the confirmation you need to know that he’s finally playing the same game as you. He’s unbearably close now as his head reaches up to gently rake through your stringy wet hair. You welcome his touch, breath catching in your throat at the feeling of his fingers as his lips hover just above yours. If you’re being completely honest, you haven’t stopped fantasizing about it since the night of the party. Since the moment he had kissed you.
“You were right,” he whispers as his hot breath tickles the tips of your top lips with every placid word. “I don’t care about winning anymore. The only point I want to score is you.”
“That’s a really bad joke.” you remark, pointing out the obvious from his corny declaration. But Art doesn’t share your smirk, his face settling in an expression that’s much more sensual.
“I’m not kidding.”
You feel the immediate shift in energy as your smirk fades to parted lips and Art’s longing gaze moves downward from your eyes. What little space left between you is squashed as you allow him to pull you even closer, noses prodigy one another as Art’s fingers drift from the tips of your hair to cup the back of your head. It’s almost salivating the way he looks at you and you’re suddenly eager to remember what he tastes like.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks through a whisper, so quietly that if you hadn’t been right in front of him, you surely wouldn’t have heard it. It’s milliseconds before you’re nodding exuberantly with more urgency than a speeding ambulance (something you might need if your heart decided to beat any faster).
“Pleas-” you start, but Art’s on you before you can even get the word out, covering your lips with his until all you can taste, smell, and feel is him. Everything is him.
He’s gentle with you at first, testing the waters as his lips pass smoothly over yours. You lift up your hands to invite him in, squeezing the toned flesh of his arms before you drag them slowly up to the nape of his neck. You toy with some of the curls that rest there, twirling them between your fingers while sinking into the sounds he makes in return. He lets out a soft moan into your mouth, and at once his tongue melds with yours. You match the new intensity, swallowing each low groan.
Unlike your last encounter, it’s Art who pulls away this time, forcing you to scowl at him in confusion, eyes squinting and lips puffy. He twists his head to the left, glazing at the wide space behind him as he slowly moves the both of you backwards to the nearest flat-board bench until one of its edges grazes the top of his shin.
“What are you doing?” you ask through a whisper, leaning forward so that your lips titillate the tip of his ear which sends inadvertent shivers through his whole body. Art turns back to you, smirking as he leans in for another sloppy kiss, earning a salacious sound from you before his lips shift from yours and trailing from the corner of your mouth to the line of your open jaw where his teeth scrape against your skin. You can feel him grinning as he makes you emit the softest of moans.
“I want to make up for the other night. I said some things - I’m not proud of.”
You give a giddy chuckle as you cup his cheek, amused by the fact that he thinks his past behavior was inexcusable until Art’s head dips to suck on the tender skin of your neck and you can’t help but whine. You’re glad you have the lung capacity of a swimmer otherwise you might’ve fainted from the near constant lack of oxygen.
“Art, honestly-” a sudden gasp is ripped from you as you feel him nipping at your sweet spot, crumbling like a tin can under pressure. “-it’s fine.” you barely manage to finish your sentence.
He places a few more steady kisses to the column of your neck, working his way down to your clavicle. You tip your head back, an unintentional effect from the sensation of his lips as he lays the last just near the edge of your collarbone before raising his head to look at you and it’s almost as if he can see right through you.
“Does that mean you don’t want what I’m offering?” he questions, glancing down at the steady movement of your chest as it rises and falls beneath your hoodie. You don’t recall when in the last few minutes he managed to move his hands down to your waist, but you can feel them now as clear as ever. He grips the sides of your hoodie, nimble fingers sliding under the thick gray fabric until they find the skin beneath and his touch feels like fire, sparking flames along your hips with every small caress. It’s so hot that you aren’t sure how Tashi could pick anyone over him. You aren’t sure how anyone could deny him for that matter.
“No…” you admit and at once his hands start to travel higher and higher until they reach the bottom band of your bikini, inflaming the whole of your torso as he meets the straps still tied neatly together in the middle of your spine forming a perfect bow. His fingers follow the provided path, meeting at the center of your back as he starts to twirl one of the tails of the knot around his pointer finger.
“May I?” he asks, his tone so deceivingly politely as he gently tugs on the string. He waits patiently for your consent as his eyes pan up from your chest to your expression. You can’t get the words out, already too overwhelmed from the sizzling sensation of his touch, but you make sure to nod with the utmost enthusiasm. Who were you to tell Art Donaldson no when he was so eager to touch you? And you, in turn, were so eager to feel him.
He smiled at your agreeance and instantly unfastened the tie of your suit, pulling on the strand until the entire bow came undone. He lips pressed against yours once more before he settled down on the bench and raised the hem of your hoodie just enough to expose your stomach, peppering kisses to every inch of you.
You released your hold on him to assist in pulling the hoodie over your head, tossing it behind you where it lands in a crumple pile near the metal door of your locker. Without any tension left to hold it up, the triangle cutlets of your bikini slump to reveal two perfect pebbled nipples, leaving the towel looped around your waist as your only source of coverage.
Usually you’d feel insecure being so bare for a man that’s practically a stranger, but from the dazed look Art gives you as he takes in the sight of your figure, you find that you don’t mind it in the slightest.
“Fuck, you’re so pretty,” Art mutters almost involuntarily, sending shock waves down straight to your core. The words came bursting out before he could find the strength to hold them back, his brain too busy processing your beauty to have any control over any sort of filter. You return your hands to his head of blonde curls just as he presses one last kiss to the center of your abdomen, exactly below your rib cage.
The movement is so sudden that you can't count the seconds that pass before he grabs at your breasts, each hand perfectly cupping the mounted flesh. His mouth is slower, trailing kisses up the valley of your chest.
His thumb works the sensitive skin encircling your nipple, running over the hardened peak in an unperceivable pattern that forces another well earned moan from your lips. It’s encouragement for his other hand that immediately drifts upwards to mirror the actions of the other. Every pinch and slight movement is like gasoline to your fire, all pouring in a downward stream to the part of you that grows more needy with every passing second. You could cry from the sensation of it all, the intensity only growing when you feel him pass his tongue over your left nipple. You try to suppress any sounds this time, teeth biting down on your lip as you curve your head back, but it forces its way out despite your efforts. You grip the hair fixed to his crown and pressure him forwards so that he remains in place.
“Shit, that feels - really good.” you praise, your phrase strung together like an old beaded bracelet as changes in pace break apart each word. When Art does part from your breasts, it’s to press wet kisses down the line of your abdomen as flickering thumbs replace his mouth. He pauses as he reaches the softest portion of your stomach, stopping just above the knot that is covering your very bare lower half, and though you don’t recall informing him about your lack of undergarments, you are sure that he already knows.
“I need to taste you,” he whispers against your skin.
He doesn’t ask you for permission anymore, but instead glances up at you from his spot on the bench and it’s everything you need to understand what he wants from you. And of course you want it. You’re sure if he wastes a second longer to tend to your throbbing center, you might just pass out in his sturdy arms.
“Please, Art, I need you,” you’re able to get out, though it’s breathy and delicate from the way that he’s rendered you.
He’s quick to oblige as he takes the top of your towel cover in between his perfect white teeth and yanks the fabric hard enough for it to fall to your feet. He’s on you in an instant, one of his hands moving to support your shaky frame as he slides a knee between yours to spread you open.
He coaxes every cry out of you with his tongue, wet and skilled as he traces it along each fold, his nose bobbing against your swollen clit not dissimilar from his left hand that still lies atop your breast. You press him closer to you as he swirls his tongue around you, over and over and never in the same way more than twice in a row. It’s overstimulation at its best, overwhelming you until you're trembling in his grasp and before you know it, you’re riding the edge of the wave to pure pleasure.
“Fuck, Art! I’m- I’m-“ you can’t even finish your sentence, he feels so good. He hums against you in amusement, the vibrations of his voice meeting your core in a melting sensation that you find yourself grinding into uncontrollably.
“On my tongue,” he promotes against you before licking a steady stripe along your center. It’s then that you know you’re done for. Your cry is almost inhuman as you leap off the edge, diving into the heart of the wave as Art finally relinquishes his hold on your breast and uses the newly unoccupied hand to pierce into your arousal, calloused fingers curling into you as he helps you down from your high. Even after you cum you know you still have more in you. And you can tell from the growing bulge in his pants that Art isn’t done with you either.
He stands to kiss you with dampened lips as the taste of your own arousal invades your senses, but you withdraw from the embrace after only a few seconds to ask him your burning question, desire already regrowing like a flooding river of need.
“Art, I need you,” you start, pulling at the canvas material of his button up. “Please, please fuck me.”
“Oh fuck,” he mumbles before pressing his mouth towards yours and back you up to the wall of lockers that are neatly arranged behind you.
Granted by his permission, you unfasten each button of his shirt until it’s enough to pull it off him which he happily helps you accomplish. You can’t tell who’s more desperate for you to feel the dense muscle of his chest as he places your palms face down on his pecs, granting you the assurance you needed to explore his body.
You take your time, squeezing and prodding just as he had done to you until one of your hands is low enough on his stomach to palm him through his light wash jeans. The soft whimper he returns is nearly enough to send you over again. He pulls back as he lets you undo his belt, eyelids fluttering after you’ve unbuttoned and unzipped the only thing keeping you from him. You’re quick to pull him out, not at all shocked by how hard he is and it’s a major ego boost knowing it’s all because of you.
“See what you do to me?” he whispers against your lips as if you needed more proof of his longing for you. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Please,” you beg. “I need to feel you.”
Art is quick to oblige as his calloused fingers grip the soft skin of your hips, so rough that you can feel every callus from his racket as he pushes you against the lockers, thrusting up into you. While he’s dying to continue, he hesitates so that you can acclimate to his size. It takes no longer than a second as you release a guttural groan and wrap a leg around his waist, aiding him in hitting even deeper within you.
“Fuck!” you cry, throwing your head back against the cold metal as Art nips at your neckline again. You’re drowning beneath the blissful rocky wave and from the sounds that he’s making, almost re-enacting one of his matches just for you, you can tell that Art is too.
It happens so quickly that your mind struggles to understand it, spinning wildly as the wave pulls you under once more along with Art who finishes in a similar amount of time. You lean into his chest, breathing heavily as you take in the heavenly scent of his undoubtedly expensive cologne and slightly wincing as he pulls out of you slowly. He ducks to pick up your fallen towel as he starts to clean you up.
The realization that it’s over doesn't quite hit you until Art helps you get dressed, buckling his belt back up only once you’re decent and in return you hand him a spare shirt so he doesn’t have to redo every button on the one you’d nearly torn off him.
“Thanks,” he smiles gratefully, pulling on your shirt which fits tighter around him than it would around you, though it’s nothing to complain about as every miniscule ripple of muscle is on display.
You’re both thinking the exact same thing as you exit the locker room, hand in hand with the same guilty expression on your face as you pass an incoming janitor who is too busy scowling to ask Art what he was doing in the women’s locker room. It’s obvious from the encounter that it won’t be your last and as Art drives you to the planned frat party, you’re even sure that it’s not the last of the night.
Time proves you right as you’re seated next to Art a few weeks later, curled into his side as you share a large plate of the appetizer combo at a local Applebees. It was the only thing open after a long day of matches and meets and steamy rendezvous in between. The two of you were going on steadier than the trunks of ancient trees as you continue to support each other, you attending all of Art’s matches ( even if it meant skipping a practice or two) and Art cheering for you at all of your meets. You’re not sure if it’s the consistent attendance, but the both of you were only getting better at your respective hobbies by the day, particularly Art who hadn’t lost a match since meeting you.
You’re both jokingly arguing over who gets the last quesadilla when a familiar woman stops near your table, joined by a man you’d never seen before, though you recognize him from several of Art's detailed stories. He straightens beside you, gathering himself to greet the new company.
“Hey guys, long time no see!”
“Art,” Patrick nods to his friend before smiling to you and offering his hand, one that you take without a second thought. “I’m Patrick.”
“I know,” you admit. “I’ve heard a lot about you. You must be Tashi.” you turn to the girl and you can’t help, but analyze the peculiarities of her expression. It’s clear she is content with her own man of choice, but something about the way she looks at you tells you that she’s still involved in the tennis philosophy you managed to screw out of Art. She looks at you like you’re a player she’s lost to. And from what Art’s told you, you're certain it’s the first time Tashi has lost.
“It’s nice to meet you.” she fakes a smile before pulling Patrick to the door, careful not to stay long enough for the conversation to lead anywhere important. It’s awkward and strange, but you know it’s for the best. You’re not particularly interested in anything she has to say anyways.
“Did you see that?” you ask, pointing in the direction of the doorway that the couple had used for an easy escape.
“What?” Art wonders, looking towards you in anticipation.
“I think she’s looking for a new winner.”
Art leans in to peck the apple of your cheek, assurance that no matter the circumstance, he’ll never be available to the likes of Tashi Duncan again.
“Must be because I’ve won,” he reasons, “-because I have you and there’s nothing she can do to separate us.”
You smile at his sweet words, praying that he never ceases to use his talent for affectionate poetry as you lean in to kiss him. Whether he wins or loses or even never plays again, you couldn’t care less about the outcome of his career. As long as Art’s happy, you’re prepared to take on any challenge you’re put up to, whether on the court or in the pool.
#art donaldson smut#art donaldson fanfic#stanford art!!!#art donaldson x female reader#art donaldson x you#art donaldson#art donaldson x reader#art donaldson fic#tashi duncan#patrick zweig#challengers 2024#challengers movie#challengers#challengers fanfic#swimmer life#swimming#smut#mike faist
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wasn't supossed to be a post but i really like those! therefore huzzah! lambs based on fleeces be upon ye
i was gonna ramble about their desings but i ended up wrtiting short descriptions instead. read below if you dare!
it is said that lord of fates' words are fate itself, unable to be changed.
they always have hounds of fate floating around them, even though they are skilled with a dagger. you never truly know what the future has in store for you,,,
their wool seems to always have red stains. their followers theorized that twas' their own blood.
but ichor isn't red.
(they were supossed to be more based on the jacob sheep but i only ended up using their horns for inspiration :P)
leader of blue hearts is a lover! not a fighter. at least with their followers. they seem to favour the rite of lust.
ever since the bishops' death, they mostly spend their time throwing rituals at every available moment,,,what a kind leader!
but whenever they think they're alone,,, they seem to mutter strange words to themselves,,, purgatory , god tears , some strange sellers?
i guess i'll have to ask them later about it, i'm about to go on a mission!
(blue used to be the color associated with lust! it works. also they're based on the lincoln sheep. they;re cute.)
diseased beast is a simple creature. openly displaying their intentions with their looks alone.
they're known as the local hunter. dropping acid on their enemies when they're not looking,,,
some consider it a cheap and an off-putting method. but they're not around long enough to spread their word.
sometimes the sound of silence is payment enough,,,
seems like golden greed's fleece merged with their body. i don't think that's supossed to happen,,,
they tend to have their gauntlets on most of the time. always ready to strike anyone down!
afterall, everyone is just waiting to get the drop on them,,,right?
you can't trust anyone! these followers,,,those vendors,,,
even that damned seller! anyone,,,
(the gauntlets were supossed to be the godly kind, but there was too much yellow. so much yellow.)
(they were also supossed to have more jewelry on them buuuut i drew these in 1000x1000 squares and it would look like a mess from afar.)
ah? it seems like a critter of curses is near.
they wield their cleansing fire and flaming shots with careful grace.
but the moment you let your guard down, is the moment you burn!
their fleece is made of any leaves they find on their crusades.
they're not much interested in running their cult. but they do come around to share their spoils and talk about anything that might've crossed their path.
even if that happens to be things that shan't be discussed with mortal minds,,,
#cult of the lamb#cotl lamb#not sure why i took the time to write out all those silly descs#but it was really fun :]#if you see any typos...*pronis explosion spell*
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Part 2 of a 5 part series about the ways harmful practices can be made to sound more appealing and how to spot the differences between helpful and harmful approaches.
Self-regulation skills for kids are all the rage right now, and there are lots of people who will tell you that they have just the program for that. Which sounds awesome, right? Self-regulation is great! Who wouldn’t want that for their kid who is just so upset all the time?
The problem is that these people think self-regulation is just a set of skills you can teach someone. Or even better, that if you ignore a person in distress long enough, they’ll magically come up with those skills on their own. (Like, what even is that logic? Oh right, it’s the same thinking that makes people believe the Cry It Out method for babies is a good idea.)
But that’s not how that works. Self-regulation skills come from safe co-regulation, and the learning begins in infancy. Then it takes YEARS of more co-regulation and brain development to get to a place where a person can even start to recognize the need for and use those skills of their own volition.
Oh, and they also have to have enough time NOT in distress to even know what it feels like to feel safe and regulated in the first place. They need room to develop said self-regulation skills. You can’t just keep a kid in a pressure cooker all the time and expect them to learn how to “regulate” through it (which is exactly what many people are doing to the autistic and ADHD kids they put through these programs).
When you try to teach self-regulation skills to a stressed out, traumatized child without doing ANYTHING to make their environment safer and less demanding, or doing ANYTHING to make yourself a safe co-regulator, the most you can hope for is that your child gets good at *acting* calm and *performing* regulation skills (and that’s if it doesn’t just backfire completely). But the inner turmoil is still there, and they still have no idea how to deal with it.
And kids who are left alone in their distress don’t “develop skills.” At least not any healthy ones. They just keep crying or lashing out until they can’t anymore, and they learn that no one cares to help them in their darkest moments. If you do it long enough, you might even push them into shutdown or fawn mode, which is super convenient for the adults, but devastating for the child.
For the record, breathing exercises are not inherently bad. Neither is learning to recognize body sensations or what “zone” you’re in or any of the other things that can help with self-awareness (as long as we’re not sending the message that certain feelings are “good” or “bad”). It’s just that those things don’t work for everyone, and they’re not a substitute for safety and co-regulation.
Kids need safe adults, and they need to be around them more for than just an hour or two a week in therapy session. It’s the *caregivers* who need to learn *co-regulation skills,* not the children who need to learn self-regulation skills. It’s the *adults* who need to de-stress the child’s life, not the child who needs to learn how to handle overwhelming amounts of stress better. And it’s the *adult’s* job to nurture self-regulation, not a child’s job to try and figure it out on their own.
(There’s even more to self-regulation than this, of course, like the sensory processing element and the fact that being regulated is not just about being “calm,” and I’ll touch more on those in tomorrow’s post about Frustration Tolerance.)
I learned most of what I know about how children develop self-regulation through co-regulation from Mona Delahooke, and I highly recommend her work if you want to learn more about it. Trauma Geek also has information on how to find felt safety as an adult if you didn't get enough co-regulation growing up. https://www.traumageek.com/blog/3-foundational-truths-about-nervous-system-science
P.S. Did you know you can co-regulate with animals, too, or even a tree?! They might not be the greatest at modeling skills or validating your feelings, but they can still contribute to felt safety.
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GOTHAM FILES: SEASON 6
Okay, so right off the BAT, there’s a lot of stuff going on. Everyone is very interested in this new kid, this “Damian Wayne.” He just shows up outta nowhere and—holy cow—he’s ANNOYING. He treats everyone he meets poorly, even Alfred—he thinks that he’s above them all (he is super skilled and super mart, but BOY does he have a bragging problem)—he’s spoiled, he’s selfish—HE TRIED TO KILL TIM AND TAKE THE MANTLE OF ROBIN BECAUSE HE THINKS IT’S HIS BIRTHRIGHT—everyone is ticked at this little punk and the only one keeping them from trying to strangle Damian is Bruce. Damian is his responsibility. It’s up to him to try and get Ra’s’s brainwashing out of his head. And no, Damian, you can’t just show up and steal the title of Robin—that’s not how this works! *Damian angry face.* Unfortunately, though, Damian inherited Bruce’s stubbornness and Talia’s craftiness, so he finds ways to barge into the crime-fighting field, which Bruce isn’t all too thrilled about because Damian has a tendency to stabby-stab his enemies. A lot. And on top of all of this, Dick is just trying to plan his wedding in the background, which is a huge undertaking because Starfire is Tamaranean Royalty, so there’s going to be two ceremonies, one on Tamaran, one on Earth, and everything’s happening all at once, and everyone just wants to take a nap.
But wait, it gets better!
So, after the season premier, Damian is starting to acclimate. He and Tim came to an arrangement. Tim agrees to temporarily hand over the title of Robin to him so that he can try and go sort things out with his father, and now Damian can receive Bruce’s full attention… and full discipline. Bruce isn’t gonna stand for anymore stabbing, choking, or other such unaliving, which Damian is having a really, really hard time with. He thinks Bruce is a weak coward, but Bruce stands his ground, just like he did with Jason. If Damian can’t follow this one simple rule, then he has no real self control at all.
Then he has a crucial moment. Damian goes it alone on a mission, thinking he’s got everything under control, and Bruce frantically goes after him, getting Jason flashbacks. Damian does, in fact, get in over his head, and Bruce swoops in, saving his life before it gets brutally taken from him. It’s this moment, where Bruce shows so much fear and care and love for his son, that Damian has to take a pause. Talia… had never been like this. She cared about Damian A LOT, but her methods usually involved letting Damian get hurt to teach him a lesson. Same with Ra’s. They’d been brutal with him since the moment he drew his first breath. That was the only way Damian knew how to love. But this… this was totally different. Bruce was… asking if he was okay. He was hugging him. He was scolding him for going out alone—for scaring him half to death. Damian thought he was overreacting and being a bit melodramatic, but… he secretly also felt… touched. He just didn’t understand it, though. Why was Bruce getting so worked up?
One day, Dick has an idea. The whole point here is to get him to realise the value of life, right? Dick knows someone who knows someone who owns a horse ranch out in the country, and one of their mares is expected to go into labour soon. In the middle of the night, Dick wakes Damian up and they go together to the ranch and he’s asked to help deliver the foal. Damian doesn’t see the point in this at all, but he goes along. During the labour, the baby almost dies, but thanks to Damian’s quick thinking, he saves its life. A few hours later, the little guy is up on wobbly legs, licking Damian’s face and trying to figure out how to run. Damian actually can’t help but smile. (Not that he lets Dick see, of course.) But Dick knows. He’s just found a chink in Damian’s armour. He reports back to Bruce and he comes up with a new strategy. As a welcome home gift, he buys Damian a dog: a Great Dane which Damian names Titus. It will be his responsibility to raise him, train him, feed him, and care for him. And, thankfully, this does begin to help a little. The edge on Damian is starting to soften. HOWEVER, little does Bruce know, but he’s inadvertently set in motion a new problem, because on the next mission, Damian rescues a cat and asks if they can keep him. Bruce sighs, but says yes. Damian names him after their butler, Alfred. THEN, he manages to rescue a COW from a slaughter house and he brings it home saying he wants to keep it. (She has a mark on her face that looks like a bat mask, and Damian named her Bat-Cow.) Bruce is… beside himself. He’s created a whole new kind of monster. After a lot—and I mean A LOT—of convincing and pleading, Bruce finally caves and says, “Okay, fine, but this is the last animal, Damian! I mean it!” They already have Ace, and now there’s Titus and Alfred the Cat and Bat-Cow.
A lot of other smaller things happen along the way, too. I mean, these are all meant to be 26 episode full seasons, so there are a lot of mini adventures. We check up on how things are going with Tim (eeeeh, it could be better, it could be worse), we check in on Jason, who’s making a name for himself in the Gotham underground, taking out gangs and stuff. Batgirl’s been busy with her new relationship and taking care of her dad as he starts to get older. Dick and Star are still planning the wedding, of course (the Teen Titans couldn’t be happier for him!) We meet Harper this season, though she’s a very minor character here (can you blame me? There’s SO MANY CHARACTERS to juggle already…) and there’s more supervillains to fight.
Then, something big happens. It starts out simple. Bruce goes away on a mission with the Justice League, and Alfred’s in charge. No going out on missions until he gets back. So naturally, Damian has to go and do something while Bruce is away. It’s a fun, shenanigan-based episode… until word gets back that Bruce… is gone. During his mission with the Justice League, something happened. They’re not sure what yet, but Bruce just… vanished. Poof. No body. Just gone. Damian and the rest of the BatFam don’t know what to do… but they gotta get their stuff together fast. Gotham’s criminals are getting wise to the fact that the Bat’s no longer in town. Enter the Battle for the Cowl storyline, where Dick steps up to be the thing he secretly hoped he never would become: Batman. With Damian as his Robin, they go to try and take control of the city, and hopefully find out where Bruce went. But, they’re not the only ones. Jason also joins in the battle for the cowl, and he tries to be Batman too, though he has a hard time finding a Robin. Not to mention, now there’s Batwoman?! Huh?! Is everyone in Gotham gonna just throw on a cowl and try to take Bruce’s place??
Long story short, Tim’s the one who ultimately figures out what happened to Bruce. He got taken for a time travel ride. After much techno babble, yada yada, science fiction nonsense, McGuffin here, goober there, etc etc, (and after pulling out a few hairs) Dick manages to lead the mission to get Bruce back. He’s more than happy to give the cowl back too, (“don’t ever leave again.”) though this adventure did lead to one good thing: He got to spend a lot of time with Damian. The two have grown rather close over the course of this adventure.
We conclude by Tim coming back into the Bat Family fold, having mostly reconciled with his father. (Mr. Drake doesn’t really approve, but… he can’t deny that now Tim is basically his own man and can do what he wants. It’s uneasy, but it’s something.) So Tim dons the Red Robin persona (though, to be honest, I’m desperately searching for a different name, because I can’t take him seriously while he’s named after a fast food restaurant—help. I want to use Redwing so bad, but it’s a copyrighted Marvel character! 😭) and Tim and Steph are also officially an item! ❤️
And we ALSO CONCLUDE…
With Dick and Starfire’s wedding. Finally. Everyone’s there. The Justice League, Young Justice, the Teen Titans, the BatFam, and half the population of Tamaran. And this wedding is very important… because it starts to get Bruce thinking… about a certain someone…
He and Selina have been very on-again off-again. They both like each other, but they both have so many issues and there’s always been so much work going on that Bruce didn’t really think it was possible for the two of them to really have a full blown, proper relationship, but now… now that Dick has proven that you can make it work as a vigilante… Bruce starts looking at rings… it’s just a thought, but… still…
Part 7 👇
Part 5 👇
#dc#dc comics#batman#bat family#bat brothers#Bruce wayne#dick grayson#Nightwing#Jason todd#red hood#tim drake#red robin#Damian wayne#robin#Titus#bat-cow#alfred pennyworth#Batwoman#bat girl#Barbara gordon
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2024 Darcy Lewis Bingo Headquarters
Welcome back to Darcy Lewis Bingo Headquarters, friends and Darcy fans, and to the beginning of our 2024 bingo round! We’re looking forward to seeing our bingo friends from rounds past return again and we’re delighted to welcome new Darcy Lewis Bingo creators, too!
We’re trying some new things this year, beginning with our Darcy Bingo creator card for writers and artists and fannish creators of all sorts. After a successful soft-launch of a new prompt format during our Halloween bingo event last year, we’ve decided to go all in for 2024 on this new format for our Darcy Lewis Bingo 2024 creator cards. We’ll explain more about the exciting changes to the creator bingo card in the all new bingo guidelines below, but rest assured, friends, you’ll still have several fun ways to curate your prompts and creator bingo card this round. Only the method has changed to streamline and deliver curated prompts into your hands faster than we’ve ever been able to before.
We’re also introducing our first ever Darcy Lewis Bingo HQ Reader Bingo Event. Reader Bingo Guidelines will arrive here on our tumblr blog in just a few days. For now, let’s take a look at the new bingo guidelines, the 2024 bingo card, and talk about curating prompts for your bingo card, Darcy creators…
2024 Darcy Lewis Bingo Guidelines for Creators
Brand new format!—NEW for 2024, DLBHQ creator cards got streamlined for this round thanks to a successful experiment with the new this-or-that prompt format we trialed on our 2023 mini bingo Halloween event cards. Our new creator bingo card allows you to curate your card at a glance just to start, no need to request prompt changes before you can begin creating fanworks because every square on your card already begins with 2 prompt choices so you can curate your own ideal bingo card as soon as you finish reading these guidelines.
Squares—Your creator bingo card still has just 25 squares, now with 2 prompts on every square for you to choose from. The center square on your card also now features 2 prompts to choose from—FREE SPACE or AVENGERS ASSEMBLE. The choice of which to use and how to use them is yours. Any version of Avengers Assemble fills the prompt if you use it in a fannish work. You can still use the center square as a free space, but if that doesn’t inspire you to use it, you can use the 2nd prompt in that square, Avengers Assemble, like any other prompt on your card to inspire a new fanwork or new update to a fanwork.
Prompts—Prompts on the new creator card are all Darcy-centric to begin the round, meaning they’re derived from Dr. Darcy Lewis’ appearances in the MCU, many recent, but with familiar throwbacks to her early appearances, too. You need not have seen the newest films or shows featuring Darcy to use any of the prompts or to participate in this bingo. Prompts are only intended to inspire new fanworks. You are welcome to use them to write stories about everyone living in the tower or go all the way back to Puente Antiguo and the beginning of Darcy’s MCU journey. Or create entirely new AUs! It’s up to you. Note: Every bingo creator card bears 50 total Darcy-centric prompt options now, allowing you to curate your creator bingo card hundreds of different ways even before our curated prompt request form opens for this round. You can use the Darcy Bingo creator card attached at the end of this post to start writing today.
Fills—Aesthetics, drabbles, one-shots, multichaptered fics, series, drawings, paintings, sculptures, social media AUs, gif edits, video edits, moodboards, coloring pages, playlists, new additions to pre-existing series, and new updates to pre-existing fanworks are all accepted fills.
Truly, ANY CREATION inspired by your prompt counts.
Cosplay as Darcy, make it fit your prompt somehow, and take a selfie for the fill—we’ll count that, too. We’d also love to see you Darcybounding irl.
(A little fannish history sidenote on character-bounding: With the rise of popularity in cosplaying the past 10-15 years, the practice of guest cosplaying is no longer permitted or politely ignored within Disney Parks in order to add an extra layer of protection for impressionable children who can’t tell the difference between professional face character actors and adult guests in heroic cosplay. When cosplay in the parks was ‘outlawed’ for adults, Disneybounding was born to fill a certain fannish niche without breaking Disney’s park rules or getting frogmarched out of the parks. Or worse—banned from them forever. Character-bounding, or the generally more popular, Disneybounding, is a type of character dress-up that’s like cosplay, but you don’t literally dress up as the character in a costume identical to theirs as worn on screen. Character-bounding is similar to cosplay, but it’s more like a character dressed in modern street clothes that can’t be accidentally mistaken for a face character actor at a Disney Park playing a mythical princess or famous hero.
If you’re curious about the practice of Disneybounding or want to try your hand at Darcybounding some of your bingo fills this round, we recommend checking out the popular #disneybound , #disneybounding , #marvelbound , #marvelbounding , and #characterbounding tags on Instagram sometime. The fan creativity in the character-bounding community is off the charts!)
Back to fills!—To mark a square complete:
You must fill at least one of the two prompts in each square, unless you swap in one of your own curated prompts or swap curated prompts with another player (see Bingo Card Curation and Additional Bingo Card Prompt Swaps for more info)
Fill requirements differ based on the type of fanwork you create (see Fanwork Fill Requirements for a complete list).
There Can Be Only One!—Every creator begins this round with the same DLBHQ creator card—no exceptions! (Keep reading to find out how to curate your new creator card with our curated prompts request form!)
Bingo Card Curation
Fill out our 2024 DLBHQ Curated Prompts Request Form to request up to 10 curated prompts based on your favorite fanwork genres and other types of prompts.
You get a list of prompts—You will receive a list of curated prompts by email if you fill out the curated bingo prompts request form.
Curated prompts are for swapping squares—These curated prompts can be used anytime during this round as swaps for squares you’re not vibing with on your base creator bingo card. The only squares that can’t be swapped out on the base creator card are the four corner squares if you plan to complete our Four Corners Bingo Bang Challenge (we’ll explain more about that in a bit).
Player prompt trades—Your curated, requested prompts are the only prompts that can be traded with other players to use as square swaps for squares on your base creator card and theirs.
To be as clear as possible: the curated prompt request form is not a form to fill out for a second bingo card or a one-of-a-kind, custom bingo card as we’ve done in previous rounds. You are only requesting a list of 10 prompts curated for you to use as instant swaps wherever you want on the base Darcy Lewis creator bingo card anytime during the 2024 round.
We recommend the Chrome browser—We strongly recommend opening the curated prompts request form in a Google Chrome browser to complete it, if possible. (One of our beta-testers had trouble submitting the form in Safari after filling out the whole form.)
Curated prompt requests are limited to a maximum of 10 requested prompts. We strongly recommend maxing out and requesting all 10 curated prompts on your curated prompt request form when you submit it.
Each player may only fill out the curated prompt request form once during the 2024 round. So make it count. 😉
Though the option to request these additional curated prompts is available to all creators, creators participating in Darcy Bingo are not required to request curated prompts to supplement their bingo creator card if they like the base creator card just the way it appears.
The only curated prompts that can be replaced by Mods this round after you complete the prompt request form are those you’ve been sent as a result of your prompt request form that accidentally include something on your Omissions/Do Not Want list. Your DNW list should be clear and concise. Please don’t send us a lengthy essay on your dislikes. If you feel you would need to write an essay-length response about your dislikes to get just 10 prompts that you’re okay with writing, you may be better off (and we would strongly recommend) letting us know you’d prefer one-word prompts-only because one-word prompts are less likely to include or impinge on your lengthy and specific dislikes.
Additional Bingo Card Prompt Swaps
Trade curated prompts with Darcy Bingo friends—one curated prompt swap with another Darcy Lewis Bingo creator is allowed per month. Contact a mod to notify us if you and a friend have both chosen to swap one each of your curated bingo prompts with one another.
2024 creator bingo base card prompts are not tradable with other creators because everyone begins with the same creator bingo card prompts this round.
Monthly adoptables.—A fresh list of monthly adoptables will be posted at the beginning of each month, starting in July. Anyone can adopt a monthly adoptable at any time during the month. To adopt it, you must complete and publish the creation by the end of the month to use it as a completed fill for a square on your bingo card.
The Darcy Lewis Bingo Weekly Challenge continues in the DLBHQ Discord with a fresh prompt every Sunday.—New weekly prompts can be found on our Discord anytime once you join us there! Click this link for your invite to the DLBHQ Discord. The weekly challenge is very similar to monthly adoptables, but the time period allowed is much shorter—just one week to plan, create, and post your fanwork before the week’s 5:00 pm Sunday (New York) deadline.
Publishing Bingo Creations
Tag—@darcylewisbingohq in the A/N and use the tag #dlbingohq (all one word!) in the first five tags when posting your new creations on tumblr if you want your work reblogged. If we can’t find it, we can’t reblog it.
Each published creation should include an outline of the folllowing…
• the square filled
• trigger warnings for content consumers
• word count (for fics, descriptions for the visually impaired, and other wordy works)
• pairings/polycules/main characters
Please include appropriate warnings when you publish your creations.—If warnings are spoilers, put a warning in the tags that spoilers are in the end notes and then actually include the spoilers in the end notes.
Share your fanworks with other creators.—You may also post your fills in the appropriate fill channels on the Darcy Lewis Bingo Headquarters Discord to share your works with other creators and readers for our new reader bingo challenge. Posting your fills in our fill channels helps other readers find them to complete our new reader bingo. (We’ll post about that in a few days!)
A new Darcy Lewis Bingo 2024 Collection will be appearing soon on the Archive.—Please add your works to this collection as you upload them to make them easier for readers to find (especially those playing Darcy Reader Bingo!).
Please use the ‘read more’ feature on tumblr when possible to abbreviate the length of your fills if you’d like them reblogged by the Darcy Lewis Bingo HQ account.—There’s a shortcut on mobile now that makes it so much easier. It’s in the toolbar at the bottom of every post you create. It’ll look like two stacked em dashes with a squiggly line between them.
Fanwork Fill Requirements
• 100 words for written works or word art, with the exception of poetry with independent formatting rules (such as haikus).
• 1 image for artwork or handcrafts of any kind and a description for the visually impaired of the medium used and what it represents.
• 1 image for cosplay or character-bounding and a description for the visually impaired of cosplay or clothing and any other fashion influences incorporated into the costume or clothing (be descriptive! talk about fabrics and colors, tone and texture! describe the emotions the colors you used evoke in you as the creator!)
• 9 elements for moodboards (background, images, texts, ephemera) and a description for the visually impaired of the moodboard and what it represents.
• 6 images for social media AUs and a description for the visually impaired of the creation and what it represents.
• 10 songs for playlists and a text list of artists and songs to give credit to the original artists, plus a description for the visually impaired of what the playlist represents and how it relates to Darcy.
Still not sure if your creation will meet the minimum prompt fill requirements? @ a mod! we’ll create new requirements based on new types of creator fanwork submissions, as needed.
Deadlines & Masterposts
Deadlines—We have no deadlines. Really. We mean it. We’re not joking. There’s just a form to fill out when you’re done with the current card, completed your bingo, your blackout, completed all the badges you’re interested in, whatever. Set your own goals and fill out the creator bingo award badge request form whenever you’re ready to reap the rewards of your fanwork efforts.
Masterposts—Masterposts are due whenever you’re done with this bingo card creatively and have achieved whatever goals you’ve set for yourself. We recommend posting your masterpost before the next bingo round goes live, but it’s really up to you. We’re not your mom and this isn’t homework. No deadlines or due dates, we swear.
Creator Bingo Award Badges
You Tried Badge—fill any 5 squares anywhere on your DLBHQ creator bingo card.
Creator Bingo, Truly, a Classic Achievement—fill 5 squares in a row, column, or diagonally on your DLBHQ creator bingo card.
2024 Creator Mini Bingo Brownout Challenge—Complete 9 fills in a perfect 3x3 grid pattern anywhere within your Darcy creator bingo card to complete this challenge. (This badge may just be a giant poop emoji the size of a 3x3 mini card. Who knows? Certainly not us. 💩)
2024 Creator Bingo Blackout Badge—NAIL IT! Complete 25 fills on your DLBHQ creator bingo card and blackout all 25 squares for the ultimate 2024 bingo achievement award badge.
Four Corners Creator Bingo Bang—Looking for a ludicrous bingo challenge? Not feeling challenged enough? Bring it on. 😈 We’ve got a real one for you now, a bang within a bingo. Complete a minimum four-chapter story using one prompt each from all four of our bingo creator card’s corner squares (absolutely no curated prompt swaps permitted to be used to complete this badge challenge—you must choose from and use only the prompts as they appear in the four corner squares of the bingo creator card). Your Four Corners Bingo Bang creation must be at least 6,000 words in length to qualify for this bingo bang badge.
Creator Bingo Award Badge Request Form
Please direct any remaining questions to #ask-the-mods or @mod on our Discord if you have bingo questions you can’t find answers to in the bingo guidelines for creators above. If you’re on tumblr, drop us a DM with whatever questions you have or click that invite link in the guidelines above and come join us on Discord to ask your questions there or check to see if your question has already been answered!
The 2024 Darcy Lewis Bingo card for creators is attached below. Have fun creating new Darcy fannish works!
—The Darcy Lewis Bingo Headquarters Mod Team,
@chrissihr & @ibelieveinturtles
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Hopeless: Final Part
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader
Word Count: ~2.4k
Summary: You and your lawyer try to fight your unlawful arrest but it's not looking good. The entire team feels your loss and tries to concentrate on the case at hand. None of them can predict the outcome.
Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill
Season Five Masterlist
Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.
x
The team is forced back to the BAU but Hotch isn't worried about it. As soon as he steps foot into the bullpen, Penelope comes rushing down the stairs to greet them.
"I've logged into police dispatch for the area you've isolated. If anything's reported, we'll know when they know," Penelope says.
"Wait, are we staying on the case?" Emily asks.
"We all know that these unsubs are gonna react to last night's riot. Andrews is a good cop. He's just too emotional right now. If we don't stay on, with or without his permission, he and all the rest of us will regret it."
This pisses Emily and Derek off. Emily holds herself back from saying anything but decides it's better if she does.
"Let me try to understand here. You're going to ignore their request but you're not even going to help Y/N?" Hotch sighs because he knew this was coming. "If you should be ignoring anyone, it should be the officers assigned to Y/N's case."
"She's right, Hotch. Why are you pretending like what happened to Y/N didn't happen?"
Spencer locks eyes with Hotch, and he can see how much Spencer is hurting.
"Strauss called me and threatened my job and anyone's job who decided to work on the case. I am doing everything I can privately to help Y/N, but if everyone gets fired, then no one can help her. Trust me, I'd love to go down to that prison and fight everyone to get her back. I hate it, but she is going to have to wait."
Hotch walks away after that and Rossi addresses the team.
"He has a point. You all know Y/N would have said to work the active case."
"Yeah, I know," Derek sighs.
Spencer has tears in his eyes because he knows if they could talk to you, you'd tell them to help other people before you. When are you going to let someone help you first? When are you going to put yourself before everyone else? The team walks to the briefing room to continue working on the case since they have all the details and files about it.
"I talked to the beat cops. They're getting the word out to local businesses to keep an eye out for anyone who seems agitated by the news of last night's riot," JJ informs.
"By now, Andrews has to know that none of those kids are the unsubs."
"Then he's bound to beef up police presence in the Southeast. We should be there, too. The faster we can react, the more we can help," Hotch says.
"Do you think the unsubs know about the riot?"
"It's on the front page. I don't know how they can't."
"What if the profile is right?"
"Their reaction's gonna be quick and it's gonna be brutal. Basically, it's like knowing that lightning is gonna strike but not being able to pinpoint where."
Much like Hotch predicted, there is another murder because of what was featured in the news. Hotch sends over his team to investigate whether Andrews wants it or not.
"What are you doing here?" Andrews asks.
"Detective, we can argue about this later. Right now, you have a crime scene and we're here to help."
Andrews must realize he is in over his head because he nods once and allows them to enter the bar of the newest crime scene. There is someone who is nailed to the bar counter and someone else who is beaten on the ground.
"They nailed the bartender's hands to the bar first. The other bastard got off easier. They just plain beat him."
"I'm getting real sick of us being right and it just not mattering," Derek mutters.
"This is weird. The unsubs are extremely physical. They beat their victims mercilessly with blunt objects. Why aren't these nails pounded in?"
"They probably used a nail gun. With all the gentrification and turnover in housing In the neighborhood, what's a common sight these days?"
"Builders, contractors, and construction workers."
"Wait a minute, killing four people in that first home invasion never made sense to me. Unsubs build to something like that. What if this wasn't their first murder? The first two rounds of vandalism were typical, but that last case right before the home invasion, was a random construction site. A single-family townhouse. Prentiss, you flagged it yourself."
"Yeah." She takes out her phone to call Penelope. "Hey, Garcia. I need the address of that townhouse that was vandalized."
Only Emily and Derek go to the townhouse that is now owned by a nice couple who are looking to start a family. This isn't going to be an easy talk to have with them, and Derek hopes they will be cooperative with them. When the nice couple answers the door, Derek quickly gives them a rundown of their presence.
"I don't understand how we can help."
"Sir, we believe that whoever vandalized your house is responsible for the murders in the area."
"Oh, I know. We've read the papers, but that's not something we're gonna think about right now."
"We also think it's possible that your home was vandalized for a reason."
"What do you mean?" the man's wife asks.
"May we come inside?"
"Sure."
"Thank you."
"We believe there may have been another murder before the first one the police became aware of," Emily explains as the front door closes.
"You think there might be a body hidden here on our property?"
The woman's hand goes to her stomach as a way to protect her unborn baby.
"It's possible. At the very least, the men we're looking for may have worked here. Were there any issues with workers during construction?"
"No, nothing."
"Did anyone appear overly confrontational? I understand people come and go during construction, but was there anyone at all that you may have noticed suddenly wasn't around?"
"Oh, God. After the vandalism, we called this contractor to oversee the repairs. He never called us back. They smashed every room except for the nursery. They didn't touch that one."
"May we see it?"
The young couple escorts Derek and Emily to the back room where the nursery is. The walls are blue and pink with storks painted on, fairy lights above the crib, and just a beautiful room for a newborn baby. There is a short wall protruding from the main wall that doesn't look like it belonged in the original design. Derek touches the wall and knocks twice to confirm that it's hollow.
"This wall is structural," Derek says to Emily before turning to the couple. "I wouldn't ask you this unless I felt it was incredibly important. I need to open up this wall."
"No," the woman shakes her head.
"We can't live here not know," her husband says.
"Ma'am, I promise you, even if I have to do every bit of the work myself, this wall will be repaired. It'll go right back to being exactly what you want. Please?"
"Okay," she nods.
Emily calls in a crew to open the wall, and what they find inside is shocking to the young couple. There is a dead body wrapped in plastic wrap stuffed into the wall. Emily takes out her phone to call someone.
"This is Agent Emily Prentiss with the FBI. I need a CSI unit right away.
"I can't be here," the woman shudders.
"Let's move over here." Derek moves the couple away from the wall. "Is there someplace the two of you can stay?"
"Yes, we have friends I can call."
"After you give the police a statement, they can take you to your friend's house."
"Thank you."
As soon as the police and the CSI unit arrive, the young couple is taken downstairs for a statement.
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Derek asks Emily.
"I don't know. I mean, you redo your dream home, about to start a new chapter of your life, and then this? How did you know?"
"The other crime scenes were brutal but it had control. They took their time. That type of MO had to start before the home invasions. This entire place was destroyed except this room. Why?"
"Because they took the time to rebuild the wall once they buried the contractor."
"Exactly. If they smashed this place up, he could have been discovered."
"Still. A body inside the wall?"
"It's like a builder's tradition. You leave a little something behind to send a message to the people who may do work down the road. Like the front page of a newspaper or a photo of the construction crew. It's like a time capsule."
"Okay, so what would you need to rebuild this wall? Drywall, brickwork, and electrical?"
"I'll call Garcia." He pulls out his phone and calls her. "Hey, girl."
"Hey, what do you need?"
"Pull up the address of the townhouse that was vandalized. Give me work permits for the contractor."
"That would be James Morris. Is he our unsub?"
"No, actually, I'm afraid he's our first victim. Does it list Morris' subcontractors?"
"Yes, it does."
"Okay, I need all the names and addresses of whoever was hired to do the electrical, brickwork, and drywall."
"That would be three names, one address. 5058 B Street near Anacostia. I'm sending you it now."
"Thanks, babe." Derek hangs up. "We were right. They're a pack."
Emily informs Hotch who meets up with Derek and Emily at the unsubs' house. They have to be prepared for everything, so they bring in all the big guns. These guys love violence, so they're not going to go down easy. Hotch and Derek are the first ones in the house, but there is only one of them inside. He gets up to flee but Hotch grabs him so he can't go anywhere. The rest of the team filters through the house but the other two unsubs are not there.
"Where are the other two?" Hotch asks.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Aaron."
Hotch turns to Rossi who shows him what's playing on the TV. It's footage of the murders they've done.
"You like that, sir? I got more," the man smirks.
"Where are the others?"
"Go to Hell."
There is a car out front that Emily can use to track whoever owns it. She has Penelope on the line to give her the license plate number.
"Garcia, I need vehicle information on all the residents. D.C. plate 7-4-Delta-Alpha-4. I also need to know if they're registered on any jobs right now."
Detective Andrews also has his men putting an APB out on whoever owns the vehicle and gets a hit.
"I got a visual on the station wagon just south of 8th, heading toward Half Street in Southeast."
"That's right next to their current work site."
"Deploy tactical units to 922 Half Street in Southeast," Andrews orders.
"We got them!" Emily calls to her team inside the house.
"Morgan, forget him. He's nothing. Let's go."
The other two unsubs are the unfinished housing project they are contracted to work on, and they know the second they hear sirens that they aren't getting out of this. They think they're bigger than what they are and started something they knew they couldn't finish. It ended with both of them dead, their bodies riddled with bullets from the police.
Case closed but not for you.
After you were finished with the long interrogation, they moved you to the other side of the prison where you were given your cell number. You're sharing this cell with three other women with your lawyer's words ringing in your head.
They're denying you bail. You will be put in jail awaiting your trial.
You won't even get to see Spencer but maybe this is for the best. Why give him hope only for that to be taken away when you're convicted of these crimes? You have faith in Steve but what can he do when all the evidence points to you? The only thing that can save you is if the person who actually did it gets caught and admits it.
Every cell you pass by is enough to send you into a fit of tears. The trauma and fear of each woman weigh heavily on your shoulders as if their trauma is your own. You stop outside of your cell and wait for the door to open. The three women inside look at their new roommate. The woman occupying the bottom left bunk doesn't look friendly at all. She looks like she could kill you if you look at her wrong. Maybe you won't engage in conversation with her. The woman on the top left bunk is quiet with her head down so she isn't looking at you. You feel waves of anger roll off her but it's controlled anger. She might not have good intentions, so you'll make sure to be extra nice to her. The woman on the bottom right bunk is the friendliest of the bunch. Well, you feel like she is. She's really sad and shy but maybe you can help her out of her shell. If you had to choose one to be friends with, it'd be her.
Well, this is your life now. May as well make lemonade with what you got.
Frank walks into his home where Clarissa is waiting for him. She jumps into his arms and kisses his face with a huge smile.
"I've missed you," she grins.
"Okay, get off me."
She gets off him and clears her throat, smiling to pretend like that didn't happen. Rob comes walking out of the kitchen with a bloodstain on his shirt. Frank sighs in frustration and points to the mark.
"Really? You couldn't have kept it clean?"
"Don't give me that shit. Be thankful I'm even here at all. Some kids you got. Obedient as hell."
"Isn't that what we want?"
"You know I like the backtalkers," Rob smirks. "I left the stuff in your room. I gotta go. Itchy hands."
Frank rolls his eyes as his friend leaves. He turns to his wife who smiles innocently. Innocent. She's far from it. She's in this just as deep as Frank is.
"Where are the kids?"
"Chores."
Frank hums as he passes by his wife to get to their bedroom. On the bed is a black duffel bag with the stuff he asked Rob to get him. Frank hasn't been home nearly ten minutes and he's already itching to get out again. He yanks off his tie and throws it on the bed before ripping open the bag. Inside are all kinds of weapons from small guns to big guns and knives. Frank grabs one of the biggest guns inside the bag and takes out the magazine to check the bullets. He can't remember the name of the gun but Rob says it's one of his bests.
"What are you going to do with those? I promise the kids behaved while you were gone."
"I don't care about the damn kids right now, Clarissa."
"How did it go with Y/N?"
"I made sure that bitch stays in jail. I didn't kill those seven men for her to walk. Don't worry. She's taken care of."
"But she's my--"
"I don't care what she is to you!" Frank yells, and Clarissa flinches at his tone. "I'm sorry, baby, I'm just having a hard time."
"I know. It's okay."
"With Y/N out of the picture, I can focus all my attention on her bitch boyfriend, Spencer. I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch for taking her away from me," Frank says and cocks his gun.
"These violent delights have violent ends." - William Shakespeare
x
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#spencer reid#spencer reid x reader#spencer reid fic#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid fanfic#spencer reid fluff#spencer reid angst#criminal minds#criminal minds fic#criminal minds fanfiction#criminal minds fanfic#criminal minds fluff#criminal minds angst#criminal minds series rewrite#criminal minds season 5
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I love you chickens and offer two of my own. Do you have any advice on how to improve my backgrounds? I have a lot of trouble with flowers and other plants, like the purple hyacinths in the first drawings?
all your BAWKtobers are so cute I love them
!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you are enjoying BAWKtober! It is the highlight of my year. And my goodness, these are lovely! Your choice of colors are so nice to look at, they feel like a soft place to rest your eyes.
Honestly, backgrounds have always been something I myself struggle with, and I don't know if that makes me more or less qualified to offer advice, but I can pass on what I have found helpful for myself.
1.) Start with something you LOVE. Trying to draw something you struggle with can already flick the little task avoidant I Do Not Want To Do This switch in your brain, so we are going to stack as many positives against it as we can in an effort to get our mindset as far away from This Sucks and I'm Not Doing It zone as we can, so: Start with something you love.
Are you passionate about nature and plants? Start practicing with nature backgrounds. Fascinated by roman architecture? We're gonna get drawing those pillars. Have a bunch of OCs that live in a fantasy setting and desperately want to be able to draw them interacting with the places you've imagined in your head? Get ready to get worldbuilding. If it's a subject you are already interested in it is going to feel significantly less like pulling teeth at the start than if you are stuck doing Boring Square House In 2 Point Linear Perspective (unless you love Boring Square House in 2 Point Linear Perspective, in which case, follow your heart).
I do this a lot with my BAWKtober drawings. I love drawing chickens and want to be able to have them interact in fun environments. The Chickens Part of the drawing are easy and familiar for me. It's something my brain is comfortable with. So I use it as a bit of a mental touchstone to keep myself skirting just shy of the This Sucks edge long enough to stay motivated on the background part of it.
Find your "Chickens."
2.) SIMPLIFY! Even complicated things are just many big and small shapes. Learn to break things down into their most basic shapes and use those as the building blocks to map out your background. Everything is Shape. Think Shape.
You don't have to get hung up on finer details right now. Those can come later. I did this with the rows of wheat field in my Harvest Moon prompt. Envisioned them as large blocks laid out next to each other. I mapped out shadows by darkening the sides away from the source of light (Big Ol' Moon Circle),
And after i got that base work i built off it with details (notice how you can still picture those shapes underneath it all). While this is by no means a Complicated background, the general method works for more intricate things too.
It's also helpful when trying to map out lights and darks. I do this a lot when I am trying to get a sense of depth and shadows for an environment:
Start with the really basic shapes. I like to imagine the background, middle ground, and foreground are all on different layers stacked atop each other facing the viewer (think those cut paper shadow boxes).
GENERALLY speaking, you are gonna have things closest to you be darker and more vibrant colored, and objects in the distance will be lighter and less saturated as they fade into the atmosphere. There are of course instances where this is not the case ( a background of a dense jungle or mouth of a cave may do the reverse, getting darker and darker the deeper you go, to show the lack of light and shadows that grow the further you venture from light) but it is a good rule of thumb when starting out, especially with landscapes.
Once you have that figured out, you can start slapping down more details~
3.) REFERENCES! I know everyone and their mother says this but it's true. The human eye and memory can be so, so faulty when trying to think back on how something looks. You might THINK you know, but when you try to sit down and draw it you sit there and have a 10min existential crisis (If you don't believe me, just try to draw a bicycle completely from memory. It's miserable).
So look at real things! Pay attention to the way your fav walking path curves over the hill on your walk home. Make note of how the distant skyscrapers on the outskirt of town fade into the soft pinks of the sunset much more the the stark, towering ones right outside your window. Look at cars and bushes spaced out in your local wal mart parking lot, take pictures of the flowers in your grandmother's window box. What's the simplest shape they can be broken down to and still be recognized? You are training your eye to see things in a new way and help you get good at positioning them in 3d space. Eventually, you will get better at this and won't need to reference things as often (but you always CAN. References are your friends!)
4.) Lastly, JUST DO IT!!!
JUST DO IT OH MY GOD JUST DO IT! JUST DRAW tHE BACKGROUND. I know, i know! It sucks and it's hard and it's not as fun as drawing the characters that you love and it might look bad at first but jUST DRAW IT BAD.
In the past i've spent so much time getting in my own damn way because I somehow get it in my head that there's some hidden knowledge or information or tutorial that i am missing, and if i wait until i Learn It i will finally understand the thing and Then i can go about learning it the "right way." Which is a wonderful way of shooting yourself in the foot before you even take a step.
It's really easy to get bogged down in the mindset of "i'm not good at this right now, so i have to wait til i Get Better so i can do it right" and this is Lies. This is the devil on your shoulder talking. This is the mind killer, and it is also a paradox. You want to get better at The Thing before you Do It, but you have to Do It to get Get Better. So you just do Nothing and then you feel bad 'cause you haven't moved anywhere.
So, just start trying. Pick something you love and let that carry you through the hard parts of the learning. Try not to care so much about how it looks at first. You are learning a new language, a visual one. If you get frustrated take a step back, or try drawing something else. Keep it simple, at least at first. And if you feel discouraged, remember i recently had a 10min existential crisis when i realized i couldn't remember how to draw an egg carton, which I see and hold in my hands every single day.
TL;DR DRAW IT BAD, BUT DRAW IT!
#i am so sorry for making you read a giant block of text that may not have even helped you at all#i don't usually do tutorials but i hope you find even a fragment of this helpful or relatable#everyone has their own method that works for them#the important thing is to just let yourself start somewhere and don't give up#backgrounds my beloved and belothed#backgrounds (affectionate and derogatory)#kenna answers#Makenna Made a Questionably Helpful Tutorial#chickens#tiny fluffy dinosaurs#the BEST animals#BAWKtober#asks#long post#demonicchicken1121
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(Out of nowhere, you are approached by a familiar lightbulb-headed Cog.)
Ah, it's you, cat. Thinking you're oh-so-slick. Muttering and whispering under those raggedy whiskers of yours... Thinking I am unable to hear it all...
Well, you've simply underestimated my fantastic hearing. You probably want to know the reason why I'm here, taking a 'break' from my incredibly important scientific breakthroughs? It's quite simple, really!
(She gets close, and squints her eyes.)
I know what you are.
Farewell, now!
(She then leaves the way she came from.)
(Spam giggles immensely, covering her face... it always seems like she's giggling, isn't she? This lasts... at least thirty seconds. Longer than usual.)
And I know what I am too, Sparky! You broke through something, that's for sure. Really, broke through...
(She looks down, continuing to laugh nervously.)
You know, I find it odd you Havent tried to bulb blast me into the stratosphere by now. I mean knowing how you acted with Frostbite. Is there something peculiar about me that you perhaps can't quite track? Something about me that you... don't know what I am?
I know, I know, I'm talking to nobody again. But you were there when I had a moment today with the one the only Frostbite The Bravecog. You may be remaining. Lurking in the shadows. Knowing about these thoughts that I'm thinking.
(The giggling resumes, lasting far shorter this time.)
Your brother's a piece of fucking barp, by the way
(She braces for impact for a few seconds, wincing while smiling, before comically looking around to realize nobody's there. She sighs.)
Wow, okay maybe toony superhero show logic doesn't apply in this situation. Cool.
WAIT I JUST FUCKING REALIZED WHAT SHE MEANT but like. Dude if she meant that then what's the point I mean the whole ahh sellbot department barping knows unless you're Really low on the ladder. Heheh... maybe she did mean what I thought she meant.
Oh i'm so fucking screwed. What kind of bitch gets filament fever
#bright spark#<- for finding this again later. haha i called her sparky#the way she talks fucking tickles my brain so much im so . ohguohguohoghog SHE#SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG you see i was in the mindset that i would do this one little thing and then i would do my work which uh.#that leads to so so SO much procrastination. including on fun things! oh so fun things.#today was an event.#i also spent quite a bit of time ruminating i “would she really say that” is worse when shes literally you#to clarify. she is spam's aunt by like. building standards. not really in her found family. so its fucked up but as i said in discord this#is like. a “your mom's kinda hot” level crush. you know. also sorry i really wanted to say filament fever its been eating at me okay#nothing SERIOUS the way my f/os (and spam's f/os (plural now?? i guess?? if today was a canon event)) are#honestly mark still feels like the only real one with her to me but damn it. if spam's reflecting My Changes then she's Reflecting My Chang#spam in toontown unlike my other sonas is the most “its just you again” out of all of them and thats partially because her main#cog connection... is frostbite. they bounce off each other like we literally bounce off each other and damn it shes been so stagnant on her#own because of it. mark happened and she mirrored that because i kept fucking talking about him while we were in character and ideally#i should TRY to fix her. but also man because i'm not doing Serious lore stuff with her i dont. even know if i want to.#i kinda brushed it over the rug by saying that she relies on her constant entertainment so readily because she herself still doesnt feel#like she has a place outside of cogs only. sure she's in high roller backstage sure she's in allan's family now but shes not Doing anything#with herself the way that her friends are. mole's a ranger. frostbite cohosts. wishes... has chip. and something she doesn't have--#living and fully growing as a toon. rather than being haphazardly slapped into a world. and in some respects she's envious of frostbite#finding themselves so quickly because she distracts herself because she's still kinda struggling with it. despite everything. yes she lives#happy and carefree a lot of the time but she keeps buying those dumb phones because when she's truly alone... her mind starts to wander.#that's what mark is for. so that spam can dream of a world where she has a purpose. even if its fake and fragile and just nothing compared#to the great friends that she already has. where she feels like its worth it doing something when she doesn't have anyone. and in that#respect. with the goons ma allan parallels in sonboy the spam cathal parallels shine. seeking tv (and to a lesser extent games) as a#method of escapism. even when one's life is already pretty good. because there's nothing else worth doing without friends or family.#the internet isn't just cool. it gives her something to be when it seems like everyone is something but her. and maybe thats a lazy#excuse for why it seems like she doesnt HAVE anything to call her own but that but damn it i'm trying my best to twist it around.#spam has such a HISTORY yknow? even if it feels like i havent established her much.#spam is the hearts to frostbite's spades not just because they're the duo of all time but because spam's fake stupid love keeps her going#sorry i just started rambling in the tags of this post about spam it. happens. she loves her friends so much i need to reiterate that okay
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i think that i will never be able to rid myself of Magdalena, despite my disdain for her source material, because she's just such a fun little inversion character 🤧
#not to say that im trying to actively get rid of her! but like.. i have bnha ocs that will probably never see the light of day again because#i dislike bnha 🕴️ and i dislike the reboot way more than i dislike bnha so You Would Think that maggie would have disappeared by now but#nauuur. the inversions will keep her in my brain forever babey 🍻#it's something about the way gioia and vergil knew each other for such a short amount of time and were on completely different journeys but#still managed to Get each other.. the same hatness of it all. and from that we got nero who saved both their lives#meanwhile in nightmare reboot world‚ magdalena and vergil have known each other forever + run parallel to each other basically. and you#think that the whole time they're in lockstep that they get it! they get each other! they're in lockstep so they must be in sync!#but then it turns out the goal vergil has been obsessively dedicated to all along is actually Super Contradictory to the goal magdalena has#been obsessively dedicated to. and instead of their lives being saved by their connection‚ the sudden dissonance is the root of their#downfalls. that's like my own personal fuckin percolator man 🤧🤧#it's fun that she and gioia are both driven by loss and the desire to mitigate it. they both live in these societies where you're constantly#watched and revealing your cards could spell out your doom. ignorance and guilt cause gioia to build up this marble facade of cold#nonchalance because she cannot engage in society Without revealing her cards yk. it hurts too much. so the poker face it is 🗿#meanwhile magdalena Knows Too Much and the knowledge of it all eats away at her. she's boiling with the need to act‚ so a poker face could#never work for her. so she channels the energy into this larger-than-life persona to navigate through the world#and both of these methods work! gioia's facade makes people think she's cold or uninteresting so they ultimately disengage with her.#magdalena dazzles everyone and they're too distracted by the show to notice what she's doing behind the scenes.#but wearing the mask all the time takes a toll on both of them + ultimately leads to a loss of identity‚ where they only keep themselves#grounded by their secret work. gioia's run in with vergil helps her break free of this and reestablish herself#whereas magdalena's departure(s 😐) from vergil sets her down this path... it's just so 🌋🌋🌋 to me#also. it's fun to me that gioia was meant to become a demon but never did. meanwhile maggie detests demons but was forced to become one...#gioia dodged a bullet but it traveled through dimensions and shot her anyways lol 😭🤧#there's something to be said about the flipped family dynamics between the two but ngl I'm still working on Maggie and Isaac's relationship#so. i will leave it alone for now 🕴️in the future though I hope that I can figure out how to make Isaac as relevant to Magdalena as#Benedictus is to Gioia 🤔 right now he's kind of a mystery variable 🙈#sriracha.txt#long post#💃🏻
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Despite Danny's best efforts, no matter how much time past, Amity Park refused to see Phantom as a hero.
Sure, there were pockets of support, particularly among teens, but most of the town blames Phantom for the property damage, saying if he didn't fight the ghosts then it wouldn't be so bad, to that time he got mind controlled by Freakshow and "attacked" the mayor. It wears him down. It wears Tucker and Sam down. Jazz can only try to support them all.
Then one day, a member of the Justice League visits. Someone minor, and kinda a jerk... maybe a Wonder Twin? Zan? Whatever. They don't investigate; they don't look deeper. They listen to the town folks and declare the ghost hunters, Red Huntress and the Fentons, to be the official heroes of the town.
Worse? Danny Phantom is officially considered a villain to the Justice League. Tuck hacks into the Watchtower and confirms that they have a file (a heavily inaccurate file) about how to defeat Phantom.
Danny doesn't think he can do this anymore.
A few weeks later, a young villain escapes into Amity and demands (begs) that Danny help them escape from the hero after them. No idea who, I can't find a lot of info on teen villains in DC, so let's fudge some ages and make it Kyd Wyckyd from the Teen Titans cartoon. Danny agrees, because to hell with the Justice Losers, and they defeat the hero, becoming friends in the process. Kyd confesses that they became a villain after being ostracized bc of how they look, and they've been trying to avoid villain organizations because HIVE was abusive, but it's really hard to be a villain alone bc of all the heroes.
Sam gets an idea. Tucker agrees with the idea. Jazz is just happy they'll end up making friends.
The next day, the Teen Villain Alliance is formed, ready to assist with any teenage illegal shenanigans their allies might get into.
Some notes:
It's created to be a healthier option for teen "villains" to connect with others and support each other.
It's more important that this is for Teens rather than Villains. They're tired of adult villains taking advantage of them. The TVA would rather ally with a teen vigilante than with an adult villain.
Again, no idea who the teen villains are, but Klarion is definitely here. He leaves the Light for the chaos of the TVA. Maybe Ember is there too?
Timeline wise, this is around when Tim is still Robin, but Damien has arrived at Wayne Manor.
This is because, when it comes time to try to infiltrate the TVA, they'll have a convenient child-assassin who has none of the monitors of a teen hero that Phantom immediately picks up on.
Damien, who at this point has been abandoned by his mother, dismissed and scolded by his father, and has had no success at carving his own place in the family, jumps at the chance. He is then surrounded by peers who don't insult him or try to change his behavior (too much; jazz is trying to help him find healthier methods of expressing himself). He... might not want to continue being a spy.
Danny, Sam, Tuck, and Jazz are the founding members.
Danny reinvents himself as the High Prince of the Infinite, Prince Phantom Dark. He got kingship from fighting Pariah Dark, but since he's still alive, he's only a prince. He steals the last name Dark as an intimidation tatic against those in the know; only Danny would have the balls to claim family with Pariah.
Sam works as a powerless villain, but she might no be powerless? Either way, Danny gives her a bunch of repurposed Fenton tech, and she buys the rest with her parents credit card. She does NOT care if that's traced back to the Mansons. She would choose something goth, maybe something spider related or even bat?
I love Pharaoh Tucker, so I think he should get magic powers? Since pharaohs of old were considered the balance between the real and the divine. He's still a tech guy, now he's a tech and magic guy.
Jazz isn't really a villain, more of a team mom who's planning on using everyone's psyche's as her thesis paper. You know what, that's her callsign, she's Psyche. Sometimes she flirts with Nightwing.
#dc x dp#villain!everlasting trio#dcxdp#villain danny phantom#teen villain alliance#c: danny fenton#c: sam manson#c: tucker foley#c: jazz fenton#c: kyd wyckyd#c: klarion the witch boy#c: batfamily#c: damien wayne#they don't have an agenda like most villain team ups#they're there to support each other commit crimes and play pranks on the justice losers#dp x dc#dp crossover#dc crossover
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How lock-in hurts design
Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!
If you've ever read about design, you've probably encountered the idea of "paving the desire path." A "desire path" is an erosion path created by people departing from the official walkway and taking their own route. The story goes that smart campus planners don't fight the desire paths laid down by students; they pave them, formalizing the route that their constituents have voted for with their feet.
Desire paths aren't always great (Wikipedia notes that "desire paths sometimes cut through sensitive habitats and exclusion zones, threatening wildlife and park security"), but in the context of design, a desire path is a way that users communicate with designers, creating a feedback loop between those two groups. The designers make a product, the users use it in ways that surprise the designer, and the designer integrates all that into a new revision of the product.
This method is widely heralded as a means of "co-innovating" between users and companies. Designers who practice the method are lauded for their humility, their willingness to learn from their users. Tech history is strewn with examples of successful paved desire-paths.
Take John Deere. While today the company is notorious for its war on its customers (via its opposition to right to repair), Deere was once a leader in co-innovation, dispatching roving field engineers to visit farms and learn how farmers had modified their tractors. The best of these modifications would then be worked into the next round of tractor designs, in a virtuous cycle:
https://securityledger.com/2019/03/opinion-my-grandfathers-john-deere-would-support-our-right-to-repair/
But this pattern is even more pronounced in the digital world, because it's much easier to update a digital service than it is to update all the tractors in the field, especially if that service is cloud-based, meaning you can modify the back-end everyone is instantly updated. The most celebrated example of this co-creation is Twitter, whose users created a host of its core features.
Retweets, for example, were a user creation. Users who saw something they liked on the service would type "RT" and paste the text and the link into a new tweet composition window. Same for quote-tweets: users copied the URL for a tweet and pasted it in below their own commentary. Twitter designers observed this user innovation and formalized it, turning it into part of Twitter's core feature-set.
Companies are obsessed with discovering digital desire paths. They pay fortunes for analytics software to produce maps of how their users interact with their services, run focus groups, even embed sneaky screen-recording software into their web-pages:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-dark-side-of-replay-sessions-that-record-your-every-move-online/
This relentless surveillance of users is pursued in the name of making things better for them: let us spy on you and we'll figure out where your pain-points and friction are coming from, and remove those. We all win!
But this impulse is a world apart from the humility and respect implied by co-innovation. The constant, nonconsensual observation of users has more to do with controlling users than learning from them.
That is, after all, the ethos of modern technology: the more control a company can exert over its users ,the more value it can transfer from those users to its shareholders. That's the key to enshittification, the ubiquitous platform decay that has degraded virtually all the technology we use, making it worse every day:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/
When you are seeking to control users, the desire paths they create are all too frequently a means to wrestling control back from you. Take advertising: every time a service makes its ads more obnoxious and invasive, it creates an incentive for its users to search for "how do I install an ad-blocker":
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah
More than half of all web-users have installed ad-blockers. It's the largest consumer boycott in human history:
https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/
But zero app users have installed ad-blockers, because reverse-engineering an app requires that you bypass its encryption, triggering liability under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This law provides for a $500,000 fine and a 5-year prison sentence for "circumvention" of access controls:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones
Beyond that, modifying an app creates liability under copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, noncompete, nondisclosure and so on. It's what Jay Freeman calls "felony contempt of business model":
https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/
This is why services are so horny to drive you to install their app rather using their websites: they are trying to get you to do something that, given your druthers, you would prefer not to do. They want to force you to exit through the gift shop, you want to carve a desire path straight to the parking lot. Apps let them mobilize the law to literally criminalize those desire paths.
An app is just a web-page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to block ads in it (or do anything else that wrestles value back from a company). Apps are web-pages where everything not forbidden is mandatory.
Seen in this light, an app is a way to wage war on desire paths, to abandon the cooperative model for co-innovation in favor of the adversarial model of user control and extraction.
Corporate apologists like to claim that the proliferation of apps proves that users like them. Neoliberal economists love the idea that business as usual represents a "revealed preference." This is an intellectually unserious tautology: "you do this, so you must like it":
https://boingboing.net/2024/01/22/hp-ceo-says-customers-are-a-bad-investment-unless-they-can-be-made-to-buy-companys-drm-ink-cartridges.html
Calling an action where no alternatives are permissible a "preference" or a "choice" is a cheap trick – especially when considered against the "preferences" that reveal themselves when a real choice is possible. Take commercial surveillance: when Apple gave Ios users a choice about being spied on – a one-click opt of of app-based surveillance – 96% of users choice no spying:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-out-of-app-tracking-in-ios-14-5-analytics-find/
But then Apple started spying on those very same users that had opted out of spying by Facebook and other Apple competitors:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar
Neoclassical economists aren't just obsessed with revealed preferences – they also love to bandy about the idea of "moral hazard": economic arrangements that tempt people to be dishonest. This is typically applied to the public ("consumers" in the contemptuous parlance of econospeak). But apps are pure moral hazard – for corporations. The ability to prohibit desire paths – and literally imprison rivals who help your users thwart those prohibitions – is too tempting for companies to resist.
The fact that the majority of web users block ads reveals a strong preference for not being spied on ("users just want relevant ads" is such an obvious lie that doesn't merit any serious discussion):
https://www.iccl.ie/news/82-of-the-irish-public-wants-big-techs-toxic-algorithms-switched-off/
Giant companies attained their scale by learning from their users, not by thwarting them. The person using technology always knows something about what they need to do and how they want to do it that the designers can never anticipate. This is especially true of people who are unlike those designers – people who live on the other side of the world, or the other side of the economic divide, or whose bodies don't work the way that the designers' bodies do:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model
Apps – and other technologies that are locked down so their users can be locked in – are the height of technological arrogance. They embody a belief that users are to be told, not heard. If a user wants to do something that the designer didn't anticipate, that's the user's fault:
https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/
Corporate enthusiasm for prohibiting you from reconfiguring the tools you use to suit your needs is a declaration of the end of history. "Sure," John Deere execs say, "we once learned from farmers by observing how they modified their tractors. But today's farmers are so much stupider and we are so much smarter that we have nothing to learn from them anymore."
Spying on your users to control them is a poor substitute asking your users their permission to learn from them. Without technological self-determination, preferences can't be revealed. Without the right to seize the means of computation, the desire paths never emerge, leaving designers in the dark about what users really want.
Our policymakers swear loyalty to "innovation" but when corporations ask for the right to decide who can innovate and how, they fall all over themselves to create laws that let companies punish users for the crime of contempt of business-model.
I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/24/everything-not-mandatory/#is-prohibited
Image:
Belem (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desire_path_%2819811581366%29.jpg
CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
#pluralistic#desire paths#design#drm#everything not mandatory is prohibited#apps#ip#innovation#user innovation#technological self-determination#john deere#twitter#felony contempt of business model
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Oh, Crowley. Nothing lasts forever.
I think the entirely of Crowley and Aziraphale's interactions in the Final Fifteen™️can be summed up by the idea that they are talking past one another, failing to fully understand each other, but I want to talk about this line in particular. This isn't a full analysis of the scene - just this isolated bit.
Crowley: ...If Gabriel and Beelzebub can do it, go off together, then we can. We don't need Heaven, we don't need Hell, they're toxic. We need to get away from them, just be an us. You and me, what do you say?
Aziraphale: Come with me. To Heaven. I'll run it, you can be my second-in-command. We can make a difference.
Crowley: You can't leave this bookshop.
Aziraphale: Oh, Crowley. Nothing lasts forever.
Crowley: No. No, don't suppose it does.
As methods of occult/ethereal communications go, the metaphor is quite versatile.
Crowley is saying: stay here with me. We have this enclave. We can be together properly now - stay here with me. Never mind that they have not actually made any progress on this in the last four-ish years since the end of the world. Never mind that Crowley is so stagnant that four years after the end of the world he's still living in his car.
Keep in mind that Aziraphale didn't have the benefit of Nina and Maggie's intervention - Aziraphale doesn't see this as a confession under Crowley's own initiative, he sees it as a response to what Aziraphale is saying. Aziraphale says, let's go make a difference, and Crowley is sort of forced into taking this position as an alternative offer - to Aziraphale, it looks almost like a temptation. Nothing changed in the last four years, but now that Heaven needs you (and we must give Aziraphale the benefit of his belief that Heaven truly does need him, even though this is clearly a manipulation), I'm ready to move forward, don't you want to stay, don't you want to deny Heaven and exist with our heads in the sand?
"Oh, Crowley," Aziraphale says. "Nothing lasts forever."
To Crowley, who is offering himself and this enclave, this bit of existence that can just be theirs - nothing lasts forever is an obvious smackdown: not even us.
That's not what Aziraphale is saying, though. What Aziraphale is saying is, we can't live like this forever. If we want to protect it, we have to change. Nothing lasts forever isn't a betrayal or a resignation - it's a sacrifice. Aziraphale cares so much about Earth, about fixing Heaven, and about Crowley himself that he's willing to give up the bookshop and their enclave on Earth in order to save it.
They cannot just maintain the status quo. It's been four years since Armageddon and nothing has changed, and keeping on ignoring Heaven and Hell didn't work! It didn't work! They were on their own and here's Heaven and Hell again, in their business, dragging Crowley back to Hell, dragging Aziraphale back into Heaven's politics. Four years was all they got. Four years, and they were under threat, risking each other, risking their very existences. They can't sit in their enclave and pretend it won't happen again because it absolutely will.
Aziraphale spends a lot of this series burying his head in the sand. If he can just hide Gabriel, everything will be fine! (It won't - he'll still have Gabriel.) If he can just make Maggie and Nina fall in love, everything will be fine! (It won't - he'll still have Heaven and Hell waiting in the wings for the next suspicious event.) If he can just get everyone at the Jane Austen Ball, if he can just keep the demons out, if he can just ignore it, it will go away! If he can make the participants know the steps to the dance and if he can control the lingo, he can create a new fantasy world for them all to live in and everything will be fine!
It won't. Aziraphale isn't in control. Aziraphale can't stop this. Aziraphale can't protect himself, and he can't protect Crowley to the point where he has to let Crowley leave him and work a plan on his own. He's a principality, and he can't protect the things and the people he loves.
Then the Metatron walks in, makes a point of validating all the things Aziraphale loves - coffee (food/drink), Crowley (your demon can recognize me even when these angels can't), the shop (do you need to take anything with you? I've made sure the shop will be safe), separates Crowley from Aziraphale - Crowley, Aziraphale's guiding light in all those minisodes, Crowley, the one being Aziraphale trusts - and then.
And the Metatron offers Aziraphale the control he's been missing all season.
Nothing lasts forever. We can't survive in this enclave forever. If we stay here, it will all end. If we stay here, I can't protect you, or humanity, or any of it. I have to try, we have to try, because no one else will, and I'm willing to give up my freedom and my bookshop if it means I can save everything. I want to save it with you, I want you to be with me, I need you, I need us, but--
If I can save you, even if it costs me us, at least you'll have survived.
If that's the price, well. Nothing lasts forever.
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hii id like to request a how l&d boys act when they're jealous :3 feel free to ignore if u don't feel like it or thanks in advance if u do!! love your works sm xx
How the Boys Act When They’re Jealous
Pairing: xavier x gn!reader, rafayel x gn!reader, zayne x gn!reader
A/N: The game needs more jealous Zayne, and Lost in your eyes moments with Raf. Thanks for waiting! <3
Xavier is an absolute menace.
He’s extremely possessive over you, and he’s well aware of it.
You care a lot about him, but good luck stopping him from being a jealous dummy any time soon. He already knows Jeremiah doesn’t have feelings for you, but is that going to stop him from spraying the other man with a plant mister when he gets to close? Nope.
Luckily for Jeremiah, Xavier likes him. They’re friends. The other man finds it funny to even tease him a little by poking at that jealous side. Everyone else doesn’t have the same privilege.
When he's not glaring, Xavier tries to be subtle about, dropping hints here and there about how you’re his lover. He’ll interrupt your conversations with other men when they drag on too long, so he can talk with his partner, his neighbor, his napping buddy.
Suddenly, everything he says can be taken the wrong way. He mentions how he had a good time sleeping together (when it was literal sleeping). He says the two of you should got out to dinner again or that the lunch you made him for work was very tasty (really you wanted to avoid the apartment complex catching on fire). He might also “jokingly” state within hearing distance of your new friend that the two of you act like a married couple. It’s not his fault if someone takes it the wrong way; you don’t have to look so embarrassed about it.
Xavier likes to flaunt his status a little; he fixes your hair and dusts off your clothes. He would do this for you even if he wasn’t jealous, but it’s a bonus that it gets others to back off and gets your attention on him with your cute little pout.
Worse comes to worst, he isn’t afraid of using underhanded methods to fail any attempt at someone else trying to steal you away from him; even if that means knocking out the streetlights with his Evol to get your coworker to go home early (who even takes 20 minutes to say goodbye anyway? Someone with ill intentions, that’s who.).
He’ll deny it. Deny. Deny. Deny. He’s not jealous. He just wants to know more about your friend. How long have you known each other? Do you go out at night together? Why not invite him sometimes? It takes a few pokes to get him to admit it.
Jealous Xavier can be a moody Xavier; he’s usually calm and easygoing, patient with most of the world except with those who try to flirt with you, and you, if you should flirt back. Though, he has no problem reminding you why he is the only one you should have eyes for whether it be through words, action, or…other methods best left after dark.
It’s obvious when Rafayel is jealous.
It starts as jokes, usually, with a light dust of jealousy like sprinkles on a donut.
“What’s your new friend like? Are they more fun than me,” he asks, trying to coax you into admitting how much more you like him, a little to assuage his jealousy and a little to stroke his own ego.
He’s confident in being your partner and having a bond that has lasted millenniums. So, when a random likes you, it’s usually not a huge deal. He can confidently deal with it, wrapping an arm around your waist or shoulder and putting on his charm as he calls you honey with a lift to his voice, as if he didn’t notice the person who was trying to flirt with you.
His jealousy can even be funny sometimes even cute. He’ll get this pouty look on his face whenever you place your attention on animals, cooing and petting them. He even gets jealous of your dear child, Reddie, from time to time. You love that clumsy fish so much. It couldn’t even stop itself from being caught by humans. Why would you want to play with Reddie so much when you already got a fish you can pet. Please pet him.
When his jealousy gets really bad though, he can be snippy. He’s vindictive, asking if you forgot about him and if you wouldn’t rather hang out with your other boyfriend. His jokes become a little less funny and a little meaner, and he’ll be quick to demand an explanation in a voice a little tighter and bitter than you’re used to from him.
If you get mad and try to leave, he’s pulling you back. He doesn’t actually want you to go but he’s too stubborn to admit that maybe he’s being jealous over nothing.
He just doesn’t want you to forget him again.
On the other hand, seeing you jealous? He eats it up.
Zayne doesn’t like his jealousy.
He tries to play it cool and be mature about these things. He’d never interrupt you talking to another person, but he most definitely watches the situation out the corner of his eye. He wants to digest every word and every bit of body language he can about the situation, going as far as pretending to work to have an excuse to stay and listen in.
Zayne wants to be rational about things, but he’s never been completely rational when it comes to you. You have a bad way of making him act out of character (or passionately as you call it).
This emotion always sneaks up on him unexpectedly and makes him clumsier than normal. He’ll give himself away easily, asking about your plans with the other person or if you noticed the lovesick puppy look they gave you when you looked their way. It makes him blush when you mention that you adore his puppy eyes more. If he says he doesn’t do that, well, you’ll simply have to call Dr. Greyson and Yvonne to back you up.
Zayne can be very picky about other people trying to take your time, like not wanting someone else to dance with you or take you out to a new tourist location; he always promises his free time to you, the little he has of it, so he requests that you wait for him. He’ll accompany you wherever you want to go.
Zayne is very jealous of others who can make you laugh. He really likes how easygoing, talkative, and animated you are so he gets insecure when someone else can make you act that way better than he can; however, he feels selfish because you’re happy and that should be enough.
In the end, he blames himself for his own jealousy, questioning if he read too much into the situation or in your relationship. He’s the quickest to apologize for his jealousy if you pick up on it.
When Zayne thinks you are pursuing someone else, he becomes blunter. He suddenly has a lot more relationship advice about being careful who you keep in your company and warning you to make sure there’s no doubt when deciding on something important like your partner. He also tends to cut conversations about any other potential partner you might like short and unintentionally be rude to your love interest.
That’s not to say he won’t try to win you over; when push comes to shove and the risk of losing you becomes too great, he isn’t afraid to finally tell you how he feels in the best way he can. All he can do is try.
If you don’t like him back, he will allow jealousy to silently have him, choosing to suffer in it, as long as you’re happy with whoever you choose.
However, that does not mean he has to like your partner as well. And if they ever hurt you, he rather not think of what he’d do if that should happen.
#love and deepspace x reader#xavier x reader#rafayel x reader#zayne x reader#lads x reader#lnd x reader
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How to Write Your Own Spells
There are lots of ways to create spells, from planning everything to the minutest detail ahead of time to absolutely flying by the seat of your pants in the moment. If you'd like to write your own spells, either for use in your craft or as a creative exercise, here are some suggested steps that I use in my own practice:
1) Determine the intent or goal of your spell.
Decide, first and foremost, what you want the spell to do. Refine your goal if necessary and try not to be too nebulous. Your intent tells the spell what it's meant to do. A more focused goal may increase the chances of success.
2) Determine how you want the spell to manifest.
Decide how the spell should work and what the result should look like. This is a good time to build in a sign of success, especially for spells that may not work in an obvious or visible way.
3) Determine what or whom the spell will affect.
If the spell is to have a target, be it a person or a place or an animal or an object, decide what that should be and how they or it will be represented in the casting.
4) Determine how long the spell is meant to work.
If your spell is timebound or has a deadline, decide what that will be. If the spell is meant to work long-term, you may want to check in and refresh it from time to time. (Not every spell will be timebound. Many spells will simply expire when they have fulfilled their purpose or if they are blocked or circumstances are not favorable.)
5) Determine the timing of the spell, if applicable.
Not everyone uses celestial or astrological timing for their spells, but if you do, look into the prevailing conditions and decide on an advantageous time for your casting. (Please note that magical timing can only enhance your spell and casting something on the "wrong" day will not necessarily cause it to fail.)
6) Determine what methods and materials you want to use to cast the spell.
Decide how you're going to go about performing the casting, whether you're doing a ritual or making a charm or just using energy. If you're going to need a ritual space or physical components, plan that out and make sure it fits with what you want to do.
7) Determine the words, if any, which will empower the spell.
If you want to include a prayer or a petition or a song or an incantation with your spell, decide what that should be. This is not strictly necessary and the words need not be spoken aloud. (Rhyming incantations are not required, but if you prefer them that way, you can certainly do so.)
8) Prepare the materials for casting the spell.
Get all your necessaries together ahead of time. Make sure you have everything you need, that tools and components are in good and useable condition, prepare your workspace, and make sure everything is within easy reach so you don't have to stop and search for things in the middle of your casting. (And for goodness sake, if you're working with open flame, observe fire safety and tie your hair and sleeves back.)
9) Finalize details and perform the casting.
When you're ready to begin, try to eliminate as many possibilities for distraction or interruption as possible. Go over your spell and components one more time, then proceed with casting the spell.
10) Record the particulars for future reference and to determine how well the spell worked.
Make a record of the spell, including your goal, how it should manifest, the words and components used, the date of the casting, the casting method and procedure, and how the casting went. If there are any additional details or observations that seem important, include those as well. This will serve as a useful learning tool in the future and will allow you to check your work if the results make themselves known.
It's useful to write spells from time to time if the inspiration strikes you, in order to better understand how they fit together and how they work. Plus it's a fun and creative journaling exercise and recording the spells you cast a great way to measure your progress later on.
For additional tips on writing your own spells and helpful tricks for using timing and available materials to your advantage, check out my podcast, Hex Positive, Eps. 006-007, "Come In For A Spell, pt 1 & 2."
(And if you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)
Happy Witching! 🔮✨
#witch community#witchcraft#witchblr#baby witch#witch tips#spells#pagan#Advice for Beginner Witches#Hex Positive
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I know I’ve mentioned this plenty of times before but I’m still kind of annoyed by how the fanbase just kind of completely declawed the four lords and placed the entirety of the responsibility for their wrongdoings on Mother Miranda.
The Baker family are great, I love them, they’re an incredible unit of antagonists who are intended to be very sympathetic, at least for the most part. Jack and Marguerite in particular have lost all control over their minds and their bodies, turning into extremely violent murderers and cannibals who threaten and attack their own family, kill anyone unfortunate enough to come across them and, especially in Marguerite’s case, lose complete autonomy over their own bodies. Marguerite turns into a walking bug hive who’s only purpose is to feed her family and birth her new children. Jack is an unstoppable murderous force of patriarchal violence who has so much fun chasing down and harming his victims, which in the Daughters DLC includes even his own daughter. The exception to this is obviously Lucas, who has been cured of his infection and his acting of his own free will. All of this is caused by Eveline, everything Jack and Marguerite do controlled by her, and yet Eveline is just as sympathetic as the rest of them. She’s a ten year old girl. Even Jack, who has watched his family and their victims suffer because of her infection, doesn’t seem to hold any of it against her. She just wants a family of her own, after all. It’s a complex and tragic situation.
The four lords, while I suppose being similar in structure, are not the Baker family. Not in dynamic, not in character, not in the kind of tragedy that they embody. I could talk for a while about just how completely different they are, but I don’t know if I really need to.
The Baker family are so tragic because they were just innocent bystanders trying to help a woman and a little girl they found in a shipwreck out in a storm. That’s the only reason they ended up in the situation that they were in. While the lords have similar origins, being victims of Mother Miranda’s experiments to bring her daughter Eva back, an important distinction between them is that in the case of the lords, all four of them are still acting of their own free will. Yes, Mother Miranda has undeniable power over them. She leads the cult they are part of, she has control over the village, she is their superior. However, I really dislike when every negative action by the lords is pushed onto her, as if the lords are not all grown adults who are for the most part acting independently of her.
With Alcina, she is the head of her own extremely brutal crimes. I think a lot of people have forgotten quite how horrifying the situations of the maidens are, possibly due to the prevalence shipping between Alcina and the maidens, and though we have minimal information what we do know is very frightening. Alcina uses her work force like livestock, draining them for their blood in a cellar full of horrific torture devices, and leaves their corpses to shamble around, armed and ready to attack any unwanted guests that have slipped out of the daughter’s clutches so that Alcina still doesn’t have to do her own dirty work, given how highly above everyone but Mother Miranda she appears to view herself as. While yes, Alcina does need human blood to survive, her methods are brutal, and none of this has been enforced upon her by Mother Miranda. Similarly to Jack on occasion, she takes a great deal of pleasure in hurting and attacking Ethan as he runs from her. Additionally, everything she does to Ethan is against Mother Miranda’s request. While yes, it is retaliation after he killed Bela, the part I often see people leave out is that Alcina is equally as upset that he entered her property and was attempting to steal from her, and she isn’t just after him to kill him.
Alcina has also been an active participant in aiding Mother Miranda with at least one experiment, considering that I’d how she got her daughters. While I’m sure her strong admiration for Mother Miranda and Mother Miranda’s power over her has absolutely had an affect in this, that’s not something I’ll deny, Alcina is still a grown woman and in her written entries about this shows no qualms about her participation in this. Her general attitude towards others, using young women as a good source and turning men into scarecrows, also leads me to believe that she does not exactly care who gets hurt or taken advantage of when it comes to her and Mother Miranda’s personal endeavours.
Donna and Moreau are the two more sympathetic people within the four lords, but they are not innocent. To start with Moreau, he’s desperate for Mother Miranda’s approval, as well as the other lords. He’s insecure and lonely, and he’s doing what he has been instructed by Mother Miranda when it comes to protecting the flask. However, he does also take quite a bit of joy in trapping Ethan in the reservoir and swimming after him with the intention to eat and kill him. Moreau though, given his conditions and circumstances, is the one I think is the least to blame for what he does.
Donna is hard to discuss because we know so little about her. Her parents are dead, as well as whoever Claudia was to her, she communicates through Angie and she can cause those who enter her house to hallucinate. According to Mother Miranda, Donna is severely mentally ill and that is what has made her an unfit vessel. I think a lot of people took this to mean that Donna is unaware of what she is doing, that the hallucinations she is showing Ethan are frightening, but after having been a fan of this game for years I just can’t agree with that anymore. Donna intentionally lures Ethan into her house with visions of his supposedly dead wife. Donna is going after fears she likely knows Ethan has, making him relive Mia’s death, take apart a mannequin of her, listen to her voice panic over something being horribly wrong with Rose, all building towards the horrifying baby that chases him through the house. There is no way Donna doesn’t understand how what she is showing Ethan is distressing, especially when you consider that, given how she can make herself appear and disappear at will within Ethan’s vision and that Angie is sitting in the hallways stationary and unspeaking, Donna was likely close by Ethan at all times and could see and hear his frightened reactions to what she was intentionally showing him.
Donna’s death is upsetting, but Ethan was not just chasing her down and killing her. Donna was attacking him, or at least she was controlling her dolls to do so. It’s still a hallucination, but Ethan doesn’t know that. When faced with a threat that is keeping you trapped and trying to end your life, you will likely try to get away or try to fight back, as Donna is doing to Ethan after he starts to attack her and Ethan is doing to Donna when he thinks his life is still in danger. I would also like to remind everybody that Donna communicates through Angie. What Angie is saying, that’s Donna. Angie doesn’t talk or move once she’s dead, it is Donna who controls her.
Lastly, Heisenberg. I think Heisenberg is the one of the four most entrenched in headcanons. Headcanons are fine, I am never in this post trying to suggest they aren’t, but my issue comes in when people use them to try and change the canon of the game. For example, it’s fine to believe that Heisenberg was experimented on by Mother Miranda as a child, but that isn’t canon. It’s fine to believe that Heisenberg mourned the deaths of his siblings, but that isn’t canon. The opposite is, with Heisenberg not viewing the cult as an actual family and being very openly mean to all three other lords, even Donna and Moreau who seemingly haven’t done anything to slight him. While his goal of killing another Miranda is a very understandable and sympathetic one given what she has done to him, using a six month old baby as a weapon and trying to bring her father into the mix only to try to get him killed when he denies him is not. I cannot overstate quite how little Heisenberg actually cared for Ethan and Rose’s safety when it came to his goal, and given that we are playing as Ethan, Rose is the priority.
Heisenberg has built an army of corpses he has presumably stolen and desecrated. This is kind of fucked up actually, and done completely independently of Mother Miranda. He also puts Ethan through a very dangerous lycan gauntlet before he even reaches the factory, which makes it even stranger to me that people seem to interpret Heisenberg’s deal as something that would have benefitted both him and Ethan and as if he ever had Ethan’s safety in mind.
All four of the lords have tragic aspects to them and there are definitely reasons to sympathise with all four. They’re victims of Mother Miranda, who knows they will all be killed. She wants them to be, giving her less to deal with by the time she has Eva back. They never meant anything to her. Not Alcina or Moreau, who were desperate for her attention. Not Donna, suffering from her unspecified but apparently severe mental illness. Not Heisenberg, who was seemingly her favourite creation. However, all of them are grown adults who do their own bad things independently of her.
And it’s fine to still like them. It’s fine for them to be your favourite character. It’s fine to have happy or nice headcanons about them or want to kiss them or be their friend or to want them to have survived. It’s fine to like characters who do shitty things. It’s to be expected in a game series like Resident Evil. It’s a horror game series. People are going to do bad things.
I just find it so boring when people take away all their bite. What makes a character like Lady Dimitrescu so fun it’s that she’s completely over the top. She’s campy and ridiculous, her castle layout makes no sense, she’s got three kids made of swarms of flies dressed like a set of goth triplets, she’s a lesbian who’s castle is full of naked statues of women, she turns into a big dragon and laughs maniacally while flying around and trying to eat you. She’s evil and it’s fun. It’s the same with Heisenberg. He’s a campy show off with a fun voice and a massive hammer he never actually uses. He can control metal. He looks like a cowboy. He pronounced Miranda in a funny way. He talks to you over an intercom while trying to get you killed. They’re fun and evil and they fight over who gets to kill Ethan like they’re two little kids. It’s absurd.
What makes a character like Donna so scary is that she’s silently working in the shadows, unassuming at a first glance and unseen for most of the time in her house. She is the least threatening of the four upon first glance, and yet she has undeniably the most frightening part of the game. Pretending as if Donna is completely unaware of what she is doing and babying her like she is an incapable child waters her down completely and takes away from the effectiveness of her character.
Villain characters are great! They’re very often the highlight of the story they are in, and they aren’t real! The four lords especially are often so completely exaggerated in what they do as well. It’s fine to like villains! It doesn’t make you bad! Characters can be bad people and you can still like them!
It’s just frustrating seeing a group of very fun and exciting villains, all designed with different aspects of horror, all over the top and campy and stupid and fun, all doing their own set of fucked up things, watered down to a set of poor innocent victims who have never done any wrong ever. If you want Jack and Marguerite, take Jack and Marguerite. Lady Dimitrescu loves killing and eating women and Karl Heisenberg turns corpses into soldiers. They’re bad people and they do comically exaggerated bad things. If you can’t stomach liking a character like that, horror is probably not the genre for you. Unless it’s Resident Evil 7, I suppose, but apparently tall women aren’t hot when it’s Marguerite Baker crawling on the walls.
#I just wanted to ramble abouts the four lords they’re fun as villains and I’m really bored of how their edges keep getting rounded off#resident evil 8#re8#lady dimitrescu#donna beneviento#salvatore moreau#karl heisenberg#resident evil 7#re7#jack baker#marguerite baker#eveline baker
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This can be a situation of 'what if' since the five beast were the first ones then what if they would be the first who began with this whole yandere chaos like- they are the ultimates obsessive over y/n cookie the fallen heroes have the first and high level O_O
-🧁 anon
What If: The First.
Something has to start somewhere. Y/N Cookie is a figure beloved by all, sometimes even a little too much from certain, no wait, a large majority of the cookie population on Earthbread.
They’ve seen a lot from what levels of obsession could offer from simple clinginess to the alters and shrines many create amidst their sickly love.
Y/N Cookie was surprisingly no stranger to these gestures. After all, they’ve seen these similar types of obsessive love elsewhere.
Long ago, many years back….you were a Primordial Cookie alongside your long lasting companions, the Five Beast Cookies.
You remembered all the times you’ve had with them.
The times you laughed. Shadow Milk Cookie would tell you many things about this world, but he also liked to sprinkle in some humor too. He’d even do a sort of jester act by using a puppet show, it never failed to make you chuckle at least once…
The times you chose to help others that made Mystic Flour Cookie warm with you. Your choices to make decisions that befitted your Virtue of Compassion was something of a spectacle for her. She adored that you did not question anything about showing compassion for others, some things don’t always have to come down to choice.
The times you felt safe. Red Spice and Silent Salt Cookie were your protectors. You were a cookie of compassion, but that shouldn’t mean that cookies should push you around. It made the two cookies unhappy and advise the perpetrator to back off. Red Spice was all show while Silent Salt was all quiet, but both make sure that you wouldn’t get harmed under their watch.
The times you loved. Eternal Sugar Cookie was always happy to see you. Compassion and Happiness always worked well together, so it only made sense that you were the closest to her. She’d let you join her on her cloud as you two talked the day away, Eternal Sugar being happy that she got to spend time with you in any form.
Oh, how things went south when power corrupts.
One by one, their will crumbled under the weight of their own strength. The Five became twisted apostles of evil and brought forth darkness and devastation.
This corruption had also brought upon unfortunate side effects to their love for you, twisting and change until it’s nothing but sickly and dark.
Shadow Milk Cookie embraced deceit into his heart, controlling and manipulating the cookies around you. His plan to make you belong to him would be to drive everyone you knew away from you whether it be by his twisted mind tricks or more lethal methods. You’d have no one left but him…
Red Spice Cookie only brought nothing but destruction to whoever dared to challenge his sick obsession with you. No cookie could ever survive an encounter with him, only reduced to smoldering crumbs on the ground. No cookie has ever loved you like he has, because there’d be no one left that could…
Silent Salt Cookie’s protectiveness reached insane levels you’d never expect from them. Cookies that so much as raise a hand in your presence are swiftly cut down by Silent Salt. Cookies can’t even look at you without Silent Salt putting an end to their existence. Their worry for you, and you overall, was worth the lives they stomped on.
No other cookie mattered to Mystic Flour Cookie anymore that wasn’t you. She just didn’t see why you should care for any of these insignificant specks of grain as she casually waves her arm, reducing the whole landscape around her into nothing. No longer did choice matter to her, the decisions she once valued mean little to her if it didn’t help you or her out.
What was once happiness has now turned into a deadly and sickly obsession with you. Eternal Sugar Cookie’s mind hazed with nothing but thoughts of you, unable to get you out of her mind. NEVER wanting to get you out of her mind. Only you could get her off her cloud, she’ll simply yawn and turn away anyone else. She believes her love for you triumphs above anyone else, gleefully obliterating anyone who thinks could challenge her…
You can still hear their screams and shocked gasps when the Creators locked them away, their pained cries and shouts all becoming static in your head.
The Ancient Heroes…
They’ve done well in resisting the temptation of power unlike your former comrades, their affection remaining moderate as a result.
Though, one of them have your doubts..
#brittle answers#cookie run x you#cookie run x reader#cr x reader#cookie run#crk x reader#cookie run kingdom x reader#cookie run kingdom#cr kingdom#beast cookies x reader#beast cookies#shadow milk cookie#mystic flour cookie x reader#mystic flour cookie#shadow milk cookie x reader#eternal sugar cookie x reader#eternal sugar cookie#silent salt cookie x reader#silent salt cookie#red spice cookie x reader#red spice cookie
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