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lizziethereader · 6 years

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a bunch of 11 questions tags

I was tagged in a few 11 question tags over the last few weeks and am finally getting around to them. I hope you don’t mind me putting them all together in one masterpost under the cut.

thank you so much for tagging me @anassarhenisch, @thereadingchallengechallenge, @books-are-portals, @maddie-mux and @bibliophilecats! I really do appreciate getting tagged even though it takes me a while to doing the tags.

I’ll put my own questions and the people I’m tagging up here and the answers to all your questions under the cut ;)

my questions:

1. What are you looking forward to most when it comes to the upcoming holidays? (whichever holiday you want to refer to) 2. Have you been to a concert lately? Which one? 3. Which piece of media (book, movie, video, etc.) are you looking forward to consuming next? 4. If someone wrote a fictionalized (and heavily embellished) novel of your life, which genre would you like it to be? 5. What’s the last song you had stuck in your head? 6. What’s the weather currently like where you are? 7. How many open tabs in a browser is too many? (asking for a friend) 8. Are you good with money? (if so, teach me your ways!) 9. What’s the coolest thing a teacher of yours has ever done? (I wanna become the cool teacher, so I need to do some research, haha) 10. If money, space and time didn’t matter, which animal would you like to have? 11. Share a random fact about yourself! (please?)

I’m tagging @bookvoyage, @lilymaidofgallifrey, @dreamingofreadinggoals, @aliteraryprincess, @flamingmirrorbookish, @the-forest-library, @manuscripts-dontburn and @thelivebookproject (no pressure though) and anyone who just feels like doing this, of course!

sooo, let’s get crackin!

here’s @anassarhenisch‘s questions:

1. Celtic rock, yes or no?

I have honestly never listened to it... I’m not averse to give it a try though!

2. What’s the last book you quit reading? quit as in abandoned? I don’t really do that... The last book I finished reading was ‘Big Mouth and Ugly Girl’ by Joyce Carol Oates

3. What’s your favourite fall activity? baking and drinking cider! (yes you can do that all year round, but it just feels cozy, right?)

4. Do you believe in ghosts? I’m probably a ghost agnostic. I don’t know if they exist but I’m not saying they don’t

5. When’s the last time you went to a circus or carnival? There’s this big children’s festival in my town for two weekends every August and there’s always a circus, too. They did a special performance for all the volunteers who help with the festival and I went to that. So, long story short, like 2 months ago?

6. What does your favourite shirt look like? hmmm good question. If we’re talking about T-shirts then it’s probably my Portal shirt.

7. Do you like eating fish? hahaha, not at all actually! I rarely meet other people who don’t. But yeah, I actually don’t like any seafood.

8. Who’s your favourite artist? oh man, this is a very difficult one! I’m not sure I can name a favorite. I like just being in awe of a piece of art (be it a painting, piece of music or something else) and I wouldn’t say I have one person I like better than all the others. Sorry for the lame answer!

9. Do you have any celebrity connections? none whatsoever (that I know of)

10. Are you a sports fan? only equestrian sports and even then I don’t need to see every event there is. But I do enjoy watching the occasional tournament

11. How comfortable are you embarrassing yourself in public? NOT AT ALL. Good thing I became a teacher then, eh? :P

next up: @thereadingchallengechallenge‘s questions:

What are you currently reading? I just started reading Children of Blood and Bone!

Favourite snack? I can’t pick just one, so: popcorn, macadamia nuts, chocolate covered raisins and all things chocolate :D

Do you set yourself a reading list or pick books by mood? half/half. I have some types of books to read each month (1 poetry book, 1 classic, 1 nonfiction book) and then choose one of those based on my mood. And then I randomly select 3 books from my tbr. Those are always a surprise!

Have you travelled anywhere so far this year? Yup. I went to Germany 2 times (to a theme park), flew to London for book shopping and musicals twice, and went to Budapest with two friends for a weekend

Reading anything spooky before Halloween? Not really. I’m not a spooky books (or movies) person.

Binge watching anything at the moment? I just finished binge watching Star Trek Discovery yesterday but I’m sure I’ll find something new soon.

Who’s the author you’ve read most? Douglas Coupland, apparently

What’s your favourite season and why? Spring! Everything is getting warmer and greener again, my depression gets better and things are just generally looking up (usually)

Are you looking forward to any new releases? I don’t think I’m waiting for anything at the moment...

What’s a quote you love? “No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” from Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere's Fan

Recommend a book? With pleasure! It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

then we have @books-are-portals‘s questions:

1. First thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “waffles”? the amaaaaazing waffles at my town’s children’s festival each year. Also Leslie Knope

2. Have you ever knitted anything? What was it? When we learned to knit in school I knitted a scarf but I haven’t knitted anything since and I’m not sure I still could

3. What’s been the weirdest book you’ve enjoyed? idk, what’s a weird book? Welcome to Night Vale is purposefully weird, if that counts? I’m not sure I’ve read any proper weird books...

4. Pick a random book from your shelf and recommend a film based on that book. book: Tin Man by Sarah Winman - movie: Third Star (totally different storyline, but similar vibe, maybe?)

5. Top 5 clothing items. - not really clothing but my riding boots (I love them. They fit me perfectly and weirdly give me so much confidence??) - my new Pikeur breeches (yup, riding stuff again) - the black business dress I graduated in (both High School and university) - my Dirndl (you gotta have one if you’re Austrian :P ) - my (fake) leather jacket because it makes me feel cool not sure this is an accurate list since I don’t really think about clothes much...

6. Name the first song that comes to your mind based on your current read. Why that song? hmm, I’m only 50 pages into my new book, this is very difficult! maybe ‘Battles’ by Hudson Taylor? The lyrics just seem to fit and I have a feeling the book will be harrowing, which the song definitely is.

7. Would you rather visit the Moon or Mars? I kind of want to go to Mars and see if Curiosity Rover is alright.

8. What’s your favourite scent? top three: freshly cut grass, new tires (I know, this one is weird), and the smell of tress like cedar, fir, and pine

9. What’s the last thing you ate? Was it good? kinder Schoko Bons and YES.

10. Name 3 positive things you’re good at. don’t do this to me! uhmmmmm reading? singing? maybe cuddling cats?

11. What’s the strangest word from your first language(s)? Well, I don’t really know what would be strange to you but I’m really fond of ‘oida’. It’s sort of an exclamation that can be used in a lot of different ways and its meaning depends on how you say it. So it could mean you’re really disappointed, angry, shocked, disbelieving or it could just mean something like ‘dude’. I love it and use it way too often considering it’s sort of lower class slang, I guess.

aaaand here’s @maddie-mux‘s questions:

1. First fictional crush? I’m not entirely sure. Maybe Ziegenpeter from Heidi? :’D

2. 11 authors (dead or alive) who you would want to spend a night in a haunted house with? oh no, that’s a) way too many people and b) not something I would ever want to do

3. Kiss, Marry, Kill - authors I don’t really feel qualified to answer this. I don’t really get into people as much as I get into their characters and fictional universes. Doing this with real people feels weird, too, because I don’t want to do any of those actions with anyone.... I’m sorry to cop out of yet another of your questions!

4. One author whose books you automatically buy, of no matter what? either of the Green brothers

5. Favourite fictional place? maybe Night Vale? But not because I want to live there, just because it’s so wacky.

6. Kiss, Marry, Kill - characters this one is easier! kiss: Poet from Trick (before he is spoken for, of course, I’m not a home-wrecker!) marry: farmer Oak from Far From the Madding Crowd kill: there’s so many to choose from! but I really really hate Aaron from The Knife of Never Letting Go!!

7. Favourite place to read? on the go

8. 11 characters who you’d take for an eternity on a tropical island? nope nope nope - there’s nobody I would want to spend eternity with

9. Hands down, all time favourite book and why? you should be ashamed of yourself! you know most readers can’t answer this question :P (well, I can’t anyway)

10. Favourite fictional nonhuman animal character? is it too basic to say Black Beauty?

11. Fiction or nonfiction? both! I read more fiction, but I wouldn’t want to live without nonfiction in my life!

last but not least, @bibliophilecats‘ questions:

Your favourite word from your first language. I’m gonna use one of my previous answers for that and say ‘oida’ just because it’s so fun and versatile. Do you know ‘oida’ in your part of Germany?

And your favourite word in any language. Not sure I’d pinpoint it as an absolute favorite, but I quite like ‘alas’ because it sort of embodies my view of life, haha

Name 5 positive things about yourself. 5?? It took me 10 minutes to come up with 3 for one of the questions above! Unbelievable... - I try my best to keep an open mind - I try to also get my students to do this - but I also like to question things - I’m not blind to my shortcomings - and I do want to become a better person, though I need to put more effort into it

And now 3 things you are good at (I kept that one from @books-are-portals list because self-love is important) I am NOT coming up with more because I am absolutely unable to do so. Sorry! (yes, I have issues, I know)

What’s your “Patronus”-memory, i.e. the happiest moment in your life? ooooh good one! maybe the day I got my degree and graduated from university. (because leading up to this point my mental health was so bad I wasn’t sure I’d live to see that day...)

Recommend a book which you think I should read. maybe ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ or ‘It Devours!’?

Do you set yourself a reading list or pick books by mood? both! see above for a more detailed answer

Did you make friends on tumblr that you met (or want to meet) in real life? I would love to meet quite a few of you! (sadly I haven’t, yet)

Last book you read that was completely outside your normal reading preference. Why did you pick it up and did you like it? Probably the Kite Runner? I picked it up because sooo many people and many of my friends love it. I, however, did not.

Favourite christmas book? I haven’t read many so far, but Dash and Lily’s book of Dares!!

Favourite christmas movie? I’ve always loved Miracle on 34th street but I haven’t rewatched it in years so I don’t know if it hold up

#tag thingy #huge 11 questions tag masterpost #haha #thank you for tagging me!!!

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fatelesschild · 2 years

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Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Masterpost

A worryingly comprehensive and extremely unofficial guide to Gallifreyan and Time Lord/Lady Anatomy and Physiology, constructed with love and sweat.

This is a project that attempts to draw together everything we know about gallifreyan anatomy from every source available to place it in a valid biological system, like some Grey’s Anatomy textbook you didn’t know you needed.

The author of this has no affiliation with the BBC, and owns nothing but this lovely chocolate bar and good intentions. Nothing in this guide should be taken as de facto and everything should be free to be challenged and changed. I welcome any comments, questions, points of interest, or corrections - just aim at my inbox.

Absolutely nothing in this guide constitutes professional medical advice. Always seek your human advice from a healthcare provider, and always seek your gallifreyan advice from a hospitaller on Gallifrey.

Currently in version 1.10.x

Please note: This version is about to be superseded by the GIL version which will be more comprehensive with new information. Make sure to follow @gallifreyinstituteforlearning to keep track of updates.

x Masterpost < You are here

x Main document with sourcing (Google Docs, not optimised for mobiles)

x Tumblr tag page with Q+As etc.

x Glossary

1. Introduction (main document only): Introducing the project with a disclaimer, sources list, how I decide what's true and what's rubbish, thanks for support, and also - critically - why the hoot I'm doing this.

2. The Basics: Overview of the most basic of concepts, including variations between Time Lords/Ladies vs. gallifreyans, why 900-year-olds look so young and dateable, Mr vs. Mrs Gallifreyan, and the wonderful world of genetics.

3. The Skeletal System: Explores the gallifreyan skeleton with a microbiological breakdown and diagrams to explain how and why gallifreyan bones are more likely to dislocate than break, why they're quick to heal, and why they're so ridiculously squishy after regeneration.

4. The Muscular System: Brief look at the fairly unremarkable muscular system, supplemented by extra info on injury/disease/healing and how sex/age/regeneration make their presence felt.

5. The Cardiovascular System: In-depth look at how those double hearts work, and the consequences of being without one. This chapter also discusses blood more than a Vampire's handbook, looking at its constitution, types, and interspecies transfusions.

6. The Respiratory System: Details the function and consequences of a separate pulmonary network down to a cellular level, and why the Respiratory Bypass system isn't actually a system. Also discussed is the Detox (AKA how to avoid vomiting on Lady Edison's rug), and how getting old kinda sucks.

7. The Urinary & Digestive System: A rather enthusiastic look at the nature of gallifreyan elimination, including the anatomical process, nutritional requirements and aversions, and just why their wee is probably orange and their poo is probably cream. Also contains a handy guide to gallifreyan kidney donation, should you be planning one.

8: The Nervous System: A very deep look into the brain of a gallifreyan and what makes them so gosh darn clever. This section also highlights their incredible memory and the huge pitfalls of neurological conditions.

8. The Senses: An extensive tour around the seven main senses of gallifreyans, explaining why their eyes are ridiculously important, just how the Doctor can taste and smell everything the plot requires, what their time sense is telling them and also, for the bold, an overview on how their multidimensional existence affects the way the see the world.

10. The Integumentary System: Talks at length about skin construction and its amazing hidden layers providing extraordinary resistance to lots of bad things, as well as detailed wound healing explanations and why their hair has feeeeeelings.

11. The Immune System: In-depth look at just how gallifreyans deal with all the micro-enemies of the universe, examining their immune cells down to a microbiological level. Also, why you shouldn't give them aspirin or praxis gas as an Otherstide gift.

12. The Reproductive System (to be filled)

13. The Regenerative System (to be filled)

14. The Psionic System (to be filled)

15. Extras (to be filled)

16. Glossary: List of defined terms in use across the guide.

Curious about something? Need some creative gallifreyan biology-related advice? Wanna say hi? Ask away!

#fcgallifreyana&p #gallifreyan biology #gallifreyan anatomy #doctor who #time lords #gallifreyan #masterpost #doing some spring cleaning don't mind me #i've updated every post with new info too #gallifreyan physiology #dw meta

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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years

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ANOTHER TITLE

a/n: personally i’ve been waiting for this part to come since the beginning lmao, so here is the proposal finally!! it’s like so fluffy, almost disgustingly, but i just couldn’t help myself

pairing: Sebastian Stan X Reader

word count: 1.8k

This fic is part of the LITTLE ONE series, but can be read as a simple oneshot as well! Find the masterpost of the series HERE!

masterlist

(gif is not mine)

You’ve been eating like a hormonal teenage boy these past weeks and you know it needs to stop and held under control, but you just can’t help yourself. It’s like your stomach has become a black hole that needs to absorb any and every food that’s home, you’re constantly snacking beside the large portions you eat three times a day, there’s always something you’re craving, the shopping list on the fridge is changing every hour because you think of something else to eat.

Luckily, you haven’t gained that much weight besides the noticeable bump that’s your baby in your belly, seems like your little girl does need all the food and she uses it instead of letting it all get stuck on other parts of your body, so you’re fine for just now.

Sitting on the couch, watching some kind of soap opera, you’re snacking on an entire jar of Nutella this time, shamelessly stuffing your mouth with the sweet, thick stuff, pretty sure that nothing will be left of it by the end of the day. Sebastian is away again for his second filming that was scheduled even before you found out you were pregnant and he messed around with it a little, shortening it once again and you just visited him last weekend. Now that you are pushing the end of your second trimester, your bump is quite evident, not something you can hide easily, so when you showed up on set with your boyfriend, you didn’t even try to cover it up, knowing well someone would spot it sooner or later. However everyone on the team has been so respectful, keeping the news to themselves, because no headlines have been made about your pregnancy just yet, keeping the secret even longer. To be honest, you’re surprised it hasn’t been discovered sooner, you thoughr someone would catch you out and about and see right through your baggy clothes and sell the news to the tabloids, but now you are in the sixth month and no one knows a thing.

Your phone chimes next to you, a text from Seb and you hum to yourself happily, putting the jar aside to grab the phone and see what he wrote.

“How are my two favorite girls doing? Miss you a lot!”

He even attached a silly selfie of himself in hair and makeup, he looks adorable with the clips in his hair and some kind of patches under his eyes. Like a real beauty guru.

Grabbing the Nutella, you place it on top of your bump as you move the phone to a lower angle and take a selfie that makes your bump look even bigger, the jar on top and you grinning widely at the camera as you snap a picture and send it to him with your reply.

“Enjoying our third snack of the day at 11 am! Miss you too, can’t wait to see you next week!”

He reads the message right away, his reply coming just seconds later.

“Look at that bump! You look gorgeous, baby! Can’t wait to see you too, have fun with your sister today, love you lots Xx”

Since he has left you’ve been trying to keep yourself busy so you don’t miss him too much and you’re also using these weeks to spend as much time with your friends and family as possible, knowing well once the baby arrives you won’t be going out that much for a while, nestled up in your home, learning the ropes of being a mother. Today you are meeting up with your sister, she is taking you out to this alleged new, quite fancy restaurant you haven’t heard about before. She claimed that it’s really exclusive, so you don’t have to worry about being photographed or bothered, but she also told you to glam yourself up for the occasion. It’s gonna be some nice sister time, something you haven’t been able to do in a long time.

You take the assignment seriously, doing your hair and makeup the best you can and you decide to put on a flowy maxi dress with a soft, knitted cardigan, very much going for a kind of cottage core vibe. Leaving just in time you text your sister that you’re on your way, putting the address into the GPS and heading out of town, because the place is near the beach. She texts you back that she’ll meet you there and so your short little road trip begins. Sitting in the car you’re listening to one of the many playlists Sebastian has made for you and the baby, he likes to play them at home, humming the songs under his breath, hoping to start educating your little girl in the field of music as early as possible. You have to admit he has a good taste, so you don’t mind it at all.

As you follow the instructions of the GPS you find the place that’s supposed to be your destination, but it doesn’t seem like a restaurant at all, more like a mansion of some kind, a very expensive looking if you are being honest. There are no other cars, no sign of other people so as you park at the front you call your sister.

“Hey, I’m right outside, but I have a feeling I’m at the wrong place? It doesn’t look like a restaurant.”

“Oh, don’t worry! You’re at the right place! I’m a little late, but I’ll be there soon, just go inside, they are expecting us!” she assures you, but you’re still not convinced.

Ending the call you approach the entrance and for your surprise the heavy doors open before you could even knock or find the bell. A man in a tuxedo appears in front of you, smiling warmly at you.

“Miss Y/L/N?”

“Uh, yeah,” you nod, a little shy and confused.

“Please, follow me,” prompts as you walk inside and the two of you start crossing the grandiose hall of the building.

At this point you are sure it’s not a restaurant, but you have no idea why your sister wanted you to come here. You want to ask the man if you’re even at the right place, but he called you by your name so he was expecting you, this has to be the place where you’re supposed to be. More and more questions pile up in your head as you follow him out to the backyard, a gigantic, flower-filled garden that’s straight out of a fairytale, a path leading down to the beach where there’s a dreamy little pergola with even more flowers and fairy lights and as your eyes fall on the figure standing in the middle of the pergola, you immediately gasp.

Because surrounded with all the flowers and lights, there is Sebastian standing in an elegant suit, smiling widely at you as the man next to you helps you down the stairs before you start walking down the path to him.

Tears are flooding your eyes, because you already know what it is, but you can’t believe it’s really happening. He was so sneaky, he got home from filming earlier and even made your sister play along to surprise you, he is such a romantic soul, no one can change your mind about that!

“You’re not in Atlanta!” you tell him when he is finally close enough to hear you. He chuckles sweetly, taking a few steps forward to meet you sooner, his hands finding your waist as you cup his face in your hands, pulling him down to kiss you right away.

“No, I’m not, baby,” he smirks, his hands sliding to your belly, gently stroking the sides as you wipe your tears away, but there’s no use, because the next moment, he steps back a little, just enough so that he can get down on one knee and you’re crying again when you see him pull out a little velvety box from his pocket.

You were expecting it. You knew he would propose before the baby arrives, but you just didn’t know when and how, but he surely outdone himself with his little surprise.

“My Love, Y/N,” he starts after a deep breath, his hands finding yours and you can feel the shaking, but you’re not sure if it’s coming from yours or his. Probably both. “I’ve spent the best years of my life with you and I haven’t been the same man since the day I met you, but in the best way possible. You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met and I’m so lucky that you did not only choose to be with me, but you are now carrying our baby under your heart as well, out little one who is equal parts of you and me, though you’re doing ninety percent of the job here,” he adds with a chuckle, making you laugh through your tears. “I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you the moment you were so badass on your first date, kissing me when I didn’t have the balls to do the first step, but I’m glad you did. I fell in love with you right then and there and the same thing has been happening every day, over and over again since then. I know we went a little out of order with everything we had planned,” he smirks, glancing down at your bump before his blue eyes find yours again, “but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so I have a question for you.”

He pops the lid of the box open, a gorgeous, brilliant diamond ring coming to your vision, sparkling in the warm afternoon Sun so perfectly, it takes your breath away.

“Y/N Y/L/N, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?” he asks, clearly nervous, even though there’s no doubt about your answer, you’ve told him plenty of times before that you want to marry him, but still, it’s a huge moment in both your lives.

“Yes, yes, yes!” you nod eagerly as you both start laughing in relief, his shaky fingers tagging the ring out of the box and sliding it to your finger gently, before he brings your hand to his mouth and kisses the ring.

Then he finally stands up and you basically throw yourself into his arms, kissing him like your life depends on it as he kisses you back with just as much force.

“I love you and I can’t wait to call you my wife,” he sighs pleased against your lips.

“Mm, another title in the line? Girlfriend, baby mama, fiancé and then wife,” you giggle giddily.

“You missed one,” he cocks an eyebrow at you slyly.

“Which one?”

“Love of my life.”

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #sebastian stan fluff #sebastian stan blurb #sebastian stan oneshot #sebastian stan one shot #sebastian stan fiction #sebastian stan x you #sebastian stan x y/n #sebastian stan x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x reader

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sunel0 · 2 years

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Something Dark Is Waiting in the Woods: Chapter 7

You can read it on AO3

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)

Relationship: Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski

Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Theo Raeken, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Liam Dunbar, Mason Hewitt, Lydia Martin, Jackson Whittemore, Kira Yukimura, Nogitsune (Teen Wolf), Dread Doctors (Teen Wolf)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Magical everyone but Theo, Possession, Background Relationships, Murder, Minor Character Death, they kill the DD okay it’s fine, Familiars, Human Familiars, Under-negotiated Kink, or more like not negotiated but they are both into it, Hand Jobs, Light Dom/sub, Orgasm Denial, Familiar Bond, Aged-Up Character(s), They are in university

Words: Chapter: 8721/Total: 47974

Chapters: 7/11

Huge thanks to @amatchinwater for beta-reading!

***

Stiles was sprawled on his bed, his eyes closed, contemplating his life once again, still somehow feeling more dead than alive.

Stiles could hear running water in the bathroom next to his room, which was probably Scott or Mason, considering he could hear Liam and Theo yelling at each other and, apparently, Jackson through their microphones downstairs.

It was actually surprising how fast Stiles' friends took to Theo. It was probably good for him to have someone to hang out with. Socialization and meaningful connections are supposed to be good for people and everything. And Theo was lacking those so badly.

He heard steps in the hallway and then someone knocked on his opened door.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?" That was Mason's voice.

"Yeah," Stiles mumbled, not opening his eyes.

Stiles felt the bed bend down next to him, jostling him a bit.

"So I wanted to ask you something."

Stiles opened his eyes just a crack to look at Mason.

"Yeah?" He repeated the third time.

He didn't feel his usual well of words inside of him.

"It's probably going to sound super weird, and I'm not sure if this is even possible or something, if this wouldn't harm you and everything…"

"Mason. I get it. What did you want to ask?" Stiles wasn't the most patient person in the world on the best of days, and today wasn't even an okay day. He didn't mind the company, but if Mason wanted to ask something, Stiles preferred he got to it.

Mason nodded, his eyes wide once again. Stiles sometimes was surprised to realize it wasn't his default expression, although he also kind of envied his ability to get that excited about literally anything.

Like, yes, Stiles got excited easily as well, but Mason was something else.

"So I was wondering, you've been struggling with the demon for a while now, and you said it had even helped you, so it must not be super hostile, at least not towards you. So then I thought that it has also tried to communicate with you, and then I was wondering if you tried to communicate with it back?"

Stiles stared at him for a second, and then closed his eyes again. He sat up.

"Why, do you think it would work?"

Stiles had thought about this himself, but how would he do it? And it was nice to have someone with similarly open opinion who wasn't pushing him to take life-changing steps on a whim, like some people did. People who were supposed to value his life.

This was the energy Stiles needed the least in his life. He had enough of it in himself already.

Maybe that's why the magic chose Theo. It apparently wanted Stiles to go full on villain or die, because together they would probably force Stiles somewhere down that path.

"Well, I think since it seems to be friendly towards you, it's going to be fine. And you can ask it some questions, like why it chose you, because it had to choose, didn't it, and why did it decide to help you, and maybe even if it wanted to be let go, and go you could do it…"

Stiles nodded along to the whole speech, but had eventually to interrupt.

"Do you think it's possible? Maybe it possessed me because it was the only way to get out of the tree, and now maybe it wants to get away, but can't on its own?" Now Stiles was getting excited, too.

Because this was a great idea, probably. It was something to try, at the very least, and Stiles was always more of a man of action rather than planning. But he also knew that action without a plan could be a disaster. He had enough of that as a teenager.

But this was technically coming together into a plan.

And Mason's excitement had always been contagious.

"Maybe!" said Mason. "Or maybe it had some other reason. Communication is always the key!" Mason even jumped a little in place.

Stiles nodded again, frowning, thinking, the gears in his head turning at full speed, the headache and the exhaustion almost completely pushed to the background.

Stiles only now realized that the demon didn't move at all the whole day, but he could still feel it. Was it as exhausted as Stiles? Did the feelings of the demon make Stiles' worse?

"But how would I even try to contact it? Every time we had any kind of communication, it was it… tugging, I guess, on my mind."

Mason also sat up a bit straighter, a little furrow between his brows.

"You said it talked to you, was it like… like placing thoughts into your mind?"

Stiles nodded again.

"But I don't know how to do it back."

Mason turned his head to the side, considering it.

"Since it's in your head, maybe try to make space for it in there? Like meditating or something? So there's less of your own thoughts and more… nothingness for it to insert itself into."

Stiles turned the idea in his head. He had never been good at meditation, it required too much stillness from him, way more than he was usually capable of, but sometimes it did work great actually. And he thought that maybe today was a good day for something like that. He felt mostly dead but somehow still not overtired, which usually threw him into a cranky frenzy where he would do something like wash all the light switches in the house at four am and hiss at Liam for trying to turn the lights on to get some water.

Right now he thought he might be in the perfect condition to be able to meditate. So maybe he should try it. Like looking into himself and everything.

Face your demons.

Literally.

He nodded. Then he nodded again.

"Okay, let's try it."

Mason nodded in return, his dark eyes full-on sparkling with fascination and excitement.

Stiles sometimes envied Mason's ability never to get tired of being excited for something and consistently try out theory after theory until he figured it out. Stiles was too chaotic for that, if something didn't work, he wanted to either hyperfocus or drop it. There was no average amount of trying for him.

He placed himself comfortably on the bed. Then he had to stop to download a white noise app, because apparently the last time he meditated was before he got this phone.

Turning on some waves sounds – always his white noise of choice – Stiles closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the sounds outside, then the feeling of the contact with the bed, then his body, and then what he was feeling, and then his breathing.

One – in – two – out – three – in – four – out.

Slowly, he stopped counting, just feeling the rise and fall of his chest, his eyes closed, his body relaxed for once in his fucking life.

His mind was blank. But nothing seemed to be happening. He tried his best not to focus on anything.

And then the demon stirred.

Stiles could feel it poking its head out, sensing the sudden emptiness in his current living space.

Stiles kept not thinking about anything.

The demon moved, waking up again, and Stiles could feel that it was tired as well.

It wasn't used to wielding human magic. The adjustment took too much of its energy. It was bone-tired, it didn't even have bones.

Stiles could call it the Void. It really was close to a human once. Yes, he could hear Stiles' questions, and he could even feel his connection to Theo. It was, in fact, from Japan. It was a fox once, but now it couldn't tell what it was.

It liked Stiles. He reminded it of something nice, it couldn't remember what. It had been trapped in that damned tree on and off for a very long time, longer than a human brain could properly comprehend, and it didn't do much good to its memory.

It also remembered that it had met the Tall Figures. It didn't remember when and how but he remembered not particularly enjoying this encounter.

Very much not enjoying it, in fact, but it couldn't remember what had happened at all. It just felt the rage, part of which it knew was the tree it had been in, but a huge part was its own. It hated them.

It used only Stiles' magic the day before plus some of Theo's strength, and it did heal Theo, but its magic was very different from human, and the adjustment was simply too much for both of them. It knew that it was using a lot of Stiles' power as well by transporting them this way, because Stiles knew that humans rarely could do this, and Stiles wasn't naturally capable of this, so it really had to strain his magic and use Theo's strength as well for all the things it did that night. Which probably wasn't good for Theo as well, but werewolves had always been amazingly resilient and usually bounced back easily, it looked like.

There was some sound in the room.

"Don't…"

"Stiles!"

Stiles opened his eyes.

Theo was standing in the doorway, his hand clutching the doorframe, face somehow annoyed and worried at the same time.

Stiles rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands.

Fuck. He got it. He actually talked to the demon. He didn't learn much, but he still was way too excited now to meditate again. Theo broke his concentration.

"What?"

Theo came closer, looming over Stiles now, grabbing his wrist and tugging it away from his face and then just not letting go.

"You felt weird," he said, as if this explained him running into here.

Stiles stopped rubbing his eye with his free hand and looked up at him.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"The connection. It felt… even," Theo paused, looking for the right word.

Stiles now just stared at him. He could see Mason's head move between them, like he was a cartoon character watching a tennis match.

"You freaked out because I finally felt chill for once?"

Theo blinked a couple of times.

"Yeah." Something in Stiles' face must've shown his bafflement, because Theo continued: "The connection doesn't feel that level even when you are asleep, of course I found it suspicious."

"You know what the connection feels like when I'm asleep?"

"Like you don't."

"Yeah but you are trying to find a way to sleep like all the time, of course I would feel it. You sleep more than I do."

Theo looked distinctly unimpressed.

"Ever wondered why I'm constantly sleepy?"

Stiles frowned at that, swinging his wrist in Theo's hand back and forth, but Theo didn't let go, just letting his hand swing with Stiles'. Not that Stiles was actually trying to make him let go, he just felt like moving.

"Some people just need more sleep than others, plus I don't know what's happening inside your heavily traumatized head, maybe it's just depression or a related issue or some kind of hormonal imbalance. If someone wants to sleep it's better to let them sleep. Unless it's like brain damage or something. But I don't think you can have a concussion," he felt the need to amend his statement: "And unless it's getting very concerning and actually pathological, then you should at least talk to the person. But I'm not that badly concerned yet. It kind of loses points in the grand scheme of things at the moment."

Theo rolled his eyes.

"The word 'no' exists as well, you know."

"Yes, but I like to use as many words as I physically can, thank you very much. Unless it's about consent. Then I'm trying to be as clear as possible."

Theo shook his head, pinching his nose, but still holding Stiles' wrist with the other hand.

"Good to know. And I'm constantly falling asleep because you're impossible to sleep with, you know?"

There was an audible little "intense" from the side.

"Not like that," Stiles waved his free hand in Mason's general direction, eyes still trained on Theo. "Although maybe like that as well, but I haven't gotten any complaints about that before. Anyway. No, Theo, of course, I, being a twenty something year old adult man, have never ever slept with anyone in one bed to get complaints about how I'm impossible to sleep with. Yeah, Theo, I'm aware that I'm impossible to sleep with, I have no idea why you are still trying to."

Stiles didn't mean for it to sound like he was annoyed, because he really wasn't. He did know he moved a lot in his sleep, and while he enjoyed co-sleeping, he would've been totally fine with sleeping separately for everyone's benefit.

Theo huffed indignantly in response.

"Because you still haven't gotten me a bed, obviously."

"Well, you are free to use the couch then."

If Theo was going to be shit, Stiles could be one as well.

Stiles could tell Theo wanted to cross his arms over his chest, but still didn't let go of Stiles' hand, and those two things were kind of hard to do at the same time.

"It's uncomfortable."

"But it has to be easier than sleeping with me."

"Wait, you two are sleeping together?"

Theo, Stiles, and Mason turned their heads almost simultaneously, looking at Liam standing in the doorway, looking from Stiles to Theo and back.

Scott appeared behind his back, his hair still dripping water everywhere.

"Who sleeps together?"

"Apparently Theo and Stiles do."

"You do?" Scott looked at them with interest.

Mason shook his head from side to side. "Well, Theo is his familiar, it's not that weird, is it?"

Stiles was sure that this reminder only made the possibility even weirder for everyone.

Liam and Scott didn't seem to agree with Mason, exactly, but it was also very common to sleep with your familiar. Something, something special bond, something, something they were like pets anyway.

Theo was by no means a pet, so this actually didn't apply to them – or at least it shouldn't apply to them – and everyone seemed to understand that, but also wasn't willing to call Stiles out on his bullshit. And they weren't familiar enough with Theo to call him out.

Ha. Familiar. Get it?

But for Stiles, Theo was exactly that, familiar enough to call him out.

"Yeah, when the familiar is a pet big and safe enough for that. But you're not a pet anymore."

"Oh, so you prefer me in full shift? With all the fur literally everywhere? That was lovely to clean up even with magic just after a couple of days of me staying here."

That was actually a great point. Stiles still couldn't get all of the black fur off the carpet in the living room. Plus walking (while he did know Theo would be fine being out on his own, others obviously didn't, so Stiles would still have to go with him, which would take his time, and he had to fit it into his hated routine), but on the other hand it would've given Stiles a reason to go out. And to clean more often.

So Stiles shrugged and squinted up at Theo.

"Actually… probably yes."

Theo made a very exaggeratedly pouty face.

"Oh, daddy doesn't like me."

Stiles ripped his hand out of Theo's hand now.

"No," he said, shaking his head vehemently. "No, absolutely not, don't you dare call me that again. Ever."

Mason laughed.

Theo smirked, finally assuming his favorite pose in the world – crossing his arms over his chest.

"And what are you going to do about it?"

Stiles could hear Liam whisper to Scott if they should leave.

"You're such an insufferable asshole."

"And apparently I'm exactly what you deserve, according to magic. And I've heard you all magical little assholes believe that magic doesn't lie or something. So deal with it."

Stiles nodded at that.

"I'm also kind of possessed, which one may find sort of equivalent to a curse in a way, so it could as well added you to the demon that is going to kill me. The more the merrier, as they say, you know," Stiles scrambled up, untangling his legs and successfully keeping himself from face-planting into the floor. He loved living on the edge like that. "Anyway, I need to Google some things. The demon actually told me a bit about itself, so maybe now I'll be able to find out more."

Google wasn't really the best place to look for proper magical information, but if you knew how to look correctly, you could find some things. College libraries still had their catalogues out there.

***

The search wasn't going as well as Stiles expected. Not that he expected much to begin with, which meant the search was going literally nowhere.

He groaned in frustration.

Scott fell down onto the chair next to him. Because Stiles ended up doing his research in the kitchen. The table in his bedroom was so covered in… things that it wasn't usable anymore, and this didn't feel like an on the bed kind of research.

"Is it that bad?"

Stiles drummed his fingers on the table, then picked at a little thread on his sleeve.

"I don't know, I can't find anything."

Scott hummed, full of compassion.

"What did it tell you?"

Stiles sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"It told me that it used to be human once and that it was Japanese. That's it. And demonology is such a small and badly studied field that it doesn't give me anything. Like some Japanese dude once became a demon? That's it? I don't even know if there's anything to look for. But then why shove him into a tree? They usually do something like that for the more powerful ones, and humans hardly ever seemed to make it into powerful ones. Or they don't come visit."

Scott scratched his head.

"You know, not all things that live in people are actually demons? Maybe it's one of these things, but it had lost its host somehow. Like Kira's fox. Technically it's a spirit that happens to inhabit the same body as her, and potentially can be separated, but it was also born with her and is supposed to die with her. Or Jordan, for example. He's different. The Hellhound came to him by accident, and will move on when he dies, but no-one calls it a possession, because it's not a demon. Maybe this is something like this. Jordan is actually a better example, I just didn't think about it at first," Scott nodded a bit to his thoughts.

Stiles considered this. There might have been something in this. The trees were normally used as a container for something powerful, and this being a Nemeton, it must've been super powerful, yes, and normally this something turned out to be a demon, but why couldn't a tree be used for something else, like a Hellhound, really? Hellhounds were powerhouses, basically. It's just Stiles didn't think it was popular to consider trapping them like this, although he didn't know why. Maybe they weren't considered dangerous or harmful enough? Although he wasn't sure what ways there were to deal with something like a Hellhound that went evil.

Could one separate spirits like this from the hosts?

Could people separate Kitsunes from their people?

So did Stiles now need to Google Japanese spirits or something?

Okay, he could try this. Not that he had any other idea or plans.

It also said Stiles can call it the Void. But it also didn't help much so far. So maybe in this context…

It wasn't a bingo straight away. It took some googling. Scott sat next to him, having gone up to grab a textbook, reading it now. The book was as thick as Stiles' forearm, he didn't envy Scott at all.

His face must have changed because Scott asked:

"What? What did you find?"

"I think… It might be this. It's a Nogitsune. Literally like you said, it's a fox, actually, a type of Kitsune, but like really angry and after pain and suffering. That's why it gave me weird dreams with murder. It's a trickster and feeds off chaos and pain," Stiles scratched his eyebrow. "I'm surprised it didn't do anything more harmful yet, then, it must be taking a long time to wake up probably after being stuck in a tree for so long."

Scott turned the laptop to him a bit, to be able to read what Stiles found. Then there was some happy jeering in the living room, and then Stiles heard footsteps.

Theo moved a chair from under the table and threw himself into it.

"So I hear you found something? A Nogitsune?"

Scott looked up from the screen, looking at Theo with curiosity clear in his eyes.

"You could hear us from the other room?"

Theo didn't even look at him, focused on Stiles. What was this even about? First half-freaking out when apparently their connection had gone too quiet, then not letting go of his wrist, now this – being distinctly anti-social.

Although Stiles didn't actually know how Theo was around people normally. It was weird for him with Stiles because of the connection as well, most likely, so that wasn't saying much. And considering the conditions in which Theo grew up, he probably didn't know much about socialization without wanting to get something from someone or trick them into something.

But then again, he had to realize that getting on Scott's good side would kind of add him some bonus points in Stiles' eyes. Technically. Since, you know, your best friend's opinion usually matters and everything.

Not that Stiles had much of a choice when it came to Theo. Damned magic.

"Yeah, I'm a werewolf, in case you forgot. So what did you find? Is it a Nogitsune?"

The thing was that he said it like it was absolutely obvious that he could hear them from the other room just because he was a werewolf. Like they really knew anything about those. The magical society chose to mostly ignore werewolves and vampires since they didn't have any inherent magic in them. Everyone else – yeah, sure. Kira, Lydia, Jordan were all unquestionably parts of their society. Theo – eh, he was just a dude. And Stiles wouldn't even put it past some people to question his humanity with him being a familiar, even if usually it wasn't an issue for were-creatures.

But Stiles was still annoyed.

"Why do I have to tell you anything? You can go back there and eavesdrop all you want. That's what you do best."

He turned the laptop back to himself, scrolling slowly down, not even reading it properly, just being grumpy. He did realize he was being petty, but being petty was his thing.

"Stiles, that shit kind of directly fucks with my life as well, so I would appreciate it, if I was included in the conversation as well, you know."

Stiles felt suddenly so full of anger, he couldn't really contain it anymore. First Theo didn't warn him about the fact that he had a bunch of crazy scientists on his ass, putting both of them in danger Stiles didn't even get a chance to prepare for, and then fucked with Stiles' weird spiritual séance, and just now he had been pretty much an asshole to Scott. Also, he generally wasn't all that useful around the house, and Stiles could've very much used the support here, if not with cooking, then at least with cleaning. Which wasn't really relevant, but added the fuel. Stiles suddenly felt this cold, chill rage overcome him. He turned to Theo more fully, making sure he looked him in the eye.

"Yes, Theo, I do, in fact, know this. But you have been getting on my nerves way too much to get the privilege of being allowed into the conversation, so I am going to figure everything out," he put a finger through the ring on Theo's collar tugging on it just a bit, so Theo could feel its edge dig into the back of his neck, to remind him it was there, "and you are going to think about how to be a good boy and communicate with people you might put in danger. Go," he let go of the ring turning back to his laptop, a plan of how and what he needed to look up and what books he might need to borrow from the library (this time hopefully legally) slowly starting to come together in his mind.

Theo stared at him, face full of confusion slowly melting into anger.

"What the actual…"

"Go," Stiles interrupted, and he could feel this weird magic he used back in the car just before Roscoe broke down on them, that he didn't understand, but that made Theo obey.

His face was positively furious, and Stiles was sure there was going to be hell to pay for him later, but Theo went away, pushing himself away from the table with both hands, making sure to scrape the legs of the chair against the floor as much as it was possible, making Liam flinch. He stomped up the stairs, and a couple of minutes later they heard a door, that Stiles presumed was his room, slam shut.

Stiles wondered whether he would've heard if his door broke completely. Werewolf strength and everything.

There was also something in the fact that Theo chose to go to the bedroom (or maybe the bathroom?) in this situation, because Stiles didn't specify, did he? And it wasn't like Theo had a room to be sent to or parents to send him there growing up. Maybe back when he was very little, when he still lived with his actual family?

Scott looked at Stiles with absolutely round eyes, perfect like saucers.

Mason and Liam appeared in the archway to the living room.

"What happened?"

"Yeah, Stiles, what even was that? What did you do?" Scott was still staring at him.

Stiles shrugged, aiming for nonchalant, but falling so comically short, it basically ended up behind his back. But really, he didn't know and he didn't have time for figuring another thing out. First he had to deal with the demon, then figure out a way to get rid of the Dread Doctors (actually, the first point on his agenda should probably be somehow to talk about them to his friends who were now living with him and his the-Dread-Doctors-harbinger of a familiar without giving too much of Theo's personal information; it wasn't Stiles' story to tell and he had a distinct feeling that Theo wouldn't be helping him with anything any time soon, which was a pain in the ass as well), then what to do with the fact that he had a human familiar and didn't want to end up as a news sensation, then his school, then therapy, then school, then what exactly did having Theo as his familiar mean for both of them personally, and only then what the hell this strange thing that he did was. It looked like it worked only on Theo, but he had never tried anything remotely like this on anyone else. And it was most likely specifically targeted, considering it didn't influence Scott in any way, so for now he had to leave it be. Was it the Void's doing? Possibly. And then this problem was going to go away together with it.

"I don't have time to figure another thing out right now."

"What happened?" Mason asked again, with more insistence this time, looking from Stiles to Scott, waiting for an explanation.

Liam just looked confused.

Scott frowned at Stiles.

"What did happen here, Stiles? What did I see? What did you do to Theo? You didn't even sound like yourself. Is the demon influencing you?"

That made Stiles pause. If this wasn't just his guess, then maybe…

Was the Void influencing him? Could it be its power slowly leaking into Stiles'? What would this mean?

"I don't actually know," he told Scott.

Then he turned to Mason and Liam, still standing near the doorway:

"I'm not sure about what exactly happened here. I just got very angry and told Theo to go in a way he couldn't…" he searched for the right word to describe how his intentions and the result actually worked, "disobey, I guess."

This was such a weird word.

Mason drew his eyebrows together, trying to understand.

"What do you mean? Like magically? Did you cast something to screw with his will?" Stiles could hear excitement creep into Mason's voice.

Mental magic was complicated and required a lot of special knowledge, as not to accidentally erase the person or something like that, and Stiles was as far removed from this filed as it was possible, so if this was what it was it sounded very bad and extremely dangerous for Theo, and Stiles was starting to feel awful for doing something like that without even knowing for sure that this was exactly what he did. On top of just forcing Theo to do something very much against his will. And not even for that good of a reason. Back in the car, yes, it was crucial. Here – it definitely was more out of pettiness.

"I don't think that was what I did. Although I don't know. But I didn't cast anything, so I don't think it's likely…"

"But you did something. Like it was clear he wasn't actually going to go just like that, and you also acted all weird…"

"Weirder than he does around Theo in general?" Liam asked, finally sitting down.

Mason followed him.

"What do you mean I act weird about him? I don't," Stiles made a vague gesture, as if waving the accusations away.

It was Theo who was weird, and that was just in general, Stiles was as fine as one could get in his situation and with his issues.

If anything, he was handling everything very well, if he were to say so himself. He only had one panic attack since getting possessed, and even that one was mostly aborted, so Stiles was counting it as a win in his book.

Mason smirked at this.

"Yeah, sure, you totally didn't let him basically hold your hand because he was worried, and then you didn't just sit there still, taking it."

"What was I supposed to do? Rip it away? It's rude!"

Liam looked at him.

"Stiles, last time you dated someone, you almost pushed them down the stairs by accident because Scott came out of the room at a wrong time and saw you kiss them. You are terrible at PDA in new relationships. Unless it's like your dad or maybe the gang."

Stiles had to agree, this does happen, he was terrible at PDA, but what did this have to do with letting Theo hold his wrist?

"They were my partner, but Theo isn't, though, he's my familiar. That's basically family immediately."

"So it's like you're married to a very hot guy who you will even allow to hold your hand in front of your friends, how sweet," cooed Mason.

"Oh, so Theo is actually hot," said Liam, nodding to himself, as if confirming something.

"He absolutely is, I'm glad you're starting to see when a guy is hot."

Stiles imagined Mason trying to become like sex buddies or maybe a very casual roommate thing with Theo.

He hated the image with passion, even knowing that Mason had a very cute very long-term boyfriend, and Theo was nowhere near Mason's actual type anyway. He was Stiles and Lydia's type. He shook his head, trying to get this idea out of there.

"What? He is hot!" Mason repeated. "Or does the familiar bond prohibit you from seeing this?" There was suddenly this spark of curiosity in his eyes again. "How does your bound even work? Do you feel his emotions? Does he feel yours?"

"Guys," Scott interrupted. "That's not the most relevant thing right now. Stiles, what have you done to him? Can you do it to other people? Has this happened before?"

Ah yes, right.

Stiles still wondered if Theo could hear them from the second floor.

He rubbed his forehead, once again briefly getting the image of rubbing it all the way through to his brain just to have a look finally. Again. This thought was becoming a recurring character in his mind space.

Stiles rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the table, drumming his fingers against it, his leg just this close to bouncing.

"It has happened once before, yesterday before Roscoe broke down, it was a very stressful situation that I needed Theo to talk, and basically I forced him to do so. I didn't do it consciously either time, but I just really needed and wanted him to finally fucking talk for once, so it somehow happened. And this time I was just very pissed at him, so… it happened again."

"Do you think… do you think it might be the demon's magic?" Scott asked, worried, brows furrowed. "Is this possible? Can it be poisoning you?"

Stiles shook his head, hard.

"No, it's not possible. It still had to ask my permission to use my magic while I'm conscious, and even then we both felt like shit. I would say that its magic isn't compatible with human magic, like, a Kitsune normally wouldn't have had magic without their spirit, and I already have it, so maybe it's true, but I don't know…" Stiles trailed off, thinking about it.

Was it possible that their magic would just clash them both to death?

He should ask Theo if maybe he remembered something related from the Doctors' experiments.

When he had convinced Theo to stop being rightfully angry with him.

One day Stiles was going to just blow up from all the problems he had, and all the king's horses and all the king's men wouldn't be able to put him together again.

"Wait, it used your body?"

"Yeah," Stiles said, folding and unfolding the sleeve of his hoodie into a little crease. "There was a problem that we both – Theo and I – very clearly couldn't get out of on our own, so it offered to help us, but it had to ask me to have access to my magic, because it only used mine, and I still ended up feeling like I was dead."

"Stiles, what has been happening here while we were gone? This sounds extremely dangerous," Scott reached out, placing his hand on Stiles' arm on the table, Stiles clearly seeing how much like his mother he looked at the moment.

They had the same eyes. Always worried, always wanting to help.

Stiles guessed those were the types of people to chose the professions they chose.

"This was kind of a weird holiday for me, yeah, but being possessed is also extremely dangerous, so nothing is new here."

"Okay, leaving whatever happened this week aside for later," Mason looked at Stiles a bit sharply, well, as sharp as he could look at one of the people he adored, "can we get back to you somehow fucking with Theo's mind and making him do stuff he didn't want to?"

Stiles made a face at this.

"Put like that, it sounds even worse."

"It does sound bad," Liam agreed.

"Well, let's get back to it," Mason insisted.

Stiles was amazed at how good some people were at keeping their thoughts in line. By this time, Stiles had already kind of forgotten what started this conversation.

"Do you have any ideas what might have done this?"

Stiles shook his head again, folding the sleeve more aggressively.

Liam leaned onto the table more.

"Is it possible that all of you are blowing it out of proportion? Can't it be just the familiar bond effect but brought to human size?"

Scott seemed to understand what he was talking about, judging by his little "oh".

He relaxed immediately.

"Right, that would be the easiest explanation."

"What effect?" Stiles asked, getting nervous.

He should have listened in class. He knew next to nothing about the science behind the bond.

"Oh, you know, how they write in books, that a familiar listens to you if you ask them the right way, despite the fact that they are, like, animals, and don't usually understand you probably, unless you taught them some commands. I know that Sega listens to me when I really need her to, although hedgehogs are hardly tamable, so she's pretty much wild. Maybe it's just that, except you have a human who can clearly express their will, and also maybe realize better what's happening, then it looks bad," he shrugged, unsure of himself after having talked for so long.

"Wait, is this actually a thing? I thought it was just like 'aww, your familiar always understands you' kind of thing," Stiles asked, looking more to Scott, the magical vet student, who had to study these things.

It was a wonder that Liam came up with this first, but then he was the only one here with the actual experience.

Scott shook his head:

"It is a real thing, the magical side effect of the bond. I didn't even think about it, huh. Experience is always better than theory," Scott smiled at Liam.

If this was what was happening, Stiles was going to send all the thankfulness he could emotionally gather to the universe for such an easy explanation. Because if this was it, then it wasn't anything weird, it was just how their magic worked, and he would just have to explain it to Theo and try to be careful in the future.

It seemed to be easier said than done, considering that being pissed off turned out to be enough to trigger it, and with his becoming of questionable stability, it might get even more tricky.

"If you are going to sleep with him, it's going to be so unethical."

Stiles stopped fidgeting to stare at Mason.

"That's why no-one sleeps with anyone."

Liam sighed.

"I do sleep with someone! Corey, remember? And Scott has Kira. And Liam… well, whatever Hayden decides. It's just you right now, really," Mason's face was the picture of innocence.

Stiles rolled his eyes, but Mason was right, right now it was just him.

"Maybe if I did sleep with someone, I wouldn't be in half of this shit," he said, his face sour. Maybe he would have had some other outlet for all of his energy instead of the amazing idea of going to the fucking forest.

He sighed. And now he was also cursed with Theo.

***

It was very late when Stiles finally got ready for bed avoiding actually going to his bedroom first. He was the last one to leave the kitchen, and he didn't even want to know what time it was, because he knew that tomorrow he had to go to class, and it was not going to be fun.

And he hadn't even told Theo yet. Stiles felt like he had to warn him, because this meant that he was going to be left alone in the house. Stiles guessed it wasn't like with a dog, since Theo was still capable of getting his own food (kind of), self-entertainment and self-care, but still.

They should really figure out a way to get Theo a driver's license. Stiles didn't really need a car to get around the campus, plus he could very easily carpool with the guys, but Theo would actually need it to get to work in town, and it's not like he could buy one.

Stiles suddenly wondered what had actually happened to Theo's parents. He had a hard time just accepting that someone would just give up on looking for their child after just having lost another one. That didn't make sense to Stiles. He knew that some people really didn't care, but he felt like he had to make sure. Even back when his mother had just died and his father was in a terrible shape, he was sure that if something happened to him, his father would look for him.

Had Theo's parents just given up? Maybe something happened to them as well?

Maybe one day Stiles would search for them, and possibly even tell Theo.

He stood in front of his bedroom door, knowing full well that Theo could hear him clearly. He took a deep breath and finally opened the door, happy that it seemed to be intact.

The lights were off, and the only source of illumination came through the window, some moonlight and street lamps. In this light Stiles could see Theo's shape on the bed.

He noticed his eyes glimmering slightly in the poor lighting.

"Hey," Stiles said, closing the door behind him.

Theo rolled over with his back to Stiles now.

Stiles sighed. He was lucky that Stiles' bed was big enough for them both to sleep without touching, technically, because at least this way the chances of Stiles flinging himself off of it were lower. And Stiles didn't think Theo was up for cuddling tonight.

He was mildly disappointed by the realization, but he chased the thought away. He was just getting used to the warmth, this was all.

But Stiles would still probably roll over onto Theo or something in his sleep anyway.

He changed as fast as he could without turning the lights on, feeling guilty about using his power over Theo against him in this way. He just hit a small photo frame on his drawer set, and the glass didn't even break. Even darkness couldn't win over his dedication to making as little noise and destruction.

If Theo was angry with him, he was going to apologize tomorrow, when he had the mental strength. Maybe. Hopefully.

He noticed the collar flung onto the floor in the middle of the room, his stomach doing a weird thing at the sighed. Another thing for him to ignore, that was.

It somehow felt like Theo rejecting him, and Stiles didn't understand this feeling. He had known Theo for just a week, and Theo chose to wear the collar himself, Stiles had nothing to do with it. It was completely up to Theo, and it's not like Stiles actually owned him or wanted something like that. He didn't think he would ever want for Theo to wear a collar. This even sounded kind of weird.

But still, the feeling was there.

Stiles didn't know what to think about it. So he didn't.

He got into the bed, facing Theo's back, and closed his eyes, trying to convince his mind to go to sleep, the daily struggle he had to endure.

Now he had to admit, feeling Theo next to him, usually holding him in some way, was absolutely something he got used to. And it seemed to actually help him fall asleep.

And now, without it, it didn't seem possible at all.

Stiles wondered what that might have meant. He knew that not all witches slept with their familiars, so he didn't think it was about that, but what else could it be?

Eventually, after some slow tossing so not to disturb Theo too much, Stiles gave up.

"Hey," he whispered, turning to Theo again, "are you awake?"

Theo didn't answer, but Stiles figured he wouldn't. He knew Theo wasn't asleep by his breathing.

When did he learn this trick?

"I'm sorry I made you go away. You are right, it does very much matter for your life as well, I shouldn't have forced you away like this. I was very annoyed by you, but I should have talked to you normally, and not like that. I didn't really know that I could do that, so I couldn't stop it."

His high school therapist would've been so proud of him at this moment. Actually articulately apologizing? Not in this life.

After a couple of moments of quiet, Theo turned around, looking up at Stiles from where he slid down, his head lower that the pillow.

"How did you do that? Is it actually something you witches can just do, without even casting, or had you cast something onto me, something I don't remember, so you could do this to me when you need to? Force me to do something?"

Stiles suddenly realized how scary this thing must've actually been for Theo.

And how it played together with him being basically kidnapped and forced to do shit he didn't want for virtually his whole life.

Of course Theo would freak out.

Stiles felt so unbelievably guilty, but he really didn't know how he did it until now, and even now he wasn't sure what to do with this knowledge, and if their suggestion was even right.

"No, I haven't done anything like that. You can even ask Mason or Scott to run some scanning spells on you. You could also ask Liam, but he's better at a very attacking combat magic, so that might backfire."

"Like I would know that what they are doing is right and what they are telling me is true."

Stiles guessed he wouldn't.

"I really can't give you any guarantees."

Theo seemed to think it over.

"I'm pretty sure I'll be able to tell if they decided to lie to me, but that wouldn't change the fact that I can't do anything about it, can I? Maybe just ditch you completely, but I'm not sure how well this would go with the fucking magic."

Stiles couldn't see Theo's face in the dark, with the window behind Theo's back, and their bond mostly transmitted big spikes in emotions, so he had only Theo's voice to judge.

And Theo sounded way too even. Like any of what they were talking about meant nothing to him.

But Stiles couldn't imagine that being thrown from one situation where you had hardly any control over your life to another one and having no way out could leave someone feeling nothing about it. Stiles would be full on freaking out.

Although maybe when your whole life is like this, you kind of get used to it.

Stiles didn't think it was Theo's case. He had known him just for a bit, but Theo didn't strike him as someone who actually naturally enjoyed being bossed around by others.

It's just that his life had some plans for him.

"I'm sorry," was the only thing Stiles could say, if he was being honest.

Theo was quiet for a long moment. Then he sighed a sigh so tired Stiles felt it in his own bones.

"Did you get any ideas about what it was in the end? I heard you started to discuss it but then I put on headphones."

Stiles smiled a bit at that. Such an angry teenager getting sent to his room.

"Wait, with my Spotify? You're going to fuck my Wrapped."

"That's my goal. And no, answer the question."

It was Stiles' turn to sigh.

"We think – actually, Liam suggested it, and Scott confirmed that it was potentially possible, but we can't prove the theory – that it's part of the bond effects. Liam said that his hedgehog, Sega, can do what he needs and asks her to do despite the fact that hedgehogs aren't actually that tamable and don't understand humans, you can't really train them. So it must be the combination of magic, words and the intention he puts in it. Kind of what I did with you both times, but it's just we both are way more aware of you having your own will and the fact that you were doing what I told you to do against it."

"So like I'm your Muppet? You can literally just make me do whatever you feel like making me do?"

"Well…" Stiles swallowed, "potentially, yes. I wouldn't though. I didn't know I had to be aware of this before, and now I know, I won't do it again," ha paused. "Unless it's to take you, me, or both of us out of life-threatening danger. At least on purpose."

"Ah yes, because I myself wouldn't be able to understand that you, I, or both of us are in danger, and only you can decide how I should act in this situation. I see," Stiles was very familiar with sarcasm, both from himself and from Lydia, but this was dripping with it so much, he could feel it slowly melting his fragile human bones.

He did appreciate it nevertheless.

"Yeah, you're right. I won't use it again."

Theo put his head up a bit and then just dropped it back onto the bed.

"You can't promise that. You don't seem to be able to control it properly, and both times used it by accident when emotional. You are totally going to do it again, and I wouldn't be able to fight it. Amazing."

Stiles somehow felt even guiltier despite the fact that he wasn't the one who chose it, and he couldn't force the magic's decisions. It wasn't really up to him, he could only promise to do his best.

"I can try looking up ways to break a familiar bond."

Theo made that strange thing with lifting his head up and then dropping it into the mattress again, letting it jump a couple of times, like a bad bouncy ball.

"Yeah, sure. The faster you can get rid of me, the better."

Stiles didn't know what else he could do. It didn't seem like any option was going make Theo any happier.

"Theo…"

"Forget it. What did you learn about the Nogitsune?"

Stiles sighed once again, shuffling around a bit. He should be trying to sleep.

"Not much," he answered anyway. "It told me to call it the Void. It had to have a human host once, but must have been somehow separated from it, and then it must have lived like a demon, moving from host to host, until it got locked in that tree that decided to give it back to me. How it got separated, what are its origins, how and why it was put into the tree, I haven't figured out yet, as well as how to get it out of me. It feeds of chaos and pain, so that explains my dreams and sleepwalking, but it sure as hell doesn't explain why it's being so nice to me. I guess the fact that it helped me made sense if it wanted a host after being stuck in an inanimate object, but still."

"It doesn't want you to die."

"Yeah."

"Maybe you remind it of its original host or something."

"Maybe."

They went silent again.

"It said it liked you, too," Stiles whispered.

Theo turned his face up, looking at Stiles. He probably could actually see his face. Unlike Stiles.

Stiles slowly took one of his hands from under his cheek, where he put it like he was used to, like a little child, and no less slowly put it onto Theo's cheek. It was warm and a bit coarse with some stubble. Stiles ran his thumb over Theo's cheekbone, slowly, gently, as if he was touching a wild animal for the first time, trying to let it know it could trust him, that he wasn't going to hurt it, and that he was going to take care of it. All it one tender touch.

Theo turned his face into Stiles' hand, a gesture of trust.

Stiles' heart missed a beat.

Theo moved closer, tugging Stiles to him at the same time, his arms snaking around him, pressing against Stiles, warm.

Stiles felt Theo's heartbeat getting slower, and his own synchronized to it.

Theo pressed his face somewhere into Stiles' chest, and Stiles felt him breathe out, long and tired, and it felt like letting go.

Stiles pressed a kiss to Theo's hair, his neck bending at an uncomfortable angle.

His head was empty probably for the first time in his entire life.

It felt amazing.

He fell asleep with Theo's cheek pressed against his chest and his hand somewhere in Theo's hair.

#teen wolf #steo #stiles stilinski #theo raeken #sdiwitw #my fandom #my writing stuff #sorry the banner is worse than usual #I even had to make it twice because I screwed up with the chapter number and I still didn't have the energy to try to fix it #also I should have brought this chapter closer to 9k but I only managed to fix what Brittany kindly told me to fix

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mappinglasirena · 3 years

Text

A Year to the Day

Well well well. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been going through the blog for some housekeeping over the last week (I’m currently about a third of the way through updating the tags! Yay!). One of the things I’m doing is creating a record of my old posts, in case I ever manage to lose something here on tumblr. Part of that record is the date at which the posts came out and... well:

The original Masterpost, the very first thing to be published on the Mapping La Sirena blog, went out at 23:50h on 11 May 2020. Turns out I started this blog exactly one year ago today!

Happy anniversary to me, I suppose ;9

I thought I’d take the opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to all you amazing people out there. When I started this project, I thought maybe a few hardcore-Trekkies would be interested in the first floor plan (since we didn’t have anything official at the time), and after that it would just be me rambling at the half dozen friends willing to indulge my hyperfixation. Turns out, I was extremely wrong about that!

I never thought so many people would join me on this strange little journey and share their own observations and questions and love for La Sirena with me. Your enthusiasm in the reblogs and tags is truly inspiring and I couldn’t do this without you all, so I’m incredibly happy to have all of you along for the ride. I hope this blog will continue to be a helpful resource and fun reading material and that it’ll bring you as much joy as this community has brought me.

Thank you all so, so very much!

Let’s all enjoy some anniversary cake together :D

#star trek picard #la sirena #about the project #not mapping #tw flashing lights #when i realized the date was coming up i thought i would publish the new masterpost as a sort of anniversary commemoration #exactly one year after the first one #but that won't happen because it's taking longer than expected #which is actually very on brand for this blog if we're being honest #🤣#i promise there will be more actual CONTENT in the near future #not just housekeeping and masterposts #but for now: I'm going to enjoy reminiscing about the last year with all of you #thank you all so much for making it brighter and a lot more nerdy and fun

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blackmaylovesfries · 4 years

Text

“Don’t touch my children!” - Taking him in

Asked: No

Words: 1510

Sinopse: Seventeen Hybrid AU - Yoon Jeonghan is a Scottish Fold cat, he hates being powerless. So Jeonghan had a hard time trusting her.

Notices: Mentions of sexual abuse (nothing explicit) and violence (not consummated). Language (the word ‘bitch’). Doyoon and Dongjin are 2 of the 4 that left Pledis before Seventeen debut, I didn’t see much of their personality and I just adapted them for entering the fic, I do not hate any of them!

BIRTHDAY POLL

Masterpost

Previous / Next

Jeonghan looked around the huge room the humans had guided they in. He didn’t liked the gray from outside but it seemed that the inside of the building was quite lively… Maybe too noise for him but he could deal with that long enough to him and Shua get out of there.

The humans from the called “Strike” team were kind but a little rough like just humans can be. The girl called Y/n was too all over the place for Jeonghan but he didn’t hate her. They had accommodated all the hybrid from his previous home in chairs in front of a small stage. He could see other hybrids peaking at them from the galeries on the superior floors.

There were quite a few looking at the sated hybrids but what called Jeonghan’s attention was the huge group that was staring at him and Joshua. The group seemed to include both feline and canine hybrids, Jeonghan could even identify some wild ones since some of them had the predator posture.

Joshua must have sensed that he was distracted since the younger cat grabbed his hand. Jeonghan looked at him and Shua indicated the girl on the stage. Jeonghan wasn’t listening before but now he could understand that she was talking something about them being save and needing to go under some medical procediments.

“They speak to us like we are human children or retarded.” Jeonghan rolled his eyes.

“Well… Some of us really can just understand things when putted like that.” Joshua shrugged. “Most important… They will make us let their doctors to touch us. I don’t know if I like that…” Jeonghan looked at his friend noticing his discomfort. He smiled and went back to study the huge group that was staring at them from the second floor.

“I see something quite interesting for us to play while we have to stay here.” His tone made Joshua look up too. His almost twin quickly found the object of his speech and opened a mischievous smile. Jeonghan didn’t knew why the group was so magnetic for his duo but seeing their reactions when he lifted his arm and waved did made him quite content.

---

“Y/n! Jeonghan is being a bitch again!” Woozi entered your office whining like a baby, making you laugh before turning to him. Jeonghan and Joshua were at the center for almost 3 months already. They had hit it off with your hybrids since Day 1. Well… At least that was what you though.

“What did he do this time? Woke you from your nap again?” You saw the duo’s mischief and pranks as a sign of love or at least of interest. Mainly Jeonghan, since he was quite vocal about what he liked and what he despises. The Scottish Fold hybrid was really sticky with your younger hybrids so, when he wasn’t sleeping somewhere random, he was playing or irritating the others.

“If you know that he will do it again and again, why don’t you nag at him so he is forced to stop?” Angry Jihoon was cute. You shrugged.

“For the same reason you came to complain to me and not to him.” Your smile was little. You were tired. That was a hard and full day in the office since The8 had being making more trouble around the near city. You couldn’t say you were 100% on the conversation.

“Weird time to respect your elders, Y/n.” His voice was a little acid. “As a punishment, I’ll nap here.” You laughed again and nodded, seeing him get comfortable in the sofa. Jihoon sighed, it wasn’t a bed but at least he could sleep all he wanted there.

You went back to your documents but part of your mind went to the hybrid that caused Woozi’s visit. Although Jeonghan was polite, he clearly didn’t like to be near you. Every time you had a free moment and went to play with your hybrids, he would excuse himself and just observe from some distant seat. That’s why you had never seen how he was with the boys when you weren’t near.

Until one day… You were with a huge headache, having just returned from a mission that almost went wrong. You were ready to pick up the boys and run a bubble bath for you in your house. You definitely weren’t expecting to see the center in chaos. There were screaming everywhere and you and your team had to shoot some wild type hybrids for them to calm down.

“What happened here?!” You shout to Namjoon when he arrived at your side.

“There was a fight just moments before you arrive. Two hybrids had a argument and turned violent. The team responsible for the security was going to separate them when another one came and pushed both of them from the gallery.” You were in shock.

“The ones fighting fell from two floors. Then my team arrived but for a reason Jin is investigating the hybrid who pushed started to go berserk when he saw the two on the ground and fought with everyone who approached him before falling unconscious.”

“The results?” BamBam asked. You also were really worried. Hybrids going crazy and letting their animal irracional side take over was quite scary and common, so the situation made more sense for you and your team.

“All 3 hybrids involved are unconscious at the medical area, the one that pushed is in a privative room since we don’t know in what state he will wake. There were 3 securities that are also at the medical bay and the 11 hybrids who tried to help are waiting for you in your office.” The doctor couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The news made the whole Strike team a little dizzy.

“Youngjae, Yugyeom and Jinyoung, you 3 go to where the hybrids fell. Make sure that everything is okay and that everyone who are in shock or had a trigger is guided to the psychological area.” They nodded and went away. “Jackson and Bam, you 2 are responsible to give all the support necessary for Jin’s team when the hybrid wakes up.” More nods and there they went.

“I’ll talk with the security, make arrangement to the area of the accident and see what they need.” JB said. Your turn to nod.

“Mark, you go to the medical bay with Namjoon. See how the victims are doing and report to me as soon as something happen.” Both Namjoon and Mark agreed. You sighed “I’ll go and see the hybrids at the office…” You already imagine who they were. Of course you were hoping that you were wrong. But the universe didn’t liked you that much.

---

“He didn’t move since I arrived. If you want you can go home and I call you when he wakes up.” Jeonghan heard some voices near him. One was a male raspy one and the other seemed to be a girly strong one.

“If I don’t return with good news, the boys will kill me even before I get to the door.” He heard a sigh. “Did Doyoon said why he went berserk?”

“Yeah, he explained to Jin that he was triggered by something Dongjin said while fighting Jeonghan. He is okay now but doesn’t remember anything and Jin placed him under medication for at least a month to ensure the safety of everyone.” When he heard his name, Jeonghan could identify the girl and opened his eyes slowly.

“Oh! He’s awake!” She screamed and jumped on his bed. “How are you feeling?” Jeonghan groaned.

“Like I died.”

“Well… You were pretty close.” The human smiled at him. “Can you tell us what happened before and during the fight? The others didn’t want to talk about it.” Jeonghan frowned when suddenly the reason why he fought came to his mind.

“Do you love the hybrids you have adopted?” Hearing the weird question, the Y/n girl nodded. Jeonghan felt the anger get stronger. “So why the hell do I need to be the one to defend them?! Why weren’t you here to take care of them and stop them from being bullied? Huh?!” He was almost screaming. Although he was usually quite calm, the hybrid from the fight had said some obscenities about Hoshi and his past.

Y/n also seemed surprised by his anger. She understood the general situation and accepted Jeonghan’s words. She also was quite taken aback because she knew that he liked her boys but she didn’t expected it to be this strong. Also being unexpected, the girl smiled.

“You are right.” Her tone was humble and low. “I can’t take care of them. Not alone and not all the time with the job I have. You were a hero today.” She looked at his eyes. “How about you also come and help me? Let me adopt you so you can help me keeping them safe.” Jeonghan’s eyes were still burning.

“I’ll go under the same conditions from the brothel.” The human smiled again.

“Deal.”

Tag: @hopsiclesposts ; @woohoney ; @warm-smiles-and-blue-skies ; @childfmoonn ; @moonmin-miya

#Seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen x reader #seventeen imagines #seventeen hybrid au #seventeen jeonghan #jeonghan #hybrid jeonghan #cat jeonghan #cat #hybrid au #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop x reader #kpop hybrid au

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kuvvydraws · 4 years

Note

Hello! If it's still okay... (If I'm not too late i mean) It's from that post including 2 people... Nr 11- fence fight. Aziraphale and Gabriel... Have a great day/night!

11. Fencing Match

Aziraphale vs Gabriel

Aziraphale loves the sport; it's elegant, it's simple, the rules are very clear, and the participants are dressed in skin-tight clothes. As a big fan of the gavotte, he can appreciate the foot work as well, and he'd be lying if he said he hasn't tried fencing once or twice (no, no pun intended, he's a reputed gentleman and Oscar Wilde can confirm those rumours).

Gabriel? He's out there for blood.

Let's break this and see the pieces as to why, shall we? First off, he's an Archangel, the equivalent of a general in a modern day war, only outranked by Michael themselves (who is, according to the scriptures, the Archangel of War). He has been trained to fight since the Beginning by his own nature, and he has molded himself, and his corporation, to live up to those standards of strength and speed. Meaning: he knows he is big, he knows he is strong, he knows he is fast, and he knows how to use all that to his advantage.

Of course, this doesn't erase that he's there to show off. Gabriel loves having all the attention on him, he's a star. Loud voice, huge presence, the mannerisms of someone who is used to have all the eyes focused on his persona. Wherever he goes, the light follows him. While Aziraphale is there to have a good time (as innocent as that may sound), Gabriel is driven by the purpose of victory.

He is there to prove he is the best and he has to do it spectacularly.

He knows the rules, he is physically fit to beat Aziraphale in a power-based exercise (Archangel vs Principality, the ranks are clear) and while Aziraphale has been trained as a gate guardian, meaning he does know how to use a sword, Gabriel is out there to win.

The stakes are in his favor, they both know it. And when the match starts he gives the 100% since the very beginning. He follows the rules, yes. But he is brutal.

Aziraphale doesn't stand a chance, sorry, overwhelmed by his douchebag of an ex-boss. 🤷🏼‍♀️

____________

Thanks so much for sending this ask! I had a lot of fun ✨ (I had to Google what fencing was because at first I thought of them being shitty neighbours to each other and screaming their heads off over a shared fence XD)

The askbox is always open, and you guys can pick from the masterpost (look for the tag if Tumblr hasn't fucked it up already or just ask your own questions. I love hearing from you. ❤️

#good omens #gabriel #aziraphale #kuvvytalks

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apparitionism · 5 years

Text

Mercury 11

This is basically just one scene. It was going to be more (and this scene was going to be better), but I’m being fussy about what follows it, so I figured some content, sooner, was better than more later. (Some previous content: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, and part 10.) I was additionally having a little hiccup of trouble figuring out exactly how to start this part... but “in the middle of things” is usually a good rule, particularly when the “things” in question are important, so “in medias pie” it is!

(P.S. to anon who asked about a masterpost: That’s too much housekeeping for me. But you’ll find I’m diligent with tags, plus my tumblr has search and an archive, so you shouldn’t have to scroll too much. Also, much of my stuff can indeed be found on AO3, where I move it after posting on Tumblr, usually with copy and/or content edits, depending on what seems warranted. Thanks for asking!)

Mercury 11

“But this pie,” Myka said with her mouth full.

“Has rendered you ill-mannered and inarticulate,” Helena said. “Interesting.”

“And here I thought demolishing cars was gonna be the entertainment,” Pete added.

They all had to work hard to be heard over the soundtrack provided by the derby: the roar of engines, the sharp bang and crunch of metal colliding with metal at speed, the shouts of extremely invested spectators. Myka had been paying some attention to it before she embarked on this trip to pastry-girded key-lime paradise. She hadn’t had any idea that bliss was in fact a combination of citrus and... whatever other things it was combined with, here in this very-nearly-literal slice-of-heaven pie, but Pete was right: this had been a really educational trip.

Ida said, “This is closer to what I’d call a show.”

“Here in Wisconsin?” Pete asked.

“Anywhere. Is she always like this about pie?”

“I’ve only known her five years,” Pete said, “but I think it’s safe to go with ‘never in her life has she been like this about pie.’ Or maybe anything.”

“Well,” Helena began.

“Don’t say it,” Pete advised.

Ida temporized, “She doesn’t need to. Everyone understands innuendo. And subtext.”

Myka didn’t care, not even a little—not about the kind of show she was putting on, not about how innuendo-y and subtext-y Helena was getting with regard to what Myka might find heavenly in other contexts—as long as nobody took this miracle of a pie away.

She certainly hadn’t expected this to be the outcome when she, Helena, and Pete had taken the lengthy walk—thankfully, in their normal configuration, with Myka reclaiming her “run interference” slot between Helena and Pete—to the site of the demolition derby, some distance away from the fairgrounds proper, accompanied by what had seemed like an additional fair’s worth of people. Were these things really so popular? Maybe Pete was right, maybe “the IRS” should sponsor one in Univille. For purposes of general sociability, because for all Myka didn’t like the place, she did still care what its denizens thought of her, and if—“Bet these’re cow pastures in real life,” Pete had said, interrupting her speculation. That prompted Myka to start taking careful note of where she was placing her feet during that long walk along not a path as such, but rather through grass that had been marked at irregular intervals with spray-painted arrows.

“You’re so prissy,” Pete said.

Myka shrugged that off. “Maybe. But cows. Or rabbits. Nobody with sense in their head want to walk in anything they leave behind.”

Helena said, to Pete, “Are you as unnerved by bovines as you are by lagomorphs?”

As a dig, it seemed mild, even polite, but Pete reacted as if she’d reached across Myka and slapped him. “Leave me alone! I’m not scared of anything unless it’s freakishly huge!”

They were passing the cars’ inspection area: the same spray paint had been applied to a piece of plywood, leaning against a fence enclosing those cars, to spell “INSP AREA.” It could have meant “inspiration area,” Myka supposed, but people with clipboards had seemed to be inspecting rather than inspiring, or being inspired... she tried to think of another word that began with “insp.” Nothing came to her.

“Size-wise,” she told Pete, “the bumpers on that Sable over there must be giving you nightmares already.”

Pete looked where she’d indicated. He did a cartoon double-take. “Are those even legal? I think I just found my horse.”

“I like the Pinto next to it,” Myka said.

He scoffed, “Nobody likes a Pinto.”

“The ponies enjoyed a brief vogue when I was a girl,” Helena mused, as if to herself. “Would that the car were painted like those...it’s a shame that a pinto—and, in fact, a sable—shouldn’t resemble their namesake animals in some way.”

Myka said, “I guess we can call my Pinto a Palomino, then. The color’s why I like it.”

“That’s not a good reason,” Pete said. “Not for a demo derby.”

“It’s a great reason. Look.” Myka pointed toward a corral ringed with bleachers. “There’s a lot of mud over there, where I assume they’ll do the demolishing, right?”

Pete nodded. “Mud slows ’em down. Safer, plus it’s a better show. Upset it’s gonna be such a messy show, Miss Prissy?”

“My point is, the Pinto’s yellow, so I’ll be able to keep track of it through the muck, while it does its demo-ing. Or gets demo-ed. As I watch it happen, because I’ve got a horse—almost literally—too. Do you want me interested or not?”

He glanced at the Pinto, then looked back at Myka. “Not sure,” he said, like he thought she was trying to trick him.

“You wanted us here so bad you won it,” she reminded him.

“Mostly wanted to make you suffer.”

“Then I think your win is more of a ‘win,’ because I refuse to suffer,” Myka told him. “Not about this.”

She was holding Helena’s hand. She had been, for the entire walk, “because I didn’t get to on the Ferris wheel,” she’d said when she first reached for the contact, her voiced reason in response to Helena’s questioning did-you-not-recently-express-objection-to-public-displays eyebrow, and it was true as far as it went. But what had compelled Myka to make the small display, really, was that she’d needed something, and this was simple. Uncomplicated. Something to bank against whatever was going to happen later, in the hotel room. Which she was, she had to admit to herself, doing some pre-suffering about. Because she didn’t know.

Helena declared, as if to assure Myka that she too felt both the simplicity and the need for it, “I’m not suffering either. Not about this.”

She gripped Myka’s hand tighter. It did feel good. Myka echoed the pressure, and one corner of Helena’s mouth curved up.

Pete rolled his eyes. “You two are gonna wish so hard that Myka won that duck bet.”

“It was a bet that concerned ducks?” Helena asked.

Myka grimaced. “I’ll tell you later.”

“I wonder,” Helena said, jauntily, “whether the poultry competition might include a Rouen or two.”

“I’m gonna regret this, but: okay. That’s a...?” Pete prompted.

“Giant mallard,” Helena said, with even greater cheer. Pete groaned, and Myka found herself wanting to kiss Helena: for being clever, but also as yet another instance of that bankable, uncomplicated touch. She almost said that out loud—“I want to kiss you,” simple, like that—but she understood that if she did, she’d have to deal with Pete about it. Because of ducks.

“Well, I don’t see any of your probably-made-up freak-ducks around,” Pete said. He added a taunt of, “I do see the two of you practically sittin’ in a tree, though.”

“Mature,” Myka said.

“Water off a Rouen’s back!” Helena announced.

Her insouciance made Myka again want contact, like a kiss, but more than that—but still simple. Basic. The most basic.

Pete must have seen and read that thought as it crossed Myka’s mind, crossed her face, for he said, “Jesus, Mykes, just jump her and get it over with. Get yourselves behind the bleachers and take care of business.”

Nobody had taken care of any behind-the-bleachers business, of course, but Myka had kept on holding Helena’s hand, even as they sat on the uncomfortable aluminum of those bleachers and listened to engines rev in preparation for entering the corral. Pete had taken it upon himself to explain the derby’s rules to Helena: “...and they all go in and they have to hit another car every minute, or maybe it’s every two, but anyway if your engine bonks out you get a little while to try to restart it but if you can’t you’re out, and they break that piece of wood by your window to show that you...” Myka listened with one ear, but mostly she concentrated on not finding a reason to loosen her clasp. The interlacing of their fingers had moved from “this feels good” to Helena’s barely fleshed bones pressing too solid against Myka’s, giving rise to an uncomfortable ache... but that ache was no reason to let go; rather, it was a reminder not to. Bodies, real ones, felt pain. So Myka sat on aluminum, listening to engines rev, not letting go. Banking it.

She’d been banking it, still, when Ida arrived, asking, “How did we ever live without the ability to text?” (Pete had said, as they sat down, that he would text Ida to join them, “because maybe she’s done with judgy-judge-judge and can bring us some leftovers.”) She’d looked at Myka and Helena—specifically, looked at their joined hands. “Well,” she said. “Another distraction?”

“Maybe,” Myka acknowledged. From something freakishly huge...

“How are you?” Ida asked Helena. “Did your summit go well?”

Helena smiled at the word. “As well as such a thing could. I suppose one might call the outcome détente,” she said. Myka, too, had smiled a little at “summit,” but as for “détente”... well, there was a lot to be said for that in the relations between several of her nearest and dearest. But she wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of any relaxing of tensions between Helena and Emily Lake’s girlfriend. “It’s been a very strange two days,” Helena went on to say.

“That isn’t news to me,” Ida said, which prompted in Myka another Amen, sister. Ida added, “But I’ve got something that will make everything better.”

“Fruit spreads?” Pete asked, with great hope. He pointed at the small hamper she held. “That looks like something.”

Ida nodded. “Something. But better than fruit spreads.” From the hamper, she produced—with a “ta-da!”—the key lime pie. Pete gave a gasp that Myka judged both overdramatic and unwarranted; it was just a pie, albeit one that nearly matched her Pinto for color; if she’d thrown it at the car, no one would have noticed the spatter, not that she was in the habit of throwing pies at cars. This one hadn’t been thrown at anything, but it did look a little the worse for having traveled in close quarters: not show quality anymore. Given the crumbled edges of its crust and slightly dented surface, it might have been any pie at all. Ida then handed out plastic forks and paper plates, and if anyone near them in the stands around the fenced patch of mud recognized the picnic as larcenous, they kept it to themselves.

Pete took his fork up with his usual enthusiasm, dug in, took a bite, then closed his eyes. “This pie is freaking awesome. In an ‘I could literally die now’ way.”

“I told you, you literally can’t beat it,” Ida said.

While Myka had respected that particular “literally” when Ida said it yesterday, she wasn’t sure she believed it today in any kind of existential sense. Hence her astonishment when she found her own first bite to be... was “rapturous” outsize, as a word or an idea, to apply to the experience of eating pie? It didn’t matter what word she used, though; she wielded her fork with even more gusto than Pete, and she felt a niggling worry that this was, for her, unseemly, yet the combination of the unprecedented pie and the certainty that it was nutritious was irresistible. The mouthfeel alone was enough to knock her out—unctuous, yet with a sharp slash of lime-presence tanging on the tongue... she’d noticed Helena ignoring her own serving so as to watch Myka. “What?” Myka had asked. “It’s good for me.”

“I am prepared to offer to any and all attending deities,” Helena had said, amusement animating her face, “my prayer that your recently espoused belief does not wear off.”

“I’m prepared to livestream it so everybody on the planet can testify later that it happened,” Pete had enthused. “Also so Claud’s head explodes when she sees it.”

And so it was that the only words Myka had managed to come up with in her own defense, “But this pie,” had caused everyone to express even more opinions in the matter.

Fortunately, however, they let her keep eating. “I feel like I’m somebody else, how much I’m enjoying this,” she now said, not bothering to pause before scooping up another forkful.

“Interesting,” Helena said again, and her tone told Myka that something was waiting to be interrogated there... but she was extremely unwilling to turn her attention away from the pie.

Meanwhile, the cars destroyed each other. None of it mattered to pie-intoxicated Myka, except the Pinto, a little, because she could in fact keep track of it in the muck. It was surprisingly agile, “her” Pinto. Or Palomino. And if the derby had engaged only her eyes, that would have been fine, but exhaust and mud and the crowd’s sweaty enthusiasm hung heavy in the air, congesting her nose and clogging her lungs; she resented that it interfered with her experience of the pie. Its rich citrus viscosity was similarly condensed, on her tongue, but far more pleasurable... but wait, she thought, thickness... a dictionary-page memory... “fr. L in- + spissus slow, dense”: “Inspissate!” she exclaimed.

Pete and Ida both said “What?” and Myka looked up from her plate, ready to explain about “insp” and areas—but her neon pony caught her eye at just the right, or wrong, instant for her to witness its driver’s failure to recognize a danger for what it was: it received in that moment a dramatic T-boning from a seemingly unthreatening even-more-compact car. She yelped and upended her plate, which landed face down on the aluminum at her feet. It had held one last bit of inspissated key lime and... whatever else it was combined with, a last bit that she’d told herself she wanted to savor, but that she’d in all honesty been about to shovel into her mouth with abandon. She made a decision that was really no decision: she lifted the plate, scraped the spattered filling up with her fork, and willed herself not to think about dirt.

“Not one word,” she said, her mouth again full, to Pete and Helena. “Not one word out of either of you.”

Neither said anything. Myka chose to ignore their thunderstruck expressions, because she still had that precious morsel of pie in her mouth.

“Good choices,” Myka told them once she’d swallowed. She licked her fork. She took note of Helena’s expression as it shifted from shock to avid appreciation of her licking her fork.

TBC

Again, minimal tags, but here, an essay might mention things like strongly held beliefs, and how our strongly held beliefs shape our behavior, and why we so strongly hold the beliefs that shape our behavior, and that it is indeed interesting when a shift in belief (about anything: from sugar’s nutritional value to who we actually are) leads us to engage in behaviors that make us strangers to ourselves—regardless of whether we know of that estrangement at the time it’s occurring. When you think about it, in terms of selfhood, each of us might be said to be a cult with exactly one member. (I realize that doesn’t entirely hold up, but I’ve spent a little while thinking about it.)

#bering and wells #Warehouse 13 #fanfic #Mercury #part 11

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homosociallyyours · 5 years

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getting to know me

I was tagged by @sukiandmuzzy, @always-aqua, and @jlf23tumble in this 21 question cavalcade--thank y’all so much!! These dumb things are my fave bc I’m basic af. So. here we go. the rules are...answer the questions. that’s all. i’ll tag people too, but not a set number, so if you love these things and wanna do this one, DO IT!!!

Nickname: Meggles, Beene, Beenie, Beener, Dottie, Milton. All but the last are variations of my name (middle, last, first, in that order). The last one came from my ex, who actually got it from Winter’s Bone, because it was the book he was reading when we got together. There’s a scene where the main character is naming all the Miltons in her family. Somehow it got into his head, and then it just stuck. I left it in Austin, but I still have a fondness for it.

Zodiac: Taurus sun/moon/mercury, Gemini rising, Venus in Cancer, Mars in Virgo. into it, obviously. I’m totally that guy who has gotten everyone in the office to do their natal chart and who follows 807 astrology meme accounts.

Height: 5′5″

Last movie I saw: I haven’t seen a movie in a theater for a hot second. That was the new Fantastic Beasts. At home, I rewatched Elf on Christmas Eve.

Last thing I googled: “williams console heater” -- we’re getting a new heater this week, and that’s the brand/model. I was showing my housemate.

Favorite musicians: The Indigo Girls, One Direction, Dolly Parton, Gretchen Phillips.

Song stuck in my head: She’s a Rainbow

Other blogs: @ohharrymylove is where I put 1d masterposts and history things as well as stunty stuff i don’t want on my main, @darlingdomesticbatch is the now defunct cumberbatch hey girl meme account i used to co-run with a friend, @heycheeselady is my oft-neglected cheese blog, and then there are 2 more blogs that are pretty empty but that i am kinda saving for a rainy day-- dirtbagharrie and sassymartinfreeman. i am also co-mod on a hypnokink blog with a pal but i never do anything with it, i’m sorry chu <3

Do I get asks: sometimes. I usually get a couple with ask games, and then every few weeks a random anon saying/asking something. it’s rare for me to get hate, though you wouldn’t know anyway bc i just delete it :)

Following: 1024...oops. i got it down a while ago, but tbh i enjoy following lots of people and am very gregarious. if you wanna be mutuals with me just send me a couple of asks or messages and i’ll probably add you back unless you reaaaally don’t tag and you post stuff i would normally blacklist (reylo or zombies)

Amount of sleep: 6-12. rebel rebel.

Lucky number: 5

What I’m wearing: lularoe leggings (listen they’re soft i can’t help it) and an old hoodie that i had kinda forgotten about but that i’m pleased to rediscover

Dream job: rn it’s being paid to exist. if i could make enough money to live just by being alive, it would take away a huge strain from my life. In general, though, my dream job is to be part of a team that goes into homes and schools and teaches cheese classes: developing palates and vocabularies, showing people how to care for cheese, providing knowledge and cool facts about cheesestuffs. I also kinda want this as a youtube channel. i do sorta have the goal to do that this year if i’m able.

Dream trip: I usually say France and other parts of Europe for a very specific cheese trip, but right now it’s one of these 2 places--either Hawaii with @statementlou for 2 weeks of being relaxed cryptid gal pals or 2 weeks in Tacoma with @pompomoffinland and his spouse and their kiddo for some superb cuddles and flaming rainbows.

Favorite food: I am contractually obligated to say cheese. It’s definitely the food I’m most passionate about, and I cannot think of my life without it in some form.

Play any instruments: I know how to strum a ukulele. I’m not great, but I am passable if nobody else knows how to play. I can also play the spoons decently and am a singer.

Languages: English, Spanish (un poco), the asl alphabet and some random words (coffee! tree! dance! I got a book from the library when I was 11 and have good retention). I also know the greek alphabet, so I can struggle through saying something that’s written in greek, but then have...no idea what it means. unless it’s obvious. Oh also I speak cheese (obviously), which means I can pronounce French town names sometimes and not sound like the uncultured American I truly am.

Favorite songs: “Three County Highway” (Indigo Girls); “Fireproof” (1D); “Ain’t Life a Brook” (Ferron); “The Weakness in Me” (Joan Armatrading); “The Luckiest” (Ben Folds); “I Spent My Last $10 on Birth Control and Beer” (Two Nice Girls); “She’s Amazing” (Team Dresch); “1950″ (King Princess) to name a few.

Random fact: “grassfed” is an empty term that can mean anything from cows grazing on fresh pasture year round to cows being kept in pens and fed a fermented grass product called silage that’s actually not much better for their stomachs than grain. so if you care about animals being pastured, know where your cheese is coming from and be prepared to pay a premium--grazing cattle is not cheap for a lot of reasons

Random fact about me? I didn’t date AT ALL in high school, partly because no boy ever expressed even the faintest interest and partly because I also wasn’t interested and honestly partly because I was actually queer and just didn’t have words for it. No regrets, tho, dang. I kinda think nobody should date in high school. UNPOPULAR OPINION, i know.

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: pale skin spilling out from the top of a cotton dress; firm jersey milk cheese wrapped in rustic brown cheese paper; a bouquet of ranunculus; milky tea in a sturdy ceramic mug; brown sugar cubes; tangled seaweeds and algaes drying on the beach; a stack of fat quarters in various solid and patterned pinks; a photograph of a single white cloud against a bright blue sky with just the edge of tree in frame; hugging a tree

hmmmm I’ll tag... @captiveharts @deaflock @livingrepetition @billiethepoet @thearrowsheart @harryincamp @harryisapackersfan @pennywhistle @la-paritalienne and @goldbootsandvans

no pressure, pals!

#tag games #21 questions #about me #i have done these before #but i do love them so #thanks for tagging me!!

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thestudyfeels · 6 years

Photo

Now, before you throw your outdated iPhone 4 in the trash and dip, all I ask for is a chance. Tada! That’s it! A chance is all I need to prove that math can truly be fascinating (did reading that make you puke just a little?)

Frankly, I’m not very good at intros. But I am good at math, so let’s jump right in, shall we?

The logic behind the dislike of math is actually ridiculous. It’s a myth. A bigger one than Medusa. Well, at least she had an excuse - those cringey snake hair (tbh, I'm more turned off than scared by them).

And usually, more often than not, this myth has been passed down through our grown-ups, be it parents, a sibling, or some random guy eating burnt popcorn (the guy version of me) at school, because of which they are even the more accepted.

“Math is boring.” “What’s dx, dy anyway? Since when does the alphabet mix in with numbers? They smashed?” Here. Pause and take a moment to think about why you hate math. And also what kind of people you're hanging out with.

Your answer might be something like “because I don’t understand it”. But that’s not the ONLY reason. It’s more of something, say, you never made the effort to understand it. And why was that? Because, heck! Our seniors told us math was going to suck before we even began doing it. They have to be right, RIGHT?

The hate has been coming down since generations. Do you realize now who is to blame? Not math. It’s Adam. He got stuck at 3+3 and started all this drama. Geez, Adam.

In order to truly enjoy doing math, learn to respect + love it. Or, at least have sympathy for it (math has suffered enough, mate. He deserves to get laid too).

All the love, respect, and eye-roll provoking stuff automatically comes when you break a false belief, create a new one in its place, and take hell-bent-for-glory kind of action. This, in fact, is one of the most popular ways in the self-help department of bringing out your inner conqueror (see book recs: here) but we’re going to use it for math. Yay!

To not freak you out, let’s break it into three itsy-bitsy steps. Three steps to loving math, I got you homie. (Also, welcome to the clickbait life, we killin’ it out here.)

STEP ONE: BREAK YOUR LAME-ASS BELIEFS ALREADY, EMILY.

Here’s stepping into psychology 101. The subconscious mind, which began interacting since the moment you were born, picks up beliefs that may or may not be true. It isn’t the judge (perhaps the reason why we are effed up). Your conscious mind, the real judge, only becomes fully mature when you hit puberty and become a desperate hoe. But unfortunately, it’s late to the party. By that time, your subconscious mind is already the prom queen.

Cutting this short, the beliefs that the subconscious mind gathers, they become our truths. Even when they really aren’t. It’s sad but true.

For instance, if you saw your father struggling with accounts or your sis forgetting what tables were, then your subconscious mind might have assumed: ‘math is difficult’, ‘math needs memorizing’, ‘math leads to crying and pain’, ‘eff math’.

Taking action:

Here’s how to get rid of these false beliefs. Journal subconsciously. This means without a stop, without cuts or edits, in a flow. Next, take up each belief and understand that it was just there for providing comfort and safety (yes, we only hold onto beliefs if they give us something in return. Saying math was difficult probably gave Em an excuse not to take action. It generated sympathy and the teacher might’ve offered his free time for extra coaching).

Then, thank those false beliefs (DO NOT turn this into a self-loathing assignment) for providing that comfort and do that “shoo” motion with your hand. It’s time they ran along. Sounds absurd and simple right? It is that simple. Once you make the decision to let go of your old, fake beliefs, they really do leave you for good. Try it out.

STEP TWO: WELCOME THE NEW-NEW, SHINY BELIEFS.

Next up, we go belief shopping. I assume that if you’re reading this, your conscious mind has already come into play. If not… well, hello there kiddo! The shopping cart is not a go-kart, so please stop swinging it around, and yes, Santa is real, you get to keep that belief, but all the other ‘truths’ mommy spoon-fed you? They may or may not be. Finding out is your homework for today (welcome to my class. I teach life, sons).

Taking action:

In this step, you take up each notion and mould it into something newer, truthier (yes this is an actual word even if it sounds like Greek), and shinier. Say, for example, Emily got sick of flunking math and decided to take action (thank you for doing that, Emily. Honestly). Here’s what her journalling would look like:

“I feel dumb while doing math. It’s too difficult for me.”

This becomes: “I’ve been holding a grudge against math since childhood which blind sighted me. This time I'll give it a chance.”

“Math involves difficult calculations, which is way out of my league. For me, getting that Cali guy's number would be easier than pulling up my math grade.”

This becomes: “Through action, and not screwing around, any shit is possible. A math grade is nothing.” Also, I heard, that guy, Liam? He’s gay. Might as well go on a date with math.

This practice does sound a bit silly, but trust me, the more willing you are, the more easily will you be able to conquer math. #SaveMath.

STEP THREE: TAKE HELL-BENT-FOR-GLORY ACTION

Now that the belief breaking and making part is over, here’s the most important one. To do the goddamn math. *Drumroll*

See, nothing comes without the good ol’ hard work. That’s a fact. In the words of Lilly Singh (who is a total queen and an appreciator of cute puppies and good memes) - “The universe respects your changing of fake values for better ones. However, it respects a good hustle even more.” To get better at math, it’s important to actually do it.

Who’s excited?! *crickets chirping*

Ahem, ok. Here are my tips to get better at it:

Practice.

Math doesn’t even require making notes. Instead, it requires continuous practice. Set aside time to do, say, 10 sums every day, and build up on that. Turn it into a habit so it becomes second nature.

Understanding which way works better.

The fun part about math is that a single sum can be done in ten different ways. 2+2 can be either done by adding two choco chip cookies with two more, or you can just multiply 2 with 2 [ as 2(1+1) = 2(2) = 4 ]. Obviously, the latter works better when you have huge numbers because I know you’re broke and can’t afford cookies (same) and are way too old to go hunting for the cookie jar in your mom's kitchen. Plot twist though, this understanding, again, only comes from practice. So get down to it already.

Increase your speed but don’t compromise on accuracy.

It’s exactly what the title says. What fun is it if mom takes up the entire day to count out the cookies? And then ends up giving you one less cookie than you wanted? It’s the same with doing math. This again comes from practice so…*evil laugh*

Other quick tips (because I like tiny bullet points):

Don’t use calculators. Stop depending on it and use your mind for once (assuming it isn’t already filled with cat memes).

Get yo’self a timer. Compete with time. If you’re a highly competitive person like me, this will motivate you to work harder and get better.

Every time you see two 2 digit numbers at the same place, (say a car’s no. plate: 2312) add, multiply, and subtract the numbers IN YOUR HEAD. This will improve your basic calculation speed. So 23+12= 35. 23-12=11. 23*12=276. [ as 23(10+2)= 230+46 ].

You can find other tips about math by scrolling through my math tag: (x) (x)

Practice. There’s really no way around that.

Here are some related masterposts if you want to read more:

Conquering biology by yours truly

The math masterpost by @acadehmic

Math resources and links by @ashleigh-studies

Want instant motivation? Here’s my #ThursdayPickup!

Well, it’s a wrap! I post new articles every week (the schedule’s here) so you can follow me if you are into killing the game & conquering life. I’ll do my best to help you in the tough yet amazing journey called life. ✨

If you want to go thru my blog, I would rec picking your choice of post from my masterpost list! Or, if you want to read something insightful on your cosy afternoon while chilling under blankets, I would rec reading one of my interviews. Feeling spoilt for choices? Here’s another! If you want to implement the ideas I share in my masterposts by taking action, take on one of my challenges! + you can also request a blog post! For that, leave your question in my ask box.

I hope you are well, stay strong and conquer life, you conqueror.

- Nandini (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

#unicorn studying #*academics #math #maths #how to get better at math #studyblr #moonshinestudies #artemistudying #athenastudying #cielstudies #studyquill #studyblrmasterposts #ahsteria #elrood #uglystudies #natastudies #eveincollege #obsidianstudy #<3

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ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes · 6 years

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Tearing Down Sandcastles Part 9

Summary: Sofia feels stuck in life and has for the better part of two decades. Now she’s nearing her 30th birthday and her luck begins to change when a handsome actor accidentally destroys her niece’s sandcastle.

Chapter Summary: Sebastian buys a dream of Sofia’s, she feels conflicted about it.

Warnings: None

I was starting to see how fun Sebastian was to be around. I thought his looks and charm was enough to win me over but he had a few surprises up his sleeve. In fact, it was easy to forget how cold it was when I was beside him.

We were all bundled up, walking down Fifth Avenue together. I didn’t have to work until late that night, so it was nice to have the day to spend with him.

“That’s so pretty.” I stopped by a jewelry store and gazed at the stunning necklace with a matching ring.

“You should get it,” Sebastian said.

I snorted. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a full year of rent right there. That diamond is huge.”

“I’ll get it for you.” He shrugged. “Might as well start shopping for engagement rings.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Engagement rings? We’ve been dating for less than two weeks.” I reminded him and steered him away from the window display before he got any ideas.

“What can I say? I’m a sucker for whirlwind relationships.” He chuckled.

“My sister would kill you and then me.”

“Yikes…”

“Yeah, she may be younger but she’s protective.”

“Okay, we’ll table that idea then.” He glanced up at the sky as some snowflakes started to drift through the air. “I’m glad we get to spend New Years together.” He said, an arm wrapped around my waist as we dodged the crowds.

I smiled. “Yeah, that’ll be fun.” I agreed.

“I hope you kiss me at midnight.”

“I’m going to kiss you at 11:59 and 12:01. I won’t kiss you exactly at midnight.” I replied trying to sound serious.

“Darn it, the magic faded quick, didn't it?”

“It did when you woke me up so early this morning.”

“I thought I made up for that with coffee.”

I tilted my head to the side and pretended to think. “Partly.”

“Well, alright, I’ll figure out a way to get that spark back. I didn’t think we’d end up becoming like an old married couple so fast.” He sighed.

“Before we’re even married.”

He grinned. “So you are considering marrying me.”

“You’re insufferable.” I rolled my eyes.

“It grows on you.” He tugged me away from a patch of ice before I slipped.

“Mhm…” I wandered over to the Burberry store before we passed it. I smiled slightly as I saw the mannequin wearing the typical khaki trench coat and a scarf with the trademark plaid design . “I’ve always wanted one of their scarves,” I admitted sheepishly . “When I got my own apartment, I started putting some tips from the bar aside. My BSF, Burberry Scarf Fund.” I laughed. “But I had to dip into the jar more than a few times to make ends meet and I decided it justwasn’t worth it. So I bought a knockoff.” I shrugged. “It was silly to think of spending that much money on something so small like a scarf.”

Sebastian thought for a moment and took my hand. “C’mon.” He walked towards the doors to the store.

“What? No, Sebastian, don’t even think about it.” I warned, tugging him back to the sidewalk.

“I just want to look around.” It was obvious he was fibbing though.

I gave him a look. “You’re not buying me anything.”

“I’m going to look around.” He repeated, avoiding the question.

I sighed and followed him into the warm store. It was strange being inside. I felt severely out of place. I didn’t even want to think of stepping into designer stores, it was like I was wasting money only by looking. Usually, I shopped in department stores or second-hand stores. I prided myself in finding the best deals possible. I had even walked away with a beautiful dress for nine dollars once. The thought of wasting money on clothing was unbearable. There were more important things than wearing brand names. Like rent and food.

My one experience with shopping in boutiques was with my sister on Rodeo Drive. She wasn’t frivolous with her money but she liked some nice clothes now and again. It didn’t matter because she had the money. The staff always flocked to her, eager to help her. I was perfectly aware that I didn’t look like the usual clientele. I was pretty sure I was wearing a shirt from Disneyland because we’d gone the day before.

A woman walked over to us with a smile. “Can I help you two?” She asked. It was clear that Sebastian fit in. He looked like he stepped out of the winter issue of a men’s fashion magazine.

I glanced down at myself, wondering why she assumed the same about me. I was wearing a black pea coat that may have looked like it was expensive despite the pieces of lint stuck to the hem.

“She’s looking for a scarf.”

“No, we’re just looking around.” I forced a smile and squeezed his hand to show my displeasure.

“It is cold out, let me show you.” She walked us over to the neat and sparing displays. I was good at rifling through the messy sales racks. There were maybe one or two items per shelf, no visible price tag, and each placed perfectly for the consumer.

“The tan plaid, right, baby?” Sebastian asked.

It was so hard to say no to him when he used pet names. But I tried to keep my resolve. “How much is it?” I asked hoping to deter him.

The young woman opened her mouth but Sebastian stopped her. “She doesn’t need to know, I’m the one paying.” He smiled. “Babe, it’s a Christmas present.” He said softly .

“We met after Christmas and it’s January so you can’t give it to me for this year,” I replied calmly .

“Exactly, it’s belated .” He seemed to have a rebuttal to every argument I came up with.

“You’ve known me for nine days.” I tilted my head to the side and gave him an exasperated look.

“Has it been that long? Feels like months.”

“Nine days.”

“Best nine days of my life.”

“I hate you.” I knew I wasn’t winning. His playful eyes and smile were getting to me. I knew he had the money but that wasn’t the point. I told myself if I ever had enough money to spare, I would buy it. But it had to be from my own hard work. I didn’t take handouts from anyone. Still, it felt nice to have someone treat me. I’d never accepted such a gift before. I felt like modern royalty. Was this how Kate felt when William doted on her? “This is a one time thing.” I prefaced.

“We’ll take it.” He said with a victorious smile.

I hovered by him as he paid for the scarf, I tried to figure out the price but he hid it from me, pocketing the receipt into his wallet .

“She’ll wear it out.” He said and the woman cut the tags off, yet another way to hide the price.

We walked outside and Sebastian stopped in front of the store. “It’s okay to accept things sometimes.” He said quietly and carefully wrapped the scarf around my neck. “You don’t need to feel guilty.”

I bit my lip. This wasn’t how I saw myself getting the scarf of my dreams. In fact, I probably knew I would never it get it. It was just a dream. But I didn’t expect to get someone like Sebastian either. I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Money isn’t a measure of love.”

“I know.” He rested his hands on my hips. “But I’m going to spoil you because you deserve it.” He replied and bent down to kiss me before I could say anything else.

Tag list: @tacohead13 @raulesparzalover

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fountainpenguin · 7 years

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WORLDBUILDING NOTES FOR FRAYED KNOTS +

No fanfic update this week, but I have a worldbuilding dump of some notes instead. It starts out with a simple ref sheet of color meanings we’ve previously discussed (Magic and zodiac bonds), but mostly discusses Anti-Fairy culture. These notes mostly apply to Frayed Knots stuff and should come up in the story bit by bit, but story flow takes priority over info-dumping, so this is here if you want to know how things work sooner rather than later.

Slight spoilers I guess, but nothing that’s going to affect your read. It’s just stuff like, “This is what daily life in the executive building is like”, “This is why Anti-Fairies respect the land”. And like I said, the color cheat sheet was included.

I’ll probably throw a link to this post in every time I do a Knots chapter update, because none of you can stop me. Who knows? Maybe you’re one of those people and you want to like, open it in another tab for reference. It’s possible.

I just like reminding you guys that my fanfics are needlessly complicated because I like micromanaging everything. You don’t need, nor would I expect you to, memorize everything, so it’s nice to have a ref sheet around at times.

GENERAL THINGS TO REFERENCE

THE CLOUDLANDS

Legal names of Fairy World / Anti-Fairy World / Pixie World and name meanings

Cloudland maps (Time zones included)

Cloudland flora and fauna

FAIRYKIND BIOLOGY

Fairy social ladder / caste system / subspecies list: Part 1 | Part 2

How Fairykind aging works in my fanfics

Vague magical races phylogenetic tree

Physiology post

> Anti-Fairies and their pouches

Fairykind and diseases

Magic pools

CULTURE

Culture and politics overview post

> Another Fairykind culture post (This one includes the Refracted)

Fairy ethnicities / cultures / architecture post

The Fairy zodiac

> That way more detailed post about the zodiac spirits

> Sunnie’s reference (Other nature spirits possibly to come)

School and cohorts

That post about Anti-Bryndin

The camarilla court / Names and zodiacs

OTHER

My Origin of the Pixies / Frayed Knots parallel timeline

My FOP fanmade terms glossary

My FOP story bible / dump doc

Detailed explanation of how wands work

That page on my blog with links to character ref sheets

Lohai’s reference | Norm’s family tree (Note: I know them all, A.C. doesn’t)

The “Bat cube and associates” tag if you want to see all my Anti-Fairy stuff

Headcanon masterpost list if there’s something else you’re looking for

Meanings of the magical colors / moods in more detail

FAIRY ZODIAC:

SEASONS:

SPRING: March 15th - June 19th

SUMMER: June 20th - September 14th

AUTUMN: September 15th - December 19th

WINTER: December 20th - March 14th

Map

Faeheim - Above California; Inkblot - Above Kansas; Luna’s Landing - It was above Spain on the last map but now it’s above England because I messed up while doing this and I’m too lazy to fix it right now. It’s somewhere.

Luna’s Landing is 7 hours ahead of Pixie World and 8 hours ahead of Faeheim. The Divide Gate is located in Greece, on Mount Olympus, and appears on Planes 1-12. The Barrier does not exist from Planes 13+

Fairies who fall out of the cloudlands and into the ocean will drown, unless they can save themselves with magic. Most subspecies struggle to fly with wet wings. Falling out of the cloudlands and hitting solid ground is risky too.

The Refracted refuse to nominate anyone to the position of Robes. The actual robes exist, but the positions are currently empty, as the Refracts don’t believe in placing some people so high above the rest.

The table is always set for them in the Council meeting room, and the meetings always start ten minutes late to give them time to show up; the Council treats them as though they could show up at any time, even though they never do.

MOSTLY THE CLOUDLANDS LOOK LIKE THIS:

Lots of different clouds slightly above and below. Not a great environment for animals, so you don’t see deer wandering around. Some clouds are larger than others. That’s where people build cities. Plane 7 has lots of flat, connected land and is a better environment for wildlife, especially unicorns and such.

Plane 11 has very few clouds, and they’re super spaced out like distant islands. It’s a dangerous place to fly, especially since Plane 10 is right below it and full of lava and sharp rocks. You would want to traverse Plane 11 in a cloudship.

Skyship - A flying merchant or passenger ship meant to travel outward from Fairy World to other planets. Designed for travel only between Planes 2 and 6 and not intended to travel higher than that. This travel through the universe is called starsailing. We saw docked skyships in “Love Struck Out”.

Cloudship - Technically a type of skyship. These ships travel from lower Planes to higher ones by sailing back and forth until they find the different Bridges. They are not designed to travel to other planets. Usually a simpler design than the merchant skyships, built for strength to muscle through various harsh environments instead of speed and tourist pleasure. It’s difficult and expensive to travel to the higher planes from lower ones, whereas traveling via Bridge is free, and you get to see the sights. Also it’s just safer that way, usually.

The Bridges have existed for a long time and are hard to create. They sprang up before cloudships did, and the cloudships go and find them. Let’s go with that. Don’t question why they aren’t all in one general location to allow quicker travel. We’re lampshading that plot hole because that would be lame storytelling.

PLANES OF EXISTENCE:

The Planes of Existence are complicated. There’s a general sense that the universe still exists beyond the cloudlands, and that the Planes of Existence stretch on forever. Only certain creatures - namely the Fairykind, as well as their godkids - have the ability to scale the planes. I think they don’t like spreading around word of different Planes to alien races who may want to take over. The Planes stretch on “forever”, but all the Bridges to get higher are located only in the cloudlands. You don’t have to cross the entire universe to reach other Bridges, just the general cloudland area.

You can descend the planes by falling from clouds on higher planes. You have to ascend the planes either using a Bridge, or a wand with a chip that lets you skip them. Fairies and Anti-Fairies live in the Deep Kingdom, divided by the Barrier. The Refracted live in the High Kingdom.

1) Abracatraz, stars, and black holes, 2) Planets (Most famously Earth) 3) Lowlands - Pixie World, Novakiin, Lau Rell, Patio World, Mistleville... Sometimes rains acid from GBA World 4) Barrenglades - Giant Bucket of Acid World, Cherish Jungle, Anti-Pixie Isle 5) Fairy World Proper - Faeheim, Serentip, Amity Headquarters... Lots of "main" Fairy World locations. 6) Fairy World Outskirts - Burger World, Ivory Wand and Comet Blood 7) Wanderplains - Animals and fields; also known as Dairy World 8) Anti-Fairy World Proper - Blue Castle, forests, and small towns; the Eros Nest is on this plane too, on the Fairy World side 9) Anti-Fairy World Outskirts - Very occasional small towns, mostly just a wilderness for roaming colonies; always red / gold like autumn 10) Harsh, fiery world. Lots of rocky cliff areas, tons of lava; famous and popular crystal caves; interesting plants (especially medical herbs) 11) Very open landscape. Few clouds; lots of empty sky; those who travel the planes usually dock cloudships here for easy take-off 12) Hush World - Wilderness; sense of unease / reverence; emormous monuments to ancient races carved into mountains; purple sky

There's some kind of barrier separating the Deep and High Kingdoms. There's a joke to be made about scaling a beanstalk to get higher.

13) Very bright and oddly sunny, grassy world. Now entering the High Kingdom; no Barrier. Hunter / gatherers, not farmers here 14) Dry desert world. Not a lot of water here, lots of sand 15) Crazy windy world. Erosion is intense; few buildings; maybe some windmills 16) Scary World - Basically the Negaverse; Nega-Timmy was born here. Don't ask for specifics because I don't know. 17) Hairy World - Bizarre jungle that's very orange and furry. Flora and fauna are huge. Lots of enormous predators. 18) Complete darkness, landscape difficult to determine, seems mostly rocky. Occasionally lit by geysers and things. 19) Avalon - Most Refracts (especially the Dame Head and pixie refracts) live on this plane. Others live below, not above. Good farmland. 20) Misty swamp world. It's misty and swampy. Fairly dark and spooky. 21) Ice and water world. Planes below this one sometimes get rained or snowed on due to leaks. Plants get watered. 22) Rest stop! More or less. Ships that gather Kiiloëi's water make camp here. A cold, lonely, creepy place. 23) Tír Na NÓg - Alleged ancient home of the Tuatha long ago, current home of the nature spirits; world of cliffs and chasms; "Fairy heaven" 24) The Kolobian Plane - Kiiloëi (the sacred rosewater fountain)

BRIDGES TO PLANE 2 (EARTH)

Rainbow Bridge (Plane 5) - Main Fairy World Bridge - Faeheim, Central Star to Dimmsdale, California (USA)

Pastel Bridge (Plane 7) - Secondary Fairy World Bridge - Hiero Town, Lower West to Cairo, Egypt

Night Bridge (Plane 6) - Main Anti-Fairy World Bridge - Shadeblink, Far West to Tasmania - Destroyed pre-Origin of the Pixies

Shadow Bridge (Plane 4) - Secondary Anti-Fairy World Bridge - Crowfeld, High South to Ireland - Destroyed pre-Origin of the Pixies

Bit Bridge (Plane 3) - Pixie World Bridge - Inkblot City, Central Star to Mushroom Rock, Kansas (USA)

Dot Bridge (Plane 4) - Anti-Pixie World Bridge - “Connects” Anti-Pixie Isle, Lower West, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; never finished

FIVE FAIRY WARS:

The Sealing War - This is the war that was taking place during the “That Was Then” Prompt. It went on for eons, supposedly, and resulted in the fall of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the deaths of many Aos Sí. The nature spirits were sealed in their Temples during this war. Daoists believe the Tuatha and a race of people called the Molpa-Pel (mole people) were sealed inside the Earth at the end of this war, and that after the Tuatha died, their magic nourished the planet and caused plants to grow. The Zodii just believe the Tuatha were killed off. Nature spirits shaped the Earth.

The Sacred Revolution - Occurred shortly after the Sealing War. Was mostly the Fairies making a big stink to the rest of the universe that they exist and should be treated as big kids in the universe. There wasn’t much fighting actually going on. More of a cold war than anything else. It was a big deal to the Fairies though, so it’s considered one of the Fairy Wars.

The Struggle With the Darkness - “Wishology” stuff. Ancient Fairies chased the Darkness off. I’m still unclear about the rate at which Turbo Thunder ages.

The [War of the] Sunset Divide - A war that started before H.P. was born and finished thirty years after. His dad fought in this war. It was after this war that the Barrier went up, dividing Fairy World from Anti-Fairy World. Before then, Fairies and Anti-Fairies could travel between the two. My original plan was that all sky in the cloudlands used to be blue and this was the war that split Fairy World from Anti-Fairy World and gave Anti-Fairy World a red sky, but I’m uneasy about it now. Maybe it’s just metaphorical.

War of the Angels - The war between Fairies and Anti-Fairies over human godchildren (called angels back then). This war was mentioned in the Season 7 episode “Balance of Flour” and gave us the annual Bake-Off. We’ll see this war in both Origin and Knots.

The 1st and 2nd Creature Wars exist too, as we learned in the “Opportunity” Prompt. Not much is known about those now except that the 2nd one is the one that drove the Beasts underground. Neither will be important in Knots.

DAOISM VS. ZODIISM

Daoism - H.P. and most pixies consider themselves part of this religion, as do most Refracts. Daoists believe in the literal splitting apart of the Aos Sí into Fairies, Anti-Fairies, and the Refracted. They believe that what has come apart will come together again after death, and that three counterparts will become a single creature in the afterlife: Daoine Síth.

There is a book of scripture (known only as King Nuada’s scripture at this time) and it’s custom to avoid using magic on Thursday, the holy day of the week. There are no deities of creation that are worshiped or prayed to. It’s a religion of reflection and self-actualization. The belief is that you should strive to become the best that you can, and help others become the best that they can. However, some Daoists do pray, just to the general universe. They kneel down and place their right hand in front of their forehead, thumb curled in so it touches the palm. The same sign (minus the kneeling) means “I come in peace” in Fairy culture.

Daoists tend to freak out around fairy dogs, who are said to carry souls to the afterlife. Actually, they are said to SWAP souls, switching bodies with those they catch sinning. Daoists believe fairy dogs can die, and that if you die while in the body of a fairy dog, you don’t go to heaven. You just cease to exist. Certain sins will likewise cause you to “die a dustless death” and lose your right to heaven.

H.P. actually doesn’t follow most of the Daoist teachings. He just believes in life after death. He was raised Daoist, so he just shrugged and went along with it. During the time he was growing up, there wasn’t separation of church and state. Daoism was taught in history class at school. Thus, it’s basic fact for him. He considers Zodiism a waste of resources (Temples, murals, monuments, time, etc.) and sees it as a philosophy that teaches you can do whatever you want without consequences, even if you’re hurting people.

Zodiism - Anti-Cosmo and many Anti-Fairies follow the teachings of this philosophy. There are no “holy” texts, as Zodiism is a philosophy, not technically a religion. However, there are myths about the nature spirits. Zodiism is basically, “Astrology meets Greek gods”. The Zodii believe that Tarrow, the cosmic jellyfish and deity of fate and destiny, selects a path and soulmate(s) for everyone. You can choose to reject his plans, but you won’t have his influence in your life anymore, and things will probably go very wrong very soon. The Zodii also believe in reincarnation after death, and that you’ll either return as one of your descendants or as some aspect of nature, such as a tree or stream.

While there are hundreds of nature spirits, the main seven control the elements and are therefore placed on the Fairy zodiac. The days of the week are named after them. It’s said that their power is strongest on their day of the week, not to mention their year in the seven-year cycle. Similarly, the Zodii believe that the day of the week and year of the zodiac cycle affects the flow of luck that influences you. They tend to be very superstitious people, and will postpone events until the right moment- for example, marrying in a Love year.

Then there are bonds. The Zodii believe in fate, and that the year of your birth has a major impact on your personality. As such, they believe in automatic compatibility between certain signs on the zodiac, and automatic incompatibility between others. It’s not unusual for a Zodii to refuse to even have so much as a one-night stand with someone of an “incompatible” zodiac.

Anti-Cosmo considers Daoism sacrilege. As far as he’s concerned, the nature spirits are very real. They interact with mortals who are willing to accept and believe in them. When they’re bored or angry, they cause mayhem in the forms of floods, quakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, blizzards, and so on. When they’re pleased, everyone is blessed. There is documented proof of the nature spirits. Less so for the Daoine. Anti-Cosmo doesn’t believe in becoming Daoine after death like H.P. does.

Other belief systems exist in the cloudlands. These are just the only ones that are going to come up in my works.

ANTI-FAIRY BASICS

What is Hy-Brasil?

All of Anti-Fairy World. It encompasses nothing else. It literally just means Anti-Fairy World.

The Zodii (usually Anti-Fairies) believe Hy-Brasil to be the name of the land spirit (Note: The land consists of clouds and stuff; land does not mean only Earth or dirt). Hy-Brasil is considered to be a spirit bear and one of the Wise Ancients, but in a sort of dormant state most of the time.

Non-Zodii believe their ancestors manually created the cloudlands.

What is the Hy-Brasil landscape like?

Rule of thumb: Lots of crags, crevices, lava pools, acid pools... Not the kind of place you want to build a stable home. Rarely is the land flat, so you’d have to do some massive work. There are also rivers and forests (usually with leaves black, red, or orange... but not green).

Near the border with Fairy World, it’s warm enough that the rivers remain in liquid form. The farther away you go, the colder it gets. The rivers and lakes freeze (though acid and lava pools don’t). Sunnie, the Water spirit, is highly associated with cold and ice for this reason. Ice is a form of water, after all.

Most Anti-Fairies deeply value the land and don’t want to damage it and offend Hy-Brasil. Their buildings are usually made of materials taken from Earth instead (or from the Fairy World spirit, Tír Ildáthach, when they really want to be spiteful). The Blue Castle was allegedly a gift from the spirits, so it’s ritzier.

The cloudlands are a cold realm as a whole. Anti-Fairy World even more so than Fairy World. Changes of the seasons are limited. I imagine that leaves still fall off trees at certain times of the year, but you won’t lose crops to frost. Apart from a few rare exceptions, it doesn’t rain or snow in the cloudlands.

Why aren’t the Regions named after their colors / Why don’t the Temples match up to the Region colors?

Because I didn’t think this through and I have regrets Because the Regions were named generations before the position of Council Robes were created. The first members of the Council each took a Robe, and that color became associated with their Region.

It would also be very offensive to the Zodii if all seven zodiac colors were on well-dressed authorities gathered in one place, and yet the people wearing them hadn’t been born in the zodiac year whose color they were wearing.

Thus, the colors don’t match up with the Temples because if they did, the Zodii would make a stink about it. Council Robes are elected, but if the Robes were all the zodiac colors, the Zodii would insist they represent nature spirits instead of regions and it would be a political nightmare.

Where is the Anti-Fairy capital city?

Luna’s Landing is on Plane 8. It is located in the Blue time zone, which puts it 7 hours ahead of Pixie World, and 8 hours ahead of Fairy World’s capital city, Faeheim.

The Blue Castle and Grand Archives building are both counted as part of this city, though the Blue Castle is removed from the main city bustle by a path and drawbridge.

Luna’s Landing can legally be called a city due to the presence of the Love Temple.

What is the Blue Castle and who lives there?

The Blue Castle is the executive building, and it’s like the White House. This is where the High Count, High Countess, the camarilla court, and their families live day to day. And the housekeeping and cooking staff too.

In Anti-Fairy World, which is usually lacking in stable jobs, the Castle gets lots of eager applicants for housekeeping. The camarilla conduct job interviews as necessary, and the High Count and Countess both stamp the paperwork (usually without looking at it). That sort of paperwork rarely passes through Pixie hands, since it’s pretty quick and easy, and it’s best not to release that information to potential enemies.

In Knots, the staff are referred to as servants because that’s the time period, but rest assured that the position is paid and they can resign if they want to. They pride themselves on working quickly and being unnoticed. But of course, Foop gets his fun out of catching them in the act. As we saw in “Step Back”, he likes wandering around via the housekeeping tunnels. Anti-Cosmo, being both oblivious and the opposite of subtle, never uses them and usually forgets they exist. Even as a kid, he’d rather hang with the camarilla than the servants.

The High Count and High Countess have conjoining offices with a door that shuts between them. They do their political work there. Paperwork and evil plans and stuff. Anti-Cosmo tries to keep things orderly, but he never does- he’s just a cluttered person by nature, since he follows so many trains of thought at once. Anti-Wanda, unsurprisingly, doesn’t do much better.

What is the Grand Archives Building?

The Grand Archives building is the Anti-Fairy parallel of both the U.S. Capitol and the National Archives. And probably other buildings in other countries, but I’m an American, so I know these ones.

This is where census records and other important documents get stored. The lower two floors are a grand public library. The third and fourth floors are where the archives are, which is special access only. On the fourth floor is the open-roofed building where the Anti-Fairy Council meet and do legislative / judicial things; that’s where we see them in the show.

What is Anti-Fairy clothing like?

Much fancier than Fairy clothing. Fairies tend to use color to show off. Style is less important (They like things they can move around in easily, and the general style is loose clothing so nymphs can easily crawl into their parents’ pouches).

Anti-Fairies use style to show off. They have fancy coats, vests, cloaks, the works. As a culture, they favor dark colors for camouflage, making hunting and stalking easier. Additionally, the Fairy zodiac is so heavily associated with its colors. Anti-Fairies only wear colors ceremonially, and then it’s almost always their zodiac color.

There are exceptions to this rule, as it is a tradition, not a law. However, you would likely be shunned were you to wear bright colors outside of certain events. The anti-pixies figured that out the hard way.

Who are the anti-pixies?

Green-furred, yellow-haired, genetically identical bundles of chaos brought to us by “Clash With the Anti-World”. I’m just going to assume that if you’ve been following my works enough to want to read this post, you already know them.

What is Anti-Fairy technology like?

They don’t even have printing presses. Their lighting is torches hanging on the walls, or candles in dishes. They often use scrolls instead of individual sheets of paper. Anti-Fairies also have these things called anti-gravity platters, which are basically floating platters that hold food up high so a roosting Anti-Fairy can reach them easily. The Seelie favor scrying bowls, but Anti-Fairies favor crystal balls for long-distance communication.

We know from the Musical that Cosmo owned a car before he and Wanda were married. I invented these things called cloudcars, based off the car Sanderson was driving during the “Pixie Rap” song. These cars travel through the clouds, jumping gaps between the clouds and stuff. Those aren’t really things in Anti-Fairy society. Anti-Fairies are usually faster fliers than Fairies anyway, due to their wings being tools of propulsion. And, Anti-Fairies live in colonies. They’re social creatures who like to fly together, or poof. Cars are lonely for them. Not to mention it’s often difficult for them to get comfortable thanks to their wings.

Technology changes over time. Above are the things that hold across the ages. There are other nuances. For example, at the start of both Origin and Knots, no one has running water indoors. They have wells and things. Eventually, that will be a thing. Even Anti-Fairies enjoy indoor running water, and like to shower.

As a rule of thumb, Anti-Fairy tech is simpler and often considered “backwards” compared to Seelie tech. Pixie tech is even more advanced than Fairy tech the majority of the time.

What do Anti-Fairies eat?

Depends. Technically, Anti-Fairies don’t need food to survive. However, if they don’t eat well, their health will suffer. Mostly they eat the same food Fairies eat, although Anti-Fairy meals tend to be extravagant. Not a lot of fast food in Anti-Fairy World.

Sometimes, Anti-Fairies do chase after and eat the bugs that flit about their world, for sport or as an actual food source. While it isn’t healthy to survive entirely on that diet, it’s a better alternative than going completely hungry.

As it stands in Frayed Knots right now, the Anti-Fairies hold one of the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Blue Castle possesses the Dagda’s bottomless cauldron. The Fairies have King Nuada’s unavoidable sword, the Refracted have Lugh’s peacemaking spear, and they all share the Lia Fáil (the coronation stone, which we saw for the first time in “Playing With the Big Kids”).

Marriage customs in the cloudlands?

Such things vary by subspecies, and are details that you don’t really need to know. The only important Seelie one is that the fairy subspecies are said to be monogamous for life, meaning that they “only give their souls away once”, and that they never remarry if their spouse separates from them or dies. It’s fairy culture to take an interest in someone young and stick with them. For example, Juandissimo “gave his soul” away to Wanda, and part of the reason why he can’t move on is because of this. The rest is just him being a clingy type by nature.

The fairies have this tradition called the Year of Promise, which involves engaging in intimacy on the first night of serious courtship, and then spending a year not touching people at all (They wear gloves and socks all the time and avoid skin-to-skin contact). At least, they’re supposed to. When the year is up, they either reinstate their commitment to one another, or agree to separate (if they haven’t already). Supposedly, this helps fairies figure out if they truly want this person to be their one true spouse. Because fairies tend not to remarry, it’s a big deal to choose right.

This isn’t to say fairies can’t remarry. It’s just that these are their biological instincts. I wanted a custom that was similar to real-life dragonflies, who tend to take the first mate they can. That’s what I was going for with “traditionally engage in intimacy on the first night of serious courtship”. Something quick.

Wing notches are fairy culture because fairies don’t usually remarry. They’re basically permanent wedding rings, but they’re slits in the costas of your wings. The pair have matching notches, so it’s like a ring, but you can see the pair match. Speaking of notches, you may have noticed that in the cover image for Frayed Knots, Anti-Cosmo has holes in his wings. Those mimic the notches Cosmo has on his wings. I accidentally drew them when he was a pup in the preview image of “Growing Pains”, but no, Anti-Cosmo only gets these later.

Anti-Fairy society has a different view of marriage. Remember, they believe in the zodiac and in soulmates. It’s not uncommon for Anti-Fairies to be involved in arranged marriages courtesy of their parents. Most notably, the Anti-Fairies who live at the Blue Castle are considered nobles and are frequently betrothed by the age of seven. To an outsider, these matches appear random, but the Anti-Fairies view the matches made as fate.

Anti-Fairies consider a soulmate to be your best friend and closest companion. This can lead to some things that gross out the Seelie Court. Namely, Anti-Fairies being married even to their siblings. However, Anti-Fairies just consider marriage a bond between soulmates, and it’s not as weird for Anti-Fairies when you pair this with their more relaxed view of, well, engaging in intimate acts. Anti-Fairies can’t get pregnant if their counterparts aren’t, which removes some of the risk of certain intimate acts.

Basically, Anti-Fairies believe in soulmates, and acknowledge that you don’t have to have romantic feelings for your soulmate. Especially if your soulmate is your sibling. Anti-Fairy culture would rather promote going after someone you’re attracted to rather than engaging in intimacy with someone you’re not. Soulmates are supposed to support each other, and not be hurt when their partner wants to spend a night with someone else. In Anti-Fairy culture, two consenting partners coming together is completely acceptable, and one’s wife or husband is meant to respect and support their partner’s choices.

In short, you’re supposed to marry your soulmate, who is probably the person you were betrothed to when you were little. This soulmate is meant to be your best friend and support you, and you support them. Cheating isn’t considered a real thing and isn’t frowned upon; it’s just “his other family” or “her friend with benefits”. Soulmates are married, so you’re expected to raise your respective children together (For example, if your counterparts married different people and had kids with them, then there would be two different Seelie families, but the Anti-Fairy children would be raised together as one family with married parents).

There is a certain parental duty that comes along with marriage in the hopes of preventing deadbeat parents running out on responsibility. It can still happen, but the idea is that it’s your obligation to support your soulmate (who may not be the person you had kids with). These customs are less strict farther from the Blue Castle, though; they’re traditions, not laws, and not harshly enforced. In many areas of Anti-Fairy World, Anti-Fairies scoff at marriage altogether, and instead just engage in casual relationships without any sort of commitment. Anti-Fairy culture is okay with this as long as there’s mutual consent. Consent is easy to monitor in colonies, but among the loner types, it can be more difficult.

The important thing to remember is, consent is super valued in Anti-Fairy culture, there are just as many platonic marriages as there are casual flings, and Anti-Fairies don’t see anything wrong with what we would call cheating on your partner. They don’t really have a word for it, and have to describe the concept with general words.

Are there language barriers between the Fairies and Anti-Fairies?

The famous one is “sleep together”. Anti-Fairies often live in colonies, and hang together when they roost. “Roosting together” means roosting in the same general location. “Bundling” means hanging together so close that your bodies touch. You get lots of platonic cuddles in Anti-Fairy World. They’re meant to survive the cold, but even they get sick when it’s TOO cold. So, they snuggle for warmth a lot. Lots of casual hugs.

And casual hand-holding, since when you have a visitor to your [large] home, it’s common decency to lead them around by the hand so they don’t have to echolocate to avoid walls as you two talk. It’s weird, but Anti-Fairies have trouble seeing at all when they can’t echolocate. Like. Their eyes are right there. If you cover their mouth and show them something, they’ll look at it like they understand it’s there. But they’ll still jump in surprise when you take your hand away and let them echolocate again. It’s like their brains absorb some information through their eyes, but they can’t process it without really sensing the shape, size, distance, etc. their echolocation gives them.

To some degree, Anti-Fairies can see you when they’re talking, but not very well. It’s weird. For storytelling purposes, Anti-Fairy narrators have enough vision to help the reader follow along. When not narrating, I sometimes tone them back. Also, windows in Anti-Fairy World are usually covered by vertical bars, not glass panes. They can’t see glass, but can see through glass, and glass windows register as walls when they echolocate. They tend to run into windows. You should assume all windows in Anti-Fairy World have bars.

Back to the language stuff, Anti-Fairies tend to be super touchy-feely. They cuddle platonically for warmth and comfort, and rely on nonverbal cues like the twitching of ears or adjusting of clothes to progress to more intimate acts. The Seelie tend to be more verbal, and are likely to interpret platonic Anti-Fairy cuddles as signs of affection.

As I said earlier, to an Anti-Fairy, “sleeping together” literally means sleeping near each other, possibly cuddling each other in your sleep. To a Seelie, it’s of course a euphemism for mating. Anti-Fairies get confused when they hear gossip about who is sleeping with who. It’s just sleep, right? What’s the deal? Yeah, they slept with that person once. You want to know who else they slept with? They slept with this person one day, and this one after that, and the next week they slept with this one...

Also, because they sleep and mate upside-down (most of the time), Anti-Fairies don’t associate beds with mating. So if you say you went to bed with someone, you’ll get the same cautious, blank nods. Anti-Fairies have more words for platonic sleeping together than they do for mating. It’s mostly a nonverbal thing for them. I mean, they’ve got ears to twitch! Gotta use ‘em! I say nonverbal, but I suppose singing their courtship songs is technically verbal.

Actually, “singing” would be a casual Seelie word that causes Anti-Fairies to do a double take. Anti-Cosmo gets weird looks when he tells Seelie about the time he slept with the Head Pixie (when they fell into the chasm together during the War of the Angels, as we’ll see later). Sanderson gets surprised looks when he tells Anti-Fairies about the people he’s sung with. Like I said, Anti-Fairies have courtship songs. Saying you sang with someone is the equivalent of saying you slept with them in Anti-Fairy culture. There’s no look of horror like the one that crosses an Anti-Fairy’s face when you’re at a party talking about that time you sang with a human... or your mother.

The other famous language barrier is licking. In Origin of the Pixies, H.P. licks lots of people (mostly his pixies). He licks their faces as a nonverbal cue to remind them he’s dominant. His subordinates lick his neck to show they recognize and accept his dominance. This is basic biology for them and they don’t think much of it. In Anti-Fairy culture, licking the neck is one of those nonverbal cues to proceed to more intimate acts. Definite culture shock there. Wasps and bats. Whatcha gonna do?

There are also certain phrases that the other culture takes literally. Anti-Cosmo especially tends to be literal, and answer rhetorical questions, which again earns him weird looks from the Seelie. H.P. adapts to new phrases well in general. I don’t know if any of you guys noticed, but before he met Emery in Origin, he would say “Wait a wingbeat”. After hanging out with her, he picked up saying “Wait a second” instead. He also picked up “Roger that” from China, and “Dude” from Sparkle (and living in Lau Rell). He quickly picks up on new slang terms.

H.P. is better at separating literal and figurative language than Anti-Cosmo is sometimes. Anti-Cosmo is usually good, but there are certain things that throw him. Anti-Cosmo is very much a person who needs to learn things for himself. H.P. is the kind of person who subtly adapts to those around him. Writer humor.

The slang word Anti-Cosmo had to teach H.P. was “cool”. Before that, he would refer to people as “hot”, again earning him uncertain looks. Hey, he’s a busy guy and he can’t always keep up with the young whippersnappers. I just find culture differences and language barriers hilarious.

What are Anti-Fairy senses like?

Fairies and Pixies basically have 360° vision. 270° of that is visual. However, they can sense the auras of magical creatures around them and behind them, to the point that if someone were to stick their tongue at them from behind, the Seelie Courter could sense that just as well as they could if they saw it with their eyes. They can read facial expressions of those they aren’t looking at directly. In “China’s Finger Trap”, H.P. even sensed China slow her pace and put her hand over her mouth from the other side of a door. We’ll see Poof getting super uncomfortable during “Watch and Learn” due to what he can sense too.

The distance one can sense depends on one’s share of their magic pool. It can be mathematically calculated by measuring the distance between head and floating crown. Don’t ask me to invent that formula. I don’t want to know. Yet.

Anti-Fairies cannot sense auras like this. At least, not in the same way. Instead, they just get super intense hearing. We witnessed Foop’s extreme listening sense at the beginning of “Hidden”. Each magical creature registers as a different sound in the energy field. Fairies sound like tearing velcro. Pixies sound like a finger flipping through the pages of a book. In “Think Positive”, Anti-Cosmo said all genies register as gongs to him, even when they aren’t snapping their fingers to use magic. He also said anti-pixies sound like screeching brakes on a car out of control.

But, Anti-Fairy vision is much narrower than that of the Seelie Court. It’s much easier to sneak up on an Anti-Fairy than on a Fairy or Pixie. Though of course, it depends on how distracted they are, and how well they’re listening.

Can Anti-Fairies flip their eyes into field-sight like the Seelie Court?

Anti-Fairies cannot see the energy field or magic lines. You could say they have their own energy field they can see. They can see influences of luck and fate, called “karmic weaves”. We’ll learn more about that in “Fun With Yarn”.

BookwormGal and I were talking about Amanda Adams and the Fairy zodiac this one time. I joked that if I had written the confrontation scene between Timmy and Amanda vs. Anti-Cosmo and H.P. during “Never Had a Friend Like Me”, things would have gone very differently. Like, Anti-Cosmo realizing that Amanda balances the two end points of the positive and negative Leaves year traits (Bravery and Rashness) unusually well, and so he abruptly screeches to a halt to throw a huge ceremony in her honor. Just. In the middle of the revenge plan. I drew Amanda decked out in Leaves year green HERE, though I’ll have to redraw her someday since I’ve never been happy with how I did. Someday.

I wasn’t being completely serious about equilibrium, but then I ran with the idea and it got super out of hand. Specifically, if Amanda can embody Rashness in combination with Bravery, then it seems logical for H.P. to embody equilibrium for the Soil year traits (Perseverance and Obsession). You’ll see that very soon in “What Karma Is”. The Anti-Fairies drool over his karmic weave. And it’s going to keep coming up. Don’t forget. Not that you could. It’s hilarious. I’m hilarious.

Anti-Fairies can’t see the energy field like the Fairies can, but they can see karmic weaves. Or at least they can under certain conditions, such as when you cross your fingers behind your back. They know. They always know.

I’ve actually written some of that AU confrontation scene, since Bookworm gave me permission to make it a Prompt towards the end of the 130 called “You Deserve It”. Here’s a cool rough draft snippet of it, because I think it’s funny:

Timmy raised his eyebrows. “I don’t trust you.”

The Head Pixie grabbed the first three hangers from the closet. “I’m not even going to make up an excuse as to why you should. This wasn’t my idea.”

“Teleporting me away from my fairies? On Christmas? When they have no magic?”

“It wasn’t my idea,” he droned again. “Anti-Cosmo has been interested in your friend for some time now. I don’t know if you know this, but he has a long affinity with genies.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Until your fairies came along, he and Anti-Wanda were childless. He filled that void in his life by raising young genies instead. They’re an endangered species, so he bred them and they had babies. Recently it has come to his attention that your friend…?”

“Amanda Adams.”

“Ms. Adams has been in possession of a genie for a curious amount of time. The girl isn’t known to have the most attentive parents, so he thought he might surprise her with Christmas dinner and discuss her relationship with the genie in the process. Apparently, you happened to be in the room and got picked up along with her.”

Timmy wrinkled his nose. “Nope. Still don’t trust you.”

“Still wasn’t my idea.” H.P. sat on the edge of the bed with the mound of navy blue clothes in his lap. “If it makes you happier, genies do not surrender their powers as Fairies do. Thus, spending Christmas Day with a genie’s master is hardly as antagonistic as spending it with a fairy’s godchild.”

“Well, I’m a fairy’s godchild. And I think this is suspicious.”

H.P. blinked in a dull way. For him, that was probably a pretty normal blink. “Since you’re not the one Anti-Cosmo wanted to have dinner with, I would offer to return you to Dimmsdale. In fact, I would offer to go with you. The traditional Anti-Fairy foods are not exactly to my liking. Much too flavorful. However, I don’t think you would be pleased if I sent you there while Ms. Adams remained here.”

Timmy reluctantly acknowledged the truth of that statement, but didn’t pick up the offered jacket. “Are you going to be wearing colorful clothes to this dinner too? Man, you must really hate that.”

“Actually, I was born in a Soil year. I get dull brown.”

“Of course you do.”

Don’t mess with the Anti-Fairies when they find someone at equilibrium. The karmic weaves are both gorgeous and delicious. They feed on this kind of stuff.

That’s that for today. I was going to have some nature spirit stuff in this post, but they got their own giant post a few days ago instead. You’ll see this stuff in Knots, but it’s also here too. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

#FAIRIES!#ridwriting #Bat cube and associates #Frayed Knots #130 Prompts #I'm wasp dad trash #Origin of the Pixies #Perfect pink beaver boy #BookwormGal

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sunel0 · 2 years

Text

Something Dark Is Waiting in the Woods: Epilogue

You can read it on AO3

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)

Relationship: Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski

Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Theo Raeken, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Liam Dunbar, Mason Hewitt, Lydia Martin, Jackson Whittemore, Kira Yukimura, Nogitsune (Teen Wolf), Dread Doctors (Teen Wolf)

Words: Chapter: 2482/Total: 73900

Chapters: 11/11

Huge thanks to @amatchinwater for beta-reading!

***

Stiles sighed and opened another book. There was a stack of already opened ones in front of him, bathing in the sunlight shining happily through the window.

Lydia was applying some lip gloss in her little mirror across from him, a stack of books in front of her as well.

"You're so not helping!" Stiles pointed at her with his pencil.

Lydia made a popping sound with her lips, now adjusting her hair.

"Well, you got yourself into this mess…"

"And I called you here for help! You're good with languages and cyphers, and this is all about it!"

Lydia closed her compact with a snap. With an unbelievably dramatic sigh of her own, she picked a pencil up from where it was keeping the book open, twirling it in her fingers.

Well, more like a diary than a book. Very old, very crusty diary. Or a journal. Whatever.

Because that was what they were trying to figure out now. How to decipher the Dread Doctors' diaries to try to find out if there was anything useful in them to begin with.

And it was turning out to be a very long process, not that Stiles didn't expect that. He knew it was going to be an insanely prolonged and potentially pointless for him project. It wasn't going to be completely useless in general, since it must contain a ton of information he would have no chance of ever learning any other way. But he probably wouldn't be able to do anything with it, even publish it, because he was pretty sure it would raise way too many questions, including a shit ton of ethical ones.

And he had enough of questions right now.

It was summer break, and he was back home. All of them were, and Mason (his arm still in a cast because it didn't heal right, and his leg is still bothering him) and Lydia were helping him with the diaries. Well, journals. They might be both.

Everyone else – well, everyone who came home, because Kira and Corey had work; which was sad, because from the last and only time Kira and Theo met, Stiles decided they were definitely going to be great friends, and he wanted this for both of them) were being generally useless college kids on a break.

Theo, Liam (in a medical corset for his back now), and Jackson were (for some reason, very aggressively by the sound of it) playing Little Big Planet in the living room, noisy and chaotic. Mason was going to come a bit later – he wanted to check something in the Hale vault library that Peter gave them a key to (after being woke up in the middle of the night several times, he gave up; apparently, Derek and Cora were aware of the situation, so that at least was comforting, even if neither of them, nor Isaac, now fully adopted by Derek and Braeden, couldn't come because the new baby of the family was too little too travel yet, and Stiles had a strong feeling that Peter actually gave them the key to be able to ditch them and go visit his family).

It turned out to be easier to tell everyone who still didn't know about him accidentally becoming technically a Nogitsune and getting Theo as his Familiar. They took it in stride. Apparently, Stiles' previous antics somehow managed to prepare them for something like that.

His father was suspicious of Theo at first, making him sit down for a talk Stiles wasn't allowed to eavesdrop on to the point of being sent to help Melissa with her very late spring cleaning. And both of them refused to tell him how it went. That was simply insulting, but at least his dad allowed Theo to sleep with him.

Stiles leaned back in his chair, so he could see the couch in the living room. This was kind of the reason he wanted to do the work on the table in the kitchen.

So he could check on Theo when he needed to. Or more like felt like it.

Theo seemed fine, as all the previous times today and for the last several months, though, feeding Jolene some chips while Jackson was distracted.

Really, the only person Stiles had been actually worried about telling everything was his dad. No one would like hearing that their only child got first possessed by something, then got a human Familiar, then became a rare Kitsune, and then had to murder several people. Because yes, his father had to know everything.

All of them agreed that only the people who they truly trusted would know about the whole thing with the Dread Doctors (although even Scott, Liam and Mason didn't know Theo's full story with them), his father was the one person Stiles wanted to know absolutely everything.

Well, as much as he could tell on his own, but Theo was fine with telling whatever Stiles felt like telling to his father, so the Sheriff actually knew the whole story. Lydia, Jackson, and Kira knew half. Everyone else – only the basics. Maybe Stiles was going to tell them one day.

Telling the college to register Theo as a familiar (which was easier than dealing with the authorities directly, at least), however, was a whole different thing. They did get into the news, but luckily just the local ones, especially considering that Stiles wasn't about to give an explanation about how exactly did he get enough magic to need Theo at all. And that also raised questions, but he just shrugged. They could test him, and it was going to show up as true, but he wasn't going to explain it. What do you mean it shows up as a Kintsune, you can only be born a Kintsune, and everyone knows he wasn't.

The registration was still in a process of finalization because apparently, since it was a rare thing to have a human Familiar, the formalities needed to be dug up every time anew, and it was taking a lot of time, and until then for some reason Theo couldn't leave the premises of the house he was registered to, which was their dorm house, without Stiles, so he couldn't even get a normal job, not having even a GED, which was such a random and bizarre concept, and now they had to live on whatever Stiles was making for the foreseeable future.

Which wasn't that bad, per se, Stiles did have his scholarship still, and apparently the magical government wanted to subsidize him somewhat because of the inconvenience, but he wasn't betting on that. And his work was more or less fine, the Void helped him get his shit together and actually do a lot of orders. If things went south, he had some savings, and his father was willing and able to help still, even if Stiles would hate to go back to taking his father's money and would only ever do that if he was absolutely desperate.

Theo looked up at him, suddenly, and winked.

"Awww, and Mason said you said no one was sleeping with anyone," Lydia cooed.

She clearly couldn't see the living room from her place, so she must've gotten what was going on from Stiles' face.

So he made a grimace at her. It's not like it held anymore, and everyone knew that.

She laughed delightedly.

Apparently that thing was now an inside joke and Stiles couldn't do anything about it, and he wasn't sure if he was actually annoyed by it, or if he found it adorable in the cheesiest way possible.

He heard steps behind him, and then Theo's chin was on his head, and his arms around Stiles' shoulders.

"How is science going?"

"It's not. We are failing spectacularly so far, but we are still trying."

Lydia pursed her lips, turning back to her notes.

"Speak for yourself. I'm pretty sure I figured half of it out. It's not a regular cypher, so half of it is in one thing, and the other is in another, and also I think half of it is in Latin. I will probably have to bully Danny into writing something for that. But then we will have to scan and put them into digital. But maybe to break the cypher, unless they change it, we won't need that much material," she hummed, twirling a piece of hair onto her pencil in thought.

"Okay. I see," Theo pressed a brief kiss to Stiles' head, definitely trying to get away from being forced into work, though, even if it was future work, and Stiles heard the metal part of his new collar (this one actually thinner and way more choker-looking) jingle.

And that still did things to Stiles' stomach, and he wasn't going to deny that he liked it, not anymore.

He thought he finally understood now why Theo wanted to wear it, aside from shocking old ladies in the store and generally disturbing people. The collar Stiles got him was the first thing anyone got specifically for Theo in a very long time. It must've felt like he was wanted. And the whole idea of the collar made him feel like he belonged somewhere, or to someone. The collar somehow had a lot of meaning for Theo, meaning Stiles only accidentally figured out during one night of bickering when Theo vehemently protected the collar because 'it's mine, you gave it to me, you can't take it away' and then got all grumpy and brooding when Stiles stopped to ask about his sudden guess about the reasons of this behavior, and Stiles' heart kind of broke.

And now Stiles wanted to spoil Theo.

It was something Stiles still found dazzling. How fast and easy it was to feel like there was no other way to be other than to be with Theo.

Theo took a jug of orange juice out of the fridge, then glanced at Stiles over his shoulder, and got himself a glass from the drying rack. Stiles nodded, satisfied. They were breaking some habits here. Creating new ones. If only his father would do the same.

He turned back to Lydia, and found her watching him with an expression so amused, Stiles squinted, scrunching up his face, and shook his head at her in annoyance.

"So you have it all figured out, cool. At least that's progress," he muttered the last part.

The whole deciphering idea was a nice project but considering that they weren't sure how fruitful it was going to turn out, it was still mostly just frustrating.

And this wasn't even the end of his struggles. There was also the magic that was all over the place, and the training to use it correctly with Kira's mother, and building the connection in the proper way, and losing the hold of it sometimes by accident that has never happened to him before, like ever.

And then there was the research project about people like him, who were both witches and something else, which Stiles was sure had to be a thing, since the Void memories clearly showed it having a witch as his original human. There were just no notes about them, and this sounded suspicious as hell.

Then there was a side project of looking for Theo's family, at least someone. Theo said he remembered his grandparents from one side, so they might be there somewhere, even if his parents had died or something. Because Stiles still didn't want to believe in someone just dropping their child like that after actually going to the police with it. There had to be some explanation.

And then there was also generally their relationship with Theo, and having to figure out suddenly living with someone. That someone having a very vague idea about a normal life. On top of them both apparently having some unexplored sexual interests that were fighting their way to the top. Which Theo did literally everything to avoid talking about, so it was also on Stiles to bring up.

All of that on top of the general personality crisis he had been having. Losing half of his ADHD and a lot of his anxiety, and also gaining the feeling of life, the perception and the perspective on it that a thousand years old spirit had did change him. And then he murdered people, which actually paled in comparison with the memories that now felt completely like his own but he knew were the Void's.

"I still don't get exactly why did you get to take the Void home, though. If there have been other people trying to do something with the Nemeton…" Lydia looked at Stiles with a tiny furrow between her perfect eyebrows.

Stiles shrugged.

"I was the first one the Void liked and felt a resemblance to, so it seized the opportunity to get rid of what didn't belong in it, I guess," the Void thought so, too.

It didn't know how the tree's magic worked either, but it also didn't care at all. It loved being free.

Stiles was going to have to switch majors almost at the very end of school exactly for that reason, too. He couldn't deal with studying Nemeta anymore. While it was fascinating, they creeped him out now. And he was suddenly hit with full realization that there were just too many things wrong and broken about the magical society. They allowed something like what happened to Theo go on unnoticed for centuries, and the only way they chose to deal with it was to push it onto the non-magical population.

Stiles felt like he wanted to change it. To fix it. But it had to be done globally, and he wasn't sure where to start. What he did know was that he wanted to be that change. He was going to do it fixing one thing at a time, he decided. With his new life expectancy, he had a lot of time on his hands.

He hadn't spoken about it with anyone, but he was sure that he wanted it, which meant he was probably going into politics now or something like that. He hadn't decided exactly yet. Maybe he needed to drop out and start all over again, although it was a lot of money lost.

It was fine. He was going to figure it out, he wasn't even that worried. He could do it. He was sure of it. He just needed to start somewhere.

And Theo, who was going to age the same way Stiles did now, which was very slowly and for a very long time, was going to be by his side.

"Yeah. Because you're the fuck around, and I'm, sadly, the find out part of this scheme," Lydia smiled at him, all dimples and adorableness.

Theo's little choked off chuckle was covered with Stiles' indignant huff.

#teen wolf #steo #stiles stilinski #theo raeken #sdiwitw #my fandom #my writing stuff

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