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naomifj97 · 2 years

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“—I’ve seen…the ring. Are you…were you married?

—No. But I was betrothed. Duncan didn’t get to tell you the details about my Conscription, didn’t he?”

Or: After Alistair notices a wedding ring in Oriana’s chain, a conversation at camp ensures.

Me, writing more about the Tabris origin and linking it to bonding time with Alistair? More likely than you think. I just love that origin, can't help it. Also, I adore Alistair, our big, cheese-loving man.

Alistair x The Warden, angst, angst and more angst (because, honestly, all origins are kind of gut-wrenching and I'm sure discussing it would be traumatic for any Warden), hurt, comfort, but also beautiful bonding, around 4k words.

Trigger warning: slight mentions of sexual assault, nothing graphic, but please, be safe if the content may be triggering for you <3.

Fic under cut!

Oriana has been strangely quiet since they left Redcliffe.

What they have lived there has been disturbing, truth to be told, but not much more than watching all your comrades be brutally massacred by monsters and end up being the last two survivors, so Alistair is sure there is something else going on his fellow warden’s mind.

They are camped half-way to Lake Calenhad when he finally dares to ask.

—Hey. Something on your mind?

She’s sitting near the fire, gaze lost and knees to her chest, accompanied only by Barkspawn, sleeping soundly at her feet, so lost in her thoughts she jumps a bit in her place when he calls her.

Alistair pouts, ashamed.

—Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.

Oriana shakes her head and gives him her best attempt of a smile.

—It’s fine —she replies before returning to her contemplation of the flames.

She’s doing it again, he notices.

Sometimes, he catches her toying with the chain she wears around her neck, the one that keeps her Warden’s amulet and another tiny, golden object, gaze lost and deep in her thoughts. She’s been doing it a bit more lately, since she talked with that young widow in the town’s Chantry, especially when she thinks no one is looking.

And now, her fingers are tightly locked around that tiny, golden object that shines in the fire’s light, which allows Alistair to finally satisfy his curiosity: that little thing she sometimes plays with is a ring.

A wedding ring, in fact.

He’s puzzled. Puzzled, surprised and a bit uneasy, too, even though he refuses to admit why.

Alistair then realizes he knows very little about Oriana. He knows she was born and raised in the Denerim Alienage, that her mother was an old friend of Duncan’s, and that he had to conscript her for the Grey Wardens because something big had happened to her. They briefly chatted about that before her Joining, and he remembered her telling the King she had killed an Arl’s son for raping her cousin (which he, low-key, approved of), but she didn’t give him any details and he had not insisted. He had hoped to figure out more later, but then the Battle of Ostagar happened and every single plan Alistair had before went down the precipice.

He realizes, with a pang of guilt, he has not really thought about what all that has meant for his partner. She does not usually talk about herself, and he has not made any attempt at learning.

What had Oriana left behind when she had joined the Wardens? And who?

Could she had been married? Was she? Has she left a lover with a promise of returning?

—Alistair?

Oriana is now looking at him, eyes questioning and head titled to the side. She knows he has not heard a word she has said, so she repeats the question:

—You need me for something?

—No, I was just… —Alistair clears his throat, now strangely hoarse—. I was wondering if you were alright. You’ve been very quiet lately, like one of those charming rotting folks took your tongue.

—My tongue is great, though I appreciate your concern —she jokes, winking, but it’s too stiff, too forced, to be real. She’s trying too hard; it doesn’t sound natural. And she knows it. So, she sighs, her feigned smile retreating and returning to a pensive face—. I’m alright. Just a bit shaken. After, you know, the whole “fighting with the undead” and demon-child thing…

Alistair grimaces.

—Yeah. Very creepy, indeed.

He changes the weight off his feet, bouncing from one to another. He’s a bit worn down after the whole day walking, and Oriana notices. Without a word, she shifts to the edge of her folded sleeping bag, making space for him, in a silent invitation he takes with a sigh of content and gratitude.

They sit in silence for a while, simply enjoying the other’s company.

He wants to tell her she doesn’t need to put on a brave face for him. He wants to tell her if she needs to talk, he’s there to listen.

Instead, what leaves his mouth is a bit different:

—I’ve seen…the ring. Are you…were you married?

Oriana tenses and, for one second, Alistair is afraid he’s overstepped. She swallows, slowly and heavily, eyes not meeting his, and he’s sure he has crossed a line. She does not want to talk about it, probably because it’s something very, very painful. If she wanted to, she would have mentioned it, and he is a big loudmouth with zero sense of awareness because he just had to bring it up.

But just as he is about to apologize and run off to hide to the other side of the camp, she sighs and looks at him.

—No. But I was betrothed —Oriana replies, with a smile so sad he feels his heart breaking—. Duncan didn’t get to tell you the details about my Conscription, didn’t he?

He shakes his head, the wound of grief in his chest suddenly reopened and bleeding just by the mention of his mentor. But he holds it together because Oriana looks so sad, and she is so still that worry is all that fills his mind. It’s his time of easing burdens.

She sighs, eyes on his, and asks:

—You wanna hear it?

It sounds like the confession of something horrible. And that only serves to increase his wondering.

He wants to. He feels the thrill of curiosity and the need to know crawling inside him, of course he wants to. But not at all cost.

His reply comes in a soft, hushed whisper, for her ears only:

—Only if you want to talk about it.

Yes. She wants to.

—The day Duncan came to the Alienage was the day of my wedding.

Alistair knows he should have expected something like that. But still, it shakes him. He is dying to ask about her betrothed, more than he should admit, and he definitely has a lot of questions, but he restrains himself. He knows he needs to let her do this on her own terms.

And so, Oriana keeps going, fingers nailed to the golden band in her chain, stroking it with her tips:

—I was supposed to find my cousin, Soris, who was also getting married, and drag him home by the ears so we could dress up and get ready, but we didn't. We stayed outside a bit, just…wandering —she chuckles a bit, with a smirk of longing and mischief that tells Alistair their wandering had involved something related to pranking—. Our fiancés had just arrived, we wanted to say goodbye to our previous routines before introducing ourselves.

That catches his attention. He turns to her, surprise in every inch of his narrowed eyes and frowning brow.

—Introducing? You didn’t know them?

—It was an arranged marriage. We’d never seen or spoke to them before —she explains with a shrug—. Is not uncommon in Alienages. There, you know, everybody knows each other and a lot of us are related. Our communities are small. So sometimes our hahren speaks with the hahren of another Alienage to concert marriages, bring new faces and new blood to the place.

—I… didn’t know that.

He didn’t know and would have never imagined it. He thought arranged marriages were tied to nobles and exigences of blood and alliances, one of those few things in which commoners were luckier.

Oriana makes a soft “humpf”.

—Not a lot of people do. My father had secured me an alliance with a blacksmith of Highever. Nelaros, was his name —her voice cracks a bit, so slightly it wouldn’t have been noticeable to anyone but he—. I didn’t really have a chance of refusing, though I did try. I believe he was trying to ease me —she adds after a minor pause, in such a resigned, almost caring way, that only adds heartbreak to the situation.

It takes Alistair a few seconds to understand she means her father, but that’s all he understands. He turns to his fellow Warden, arms crossing over his chest.

—Easing you? By getting you married?

Why would anyone think that? Why would anyone want that?

Oriana pouts and makes a vague gesture with her hands. At that time at night she no longer wears her leather gloves and Alistair finds himself noticing her fingers are long and gracile.

—I think he expected I’d calm down. I was a bit of a troublemaker back home, never shut up —Oriana chuckles, for real for the first time in the conversation—. I’m pretty sure he wanted me to settle in, have children, become a bit less…wild.

He frowns. Barkspawn grunts, changes positions and keeps snoring, her snout against Oriana’s calve; both Wardens ignore her.

—I don’t think that’s possible. Or desirable, by that matter —Alistair adds, softly and awkwardly nudging her shoulder with his—. Your wildness is part of you, as are your big loud mouth, your ability to attract problems and that thing you do with your nose when you send someone to bit the dust.

He can’t really imagine an Oriana who is not fumbling and constantly laughing, shining bright as the fire in front of them and solving problems either with her loquacity or her sword. She smiles first; then, makes a face that would be funnier in other circumstances.

—Yes, but in an Alienage…you know, it’s better to keep out of trouble. Which I’m not precisely good at —she huffs, because she remembers every single time her father has reprimanded her for not being able to. Then she inhales again, sharply and difficulty, and Alistair knows it’s time to return to the story—. That morning…proved my father’s fears true.

Her face becomes grim, any trace of joy and glee completely erased from her features. The fire caresses them, casting shadows over part of her face.

—Do you know something about the son of the Arl of Denerim?

Vaughan Kendells.

There’s always been rumors about the son of the Arl. Whispers under breaths, murmurs exchanged between merchants and traders in the Denerim Market. Some say he is a bloody lunatic. Others that he is, directly, a monster. Alistair has heard them, but has never wanted to think much about it. However, he has a feeling he’s about to know for sure.

—I’ve heard some rumours, yes.

—All true. His depravity, his brutality, his abuse, all of that is true. Was —she corrects herself with a husky voice—. We ran into him, he was drunk as a bloody barrel, molesting a few women with those bigoted friends of his. I stepped in, and my cousin, Shianni kind of…knocked him out with a bottle of wine.

—I’m sure he deserved it —he replies with disgust.

Oriana nods, rigid; she’s fidgeting with the ring again, and the knees against her chest tight up noticeably.

—He did. But the thing is…he obviously didn’t take it well. He returned when the ceremony had just started. He said…he and his friends wanted to have a good time, so he was taking all the women in the wedding —she shivers, despite being warm enough thanks to the fire. She still can hear his mucky voice, smell his nauseating breath, feel his slimy touch. She gets sick when she thinks about that moment, about him. But she holds back the nausea for the sake of Alistair, sitting at her side and still listening, pale as ash—. Have some fun, the bastard said. And he did.

He manages to answer, voice cracking at the verge of indignation:

—Just…like that?

—Just like that. I didn't even had time to move, or react. He slapped me so hard I was out before I touched the floor.

Alistair feels the sudden urge to punch something. He wants to curse the name of that scumbag, but he does not have time. Oriana keeps going, as if she can’t stop now she has started talking:

—When I woke up, I was on the Arl’s state. My cousin, Shianni was there, as were Nola and Brianna, my bridesmaids, and Valora, Soris’ fiancée —her fingers clench around the golden circle and Alistair knows that, whatever comes now, it’s not good. Her voice shakes, flood with hesitation, embroidered in pain—. The guards came in, started taking us to Vaughan’s quarters one by one. When Nola tried to resist, they sliced her throat.

She’s making an enormous effort not to remember Nola’s body shaking, her blood flowing from her throat and her eyes losing its sparkle, becoming lifeless in the process. But in the silence of the camp, all she hears are her prayers and the last gasping for air she took.

She had grown up with that woman, known her since they were born. And Oriana can’t stop thinking about Tormey, Nola’s father, who didn’t even get back the body of his daughter to properly cry her.

Her arms tense around her legs and her knees are brought closer to her chest, but she does not seem to notice.

Alistair, however, does. And he wants to reach and caress her arm, surround her with his so she knows she’s not alone, but he has a feeling she won’t appreciate being touched right now.

—They saved me for the last —she continues, despite the knot in her throat threatening to suffocate her—. But then Soris showed up, threw me a sword and I guess you know how that part ends.

Alistair nods. He has seen Oriana handle four darkspawn on her own just with her blade and her swift moves; those guards never stood a chance.

She smirks, though there’s nothing but bitterness in that smile.

—I was surprised, honestly. When those things happen, we usually just…hope for the best. I’m sure some people saw it that way. But Nelaros, my…fiancé, refused to let things roll. So he and Soris infiltrated the place trying to rescue us. Duncan gave them arms.

Alistair can see that as if he had been there. Duncan, providing gear and a plan to infiltrate the castle despite the fact that he was supposed not to mingle in those kind of affairs. He was no man to turn his back on people who needed help.

Holding onto Duncan’s memory almost allows him to overlook the raw, terrifying reality Oriana has just made mention to, of man rallying her home to take and destroy. And worse, of people not being able to do anything but hope those who are taken return, no matter in which shape they do it.

He does not want to think about it. So, he nods, encouraging Oriana to go ahead, and the look she gives him is so full of guilt he suddenly understands how she knows his own so well.

—We were supposed to reach Nelaros, rescue the others and get out of there as soon as possible but when we found him…well, it was too late. I was late —she takes a deep breath, trying to recompose herself, trying not to drown in the memory of her fiancé in a puddle of his own blood, of her cousin half-naked, brutally beaten and ravished on the top of a carpeted floor, of her childhood friend with her clothes teared apart by a group of men—. And I was late to help Shianni. And Brianna. When I got to Kendall’s room…it had already happened.

Her words fumble in the quiet air of the camp like the dust after a bombing. Alistair can feel the bile running up his throat at high speed, and swallows it with huge difficulty.

He knows what it’s coming next. He remembers Oriana telling Cailan why she had been forced to join the Wardens, and, after the story she’s telling him, he can’t say he does not understand her actions.

She stares at him and there’s disarray in her eyes, but also a rage like no one else he’s seen in her.

—I killed him. Without the slightest regret or hesitation. And I killed all his guards on my way out —she hesitates, eyes on his, a pang of unsettling at the memory, at the thought of herself as an enraged animal—. You've seen me kill before, Alistair. But what I did that day…that was carnage. I was so furious and so terrified, and so angry I did not even think about those men, their families or the fact that they may not know what was going on. To me, they were all accomplices. I did not think. I just slayed.

He can’t find in his heart to blame her. He’s certain he would have done the same.

Now, Alistair is starting to understand why she has been thinking about all this lately. The Battle of Redcliffe has also being a carnage; flesh of the dead, but a terrific rampage anyway. They have also had to fight their way inside a castle, and, by experience, Alistair knows how similar all nobles’ houses and states can be.

Oriana does not mention it, however, because she’s sure he’s seeing the similarities. She’s also scared to death he’ll start looking at her and see a murderer, a victim, a broken, lunatic thing. But all there’s in his eyes is understanding, and he is a bit shaken, yes, but the story is too disturbing not to be. So, she keeps going:

—When I returned to the Alienage, I knew the whole community would be punished for what I had done, start another purge or something worse. So I took the blame. All of it. Pinched my cousin so hard I’m sure I made him bleed so he didn’t talk —she smiles weakly despite the memory, because she’s been laughing at Soris’ “ow, shit, they’ve caught us” face since they were children and she just can’t help it—. They were about to take me to whipping, or something worse, when Duncan interfered.

—And he conscripted you.

—And he conscripted me —she reaffirms, nodding beside Alistair’s gaze—. The guards were not happy, but nobody wanted to oppose to a Grey Warden. He saved my life.

That’s another thing they have in common, Alistair thinks, and he can’t help but wonder if she also feels it, that connection between them, tying them in the shape of lived traumas and spilled blood.

No, he corrects himself. He would never dare to simplify Oriana’s pain like that. He had gone through bad things, but nothing as bad as all that.

He can’t help but wonder how much of all she has done since they met has been because she’s been trying to make up for her actions.

With surprisingly steady fingers, Oriana pulls her chain off her neck and hands him the golden ring. He takes it, pounders the weight on his fingers. Despite what it represents, despite the heavy memory it embodies, is light. Lighter than he expected.

—I picked this from Nelaros’ body in the hallway —she whispers, and Alistair’s heart clutches at the hurt in her voice—. It was supposed to be my wedding ring, though I guess you’ve already figured that out.

Yes, he has. It has her and her dead betrothed’s name engraved.

—You’ve been wearing it since that day I imagine.

It’s a silly question, because the answer is obvious, but he wants her to keep talking, taking it all out from her system. She nods. Then, she swallows, her eyes wandering over the flames.

—When I talked to that woman, in the Chantry, I thought of him. I’ve been trying not to —when she sighs, the air that comes out from her lips is wretched and teary—. He died because he tried to do the right thing. We didn’t know each other very much. We had exchanged maybe three phrases. But he was a good man. And he did not deserve to bleed to death in the floor like an animal.

She was hoping not to break down. But that story, her story, may be one that can’t be told without breaking. And when the first tear falls, despite she dries it off furiously with her hand, she finds out breaking down in front of Alistair is not such a dreary ending for the tale.

When he sees her cry, Alistair buries his fear of doing the wrong thing and makes a choice. Slowly, he places a careful hand on her shoulder, gives her both, time and space to reject it or move away, but Oriana leans onto it like it’s the only thing keeping her steady. He chooses his words carefully, searching for her eyes, those big, bright, beautiful eyes of hers.

—Even if you didn’t know him well, you have a right to mourn him. To mourn what you lost, what could have been.

Oriana shakes her head.

—I do not mourn what could have been. I just…I… —she buries her head in her hands for a few seconds, just enough to pull it together—. I did not want that wedding. I did not want to get married, kiss a husband I barely knew, have his kids and raise a family in the Alienage. I’m not cut out to stay still and live quietly, and anyone who knows me a bit knows that. Joining the Grey Wardens, for me, was an out of all that. But the price was the life of a man who was not to blame for any of that —the tears return, this time stronger and unstoppable—. And I feel…I feel horrible. Because despite everything that happened that day, despite his death, and Nola’s, and all those men I murdered…I felt free. When I ripped that wedding dress out of my body, when I placed my sword on my back, when I arrived at Ostagar, when I met you… I felt free.

She has been punishing herself for all that, Alistair realizes. And he wants to tell her she shouldn’t, because she’s done too much good, and she doesn’t deserve that burden, and she has paid a prize, too, for that freedom. He wants to tell her that if she’s being selfish, he’s been too, because meeting her was also freeing and bright, despite all the pain and tragedy that came after, and they can be self-loathing, guilt-ridden idiots together.

But he is a bit of a chicken, so, instead, he says something different, something that’s also true:

—Well… I think that whatever price you thought you had to pay, you have already paid it —she opens her mouth to argue, but Alistair has already a bit of practice on seeing her stubbornness coming, so he goes on before she can—. I mean, how terrible is that the closest thing you perceive as freedom is leaving behind everything you know, drinking darkspawn blood and ending up being a fugitive to the whole Ferelden all while trying to end an invasion of monsters with the sole assistance of a bunch of weird, odd outcasts? That sounds like punishment enough.

She laughs; it’s quiet, and small, and low, and she’s still teary-eyed, but it’s enough to make his heart jump in his chest.

—We are not odd. We are…picturesque.

His turn to chuckle.

—Your opinion, not mine —he jokes, and she shakes her head with undeniable affection and the ghost of a smile in her lips. He sighs, softly caressing her shoulder with his thumb. He knows is probable his words are taken by the wind never to be thought about again, but Maker, he needs to try—. Oriana… You went through a lot that day. You tried to defend yourself, and your people. Everything you did, you did it because of that. What happened that day is not your fault. You were attacked. You were assaulted. You did not deserve it. You don’t deserve it.

She is about to cry. She’s certain of it. Because of everything that happened, because of all the wounds that day left behind in her, that have not healed properly. They probably never will.

But she doesn’t. Because Alistair is there with her, his big hand on her shoulder, tying her to reality and to herself; his eyes are sweet, loving and understanding, and the small, quiet smile he gives her is so different to any other he has given her to date that, suddenly, she feels a bit better.

She’s tired. So tired. Cautiously, she leans towards him until the side of her body finds his, her head resting over his forearm. He’s warm, and safe, and comfortable, and he smells like leather, sweat and pine needles, and she finds herself thinking he feels a bit like a home, too.

Alistair thanks the fire and the darkness of the night for dissimulating and hiding his blush respectively. He knows he’s a bit tense, because he is not used to physical contact, but it is a heavily pleasant feeling. It doesn’t take long until he relaxes against her body, just like hers does, curled up towards his own. He hasn’t felt so at peace in a long time.

—Thank you… For listening —she mumbles against the leather of his shoulder plate, free from the armor at that time of night.

He just lets his head rest on the top of hers and replies in a whisper for her ears only:

—Thank you for telling me.

She does not deserve anything that happened, and she does not deserve to feel guilty about it.

He knows that.

Maybe, one day, she may believe it, too.

A/N: I love them, Your Honor. And I love drama, exploring traumas and describing healing processes.

Writing this was incredibly satisfying because while I really like humorous pieces like A lamppost in winter, I also believe there's something very powerful about watching Alistair and the Warden bonding over their tragedies and grief; I think that makes them even closer, as opening your heart to another person, letting them see the darkest places of you and hoping they would understand you, accept you and love you regardless is a layer of intimacy deeply personal and raw. Also, I must admit I believe I'm way better at writing drama.

Anyway, hope you liked it!

Also! Job interview tomorrow! Wish me luck!

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desertofsnowflakes · 3 years

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Incorrect Order Chapter 7 (Nessian AU)

A/N: Do inform me if you wanna be added/removed from the taglist! If you happen to find my storyline similar to another fic or one of yours, I'm extremely sorry, I might've just not known. All characters belong to the author Sarah J. Mass. Enjoy!

Summary: Don't first impressions always affect the way you see someone? Well, what more with the Nesta Archeron? Nesta meets Cassian at few unexpected places and to say it didn't go well was a major understatement. Certain circumstances make them become enemies to tolerable company to friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: none ig

2097 words | Incorrect Order Masterlist | Read on AO3

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Wearing a tee is fairly simple. Just bunch it up and pull it over his neck, then, put his arms through. That's it. This is the third time he was trying to get himself in this damn t-shirt. The first time, he wore it the other way round. The next time he accidentally tried putting his neck where his arm was meant to go. He got snarled in the t-shirt in the process. It's a miracle the garment hadn't ripped off. His brushed hair also got mussed and tangled in the process.

Cassian sighed and held his dark brown tee up. His mind was still playing his memories with Nesta on loop. It just wouldn’t stop. Not when he was sulking, bathing, changing—

The doorbell rang. A quick glance at his wall clock confirmed that the hour was ungodly enough that most would be asleep. Wondering who exactly it was, Cassian opened the door—

—and his mind blanked out. There, standing in front of him, in all her glory was Nesta. Nesta, who had snapped at him earlier. Nesta in a white oversized sweater and black tight-fit leggings. A small bag was slung on her shoulder. He was pretty sure he was gawking like an idiot. He forced his mouth to shape her name.

***

“Nesta,” he breathed. Nesta could hear awe and reverence in his voice. So much that she shivered. There was pain in his voice too. Tears pricked her eyes. How selfish of her to run to him even after she hurt him. But she couldn’t turn away. Not now, not after walking from her home to here. She closed her eyes and swallowed. His bare torso didn’t help matters either. His torso was a wonderful masterpiece. His tattoos were starker in the moonlight. She longed to trace them with her fingers. Nesta immediately shut that train of thought. She didn’t come here for that. She came here because of Tomas. That’s it.

Cassian was peering over her shoulders when she opened her eyes. Frowning, he asked, “How did you come here? Has your cab left?”

“No,” she said. “I walked here.” His eyes snapped to her face. He took a step back and opened the door wider, “Come in,” he said.

Nesta could feel his eyes on her while she stepped through the threshold and took her time to look through his house. It wasn’t as big as Feyre’s but it was bigger than her apartment. She saw a rumpled t-shirt discarded on the dark blue couch and reigned in a smile. She heard the click of the lock and turned to face him. He looked at her and ran a hand through his hair, tousling it further. Her eyes tracked the wispy strands moving in between his slender, long fingers. Cauldron, she thought, this was going to be very difficult, indeed.

He nodded at the couch, “Have a seat. You must be tired. How long was the walk?” he queried.

She took her seat on the soft couch and replied, “Around half an hour including a short break I took.”

He nodded. The pained expression, mixed with one of longing, didn't leave his face yet. “Why are you here Nesta? Truly? Just a few hours ago, you were screaming in my face and now, you’re in my house looking rattled. What do you want?”

Nesta stared at her hands resting on her lap, took in a ragged breath and said, “Tomas.”

The shock was evident on his face. “Tomas?” he repeated. She saw as the shock on his face bled and became anger. “Did he disturb you again?” he demanded.

“No,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “No. He wasn’t really even there. I was on my bed. Trying to get some sleep. I couldn’t sleep, I kept tossing and turning on my bed. Sleep felt so far away. But after sometime I think I fell asleep. Then I felt like I woke up. It was bright. It all felt weird to me. And that was when I saw him. He was in my room. His hand was around my neck, squeezing. He was talking and talking.” The words were gushing out of her now, a panicked flow of words. She continued, “Then he slapped me. He also had a knife with him. He kept threatening me. Telling me about the way he said he wanted to kill me. And—and he used his knife on me. He stabbed my arm and kept dragging upward slowly. It hurt like hell. That was what I didn’t understand. The pain. It all felt very real. Most of all, my pain.” She looked back at Cassian. He was silently listening, she was grateful for that. “That’s why I came here,” she admitted. “I got scared. The vulnerability I felt… I want to be ready when he comes back. And he will come back. He isn’t the type to let things go. I need your help. Help me,” she pleaded. She wasn’t aware of the tear escaping her eye.

Cassian got up and seated himself beside her. He cupped her cheek. Unconsciously, she leaned closer to him. He gently brushed her tears away. “I’ll help you,” he said gently. “You’ll be ready. When the time comes, you’ll be ready. I’ll make sure of it. Only if you call me Cass.”

She grinned. “That wouldn’t be very difficult,” she said.

***

Cassian felt like he was selling his soul in a bargain to the devil. He knew. He knew that this wouldn’t end well for him. He knew he’ll end up having his heart broken. But he couldn’t resist. He couldn’t bring himself to say no to her.

Nesta wrapped her arms around his middle. He froze. The sensation of her hands on his bare skin was a shock to his senses and elicited a shiver down his spine. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much. Really.” she gave him a playful smile. “Cass,”she said with more emphasis than necessary. And Mother, he didn’t regret letting her call him Cass one bit.

She yawned and stretched like a cat. He liked that too, he decided.

“Have you slept?” he asked.

“A bit. You?”

He shook his head. He gestured to her to follow him up the stairs. “You can sleep here till dawn in Mor’s room. You know, the room you used the last time.”

“Cass,” she said. He halted, turning back to face her. “I really need to say this. I’m sorry. Truly. I shouldn’t have said what I did last night.”

He didn’t say it’s okay because it really wasn’t. He just nodded, acknowledging her apology, showing her that he couldn’t forget how much it hurt him but he’ll try to come to terms with both of their mistakes. They reached Mor’s door.

She hesitated. “I don’t have any clothes to change to,” she said.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Mor’s clothes would fit you, though it would be slightly loose. You can also use the bathroom to wash up or anything else you want to do. I’ll be in the room down the corridor—” he said, gesturing to the second last door— “so just knock if you need anything, okay?”

She nodded and thanked him again before closing the door and preparing for bed. He entered his room and plopped on the bed. It might’ve been how tired he felt or it might have been her presence two rooms away, but in mere minutes, Cass was fast asleep.

***

A few fast and hard knocks on his door woke Cassian from his sleep. Groggily, he opened the door to find Nesta in a tank top and shorts. Very short shorts. She looked disturbed, though.

“What happened?” he asked her.

“I can’t sleep,” she said, her voice small.

Cassian’s heart, or at least, what was left of it, broke. He hated to see this. Cold, sharp Nesta now, standing in front of him, scared and afraid. He felt a surge of protectiveness in him. He wanted to tuck her to his side and shield her from every and any harm that would come to her.

He held his hand out for her and brought her into his room. “Sit,” he gestured to his bed, “What do you want to do?”

She smiled tentatively, “Would you tell me about yourself? We haven’t introduced ourselves properly. I think I want to hear more about you from you yourself. And if you want… I could tell you some things about myself too.”

He sat on the bed beside her and said, “That’ll be fun.” He saw this not only as a means to escape the horrid things in her head, but also as a peace offering. He couldn’t forgive and forget the things she told him earlier but he could try to play along with her patching up.

“Who’s gonna start first?” she asked.

He dramatically placed his hand on his bare chest in a variation of a bow and said, “After you, my lady.”

She laughed and asked, “Do you ever wear a shirt at home?”

“Why? Getting distracted already?”

“Can’t you just answer my question?” she asked hotly, though a light blush was creeping up her cheeks.

The corner of his lips kicked up a notch, “I do wear shirts at home.”

“Good,” she said and opened her mouth to continue when he interrupted her.

“Wait,” he said, “Now, you haven’t answered my question.”

“I didn’t deem it worthy enough to answer.”

He pouted, “You wound me, Nes.”

“Stop being overdramatic. And don’t call me Nes!” she snapped half heartedly.

“Twice,” aggrievedly, he said, “you wounded me twice. Also,” he smirked, leaning closer to her, “you like it.”

“Like which?”

“Being called Nes.”

“I don’t.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Now you’re the one who’s getting distracted. What did we plan for and what are we doing now? If this is how things are gonna be, I think you’ll prove to be a very bad teacher.”

“Now, Nes, you need to know that I’m good at many, many things and would prove to be an extremely focused teacher,” he said, voice husky. He knew she caught his meaning when the blush on her cheeks deepened. He leaned back on his palms, “Go on.”

So she spoke. She told him of her time when both her parents were alive; of the time when they grieved their mother’s death; when she kept herself away from her sisters after becoming orphans; when she made the mistake of falling for Tomas. “Honestly,” she had told him, “when I look at him now, I wonder how I fell in love with him in the first place.” She then told him of how her relationship with Tomas was a toxic one; him being abusive and controlling; how he made her feel low of herself; how he never respected her; how he kept cheating on her. She told Cassian of the day Tomas hit her and accused her of cheating just because he saw her paying for her groceries at a male’s counter. She told him of how she called the police immediately after and got him behind bars. By the time she was over, Nesta was curled by his side, tears silently streaming down her beautiful face, him rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Then he told her about himself. He decided to tell her the plain truth without any alterations. She deserved it. But it felt intimate, somehow, sharing the details he hadn’t spoken out loud. Even Az and Rhys had only seen what he did and never pushed afterwards. He told her as much before telling her about how much he loved his mother; of how he never knew his father and that was for his father’s own good; of how his mother was killed one day while he was at school; of how he beat the men involved into pulp; of how he was called a brute and a bastard there on; of how he first met Rhys and Az at his school; of how Rhys’s mother took him in as her own son; of the silly things and the trouble the trio would create.

“You are a very good friend, Cass. And an even better man,” Nes said

His heart warmed. He said, “Don’t care about what Tomas said. You’re a beautiful, intelligent, brave, witty and sharp woman. And I,” he paused, “I like you very much as a friend too.”

He didn’t understand the short pang of disappointment on his face. All he could think was, shit, I almost said I loved her.

taglist: @shadowsinger07 @im-someone-i-guess @saltyfortunes @cressjacquine @champanheandluxxury @zemiraa @nehemikkele @angelic-voice-1997 @heartless--aromantic @sv0430 @vinylcryes @deedz-thrillerkilller16 @sjm-things @dontgetsalmonella @ganseys-jane

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vegalocity · 3 years

Text

Seperated (Red Groom AU)

The part of the Albino will now be played by -drumroll- Jin and Yin is that even a question? of course its Jin and Yin.

Also i rewatched this sequence a few times to get the dialogue right and... Am I on glue or are Humperdink and Count Rugen like... kinda into eachother?

Xiaotian awoke with pain. He pulled a hiss between his teeth as a rag—no doubt drenched with cleaning fluids for how much it stung—was pressed to his shoulder. The room he was in was dim when he forced his eyes open, but soon his gaze was met with the red eyes of a silver skinned demon.

“Who-” he croaked. “Where am I?”

“The pit of despair.” The demon hissed, his voice raspy and dim, it reminded Xiaotian of the whispers of a ghost. On some level it made him nervous. “Don't even think-”

“Yin, you gotta stay away from the guy while he's still injured, brother. You sound like a nightmare warmed over.” a far more normal voice made itself known, and Xiaotian watched a golden demon that other than the change in coloration seemed near identical to the silver one entered his vision.

“But Jin I-” The silver demon, Yin apparently, gasped. “Come on, I NEVER get to be the ominous assistant!”

“You're still ill, If you mess up the experiment by getting the prisoner sick Macaque is gonna ACTUALLY kill you, and I don't wanna be an only child.”

Yin huffed and puffed.

“Maybe he should go home.” Xiaotian offered weakly. Less guards meant less people to fight while he escaped after all.

“Pssh!” the gold brother, Jin apparently, waved a hand. “Like we'd EVER- Nah he's just gotta leave prisoner interactions to me. Speaking of!” He snagged the clean rag from his brother's hand. “You'd rather be treated by the one that ISN'T actively sick right now, wouldn't ya, prisoner?”

Yin let out a series of sneezes that nearly seemed to knock him off his feet. So Xiaotian was thankful when he finally shrugged and went over to a worktable while Jin leaned over and went to applying the cleaning fluid on his wound.

“Like my brother was saying though, don't even think to try and escape. Those chains could hold down the Monkey King, they're that strong.” The irony of that statement was lost on Jin, Xiaotian hadn't been in his monkey disguise when they'd captured him, it was unlikely anyone knew of his ruse. Even Red Son while surrendering (his heart still hurt at the memory of defeat in his voice) had been nonspecific about WHAT nearby mountain was his. “And the entrance is like, super secret too, like top secret. Only the Boss, the Prince, and my brother and I know where it is, and Yin didn't even pay attention when we were being shown the way.”

“It was boring!” Yin defended himself from across the room. “You were barely paying attention yourself!” Jin turned around and likely made an ugly face at his brother, whom quickly returned it with one of his own, before he turned back to Xiaotian.

“You're gonna die down here my good fellow.”

“Then why heal my wounds?”

“I 'unno. The boss tells us he likes his test subjects in tip tops before he messes them up.”

“We generally leave between 'experiments'” Yin added on, before letting out a loud grunt as he moved some heavy looking contraption across the area. “He's like.... Super creepy when he gets into it. Gives Jin the willies.”

“Honestly there are some times when I can't remember why we even work for him.” Jin agreed with a visible shudder and a shake of his head.

“Cuz mother said she would force us out of the house if we didn't find work, and he pays well.”

“Oh yeah, that.”

He wasn't paying much attention to the brother's banter, he'd already put together what matters.

“So they're going to torture me down here?” Jin hummed in agreement as he continued to clean him up of left over blood. “I can handle torture.”

Yin let out a raspy laugh that was somehow less disturbing than the audible shudder that went up Jin's spine.

“Look, my man, you're new here, you don't know.” There was something close to pity in Jin's voice and it almost immediately set off every alert in Xiaotian's nervous system. “that machine they rig people up to, it's no joke. We only heard the damn thing a few times and it's really, REALLY bad.”

“I still get nightmares!” Yin agreed.

But then Jin had finished cleaning up his wounds and went over to aid his brother in whatever he was doing moving things around, leaving Xiaotian to his thoughts.

Something so bad that it made demons recoil in fright? What sort of horror display was he in for? That Six-Eared Macaque did seem the sadistic type, but what did that entail?

He had to get out of here. He tested the chains, but no dice, his arm was still injured though the bleeding had stalled, and he was strapped down with both hands nearer his waist than his head so he couldn't even try to summon some backup in the form of a clone. And his shapeshifting was still rudimentary at best, he couldn't do any forms that would change his size quite yet and that was the one thing that could help him break out of here!

He'd have to stay put for just a little longer at least until he could figure something out.

At this point the Prince wasn't likely to kill Red Son until they were already married, and though his heart ached at the idea of his love being forced to play along with that cruel beast's games until he found a way around it, or managed to escape on his own—as he knew that he would at this point. Now that he knew that Red Son's heart had remained true, and Red Son knew he was alive, he knew his love would stop at nothing to get out of this arrangement and find him again, he was far too clever to simply go along with this and hope that those mercenaries were wrong or deceitful—he could find him on his own.

He knew he would. Red Son was far too intelligent for anything else.

–

Within three days time the Prince's father had died. And on that very night he and Red Son were married.

It was the day after the ceremony and Red Son, now a married man, was to be prepared not to be a demon king in his own right like he'd always assumed but-

–

“What? That's not right! Grandpa you're telling the story wrong!”

“What do you mean, little one?”

“Red Son doesn't marry the prince he marries Xiaotian! He's his true love not the prince!”

“But Red Son turned himself in to the Prince to save Xiaotian's life, remember?”

“But! But after the Forest-! And everything Xiaotian did to get back and save him from the mercenaries-! After everything he did he doesn't even get to marry him in the end?! That's so unfair!”

“Whoever said life was fair? Where'd it ever get written down that life was fair?”

“B-But! But! Xiaotian is still in the Pit of Despair! He needs Red Son to save him like he saved him! ”

“You wanna know how this ends or not?”

“...Yes...”

“Thought so. No more interruptions, alright? Where was I...-”

–

-It was the day after the ceremony and Red Son, now a married man, was to be prepared not to be a demon king in his own right like he'd always assumed but the husband of another. And as such he didn't know his new court anywhere near as intimately as he did his own back home. So he was taken to oversee the goings on of this court and acquaint himself with the advisers and nobles within.

He was dressed now not in the warm tones that his family was known for, but the cool pale purples of his husband's own court and in his own opinion, it clashed horribly with his hair, if it were a darker purple maybe, but this simply wasn't a good shade for him.

But that was just one in a long, long line of things that were wrong about this situation, so he did his best to appear the unflappable demon prince he once was.

Examining the court before him he could only compare it to the one he knew back home, and in many ways he found it much the same. The same types of sniveling yes-men, the same kinds of conniving power-seekers, and the same sort of surprisingly wise elders.

And then just three steps away from him, one of the advisers snickered. A cruel, twisted sound, a mocking laugh.

Red Son... was on a bit of a hair trigger for obvious reasons and whirled around at the noise, approaching the previously assumed sniveling coward, and feeling his hair light aflame behind him.

“Is there a problem?” He tried to make his voice as unshaken as possible, but the rage that was so quick to boil in his gut was difficult to contain.

“Oh no, your highness-” the adviser gave an melodramatic mocking bow. “No problems here, I simply find it funny how everyone else here seems to think you worth our respect!” The Demon loosed another gale of laughter and didn't seem the least bit frightened when Red Son reached forward and grabbed him by the collar. He didn't even seem surprised.

“What was that, you infernal garbage?!”

“The only garbage here is you, Red Son!” The Demon howled with laughter, before looking among his fellows, trying to gain support. “Can you all even believe it? This cold hearted princeling had true love in his hands and he let it go!” His gut dropped. “After everything Xiaotian did for you! To come back to find you! To save you and keep you alive when you couldn't even summon a candle's worth of flame in that forest and you repaid him by betraying him!”

The demon slipped from his slack grasp as he chortled, and Red Son found his limbs very weak indeed, his anger replaced by a cold, sick feeling.

“They were- He was going to kill Xiaotian, I had to-”

“Oathbreaker! Xioatian lives and you marry another! You had love in your hands and you treated it like garbage!” The demon leaned against the side of another adviser, whom seemed frozen in place. Much like how Red Son felt.

“Because that's what you are your highness! Garbage! Prince of all refuse!” The Demon shook his neighbor's shoulder. “Bow to him if you want! Go ahead! Bow to the prince of all slime! The prince of all filth! Prince of all putrescence!” His laughter never once abated, and when the demon took a step toward Red Son, he instinctively backed away.

“An oathbreaking fool! That's what you are!”

“Muck! Filth! Coward!”

His laughter was piercing.

Red Son awoke with a startle, heart thumping in his chest and a cold sweat across his brow. The King was still alive and the wedding was ten days away, yet his nightmares were getting worse. And on this morning he came to one conclusion:

“I cannot afford to bide time any longer.”

–

“See? I told you he'd never marry that rotten prince!”

“Yes you're very smart, shut up.”

–

As quick as he possibly could he changed from his sleep shirt into proper attire and began to plan his escape. His betrothed would attempt his life the second he let it slip that he knew of his plans, so he had to be quick, he had to be clever, and above all, he had to be sneaky.

He didn't know why his betrothed had decided to assume sincerity, but since he wasn't dead yet he could only guess that he was waiting until the wedding night to enact his plan and frame whoever he wanted to frame for Red Son's 'assassination'.

So he had ten days. Child's play, he could do it in three, tops.

The hard part would be keeping a low enough profile until he made it to Flower Fruit Mountain to evade whatever hunters his soon to be ex-fiance would send after him. How ironic, he thought to himself, that it was now his turn to make an impossible death defying escape and make his way back to his love.

He didn't have much by way of sewing skills, but the wardrobe of the rooms he was given had no mags with which to carry his supplies, so he had to make do with a spare blanket and what little he knew of hemming fabric until something resembling a traveling pack was made and ready.

It was about then that the prince made summons for him.

Red Son turned over what to do or say in his head as he approached the sitting room, and came to the conclusion that if he acted like he was alright with all of this then he would arouse suspicion. Red Son was well known for his temper, and he'd made it obvious that he had a love in Xiaotian. Though he'd willingly given himself up for his safety, the fact of the matter was that the prince had been willing to fight and hurt him, and if Red Son didn't already have plans to run then that would mean he'd be furious.

So he held himself as stiffly as possible and didn't hold back his scowl when the prince came into view.

“Ah! Beloved! How wonderful to see you!”

The prince seemed unshaken by Red Son's fury and remained unwavering as he stiffly marched over and sat across from him. It occurred to Red Son as he sat that the prince would likely expect him to try and call the wedding off at least once. He would do everything in his power to either try and convince Red Son to take back his announcement (he wouldn't be able to) or restrain him to the palace until he could force him to acquiesce.

“I refuse to lie to myself any longer.” He spoke only then, His betrothed's brow raised in curiosity. “I love Xiaotian, I have since long before my parents ever reached out to yours, and I always will.”

If anything this might be an interesting way to see if he's going to play along or not. “If I am forced to marry you in ten days you must understand that on the eleventh I will be dead.” There, if he set the assumed date afterward, then the Prince wouldn't think that he was moving the timetable of his own plans up-

“I could never cause you such greif.” He said after a sigh. “Consider the wedding off.”

He knew this was a ploy, he had a plan of some kind. But Still Red Son felt the tight clamps pressed to his chest loosen at the words being spoken aloud.

“You returned this 'Xiaotian' to his mountain?” The prince turned halfway and Red Son was startled to see the macaque standing in the shadows, he hadn't even seen him when he'd entered!

“I did.”

“Then we'll send a messenger for him.” They wouldn't. They'd sent Xiaotian back to Flower Fruit Mountain no doubt, lest they risked starting conflict with his own army. However Red Son knew the prince had no problems at all lying to him. Any messenger he oversaw a letter being handed off to would likely get out of sight and shred the note to bits before lying low for a time and returning. “But, Beloved, Can you be sure that he'd still take you back?”

The laughter of the demon in his dream echoed in the back of his mind. “What do you mean?”

“I simply mean that, it was you who did the leaving back in the forest.” Red Son couldn't fight back a flinch at the reminder. “And... kidnappers aren't exactly well known to keep their word.” Thankfully he didn't need to fake outrage.

“He didn't kidnap me!”

“Well... then may I suggest a deal?” The prince considered his tea before taking a sip. “How about this; I'll send my four fastest messengers along different routes to your Xiaotian's mountain, and you'll write four separate letters explaining the situation for them to deliver. To decrease the likeliness of the message getting lost due to bandits and the like. Your Xiaotian is sure to receive at least one of them by that. And if he accepts you back, then good fortune to you both.”

The Prince's brow furrowed with worry, and once again he reached out to try and take Red Son's hand. He pulled his hands back. “But if he doesn't, If your love decides this was one betrayal too many, then please at least consider me as an alternative to suicide.”

He was trying to get him to doubt himself, to doubt Xiaotian. Trying to put something like that in the back of his head so he'd be less convicted when he had some notary of some kind fake a letter of rejection.

“Are we agreed?”

“We are.”

He'd be gone in a few days time anyway. And if the prince was right, if Xiaotian did feel rejected and betrayed, and angry, and if he somehow did decide that he didn't want him back...

...then he'd just have to win his heart again. If that were the case it may be difficult, he hadn't exactly gone chasing him all that time ago in the Inn, He wasn't sure if he knew how. But he'd try, whatever it took.

He just had to get out of here first.

–

“You know, now that I've spent a time with the prince, I can see why so many other demon suitors were banging down his door for so long. A mote too angry for my own taste, but even for a more human-looking demon he's not too bad on the eyes.”

“Don't go falling in love with my groom Macaque. I'll not have you ruining my plans.”

“Pff! No worries there, highness.”

“...You know, when I'd hired the Spider Queen and her ilk to kill him on their way to my mountain I thought THAT was a work of genius, but it'll be so much more moving to cut his head off on our wedding night myself I do think.”

“His parents will be furious.”

“Especially once I blame the Monkey King when I send word to them about it! They'll insist on going to war and our combined forces will finally claim that eyesore of a mountain.”

“It's going to be a bloodbath.”

“Which I'm sure YOU'LL enjoy my six-eared friend.”

“Now.. where is that secret knot... damn thing's always changing locations I swear- Ah... Are you coming down? Xiaotian regained his strength, I'm going to be starting him on the machine tonight.”

“Macaque, You know how much I love watching you work; but I've two anniversaries for different alliances to plan the celebrations of, My wedding to arrange, my husband to murder, and the Monkey King to frame for it, I'm swamped!”

“Get some rest my prince. If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything.”

“I hate this, I hate this, I hate this.” Jin was mumbling over and over as he and Yin rolled the slab of wood Xiaotian had been strapped to this whole time across the ground, and up against an unmoving water wheel.

“By all means, quit if it upsets you so.” The Six Eared Macaque stated idly, and out of the corner of his eye Xiaotian could see him scribbling something down, some sort of notation.

“He doesn't mean that.” Yin assured his brother as he forced Xiaotian this way and that, tightening leather straps to his chest and head. Hollowed out iron funnels were affixed to small holes in the straps, the cone sides pressed to his skin while the nozzles were being slowly attached to a set of copper tubes. “He'd be without any assistants that can keep their mouths shut without us.”

He couldn't move with these stupid straps all up and down his body—well... he already couldn't move MUCH, but the lack of what little mobility he'd had from there lost further was upsetting.

“Got back to work you miscreants.” The macaque snapped before standing and approaching him. When those eerie purple eyes were peering down at him Xiaotian had the uncanniest of feelings that he was trying to look like the Monkey King. Like some sort of crazy fan that wanted to steal his life or something. No wonder he hadn't realized that Xiaotian was actually disguising himself as such with Sun Wukong's blessing.

“Lovely machine isn't it? Been working on it for a solid century now.” He patted the strange device affectionately, as though it were a beloved pet. “You probably know by now your 'love' isn't the only scientific mind among our kind. But where he's interested in any field of study he can get his hands on I'm more interested in... shall we say... the study of pain.”

“Made my living stealing other people's powers for my own ya see, and it's been fun, but it's maybe getting a bit old too. Because I've been doing that, basically my whole life, and I kinda wanted to change it up. So I decided to see how much I can make someone hurt. I'm still testing this thing out mind you, so...Be honest with how it feels, alright? It's for posterity's sake.

“Now, this being our first try, I'll ease you into it. We'll start on the first setting.”

Xiaotian tensed, steeling himself over for whatever pain would follow.

The Macaque pulled the lever-

The machine whirled to life-

And there was pain.

#Spicynoodleshipping #MK Red Son #Qi Xiaotian #MK Demon Brothers #Six Eared Macaque #Vega writes stories too #Princess Bride AU #red groom au

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rusty-shadowclan-au · 3 years

Text

ShadowClan AU Into the Wild Part 2!

Firepaw hasn't exactly forgotten that Ashpaw and Ryepaw are WindClan born, but he's got a lot of other stuff on his mind. It's been two days, and Leafpaw is still in shock. She hasn't spoken a word to anyone and is refusing food, so he's out of his mind with worry about her and isn't really thinking about much else

Darkclaw drags him out of camp on a patrol of ShadowClan's newly "won" territory, because sitting in camp and driving himself mad with worry certainly isn't going to help anyone.

While they're patrolling the edges of former WindClan territory, Morningpaw appears (WindClan is still near their territory, not yet living under the road) and demands proof that her siblings are alive

Firepaw is like "This is going to be fun to explain to Darkclaw" but Darkclaw doesn't seem surprised. Hes like "Yeah ShadowClan has been stealing kits for moons now. I was one of the first." Which takes Firepaw completely by surprise. Darkclaw agrees to help Firepaw sneak Ashpaw and Ryepaw out of camp to meet Morningpaw the following night.

On the way back to camp, Firepaw asks which other cats in ShadowClan were kidnapped as kits. Darkclaw names a few names, including Ravenpaw and Dustpaw born to ThunderClan, but leaves out the fact that Firepaw and his siblings aren't Clanborn.

This isn't out of malice, Darkclaw just figures that Firepaw is dealing with enough right now and doesn't need to know that his birth mother was murdered in cold blood.

The next night, Firepaw convinces Ashpaw and Ryepaw to follow him out of camp. Darkclaw took camp guard duty tonight which makes it easier. Once they're in former WindClan territory, Firepaw tells them that they're WindClan born, and says that they're going to meet their sister.

Ashpaw and Ryepaw are suspicious but agree to follow him. Can't do any harm right?

Once they reach the meeting spot, Morningpaw is nowhere to be found and her scent is stale. (WindClan had to move to the tunnel under the road due to twolegs)

Ryepaw and Ashpaw think Firepaw is lying, and tell him that it was a cruel prank to play on them before storming off back to camp.

The WindClan siblings are giving Firepaw the cold shoulder and his usual hunting buddy Leafpaw is still recovering, so Firepaw starts spending more time with Mistpaw and Ravenpaw.

After about a week, Leafpaw is starting to recover from her shock, and Firepaw invites her to hunt with him, Ravenpaw, and their mentors. Unfortunately Brokenstar decides to invite himself to this excursion, saying itll be a good chance to assess the progress of these three apprentices.

Everything starts off fine, but when Leafpaw makes her first kill it triggers the memory of her killing the WindClan warrior and she breaks down.

Brokenstar is watching all of this and publicly shames Leafpaw for being weak, saying that she's useless and might as well go live with the elders if she can't be a real warrior.

Ravenpaw and Firepaw stand up for her, saying that Brokenstar can't treat cats from his own Clan like that. Brokenstar attacks them in fury for defying him, and manages to claw Ravenpaw's eyes before Darkclaw can pull him off of him.

Brokenstar goes "Great. Now we have two useless apprentices instead of one." And stalks off.

Firepaw assures Ravenpaw and Leafpaw that they are not useless and that Brokenstar won't be leader forever.

Darkclaw and Firepaw rush Ravenpaw back to camp so that Yellowfang can treat his injuries. They then escort Leafpaw to the elders, because being in the toxic environment of ShadowClan camp with Brokenstar constantly belittling her won't help her recover from her trauma.

After, Darkclaw tells Firepaw that the time has come for him to choose. After seeing Brokenstar's cruelty, will he continue to do nothing, or will he help Darkclaw and a number of other ShadowClan warriors take Brokenstar down?

Firepaw, of course, agrees to help overthrow Brokenstar.

A few nights later, Firepaw meets some if the other rebels to strategize how to take down Brokenstar.

The rebels include: Fernshade, Flintfang, Russetfur, and Nightpelt.

Cats that are for sure on Brokenstar's side include: Blackfoot, Clawface, Stumpytail, and Tangleburr

Blizzardwing and Boulder might side with Brokenstar but I haven't decided yet

The rebels agree that they can't take down Brokenstar alone, they need to ally with another Clan to take him out. ThunderClan is their only viable option, and Darkclaw thinks that they are likely to help if they can be convinced that ShadowClan has Ravenpaw and Dustpaw. However, it will be tricky to convince them that they aren't being led into a trap.

Firepaw puts forth that he should be the one to try to convince them: he's an apprentice, and only five moons old at that. They won't view him as a threat, but as a victim of Brokenstar's crimes.

Nobody likes the idea of putting Firepaw in such a dangerous position, but they honestly can't think of a better idea so they agree.

Now the only thing left to do is to figure out how to get Firepaw to ThunderClan without tipping off Brokenstar's supporters to their plan.

The rebels agree to meet again on another night to figure this out

Within a couple days, the perfect opportunity presents itself. Brokenstar is looking for volunteers to go on a "special mission" into ThunderClan territory (Stealing kits). Firepaw, Blackfoot and Clawface volunteer. Brokenstar is surprised that Firepaw would volunteer, but Firepaw gives some speech about wanting to prove himself worthy of being a ShadowClan warrior and convinces Brokenstar.

Firepaw is trying to figure out a way to shake off Blackfoot and Clawface while they're stealing the kits (and preferably save the kits too) when Spottedleaf catches them. Blackfoot grabs the kits and runs, Clawface pins Spottedleaf and is about to kill her when Firepaw calls for help, alerting the rest of ThunderClan to the situation and saving Spottedleaf's life.

Clawface tells Firepaw that he's a traitor and a coward and will never be allowed back into ShadowClan.

Clawface gets away, Blackfoot doesn't manage to get the kits back to ShadowClan but also escapes, and ThunderClan takes Firepaw prisoner.

Bluestar holds a trial to decide what to do with him, Firepaw pleads innocent and tries to explain that ShadowClan is training kit warriors and, as they've seen, is stealing kits from other Clans. He asks for help in overthrowing Brokenstar

ThunderClan believes him but is skeptical that this isn't a trap, and Bluestar asks why ThunderClan should help ShadowClan after such a clear and obvious attack on ThunderClan camp.

Firepaw assures her that there are rebels in ShadowClan who want to see Brokenstar go down, and reveals that two of ShadowClan's apprentices, Ravenpaw and Dustpaw, are ThunderClan kits presumed dead.

Tigerclaw calls him a liar

Sandpaw and Spottedleaf vouch for Firepaw, Sandpaw says she caught a familiar scent on his pelt at a gathering that could have been Ravenpaw or Dustpaw

ThunderClan votes as to whether they should assist with the coup or simply rescue their apprentices and leave ShadowClan to figure out their own problems.

ThunderClan narrowly votes to help with the coup, effective immediately.

Firepaw is allowed to join the battle patrol because he knows ShadowClan territory.

ThunderClan launches an attack on ShadowClan immediately, and the rebels turn on Brokenstar as soon as they catch wind as to what is happening.

During the battle, Firepaw sees a totally different side of his mentor Darkclaw for the first time when Darkclaw brutally kills Clawface, and is extremely disturbed.

At the end of the battle, Darkclaw has Brokenstar pinned and has killed him once, and is planning to kill him over and over until he loses all his lives. Firepaw begs Darkclaw to stop, saying that Darkclaw was the one who taught him that Warriors could be honorable and didn't need to kill to win.

Darkclaw is like "Really?!? After all he's done, you want me to show mercy? Firepaw, you're not a ShadowClan born cat. This monster killed your kittypet mother and ripped you and your littermates from her belly so that he could use you as expendable fighters! And you're defending him?"

Firepaw is completely shocked and is unable to respond, but Lionheart of ThunderClan (recently appointed deputy, the Sunningrocks battle just happened so chronologically we're at about the start of the original series) steps in and says that Firepaw is right, and asks if ShadowClan wants to prove that they're a Clan of killers like Brokenstar wanted them to be.

Darkclaw reluctantly let's Brokenstar go, and the rebels drive Brokenstar and his supporters out of camp.

With the battle over and no leader or deputy appointed, Yellowfang is asked to choose ShadowClan's next leader. She chooses Flintfang, saying that he has shown himself to be an honorable warrior willing to stand up to Brokenstar.

Flintfang humbly accepts leadership, and chooses Nightpelt as his deputy.

Flintfang calls a Clan meeting and tells all of the young cats their true origins, admitting to Brokenstar's crimes and ShadowClan's complacency in them. He promises to help them all return to their original homes as quickly as possible.

Ravenpaw speaks up and says that he would prefer to stay in ShadowClan, despite everything. He wants to be a warrior, and his whole life is here. He's been half blinded by Brokenstar and says that he'd rather not learn to navigate a new territory.

Flintfang agrees to let him stay, provided ThunderClan allows it

Lionheart allows it, Dustpaw is furious at his brother for choosing to stay with this Clan of killers.

Flintfang and Yellowfang leave for Moonstone

A patrol escorts Firepaw, Leafpaw, Mistpaw, and Darkclaw back to twolegplace.

At the edge of the territory, Firepaw says that he wants to stay, to help rebuild ShadowClan and experience the good parts of Clan life that they've been deprived of so far.

Darkclaw tells him that he's a naive fool, and storms off into Twoleg place.

Mistpaw says that she understands why Firepaw chose to stay, but she doesn't want that life for herself, and leaves for twolegplace as well

Leafpaw, to everyone's surprise, decides to stay. She has a big speech like "I'm not sure I'll ever forgive Brokenstar for what he did, or the rest of ShadowClan for being complacent. Honestly, I hold no love for ShadowClan. But I do care about you, Firepaw. You stood by me in my darkest moments, so now it's my turn to stand by you. If you're going to stay, you're not doing it alone."

And Firepaw is like "That's really sweet of you Leafpaw, I appreciate that, but you've been through so much... would you... even be comfortable being a warrior after everything?"

Leafpaw responds "I will NEVER use my claws to hurt another living being ever again. I killed another cat once and it broke me. ShadowClan did that to me and part of me will always hate them for it. But helping the innocent? Being there to heal both the emotional and physical wounds of cats who were hurt like me? That I can do, and that is what I choose. When Yellowfang returns, I will ask to train as her apprentice so that I can prevent pain and suffering instead of causing it."

The book ends with Leafpaw and Firepaw returning to ShadowClan camp, and for the first time in their lives it actually feels like they're going home.

So yeah those are my ideas for book one, would anyone be interested in hearing how the AU would evolve after this?

#warrior cats #warriors #warriors au #rusty joins shadowclan au #shadowclan au #shadowclan #tw kidnapping #tw animal death #tw abuse #into the wild au

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ancdtlst · 3 years

Text

Never Sunshine

Characters: Leedo x Reader Genre: Angst

Description: Where Leedo changed his name from Geonhak and accidentally met his bully from childhood. Revenge is sweet but not for long.

[Warning: This chapter contains strong language, depictions of violence, disturbing content that may not be suitable and upsetting for some readers.]

[Also, this is going to be a very long one.]

This is the first time you step your feet inside of this kind of place. A crowded and loud place where people were grinding with each other. For some reason, you want to back out from this useless wish of yours but you don’t want to. You walked towards the bar and ordered something for you to drink. Before your drink come, someone took a seat beside you which made you were a little surprise. You turned your head to see a gorgeous man with a dark hair and comfortably having a seat beside you.

“I’ve been watching you since you stepped inside. Don’t bother telling me you’re with someone.”, he said and to your surprise his voice deep and husky. Honestly, even if you did not get to see his face you would fall in love with his voice. Just his voice.

“I didn’t plan to.”, you replied as you took a sip of your drink. “I’m alone, anyways.”, you said trying to fake a laugh but it sound sad to your ears for some reason. The man nods his head, probably understood you or a just a sign for him.

“I’m Kim Leedo, by the way. Since you were alone and I was kinda alone too, would you like to have some drinks with me?”, he asked before raising his glass asking for a cheers. You agreed and told him your name too and both of you drinking for hours while having a chit-chat, about life, working and even childhood. At the mention of childhood, you could only laugh ridiculously and stated it as, a chaotic one. You had to be honest though, there’s something dangerous in his eyes every time he looked at you.

“I think you had enough drink.”, Leedo tried to stop you by putting your glass away. By the amount of glasses on the bar top, he could tell that you were already drunk but you insisted that you were not drunk, at all.

“You were still act like bitch after all these years.”, he whispered something.

You swear you heard him said something but you though you were mistaken so you brushed it off. He pulled you away from the bar and you stopped him saying that you haven’t pay for the drink yet but he already paid for the drink when you passed out a few minutes back.

While he was trying to get you both to one of the empty booth in the club, you pulled his hand with all your might and started to kiss him. Of course, he drink a lot too. As lot as she did, but he was just a little bit tipsy. He did return the kiss but quickly pulled away.

“This won’t do. Let’s get ourselves a room.”, he said.

Your head hurt so bad from the moment you woke up. You were in an unfamiliar room with the same gorgeous man from last night, beside you and naked under the blanket. Slowly, you lift your blanket and saw some read stain on the white bed sheet. You were naked too, of course.

“Oh damn.”, you gasped. “I actually did it…”, your voice almost come out like a whispered as you stared into space of the hotel room. As you moved, you felt like pain under your lower region and decided to move slowly. Before you could even move from the bed, the deep voice come out again.

“You’re up?”,. you turned around after covering yourself with the blanket only to receive a chuckled from him. “Why bother covering yourself when I’ve seen it all.”, he said before resting his back against the bed post. Your feel like your blood rush towards your face. You turned away, looking out at the window.

Then, Leedo called your name.

“How does it feels having a sex with someone who used to bully?”, he suddenly asked. In shock, you turned your head towards him, trying to understand what he was talking about. “Oh and last night was so good. Was it because you were a virgin?”, he added.

“Geonhak…”, you called him and he smirks.

“It’s nice to know that you were actually remembered me?”, his voice turned dark and he stood up and naked. Now that his naked body did not bothered you anymore as he walked around the room, collecting his scattered clothes and underwear. You could not even say anything but just to stare at him.

“By the way, I took a lot of good footages of you last night.”, he wriggles the phone in his hand. Leedo now is fully clothes and he walked towards the mirror to fix his messy bed hair.

“Geonhak… I’m sorry…”, was all she could say. He scoffed at her. “Isn’t it way too late to apologise?”, he replied.

“No.”, you paused. You really don’t know how to put the words. “I am, really sorry.”, you said but he was not having it all.

“Imagine what happen if these photos got to your colleagues, parents or friends. You wouldn’t want any of that to happen, right?”, now he was threatening you. Honestly, you did not know what to worry first or was it because you were not good at explaining?

“Do you felt helpless now? Or do you felt scared?”, his voice getting deeper.

“Imagine what you had put me through back then! You made me felt worthless, unloved and useless. I hope you feel what I’ve been through. It’s hell.”, with that he walked out from the room.

A little that you know, he was secretly put a tab on you.

It has been two months you did not get your period and you were getting a lot of morning sickness these days. When the morning sickness got worst, your mother even gave you a look. You assured her it was nothing.

“They said you're a nuisance and now I can see why.”, your mother said before looking out of the window. This is actually the routine in the house hold. There’s no television, no radio, no newspapers. You kept anything that could triggered your mother away even the knife you use to cook. The doctor reminded it to you when you brought you mother home.

“Mom, do you want anything for breakfast? I could make one for you.”, you asked her and she decline rudely, in which you were used to it.

“Go away, bitch.”

Before you went to work, you decided to drop by the hospital. After you informed your boss and Keonhee about it before hand, saying that you will went straight to the cafe after that. After a few hours, the doctor confirmed that you were six weeks pregnant. Honestly, you don’t know how to react on this. Of course you were happy but in the same time you were scared because you were alone in this and you does not want to imagine your mother’s reaction. You were in a very deep thought as you walked towards the cafe.

Then, you heard someone is calling your name and you quickly snapped your head out of it. It was your co-worker, Keonhee. “Yeah? You called for me?”, you asked.

“Someone is looking for you.”, he said, pointing at a certain table. It was a hidden one. By the look of the torso, you think you know who. You gulped down before walking towards the man who was asking for you and you were right it was him.

“What are you doing here?”, you asked. It’s been two months since the incident and here he was, sitting in front of you, drinking his coffee that he ordered before. He smirks.

“Why? Were you scared that I might spread your photos and videos?”, he asked.

“What do you want Geonhak?”, you asked, a little bit impatient but you did not raise your voice because there were other customers in the cafe.

“Nothing, I was just wanted to know if you’re doing alright.”, he asked. You was wondering if he genuinely worried or were just trying to get on your nerves. You were about to walk away but he stopped you. He stood up after finishing his coffee. “Look, I know you were pregnant and don’t think of coming at me.”, he whispered on your ears before he walked away.

There you stood, looking puzzled.

How did he know? You thought.

Your pregnancy has been four months old and you had to admit, do it all alone is hard. Your mother is not helping at all. Every time you went back home from work, she would always stare at you to the point that you were scared to go home. Today is no exception. You went home quite late than usual and there you mother sat on the couch while reading her book.

This is so unusual of her. She does not really read.

“You’re home.”, she said, a little too nice. “Have you eaten your dinner, yet? I cooked something for you.”, she said and you froze on your spot.

“Mom…”, you called, a bit scared. Your mother turned around and gave you a smile. However to you, that smile is not a genuine one. It was a scary one.

“How did you got the knife?”

A knock heard from the door and Leedo mention to come into his study room. As soon as the guy get in, he immediately puts on the envelope on the desk, in front of him. “These are the informations you asked me to search about her.”, he said. Leedo took the envelope and read all the documents one by one until his eyes landed on something.

“What does it mean by her mother is mentally unstable?”, Leedo asked.

“Her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and she always got beaten up as a kid.”, the man said. “Once, her mother even tried to kill her but she managed to save herself. It said her mother heard voices, telling her to kill her own daughter because she brought the bad luck.”, the man paused.

“Her mother then was sent to the hospital while her aunt took care of her until her mother get better. According to the medical record, her mother has been release. She said she has been doing okay but the doctor did not believe her. The daughter managed to persuade the doctor to bring her home.”

“Mr. Park, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”, Leedo said as he look for the address of your house. “This is her address right?”, Mr. Park nods and told him to go straight to her house.

It was driving him crazy. The thing he experienced with you when he was in middle school explains it all. He finally knew why you did it that back in middle school but he needs to know why did you stop.

“Mom!”, you screamed as you fell down on the floor, while you were trying to protect your baby. Your back were facing the floor as both of your hand trying to hold your mother’s hand who were holding a knife, trying to stab you. A flashback when you were a child, floods back as your tears ran down, heavily. You were both scared and sad. She is your mother but how could she do this to you.

“Mom, stop! Please!”, she screamed. “It’s me. I’m your daughter.”, you said as you pushed your mother away and she fell next to you. Quickly, you stood up and trying to run up stairs but your mother caught your feet before slicing it with the knife in her hand and you screamed because of the deep pain on your calf which made your drop on the floor again.

Seeing you in pain and helpless made your mother felt satisfied. She attacked you once again but this time you could not catch her hand and she managed to stab you on the shoulder. “Mom…please don’t do this…”, you said and your voice were getting weaker because of the pain.

“I will not stop until you die.”, you mother said. You really had no choice but to kick her away. Quickly, you tried to get away again and your mother pushed you and stabbed you again on your back, making you screamed again.

“Mom, it’s me. Please get yourself together, please.”, you begged your mother to comeback to her sense but seems like she never listen. Your mother pulled out the knife and stabbed you again in the same place. The pain is too unbearable where you felt like vomiting but never actually come out. Right now you were completely helpless and gave up on fighting, you have grown tired. You laid on your back, staring at your mother with a weak eyes before she stabbed you right in the abdomen.

One.

Two.

Three. Three times.

I’m sorry little one, I couldn’t protect you.

Right after that you heard a loud bang on the door. Someone was actually calling you out there but your body were too weak to respond. Meanwhile your mother did not move from her spot. The bang on the door getting louder and suddenly it was burst open.

Leedo eyes widen at the scene in front of him. Your mother stood beside your bloody body with the bloody knife in her hand.

“Ma’am, I need you to drop that knife.”, Leedo said and she threw the knife on the floor. Quickly, Mr. Park kicked it away before he took your mother away. Leedo quickly running to your side and took off his coat, trying to stop the bleeding on your abdomen. He look at you, only to see a weak teary eyes of yours and it hurts him. He does not even know why.

Then it hit him. The baby.

He carried you to his car as he speed to the hospital. On their way, you managed to call him.

“Geonhak…”, he turned his head to her. “Don’t speak now, please.”, he said but you did not listen to him.

“I’m sorry.”, you managed to speak.

“I told you to not to speak.”,

“I’ve always want to say sorry.”, you paused. “But every time I came near, you would ran away.”, you weakly added. Now Leedo understand the reason why you stopped back then and why did you keep approaching him.

“I’m sorry too, I didn’t know.”, he said. It was a long silence and when he did not hear you reply him, he turned his head to you but you already had your eyes shut. He stopped his car on the road side before checking your pulse but could not find any. Quickly, he stepped on the gas to the hospital.

However, they declared that you died on your way to the hospital along with the little one inside you.

#oneus imagines #leedo imagines #oneus scenarios #leedo scenarios #oneus fanfic #leedo fanfic #leedo angst #kim gunhak #kim geonhak #leedo #oneus lee

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calamity-bean · 4 years

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16 new horror films i’ve watched at random lately just cause i’ve been in the mood for horror

Been thinking about horror today, and fun fact, I’ve actually been fairly DEVOURING horror films of late! Sixteen new ones in the past couple weeks, in fact, according to the little list I’ve been keeping! New to me, that is, though they do all happen to be very recent releases (2016 at earliest). Horror is a genre with which I often like to pull up Netflix or Hulu and just pick at random some film I’ve never heard of and don’t know the first thing about; I feel like it’s a genre that depends so much on personal taste and that encompasses such a wide variety of tropes and approaches that I never entirely know whether I’ll like a particular film until I try it. It’s a gamble, sure, and sometimes it’s a dull or infuriating couple hours... But I love horror in general, and I feel like it’s a genre in which even terrible films often stir my imagination with the potential of their premise if not the brilliance of their execution. And you do find those hidden gems.

Anyway, since I love to hear myself talk, I thought I’d share my quick impressions of the ones I’ve watched lately, in case any of you are also in the mood to stream something new! These are (almost) all currently on Netflix or Hulu, so have at it. No specific spoilers; mostly just whether I liked it or not and why. I added a few content warnings where I remembered any elements that, to me, went beyond genre-standard levels of content or involved specific common triggers, but, I mean, they’re all horror films, so do your due diligence if necessary and do expect some level of violent or disturbing content in all of them.

The sixteen films in question are: Sweetheart (2019); The Lodge (2019); Mercy Black (2019); What Keeps You Alive (2018); Cold Skin (2017); The Golem (2018); Rattlesnake (2019); We Summon the Darkness (2019); The Wretched (2019); They Come Knocking (2019); Pyewacket (2017); The Other Lamb (2019); The Silence (2019); Body at Brighton Rock (2019); Under the Shadow (2016); and Seven in Heaven (2018).

Brief descriptions and impressions and such under the cut!

Sweetheart: Survival/monster horror about a young woman who, after the boat she and her friends were on goes down in a storm, washes up alone on an uninhabited island… and then realizes she’s not entirely alone. Quite liked this one! Like almost any horror movie, it suffers from the fact that monsters are almost ALWAYS far scarier (and far less cheesy) before you actually see their CGI rendering chasing the protag, but that’s typical, we’re used to that. The protagonist is smart and capable, and the actress (Kiersey Clemons) has to carry so much of the film solo and often with very sparse dialogue. Warning for mutilated and decomposing corpses.

The Lodge: A woman who as a child was the only survivor of a cult winds up stranded with her new fiance’s two children in a remote, snowbound lodge. This one was pretty dark! I love themes of cold, isolation, and losing connection with reality, and I think the whole cast does a great job; the acting and production are overall high quality. Not sure it captured my imagination enough for a rewatch, but I did enjoy watching it. My fellow Barkskins fans will notice a few glimpses of our own Renardette. Warnings for onscreen suicide, pet death, and psychiatric/medical manipulation.

Mercy Black: A young woman returns home fifteen years after, in her childhood, being involved in a disturbing act of violence inspired by an urban legend called Mercy Black. I like the concept behind this one, in terms of the urban legend, the protagonist’s relationship with it; I liked the overall film okay, but I found certain aspects a bit cliche or thinly sketched. Standard supernatural horror levels of violence and spookiness, imo.

What Keeps You Alive: For their one-year anniversary, a young couple vacation to a remote house in the woods, where the protagonist begins to learn some strange things about her wife. I really enjoyed this one. It might be my favorite on this list, and certainly one of the ones I’m more likely to watch again. It’s well structured, well made, with a strong, compact cast, and it’s gotten the song “Bloodlet” stuck in my head for weeks. However, you will probably not enjoy this one if, as I know is the case for some people, you would rather not consume content that depicts LGBT relationships that are unhealthy or LGBT characters who are villainous. I get where you’re coming from, but it means this one probably isn’t for you. It also isn’t for you if you would rather not see some quite brutal injuries.

Cold Skin: Okay, this is the only one that wasn’t actually on streaming, I checked this out from my local library. Set in 1914, a young man takes a post as a meteorologist on a remote island in the South Atlantic, inhabited only by the unfriendly lighthouse keeper… and the creatures that crawl onto shore at night. Gosh… How do I feel about this one? There are aspects that are cheesy, effects that don’t entirely hold up. But I liked it. I like the idea of it, and I like the themes of isolation and connection, and I like the protagonist and overall I think it’s a solid and interesting narrative. Sort of… The Terror meets Lovecraft. Warning for offscreen (but audible, and almost visible) sexual assault.

The Golem: Set in the late 17th century in a rural Lithuanian shtetl, a woman creates a golem to protect her community from the threats of Christians who blame her people for the plague. Thematically, this one centers largely around motherhood, which I think makes sense with how it’s done here, and I always like the supernatural elements of a horror film to have a very strong, personal thematic link with the protagonist’s emotional character arc. Stars Maman Brigitte from American Gods! Warning for mentions of miscarriage and themes of child death.

Rattlesnake: After a mishap on a remote highway, a woman unknowingly makes a deal with the devil in order to save her young daughter’s life. I liked this one as well; I found the protagonist enjoyable, the overall concept straightforward but engaging, and the hot, arid, rural setting — I think it’s supposed to be around Palo Duro? — an effective backdrop. Not spooky-scary, but nice tension throughout.

We Summon the Darkness: Set in the 80s, three girls travel to a heavy metal concert despite the string of recent killings apparently committed by a Satanic cult. This one is basically a slasher flick — with a twist, yeah, but essentially the slasher model of teens plus extensive violence — and I think it’s a pretty decent one. And I liked the hair and costumes, ahaha.

The Wretched: A teenage boy becomes convinced that his new neighbor has been possessed by something evil. I like the narrative and the characters in this one okay, but where I really have to give it props is in the overall visual presentation of the supernatural threats; it’s able to lean into uncanniness and human body horror that work well on film rather than presenting a creature created wholecloth (which, as I mentioned earlier, often doesn’t work super well).

They Come Knocking: On a drive into the middle of nowhere, a father and his two daughters hear something knocking on their caravan at night, asking to be let in. Okay, so… this one is a black-eyed children story (with a setup reminiscent of ye olde Anansi’s Goatman, too, in a way), and I have to admit that black-eyed children are one of those tropes that doesn’t work for me even as a creepypasta, it just strikes me as lame and dumb. And I did find the actual children in this film to be, well, cheesy and dumb-looking. But the human side of the narrative — the characters and their relationships and emotional aspects — is actually pretty well done! So I found it engaging enough in that regard.

Pyewacket: A teenage girl who has a difficult relationship with her mother lashes out by trying to summon a demon to kill her, only to regret the ritual right away. I think this one was well done, too, pretty dark, with a spooky forest setting and some genuinely creepy glimpses of the supernatural threat. I am also delighted to discover that Pyewacket is actually the name of a familiar spirit according to the confession of an accused witch in the 17th century. (Not delighted by the fact that this poor 17th century woman was tortured for being an alleged witch, but delighted that there’s a little historical inspo here.) Warning for a fairly graphic death by burning.

The Other Lamb: This one is not horror as in “scary” but horror as in thematically disturbing and a little eerie. A young girl who’s been raised in a cult — all female except for their leader, to whom all the members are either wives or daughters — begins to question her faith. Slow, quiet, and a bit surreal, with some slightly feral-woman themes that are up my alley; I think I enjoyed it? The cast is quite good, especially the protagonist (Raffey Cassidy) and cult leader (Michiel Huisman with, I gotta say, some truly lovely hair). Warning for onscreen but nongraphic (as in, clothed and not showing anything below the neck) sexual assault of a minor.

The Silence: A deaf teenager and her family struggle to survive amidst an apocalypse of deadly monsters that attack based on sound. No, I’m not talking about A Quiet Place. I do feel a bit sorry for this film, because I know that it was conceived of and began production well before A Quiet Place came out, only to essentially be doomed by its striking similarity to such a successful film… And honestly, it’s not as good as A Quiet Place; it’s cheesier, there are more plot and character holes, the ultimate main threat feels disconnected from the premise, and the core theme/character arcs aren’t as cohesive. But it’s not TERRIBLE. It’s more of a B-movie-esque monster/disaster flick, is all. And I like Stanley Tucci, so at least he’s always fun to watch.

Body at Brighton Rock: An inexperienced parks employee gets lost in the backcountry and has to spend the night watching over a (possibly murdered) body she stumbles across while awaiting rescue. This one… hm. It’s like, I didn’t hate it? But it was frustrating. It reused the same scares / fake-outs multiple times, and even by horror movie standards the protagonist was maddeningly careless. I think it was all the more disappointing because I do like the setting and premise but felt it could’ve been better.

Under the Shadow: In 1980s Tehran, during the air raids and missile strikes of the War of the Cities, a woman begins to fear something evil is stalking her young daughter through their emptying apartment building. This is another top fave, and I think overall the most well constructed film on this list in an objective sense. Strong narrative, strong characters and acting, a really great atmosphere of claustrophobia and tension and dread, and an interesting and effective setting. Would absolutely watch again.

Seven in Heaven: At a house party, two teenagers enter a closet as part of a kissing game, and they exit into a parallel universe that is similar but different in striking ways. This one was, hm… okay? I felt like it could’ve gone so much farther with the potential of alternate universes, in terms of really making them weird and interesting, and although I don’t expect a film to spell out everything for me, I just thought that the whole underlying mechanism of what was happening was left too unexplained. Also, the background characters looked like they were played by actual high school-age teens while the main characters looked like your standard Hollywood 20-something “teens,” which created kind of a weird dissonance lmao. But it was okay.

Overall, I didn’t HAAATE any of these; most were fine, some I found less engaging or more frustrating than others, and some I really enjoyed. I did start and then not finish a few more as well... I watched about 20 minutes of Black Rock (2012) before deciding I wasn’t in the mood for where it was going, and I just barely started We Are What We Are (2010) but realized I was too tired and distracted by other things to pay enough attention to subtitles at the moment. On a not strictly horror note, but it’s still thriller so we’ll toss it in, I got a ways into The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) because that’s a helluva title and I wanted to see Barry Keoghan’s work outside Dunkirk (the only film I’d seen him in), but man, that’s a weird one huh, very slow, very odd style of dialogue. I’ll still likely finish some or all of those at some point, but I just wasn’t in the right headspace when I first tried.

Anyway, this has been me telling you what movies I’ve been watching! I’m sure you’re enthralled. And please always feel free to talk horror movies to me or send me recs!

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jojo-reader-hell · 4 years

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This one might need a trigger warning. So this is a really strange one and one that might go unanswered because it's gonna be one of those kinds. Secco and Cioccolata with a kid. Took the kid from one of the women he's killed (be it that he removed her infant from her body or her arms is up to you.) I imagine that he'd give it to Secco to take care of.

Ok but whilst looking for the perfect GIF of both these characters I literally found the most perfect one that exactly captures the face I make when I get a request that begins with “I don’t think you’ll do this one but...”. Bold of y’all to assume I don’t salivate over the most unusual requests and rush to do them. If I’m struck with an idea the writing flows so much easier. By all means, I’m an author, I love a challenge ;) Sorry if this is OOC however, I don’t know too much about these characters so I had to do some research.

Because I know how it goes, this will be put under a cut. But thank you for submitting! I hope this was what you were looking for!

...

“Such a good baby, such a good Sugar...”

You’re special. More special than anyone else in the world, because you’re the only one in the whole wide world that gets to be held by your Papa without his Stand to cover him.

Papa Secco always holds you until you fall asleep, crouched over your bed and rocking you even though you’re already twelve years old and a big kid now according to Cioccolata. You don’t need to be rocked anymore, but that does not matter to your papa, and honestly you don’t know how you’ll be able to function if there’s a night that you’re not coddled and rocked to sleep.

“Made pictures today.” you tell him, absolutely wide awake because you’re being held by your papa.

“Did you?”

“Mmm, made one of Papa, one of my kitty, one of Ciocco...”

He giggles like a school girl. Praising you more than ever, rocking in a manic panic back and forth that only makes you calm as the dizziness hits. This is all you’ve ever known. You don’t know any other kind of love, and the dizziness makes you giddy, almost like being drunk (although you’ll never know that feeling, Cioccolata was adamant that Secco make sure no vice would mar his innocent little pup). Instinct compels you to wrap your legs around your papa’s waist, nuzzling into his neck when the dizziness makes you a little too sick. The effect is instantaneous, and Secco slows himself down in a rare display of self control, patting your back through your pretty star pajamas and kissing your soft neck. He inhales your scent, like he’s huffing paint, exquisitely high on the calming scent of the baby shampoo you’re still using.

You tell him with a bit of a sleepy slur in your voice that you left your pictures on the little table where Secco spends time feeding you for every meal, and you hope that when your Papa wakes you up for breakfast in the morning that he squeals and coos over the drawings, surprisingly detailed for such a young artist. Gifted. That’s what Cioccolata called you as he held you up in bloody hands, watching with morbid fascination as you mimicked your dying mother, sucking in deep breaths and not even crying for the first few moments of your life.

“Bellissima.” Cioccolata had murmured, placing you in Secco’s arms all warm and swaddled in a fleece blanket that he’d stolen from the nursery your father had set up. “Look, such a sweet and calm baby. Already curious about the world. You have a gifted baby. So very smart, already knows who Papa is. When they don’t cry after being separated it means they know they’re safe. Look how happy your new baby is to be in Papa’s arms.”

“My Sugar is such a wonderful artist...” Secco coos, kissing all over your face with sloppy abandon, “So talented. Love you.”

Immediately you perk up, lips splitting into a large smile.

“Loooooove you.” you parrot, drawing out your words.

“Looooooooooooooooove you more.” Secco mirrors your smile, almost unhinged, his pupils dilating.

“No! Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove you so much more!”

The game continues back and forth, you and Secco trying to outdo each other every single time. It’s a game. A ritual. The most special aspect of the relationship you have with your one and only family that you’ve ever known. Being such an obedient child has earned you lots of rewards, and being coddled by Secco is one of those cherished forms that you’ll never tire of. Not that there would be any doubt that the rewards would continue even if you misbehaved. Secco was of the philosophy that you were a special child, not just for your gift of artistry or your calm demeanor in the face of pure psychosis. Your forced birth, thirty five weeks early, endeared Secco to you. When he had been given the responsibility of caring for you, he never left the side of the incubator that Cioccolata had stolen to put you in. It helped to regulate your body temperature for a few weeks, until you were strong enough to do so without its help. The only times you cried was when you got impatient waiting for Secco to finish making your formula, but that was to be expected.

“Just like me.” Secco would smile at his master.

“Precisely. So impatient when waiting for a sweet treat.” would be the reply.

“My sweet treat.” Secco asserted, nearly melting when he felt Cioccolata stroke the crown of his head.

“Yes. This is your baby. Your very own special treat for being such a very, very good boy and getting that nice shot for me.”

“My Sugar...” Secco had whispered to you in the incubator.

You had smiled, the first one ever in your life.

And so he claimed you for the next twelve years.

You were an experiment to his master, just to see how one exactly went about raising the perfect child. But to Secco, you were perfect already. Every aspect was perfect, from the way you responded so positively to his unhinged love, to the way you behaved now, letting Secco get under the covers with you and putting your thumb in your mouth, murmuring a last protestation of how much you loved him more and sleeping like a baby the minute he calmed himself down to get you to go to bed.

“Such a good baby.” he murmured into your ear, mindful not to disturb your rest. “Such a good, good Sugar...”

#cioccolata and secco #secco #cioccolata #secco jojo #cioccolata jojo #secco x reader #cioccolata x reader #platonic #parenting #gore tw #death tw #tw kidnapping #tw torture #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo's bizarre adventure vento aureo #jjba #jjba va #jjba x reader #jjba reader insert

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adikospodcast · 3 years

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EP. 1: PROCNE AND PHILOMELA [TRANSCRIPT]

hello everyone and welcome to adikos, a true crime podcast! my name is arete, i'm your host, and today i wanted to talk to you about a true crime case that has always really shocked me ever since i first heard of it: you might know it already, since it received a massive amount of coverage when it first happened, especially because of how extremely disturbing and really heartbreaking this whole case is. you may have guessed from the title that i am talking about the case of procne and philomela, which you may also know as the case of tereus or the case of itys, depending on whose account of the story is being referenced, basically.

now this story, as i already mentioned, is particularly disturbing and violent, even for this being a true crime channel, so i just wanted to give a quick trigger warning before we start that this case does center around issues of sexual assault and violence, physical mutilation and cannibalism, so you might want to click off if understandably you don't feel like listening to all that. on the other hand, if you just want to hear all about the story of procne and philomela, let's get started!

like i said, this case was extremely popular and famous when it first broke, and there are some conflicting reports on what exactly happened and when: all my sources will be linked down below, and i will do my best to try to make sense of the events that happened and to mention when certain information just overlaps or contradicts each other.

now, all that being said, who were procne and philomela? they were born in athens to pandion, who was the fifth king of the polis, and his wife zeuxippe: they were respectively the eldest and the second eldest children, procne was a few years older than philomela, and they had two younger brothers who were twins; we have erechtheus, who would become the successor to pandion's throne, and butes. we don't really know much about the sisters' early life, but the one thing that we know for sure is that the two were absolutely inseparable: they really loved each other more than anyone else, and when their family was interviewed after the events that unfolded, their brother butes claimed that they had always been ride or die for each other, and they often even got to the point of getting themselves in trouble if they could avoid the other being punished when they were kids. i think this is a really weird thing in a sibling relationship; it's really common for kids, especially for sisters, to just argue and disagree with each other, and i know i often have fights with my sisters, but apparently procne and philomela's relationship really had none of that: their family really emphasized the degree to which they loved each other and cared for each other, and they even said in a few interviews that they always got along and could understand each other at a glance without saying a word, which in retrospect, to me, is just quite grim, honestly.

so, when the girls were in their teenage years, war broke out between athens, so pandion's city, and thebes, which was then ruled by king labdacus: thebes was an incredibly strong city, militarly speaking, and pandion had to enlist the help of tereus, who was the king of thracia, to defeat it. this move would prove to be extremely worth it: thereus's aid was absolutely invaluable in defeating the theban army, and pandion promised him his firstborn daughter as a wife, as both a thanks and as a way to bond the two cities together, so thracia and athens, with this political marriage. now, by all accounts, this wedding was absolutely grandiose, and the whole of thracia got to celebrate alongside their king and their new queen; however, there is one source, which may just be a rumor, that states that on their wedding night procne was looking out the window of their bedroom, when she saw this really off-putting owl, which at the time was considered a bad omen for the marriage, but she sort of paid no mind to it and she just got a servant to shoo it away, and i think in retrospect this may have been a warning sign of what the whole marriage was really going to come to.

soon after the wedding, procne became pregnant with her first son, itys: she and her husband were obviously really overjoyed at the news, as was the whole kingdom to hear that an heir had been secured to the throne, and when little itys was born, both his parents were instantly in love with him. baby itys was just very clingy with his mother, but he also really loved spending time with his dad, and when he grew a little bit older the two of them really loved to eat together and share meals with each other, which again, in retrospect is definitely chilling, if you can sense my foreboding here.

procne and tereus's marriage was a really happy one for the first five years: they had a son, they had a palace, they had a house in the woods all to themselves, they had everything they could have wanted, but still, procne really missed her sister: after all they had spent their entire lives together, but she'd had to just up and abandon her and leave to go to a whole another kingdom! now, obviously this is a fate that all girls must go through eventually, when we do get married, but it's still a really heartbreaking thing to go through, and as someone whose older sister got married and had to move to akragas, i can definitely sympathize with both procne and philomela.

so, after five years spent without seeing her sister, procne finally caved, and she asked her husband if she could be brought there to thracia to just spend some time together as sisters: thereus agreed, and he was going to have to visit athens nonetheless to talk to pandion, so he just set sail and headed to the city. once he actually got to pandion and had an audience with him, he relayed his daughter's wishes to him, so that procne really deeply wished for philomela to come visit her; he also assured pandion that his daughter's visit would be really brief and there would be no overstaying, obviously philomela was the only daughter left to care for pandion, so he really held on to her and was really hesitant to give her up to thereus. as he was pleading though, philomela came downstairs, she had overheard what was happening, what they were talking about, and obviously she was really overjoyed at the idea of going to thracia and seeing her sister, so she started pleading with her father to let her go with tereus. now, at the time it had been five years since thereus and philomela had seen each other for the last time, and obviously philomela was still unmarried, she was still a virgin, but she had still grown and blossomed into a beautiful young woman, and as soon as tereus put his eyes on her he immediately fell in lust with her, and started trying to concoct and think of ways he could seduce her.

so, pandion was finally convinced to send philomela away to thracia, and his last words were, to her and to tereus, to send his beloved daughter back as soon as possible, and to treat her with a father's love, which wasn't exactly how tereus ended up treating philomela, unfortunately. so, she boarded the ship on the harbor of piraeus, alongside some of the guards sent by her father to look after her, and obviously she was really happy to be seeing her sister again, but she had also never really traveled before outside of athens, so this journey really was exciting for her and something really new all the way around; however, what she didn't know was that that would be the last time seeing athens and her father, and that this journey would really spell doom for her and her entire life.

during the time spent on the ship, the servants did note that tereus was a bit quieter and a bit more reserved than he usually was, but they just chalked it up to the awkward nature of being in the ship with his wife's sister: they didn't really know each other that well, after all they had only seen each other once five years ago, so there was not much intimacy between them at all; in reality, however, we can infer that he was probably thinking about his next move in trying to get his hands on philomela, as creepy as that may sound, unfortunately.

now, at some point during the journey tereus probably had the guards killed and tossed into the sea, so they wouldn't just interfere with his plans: they have been reported missing in that time frame, and no bodies were ever recovered. it's actually unclear whether philomela was aware of this, if she simply thought they had maybe had an accident and drowned, or something of sorts, all the sources i looked at just sort of brushed over what the guards' involvement and role was in this story and what happened to them. what we do know is that tereus and philomela did eventually land, and he escorted her to the house in the woods that tereus and procne had together. now, before this moment philomela didn't really suspect anything, she was still really impatient about seeing her sister, but as soon as she walked into this large, empty house in the middle of the woods and tereus closed the door behind her, she felt this sinking sense of dread in her stomach.

and she tried calling her sister's name a few times, obviously she was expecting to see her there to greet her, but she hadn't shown up, so she called for her; but the house remained absolutely dead silent, aside from the echo of her voice, so she turned around to tereus and she asked him where her sister was, she thought she was going to be there to see her, what had happened? and there are different sources that say different things about what tereus said to philomela: some say he told her that procne was dead, others say he just said she wouldn't be there to greet her, but the one thing that we know for sure is that in that moment tereus shoved philomela to the ground and he forced himself on her, he assaulted her, he raped her right then and there. she begged him to stop, obviously, she pleaded him to think of his wife, think of her father, think of her virginity, but it was all in vain; and she later recounted just looking up in horror and seeing the wicked grin on his face, and just being absolutely paralyzed by fear, not being able to do anything but scream and cry and call for help, help that would unfortunately never come for poor philomela.

so, once he got off of her, she covered herself up, she tried to fix herself up, and she started cursing at him: obviously she was absolutely furious with his actions, she was screaming, she defied him to kill her, and she swore to him that she would go around and tell everyone in detail all that he had done to her, and she didn't care about keeping her modesty, keeping her virginity intact, she just wanted everyone to know what a pig thereus was really was; and obviously she was right to say these things, she was extremely angry and she had a reason to be, but this behavior, the way she was challenging him, the way she was defying him, actually made tereus's blood absolutely boil in a fury and he grabbed this dagger, and philomela thought he was going to slit her throat and just kill her right then and there, but he actually took her tongue from his m- from her mouth, he sliced it clean off from the root, and then he tossed it on the ground, and he forced himself on her again and again, and she was still bleeding from her tongue; and then he just got up, he cleaned himself of her blood, and he left her alone, just agonizing in the house on the floor, and to me this is absolutely horrific, i cannot imagine what poor philomela was thinking in that moment, she must have been really in such mental and physical pain it's unbelievable to me.

now, one source states that once tereus left the house in the woods, he went back to the palace to meet with procne, and he told her that her sister had died, which absolutely destroyed poor procne, of course: she wept, she ripped her hair out, she just mourned so hard and for as much as a whole year for the loss of her sister, but without knowing that her sister was actually alive and being held captive not so far away from her. now if this source is actually accurate, it would mean that philomela was imprisoned, was being held captive and brutalized in the forest by tereus, for an entire year, and possibly also thinking that her sister was dead or had not cared for her, which to me is just really heartbreaking to think about.

fortunately for her, philomela had kept the sharp wits she had always had, and she figured out a plan to tell her sister where she was and what had happened to her: in the forest house there was a loom, obviously this house was a fully furnished house for the king and the queen, so a loom was expected to be there, and she used this loom to weave a cloak and embroider onto it the terrible tortures that tereus had put her through, which was actually the primary source from which all the original case coverings and reportings were able to discover what had happened during the captivity of poor philomela, since she wasn't there to speak for herself.

now, it's actually unclear how the cloak was delivered to procne: some sources say that she [philomela] begged a woman to do it and the woman took pity on her, but some say she bribed a guard to do it, others even say that philomela was held captive with the one of procne's friends there to surveil- to surveil her and the friend actually delivered the cloak to procne; this is a really muddled case for a case that is so famous and so widely covered; but the crux of the matter is, philomela got the embroidered cloak to her sister, and as soon as procne opened the package and saw the contents of the embroidery, the terrible acts that were being described on it, she became absolutely livid, and she began making a plan to get her sister back.

now, we don't know for sure how procne managed to get her sister back, but one source does allege that she may have used the occasion of the bacchic celebrations for dionysus to her advantage, and she may have dressed like a maenad and snuck out of the palace to get to the house in the woods, just undisturbed, unnoticed, surrounded by other women dressed as maenads and going in the woods to celebrate. she may have then dressed her sister also like a maenad, so she could pass her off as one of them, and just brought her back into the palace without them being noticed, and i can't even begin to imagine just how touching this reunion between the sisters must have been: like, already, being away from the sister you love for so long is incredibly painful, but then add to that the tragedy of thinking she had actually died without you being there of all things, and then actually discovering that she had been held captive by your own husband all this time! it really is unbelievable to me what pain they must have endured, and also how ecstatic they must have been to be together again. unfortunately, this joy they both felt would not last for long.

procne had always been a very passionate woman, ever since she was a young girl, and her first thought, aside from being happy that she had her sister back of course, went to revenge: she immediately began plotting a way to get back at tereus, make him suffer just the way that she and her sister had suffered, and while she proposed to stab him in the guts, or set him on fire, or torture him any other way that would make him feel the pain they had felt, she was interrupted by her young son itys, who came running into the room to greet his mother back. now, he was a very lively child by now, he had turned five years old, and as soon as procne saw him running towards her with his arms open to hug her, like any five-year-old would do with his mother, she had this chilling thought of: "wow you look so much like your father". and in this moment she was blinded by her rage and her revenge fantasies, and she was less than lucid, and she saw her child as the perfect weapon to really make her husband pay for what he had done; now, of course this doesn't mean that what she did next was in any way right, i don't mean to justify procne, but i think it does give us a way to contextualize her mindset, and what was going on in her head at the time of what happened next.

when itys came up to his mother and hugged her, calling to her "mom, mom, i missed you so much", she took a dagger and stabbed him in the back. some sources say only procne was involved in the murder and philomela was just a bystander, while others claimed that philomela actually slit the child's throat so he would be in less pain and he would die faster, but the fact of the matter was still that procne had killed her poor child and was left with his corpse. now, how she decided to deal with it is really hard to stomach, so if you don't feel like hearing about the details i do encourage you to skip forward a bit, but with the dagger she had she cut off itys's head and gave that to philomela, and then she cut up his body into smaller pieces and had them sent to the kitchens; in the kitchens she had some of the meat boiled, some other she had it roasted on a grill, and then she set up this special dinner for tereus with her son's corpse, her son's remains, her son's flesh.

now, she called on tereus and she explained it to him that this was an important tradition in athens's culture, which was a meal reserved only for the husband, and only to be eaten alone by the husband and king. so tereus sat down, and he fell for this, he sat down and he ate his son's flesh boiled and roasted, and you know what i said earlier, about him and itys enjoying having meals together, sharing food? well, that macabre dinner was so good and so tasty to tereus that he had to call on his son to share that pleasure of eating that food with him, and it was only then that procne, who had been watching him eat diligently, actually revealed to him that the son he was calling for was in his stomach now; and in that moment philomela, like she was waiting for her cue, rushed into the room, shoved the decapitated head of itys in tereus's face, it was still dripping blood on his chiton; and that really gave tereus, whose mouth was still full with his son's flesh, the chilling and absolutely terrifying realization of what he had done, and what his wife had done to him in turn.

the two sisters just took off running before tereus even had time to begin to react, and they left the palace and they disappeared in the surrounding woods; they were never seen again, and all the sources i looked at allege that the sisters were turned into a swallow and a nightingale, but there does seem to be a bit of confusion as to which sister turned into which bird: now, some say that procne became the swallow and philomela the nightingale, as she was finally able to sing again after she had lost her voice, while others say philomela became the swallow and procne the nightingale, and she is singing a song of mourning for the child that she has killed, but what is the crux of the matter is that all sources basically point to these sisters turning into those two specific birds.

tereus, after he got after the initial shock, ran after them, extremely furious, extremely enraged, and he was also turned into a bird; specifically into a hoopoe, it appears, but again, a different source states he was turned into a vulture? and there seems to be a lot of confusion as to which birds everyone got turned into, which personally leads me to believe that this was just a bit of exaggeration that just got spread around with no real basis for it. now, there are some cases where the meddling of the gods and other supernatural forces is proven, it is real, it is confirmed, and it is also sometimes crucial to the case: think of, i don't know, the case of medea – which i would like to also cover in the future on this channel – but in this case i think it really is just some exaggeration that got spread around by all the sources.

so, this was the case of procne and philomela! i'd love to hear what you guys think of this, i think this is a really tricky case to approach, because it is, to me at least, such a clear example of how righteous anger and righteous wrath as someone who has wronged us can end up, unfortunately, being misplaced on others: in my opinion, at least, procne and philomela were absolutely right to want to punish tereus, but because they had no power to do anything to him, he was the husband, the man, the king, he was so much more powerful than either of them could ever become, they decided to instead redirect their anger at the one thing that would hurt him more than anything, his innocent child with no blood on his hands and no way to save himself, no way to protect himself, and in the process of getting their revenge they stained their own hands of innocent blood. again, i'm not trying to justify anyone involved in this case, obviously procne's actions are absolutely unjustifiable, but i do hope to just bring some light to the possible motives and thought processes behind her actions, just so we can better understand how someone does end up committing such horrible and heinous crimes as what procne did.

i hope you guys enjoyed today's episode! let me know what you thought of this case, and if you have any suggestions, or really any cases you would like to hear me talk about; always remember that every tragedy is born of man's hubris, and i will see you guys next time!

#podcast #tagamemnon #true crime #greek mythology #myth retelling #transcripts #procne and philomela #procne #philomela #itys #tereus

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green-eyed-whumpster · 4 years

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My OC Universe: Rowan 56

Chapter 56 Summary: Jordan finds her inspiration and manages to write a much longer chapter!! Yay! Rowan and William suffer through their first night as prisoners and are visited the next morning by their captors. (Taggalicious: @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi, @much-ado-about-whumping, @abitefullofeverything, @whump-me-all-night-long and @sky-or-something-idfk)

Trigger Warnings: Verbal abuse, physical abuse, threatening death, reference to abortion (Ooh, what a strange warning! I wonder what the context is??? [sorry I’m in a weird mood today] )

It wasn’t surprising that William was gagged. It was surprising it didn’t happen sooner. But it wasn’t surprising that it happened.

He screamed like a banshee as they shoved the rag in his mouth. He tried to kick at them, but one stood on his legs as the other forced his head back and tied a cloth around his head, trapping the lump in his mouth. “Will he not choke?” Rowan asked as they released him, and they turned to look at him, almost as though they had forgotten that he was there. “Not if he stays quiet.” One answered, and they left, not bothering to lock the door behind them, Rowan and the King weren’t going anywhere.

At least with William silenced, Rowan could try and sleep. Gods knew he had tried to sleep in far worse places. Here he was dry, and as long as there were no surprise visits from malicious soldiers, he would be safe. Every once in a while, there would be a lurch, or a scramble of William fighting against the chains, but it never ended up going anywhere, and there would be an infuriated grunt, and then another period of silence.

Rowan was actually surprised to realise that he had fallen asleep, after being woken by the sound of footsteps and a scraping of metal along the stone. His eyes darted about the room, blinking in a hurried effort to clear them before the attacker grew closer, and accidentally locked them with William’s. He was disturbed to find them red and bleary, so even in their current scowl Rowan could tell he had been crying. It’s not his fault. He’s clueless. This is probably the first time he’s ever been under threat. The first time he wasn’t in power. He isn’t as used to it as I am. “It will be all right,” He whispered, nodding softly to the man. He was rewarded for his effort with a muffled hiss and the man lunging towards him, stopped by the rattle of chains. “I know I’ve called you a savage, but you really are coming into the role.” Rowan turned as Marie entered, followed by a smirking Alexander, and finally, Cordelia. “Take the gag off him.” She smirked. “I want to hear him scream.” “I’ll do it.” Cordelia said sternly, keeping her head angled deliberately away from Rowan. He desperately tried to catch her eye as she walked forward and pulled the cloth around William’s mouth down, forcing her thumb into his mouth to prevent him trying to bite down on her as she pulled out the wad of rags.

He settled his mouth for a moment before spitting at Cordelia. Rowan could see her shoulders slump slightly as if she were rolling her eyes and without hesitating she backhanded William, stepping back to Marie as the man gasped in shock, turning his enraged glare to her. “How-how dare you strike me?” He roared, restrained hands fighting even harder. “I am the King!” Rowan could see the tears of shame welling in his eyes as his cheeks reddened and felt a deep sense of discomfort. “Oh, haven’t you heard?” Marie asked in mock-innocence. “The King went out hunting yesterday and went missing, soon after his consort and their personal bodyguard disappeared. The soldiers are out, scouring the lands for wherever our beloved monarch is, and presumably, where his murderers are hiding.” Rowan’s face fell as he realised the implication and was reminded of what happened to Oliver. “But-but I’m right here! What about Oliver? What happened to him?” He exclaimed, tears of his own springing to his eyes. “Hmm, it’s very rare that you speak out of turn.” Marie sighed and glanced at Cordelia, giving her a silent order. “Such a pathetic creature,” She said finally, voice unwavering. “The only two people he interacts with are his guard and his master. I don’t blame him for asking.” Marie looked at Rowan and sighed softly. “What absolute bullshit!” William roared. “My soldiers will not let some little cock-tease steal the throne from me!” Alexander stepped forward without hesitation and struck the man himself, the heavy crack echoing in the cell as cartilage shattered under the blow. William was so preoccupied for a moment with the pain and the fresh blood racing down his face that Marie could focus on the consort for a moment longer. “He’s behaved so well, I don’t feel it’s really necessary to have him kept quiet,” Her voice was far softer than Rowan could have believed, and he looked at her hopefully. “But I can’t have his master thinking it’s all right to shoot his mouth off excessively.” Cordelia nodded in resignation and stepped towards Rowan, he saw the regret in her eyes as she tipped his head back and slapped him, too. His cheek only stung for a moment, a dull throb numbing his nerves as she stepped back. “But…” He paused as the movement immediately reminded him of the punishment he had been given for speaking last time. But there wasn’t another instant blow, so he continued.

“But because I’ve been behaving, wouldn’t it make sense that I be allowed what he isn’t? So, maybe, he’ll stop causing quite so much trouble.” He waited for another look to be shared between the women and for his former friend to strike him again. So, he was startled when suddenly laughter reverberated from the walls, coming from Marie. “Oh, you’re such a clever little rat, aren’t you?” She grinned, catching his eye no matter how hard he tried to look away. “I’d admire your survival instincts if they didn’t disgust me so,” He flushed deeply under her words, feeling William’s glare on him. “If you think for one second that I’ll allow you to treat that whore any better than me –“

Cordelia appeared to be fed up with William and so before he could even finish his threat she had struck him again. The exasperated look on her face resembling one a parent might have when their child was misbehaving. This only entertained Marie even more. “Ha, ha! Well, I suppose, since you do make a good point, you can ask…three questions.” Rowan glanced at her uncomfortably and swallowed, nervous now that he had been granted some semblance of freedom. “I-wh-why are you doing this? What’s going on?” He stuttered, and she smirked merrily. She quite enjoyed being in a position of power. Especially over her disgusting husband and his timid little lover. “I’ll only count that as one question since they are both incredibly similar.” She granted and he bowed his head nervously. “Th-thank you.” “It’s a coup. We’re kicking the old King off the throne before he ruins the country any more than he already has. I organised a group of soldiers and servants that I could trust and arranged for his hunting trip to be sabotaged. He was smuggled back to the castle, into the dungeon and guarded by men on my side.” It sounded so wonderfully simple when she explained it like that. As though she were discussing a party or the arrangement of some renovations. “I swear I will wring your neck the moment I get out of these chains!” William snarled, and she turned an amused look to him. “Then I suppose you won’t be released from the chains any time soon.” “Why now?” Rowan asked, hoping to interrupt any more attempts at arguing. William seemed just as curious as Rowan was so at least he stayed relatively quiet as Marie spoke. “Now was the best time.” Marie answered sombrely as she rested a hand over her stomach, and Rowan’s eyes flicked to Alexander as he stepped closer to his mother. He looked…unhappy. Turning his gaze to Cordelia, Rowan realised her face had softened, also. “You’re pregnant?” He asked, on a whim, remembering how her hand rested there when she cornered him, and he turned her down. As if she were protecting something. Rowan had learnt when he was young that potential mothers usually guarded their stomachs at any threat of danger. Marie scoffed gently and shook her head in defeat. “I don’t believe I give you enough credit, consort,” She sighed, purposefully moving her hand away from her bodice. “I’m honestly quite surprised at how resourceful you are. If only you were on my side.” William’s jaw fell open and he stared, dumbfounded, at Marie. Temporarily silenced. “I can have children?” He asked after a moment. The only words not raised and dripping with contempt that he had spoken while imprisoned. “Well, you can’t kill me, now! Who will be the child’s father?” Marie snorted and shook her head again, this time with disdain. “You think I would let your poisoned bloodline continue?” She asked, scowling at the prisoner. “I don’t want any reminder of you to exist once I’ve taken power! This creature will be chosen as the rightful heir and Alexander will be swept aside! So, what? We can have another failure of a leader with your family’s ancestry flowing through their veins? Never. The child will be gone before it even draws breath.” The way she spoke indicated that she was just as upset with the idea as William was. “You can’t do that!” He yelled. “You can’t kill my child! My blood! You, selfish bitch! You only think about your son and nothing more –“ “This child would have been mine, too!” She interrupted angrily. “It brings me no joy to murder the creature, but I will not have any supporters of you rip apart everything I have worked for!” “How do you know it isn’t Jonathan’s?” Rowan asked before thinking. “Because,” She said, sniffing gently. “Jonathan is sterile.” “I-I was under the impression that William was, too,” He continued softly, flinching as Marie laughed. “William still has his balls.” She stated bluntly. “Jonathan, when he first became my lover, also became a eunuch. My previous husband was far more thorough than William.” That’s a pretty strong reason. “William’s supposed sterility is through pure genetic weakness. Somehow, he seems to have combated that.” William groaned and rolled his eyes. “To think I wasted my seed on your pathetic hole!” He snarled at Rowan who sighed softly. “It doesn’t matter.” Marie shrugged. “Any potential heirs of yours will be gone by next week.” Rowan swallowed the urge to comfort her. He doubted she would want his sympathy. “What’s your last question?” Marie asked, startling Rowan, he thought she would have counted the one about Jonathan. “He’s had three.” Alexander said, clearly thinking the same thing. “I’m not counting it,” Marie replied, smoothing her dress. “It clearly wasn’t something important in his mind.” Rowan dipped his head slightly and swallowed. “Um-thank you,” He muttered and glanced across to where William was sitting. “What-what are you going to do with us?” He finally asked, hazarding a look up. “I thought that might have been it,” She muttered and sighed. “We can’t kill you, yet. My power isn’t solidified yet, and should someone find your bodies everything has been for nothing. So, for the foreseeable future you’re going to be kept down here.” She said before looking at Cordelia. “Until we come across a convenient time and method for disposing with you.”

#whump #medieval whump #my writing #oc #Rowan #William #Marie #Cordelia #physical abuse #verbal abuse #abortion

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makeste · 4 years

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BnHA Chapter 258: Have You Thanked Your Twice Today

Previously on BnHA: All Might gave Deku a book with all of the previous OFA successors’ names, quirks, and career stats. Kacchan barely glanced at the book and was all “nah, boring” and JUST LIKE THAT he decided we’re not gonna get any new info, which I don’t think is very fair or considerate Kacchan but whatever!! Anyway though, All Might did reveal that Nana could fly and so Deku is going to learn to fly, so that’s fucking awesome, and then Kacchan and Deku had a moment of being bratty siblings together which I framed and put on my wall, so that was also very enjoyable. Back at the 1-A dorms we learned that Todoroki can’t cook, and the kids had a New Year’s party and talked about how they’re gonna be second years soon and how everything is just SO GREAT AND GOOD AND LIFE IS GOOD, and elsewhere All Might sat outside the teacher’s dorms and had a gorgeous fucking conversation with Aizawa that gave me all the feels. The chapter then ended with a THREE MONTH TIMESKIP to late March when apparently everything is about to go to shit. So yeah. Quite a lot to process there.

Today on BnHA: Hawks spends basically the entire chapter very slowly explaining to us that he became best friends with Twice, and it paid off dividends on account of Twice deciding that Hawks is definitely trustworthy and he should definitely tell him exactly where Tomura is off hiding in the mountains of Kyoto, because that’s the kind of extremely sensitive strategic intel that real best friends don’t keep from one another! Can you guys believe Hawks spent all that time trying to cozy up to fucking Dabi of all people when this whole time Twice was right fucking there. I bet you Twice would never have asked him to kill Best Jeanist and tote around his remains in a knapsack. Anyway so the chapter ends with the heroes launching what I assume is a surprise attack in where I assume is Kyoto, which probably explains that whole “on that day the heroes vanished” bit from the previous chapter. So let’s all wish them good luck, especially because THEY BROUGHT THE FUCKING KIDS WITH THEM GODDAMMIT. Oh my babies. Please be safe.

so I think I’m gonna go back to the Friday schedule since it just works better for me. just gotta remember to take the translations with a grain of salt, but all in all the quality last week wasn’t too bad, and overall the pros outweigh the cons

(ETA: the quality actually went down a lot this time honestly, but Friday still > Sunday in terms of me having the time to read this, so it is what it is.)

well this is interesting!

“in the absence of Endeavor” ? ??? the what now??? “oh yeah did we forget to mention, he’s gone now. we did some focus groups and made a few tweaks based on what the fans said they wanted.” well shit. let this be a warning to you all. it can happen JUST LIKE THAT

um. but I mean, that’s all well and good but uhhhh. [nervous glance toward Ujiko, Tomura, the 100k army, and the 11 noumus] ...

but maybe he’s just absent for the cover though. (ETA: yeah this makes a lot more sense after reading the last page of this chapter lol.) anyway so here we have everyone flying, as all good heroes do, including Deku who doesn’t really need that floating quirk after all I suppose, since he can jump real good. BUT IT’S STILL NICE FOR HIM TO HAVE IT SO SHHH

also the flower!Kacchan eyes are becoming more and more frequent lately. Horikoshi is really having a lot of fun with that

and now we’re going back roughly two months ago! which is still the future as far as I’m concerned! so this is really weird to have a “flashback” that basically still takes place after where we last left off. but whatever

“a week after the ‘hospital’ tip” well thank you, that certainly does help. so Twice is jogging in and beckoning to his best bud Hawks so Hawks is like “?” and walking over

(ETA: this has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but I just wanted to say that it’s very possible this flashback is actually taking place on Shouto’s birthday -- January 11th -- given the timing, so happy birthday Shouto! you are getting so big!)

lol see this is one of those times where the whole ‘translation of a translation’ thing doesn’t really work sob. even with context I’m not quite sure wtf Twice is actually asking, but at any rate this at least does give us an idea of how the rest of the League is spending their time now that they’ve completed their whole villain corporate merger

so Spinner and Compress, who actually have a few brain cells to rub together between the two of them, are already deeply involved in running things, and meanwhile Giran, Dabi, and Toga don’t really give a shit and so are content to sit back and wait until their services are actually needed. incidentally I like to think Giran spends a good chunk of his free time just tormenting ReDestro in a bunch of really small and petty ways. like making him get his coffee, and having him call and cancel his cable subscription and stuff. it’s just nice

guys I have no idea wtf is going on in these four panels honestly

well you heard him. that’s the situation. nobody trusts Twice (or was he talking about Hawks?), and meanwhile he has to go poo. not exactly where I thought this chapter would be picking up after that fun little cliffhanger last week, but just goes to show this series truly is a magical Kinder Egg and you never know what you’re gonna get!

so Hawks is explaining for my benefit that Twice was apparently doing an impression of some guy named “Sanctum” who is the oldest member of the MLA

holy shit it took Hawks a whole month to figure out all of the Pliff members? I’m just gonna pass then. thankfully I’m not a spy and I don’t have the fate of the free world depending on me memorizing the organizational chart of a bunch of really boring people whom I really do not give the slightest fuck about. anyway godspeed Hawks

oh no

son of a bitch. we’re in for another long fucking arc aren’t we lmao. well all right then let’s go ahead and do the rundown

Black 1: Fuhrer King Bradley

Black 2: Flying Ace

Black 3: Mother Ginger

Violet 1: Super Mario and Just A Bald Man

Violet 2: Predator and Best Sweaterist

Violet 3: Vizard and Gang Badger

in conclusion, Horikoshi will never stop making Alien/Predator references, and I’m also seeing some strong FMA and Bleach influence here as well. hell, the Mario guy even reminds me of some of the fishman characters from One Piece. so basically we’re all over the place here

other observations: “the new world movement”, huh? are they moving on from PLF at long last? I’ll take Newm over Pliff any day tbh

and so they have a tactical force and a raid force. now that’s interesting as fuck, because who exactly are they planning to raid? now that’s a nice disturbing question to ponder

lastly, the black and violet color schemes are very interesting and I wonder if there’s any significance there that’s going over my head lol. for now I just think it sounds cool regardless

-- MOTHERFUCKER THERE’S A WHOLE NOTHER PAGE OF THIS SHIT FUCK ME I FUCKING QUIT

goddammit. fine

Carmine 1: Lefty Hair and Gerudo Princess

Carmine 2: Slidin’ Go Away and R2-D2

and I can’t see Carmine 3, oh well. meanwhile on the other side we’ve got:

Cleveland 1: Praying Mantis and Righty Hair

Cleveland 2: Jawa and Just Happy To Be Here

and last but not least, Cleveland 3: Badger’s Revenge

what I have learned from this is that I don’t really know what a badger looks like and so any remotely rodent-looking animal person with stripes on their face is going to be slapped with that label because I don’t have time to research what would be a more appropriate animal nickname unless we want to be here until next week. anyway

haha Hawks what the fuck

well that sure is encouraging. so how exactly are the heroes supposed to get the drop on them then? basically we’re fucked, is what you’re saying. well we all been knew so whatever

so Hawks is monologuing to himself about how he was able to nice his way into learning all of the army’s members without getting caught, and in the process he observed how all of the members are all “FUCK THE SYSTEM”, which they definitely have a point about but are also definitely going about the wrong way holy shit

so now he’s feeding some good rabble-rousing lines to Twice who is eating them up

yeah, because Twice famously loves ReDestro lol, oh wait

so Twice is all “I don’t wanna say something that’s not from the heart” because he is PURE and not a Sneaky Sam like SOME PEOPLE! but he understands Hawks’s point that he basically just has to butter them up and tell them what they want to hear, and now he’s running off with a hearty thanks

fffffson of a --

like, you all can see the breakdown in logic that occurred here, right? “some heroes are corrupt” -- absolutely! “kill all heroes” -- wait, what

like obviously there are some real world parallels here. but I very much get the feeling that the PLF/NWM’s movement is fueled less by sentiments of “our law enforcement system is trigger-happy, racist, void of empathy, and think they’re above the law” and more by the notion of “our self-proclaimed superiority gives us the right to do whatever we want and trumps other people’s right to be safe and free, particularly if those people are unfortunate enough to not have quirks.” like, there are a lot of other nuances we could get into here, but that’s basically the gist of it, so yeah. these guys are not to be sympathized with here

and now there’s a big double page spread basically confirming that what these guys really want is blood and anarchy

and the really interesting thing here to me is that we can see Tomura standing at the front of the pack in that bottom right panel. but on the very next panel, with the close-up of Hawks looking as serious as we’ve ever seen him, he basically says that the endgame of all this, the ultimate outcome that this is all meant to bring into place, is one thing and one thing only

yep. well fuck

anyway I have no idea why he’s thanking Twice, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess he unknowingly did something which might give the heroes the potential glimmer of hope which they desperately need. so I will go ahead and thank you too, Twice. you’re a good guy buddy

oh wow there’s a whole page of more meta about Twice! -- and OH SHITTTTTTT

LKDsjflkjsdlfklskgjlskjlfkjsdlfk oh my fkfdjflk how did this never occur to me, just. FSDKLFLSIFKjk

hahaha. :’) holy fucking shit. they have to take him out. they can’t win otherwise. the heroes are already screwed enough as it is with just one Tomura and eleven high ends to contend with; if Twice is able to use his quirk to multiply that exponentially, we can basically kiss the world goodbye. fuck

but Hawks came to realize that Twice is actually a good guy though as echoed above! which, yeah, and can you imagine if he wasn’t, though? shiiit

oh my god they are so cute

listen, I won’t lie, I’m reading this for my 1-A children first and foremost, so there’s a part of me that’s like “HOW MANY MORE PAGES ARE WE GOING TO GET OF THIS JESUS CHRIST.” but there’s no denying that Jin is a good turnip and his unexpected friendship with Hawks -- which I am happy to report is now confirmed to be genuine! because Hawks really does like him! -- is a delight to witness

OH MY GOD TWICE LMAO

“HERE, LET ME JUST DRAW YOU A MAP! (⌒∇⌒。)ANYTHING FOR YOU, BEST FRIEND”

holy fucking shit Twice. did you just save all our asses you beautiful bastard

so between this, and the “hospital” clue, that could be enough to track him down, couldn’t it? no wonder Hawks was so pumped after getting that call. what are the odds this chapter ends with the start of a hero-led raid on a hospital in Kyoto. oh shit oh shit oh shit

lolol oh fuck me

I swear to god Horikoshi if you end this bromance by having Hawks kill Twice for the sake of the greater good, I’ll. ... well I sure as hell won’t like that. please do not

AND JUST LIKE THAT WE’RE BACK TO SPRINGTIME OH MY GOD

what a time to enter the first fucking grade Dai-kun. godspeed little man. I love the little detail that he’s holding an Endeavor plush while looking at the All Might statue. drawing strength from both heroes. aww

and then of course we have this fucking march of heroes which I can only hope is them heading to that hospital! no wonder they all vanished. they all ran off to Kyoto to try and put a stop to the villains’ plans before it’s too late

but I don’t see any of the kiddos there, though? don’t tell me the villains are gonna try something while the adults are away and leave the kids to deal with it all on their own

oh shit no!!! hold up!!

DON’T TELL ME THEY REALLY DID BRING THE KIDS WITH THEM ON THE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS “TIME TO GET OUR ASSES HANDED TO US BY NOUMURAKI TOMURA” MISSION NOOO MY BABIESSS

oh thank god

at least they don’t have the child soldiers on the front fucking lines, fucking christ

AHHHHHHHHH

SAY A PRAYER FOR KATSUKI’S WINTER COSTUME, EVERYONE. BE AT PEACE, SLEEVES OF GONDOR. FAREWELL BEST JEANIST TRIBUTE COLLAR

is this T chest thing on Shouto’s costume new? I can’t imagine that serves any sort of practical function whatsoever; he was probably just tired of looking boring

BUT!!!! those gloves, though!!?! now those are definitely new and I fucking love them. again I can’t really see them having much of a practical application given his quirk, but there is nothing wrong with upgrading oneself just to look sharp! boy wanted a facelift so he went out and got one

that’s some nice Anime Protagonist Wind they’ve got going on there in the mountains of Kyoto. real epic shit

1-B is there too!! and also Hadou, I think, unless that’s Pony? so that’s fucking awesome. we will certainly need all hands on deck

so that’s it for the chapter! not much happened, but we got a lot of Twice appreciation and learned that the heroes still have a few tricks up their sleeves! can’t wait to see how this will all go disastrously wrong. if you ask me, it’s probably when they decided that the best way to launch a surprise attack was to have fifty Endeavor-led guys gather all together and march up Main Street. but far be it from me to tell the heroes how to do their job I guess. best of luck not dying everyone

#bnha 258 #hawks #twice (bnha)#league of villains #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #twice gave them more intel in two sentences than hawks managed to gather in months lmao #clearly did not learn a single goshdurn thing from the whole overhaul incident #but who can fault him though #he's just too pure #oh twice #I just want you to be happy #please don't die #and please don't be sad when you find out that your friend is a double agent #:(

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double--plus--good · 4 years

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I Still Love You - A Zutara Fic 2020

Hey y’all

So I’m in my feelings about Zutara and decided to write out a fic I had in mind dealing with post-Ozai defeat and Zuko going out to look for his mom with Katara. I think it’ll be a few chapters if anyone’s interested but I’ve been playing around with this idea for a lil while now and being reconnected with my love for ATLA really pushed me to write it out.

I’d like to make a disclaimer: I love KatAang, really, I think their relationship made the most sense to end with and I appreciate their character development and how it developed their relationship! But I have such a soft spot for ZuTara and they’re honestly my favorite. I’m trying hard not to make this a ship war kind of fic and more of a different development, if that makes sense.

Anyway, here it is under the cut! I really hope you guys enjoy what I’m making

“Thank you Katara.” he said weakly as the water began to slowly dissipate from his wounds.

Zuko slowly sat up but was stopped, gently yet abruptly, by two cold hands pressing themselves against his chest.

“Please Zuko, I need you to lay down and rest. Your wound is healing but it’s still going to be another day before you can get up.”

Zuko took a hold of one of Katara’s hands and pressed it to his mouth before nodding and sliding down against the pillows beneath him. He peered up at her with half lidded eyes and managed a soft smile.

Katara reached up and pushed Zuko’s dark hair out of his face and peered back, mirroring the soft smile and allowed herself to be taken by the peace and quiet surrounding them.

For the first time in what must have been forever, there was serenity and calmness around them. Both benders took a deep breath, soaking in as much as they could before Katara pulled her hand away, slowly but all too soon.

Zuko sighed softly and looked to the wall beside him. Katara faced the opposite direction and leaned some of her weight against Zuko’s side, being careful not to disturb his wound too much. Zuko winced for a moment and the pain subsided quickly. They sat in silence for a while.

“I know we can’t be together” Zuko spoke up after what felt like an eternity which actually only amounted to two and a half minutes. “And I know you love Aang more than the world itself. You two suit one another and I’m happy you’ve been able to work through the confusion and hurt that the world has thrown to you. I don’t want you to feel as if you’re abandoning me. I know you’re worried, but, Katara, you and I have gone through a world of pain and suffering; we battled our way through the lowest points and I’ll never be able to repay you for all you sacrificed and gone through because of and for me. I’ll always have a special place for you as I know you’ll have me. You’re making the right choice and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

He turned his head to face her but she didn’t meet his gaze. Instead, she brought her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly. Zuko continued.

“You and Aang have been side by side since the very beginning, you and I both know this all too well. I see how you look at him and worry for him and I understand, I do.”

Katara let go of her knees and slowly turned to face Zuko, a small smile on her face as she reached back to brush his hair back again. Zuko took a hold of her hand and held it to his face while his other hand rubbed her other arm.

“I love you Zuko, I do. After everything we’ve done and gone through, I’m glad we could have the time we did. But you’re right. Aang is everything I need and want. You helped me realize this. Thank you for helping me understand and thank you for understanding. I’ll always love you, Zuko. And you’ll always be part of Team Avatar. You’ve truly shown your worth and I know that you’re going to help bring peace back to not just the Fire Nation, but every nation.”

Zuko propped himself on one arm and pulled Katara down for a long, much needed kiss. She was surprised at first and moved a hand quickly to his wound to make sure it was okay. Slowly, however, she melted into his arms and savored their final kiss which ended too soon as well.

When they parted, Zuko forced himself fully upright and began to stretch his arms, grimacing as he felt the skin tighten at his wound. Katara sighed in irritation.

“If you’re going to disregard my instructions, at least do so when I leave. It’s frustrating to see you slow your healing.”

Zuko continued his stretching, bending an arm behind his head and placing a hand on his elbow to assist. “I’m alright Katara, really. It doesn’t hurt as much as yesterday. Besides, if I wait until you leave, I won’t be able to move until morning.”

He smiles at her cheekly as a blush forms over Katara’s cheeks.

“One last night together? Please? We can sleep separately, but I’d like to savor just a few more hours of peace.”

Katara rubbed her arm a little, hesitating to answer at first but then nodded and agreed to stay the night.

“But we won’t sleep separately.” she said softly, pushing the blanket off of Zuko’s lap so she could slide in beside him. “I want to make sure you won’t try anything dumb at night that will open or expose your wound anymore.”

She gently pushed him back down and pulled the blanket over him then laid down against his shoulder. She placed a soft kiss onto it and hugged his arm. Zuko leaned against her kiss and touch and closed his eyes, allowing himself to fade into her touch. He sighed softly and drifted away into a calmness in his mind.

She said one last thing to him before also allowing herself to follow him in the calm.

“When you wake up, I won’t be here to greet you. I hope you understand.”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he brushed her hand softly and laid in the quiet again.

Six years have passed.

They weren’t the quickest years but they weren’t the slowest. Some days seemed to drag on as they tried to regain the trust of the separated and damaged nations. No one blamed anyone who was frightened and skeptical, but the team managed to reach several agreements to help move progression along.

The team made sure to keep in as much frequent contact as possible especially when regarding peace treaties and celebrations but of course, they had a lot to take on even as a team. They each helped to rebuild and restore many of each of the nation’s ancient ruins and destroyed cities and brought villages and cities together to create joining forces along the way. But as time passed, they saw less of one another so they could focus on leading and helping their nations and allies and mostly relied on postage from one another.

During this time, Zuko made sure to keep his father and sister far away in safe containment and abandoned his mission to find his mother when his father provided him with misinformation that nearly got him and his teammates killed. He hadn’t lost hope in finding her but of course, there were several pressing matters he had to attend to as Fire Lord to his nation and a friend of the Avatar.

Things began to calm, however, in the sixth year and after a long, boring day of sitting in on plans of restoring some old ruins and planning new trade routes between the nations, Zuko made his way to his sister’s containment with a book from their childhood and some cooled tea. He requested his guards stay outside, as usual, and he sat in front of a glass wall that separated her space from the visitor space [compliments to Toph and himself for discovering what happens when you burn sand just right after a rather difficult encounter along a shore].

Azula sat slumped against the wall, staring angrily at the ground. She didn’t speak and hadn’t spoken since the night her father had been defeated. She also rarely moved despite the freedom she had to do so [with proper supervision, of course].

No one really knew why the Fire Lord did this and no one felt as if Azula understood or appreciated that her brother would continue to visit her and read to her; yet, they felt no need to stop him from doing so and kept their opinions to themselves in hushed voices.

“I’m here, Azula.” he began as he slid the tea through a small opening made for her meals. “I brought you another story book. It’s the Tales of the Turtle Duck and the Kola Otter.”

Azula perked up just a bit at the mention of the book and she pushed herself up a little bit so she could see the book better. She said nothing and maintained intense eye contact with Zuko’s hands and the book.

Zuko sighed and began reading the first fable of the book to her.

Once he reached the fable’s conclusion, Zuko carefully placed the book in a pocket hiding in his coat and stood slowly, observing his sister and her surroundings carefully. Even after six years of visiting and constant renovations to the cooled chambers that surrounded them, he was always on guard around her and ready for any attack. When he was fully upright, Azula stood up and began to slowly step towards the glass, an eerie smile creeping onto her face once she was at the wall. She pressed her hands against the glass and began to laugh softly under her breath before bursting into a fit of righteous laughter.

Zuko jumped back at the sound and watched in shock while his sister began to claw at the wall between them, laughing and screaming in hestarics. The guards rushed in at the sound and called for someone to sedate her while they rushed the Fire Lord out and escorted him to the palace.

Zuko’s heart was pounding fast during the whole escapade and he found it difficult to walk and breathe as he was forced out of the chamber. He hadn’t seen his sister move or heard her make any sound [other than the occasional grunt or sigh] in six years and he couldn’t imagine what had triggered that response. He also couldn’t figure out what caused him to just stand there, unable to move at first until a guard nearly dragged him out. He couldn’t look away either; the image of his sister smiling at him as one of the servants charged with caring for her grabbed her arms and forced her into a drowsy state.

Once he reached the palace, Zuko was taken immediately to be checked on by the palace medical staff, despite his protests and was made to stay in the medical chamber for the night to monitor his shock response.

It was another sleepless night for Zuko which he had become accustomed to throughout the years but this time it was different.

Most nights he would busy himself with work or reading or even walk through the villages but the night he spent in the medical chamber left him staring at the ceiling the entire time with no shift in his gaze.

When the palace medical staff came in, they were shocked to see the Fire Lord in the same position as they left him, his face unmoved and they hesitated to approach him. The head staff member made their way to Zuko but jumped back when he suddenly sat up and began to put his robe back on.

“Your majesty, won’t you let us help you?” She asked, moving towards him again until she reached his bed.

Zuko looked up at her with a gentle but indifferent face and shook his head. “I’m fine, really. Thank you for your care.” He then stood up and began to tie his sash.

“I just needed to read my head. I’m ready to take on the day.”

The staff looked at one another and nodded before bowing and stepping outside. Zuko began to make his way to his personal chambers with his guards at the lead but was stopped halfway down the hall by a familiar chirping sound.

He turned slowly to look behind him and was greeted by a furry belly smashing into his face, knocking him to the ground. The animal’s tail swished around Zuko’s neck as it began to crawl around the Fire Lord’s shoulders and chest and his guards ran to his side.

Zuko let out an uncharacteristic belly laugh and pulled the lemur off of his chest, holding him above his head. His guards stared at one another in surprise before watching their Fire Lord jump to his feet.

“Momo, good to see you too.” Zuko said with a smile, placing Momo onto his shoulder. “Am I to assume the Avatar will be joining us too?”

Momo rubbed his own face vigorously and Zuko’s attention was caught by another familiar noise. Or rather, a voice.

“Well, you’re almost right,” Aang said as he rushed down the hall with a small fleet behind him. “The Avatar and his team will be joining”

Zuko opened his arms and braced for the crash of bodies that ensued as Aang, Sokka, Toph, Suki, and Katara threw themselves onto him. They crashed at the feet of the guards, who all sat puzzled yet delighted at the sight of the nation's saviors laughing and tossing around trying to stand back up.

Team Avatar, reunited physically after some time.

“This is such a surprise. I can’t believe you’re all here” Zuko said with a smile saved only for his dearest friends. He looked around at all of them but kept a very special and lingering stare at Katara as she stretched her back and arms, laughing.

“Well, of course we’re here,” Aang remarked, holding his arm out for Momo to perch himself on. “It is the Fire Lord’s birthday celebration this weekend, isn’t it?”

Zuko looked away from Katara and looked up at the ceiling with a puzzled stare. “Oh, is it? I honestly forgot”

The team shared a small laugh and Zuko looked back at his teammates, joining in.

“That’s just sad, Zuko” Toph teased, folding her arms over her chest as a smug smile formed over her face “Are you getting so old that you’re already forgetting?”

The team laughed again and Zuko stepped passed them, urging them to follow him. “I guess I am. Let’s go to the dinning hall. I’m sure you’re all tired from traveling.”

They all followed, making small conversation with one another as they made their way through various halls and stairs.

A variety of tarts, fruits, breads, meats, and teas were laid out for the visitors as they sat on the floor at a round table, catching up with one another about their journeys. Zuko remained silent, listening contently to the laughter and clinking of glasses and looking over his friends fondly.

His attention was then caught by a gentle hand on his shoulder that caused some tension in his muscles. He turned his head slowly and slightly and made eye contact with Katara, who gave him a small but worried smile.

“You okay?” she asked, retracting her hand when she felt Zuko become tense.

Zuko sighed softly and nodded. “Yea, I’m just surprised. I know we all talk and see each other when we can but it’s so rare to see everyone together like this. And, it’s weird that it’s for me. Ever since Mai and Ty Lee left, I’ve been really alone.” He rested his hands against the floor behind him and began to look around the room again with a warm smile. “ Now, hearing so many people and seeing the laughter and warmth, it’s kind of jarring. I’m happy and sad all at once.”

Katara frowned a little and looked around the room before turning back to Zuko. “I didn’t know Mai left. I’m sorry to hear that.” She hesitated for a moment then placed her hand on his shoulder.

Zuko leaned into the touch this time and looked over to Katara, frowning when he saw her expression.

“I guess it just didn’t come up. I’m not upset by it at all. She had a lot of things she came to terms with and I was glad she found herself. Ty Lee came back from Kiyoshi island and they worked out some feelings they had for each other. It was kind of sweet.” He turned his attention to Sokka, who was poorly imitating the events of Boiling Rock, and chuckled softly shaking his head. “Everyone comes and goes and I’ve learned to hold onto their memory and move on. I’m lucky that I have a lot of work to keep me busy and honestly, a life of solitary is more my style. I focus my energy on helping my country heal from the scars left by my forefathers.”

A loud crashing of plates and cups caused heads to jerk at Momo and Aang, who were now covered in pastry curd and custards, laughing. Zuko sighs with a tired smile and motions for a servant to bring the Avatar a cloth to wipe himself with.

Katara let out a small laugh and moved her hand away from Zuko’s shoulder to his hand, giving it a soft squeeze. “Well, I’m glad you took it so well and I’m glad it all worked out. But Zuko, you should really try to be more social. Of everyone, you’re the one we all talk to the least and it’s been concerning us. It’s one of the reasons we came this weekend aside from Mai’s invitation.”

Zuko’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of Mai and her invitation and he turned his attention back to Katara. “Mai sent the invitation? Are you sure?”

Katara stared back at Zuko, a bit shocked by his reaction. “Uh, yea. She always sends the celebration invitations. That’s why I was so shocked to hear you say she left. But I figured maybe you guys stayed in contact or something.”

Zuko looked down at the ground and thought for a moment before sighing deeply and looking back at Katara. “Maybe she was worried too,” he concluded. “It’s been awhile since she’s planned any of the celebrations, usually I have a staff for that.” His eyes softened and a sad smile found its way to his mouth. “I’ll have to thank her, I guess.”

The team decided to wind down after dinner at the springs just behind the palace. Their boisterous laughter and stories were now soft chats and whispers as to not break the ambience of the springs.

“So, what’s the celebration plan, your majesty?” Aang asked teasingly, floating over to Zuko’s side. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of food and shows.”

Zuko kept his eyes closed and his head back as he spoke to Aang. “Honestly, I don’t know how they plan the celebrations and this year, with you guys invited, it may change but they’re usually the same each year.” He reached over to his tea cup which sat close to the edge of the spring and took a sip of his tea before resuming.

“The village lines up to greet me in the morning, people from other nations come with lavish gifts, music is played all day, people dance and play games throughout the day, and we end it with fireworks and a big feast. But if I’m being honest, I haven’t had a birthday celebration in the last few years. The town still holds the festivities but as far as the feasts and gifts, I haven’t really taken a part of them.” Zuko then opened his eyes but kept his face directed to the sky. “I’m not ungrateful to them, but these celebrations are kind of overdone. I let them plan it mostly for the village and servants since they really enjoy it.” He shut his eyes again.

Aang leaned his back against the wall of the spring and looked up at the sky. “I get it. The parties seem like a lot, don’t they?”

Zuko nodded. “Yea. Whenever the anniversary of the day we defeated my father, I get tense. Those are really big here and I can’t escape them. The first year was fine especially since we celebrated it together, but after? Ugh.”

Aang let out a small laugh and they turned to face each other.

“Maybe we can get you out of the palace this year for your birthday.” he suggested, a big grin on his face.

Zuko shook his head and chuckled. “No. Clearly they planned something bigger this year since Mai invited you guys. I wouldn’t want to ruin anything for anyone.”

“Well, I don’t see why you’re being so gloomy about it. I mean, I’d kill for any recognition honestly” Sokka chimed loudly “Most people don’t even recognize me and when they do, they always tell me to congratulate you guys and Katara. I mean, come on! I was the mastermind!”

Everyone let out a hearty laugh at Sokka’s commotion and Suki made sure to give him a big kiss on the cheek as congratulations from the nations.

After some time relaxing in company, Zuko stood up and slid into his robe.

“I think I’ll retire now” he said as he began to take a step out. “I’ll have the guards escort you to the guest chambers.” He turned to face Aang and held out a hand to help him out. “I usually mediate in the sand gardens in the morning if you’d like to join me before dawn.”

Aang took Zuko’s hand and pulled him back into the water with a hearty laugh. “Sure thing, pal.”

Everyone roared with laughter and quickly hopped out of the spring as it became boiling from Zuko’s irritation. Aang jumped at the heat and floated upward, still laughing at Zuko.

Zuko groaned and began to stand up, removing his robe. As he strained it, he caught a glimpse at Katara, who was watching him giggling and blushing slightly. He felt his cheeks turn red and quickly focused on straining his robe.

His heart skipped a beat.

#Zutara #zuko #katara #avatar: the last airbender #atla #fan fic #zutara fan fic #romance #aang #sokka #suki #toph #azula #mai #ty lee #ozai

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thejamaicanweeb · 4 years

Text

Mitosis - Soul Division Prologue: The Average Candidate

A/N: Hey there! This is just an OM fanfic I’m writing with two MCs based on my two best friends in the entire world. Based on the main stories, Devilgram stories, texts and events. I hope you enjoy it! -Jisa

EDIT!!!: I cannot believe I forgot this! TRIGGER WARNING FOR IMPLIED ABUSE! (Honestly, being beaten as discipline is such a common thing here; it never even occurred to me that what was every day and normal here could trigger someone else I am so so sorry Q_Q)

Name: Sinai

Age: 23

DOB: 08/09/1996, Sunday 11:58 pm

Highest Level of Education: Associates Degree BB Med Sci. Undertaking an MBBS degree.

Race: Human

Region: South America and the Caribbean

Shadows obscured the rest of the information. A black-gloved hand picked up the profile that had slipped from the short stack of papers on the desk. Intelligent scarlet eyes scanned the rest of the page quickly, then glanced at the small picture fastened to the upper right-hand corner.

The young woman in the picture beamed up at him. A wide smile crinkled her russet brown eyes shut. Large red glasses sat on top of a short nose. While her round face made her appear a few years younger at first glance, dark under-eye circles added the years back. The raven-haired demon placed the paper on the desk and ground the heels of his palms against his eyelids, trying in vain to rub the gritty feeling of fatigue away. He stifled a yawn as his DDD rang.

“Hm?”

“Lucifer?”

As always, Diavolo sounded animated, even in the early hours of the morning

“You’re still awake, I see. Decided yet?”

Lucifer sank back into his chair. The weight of his exhaustion sat on his chest, pushing the air out in a sigh.

“Not yet,” he responded, brushing his hand over his forehead.

“Hey, don’t agonize over this for too long, all right? You can just pick one at random, really. Besides, it’s pretty late and you’ve been running on fumes as is.”

“I’m fine.”

“You fell asleep mid-sentence at lunchtime.” Diavolo pointed out

Lucifer made a non-committal sound as he glanced down at the profile in front of him. The time on his wristwatch made him regret checking (as it usually did). He had long since stopped trying to keep track of the scores of profiles that had made the shortlist of humans. They blurred together after the first hundred or so. He glanced at the paper in front of him and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You know what? Yes, I have decided. At least this one seems less... mischievous than Solomon.” he muttered as an afterthought

“Oh? Great! Send a picture?”

“Sure.”

Diavolo pulled the DDD away from his ear as the message came in. He switched the call to speakerphone.

“I see what you mean,” he commented with a laugh, “Well, she seems nice enough,”

“I suppose so. What should I do with the rest?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it now. Get to sleep! It’s not like they’ll run away,”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. He could practically see Diavolo waving off his question. He glanced at his watch again and groaned internally.

“Fine,” he conceded, turning off the desk lamp and ending the call. As he stood and stretched, a draft entered, making the flames in the fireplace dance and disturbing the pile of papers.

“Oh, no you don’t!” he growled, slamming his DDD on top before striding across the room to latch the window shut.

Unbeknownst to him, a single candidate had escaped, whisked out into the chilly night air. It danced erratically across the starry sky, fluttered through the wrought iron bars of the gate before coming to rest on the sidewalk for a moment. The wind whisked it upwards and then:

Rip!

A small dark clawed hand snatched it out of midair, perforating the margins.

“Hey.” said the small horned creature, nudging its companion. Its voice lay somewhere in the territory between a hiss and a high-pitched rasp. It brought to mind the image of nails scraping a chalkboard; it made your hair stand on end. “Look at this.”

The small group glanced around before swiftly melting into the shadows, their dark essence silently oozing around the corner into a hidden alleyway. One by one they re-materialized, their razor-sharp teeth on full display as their ever-present malevolent grins further widened, distorting their faces.

“Interesting, very interesting” one finally broke the silence, squinting at the paper.

“If this is one candidate for the exchange programme…”

“...it would be a shame if a human was killed during such a delicate attempt at diplomacy,” another continued, its tongue flickering out briefly.

“If Diavolo finds out about this, he’ll have our tails for sure,” one of them quipped, its tail nervously twitching back and forth.

“Please, there are millions of us. There’s no way they’d be able to pin it on us,” scoffed the Little Devil holding the profile. “Besides, when has anyone really cared about us lesser demons?”

“Humans are the weakest creatures across the three realms and if this stupid programme works out who knows what will come next? What if they expect us to stop eating them? What if they expect us to start viewing them as… as equals?” it hissed, the distaste in its voice palpable. It looked up, its glowing eyes meeting those of each of its companions’.

“We’re already at the bottom of the food chain here. I’m not about to answer to humans. It’s- it’s just unnatural. Anyway, are you with me or not?”

“We’re with you,” someone piped up. The others nodded in agreement.

“Good.”

The dark talons scraped across the photograph of the human, leaving three parallel gouge marks. They all leaned in as their ringleader lowered its voice to a harsh whisper.

“Here’s what we’re gonna do…”

(づ￣ 3￣)づSTAGE CHANGE(づ￣ 3￣)づ

The human’s picture and summary were pinned to the notice board hours before the occupants of the House of Lamentation stirred. At least those who had bothered to go to bed at all. Lucifer paused briefly on his way out the door. Nothing about the human felt familiar. Pride wasn’t a vice that she struggled with. Based on what he could discern, being self-effacing was second nature to her. A smirk with equal parts contempt and sadism came to his face as he left, as he contemplated how to break her in the face of his sin. I hope your resolve is firm, human. I could do with a challenge.

(⌐■_■)

“Has Lucifer lost it? She looks like a kid! Did the chihuahua need a playmate or something?”

“I know this might be hard, but don’t be stupid. Her cheeks are just a bit chubby. What kid has acne scars like that? Hasn’t she heard of retinols?”

The taller of the two snorted and snapped a picture of the notice board to send in the group. Intense ultramarine eyes flickered up to the picture for a split second before he walked off, his key-chain swaying with every step. In a fluid motion, he pushed his hair off of his forehead and affixed his trademark sunglasses to his face.

“Do you know her?” his brother called after Mammon’s retreating figure

“Ain’t seen her in my life.”

With that Mammon left, his mind already on the business opportunities he’d laid out for the day.

(✿◠‿◠)

Asmodeus continued to survey the young woman, absentmindedly tapping a manicured finger to the corner of his mouth. He had met her only for a moment. That was strange considering her age. After a few more seconds of scrutiny, he shrugged and went back to his room to continue his weekly detox. No doubt existed in his mind that she would fail any test he presented her with. Who wouldn’t, especially since it was so much fun? Who wouldn’t want to fall to the world’s most popular sin?

(ง •_•)ง

Towers and towers of books, all rather precariously stacked, surrounded the Avatar of Wrath as he worked. He tossed his DDD carelessly on his bed about two hours earlier, freeing himself from distractions while he finished his Latin assignment. In all fairness, he finished what the lecturer required him to do but the number of languages from the human realm that originated from the official language of the Devildom. Despite being engrossed in a particularly large tome, he navigated his way around shorter piles without losing his balance. He picked up his phone and checked the notifications.

“Sinai, huh? Interesting name.”

He shut his eyes, pensive. She was familiar, but he didn’t know her personally.

When he opened his eyes he was glaring down at the human, towering over her tiny three-year-old form. She was crying, her large russet eyes pleading along with her choked childish voice that she didn’t want to read. He raised his palm. The crying redoubled and the picture book fell to the floor.

She was older now, maybe about nine or ten, but she was still crying. Black and blue marks were just barely visible against her chestnut-brown skin. He was yelling at her for lying about wearing her retainer.

Satan was then watching a scene unfold before him. Two men were standing in a kitchen yelling at one another. A middle-aged woman was trying to deescalate the situation with little success.

“Hm, a father-son spat? What does that have to do with her?” Satan wondered aloud.

The older man whirled around with a knife in his hand. His wife ordered her son to run. He did. Hours later, at minutes to midnight, the human finally emerged, waking up after falling asleep on her textbooks. She blinked owlishly, disoriented. When the doorknob rattled and her mother walked in. In response to her confusion, her mother hugged her and explained what happened and reassured her that her brother was safe and sound at their grandma’s house. The young woman exhaled, smiled and held her mom and comforted her. For the first time, Satan could hear what she was saying.

“It’s ok Mummy. I’m ok, Mattie is safe. We will be ok,”

Her mother nodded, gave her a watery smile and turned off the kitchen lights. The human watched her mother walk upstairs before crouching down and finally letting her face crumple and hot tears race down her face, her mouth ajar in a silent scream.

Satan shook himself out of his reverie and pondered how he would go about tempting an individual to fall to a sin they feared.

( ´･･)ﾉ(._.`)

The sizable shadow stopped moving as he heard the notification chime from his pocket. The duffel bag dangled from his fingertips as he squinted at the screen. His eyes widened slightly as he laid his eyes on the picture.

“Huh”

He tapped the microphone icon and continued on his way as he recorded the voice note.

“I guess you could say I know her. We were closer, at least until the last year or two. But even with her appetite, she was always sharing. I guess you could say that she was half in, half out.”

That being said, it was all too easy to fall back into old habits. Compared to the rest of his brothers, his role in testing the exchange student’s soul could be easier. The crisp breeze tousled his hair as his thoughts turned to Belphegor, a now-familiar ache constricting his heart. He wondered if his twin knew the human. He missed him.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The purple-haired demon carefully placed his gaming headset on his desk before he pushed against the ground with the balls of his feet, sending his chair rolling backwards.

“Jeez, why do these guys always blow up the stupid group chat whenever I have a campaign?” he griped, his fingers scrolling rapidly; orange eyes darting back and forth

“Really? All this over a human?” He rolled his eyes and turned back to his setup, not bothering to read the profile under the picture. Odds were he knew the human. He knew nearly every human, even if it was just in passing. After all, which of them could say that envy hadn’t crept upon them? If they did, they were lying. Testing the human’s soul would just be another game, and Leviathan was pretty damn good at games.

(づ￣ 3￣)づSTAGE CHANGE(づ￣ 3￣)づ

“So the only two who recognized her really were Beelzebub and Leviathan?”

Lucifer nodded as he set his teacup back down. He offered his DDD to Diavolo before absentmindedly picking up a cookie. He looked around his study, somewhat aggravated about the state of his study. Every time he set time aside to get it back in order, something always seemed to come up. The height of the piles of reports and bills was alarming, and the bout of sneezing that resulted from searching the shelves was a glaring reminder that it had been a while since he had last dusted. Lucifer shut his eyes and let himself slump into the armchair. The glow of the fireplace made patterns that danced across his eyelids.

A loud guffaw from his companion caused him to open one eye.

Diavolo’s shoulders were still shaking as he showed Lucifer the screen. The Avatar of Pride stared for a few moments before sitting bolt upright and snatching the phone away, eyes wide and slack-jawed.

Two stickers were trending. One was of Diavolo in his true form, donning a beautiful -if - extravagant red ball gown. The other was of himself astride a pastel pink and purple unicorn with a rainbow horn.

His grip threatened to crack the screen as Diavolo managed to compose himself enough to speak

“That’s the best thing I’ve seen all day,” he gasped as he wiped a tear from his eye.

“Who is responsible for this?” The words barely made it through Lucifer’s clenched jaw.

“I’m not sure, I think it may have come from the student newspaper. Our students are very creative,”

The Prince was either oblivious or unphased by Lucifer’s displeasure.

“Is that so? Remind me to have a talk with Mephistopheles.”

Choosing to overlook this, Diavolo planted his feet on the ground and rested his elbows on his knees.

“She didn’t have any pacts with them either? Just her own sin?” he peered at Lucifer over his steepled fingers.

The dark-haired man nodded, business-like once more. Diavolo sat back, looking quite pleased with himself.

“Well then, Overall I’d certainly say she seems to be... hm,” He crossed his arms and gazed at the rafters before looking back at Lucifer “I don’t think ‘safe’ is the word I’m looking for, necessarily, but she seems like a great candidate and a counterbalance to Solomon.”

Lucifer raised his eyebrows. “A Counterbalance?”

“I mean, Solomon isn’t exactly your typical human,”

“That’s an understatement,” Lucifer muttered. Diavolo snickered, shaking his head.

“You know what I mean! A monarch, a sorcerer, a scholar and dozens of pacts to boot. He isn’t exactly average, is he?”

Lucifer’s lip curled as he shook his head

“I still don’t see we kept him as a candidate,” he commented. He didn’t expect a meaningful response, especially considering Diavolo was perched at the edge of his seat; his eyes alight the way they always were whenever he latched onto a new brainwave.

“I guess you could consider it an experiment within an experiment; one human with exceptional abilities and one who’s… well, with no offence meant to her… is perfectly average.”

A thud and muffled yelling somewhere beyond the walls cut off the Devildom Prince. Lucifer groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What have they done now?” he exhaled, exasperated.

Diavolo patted his shoulder, trying his best not to laugh at his friend’s distress.

“It’s never a dull moment here, is there?”

“Don’t remind me. Go ahead, you were explaining…”

“Oh yes. I figured it would be an excellent case study. How would the average human when compared to an angel or a demon? What help would they need and how much? If change is to happen, then we need to be on an equal footing across the realms.”

A/N Thank you for reading all the way to the end of this! This is the first writing project I have taken on since like 2012, and I’m nervous as all hecc. I would really appreciate any feedback you have to give or any questions and stuff, I won’t bite, and I’m always eager to improve. I hope this was a good read for you and I will try me best to update on a regular basis! - Jisa

Here’s the next entry!

https://tinyurl.com/mitosis-fic1-1

And If you’d rather read it on Ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26415919/chapters/64353631

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timextoxhajima · 4 years

Photo

Latibule: a hiding place; a place of safety and comfort.

So Kim walked into school like the walking dead. Her eyes were half awake, her body movements were slow and retarded, her arms barely holding up the weight of her textbooks and tutorial notes. She didn't even notice the students around here talked and gossiped about her like she was a monster.

Taeil approached her side silently, not wanting to destroy her moment of peace and quiet. Or at least, her moment of death within herself. He continued walking with her, occasionally signalling to the people who were her acquaintances not to disturb her or break her peace. He knew she was tired, and at some point, she might break mentally. It has happened before and it could happen again. Taeil was her only friend when she first entered the school. He was quiet, but he hung out with the cool kids, ironically. So Kim began out as one of those students whom nobody was brave enough to approach her. Everybody felt that she had an aura that was some sort of threatening, some sort of mysterious and unexpecting, and it only took Taeil's guts to approach her after she was made his "apprentice" in vocal lessons. Thanks to Taeil, she began opening up to more people, becoming more sociable and friendlier, but that didn't change who she was. Taeil was very well informed that she had a dark soul, she was angsty most of the time and more emotional than happy. He was aware that So Kim was one of those girls who could appreciate so many more things on such a deeper level. He knew that she understood appreciation like how a doctor who had patients with split personalities saw so many more faces in a single art piece as compared to a normal person. He knew she understood perspectives like how lawyers saw divorce as new opportunities and not the end of someone's stories. He knew she understood the meaning of the word orphic, the meaning of something beyond ordinary understanding and Taeil saw her as orphic herself.

But he also knew that she was hiding something.

With the knowledge that she was a person like that, no parents, painful past and memories, he wanted to respect whatever she never told him. He wanted to respect the person she is because he knew that So Kim was someone who understood what can be told and what cannot be told. Many things happen for a reason.

"So, busy night huh?" Taeil began. So Kim raised a brow, her eyes barely awake even though she wasn't in school the previous day.

"Everybody knows about it. How you took that robber down with his crossbow."

"Oh. That. Is that the talk of the town now?" So Kim asked sarcastically but with only fifty percent consciousness.

"Yeah, it is. Weren't you afraid? You weren't hurt, are you? I wanted to come by yesterday but-"

"Oh god, don't even try. It's like a three-hour ride. Don't waste your time."

"Well, I mean... As your mentor."

So Kim hummed in reply, stopping at her locker to put some of her books in.

"You know you can tell me anything, don't you?" Taeil raised a brow, his honeylike voice familiar to So Kim's ears. So Kim's paused her movements, her eyes softening and her heart calming.

Yes I do. I just don't know how to.

"Yeah, I know. But I've already told you everything you need to know about me, mentor."

Taeil gave her a sceptical look, his eyes scanning hers for any hint of opening up.

"Right then," Taeil replied, almost disappointed. "I reckon you'll be heading to your biology class now?"

So Kim hummed again in reply as she dragged out her textbook. As she reversed within her actions, her eyes met Taeil's. Right then she could tell that he was trying to read her through her eyes, that he was trying to respect her at the same time believe that she was okay.

She wanted to tell him that she wasn't. She wanted to tell him that she had a demented heart, a soul sinned so much that there was no route for return. She wanted to tell him that she had killed 6 people and got away with it 6 times. She wanted to tell him that she was dangerous, but she knew Taeil, of all people, wouldn't.

"I'm alright. Don't worry." So Kim forced out a tiny smile as she tiptoed to give Taeil a hug. Taeil"s eyes widened a little in astonishment.

"Been a while since you did that." Taeil chuckled, wrapping his arms around her in reply. As he tightened his arms around her, Yuta's heart contracted painfully as well.

It wasn't so much of the feeling of being cheated on and hurting him so much that his heart broke. It was more the pain of seeing somebody he liked seemed to like another person more. Seemed to like Taeil more. He couldn't blame her. He had been in this school for barely a week and courting her was a really, honestly, dumb choice because Yuta didn't stand a chance of winning her over so quickly. Yuta pursed his lips into a thin line as he turned and walked the opposite direction.

So Kim grabbed her mask and loaded her bag with her favourite clip point knife, a pistol and the suppressor. This night marked her 7th, and also an outlet of frustration because the students at school began to spread rumours about her, about her being dangerous and a complete maniac. She had her blood boiling because it hit her that no matter what a person did, somebody else will figure out a way or some means to mentally and psychologically tear down that person's reputation. So Kim was never a high profile student in school. She wasn't a cool kid like how Taeil, Taeyong and Jaehyun and the rest of the guys were. She was only smart and had so many hidden talents students never seemed to be able to finish guessing them. She didn't let anybody close enough to know her deeply, other than Taeil.

So Kim took a cab downtown towards the side of Seoul, where her seventh target slept soundly. He was the boy who destroyed her life back in kindergarten. He destroyed the only thing her mother had left for her. Anybody would understand why she would want to kill him.

She knelt down at the door of his apartment, having already cut off the surveillance cameras in the apartment building. The air was still, the amber lights were the only source of light in the hallway. She could hear the people on that level snoring away, their hearts and minds floating in the abyss of floating castles, dreaming about the world without fear, without knowing that the devil was right outside their door. But before she could even enter the apartment, someone grabbed her by her shoulder, causing her to react violently and elbow the stranger.

Her eyes looked through the eye holes in the mask, sweat forming on her forehead and chin. Her heart slowed down for a bit, before her eyes softened.

"Yuta?"

So Kim gritted her teeth as she pulled off her mask and stripped out of her clothes into a new set. Grabbing some plastic ties from her bag, she strapped Yuta's legs and wrists together before bagging his head. She hauled him into the storage room of the building in the basement where nobody ever goes. In the dark, disgusting air, she fumbled around the room and found a switch, igniting the room so brightly that it caused her to squint her eyes. The body twitched, a sign of Yuta regaining consciousness. So Kim hurriedly scanned the room for a chair and yanked him up onto it, using another plastic tie to attach the almost conscious body to the chair.

His breathing heavier, his wrists writhing from the tight plastic ties.

"So... So Kim? Is... is that you?" Yuta groaned, his head turning from the hit of her elbow.

So Kim bit her bottom lip, her mind completely lost.

"You were following me. Why?"

"I... I was worried about you. I heard about what happened the other day. I wanted to-" So Kim seethed, pulling her pistol and her suppressor out of her bag and attaching it together.

"No! Don't lie to me! Why did you follow me?!" So Kim screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Yuta knowing this meant that her life as a serial killer was over. She was going to jail. Her grandfather was going to die alone, if not dead from a heartbreak. Yuta being here meant that she had nowhere else to go.

Yuta shivered, afraid.

So Kim pulled off the bag over his head and pressed the mouth of the suppressor to his forehead, contemplating whether she should kill him. At that split second, it's like the world around her reminded her that Yuta had done nothing to deserve death. All her victims had done things to her that she couldn't forgive. So Kim's eyes brimmed with tears because she never saw this coming. This had never been part of the plan. Yuta was never part of the plan.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." So Kim croaked as tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm not afraid of you. You won't kill me, because I hadn't done anything wrong. I can see through you... You're just using this as an outlet of frustration and anger. I know you are aware that this is wrong and that's why you have two identities... successfully co-existing. I'm not afraid. Not of you."

- Excerpt from Trigger, Chapter 4: Latibule

#timetohajima #nct #nct au #nct fanfic #angst #drama #crime #murder #taeil #nct taeil #nct yuta #yuta #yuta fanfic #taeil fanfic

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ralfstrashcan · 5 years

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3x21 Reaction / Commentary

I was seriously wondering if this was Alec because Magnus loss = melt down = shaky fingers but Alec would never voluntarily drink something so pretentious. But uuhhh I had thought Jonathan angry-flapped through the rift to Edom? Why he now here still?

More seelie queen crown, yeah!!

Not buying that whole “your demon blood is burning away your humanity” because, again, he lived years without being bonded to Clary so what's taken that “transformation” so long? Also, will he become like, a raven? A harpy? Oh no, I saw the promo. He'll be blond. Makes sense.

He just showed that he's not interested, stop harassing him you sick cougar.

Uhhhhh, objection your honor. That fake blade only contained like three atoms of the original Glorious. But whatever, details amiright.

Also if they wanna tell me it's the blade that triggered the transformation then a) wtf why would a blade designed to break something evil make the evil actually MORE evil wtf for a shit equipment is that b) can we expect some ridic changes for Clary too, that make her even more Mary Sue? c) if Lucifer was so badass, where is he? Something killed him, maybe? Since Jonathan is declared most uniquest thing to ever unique?

“A splendid pet bird. And he died a few decades back so I'd like to recruit you as replacement,. Whatcha say? I'll even drop bird themed pick up lines around you all day.” God I'm making myself sick.

BS when you think about it, because every individual is unique. Good luck salvaging the climate change and what not, seelie queen, on your heroic quest to preserve all that is unique.

#rejected, take that you prowling predator. Can you believe she annoyed him so much he just abandoned his pretentious cream drink thingy? So rude. Also nice touch that they remembered that thing with the flowers and Jonathan making them poor flowers wilt. Btw would that have worked if they were plastic flowers?? Haha ok sorry.

Wtf I'm very much not on board with the seelie queen having a weird Jonathan fetish. Also, if the sole reason she has it is that Jonathan is “one of a kind” then I wonder why she wasn't ruthlessly hitting on Simon the same way? Or technically, before Simon became a daylighter, on Cain, getting him to leave the sewers and chill in the seelie realm instead?

1) Wow can you believe they managed to spare Malec's drama 3 seconds of consideration before getting absorbed in themselves again? Amazing. 2) Dude, you weren't in control of your actions while Clary was brainwashed and very much in control of her actions. That's not really comparable? But whatever.

Some great “love” you've got going on there, Maryse, writing Magnus off after, what? Half a day? Two days? Smh.

???????????????????? So they want to tell me Magnus plastered his magic like a bandaid over the rift but didn't really close it? Well, I am prepared with outrage to point out all the ways in which this is bullshit.

1) There clearly was no such thing to be seen from the other side.

Since Edom and Earth are two different dimensions and on Earth's side there was no rift in the dimension's fabric anymore that obviously means if the wraiths slipped through that Edom crack they'd either be lost in limbo or flapping around in some inter-dimesional space. But they couldn't reach Earth. So I fail to see how this is a problem.

2) How the hell do the NY Shadowhunters know about this? Since from their side the rift was well and truly closed? They don't know that Magnus has to keep his magical band-aid in place? The only thing they have to wonder about is why the hell Magnus hasn't returned yet since Magnus proved in 3x20 that apparently interdimensional travel works with normal warlock portals and those fancy pentagram things aren't necessary.

3) Uhhhh if Magnus has to stay there to keep up the magical band-aid (since exit options clearly aren't the issue here) wtf won't he tire at some point? Am I supposed to believe exhausting isn't a thing in Edom? What happens if he has to sleep? (Sidenote, what the hell do they eat in Edom anyway? Will he have to roast some shax demons? Disturbing.) Anyway back to the topic at hand, if I'm supposed to believe that Magnus is THAT strong he can keep up this magic (a magic that was so enormous he couldn't even achieve it from Earth) for eternity without taking a break, then I doubly don't get why he can't just SEAL the goddamn rift?! And don't tell me it's because band-aid magic is something he can do, and different from rift sealing magic which is something he can't do. Because again, 2x20 is a thing where Magnus proves that he is capable of sealing a rift; so the only explanation of why he didn't do it in 3x20 is because the rift was too powerful. Now correct me if I'm wrong but to me Magnus + Enhanced Edom Powers equals He Closes The Rift, not Weird Band-Aid Magic. Wtf.

HAHAHAH I CAN'T!!!!! THANKS MAGNUS FOR POINTING THIS OUT!!! AND IN THE SASSIEST WAY POSSIBLE!!!!! IT'S BEEN BUGGING ME SINCE 3x10 XD XD XD

Love that shot.

1) Thanks, Lilith, for confirming that Magnus is in fact constantly supplying the band-aid with magic and thus exposing this whole plot line as completely frakkin illogical. 2) Wtf Lilith, why the heck did you go back to Edom in 3x16 if you wanted to murder Jonathan????? IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL WTF 3) Where tf is Cain?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I CAN'T

Wow that escalated quickly. I hate that even though Magnus knows it's just a trick to get into his head it still hurts him, because this is how he is: alwasy second-guessing his worth. He deserves better from all of them, deserves more from them, so he wouldn't feel this so keenly.

Ok, good save, I was just gearing up for a rage about why the hell Magnus is more powerful than the literal mother of demons who could defeat everyone, even with his Ddom-Edition-Powers because come on. However, Magnus must know that this is just a temporal solution because recovering means at some point she'll be recovered and, well.

Also, this shot haha.

Hahahaha I see he inherited the hell puns from Asmodeus along with the real estate XD

I mean, yeah, and then he acted like a total fool in his last few days. Great way to go, man. #stillbitter

“People mattered to Jordan. People, their troubles, their pain...”

That was sweet.

HAHAHAHA THAT WAS HILARIOUS

Probably off to do something to enrage me, so same as always.

Oh look, he's robbing a bakery because being jobless and needing food doesn't mix well.

OMG I SUDDENLY REMEMBER THIS FROM THE 3B TRAILER. You know, Luke being all creepy in the back of a car? Wtf, honestly I think I'll have even less patience for Human!Luke than I have Inapt!Werewolf!Luke. They're really testing me.

“....like Sizzy” Hahahah okay I'll try to behave myself. And I had time to prepare, it was obvious they'd use that inspirational thing Maia said for Sizzy purposes.

Yeah...... #irony #obviously me behaving myself isn't working out, who's surprised? I'm not.

Don't they have fire extinguishers in the Institute somewhere? I mean, there's regulations for that, right? Lemme guess, that's remnants of the Glorious fake sword that pierced her? And now she can't be with Simon without killing him, hahaha, all Sizzy problems solved XD

When I saw this (in the Sneak Peek, but still counts) my first thought was “Aha NOW he tries to find a solution but when Magnus first lost his magic he couldn't be bothered RUDE ALEC WTF” lol ahahahah

Question time: 1) Didn't he have plants in there last episode?

OH RIGHT HE HAD!!! What happened to them? *Sherlock Voice* Did he eat them??

2) Why didn't Alec wonder where the hell Lorenzo was? Sure, he's a little preoccupied atm with losing Magnus, but he should have realized Lorenzo was weirdly absent about five hours into his happy little loft occupation???

3) I fully expected the scratching to be Chameleon!Lorenzo vying for attention, but seeing it, omg my heart broke a little. Can you imagine the desperation?? Poor evil lizard baby.

You know, I find it inherently troubling that Alec assumes Magnus always had this lizard and has only now decided to relocate its terrarium into the loft's main room, instead of thinking Magnus got the lizard as, idk, a pick-me-up after the breakup. I mean, what kind of lousy pet holder does he take Magnus for? Not even mentioning he has one, never taking care of it? That's not Magnus. Alec should know better.

Als Bohemian so incisively pointed out, why would he have created a pet cobra that he calls “baby” if he hated reptiles? And while, granted, Alec might not know about this, I believe Cat should. So wtf.

.....................................they honestly felt the need to tell her this? In grave detail and that this was their first kiss? Why would they do that?? Or did she look at the tapes??? So many questions.

Lol okay I didn't even intend to be so spot on with the Sizzy prediction. More importantly though, she won't be able to shadowhunt anymore.

Why is anyone (except Magnus (and occasionally Alec)) left in charge of anything, ever. *sigh*

But I mean, at least there's this

Small mercies (aka comedic pockets in a vast sea of illogic shit) I guess XD

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA I AM DEAD I CAN'T HAHAHAH HIS FACE!!!!!!!!!!

Jace is me, I am Jace

So.... many....... questions...............

Okay, so I'm severely confused. If this demon has info on what's happening in Edom right now, then either he left Edom after Lilith started gathering her army so there's a rift there somewhere, OR there's a way for news to travel between Edom and Earth, probably through, you guessed it, a tiny rift. So wtf, show, please explain because I don't understand.

..............................................................

The audacity. The fucking audacity. MAGNUS WILL BE DEAD, IS WHAT YOU SHOULD TAKE AWAY FROM THAT. NOT THAT THE RIFT REOPENS ARE YOU KIDDING ME WTF JACE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT I EVEN CURSED EXPLICITLY I NEVER DO THAT WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Wow. Alec, can you please punch him?

Don't get me wrong. They're shadowhunters, of course it is their duty to prevent this to protect the mundanes. But, delivery?! Show some worry at the prospect of the love of your parabatai's life dying??? before continuing with business as usual?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SAME CLARY, BECAUSE WTF?! I REPEAT, WTF!!!! Didn't she listen to Helen at all? It's not going to protect her, it's going to blast her to frakking pieces. Wtf how dumb is she??? Hääääääääääää?????

lol Simon, you'd just stab yourself in the eye with it XD But I appreciate the sentiment XD

I AM THIS CLOSE TO JUST, RECORD MY LAUGHTER BECAUSE I'M DYYYYYING OVER HERE OKAY HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHA Also he should call Maia, because life as a werewolf suxx way less than life as a vampire. Then again, IMMORTAL HUSBANDS SIGN ME THE F UP, IMMORTAL ALEC WAS ENDGAME ALL ALONG AHAHAHAHAHA YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Okay, on a more coherent note. I LOVE this line. I was so painfully deprived of Alec throwing himself into risk and action just to protect and help Magnus during 3B that it's not even funny. So this was really awesome. But, consider this: if he really wanted to go through with it he'd have to wait like a whole day before the transformation is completed, so uhhh impracitcal.

YES. YES. PLEASE MORE OF ENRAGED ALEC SCOLDING THEM LIKE THE KIDS THEY ARE. (But, uh, ragefully running away from his sire in spe wasn't the cleverest move if he wants to go through with it immediately ahaha XD)

I mean, nice of them to contriubute. All it took was Alec (!!!!!) flipping his shit. It seems they didn't have the idea to look into something themselves. Lol I'm inclined to be with Lilith on that one, are they even worth it??? Smh.

Full disclosure, for the longest time I was sure those were burning dog shit piles XD

Can we talk about how Jonathan is at a point where he doesn't really seem to care if he lives or dies because everything is pointless to him? (Btw if I manage to actually write the epic 3x21+22 rewrite I have in mind then it'd start here.)

I mean this was smooth and all, but......? Wasn't Meliorn like, totally over Izzy? I'm meaning this in a premonition-y way, not just this line. His rekindled feelings come pretty much out of nowhere.

I get that this is the alliance rune from the books. But why the hell would she do that in this situation instead of a rune that allows Shadowhunters to survive in Edom? In which universe is alliance rune your first thought instead of resiliance rune?? Or just a plain Accio Magnus rune, ffs!!!Makes no sense.

This is epic and all, but excuse me while I roll my eyes real hard.

Also ignoring the seelie queen and her weird fetish 2.0 because who cares.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I CCCCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT LORENZO IS A FANBOY HAHAHAHA I BET YOU HE WILL CORNER SIMON AT SOME POINT AND BEG HIM FOR AN AUTOGRAPH HAHAHAHAHA

“As my first act on the Downworld Council...”

So you mean to tell me that from 3x02 til 3x21 actually only a week passed? Because the Downworld Council meetings are weekly scheduled??? Tf hahaha.

Hahahhahhaa I mean I totally get why he reacts that way. Also, may I ask the dreaded question: WHERE THE F IS CATARINA???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No honestly, I give up. I just. I give up.

Hahahahaha

“The angels wouldn't have given me this power if they didn't want me to use it.”

Premonition!Ralf: Ha. Hahahhahaha. Ha.

THE COMEDY WE DESERVE HAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA PERFECT!!!! Not least because it's immediately followed by

which makes it seem as if Lorenzo is complimenting Meliorn's prowess as a lover LOL

SIGH. So in 3x10 it was the portal that allowed Magnus to EASILY travel back to Earth, not Asmodeus kindly giving him a lift. So then let me ask why the hell he didn't make a portal like this in 3x20?! Did he already know he wouldn't be able to seal the rift but would have to keep it closed 24/7? Ridiculous. Also, why does Alec even ask this, since he saw Magnus use that exact same portal in 3x10.

I think you should have held frikkin hands.

HAHAHA ALEC, HONEY, WHAT WOULD YOU WRITE ANYWAY???? “We're right here, next to those withered trees. There's sand on the ground and wraiths in the sky. Everything looks red. And from here I can see that one ruin!!”

Weird Lorenzo & Alec bonding is intriguing. That's all I'm saying on the matter for now. I'm reserving judgement.

(Edit: After watching both 3x21 and 3x22 this clearly marks the point where Lorenzo's Instant Redemption Arc sets in and simultaneously comes to a close. Thanks, I hate it. Let antagonists be antagonists, dammit. At the end of the day not everyone is a goody two-shoes. That's life. UGH. Also, let me introduce my theory that while traveling between Earth and Edom Lorenzo's character was ripped from him in a severe Plot Convenience Turbulence. What a shame.)

But hell yeah to Alec's emotions running rampant and him being unable to control the magic. Another headcanon confirmed (that I didn't really knew I had, lol).

Hahahahha dude could you be any more pretentious XD XD XD

Hahahahahahaha this is the best day of my life.

Hahahaha Meliorn just got promoted to one of my favorites. Better late than never amiright.

I get this, this taking stock conversation, from a meta standpoint. But BITCH CAN YOU FOCUS ON MAGNUS FOR ONCE IN YOUR SELF-ABSORBED LIFE IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK WTF DAMMIT

Yeah, me too. Who knew demonic transformations came with a villain hairdo make over?? Nature truly is beautiful.

Me, watching: I might be totally oblivous, but did this crown always have a stripe thing on the top, too? Ralf, editing this reaction post: Yes. Yes it did. You're not as observant as you like to think. Me, reading that: .......harsh

..........do I have to understand why he isn't running away screaming? I get the instinct to wreak havoc because everything hurts and is pointless but wtf, the seelie queen is doing the exact same things Lilith did to him. Using him, only seeing him as a power source that has to be cultivated but has no feelings, no worth, and weirdly kissing him. He should, for all intents and purposes, be running for the hills. (But also, uh, neat nail polish and rings, seelie queen. You've got style.)

HAHAHAHA I mean, I already prepared two Jeliorn Dumb Comics, but this is reaching ridiculous levels XD XD XD I'm soooo here for it.

Hahahahaha XD XD XD

“Runes bubbling back, incredible” Yeah, no shit. I'm not buying. I could even largely argue my point, making references to the seelies that got “treated” in 3x17 that weren't rendered half-human-half-angel but mundane, meaning they lost their angelic part, too, meaning the serum removes angelic blood as well as demon blood. But since I couldn't care less about Luke (right now or in general? That's your guess to make) I'm not even getting worked up over it XD

Dude, you're aware this is like the perfect opening for getting a verbal diss, right?

Wow, three seconds a shadowhunter and here we are with the racist jokes again. That was quick.

Also, let me say how exceedingly ridiculous it is that Luke just walks out of there with a “No thank you” and Evil Praetor Guy does nothing against it literally because Luke said “But blackmailing me would mean you're evil ;__;”

bitch please

Look, can we appreciate this a little more? Like, a lot more??? Can I pause the episode here and stare at this for half an hour or something????? Alec saying he's willing to just, leave behind life as he knew it, very possibly never seeing anyone of his family again, just so he gets to stay with Magnus? I mean, that's some Major Immortal Alec Energy right there. Serve me more please.

..................wow instead I get Clary depriving me of a Malec Reunion Smooch wtf?! Uuuhhhh no thank you!!!!

AHAHAHA THAT SUFFERING FACE HAHAHAHAHA OMG AMAZING Kicked Pouting Suffering Puppy Jace <3<3<3

Btw what Jace said about Simon really gave me something to think about. I'm confused but intrigued. I like.

#shadowhunters #3x21 #magnus bane #alec lightwood #clary fray #jace wayland #simon lewis #isabelle lightwood #lorenzo rey #maia roberts #luke garroway #meliorn #the seelie queen #jonathan morgenstern #lilith #reaction

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birdsy-purplefishes · 5 years

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I have MANY thoughts and feelings about Midsommar.

Okay I saw Midsommar last night and it was an experience. So this post is probably going to be long and rambling and it is definitely 100% for-sure going to contain some spoilers. I’m gonna put a whole lot of it behind a Read More.

First, though, I want to say that while I thought this film was great it is definitely one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen. I went into it knowing almost nothing--and honestly I wouldn’t have been prepared even if I had read spoilers--and that was the ideal way to see it for me but there are many triggering things and some very problematic things in this film. I’m gonna try to be vague as possible but you might not not to watch this one if anything from the following list is something you can’t handle. That said: I am very easily disturbed by a lot of things and I found that this film was so bizarre that I never really felt like I couldn’t finish it. It’s... kind of weirdly selective about which gruesome stuff it shows and what it doesn’t. The most terrifying things to me were implied things and I didn’t realize them until after it had ended. Somehow... miraculously... this film didn’t come across as gore/torture-p*rn to me. So Trigger Warning / Content Warnings for this movie: Violence, blood, gore, horrible suffering. Sex, nudity. Mental illness and stigmatization/perpetuation of harmful myths about mentally ill people. Suicide. Ableism. Racism. A rape scene that I think most people didn’t even realize was a rape scene because it’s bizarre and left somewhat ambiguous. Emetophobia triggers. Body horror. A whole lot of drugs. Squicky grossout stuff. Emotional, psychological, and religious abuse.

There’s probably other stuff I forgot. Basically everything horrible is in this movie. It was definitely worth it but it’s a hard watch.

Okay, now for spoilery stuff.

The backstory shown in the first few minutes is incredibly disturbing. Dani’s bipolar sister murders their parents and kills herself. It’s graphic. It’s disturbing. It definitely portrays suicide in a negative light, which is pretty much good, but: can horror movies stop perpetuating myths about mentally ill people?! This stuff is damaging! It makes mentally ill people out to be monsters and then ignorant people treat them worse. It makes mentally ill people feel like there isn’t any hope for them! This part sucked a lot. The only interpretation of this that isn’t awful is the fan theory that there are clues in the background that suggest that the cult may have actually framed Dani’s sister but that’s kind of a stretch. None of the other foreshadowing in the film is as subtle as the supposed hints that the cult fabricated the whole thing so I doubt it.

The foreshadowing is actually super obvious. It’s the typical horror film where the characters have no idea what’s going on & you’re like “DUDE GET OUT OF THERE!” the whole time. People on the subreddit are pointing out all kinds of foreshadowing and even the tapestry at the beginning shows you who all of the characters are and like 90% of the story.

Dani’s boyfriend, Christian, sucks. His friends suck. There’s a lot of macho bullshit and they’re just cold and dismissive. And the boyfriend’s a manipulative little leech. You hate him so much! I found myself hoping that she’d kill them all except maybe the cute friendly Swede. Basically the entire movie he’s gaslighting and dismissing her and his friends talk shit about her constantly. It’s the typical “oh, women are irrational and over sensitive” macho bullshit. Like to the extent that all of them know about the murder-suicide of her entire family but none of them try to fucking shield her from seeing the suicide ritual. Not even the guys who know damn well what it is going into it!

The fact that they’re all anthropology majors and they go into it with a sense of cold detachment and an insistence on cultural relativism (or utter obliviousness) and it makes them total assholes wasn’t lost on me and I’m glad that someone went into detail: https://slate.com/culture/2019/07/midsommar-graduate-students-villains-ari-aster.html

The bros say something about him dumping her and finding somebody who “actually likes sex” and there’s a lot of interpretations to that, none of which are less than horrible. Like does he try to pressure her into doing stuff she doesn’t want to? Probably! Like whether she has emotional or physical sexual dysfunction isn’t discussed and that’s kind of brilliant because even if she does have issues it’s not her fault at all and the dudes are g a r b a g e for even suggesting it.

The cute friendly Swedish dude (Pelle) who was the only one to be kind to Dani at all was actually the worst manipulator of all! He’s totally luring her in! He’s love-bombing and manipulating her! He literally “draws” her in. He does some forced-teaming shared-trauma bullshit. I gotta say though: I fell for it! I wanted her to dump the guy for him! I’m almost surprised that she didn’t fall for it. I think it’s more due to the fact that she’s traumatized and grieving than anything.

The most disturbing thing about the guy, though, is that I can’t decide if he does all of this because he’s evil or because he’s genuinely a true believer and believes with all his heart that he’s doing good things. That will haunt me forever tbh. Just... always watch out for guys who want to “save” you. They are the scariest fucking abusers.

The whole cult is love-bombing her, actually. The whole film is like Cult Tactics 101. They find a vulnerable young woman who’s lost everything. She doesn’t feel a sense of love and belonging anywhere. She has no support system unless you count her garbage basically-sociopathic-but-aloof boyfriend who really doesn’t count. Pelle hand-selected her because she’s the ideal cult brainwashing candidate. He’s seen firsthand just how much shit she takes from Christian and how she’s constantly falling for his gaslighting and tolerating him mistreating her. I was actually kind of disturbed at how many women I saw online reacting to the cult saying it was empowering or matriarchal. It’s not at all! The first elder we see leading things is female but the ones handling the book and enforcing the rules are men. I can only recall two women elders who do much of anything and they’re both just prominent parts of ceremonies. They’re announcers/performers. They’re definitely complicit but the men are behind the scenes controlling it. And look at the sex ritual! There’s no real emphasis on female pleasure and it’s all being a good little brood mare. It’s a performance. And small babies are kept away from their mothers to be raised communally. They send the mothers away from their babies! Even the May Queen role sucks if you think about it for even a second. The whole “we’re a family” thing is just creepy as hell. There’s even a lot of foreshadowing to it that I missed, like the guy who greets her shaking the mens’ hands but saying “welcome home” to her. Said guy also calls his traditional garb “girly” when Dani compliments it, btw! And of course the division of labor is patriarchal. The clothing is patriarchal too.

The mental health ableism stuff is bad but there’s ableism based on physical disability as well. Arguably it’s supposed to condemn the cult for fetishizing disabled people and promoting incest to deliberately create disabled people but... it still comes across as “look at this deformed kid” and it’s fucked up.

I can’t tell if the movie is trying to show us that the cult is racist or if the movie itself is racist. They kill off the three non-white outsiders pretty quick. Was that classic horror movie “the black guy dies first” bullshit or was that supposed to be like “look, these seemingly peaceful and loving people are xenophobic and racist and there’s a reason why all of them are super duper white despite bringing in outsiders”. Like I came out of the film definitely convinced that it’s no coincidence that the blue-eyed blonde chick gets singled out as special by these people.

It made me really uncomfortable to realize that the sex ritual is technically a rape scene. We get clues that Christian goes into it voluntarily to some extent, sure. When he knows that girl (and she does look like a young girl!) is trying to seduce him we don’t really see his reaction but he doesn’t seem to refuse outright. He seems ambivalent until he's offered the drugs but then he hears that they’ll make him lose his inhibitions, looks at the girl, and gulps the liquid. He saw it as an excuse to get away with cheating and he took it. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s drugged when he actually agrees to the sex. He’s tripping the whole time. He’s being pressured and prodded and even literally physically manipulated. He’s out of it. The girl seems kind of out of it too. It’s really fucked up. But like it’s so weird and you’re so mad at him for everything shitty he’s done to Dani that you’re just like what?! But when you think about the fact that he’s drugged and you see the way he’s horrified after he realizes what he’s done... it’s horrific. He was violated.

I like that we see just how viscerally traumatic it is to be cheated on. Dani vomits, collapses and wails. And our sympathies are with her.

The cultists imitation of their members’ suffering is actually deeply disturbing and a huge aspect of the love-bombing thing, especially for Dani. She goes from being barely held by her expressionless piece-of-shit boyfriend while she wails to having a whole bunch of women replicate and act out her suffering. They do this too at the botched suicide and the final scene. They even kind of do it when she fails to eat the fish. It kind of looks communal and empathetic but it’s a feigned empathy. It’s another way that people in the cult lose their own personal identities. Nothing is yours there! Not even your suffering is yours.

To be honest... I went to see this film ‘cause a lot of the reactions to it were women gleefully enjoying seeing a shitty boyfriend suffer a horrible fate. I’m always down for misandry and cinematography! BUT... this was just excessive. The boyfriend is a total bastard. He did kinda need to die tbh. But he basically gets tortured to death. It’s made pretty explicitly clear that it’s horrific. They make no effort to mercy kill him like they did to the elderly guy whose jump failed to kill him. And like... the actor even gets it. The guy’s a scumbag and he doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. He even backstabs Chidi From The Good Place! But what happened to him is just awful.

The director and the lead actor actually disagree about the ending! Ari Aster says that Dani knows what she’s doing when she condemns Christian to die. Florence Pugh says she’s out of it.

I say it doesn’t actually matter whether Dani chose to kill Christian or not or what her motive was. Honestly it might have been a mercy killing given the state that he was in! Like maybe it was revenge for her and maybe the cult did it to make her feel empowered but it sucks being forced to choose who lives and dies. It sucks that some creepy cultist basically stole her man. It’s the whole “a pedestal is the same as a cage” thing for sure.

Last thing I can think of for now: I’m very surprised and more than a little distressed at all the people--especially women--who see this as a happy ending for Dani. Sure, it’s kind of a dark fairy tale revenge fantasy. But she’s objectively worse off than she is at the beginning of the film! She’s brainwashed and trapped! Like... I forgot where I read this now but basically Aster says that she goes from with one gaslighter to being with an entire cult of gaslighters! What do you think is gonna happen to her in the future?! She’s gonna have to live with her dead boyfriend’s baby that he had with some rando chick if that fertility ritual worked! She’s gonna have to live in a shitty commune. She’s gonna have PTSD 5ever from everything that happened. It’s honestly a tragic and horrible ending.

I’m... still processing this. I know I’m gonna end up adding to this. Feel free to chime in and discuss it with me! This movie was just Intense. BONUS LINKSPAM: Good Takes And Shit!

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2474518/jordan-peele-says-midsommar-has-the-most-atrociously-disturbing-imagery-hes-ever-seen

https://themuse.jezebel.com/boy-problems-whos-got-em-midsommar-does-1835878652

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alisonwillmore/midsommar-ari-aster-florence-pugh

https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/the-end-of-midsommar-ari-asters-last-minutes-explained.html

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/03/738422258/midsommar-shines-a-solstice-nightmare-unfolds-in-broad-daylight

EDIT: Also!!! This film?! Somehow is a comedy! It’s funny as fuck and I’m definitely going to hell for laughing!

#midsommar #horror movies #horror

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pinashple · 5 years

Text

It’s 3:44 in the morning, and I started crying.

At random times, unpredictable and possibly not even triggered by a specific event, my mind starts wandering. It wanders to the furthest reaches, the deepest recesses of my memories that I have consistently tried to block and bury from resurfacing...

Just so I can be happy in my life.

I’ve been surrounded by so much negativity. I’ve been subjected to so much negativity. So much negativity has been projected on me, and this started at eleven years old. Some of it from classmates, or so called friends, and failed relationships...but most of it has been, because of my family. Or more specifically- my father.

I grew up with a father who was volatile. He was toxic. He was abusive- emotionally, at first, physically came next, and then assumed a verbal role as well. More times than not, all of this was directed towards me.

My father was unhappy with my mother in their marriage- I happened to be born the year before they tied the knot. I still believe they stayed together to have that picture perfect-esque family, and I suffered the most from it.

My father suffered the repercussions of the stock market crash in the 2000s- I was forced to get a job the day of my 16th birthday, and then pay for my own stuff, including the $490 for driver’s ed that he- once again- forced me to go to. One day on the way back, he made me drive home in a truck I wasn’t comfortable in, yelling at me once again, instead of realizing car accidents are my number one fear in life. I didn’t care to drive; I- to this day, almost 11 years later- still have to keep myself from having a panic attack while driving; I really don’t go anywhere, because of it.

And even though I went through that experience, and became more comfortable? He wouldn’t let me drive his or my mother’s car after I became comfortable and wanted to hang out with friends. (He also didn’t want me to have friends.) “Accidents can happen, and I’m not trying to risk that.” If my mom would let me go somewhere in her car? While I was out, he would call, and tell me come right back. It didn’t matter if I just got there- I had to come back, and proceeded to get yelled at more. Oh, but if he needed me to go to the store and pick up things for him, he’d let me drive.

During my sixteenth year, I was going through a pretty rough time emotionally; he told me, “I don’t care about your personal life.”

...Til this day, 11 years later, I haven’t told my dad anything about my personal life.

My father had this vision of what he wanted my life to be, obsessed with monetary gain; I had an opposite mindset, wanting a simpler life, and to be happy, which he did not agree with.

I didn’t get a senior year, because of my father: I missed two assignments in an AP class, and though I had a high B, I was put on punishment for the entire semster...and it was only the fourth week in August. I lost out on senior activities, because of it. Football games, I didn’t go to, even though I was apart of the spirit squad- one of the few activities I would have loved after the only game I got to participate. I had to beg to go to homecoming, and that was after I had another mental breakdown, trying to confide in him; his solution was I shouldn’t go anywhere outside of the house, unless with family.

My father is the reason I didn’t get the HOPE scholarship, missing it by a tenth of a point; instead of listening to me when I said I didn’t understand calculus, he claimed I wasn’t using my “full potential”-

It was the first math class I EVER failed in 13 years of grade school. (I always had As and high Bs). This came after I got cursed at, spit on while being cursed at; my phone taken, and put on punishment yet again for the remainder of the school year, and a phone a friend gave me shattered right in front of me, because “give me the fucking phone.”

I almost didn’t even graduate high school with a College Prep Diploma, and had to bust my ass taking a second homeschool math class to make up the credit; he then had to expedite the grading results, so I could.

I was forced to go to college three hours away with no job, no money, and no car, because the school I wanted to go to, he wouldn’t even pay the application fee for me. “I’ll pay for any other school- not that one, though.” You know what? I had the worst experience of my life at that school after four months of being there; it sent me into a downward spiral, emotionally lost and confused, I called home having another mental breakdown, and was thankfully able to come home...

I would regret that.

My father took the opportunity to blame me for the “lack of cleanliness” and the “peace being disturbed in the house” as soon as I got home, though I was taking the train to get to school downtown and had a part time job. I was rarely home, and if I was, I stayed in my room. I only “made a mess”, because when I left for college the first time, they no longer had one person to clean a family of five’s worth of dishes after dinner. A family of five’s laundry to wash and fold. A family of five’s bathrooms to clean- he no longer had a maid when I left. They had to clean for themselves those four months I was gone; they attempted to stop once I came back.

The “peace in the house being disturbed”? Simply because I was there. You know that saying, “out of sight, out of mind?” Didn’t work for my father, when it came to me. I may have been out of sight, but he knew I was there; that was enough for him.

I thought getting a car would help me stay out more; without knowing that, he found me one. I was so happy; it was mine, I could go when I wanted, come when I wanted, and not have to hear anyone’s mouth. I had a job; I had to pay my own insurance and car note, so nothing could be said, right?

He gave me a curfew. I had never had a curfew, especially not at 19, until I got my own car. Ironic. If he didn’t know I came home, and was in my room in the basement? I’d get calls. Okay.

I had a cell phone; I ended up falling on hard times at my job, and asked my mom to loan me money for the bill- she called my dad. I then got a reality check that my car was actually not mine, and it was his, and my car note I had been working to pay was me paying back a loan to him.

He never told me that when I first signed the papers, and because I was “paying him back”:

“If you come asking me for money for the note or the insurance, it’s gone.”

Til this day, nine years later, and even before then since sixteen- I haven’t asked my dad for any type of help financially.

I’d always been silenced; never been able to stand up for myself. Never been listened to, and never been comforted.

I’d been beat with belts since middle school; put on whole semester punishments since the seventh grade- no phone, no tv, no computer and the like over a missed assignment, and in some cases, for having a B. I’d been chokeheld in high school; yelled at on any random occasion for whatever reason he was upset with. I’ve been chased up the stairs just so I could be beat relentlessly after trying to defend myself. And in 2010, I was slammed on the kitchen floor, to the kitchen counter, to the dishwasher, being screamed “I’m gonna kill you” at for letting two pots dry in the sink.

I left in November of 2010.

There’s so much more to this story...but at the end of the day, I spent majority of my early-mid twenties a broken...mess. My mom has been present my entire life; she turned a blind eye to it all to keep her own peace...sided along with him a number of times, to keep her own peace with him.

As a result? I let people treat me how they wanted to, and stayed around, because I didn’t want to be alone. I contemplated suicide, but was too afraid to take my own life. I made horrible decisions for someone my age at that time, and looked for some type of love and belonging somewhere. I spent majority of my early adulthood depressed; nothing EVER worked out for me. I have anxiety, because of it. I have paranoia, because of it. I’ve woken up sweating, breathing hard, and heart racing from nightmare about my father trying to hurt me. My mind has always gone to the worst thing possible first, because for all that time in my life, I was miserable- truthfully and honestly miserable. Felt worthless. A waste of a life. Cursed. Doomed. Anything negative you can say and feel about yourself, that was me.

Why did I type all of this? Mostly for venting, because I currently live in a household with my father now. Things may not be as horrible as they were before- horrible at all- and only, because he “learned from his mistakes”. I don’t benefit from it; I still can’t ask for help financially, because in his words:

“You got a partner for that.”

I couldn’t even ask him about getting me a deal on a new phone; my family is on a shared plan, and everyone has gotten 2 new phones since 2014- I’ve had the same one...since 2014. He didn’t even give me the opportunity to say “I’m going to pay for it,” before my partner’s name shot out his mouth. I’m no longer his responsibility, in other words. Oh...but my sister’s are living the champagne lifestyle from what he “learned” with all his “mistakes” with me, and I just have to...accept it.

Why else did I type all of this? Because I realized while I was laying down why I’m so afraid I won’t get anywhere with my art career. It takes people acknowledging you, wanting to connect with you, give you a chance, and valuing your work that gets you somewhere...

My issues with my father- somewhere in me- makes me feel like that will NEVER happen for me. If I suffered so much from someone who was supposed to protect and provide, love and care for...cherish me?

How could I expect anyone else to do that?

It’s hard to stay positive...but one thing I will say-

I refuse to let my past win. I wish I could talk and get the closure I always hoped to have, but that is more of a pipe dream than me winning the lottery. Every attempt I’ve made resulted in, “you made it hard on yourself.”

I don’t think anyone who is as shy, insecure, and self conscious as I was in those years could possibly make all the trauma they endured brought on by “themself”; they got taken advantage of, and it shows...

But I’m praying that I can let all of this go. I pray that I can do what I love. I pray that I can have my career. I pray that I can start driving with confidence. I pray that I can be positive. I pray that I can be myself, and be loved for myself. I pray that I can be understood. I pray that I can be happy...

It’s all I’ve ever wanted in life. /4:53am

PS. If you read this? Do not reblog it; it’ll more than likely be private by tomorrow.

#text #long post #personal #tw:abuse

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