#Anyone can see how devoted she is to her folks

[redrobin-detective]

So watching the newest Spy x Family, I see everyone squealing over Uncle Franky (don’t get me wrong I am too) but I also think his outsider’s perspective is kind of sad. When Anya is waiting for Yor and Loid to get home, the line he says there struck me.

“Hey, do you like your mom and dad?”

Like that’s a weird question to ask a young child who, hopefully, should love their parents. But Franky I think is acutely aware that they aren’t Anya’s real parents and the Forger family is fake. Franky has worked with Twilight for years, knows him very well and has presumably seen him make and drop identities like one would an article of clothes. We’ve even had Franky directly accusing Loid of being too clinical, focusing only the mission. I think Franky believes that once Operation Strix is completed, that he’ll leave and Anya and move on to the next assignment.

 I think that idea has colored a lot of Franky’s interactions with Anya. Yes, he’s also a big kid and wants to run around and be silly. But I also believe he’s trying to give this girl a sense of happiness and family presumably before she’s dropped off at the nearest orphanage once her usefulness is outlived. Like we all know Loid is catching feels but he’s a Good Actor and it might not be readily apparent to his coworker. Idk it must be so sad for Franky to watch this little family interact, to sweep up a child so clearly desperate for love and family in a spy operation, only to realize it won’t last.

#spy x family #sorry didn't mean to throw angst into the sweet pile that was todays episode #but im gonna be real this isn't my first time Ive had this thought about Franky #We've seen him accuse Loid of being callous - albiet in a usual comedic manner #but Franky absolutely knows how good Loid is at pretending to others to get what he wants then disappearing #Yor probably would be okay like very upset for sure but she's a grown adult she can handle it #Anya is a young child who has probably never had such loving interactions before #Anyone can see how devoted she is to her folks #and Uncle Franky is watching all this like seeing someone standing on a rug not knowing it can pulled out any second #I do feel that adds a bit to his own playful relationship with Anya #make the hurt sting less #anyway i'll see myself out

[laismoura-art]

Heya, folks! Look what the tide brought! It's ma girl!

☆☆☆☆SCORPION!HARUMI☆☆☆☆

Click to see all the details and extra info!

If you just got here, this is Harumi Hasashi in her Spider Gwen Era!

This is a reality where Harumi became the Scorpion of the Shirai Ryu!

I wrote an entire backstory for her and had lots of fun brainstorming with my gal @mikka-minns, and you can find it all right here!

And as I was specially inspired, I also made a second design! May I introduce you to:

☆☆☆☆Sub-Zero!Lisa Liang☆☆☆☆

She was Minnie's idea!

Lisa Liang is the forgotten Sub-Zero Sibling, but here she has a special role being Harumi's main Sub-Zero rival and love interest!

Lisa's personally is quite similar to Kuai Liang in Battle of the Realms. She is driven by her emotions, devoted, dedicated and extremely stubborn!

But her tough exterior hides a bold and gentle heart! She is extremely caring of her family and those she consider friends and allies. Never dare to cause harm to her loved ones, you do not wish to be on the receiving end of her wrath!

Much like her older brother, Bi-Han, Lisa has gathered countless enemies, to which would prove to be too much for a single warrior, luckily for the Cryomancer, she is not alone, for her guardian, her Scorpion, her lover, Harumi Hasashi, dutifully and loyally fights alongside her in every battle!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

You met the Girlfriends! Now allow me to introduce you to some other members of this AU!

KUAI LIANG:

Youngest of the Sub-Zero Siblings! Being 9 years younger than Bi-Han and 3 minutes younger than Lisa, Kuai had to learn form a young age how to stand his ground so he wouldn't be bossed around by their own siblings!

Naturally born leader and wise beyond his age. He and Lisa lead the Lin Kuei to a new era of prosperity as defenders of Earthrealm!

Kuai was the first to reach out and seek to make peace with Harumi, once she had proven deserving of his forgiveness.

As he was also under the Scorpion's protection, he had spent plenty of time with her, and they soon became close friends, they would confide to each other from the most mundane to the deepest secrets.

He was the first Harumi confided her love for Lisa. And he was also the first Lisa confided her love for Harumi.

He told both the same thing: Well, wasn't that obvious?

BI-HAN (AND SAREENA)

The oldest of the Sub-Zero Siblings, Bi-Han is known to be ruthless, cruel and merciless to all his enemies!

And though he lives up to his reputation, few know that he is not beyond merciful acts, "never women and children" is his one rule!

And even after he was swallowed by darkness and driven to madness under Quan Chi's spells, this one rule remained.

With one solemn exception: His murderer, the Scorpion of the Shirai Ryu.

For years, he sought revenge. And he would fight anyone who dared to stand in his way, even his own twin siblings.

He felt betrayed the first time they fought. Betrayed, heartbroken, confused and extremely angry! He could not comprehend why his own siblings would chose this Shirai Ryu, his killer, over him!

He would keep fighting them for years, each time more aggressively, more heartbroken, till one day his sister stood bravely between him and his prey, "If you want her, you will have to kill me first" she told him. And as much as he hated his siblings at that moment, he could never hurt them.

He disappeared after that fight, back to Netherrealm. He could not comprehend, couldn't fathom why his sister would ever put her life in such a risk for some Scorpion!

He stayed in hell for the years to come, but not alone. He had made himself a friend, a demon called Sareena. She was nice to him, and dreamed with a life if freedom, out of Netherrealm.

He liked to hear her escape plans, and after some time, he even started to come up with some plans of his own and brainstorm with her. Till one day, they managed to escape!

Sareena was happy, she bounced and giggled happily, regarding her new surroundings in awe.

Bi-Han loved that sight of her. He loved her. And he would never let anything or anyone hurt her!

And it hit him.

Why his sister would not let him hurt that stupid little Scorpion.

Bi-Han never apologised to Harumi for trying to kill her. He never even apologised to his own siblings. He never felt he truly owed them an apology.

But he did tell them he would not let any harm come to them. To any of them.

Kuai, always the diplomat, invited him and Sareena to join them for lunch someday.

"We will see..." was his only response, "we will see..."

HANZO HASASHI

Harumi has met Hanzo twice in her life.

First time she met him, was when they were kids. He came to her village one day, and requested the Grandmaster himself to give him a home to live and in exchange he would train to become the greatest of all warriors!

It was a bold request for such a small child, but Harumi never doubted him, much due to her own ambitions being quite similar, if not the same as his!

Harumi, dreamed of being Scorpion!

It did not take long before the two of them started to get along! They would play together and when the time came, they started to train together!

They had a pact, the two of them: "We will help each other become the best warriors of the clan! And whoever becomes Scorpion names the other as their second in command!"

One pact they dutifully kept! Harumi was named Scorpion and she took Hanzo as her Second in Command, and in that same day, she also took him as her husband.

Harumi loved Hanzo deeply. And together they build a home for themselves and their son. They were her world.

But that world was brutally taken from her. Hanzo was taken from her. And from that day on, she would never be the same.

The second time she met Hanzo he was not quite her Hanzo.

He was from another reality, one in which he was named Scorpion and she was his Second in Command. She was also his wife, mother of his son, his world. World that was also brutally taken from him.

He was not exactly like her Hanzo, even if subtly, she could tell he was his own person, but happily, he was a person she grew to adore!

He was lovely, with the biggest of all heats. She could tell his Harumi was loved by him.

Their meeting was quite a necessary event, things buried deeply in their hearts finally found their say out and a feeling of peace hovered above them.

Closure was found. And with it, a newly found need to move on!

They were quite similar, this Hanzo and Harumi. There was much about their lives they shared, good and bad.

But it was when he confided his love not for her but for his world's Kuai Liang that she realised another similarity:

That Scorpion is bound to fall in love with Sub-Zero.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Oh Hey! You made it!!! How you liking this AU so far?

Have any ideas? Questions? Suggestions? Please share them all! I would love to make this AU grow!!

@mikka-minns, my darling! Again, thank you for the ideas! I hope you are enjoying this AU specially! Lysm💛🩷💛🩷💛🩷

Also, please, have some icons!💛💙

#Scorpion!Harumi AU #lets goooo #when canon scares us we find shelter in fanon #Oops! My hand slipped and redeemed Bi-Han again!🫢 #harumi hasashi #harumi shirai #lisa liang #kuai liang #hanzo hasashi #bi han #sareena #subscorp #harumi x lisa liang #hanzo x kuai #crimson shadow #sombra carmesim #scorpion #sub zero #mortal kombat au #mortal kombat fanart #mortal kombat

[onyourhyuck]

Unbreakable Promise: Meet Me In Another Life. | Johnny Suh.

prologue- “I’ve been waiting for you. Searching for you.” + “I’ve been here all along.”

summary: Johnny made a promise to find you when you reincarnate in another body. He waited years to find you on his search. When searching for your reincarnation, he meets a young girl in need of help. Will he fall in love again?

tw- fox!johnny x human!y/n. Smut. Romance. Joseon era sorta. Angst (many angst moments.) fluff. Dom!johnny. Y/n gets her shit railed tbf. Hitting it from the back. Hair pulling. Mention of master x servant relationship. Johnny calls her mistress. Johnny is a LOYAL BF.

note- KINkTOBER FIC.

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Do you know what’s the most dangerous thing for a Mountain Fox Spirit to ever encounter? It is a young beautiful woman that makes his heart quench and fall in love.

Foxes are undesirably romanticist. They devote themselves to one person forever, even in life and death they will not find someone else to love. They shall die alone or with you. The foxes who are meant to be servants to serve one master are undoubtedly loyal to the bone and will not hesitate to kill millions for only just one person. They can be blinded by love all they wish, even if it meant the god of calamity shall murder him on the path. If it meant to have karma debt in the next life, so be it, everything will get better when you live next to the one you love and wish to keep thousands upon thousands years forever like the moment. However obsession can’t get you anywhere but a dead end.

Johnny made an unbreakable promise to his lover and master. He was unable to protect her from the sudden death by an arrow to the heart, killed by the selfish village folks. Painting of her crying face, dirty by the charcoal and hair ruffed up when he squeezed it right to his chest once her last breathe was ‘I’ll see you in my next life.’ lives rent free in the fox servant’s mind. Her voice, he wants to listen to it again. Oh how much it kills his heart. It hurts to live without your lover, he feels like he is being killed and put back alive while surviving in this ridiculous world.

If it wasn’t for his promise, the promise that he swears to abide with his life, if only if he didn’t make it he would’ve ended himself and follow you into the afterlife. Quite extreme right? But it’s the truth. The pain of surviving and staying alive while your lover for life is gone from earth and in the afterlife waiting to be reincarnated, it is insufferable. Hardest pain he’s ever went through.

“I promise i will find you, reincarnate please. I will find you no matter what.”

The man wearing the traditional Joseon era hanbok with the black loose hair flipping through the fingers, he sits down by the very traditional house resting on the mountains away from civilisation to bother him. It is rising above the village down there. The typical joseon house has a small bath section for anyone to use, multiple slide door rooms and they sleep on the floor. The fox looking up at the round sun blazing like a hot fireball today, made him close his eyes until he moves to sit under a shed.

“Did god of sun have to make today so hot, darn it.” Johnny cursed, sighing out.

“Oi fox did you get the cabbage like i told you to.” The old hunch lady with a cane approaches the young man, poking him by the cane annoyingly. She cackled when Johnny grunts flicking the cane away from him. He would reveal the large basket of cabbage he had carried on his back from the village and up the long mountain hill pathway, in this forsaken raging heatwave from the sun.

“Ahh I see you did.” She coos as she takes the cabbage basket, humming happily. Johnny watches her as he clicks his tongue. “Old hag you always make kimchi. Why?”

The elderly woman turns to the fox. “Because it’s good. Don’t you like my kimchi?” She asks as she sat down on the wooden floor, breaking apart the fatha the leaves in miniature pieces.

“I do like it but why don’t you make something with meat.” He gushed. It’s hard living with only vegetables, at this point he will go back to his vicious meat eater days where he ate human liver.

“Meat is expensive. Fox if you’re hungry just go and hunt. Isn’t that in your nature?” The woman replies back and he pouts, disappointed by the stereotype. “I’m classy, not like those savage foxes. I prefer a cooked meal by you granny.”

“Tch some useless fox you are. Maybe you spend so much time in civilisation with humans that you forget you’re a bloody fox.” She points out as if analysing Johnny’s whole life he’s lived. Johnny clicks his tongue. “My master was human. I adapted to her ways, I don’t plan on changing if that’s what you’re asking me to do.” He chides defensively and the Hag let a short lived chuckle at the boy who was so eager on staying in he past, in the past where his master lived on as an alive being and not a dead corpse. Johnny has kept things the same, the traditional house has your room untouched, the hanboks she wore were clean and kept away in the clothing pile. The things she loved to eat were still stacked and bought. Johnny simply did not want to move past your death, even if it was thirty five years ago. When his master has died he lived alone for five years until he met this old grandma on the street slums of the village, though she wasn’t just some old lady, she was a shaman. The old soul has sacrificed herself for immortality, simply to live forever as an old shaman soul, leading people into the light. The shaman could recognise who he was. She saw Johnny’s ears and nine tails, simply because she herself isn’t human.

“Sheesh. You rather live in the past.” She had respond back in a blunt tone, washing the cabbage kimchi in the bowl. He didn’t reply but mentally he agreed. Johnny was scared and too heartbroken to move past the death scarring him every night.

“I know you searched for her while you were in the village too. How did that go?” Shaman asked and Johnny was brought back to the time earlier he was searching while shopping, technically not slacking off but at the same time he was multitasking two tasks. Looking for your reincarnation in public while shopping the kimchi cabbage. The fox would lure girls that had similar face structure to you or that gave him a vibe it might be your reincarnation. But everytime he went and checked, stripping the left side of the hanbok to reveal the shoulder, there was no bite mark. It wasn’t you. None of these girls were you. By the time he had checked, he had to run away because the girls were screaming pervert.

In his defence Johnny did not care if palace guards patrolling the village would arrest him, in all honesty he could breakout and leave never to be found again, however it would be a hassle for him to be caught anyways. Humans are very persistent people. The times he was frustrated and down to see how none of these were your reincarnation, he began to wonder if you were even reincarnated. Johnny begged the gods in the sky to tell him if you were reincarnated and they all replied with a yes. They had no reason to lie to him about this. Surely, you are somewhere roaming here. He just doesn’t know where.

Johnny flings up in sudden movement when the sharp ears twinkle around to the sound of a panting voice as if it were running at high speed with the background voices of guards rushing towards her it seems. Johnny’s eyes avert from the side looking at the grandma. “I’ll be back old hag. See ya.” Johnny shouts leaving the porch as he ran to the helpless girl to help her out. But curiosity has died quickly when the girl would be met with the traditional house, in front seeing the muscular handsome man in the navy blue white hanbok and a seared swordsman sword. She rushes to the six foot man, gasping. “Help me please they are looking for me.” She cried looking behind where no sign of them except the loud ranging voices becoming louder and louder indicating that they were coming closer to them. Johnny looks down with an apathetic gaze. “Why should i help you?” He grumbles pushing the girl away from his body when she had held his right hand desperately. She flings down on the ground, coughing out the dust from the sand stone floor. “Please! I ran away . They will bring me back to him.” She pleads. Johnny couldn’t help but wonder what this young girl did so badly to be chased by guards and soldiers. He tilts his head, sighing.

Tears ran soon streaming down her cheeks, those Pearl shape eyes with deep emerald green mixed in with brown ache watching the man who was about to walk away and leave the helpless girl get arrested. But when those tears drop down like blood from his master’s body, he was reminded of the crying face the dead lover made when she had died. Johnny with widen eyes, Stops on his tracks . Why did he get this flashback with you?

“Get inside the house.” Johnny commands, lifting your frail body on the feet. Your hanbok would be lifted as you ran into the house. The man stands where the guards have appeared finally, rushing in. Johnny pulls out the sword, body silhouette glowing with a yellow outline leaking out the power of the nine tails.

Sword pointing to the army of soldiers, in a swung and a gentle step in the air, a single slash stows towards the soldiers flinging them on the ground unconscious. Wind breeze echoes through them. The power of the air and fire fox, never underestimate Johnny suh, the mountain spirit.

He turns shaking his head at them, tutting to the unconscious bodies. “Oh dear god. This couldn’t really went the easier way if you hadn’t stepped in my territory.” Johnny would say with a scolding tone. The girl gasped averting the man to look at her.

“You have tails and ears!” You point out as they were wiggling in the yellow outline. Johnny looks down to the clean shining sword before pushing it back to the sheath, he comes forward . You saw the ears and the tail disappear and immediately flinch when Johnny held your wrist tight.

“Forget this happened.” Johnny said as his eyes turn golden yellow. You blink at him, whispering. “Uhm...you’re hurting me.” You point out lightly as you look down to the tight wrist hold. Johnny banally let’s go, confused why the hypnosis and memory erasing did not work on you; eyes went back to deep black colour, as he clears his voice.

“Well this is stupid.” He murmurs under his breath. “I saved you. I hate being in debt to people, so this is the only time i help you, human girl.”

“Right. I’m sorry for the trouble. Uhm.” Johnny walks away midway my sentence as i shout out with my hand out for a handshake. Seemingly the man was quite blunt and uninterested at first— the sudden change of heart made you wonder what made him help you, a stranger running away from the soldiers. “My name is y/n!” You exclaim shakily with your hand out, looking down at your palm waiting for him to take him it. Johnny raises an eyebrow, as if he were analysing y/n from head to toe. The man lightly pulls his hand forward grabbing yours with a shake. He then lets go.

“Johnny.” He replied quietly.

────⊱──────⊰✯⊱──────⊰────

“Come on eat as much as you want!” The elderly beams as she fed you more and more, seemingly this felt like a fever dream. lovely warm grandma was feeding you, your saviour was on the left side of the wide open room protesting from feeding you a lot as well as saying how you shouldn’t be staying here and go back to the village where you came from. But the grandma retorts with disagreements. Seemingly Johnny didn’t like arguing with the grandma. He respected her, despite being years older than her.

“I’ll eat to my hearts content then, granny.” Y/n smiles digging into the lovely kimchi and soup. It was warm, salty with the kimchi and it felt healthy. The rice she gave you was amazing too. It was a first time you had such a big meal in your life.

Johnny from afar would be observing the young girl with an aching feeling of regret, why did he get such a bad feeling from you? The fox bites on the beautiful print fan (in other words called the Shan.) in his palm flicking back and forth the beautiful night starry air, a complete difference from the horrible heatwave earlier. Johnny blooms to glare at the grandma who watched him with a warning gaze.

“Why was the soldiers chasing you exactly?” Johnny interrogated coming in closer to look at you, dropping the wooden curve spoon into the soul as you turned to realise Johnny was now closer to you, watching your face to see the reaction. Y/n clears her throat. “You could say i was forced into something and i refused.” You tell and the grandma lets out a soft sigh.

“What did the soldiers do now. They are the most corrupted people here aside the royalty.” The elderly spat .

Johnny scoffs. “What were you forced into?”

“I was told to sleep with a customer. He was quite rich and powerful in the place I worked out. I refused when he tried to strip my hanbok out and I ran. Then the guards were chasing me.” You shrug it off when the memory replays in your head , like a haunting dream ready to scar you for the rest of the life. Johnny hums. “So aren’t you going back home?” He throws impatiently, Johnny earned himself a slap behind the head from the grandma.

You drop your mouth a little without a sound leaving, looking away with a stammer. “I will but can you let me stay at least for two nights? I’m scared to go back so early. I doubt the soldiers will stop looking for me tomorrow.”

Johnny stares blankly thinking what to answer with, if it’s only two days then perhaps he could make an expectation on letting y/n stay; either way it is not like the old hag will let him push the young girl out this late at night back to the village when she has no family relations to anyone whatsoever. He isn’t that cruel, even though he is cold and quite a blunt person like a solid rock. He will never put a girl in danger unless crossed. Johnny stands up with a shrugging bounce to the shoulders made. “Only two nights. That’s all you are getting.” The fox warns.

You exclaim happily with grateful eyes, you bow your head in the ninety degree angle before lifting it to stand up holding Johnny’s hands with yours. He saw the way your face instantly lit up, glowing light and stars born in those so-familiar eyes. The way your smile was this dark gloop of fear and sadness overthinking your safety, cracking in to the familiar winsome grin. Her smile was like a sudden beam of sunlight illuminating the nightfall darkness outside. Outshining even the mightiest god of sun and light. Where did this feeling of comfort, warmth and familiarity come from you? When did he feel this amount of same kindness and compassion. The same facial expression, eyes smiling too; why was it you?

“Thank you so much, Johnny! I promise I won’t cause trouble. You’re a kind fox.” Y/n laughs a little with a soft echo in her voice. He blankly stares, body frozen like a statue standing still . Your touch melted him if he were ice. The man flinches away his hands from your hand grasp, retracting it back to his chest. He softly nods, quietly murmuring. “Whatever i’m not cruel enough to kick you out and even if i did do that, the old hag would curse me probably.” He points out eagerly at the elder woman who sent daggers to him. Y/n felt the way he was very closed off, almost as if he was scared to become close to you, but why? The girl tilts her head, the same warming gracious smile stays on her face . “I’m still grateful. Thank you.” You tell him with genuinely.

As shield of Earth the night is given upon celestial clock. Gates of heaven and hell soon open releasing endless spirits to wander the land amongst humans. Night deepens each forest brown to the hues that are my soul-song, animals coming out of hiding no longer afraid to reveal the longitude to Mother Nature. On this night the natural black hugs the stars as a mother would to a newborn child when born, the floating little rocks shining bright above the sleeping humans in the village and the wide awake fox resting on the porch next to the small rising lake and a ticking cat waving paw with a shrine and a picture. A cold night, a lucid moon, heaven's eyes shine in the black as divine watchful mother seems like the only thing that never changes to Johnny. Every decade passing he has witnessed many moons that look the same, lonely in the sky, bright as day. Stars coming and going whilst the icy breeze grows angrier.

Johnny could never sleep even if he tried to. Perhaps it was in his genes to not be able to grow fond of the dream land. Only once he could ever feel the symptoms of tiredness. Only once. The house becomes dastardly quiet whenever the mortals go hit the hay, but Johnny finds comfort in it as much as he finds pain in it. Why is it that the darkness covering the night time starts to make you reminisce on the deepest pit of your worries? He can’t ever escape it no matter how much he runs or tries to no longer think back on it, his heart always finds a way to entangle itself on the hauntingly image of his dead lover. Though gods punish him for ever losing a master— it is considered a crime and disgrace for the fox spirit community. Johnny fell from the social status but he does not care. Johnny fell harder when the image of his dead lover and master in his arms grew cold like the North Pole.

The room available for Y/n to use was the only room filled with women clothing and bedding. Quite a large room for one person as if it were a royalty bedroom made just for the finest of women alive. Y/n was born in a poor setting from the beginning, an orphan to be exact so coming across a room like this left you in a stumble, wondering if it was okay for you to even sleep down on the bed like a normal person. But somehow your heart ached seeing this setup. The clothes freshly washed and hang made you want to sob. The feelings of nostalgia hit like a tsunami emerging from the earth’s cracking ground. You couldn’t explain why, so you shrug it off and went to bed. But when you fell into your subconscious the same old routine came.

The same old nightmare chases you anywhere you stay reside in. The inner child version of you cried on days like this to yourself, holding knees to the chest, pinching the your forearms to remind yourself this was the reality and your nightmares were not. The eight year old you would of stayed up all night, becoming an insomniac; child you slept on the day and stayed awake in the night. Sixteen year old you would become numb and cold revisiting the nightmare every night, you bought sleep medicine hoping it might perhaps help you sleep easier, if any it made the dream worse a ten thousand fold. But now, you are twenty years old. A fully grown adult who has experience this long lived nightmare dream for over nineteen years without a single night of hopeful dreams.

Red. Everything ran red. Sharp pain hits the chest like a wooden stake to the heart was cutting your body open like a flat pillow stuff feathers, as if you were nothing but a lightweight rock stomped on. Blur voices and tears align, as did image of fire spreading like a running carriage filled with cattle’. - Female voice screaming dents you in fear as your body wrinkles in the bed, pushing off the duvet cover as well as blankets off, whimpers breathily intake the entire room.

In that moment, eyes snap open as the body jolts up. The young girl pushing back forth the straight long dark hair backwards, drenching with cold sweat along the forehead, dropping on the traditional dress you wore all day, Underneath the clothing were a pounding heart. Y/n looks around the room cautiously extremely paranoid, eyebrows raised to the roof as eyes wide like charcoals, mouths trembled out a sigh and the hands wrap themselves into an hug. Y/n embracing her own body as a self comfort to soothe the situation down, you make mini pinches on the forearms to check if this was the reality. Indeed it was when the small pain strikes you. “It was just a dream,” The girl said to oneself.

The sudden urge to quench the thirst from the dry closing throat, the young woman gets up on two legs leaving the room quietly. Y/n makes her way forward until stopping as the bright blue moonlight shining soon illuminates the man underneath it with one hunch leg, slouching against the wooden pillar to the traditional korean joseon house entrance. The man with the loose blue navy white hanbok, to his only company were a teapot set and white bolder like cups. She comes forward slowly, but stops when the man’s voice strikes her; he knew she was coming even if he has never look towards her direction. He was facing forward into the melancholy distance.

“Can’t sleep, Y/n?” Johnny utters with a husky tone catching the trembling you off guard. The girl purse her lips into a thin line and sits next to the fox spirit softly nodding out a hum. “How’d you know?” Y/n asks and the man turns to look at her.

He points out, like it were a factual reasoning. “Fox ears make it hard to block out noises.” Y/n’s lips open faltering out an ‘oh. Right.’

Silence took a left completely crashing the moment and both of you like a truck. Johnny seemingly found comfort in it but you on the other hand struggled to be quiet, multiple questions form a novel because you seem to want to know more about the man who looks both sadden and lonely when watching the moon ahead. You can’t put your finger on why and what it was causing Johnny to look that way. It draws you in however, as if he was a magnet.

You hush out when beginning to speak once again. “Why can’t you sleep?”

Johnny reaches to the half full cup bringing it to the plum pucker lips and sips the herbal tea. “Are you always this chatty, Y/n?” He grumpily throws.

Your lips seal together like an envelope. Knitting eyebrows forward at the shady comment he has made. He might not be interested in you as much as you are into him but despite the pushing your presence kept marching on. You’re determined to get to know Johnny as a person. Your round eyes squint at the fox. “No. Only when I want to be. Does that bother you?”

You gently ask and Johnny goes to agree. “In a matter of fact yes. Why do you keep talking to me?”

“I want to get to know you more.” Y/n replies. The reasoning were so simple for mortals but for Johnny it felt like cheating, cheating on his dead partner and master. Foxes don’t feel the urge to make friends with other mortals, not unless it were other fox spirits. He can feel the persistence from you, something that was familiar with mortals.

He grimly stress, gritting the canine teeth at you. “I am taken.” Johnny tells you. Y/n’s jawline cracks at the sudden words as you pause, putting your hands to your chest as you spoke, defensively.

“I don’t mean it like that!” Y/n scowls. Johnny scoffs mentally, sure you don’t. Mortals are such easy sinners and to fall in love, in no doubt are you interested in him romantically. Even if you’re not aware of it, Johnny knows you will in the end at the friendship.

“Oh please save me your sappy story. Humans are hopeless romantics it’s unbelievable. I cannot be your friend.” Johnny states.

“Fine, don’t be my friend. But at least make a conversation with me since we both can’t sleep.” You compromise in which the fox said nothing, you took it as a yes. The silence came back but soon broke when johnny finally speaks first, starting the chat. The man gave in to answer your question out of nowhere, catching you ultimately in a surprise.

Johnny sighs. “I don’t sleep. except once.”

“You didn’t sleep at all except one time?” You gawk loudly with a short hitch. Johnny nods putting the empty cup down. “Whoa. Here I thought I was the biggest insomniac.” Y/n impressively said back.

On the man’s face a charming smirk begins to paint clearly, he flashed you a mugging grin with one eyebrow raised, mischievous eyes glint at your doe-ish fluttering eyelashes.

“Why can’t you sleep then, miss insomniac number two.” He casually asked,

You shift not exactly expecting him to follow up with a question you never really spoke of to anyone before. The girl puts the straight hair behind the ears, blowing on your lips as you complement wether you should tell him at all. Johnny watches the uneasy expression you, as he looks away to the moon. “Forget I asked. I didn’t realise it was a touchy subject.” Johnny hollows with simple understanding putting you at slight ease, but then you didn’t want to exactly stop talking. You softly whisper.

“It’s not that I’m uncomfortable. I just don’t know how to explain it.” You start and Johnny listens well and keenly at your voice he surprisingly finds relaxing. The man turns to look back at you. “You see, I only dream the same reoccurring nightmare all my life. I never had a nice dream before. No one knows this before, you are the first one that have asked me why I can’t sleep.”

There was something so saddening about the way you have lived all along this time to Johnny, he couldn’t put into words why he seems to take minor pity but at the same time a protective approaching manner to want to keep you safe and at ease. What exactly was it about you that makes him so sensitive about the bad scenarios and things that could happen to you so easily and why does it piss him off? It’s been so long that someone else has made an effect on him. The fox shifts watching the way you spoke about your situation, with carefree patience and comfort. For someone who has suffered from the moment of being born into this deadly world era you take comfort in the pain you experienced and you find safety in it too. This is what makes you strong in Johnny eyes though. You aren’t afraid to be vulnerable or to be sensitive. You are like a tapestry, no matter where you are placed; rough or smooth pathway. You will always get through it.

“I wonder what it is like to not dream. For at least a night, I wish to just sleep.” You murmur openly and Johnny smiles at your words. “For someone who was born into nothing, you are pretty good of a human.”

Your lips curve upwards smiling back at the man, tilting your head as you brought your legs to the chest. “For someone who said they don’t want to be friends, you listen to me rambling. You’re a good fox.” You praise reaching with your palm, stroking the soft raven hair flatly. Johnny’s face grows a light orange reddish colour heating the cheeks, the fox ears flicker in an appreciative manner to the solely actions of your soft warm hands pressing and running through the hair to pet the man. Johnny’s eyes waver like the sea at shore backwards and forwards, lips pucker as they stare to question you. The praise lift his dead heart to beat again. Johnny embraces the nostalgia in the moment,

He swore he heard his dead master’s voice over yours just now. The way you praise him was in so many ways similar to the way his dead lover did so. Your hands felt identical and you both look like twins. Johnny felt tricked, oppressed into being met with you. But still, he felt uneasy if he was right about you.

“What are you doing, Y/n..!” He exclaims quickly as he jolts back, holding your wrist in his hands to pull you forward. The girl’s body stumbles back losing balance instantly, she fell over his lap, face forward inches away from Johnny’s lips and the chest pressing right on to his own. Johnny felt the lingering scent obsess the nostrils entirely. The fox ears capture your breathing hitch on halt, your heart thumping like his own right now and his body felt an electric strike setting a small ember inside. Both your faces were barely a gap away from pressing together, but what brought Johnny into a catastrophe was the way his eyes lean down to your glossy peachy lips wanting to take a taste of them. But he can’t. You aren’t his reincarnation he was looking for.

That’s what he thought until the left hanbok came loose falling on the side revealing a faded bite mark deeply inscribed into the woman’s body. She let out a shocking gasp as the bare nude shoulder and dainty collarbones block Astounding man’s view. He darkly and deemly seeks an answer, catching you by your shoulders now, he had you placed on the floor underneath him. The woman’s figure was pressed down into the wooden floor like a sliced wooden log, crushingly laying underneath the heavy weight from the fox straddling the body. Hands gripping y/n’s shoulders tight like the life depend on it. Johnny’s glaring eyes fixated on the scar you hid on your left shoulder all along. Memories coming into his head like a flood.

“Please reincarnate, Y/n. I will find you with this mark made by me.”

The flashback ends with your mortified face watching Johnny warily wondering why he was deathly staring at the old mark you never knew why you got it in the first place; you just had it from birth you suppose. He breaks out softly.

“How did you get this mark, Y/n.” Johnny commands with a look that killed you inside. You become silent all of the sudden, the courage to answer the man above you, keeping you trapped, it was scary to respond. Johnny only became aggravated by the shock, it felt almost surreal to him so all he felt was tricked. He couldn’t believe it was real. The paranoia inside Johnny made him so angry, he wondered if he was projecting the thirty five years searching for you all along onto you. When in reality, he’s crumbling. He’s a broken somebody. “How did you get this mark, Y/n!” He screams, hands shaking the woman’s body up and down before dropping her flat on the wooden floor.

The girl flinches closing her eyes, exclaiming in a scream back at the man. “I don’t know! I had it since I was born. You happy?” You grunt out when Johnny was overcame by his own silence. The man falls backwards, off your body as he rests flat, letting out a soft scoff. He finally found you. The five stages of grief was not enough for Johnny, he needed at least twenty stages of grief to cope with. You sit up pulling on your hanbok covering the left side. Johnny looks down hanging his head low.

Y/n slowly stands up rushing back inside the bedroom, closing the sliding door shut. Johnny was left in his own presence, wondering what he’s just witnessed. Surely, it couldn’t be you. But it was his bite mark, the exact same bite mark from the canine fox teeth. Johnny shakes his head in his hands, rubbing the eyelids heavily.

He sobs clenching his hands together. “It was you all along.”

What hurts the most is not the that it was you who was his longing lover’s reincarnation. What hurt Johnny was that even though he told himself so many times that he was ready to meet you, to see you, that he cannot wait another year searching for you only to be hit with a dead end. In reality he wasn’t ready to see you reincarnated. You were both different but similar at the same time in this reincarnation. Johnny couldn’t tell you that you’re his reincarnated lover, hell-, how will he explain that to you? It hurts that he wasn’t ready to accept the fact that you out of all people, cannot remember him. But he remembers you like it was yesterday.

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Morning arrives as a mother's gentle hand, inviting the dreams of night to enter the day. Golden threads of morning sunshine plants on Johnny’s face, scrunching in many wrinkles in irritation. The nine tailed fox sat up half asleep and half awake, rubbing the eyelids to fully open them in a clear view, the man let out a soft yawn. The grandma came into sight immediately, jump scaring Johnny literally to fall backwards, hitting the wooden pillar unexpectedly. He forgot he slept on the floor at the entrance like a guarding dog.

“Ow! Old hag did you have to be so close to me when i open up.” Johnny complained forward as he points at the old woman who glares clicking her tongue. “You drank the entire fermented alcohol. Do you know how expensive this is? Darn it Johnny. “ the grandma scolds like a family member would to another. Johnny let’s out a soft nod. “I’ll just get another one easily. Relax.” He adds before standing up walking to the porch where he watches the distance. Village happens to be wide awake in the acute shining sunshine, this time it was the right amount of heat and breeze. In the distance caught Johnny’s eyes to manoeuvre to the direction of a girl wearing familiar expensive silk dress.

He gapes at the sight rushing towards the young girl with long black straight hair and fair skin, back turned on him he couldn’t see her face but when he approached the girl who was gardening in the forest, hunch on the knees. Johnny stops pulling a hand by the shoulders turning the girl to face him, he were met with Y/n. The same pondering expression on Johnny’s face overloads Y/n’s foresight, she blinks uncomfortably, feeling terrified as last night was quite scary. Johnny this time felt more calm and compressed, but he was left stunned. It was only just you wearing his master’s and lover’s clothing because you couldn’t of kept the dirty ones on— but when you wore them, you look spitting image of her. Johnny shakily release the top of his hand from your left shoulder, looking away he clears his throat. “Sorry. You looked like someone I knew.”

Johnny backs away and you nod softly without saying much. Only new questions were born upon old questions you needed answers to when you were with Johnny alone. It’s draining for your overthinking physically and mentally.

The situation dynamic has shifted from last night and it made you self conscious about it. Previously in the day when Johnny and Y/n met for the first time he wasn’t interested in you, in fact he was shooing you every opportunity he had with you alone. You were the one chasing. But now that you stopped chasing after last night’s incident because you were scared of what he was doing . Johnny became the chaser at the end. He keeps thinking of you as his master and servant when in reality you aren’t her exactly; you were her in your previous life. But not anymore and Johnny cannot grasp the concept. It’s like seeing the same people with different alter egos. The similarities kill him however, every similar thing you do was the exact thing you did in your past life. Johnny was only more deluded by these things.

You sigh openly as you begin to softly pat the soil into the seed hole you planted forming a small oversized flat soil ground to keep it the seed to grow and securely stay. “Why are you still here?” Y/n asks, quite bluntly this time.

Johnny shifts on the side with a surprise flinch, rubbing the behind of his head. Why did he feel so little when he was with you? Perhaps the stern voice you’re using on him makes him think even more of you as his master. As his one and only sole priority. Johnny stammers. “I’m just… watching you. You got a problem?” He throws back.

You clench your jaw together. “Maybe. You are suddenly really clingy to me. Yesterday you weren’t.”

‘Yeah but yesterday I didn’t know you were her…’ Johnny would thought.

It’s true. He completely changed overnight. He was more caring with you, more considerate. Not once did he make a kick out joke, it’s as if he wants you to stay here permanently. Johnny would’ve usually glare at you with his resting apathetic face, but now he looks at you with beaming relief eyes with happiness and warm love at the same time. It was weird, to see him smile at you and speak to you without needing to put any effort like you once did. You wonder, what changed him?

Ever since he saw that mark on yours on the shoulder, it was like a switch in him flipped.

“Y/n. Do you believe in reincarnation?” Johnny softly asks on the side as you dig up the soil with your hands. You stop when the man held your hands together softly where he positions your hands to his direction, the hem of your hanbok sleeves were about to get dirty if you continued gardening that way. Johnny rolls the pink sleeves up, you watch his attentive gaze and actions before he lifts his eyes from the done sleeve and looked at you.

You softly shrug. “Maybe. Im not sure, i used to believe spirits weren’t real. But here I am speaking to a fox spirit.” You lightly said going back to gardening, digging up the hole with your hands. Johnny smiles watching you. The fact that maybe means a lot to him. He’s whipped for you.

“It’s true. Reincarnation can happen.” Johnny urges and you open your lips in slight waver. “How exactly does reincarnation work? Why do people get reincarnated.”

The whole process of reincarnation is an iffy one to explain because it is quite a complex thing to do and to understand. Johnny himself wasn’t quite sure at first when he were a small cub. The underworld god, Hades, controls the living who have died (therefore he chooses if they reincarnate or not.) Johnny met Hades once, after his past lover and master died with the arrow to the heart her soul was taken by a boat crossing the lake into the underworld. Johnny did anything and begged the grim reapers (workers for hades) to take him to see your past life self once again. To which the grim reapers agree only for a few seconds he could see her. In reality Johnny could not restrain himself and he pleads to Hades to let her reincarnate no matter what.

To be able to reincarnate in the next life once you die, you have to have a balance between karma and the sins you have gained. It would be a better task if you didn’t sin at all, the more likely you are to reincarnate. But since it was his master who has died, aimlessly Hades took it as a shameful dead for a fox master to die so tragedy. It took fifteen years to reincarnate you. Johnny Thirty five years overall searching for you. He met you in your new reincarnation form where you are twenty. Johnny definitely got lucky though, some reincarnation can put you into a whole another gender and appearance, same gender and a different appearance or perhaps an animal even. But he knew hades would reincarnate you as a human. He just didn’t know what gender you were going to be. But no matter what gender you would be, Johnny will love and serve you, his feelings would not change.

“People get reincarnate into their next life because it was either to pay the karmic debts which will make them learn a lesson for hard life. Or… someone has begged the underworld god for you to be reincarnated again.” Johnny explained. “You see, I’m waiting for someone to be reincarnated.” He told and you look up at him, pondering. “My master and lover. She died and I’m searching for her.”

You stop whatever you’re doing as you slowly lean backwards resting on a large boulder rock. Johnny watches you with ease, as he is quite tall. The man witnessed your soft hair blowing past the breeze, reveal your neck and the beautiful pink and white hanbok, your hair lightly styled with help of granny in the house. Johnny’s feelings for you only increased, you were a spitting image of her.

She teasingly adds. “So you’re not taken but you’re waiting for her.”

Johnny pouts dropping his keen expression earlier. He turns his head away, crossing arms. “I am taken. Even if she is not here, I am not single.” He points out and you click your lips together forming a snickering grin. “Oh you must really love her Hm? Loyal like a dog to a bone.” He heard you state and his ears flicker to your voice he so loves hearing.

“Foxes can only love one person. Romantic is it not?”The fox remarks catching the young girl by the question as she approaches him where he stayed resting underneath a tree.

“I find it sad.” Y/n dryly said with a gloomy sigh. The young woman could only imagine in her head like a novelty poem, if her lover was left behind waiting for her to be reborn, it would make her sad to think that someone so devoted has spend their entire life searching eagerly. Johnny felt his hand subconsciously moving to embrace Y/n but he stops himself, restricting on being physical with you; you don’t remember him. As much as he remembers you.

“Sad? How come Y/n.” Johnny spoke after a moment of self reflection, holding out on the body. You walk around freely by the forest entrance, as the man behind you follows slowly, like a duckling following a mother duck.

Y/n sympathetically trails with a voice resembling the waves from the ocean, emerging and submerging anything in its way. Johnny felt like he becomes stuck when surrounding by you, as if he were choking on your unpredictable words . Johnny never felt entitled to make you sad. But he made an unbreakable promise to you. “If I were the one to be reincarnated. I wouldn’t want my lover to wait for forever. I feel like that would pain me to think, so many years go by and my lover was there letting life go by until I was found.”

“It sorta made me sad putting myself in his shoes.” You add finally, turning on your heels to watch Johnny from who was behind following you. He stops on the tracks as he was met with a soft smile, shunned him like a running horse crashing into him to fall on the ground helplessly. He hotly smiles. “You’re far too kind for this world, Y/n. But do not worry. I don’t plan on waiting much longer, I’m sure she’s out there somewhere.” Johnny carefully sways as he held out Y/n’s hands.

The moment came short lived but the young woman felt the warmth from the hands erect in her skin, casually wanting you the coldness to dissipate. Heartbeat skipped a beat when the charming fox did not break eye contact, as much as you wished to break it yourself you couldn’t do it. Johnny was far too quick to break the silence, as he casually and slyly comments into the light breezy air. “I heard there is a lunar festival going on right now. Do you want to go there with me?”

‘He’s asking me to go somewhere with him…’ you thought. Y/n wasn’t sure what this feeling of a sparkling connection between you was but, you surely felt like you knew this man for a long time even though you only met him yesterday. The young girl softly nods with a soft cheerful smile in response.

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The festival was our collective soul in song, music and dance. It was the colours of our brightest joys and what weaved us together. To people this specific celebration was to honour the living into the next year, it was like a happy warm get to together in the village. Chatting voices and music play on repeat making it unable to hear a single voice from afar, the pleasantly music runs into peoples eardrums causing many to dance together. Walking by the market stands in a line where it was much more safer and comfortable, it was talkative and the music from distance could be heard at a tolerable safety. No one was dancing on this side of festival making it more or less cramping. The villagers dress up into flamboyant prints and masks. The market stands were a variety to chose from.

Johnny would notice Y/n running towards one stand in particular catching the girl’s enlarge curiosity, the moment she stops, Johnny runs to follow up to her. They stand in between a food stand that welcomes the customers through a strong sweet syrup smell and cinnamon. The fox leers closer when seeing the child-like excited expression on you, it was like this was the candy store making you look so giddy.

The woman at the stand beams forward at the girl and the man. “Oho would you like some dango?” Johnny gives a short nod. “Yes one for the young girl here.”

Y/n wows when the woman pulls away joining the behind as she takes out one of the warmly coated pink green and white dango on the stick; the brown warm syrup leaking down until it was swirl back up. Y/n grabs the dango, jumping up and down. Johnny bows his head as he paid a gold coin, soon following you when you disappeared to walk forward on your own.

You pull one dango in your mouth, blowing on it in your mouth as it was far too hot with the syrup, but it was awfully sweet and addicting. You smile happily chewing on the sweet snack. “Do you want to try, Johnny?” You’d ask catching the fox on the side staring right at you in awe.

‘She still has the sweet tooth.’ Johnny thought endlessly before you pulled him by the question to reality.

“I’m not really a fan of sweet things.” Johnny mentions and you pout stopping in your tracks as Johnny walks a few inches in front as well stopping when he noticed you no longer walking side by side. He turns to you tucking hands on the front hips. He wore a black traditional hanbok, carrying the sword sheathed on the right side to the gear attach and his loose hair slightly wet as he showered for this event. You wore a white sparkle hanbok shining underneath the moonlight in the black sky, hair tucked into a curl-like high bun and hair jewellery attached. You stopped with a sulking gesture when he refused, puffing out your rosey cheeks and your eyes watching him with displeasure. Johnny let’s out a small sigh coming forward to you with his giant-like height he leans down halfway biting into the stick. He took the middle dango gritting with the fox-canine teeth and pulls backwards no longer leaning down.

He chews on the hot dango and you smile instantly, he caught you off guard when he watched you as he bit on the dango and ate it, somehow the intense gaze made your heart thump again. Y/n felt her cheeks become flushed the more she thought about her heart pouncing like a wildebeest. She clears her throat when Johnny mentions, “Too sweet.”

“Do you prefer savour foods more?” You ask back as you continue to walk side by side and the man calmly remarks back. “I prefer meat to be honest. It’s not wether sweet or salty. I just like something hearty and full.”

“Ahh I see. Then let’s go here!” Y/n suddenly exclaims grabbing onto Johnny’s hands as she pulls the six foot man with her to another stand. This time it was a man grilling meat on sticks. Different types of meat. You saw the man’s expression widen like a temple opening, mouth dropping quick in awe as he eyes the meat viciously in hunger. The man chuckles pointing out, “alright young man it’s not going to run away.” He teased.

You chuckle as Johnny practically stomps on his feet cutely. You could only imagine him wagging all the nine tails in unison and the ears prickle with excitement if he had them on. You point at the long stick with the excessive meat in.

“One of this please sir.” You politely gesture. The man nods with a smile as he pulls the stick towards the man. Johnny puts on a gold coin for the man. “Have a nice day couple!” He cheers and you jump at the words when leaving, about to reject the idea to stop forth from confusing the market stand owner, Johnny wraps an arm around your shoulders lightly, as he noms on the meat graciously.

He cannot remember when it was the last time he had a taste of beautiful soft and tender meat cooked to perfection. The granny back at the house only makes kimchi upon kimchi. Johnny swore if he saw another vegetable he might lose it and go savage like back in the days when he did not have a human form. Johnny looks over to the beautiful girl residing him, as he puts the stick to the girl.

“Here take a bite.” He encourages as you stop and look at the meat on the stick. When you lean down to take a full bite of one, you chew on and hum satisfied when he waited patiently for your response if you’d like it or hate it. Johnny felt a relief of happiness and love rush in when you said it was good.

You smile watching the full moon ahead, sighing happily. “The moons beautiful tonight.” Johnny looks at you as he hums softly. “It is isn’t it.”

You turn to look at him but Johnny looks away clearing his voice . The man walks ahead as you smirk, was he watching you? The playfulness enrages more when you comply forward, Teasing the fox with both, joking manner and a little hint of flirting.

“I saw you looking at me over there.” You point out and Johnny scoffs. “I was watching the moon whaddya’ mean?”

You smile watching the grumpy expression on the man and you couldn’t help but chuckle. He’s so cute and see through, you can read right through him and you don’t know why. The connection between you was only growing stronger and stronger, it’s as if you knew him for so long. Johnny stops suddenly when he turns to the left, you pause stopping but the man turns to you urgently.

“Stay here. I’ll come back. Wait here.” He quickly said as he rushes away out of your sight. You stand there blankly as you turn around, pursing your lips into a thin line.

‘What could he be doing right now?’ You thought impatiently.

Your impatient cuts short when Johnny comes back calmly you unlock your arms that were together crossed and Johnny reaches for your hands with a short smile. “Here I thought this could help you.” He states when he reopened your hands the gift he had bought for you makes your body melt from the considerate loving gift he rushed to get you instantly. It’s the fact that you were on his mind, that makes you blush like a young teenage girl.

You look up exclaiming with a soft awh leaving the lips. “It’s a dream catcher!” You shout and he nods happily.

“This way you can sleep at night with good dreams only” Johnny told you with an abrupt smile. Y/n looks at Johnny before embracing the man tight. The warm embrace of your smaller arms against his wrapping the body like this cloud over the moon. Your hug has woven our souls in a way that is a forever bond. Johnny gets filled with hopes, only his love grew more for you and the hug has proven its feeling aloud. The man wraps arms around you back, slowly and carefully to not squeeze too tight. You pull away with the upmost happiest beautiful smile. Johnny never knew until now how much he loves your happy expression and smiles, he wants you to only smile and be happy forever.

“Thank you Johnny.” You say with gratitude and he shakes his head. “It’s nothing don’t worry.”

“Let’s go somewhere quiet, fireworks will start soon.” He beams now remembering the time and Y/n would soon be dragged with a hand intertwining with hers, pulling the girl with a short run to the unknown place where the fox is taking her to.

The grass beneath the shoes felt alive as it were waving forth motions on the nightfall cold breeze intergalactically perusing on the two who rest on the mountain edge hill perfect to sight see all the fireworks shot with an arrow forward the more they wait the anticipation rose and Y/n let’s out a soft sigh of content.

You were never this happy before. Perhaps you’re at your happiest when embraced by the friend next to you. But can you even call him a friend when you have these indescribable feelings for a man who is waiting for his dead lover to reincarnate? You could only hope it was you to be reincarnate. Johnny sways forward as he points out with eyes sparkling.

“It’s starting.” Johnny said to you as you turned your head to the front watching the beaming loud fireworks sparkling in the night as they combust and explode. Your face lights up at each explosion in the sky leading with many colours escaping above the both of you. Johnny couldn’t help but watch your intensive face on the side, admiring you at a close distance.

You’re just like you were before he first met you. Johnny took you to the same festival a long time ago. You had the biggest sweet tooth, you begged and pleaded him to try the candy floss and once he did Johnny was hit with exact the flavour he despised but even though he hated it so much, he was glad he could make you happy and you were smiling exactly like that then. He took you to see the stars because back then fireworks weren’t a thing, as you were stargazing Johnny took the courageous movement to kiss you softly as the stars were shining above and a shooting star fell. She wore different clothes. Different hair. Different makeup. But you look the same in his eyes when you watch the fireworks unable to look away, Johnny felt the sudden urge to kiss you just like he had then.

Following the instincts inside Johnny raging to do it right now, when he had moved his face closer you were quick to turn around and he paused a moment, inches barely from capturing your lips, the heavy warm breathing escaping the fox’s mouth left your heart beating suddenly again as you felt it in your throat. You gulp thickly thinking why did he stop suddenly? You really wanted him to kiss you right now. But it was as if the man was scared, scared to kiss you wondering if you’d reject him. Your hands latch on to Johnny’s hanbok collar suddenly causing the fox to jolt forward when you pull him with ease, the gap closes thanks to your bravery, you crashed your lips on his and Johnny swore he melts by the sudden confidence you had and he had not. He didn’t remember your past life ever being this confident, in fact she was quite mysterious and timid. But in this life time, you are confident and a Ray of sunshine easily going and content. You are also wise and compassionate, something you will always have no matter how many times you’re going to be reborn.

You took a control for a while until Johnny recovered where he suddenly puts a hand behind your head deepening the kiss until the way his tongue slips inside with almighty merciless strength, he had your tongue beneath him as he was exploring inside and out leaving no space unattended. Fox canine fangs were rubbing on the bottom lip making a soft ragged breathing come out, he heard loud and clear making him feel some type of way, with you loudly breathing it was a way for him to see you were enjoying yourself as much as he was too, as you did something flash in your eyes even when you had then closed a small taint memory came across your head, a woman identical to you wearing different hanbok with a familiar man next to her . Johnny shortly pulls away when noticing the way you struggle to keep in oxygen and you blush heavily as did he. The tan skin he has with a deep reddish colour as you had a light pink spreading fast like a disease on your skin.

He pulls away but rests forehead together, keeping the hand on your head from behind that left you comforted. Your eyes flutter open at the same time, he was met with your trembling oversized pupils dilating as you face the hungry lustful eyes with love rushing to the surface. Your mind wonders back to the flashback of an unknown memory you had unlocked with the kiss.

You stammer softly in which Johnny found endearing and cute. “I…I’m sorry i forgot you were taken.” You deeply said with regret. Your eyes depressingly linger down on the ground, watching the grass as you were unable to face Johnny. He probably holds this against you, your feelings against you. Little did you know Johnny was reaching forward to hold your face to face him directly, your eyes connecting once again.

“I’ve been waiting for you. Searching for you.” Johnny earnestly states with such loving words coming to your realisation it’s you who he has been looking for all along. He came back to you, to reclaim what he loves and belongs to him as much as he belongs to you. The master he’s patiently devoted his life and will never regret doing so. Y/n shakily places the cold hands over his, softly chuckling with teary eyes forming. It makes you sad to think that you made this man you love in both lives wait for you but now you’re not going to do so.

“I’ve been here all along.” You respond well reconnecting the soft lips on to yours, lovingly kissing the man first as a tear or two ran down your cheeks.

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Love spread across the wooden flooring of the traditional house. Everything reeks of sex and sweat though it comforts the two in their own stuck reality they have created. Two bodies launching together as one. It was like the perfect combination made, a lock to a key that fits perfectly and only the only perfect fit. Hanboks scattering on the floor as the woman’s bedroom aches at the weight forced. Y/n was on all fours arching at the front pillow, with one arm covering the mouth as it become endangered to let the escaping mellow moans out to attract attention, the fox thrusting behind had little to no intention on becoming slow and softer— those thirty five years pent up waiting for his lover to reincarnate he now has her underneath him where he’s going to show exactly how much he has missed his master. His mistress. His owner. The sole devotion he will serve.

The skin to skin contact brought back old memories as well as new memories being born. Johnny himself felt ascended into heaven with happiness he couldn’t hold back even as much as you told him to, he cannot do that. He can’t bring himself to calm down. The thrusts were irregular and messy, hitting all sorts of places inside you that yourself never knew you could hit. Being a virgin as well, the situation was not ideal but the way he expressed it was. You knew how much you kept him waiting, you wouldn’t want your virginity to be taken by anyone else but Johnny. Your servant. Your lover. The man you’ll love in your present past and future.

He held your stomach underneath with a flat palm, bringing you closer where the lustful fox completely indulgent into giving everything begins to scrape his mouth over the bite mark on the left shoulder. You hum softly as he kissed your jawline then the neckline and then softly plants a longing wet kiss onto the mark on the shoulder. “I’m glad you have the mark still.” He huskily said as you carefully trail. “Please give me a new one.” You engrave a demand that he could no longer refuse as Johnny smirks above a clean freshly skin on the right side, within a minute a long grazing sharp impact breaks your skin cracking it as he bites you. Your lover pressing on your back to lower down and fall face front to the pillow.

The pain dents you open with pleasure, as the sadistic fox pulls away licking it clean in satisfying manner before he proudly pounds open the soaking pussy of yours beneath him. He whispers sweet nothings such as ‘I missed you so much you had no idea.’ Or ‘I will not leave your sight at all.’ Some where incompetent groans that left your ears ringing on repeat.

With a hair pull you tug on your face front as he captures you on your lips softly, a complete contract to the way he let go off everything becoming a salvage animal. The sophisticated Johnny who was gentle and soft has disappeared but a small shadowing hint told you he was still there when he gave you this soft loving kiss on your lips, as he slows down with his cock twitching inside you, you came to a conclusion he was close to climax.

He was so focused on making you come earlier he completely forgot about his own release. Johnny was way too focused on you, on making you feel pleasure rather than himself and it’s always been that way; he wants to make you feel satisfied and experience it first because he can always wait. You are his priority. When he has released in you letting out a soft moan enough to break the kiss between you, you sigh of relief and at the warm liquid filling you full.

Johnny whispers in the air. “I love you, Y/n. I want to marry you.” His words came off as a surprise, a pleasant one. You turn around as he lingers above you weakly, caressing your face as he wraps both into the warm duvet covers. Pulling you into a small spoon in his chest where your face buried itself. You smile unconsciously pulling the man closer by his own waist too. “I love you too Johnny. You sure you want to marry me though?”

You’d ask as lifting your head meeting his eyes you raise your eyebrows jokingly and teasingly. “I thought you were taken.” Y/n spat out and Johnny couldn’t help but blush unbelievably.

“Yeah by you.” He points out with a soft stutter. You smirk kissing his forehead lovingly before brushing back the long black hair. “Okay let’s get married then. When?” You question and Johnny hums out.

“Next week?” He said back.

“This week.” You state back with a smile.

Johnny grins squeezing you into the embrace tighter. He definitely will never let go until morning, maybe he won’t ever let you go from this embrace with the intentions. “Tomorrow!” He finalised and you chuckle.

“Tomorrow then.” You softly say. “I love you, kind fox.”

“I love you, y/n.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

@onyourhyuck please refer from translating copyrighting and plagiarising my work thank youu! Reblog this fic and follow me for more updates it helps a girl out <3

#nct fanfiction #nct smut #nct x reader #nct u scenarios #nct series #nct hard hours #johnny smut #nct johnny smut #johnny nct #johnny fluff #johnny angst #nct 127 smut #nct 127 fanfic #nct scenarios #nct drabbles #nct fic #nct recs

[mydaroga]

Fest for Beatles Fans 2024 Write-Up

In case anyone wants to know what goes on at these things, I can at least give you a run-down of what I did at this one, though as always there was far more going down than any one person could see. I tend to favor panels and discussions over bands, so I am sure I missed a lot of great music. Because the bands were great.

It was held this year at the TWA Hotel, which is part of JFK International Airport and has retained a lot of the features of when it used to be a terminal. I posted photos of it last year when I was there on a layover, and I still love it to death. They did NOT let me ride on the baggage thingy though. In addition, I was unable to secure a room at the hotel, though if they hold it here again I will be snagging one because, like I said, the place is bonkers.

Friday

I entered my cross-stitch in the art contest, because why not? While there ran into several people whom I had met last August at the Fest in Chicago.

Beatles Biography panel with Vivek Tiwary (The Fifth Beatle graphic novel) and Madeline Bocaro (In Your Mind - The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono). Vivek comes off very passionate and sweet, very respectful of Brian Epstein and cognizant of the importance of telling his story right. Bocaro is also very passionate, but I'm afraid some of us present her personal Ono pendulum has swung too far to admit any human fault in her subject. I later bought the Brian book, but not the Ono.

First Generation Fan Panel was mostly Leslie Healy recounting her adventures, which are legion: she was at the Ed Sullivan dress rehearsal, and at Shea Stadium, and she's *also* the one who got that audio at Paul's house when she visited all four Beatles in 1967. Also, she had a Bearded Collie, which I also had growing up, so that gave me a thrill.

I entered the 60s dress up contest -- second time as Twiggy was the charm, and I won! And then there was a lot of dancing. Gogo boots, ironically, not so much made for such activities.

Saturday

Chatted with some folks because it was more interesting that listening to the speakers, oops. The guy from the Ranking the Beatles podcast is lovely and we've already been in touch since. Also Terry Crain who wrote a great coffee table book about NEMS Beatles merch, which I bought last year.

Went to the dealer's room and bought silly buttons, like TO HELL WITH THE 'BEATLES' and I ❤️ PAUL. There were butcher covers and all that jazz, and horrid dolls, and all the lovely awful things, none of which I could ever afford. But I can buy buttons!

Lovely friends entered the talent contest and proceeded to the finals, and they kicked so much ass and I am so proud of them.

Academic panel with Ken Womack, Christine Feldmman-Barrett, and Andy Nichols was pretty good, a lot of talk about how subsequent generations get hooked and sort of the state of Beatles fandom/academia today. Which feels fairly positive, in the sense that all present felt there is more respect now than there was--though still room to improve on that score.

As a side note, all of my interactions with Womack convince me he's a great guy, very passionate in his love for the Beatles and very devoted not only to doing this right but in elevating lesser-heard voices. He's a very likable man.

Speaking of, next he interviewed Laurie Kaye, who did the radio interview with John on his last day. Her story was very moving.

Tried to dance again this evening after the talent show but unlike the previous night, everyone thought we were weird and stared forbiddingly at us from their seated positions.

But my PAUL IS DEAD / IF YOU WANT IT / HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM JOHN & YOKO shirt was a hit. Finally.

Sunday

Saw Jude Southerland-Kessler talk about the "birth of the beatles" but sadly it was NOT about the tv film of the same name. So I went to chat with Adrian Sinclair and Allen Kozinn instead, which they later tweeted about.

Beatlemania in the 21st Century panel was about, well, what it says. Next was Women's History of the Beatles which was also interesting and involved various writers, teachers, fans, podcasters, etc. I got to meet Erika from BC the Beatles which was very cool.

Then came the Laurence Juber and Steve Holley panel which I have mentioned elsewhere.

Jenny Boyd talked about fashion and the Apple Boutique, hosted by a lady who wrote a book about Beatles and fashion I would like to read.

Fantastic band with great additional harmonies, which I knew who they were.

I did not win the art contest. I did get a participation ribbon. I'm not even a millennial.

We then found a quiet place to chat, of which which the hotel had many, and then I needed to go to bed so I could be bad in like five hours for my flight.

I've probably forgotten lots of things but that is the general run down. There was also a video room, two stages for bands, more art, authors and guests at tables all weekend, and Mickey Dolenz, whom I did not meet but it's cool he was there.

#yes i know some of you were there too i'm just not outing you #kris talks a lot #beatlesfest2024 #fest for beatles fans

[foundmeagainbitch]

So the fandom is finally catching on to my-mt-heart. Good.

Whenever effusive praise is being lavished on someone, their word is taken as gospel, and disagreement isn’t tolerated and/or met with hostility by those doing the praising, it’s almost always a manipulator working out personal issues. Mt heart has her own little personality cult going.

It’s been proven she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She was once told “idk where you get your information, but this is not how it works” by someone whose family member works in the industry. The Daryl spin-off wouldn’t happen, Tales of TWD would be the most successful spin-off, and then no more than 6 episodes of Daryl would be made. Remember the claim about Carol’s voice being AI? And so on.

She and her collective wanted to “rebrand” the Caryl fandom into something that suited them—gatekeeping with a big dose of narcissism. Mt claimed she wanted all Carylers to have a voice, but she, and they, shut down dissent by turning off and deleting replies, allowing only a select few to speak. And there were more overt efforts, like basically telling those who criticized Norman to stfu, their opinions didn’t fit with the new fandom as they wanted it to be. “Tell your therapist and be the change you want to see.” 😭

All I can guess is that Carylers felt desperate after the spin-off was canceled, and were willing to look to anyone who said I can fix this. But that’s the person you always need to watch with a skeptical eye. This fandom is unusually susceptible to people who adopt strong personalities.

Mt heart’s obsession with protecting Melissa from her own career, as if she’s some kind of addled, naive, trembling dove doesn’t come from a healthy place. Of course sexism and misogyny are real, but the theme runs so heavily and constantly throughout mt’s posts that you have to wonder if it’s something personal being projected onto Melissa.

Now, on the basis of an unsubstantiated rumor, she’s whipping up Carylers to go fight another imaginary battle on Twitter. She rarely joins in with her own voice. Ever notice that? She wants others to do it. And as usual, she’s vague about how she knows anything.

Her tale now involves not one, but TWO Caryler showrunners. Does that seem like a bit of a stretch?

Here’s something I know to be factually, absolutely true—mt heart’s “sources” are random people on Twitter. She jumps into DMs pleading for information, asking if they know anything. She begged one of the worst Carol haters to tell what she knew, and had it thrown in her face.

She’s not being honest. She’s using Carylers.

Her ride-or-dies will fill her inbox with declarations of love for her selfless devotion to the fandom, but people are waking up and asking questions now.

Also, it shouldn’t be forgotten that mt heart defended a racist article on Twitter as “100% valid” because the writer was a woman, and when Black people objected, she sneered “unfollow me.” Very poor behavior by any measure.

Good on the folks starting to see through her. 🤝

#caryl #carol and daryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #caryl is endgame #daryl dixon #norman reedus

[lizardlicks]

one vague ATLA idea I have in mind for AU stuff is less specific but more of a broad AU spectrum and the general point is that instead of Team Avatar being a fairly small central group, they pick up people as they go along so that the folk who join them in the Zuko Friendship Arc and flee at the begining of the Southern Raiders stick around since their introduction; Haru, maybe a few members of Jet's crew, perhaps Jee from Zuko's crew following the end of Book Water, Chit Sang after the boiling rock, maybe even Iroh throughout Book One as a more extreme AU where Aang accidentally incapacitates Zuko and takes him hostage early on and Iroh and Zuko's crew go 'oh nooooo you have captured us and we're with you now I guess' while Iroh low key attempts to provide Aang perspective on the Fire Nation for dealing with them and some basics on Firebending philosophy, but anyway who else do you think would be interesting to see in this kind of AU joining up with Aang and his mission to free the world

Answering this TEN DAYS LATER OOPS

Personally I haven't thought about anyone else joining the gaang outside of Zuko joining the gaang early plots. First, I wouldn't include any of the adults. While yeah, there's something wrong with their world in the fact that actual teenagers have to save it from a century of war, if we actually stuck one of the adults into the group dynamics, they would alter the story and themes in a way I don't find satisfying. Too many of their own motivations and personal hang ups. Iroh works for Zuko because Zuko doesn't really have friends or any other social support, but even so to get to the core of Zuko, we have to separate Iroh's direct influence on him.

So for the other kids: NGL I think Haru as a character is boring. he's dry wheat toast. He exists only as a vessel for katara's hero complex. Teo could be a lot of fun; him and Aang play off each other really well, and it would give us more non-bender rep.

Jet I could not see willingly giving up his leadership role and joining the gaang. He might butt heads with Sokka first, but eventually he would piss off "everyone works together and does their fair share" katara, "I don't respect any form of authority" toph, and even "we're all friends and equals here" aang when he won't give any slack to the reigns-- metaphorically but also possibly literally. Similarly, I don't think smellerbee or longshot would willingly leave jet.

I love The Duke and Toph's relationship. I would have thought of anyone in the gaang for him to latch onto he would have gone with Aang or Sokka, but him looking up to and becoming really good friends with Toph is just really good. And him and Pipsqueak are more non bender rep too!

Suki joining the gaang earlier than canon would be great, especially if she brought a couple other kyoshi warriors along with and we got to see more of their dynamic as a group! Plus more sukka, and Sokka in the kw outfit.

Yue. Alright I apparently lied above, Yue is definitely one that I've thought about joining the gaang. In AUs where Yue lives, her getting out of the North and coming into her own as a person who can assert her expertise and authority is a big deal for her. Might also add some fascinating conflict: did she leave with Arnook's blessing or did she see an opportunity and leap??

Thousands of words have been devoted to the "zuko joins the gaang early" tag, but here's mine:

Zuko knows Azula. He knows not to trust when she puts her hands up and claims defeat. It's an old, old trick, not even a clever one, and they both know it. When her smile falls on uncle, Zuko doesn't even think twice. He's burned before. He knows how. Sinks into that familiar pain like an embrace from an old friend.

Iroh is horrified when Zuko drops like a stone (sick with guilt that he has to see this again, again, it never seems to end). Zuko stays down. His nephew never stays down. He begs the gaang for help, pleads for a mercy he knows neither of them have yet earned. They hesitate, but Toph also insists; Mushi, Iroh, whoever he is, he was kind to her. Whatever his nephew did, the other kids are alive and whole enough to bitch about him, so it couldn't have been so bad as to deserve a slow, painful death.

Katara pulls back his clothes, revealing the burns, the deep purple-black bruises from his fight with the earthbender soldiers, his starvation and exhaustion. It's abundantly clear to everyone that Zuko needs more help than they can give just standing around in an abandoned desert town, and the kids are exhausted. Iroh asks one more favor, a big one: watch over his nephew and keep him out of trouble while Iroh tracks down some old friends who will help find someplace safe for them to hide.

It's only supposed to be temporary, but now the gaang have to deal with wrangling a cranky, ornery firebender who's ass much a threat to himself as he is to them.

#asked and answered #the gaang #atla

[ethicallysourcedhumanmeat]

god. so my current crochet class was miss-advertised and I've got a class of folks who have mostly never touched a hook before

and that on it's own is like frustrating but its fine. I have tutorials I have personally made, I sourced and purchased beginner level patterns, I took 2 classes to go over terms and stitches sent them home with materials to practice. I explained in class what to buy where to buy all of that.

basically I adapted, and supplied as many learning resources as I could and devoted 2 classes to beginner instruction while actively informing everyone multiple times that this is a project based class, you will pick a project and work on it.

I've also been clear that anyone who needs extra in person instruction can come to my drop in session on fridays for free. I'm also available on socials and by email for extra help, I'm willing to video call or make extra tutorials. I'm very clear on this, I get paid and extra 90mins a week just cover this availability.

But the class WAS STILL advertised as a project based class. where you pick a pattern and spend the classes working on it with me to instruct and help as you go. people have registered for this who do know a little or have taken a class from me and its really unfair to them to have me spending the entire class with the same people every week like???

and at the end of last week's class I stated clearly that this week we'll start projects, buy materials if you want to make a larger project. I explained how to read a yarn lable, how to read the material list on a pattern.

guys the emails

here's the thing, crochet feels awkward when you start, a lot of the issues people have can only be solved by doing it more. getting comfortable with the movements, getting your tension better it all comes with practice. crochet is forgiving but you have to actually start.

every time i teach i tell my students if you start with a square just finish it, dont keep restarting trying to figure out where you went wrong, make the whole square, then look at it. I say this because often there is nothing wrong but its new and it looks weird bc you're new, but the shape will cone about only if you keep going.

this is the first time I've gotten to the 4th hour of classes and none of the first timers will finish a square. and they can do it is the thing that bothers me. they hand me round 1 of a granny square and say "i just do not know what is going wrong" and i tug the stitches so its square, (showing them that that is all Im doing) tell them, "no its fine you're doing great!" they take it from me, unwind it and have me explain it again.

one woman is having tension issues, so I show her where on the hook to tighten the yarn, explain that even tho it feels like you should dont tighten the chain as you pull it off your hook or after you've pulled it off. I offer her a larger hook, the hook she brought is very small, i use that size on lace weight yarn. she refuses the larger hook, i watch her tighten the yarn after its off her hook. i explain again that these things are the problem. I get her a larger hook. she didnt use it.

like there are people there that make me feel like I'm on a reality show or a bad sitcom. I was begging them to just continue. To stop restarting to just have faith in themselves to set their goals to completion not perfection because its not going to be perfect the first time but it can get done. And again all these people CAN do it, I'm seeing them do it, anc telling them theyre doing it and they just literally tell me theyre not and restart whatever practice thing they tried.

I got an email response today from a lady that started last week and was 100% making perfectly good single crochet stitches by the end of class (2 hours), saying she didn't even know where to start and maybe she'll use the in class yarn and make granny squares because patterns will be too hard, maybe this class is too advanced.

this woman could crochet by the end of her first 2 hour class. i communicated that to her then like???

so i sent her a yarn label and explained (again) how to read it, told her that most of the patterns I provided last class were beginning friendly and like i said in my reminder email if she wants to start with a granny square project I can help her design it in class but she should by her own yarn and she won't really learn anything if she doesn't have a project goal.

i just genuinely do not understand how these people thought they were going to learn? if you want to learn to make something you have to start making the thing.

#like i get as adults #trying knew things #feels like more pressure to get it right #but also they paid to be there #they read the description #like you can't learn to crochet if you aren't crocheting something? #and i get the frustration #like I am going to school and having to do things #I've never done musically before #I get it #learning is hard #but I also need people who want to learn from me #to like grasp that #yeah i did it fast and mine is neater than yours #because I have 30 years of experience doing it #if you never finish a single granny square #you wont learn shit from me #I'm running out of nice ways to say it

[neopoliitan]

Oh boy, two whole new teams! I didn’t have it in me to finish the fully posed art so you’ll have to make do with the concept sketches.

Team PLUM was created as a magical girl style first-year student team by @mercurryblack​ based on female protagonists from romantic Chinese folk tales. 

As soon as I saw them, I was like “so we have a team of magical girls who are named after purple fruit who allude to female protagonists from Chinese folk tales. How about a team of manwhores named after yellow fruit who allude to their love interests?” And Team LMON was born to be PLUM’s boyfriends. A Team of 4 dating a Team of 4. 

Details under the cut:

PLUM:

Plum Shantung:

The leader of PLUM. Fun-loving and quirky, but possesses a nasty jealous streak verging on the yandere. If another girl talks to her boyfriend, Mango, it’s at their own peril.

Her semblance, “Medium”, allows her to bond with one person - making both of them able to see through each others’ eyes.

Her weapons take the form of Hook Swords.

She alludes to the Weaver Girl from The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Lychee Nolina :

Originally from Avon, Vale, Lychee is the older of two half-sisters via a shared father. Her mother is financially well off, allowing Lychee to attend Haven Academy while her half-sister languishes in Avon’s second-rate combat school. Lychee is still coming to terms with being passed over as leader of PLUM, her mother's self-entitled influence having worn off on her somewhat.

Her semblance, “Medium”, allows her to shed a layer of her aura, removing the damage and healing her slightly, as well as making her feel refreshed. Is dangerously vulnerable in the first few moments after it is used. Acts as a sort of second wind.

Her weapon is named Altissima.

She alludes to Bai Suzhen/Madam White Snake.

Umecho Sekinetsu :

From one of Mistral’s more prestigious families, Umecho has a lot to live up to - her elder sister won a Vytal festival ten years ago and she hasn’t heard the end of it. The “mom” friend of Team PLUM, Umecho doesn’t take into account how much she pushes herself while taking care of her team or attempting to live up to her sister’s glory.

Her semblance, “Swarm”, projects light-based butterfly shaped homing projectiles.

Her weapon is named Metalmark.

She alludes to Zhu Yingtai from The Butterfly Lovers.

Mei Xanadu:

Mei is a curious case; despite her diminutive stature and complete lack of muscle definition, she is somehow one of Haven’s physically strongest students. What she completely lacks in terms of brains, she makes up for in her ability to lift a car above her head. Mei is literally so dumb that she found a way to speak with Every Word Capitalized, and is often found with her eyes glazed over after having forgotten to exist.

Her semblance, “Breakthrough”, makes her able to detect or ‘feel’ weak points in inanimate objects.

Her weapon is a pair of gauntlets named Blockbuster.

Alludes to Lady Meng Jiang.

LMON:

Limon “Li” Nikau:

Li is easily the smoothest customer on Team LMON. Confident without seeming vain, comfortable in any scenario - and he’s bold enough to pull off the Male Boob Window/Leather Pants combo. There are very few people in the world who can find anything to hate about Li, and he’ll easily win over anyone with a grudge.

His semblance, “Air Burst”, allows him to “fire” compressed air from his body like an air cannon, 

His weapons, Albedo, take the form of folding swords (think a giant switchblade) that turn into dual pistols.

Alludes to Liang Shanbo from The Butterfly Lovers.

Mango Marula:

Easily the cockiest of Team LMON, Mango is a self-proclaimed heartthrob. Despite his confidence and decent looks, he always had trouble with getting a date - until he met Plum. Now he thinks he’s a god amongst men because his girlfriend is so devoted to him, ignorant of her willingness to destroy anyone who threatens to drive them apart.

His weapon is named Zest, and takes the form of a shepherd’s crook/grappling hook/hunting rifle.

He doesn’t have a defined semblance, but it’d be something to do with bridges - either metaphorically or literally.

He alludes to the Cowherd from The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Yuzu Ogonkan:

Broad, Big and Built, Yuzu is a man of few words. Many are entirely unsure if he can even speak outside of throaty growls and wordless roars in combat. Strangely his wordlessness led to a bond (and eventual romance) with Mei Xanadu who can’t seem to stop talking. Perhaps her deceptive strength earned his respect, as he is deathly loyal to the brainlet, the only person he lowers his walls for.

His semblance, “Cobble,” allows him to summon small rocks to his body to form a sort of rudimentary armour.

His weapons, Rind, are two huge bladed knuckles. Imagine Wolverine’s claws mounted on gauntlets.

She alludes to Lady Meng Jiang’s... husband. Who got crushed by the Great Wall.

Xun Ningmeng:

Where Yuzu is a terrifying eight feet tall, LMON’s resident Manlet is barely over five feet. Xun is a studious, sensitive young fellow, which caught the eye of the more bold Lychee Nolina. Eager not only to date Xun but to help him more combat-viable, Lychee convinced Xun to take up more physical training - Xun agreed... on the condition he could have free rein of her wardrobe, and now she keeps finding him wearing her thigh high socks.

His semblance, “Standby”, allows him to go into a meditative stasis-like state where he doesn't think, feel or perceive the passage of time.

His weapon is a pair of beartrap-like jaws on chains, named Flytrap.

Alludes to Xu Xian.

#rwby #rwby art #rwby fan art #rwby oc #rwby original character #oc #rwby fanart #art #fanart #team plum #team lmon #plum shantung #lychee nolina #umecho sekinetsu #mei xanadu #limon nikau #mango marula #yuzu ogonkan #xun ningmeng

[obeetlebeetle]

(1) im so glad u liked my kpvvy ask! i loved reading ur answer and ur thoughts on how it would shake out. i agree that kpvvy are more bittersweet mirrors than trying to save/serve each other, and that respect is so interesting to me. i was worried about word limit so i didn't mention rue who is ofc important to all of this too - rue learning of wuvvy's betrayal done in the name of love...when i sent the au, i forgot about the glamour aspect

hi. so. i maybe wrote an essay in response to this chain of asks. and honestly very little of it is fun and shippy, it's basically a wuvvy deep dive after the first 400 words. but, y'know, if you squint it's still ostensibly abt a kpvvy au.

if u read it and think 'ok well this guy is a drag' my only defense is that yeah i am kind of a drag.

some mild au hcs to soften the blow:

wuvvy calls in her favor right away, getting hob to help set up the potions, but they fall into the habit of doing tasks for one another in exchange for a favor, which is always called in as another task.

hob's tent is a mess and his presentation is immaculate; wuvvy's to-do list is perfect and she never manages to look tidy. she helps him reorganize with her system, and hob shows her how to care for her clothes and her hair, braids it back on busy days so she isn't stressed, hides love notes in her pockets.

wuvvy introduces hob to the assistants to the assistant, the vast array of working class folk that make the event a success, and he finally feels natural and comfortable letting himself have fun with people who make sense to him.

being capable of beastspeech, wuvvy reads hob's letters to wrackingspelt. hob cries. wuvvy laughs at them both.

wuvvy arrives at the ball with rue but slips away with hob, confused and torn-up and fully in love with both of them. but dancing with rue in the light of the fireworks, kissing hob in the shadowy woods, feeling wanted and letting herself be wanted for the first time in her life, she is deliriously happy. she has always believed that if anyone saw how much she wanted from them, they would turn away in fear or disgust, or would otherwise suffocate under the weight of her affection while never giving her enough in return. between hob and rue, however, she's finding that they can love the monster in her, and their love might actually sate her appetite.

ok. that's all i got. essay:

(1) im so glad u liked my kpvvy ask! i loved reading ur answer and ur thoughts on how it would shake out. i agree that kpvvy are more bittersweet mirrors than trying to save/serve each other, and that respect is so interesting to me. i was worried about word limit so i didn't mention rue who is ofc important to all of this too - rue learning of wuvvy's betrayal done in the name of love…when i sent the au, i forgot about the glamour aspect

(2) so i was thinking of wuvvy secretly approaching kp as herself + generally sussing him out more thoroughly. maybe this would be a way of disarming kp's skepticism, false honesty. kp + rue are harder for me to understand, i have trouble picturing what would happen next. how would hob feel to get to know an equal he admires? so much more approachable + understanding of devotion. maybe wuvvy's just nice at first and then friendly sparring becomes… more than friendly lol

yeah ok! this is a completely different narrative if wuvvy approaches hob as herself. i’m working with something similar for the cyrano au — hob and wuvvy establishing a dynamic that revolves around occupying similar roles with VERY different feelings towards those roles. the question is whether hob would fall for the seduction — if wuvvy approaches him after that moment in the woods, after the burnt letter, i dont know that he would be taken in. this is rue’s best friend, after all. if she approaches him with commiseration and friendship, though, she might catch his heart, and that would make the most sense for her getting the opportunity to see and sympathize with hob.

from there, well. i see them finding each other as collaborators. we know that if hob meets a fey that works and that seeks out his company, he will genuinely want to help them. and we know that he likes the bloom, he’s inspired by it, so there is a lot of opportunity to him to spend time learning about wuvvy’s tasks. she earns his trust by letting him in, then uses that bond to “help” with his own task, situating herself as an outsider to the court of wonder in order to become his confidante, his fellow spy. i like them sparring, i like them sharing their mother tongue with one another, and i do think there’s passion to be explored there. but another scene that jumps out to me is them pouring over the wall of red string and feeling like conspirators, drawing closer behind closed doors. since it’s the seduction angle, i imagine this is where wuvvy would start engaging his affections through tenderness. 

(3) the lying would still be lying, that hob caught feelings for wuvvy who is sacrificing herself as a honeytrap for rue. but it's double ouch feeling for him that: not only did wuvvy know the saboteur was rue all along but that she did this FOR rue rather than genuine connection. that wuvvy thought he was dangerous for rue, never actually trusted/liked/wanted him. who could ever like him, etc. easily manipulated blunt instrument. (wuvvy = fine instrument?)

you def hit the nail on the head as far as the severity of the betrayal. hob doesn’t take being used lightly when it comes to rue’s lie, and this would be exacerbated by the fact that he WAS manipulated on purpose and that he WAS taken for a fool. it could only be tempered by real feelings of love and care from wuvvy. bowie emotionsandphenomena pointed out that hob is not functionally a blunt instrument; that may be how boil and blemish see him, but his plans are precise and intelligent. if they’ve been working together, wuvvy would see that, and the betrayal compounds as hob is left feeling as stupid and humiliated as he does when being lambasted by his superiors.

(4) wuvvy, eventually guilty and burning up inside maybe. liking and pitying hob more than she expected. her closest friend besides rue is theo, who she may not have seen for decades or centuries since the last bloom, she has not been lonely but she has only had rue as rue has only had her. with hob it is fun to fight and run and get messy in ways she can't standing next to rue, moving for rue. hob would never, could never tell her what to wear.

(5) idk how rue would re/act… idk if i can see rue falling for wuvvy once hob comes into the picture. maybe if hob really is distracted by wuvvy + refrains from pursuing rue, they would start seeing her as she cares for them: wipes their tears/holds them. but it's hard for me to see how this would help rue see wuvvy's love as romantic. rue learning this has been happening, that wuvvy came between them and hob makes me feel insane tho. it feels so doomed for wuvvy. 

wuvvy is not someone who wants to confess her feelings, ever; she doesn’t really seem to trust anyone but herself. honeytrapping hob is just as good as being rue’s assistant because she can create rules for it, she knows what will be expected of her and she acts accordingly. it’s a job, and wuvvy, like hob, is only able to identify her value in being good at her job, in how she meets the conditions she has set. this model has worked well for her thus far; she genuinely has been happy with her arrangement with rue. it’s rue that identifies that she acts a certain way around them, represses some part of herself to make room for rue. it’s rue that identifies, upon divesting themself of their loyalty to the court of wonder, that their position affords them a measure of control over wuvvy.

in contrast, lying to and manipulating hob would put her in that position of control. & she would start to understand why control doesn’t allow for desire. negotiating who has the upperhand when one party can never really achieve that position is not possible.

i think that that’s where this starts to come together. wuvvy sees in hob what happens when you give yourself over to someone so that you are not responsible for your happiness. she can see what it means to be taken advantage of, to be used, and to accept that as the price for having all your decisions made for you. her performance of affection becomes real the longer the honeytrap persists, because she’s seeing the way hob is treated by his court and the lack of joy in his life, which leads her to confront what she has actually been seeking in her relationship with rue.

importantly, wuvvy is happy in her model of devotion. she loves rue, and until that moment in ep3, rue has not used wuvvy, has not wounded wuvvy, and has given wuvvy everything she asked for from the relationship she herself facilitated -- it was a choice, after all. it was the last one she had to make.

loving hob and knowing she has power over him, has used him, and having him love her is what makes her realize that she wants a different relationship with rue — a collaborative relationship, where neither party has the ability to use one another because instead they rely on, care for, and support each other instead. hate to signpost my own analysis but, i have a whole treatise on how this was the climactic point in canon kprue and how it gets reconciled between them.

as far as ruevvy and kprue in the au — rue was canonically falling for wuvvy at the start of the story, and with hob’s attention on someone else after the woods while wuvvy supports rue through their reveal and encouraging their happiness, they would fully commit themselves to wuvvy. it’s less of rue recognizing wuvvy’s feelings and more rue developing their own feelings. and we know that rue would choose to act on those feelings. rue, like hob, hates lying. meanwhile, kprue looks more like canon kpvvy — there’s mutual attraction, perhaps a deeper bond if they get the chance to learn about each other, hob respects and admires rue, rue is jealous of but sympathizes with hob, etc. they don’t have the opportunity to fall in love, but the capacity for love is there, and the closer they draw to wuvvy the closer they will draw to one another.

so when it comes down to it, when wuvvy and hob have fallen for each other, when hob realizes the depth of her betrayal and demands truth at last — well, honestly, i think that they would come to a duel without a confession from wuvvy. they would fight, and as they fight wuvvy would try to defend her actions, and in the defense she would finally let slip the secret that defines her: the impetus was love for rue.

even having been wounded by her, hob would respect wuvvy’s play because of that love, the 'this is how far you will go for rue’ of it all. hob and wuvvy and rue are all written as characters who know how to play the game and play it perfectly. it’s just that rue and hob played it for the courts, which made them unhappy & led to their deep need for authenticity. wuvvy plays it for rue, and hob would see it and WANT that, because wuvvy loves lying so much that she wields it like a board-and-blade. hob would admire it! as long as he gets to be on the other side of it, as long as the player is a person he loves, the only thing that matters to him about their tactics is whether or not they'll include him in the planning. 

so i don’t think it would be a doomed ending for wuvvy. in canon rue is able to forgive her without knowing what she did — they respect wuvvy’s tremendous capacity for love, and they don’t mind that no one gets to know why she does what she does, as long as she's doing what she wants. as far as hob, in canon he doesn’t mind everyone constantly revealing their plans or true selves, because now he gets to see how it all worked. this is why kpruevvy is SO potent to me: wuvvy, a character who wants to be the exception to the rule, could only ever have that same exception with rue and hob. they are all ruthless when it comes to love.

in the end, it would come down hob finally recognizing his true nature in wuvvy. taking her off the pedestal and seeing that she wants something that service has not afforded her. wuvvy letting herself want something. both of them realizing that they found real love in one another, and hob forgiving her because he finally understands why. i like the idea of rue interrupting the duel, being there when it all comes to light, and being able to ask them, what was it all for? What, of anything, made them happy? the answer being, ofc, their time spent together, working together, having someone on their side, having someone to touch and kiss and fight and hold. rue is one who allows them to interrogate the burden of love, and how devotion negotiates or excuses that burden through the way devotees develops their selfhood around their object of devotion. this is the sticking point in both wuvvy and hob that rue is constantly trying to unpick; rue is the one to introduce mutualism, the profound benefit of an ethic of care rather than an ethic of service.

(6) unrelated to the au, idk if the canon kprue ending is happy to me, it feels sad like yes rue loves hob, but i feel like hob is wuvvy 2. did he really want to leave the ALL of the goblin court? his salt goblins? grabalba? idk. out of the frying pan… opposite to how i feel about wuvvy's ending - unhappy but free, at least. the mercy of that, out of sight… sorry for so so many asks! i wish the char limit was longer.

sorry but you really lost me here : ( rue knows that hob loves them, hob knows that rue loves him, and the relationship they enter into is explicitly a romantic one, which is to say, fundamentally different than rue’s relationship with wuvvy. taking on wuvvy’s role in rue’s life doesn’t mean that hob takes on the power dynamic that she had with rue. & like, looking at every interaction hob has with a member of the court, it’s clear that they are not his friends, his family, his confidantes — i know we all love grabalba, but she doesn’t care about him, and frankly he only cares about her as far as a codified relationship of fealty to her king. the unnamed goblins are primarily shown to tease hob, boil and blemish use him, and the military unit he commands has no affection for him, just loyalty. he was writing letters to his horse. idk i really dont see how finding love, devoting himself to someone who cares about him, experiencing desire and intimacy, and ultimately building a new life with them alongside their friends, could be construed as anything other than a happy ending. it’s bittersweet, i suppose — he has a lot to unlearn, and he has a lot to discover, and there will be a very long period of time where he struggles to accept the vast changes in his life. but i don’t think any of those changes will have been for the worse.

#be forewarned that below that readmore is. well it's 2.5k words #I Would Say That I Think About Wuvvy Acofaf A Normal Amount #kpvvy #kpruevvy #acofaf

[aquato-family-circus]

I felt perplexed about the news of Maligula's coffin to be empty for two reasons. 1) If this was Ford's idea to cover up Lucy's identity then why didn't he or Otto make a fake skeleton? 2) If this wasn't Ford's idea then why would people assume Maligula's dead the news about Ford defeating her caught many's attention even having a poster the attack of Grulovia was sudden so many didn't know to evacuate and could survive to witness Ford taking her away or he could say she's in a private prison.

After she broke the dam, Maligula snaps and starts going on a rampage, destroying the Grulovian capital city and potentially neighboring cities/villages. Anyone who didn't know to retreat from the city would be dead, so there's no civilians who witnesses the fight between the Psychic 6 & Maligula. In fact the capital is so deeply flooded that you can see the water has completely submerged all the buildings in the vault "Ford Forgets".

Ford purportedly landed the final blow on Maligula. He kept his plan to recover Lucy's body from everyone (and in fact it seems to be an impulse decision he made after the fight), so none of the other Psychic 6 would ever be involved in the cover up. By all their honest accounts, Ford killed Lucy.

How Ford managed to completely conceal his initial actions from his friends is left ambiguous, but we know

1) The battlefield was the remote, desolate remains of the captial; even if there were survivors of the flood, they are no where near the scene of the fight. I'm sure the Psychic 6 wouldn't allow for that and quartered Lucy somewhere she was alone.

2) Ford literaly broke his brain erasing the memory of ever doing anything to hide Lucy, so the Psychic 6 and any other folks who wanted to look in his head wouldn't be able to find that information even if they knew to look.

Which leads back to Maligula's Tomb. Honestly, I'm pretty sure Ford was not involved in that part at all. I think whatever devoted few of the Grulovians left who believed in the country's power must have made a grave for her, and left it empty because there was no body to bury.

News of the tomb being empty after someone opened it most likely got twisted by the mystery and misinformation behind Maigula's true defeat, and got reported as her body getting stolen. I assert it's just misinformation being reported in the news because it's 100% not possible for any Delugionists or otherwise to have stolen anything, but they could have tried. Plus all the other newspaper articles about Maligula are always going to inherently be wrong because of how Ford covered up her survival.

I tried to lay out everything that seemed to be confusing for you in your ask, I hope it helps?

The short version boils down to "Maligula's Tomb Empty!" is foreshadowing about her true nature obscured by the red herring of necromancy being involved. It's not meant to imply Ford or the others were involved nor that this means more people than Ford and Gzar Theodore knew Maligula really survived.

#asks #psychcrash34

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

Professor Birthday Episode 2: "Wishes" Thoughts

Well, folks, Joey isn't playing Cupid. As vaguely disappointed as I am, I really loved this episode!

Going off of Episode 1, the other promo material (Meredith talking to five year olds as Professor Birthday is just the purest thing ever), and just the general vibes of the project, I was not expecting the humor in this episode to get so wry and dark. But it did! Don't get me wrong, it stays very silly, but the jokes were super accessible to an adult audience,, and some of them felt specifically targeted to people over the age of 21 (Joey's ten-day tenure, anyone?)

Professor Birthday is developing into a terrific character, both believably and deeply flawed without losing an ounce of likeability or becoming someone we no longer "wish" to root for. She accidentally does some fairly questionable things in this episode while scrambling to do something right, and I'm excited to see how her character continues to develop. Fritz is still long-suffering, devoted, and competent, and Joey's nervous energy as Joe (I wonder where that name came from...) was a delight. My understanding is that this is his only episode, but on the off-chance that I'm wrong I'd be happy to see him again.

Per usual, Clark's songs are bops! I was particularly taken with the song about making small wishes--it feels like the answer to a parents' prayer for making their younger kids wish for something reasonable for once, and that real-world aspect of it just cracks me up.

I'll be making a small and reasonable wish on my birthday next year, Professor Birthday!

Pretty sure next week's episode is Brian Rosenthal's (since the cast in Apple Podcasts seems to be listed in order of appearance). Looking forward to seeing what wacky character they dreamed up for our other Tin Can Bro!

#professor birthday isn't famous #eric kahn gale #joey richter #clark baxtresser

[tyetknot]

Treading The Mill Tuesdays Chapter 7 – Approaching The Powers – Part 2 and Conclusion

Chapter 7 – Approaching The Powers – Part 2 and Conclusion

Introduction | Hallowing the Compass | SpellCrafting | Censing the Sacred | Entering the Twilyte pt 1 | Entering the Twilyte pt 2 | SpiritWorking pt 1 | SpiritWorking pt 2 | Approaching the Powers pt 1

Hello dears! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? The only defense I can offer is that I am sick and fucking tired of this book and Nigel Pearson and his bullshit. I’m tired of it, but I’ve got some free time and I want to see this nonsense through to the bitter end. So let’s get started.

Pearson now turns his attention to the Goddess.  He opens this section with a five-stanza poem/hymn/devotional piece which I wouldn’t consider out of place in any of my rituals. After this he once again has to stop and tear other people down:

“The Goddess, as perceived in Traditional Witchcraft, is not the “Triple Moon Goddess” of Robert Graves’ “White Goddess”, so beloved of modern pagans and Wiccans. Neither is she solely the fertile Earth Mother of so-called “Neolithic” belief.”

Venus figurine found at Çatalhöyük in 2016

I am sure you will be absolutely shocked to see that in the next few pages Pearson describes a divinity who is curiously similar to the capricious and cruel deity Graves depicts in The White Goddess. He sort of flip-flops around a bit, and uses phrases that readers in classical mythology will recognize – there are snippets of the Cyme Aretology of Isis, the statue of Isis at Sais, the Fates, and others. He also says:

“No one depiction of the Goddess can fully express Her powers and nature but Her essence exists in all the goddesses invented by Man – for all have been.”

This sort of flies in the face of his earlier complains that only idiots believe ‘All gods are one god’, but consistency has evidently never been one of Pearson’s virtues. He also states “it is from her that we all issue and to Her that we shall all return at the end of times” which sounds perilously close to that line from the Charge of the Goddess: “From me all things proceed and unto me they must return.” Funny how that keeps happening! He complains again that “She bears little resemblance to the bright, loving, and caring Goddess of modern pagan practice.” Sorry folks! Your Goddess just isn’t edgy enough!

CRAWLING IN MY SKINNNNNN

Pearson states that there are two titles for the Witch Goddess, the Great Queen and the Black Goddess. Let’s take a look and see what he says:

The Great Queen

This is a deity of “Life, love, sexuality, death and the Land”. I’m not really sure how this is different from how many modern pagans view the Goddess, but OK, sure, whatever. She is concerned with things that pertain to being alive. Pearson’s descriptions here really remind me of The White Goddess, in that Gravesian “The goddess fucks you and then destroys you” way, up to and including a comparison to the sow who eats her own farrow. ”To feed and nurture her cub, the vixen must kill the fluffy bunny and present it with blood-stained muzzle.” The fluffy bunny. I’ve been saying this for years, but it bears repeating – a lot of traddies really, really remind me of the kind of person who spent a lot of time yelling that fluff-bunnies would be the death of Wicca back in the early aughts.

He also identifies the Great Queen with the Land in the same way a lot of books associate a queen with the land, you know, like you read in books on Celtic mythology, but also identifies her with the inexorable forces of nature.

Next Pearson presents an exercise to form a relationship with this aspect of divinity, which he calls ‘Addressing the Dame.’ The title of this makes me want to scream for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has been reading my Tumblr. It entails making a sort of image or representation out of found natural materials in which the spirit of the Great Queen may dwell to which one may make prayers or petitions (but remember, as he mentioned earlier, witches do not worship deities). Once the framework of the representation is done you make regular trips to gather more materials to add to it, veiling it with a black cloth between trips. After a year and a day the work is completed and you will have a finished link to the Great Queen in all her faces and aspects, as it were, collected over an entire cycle of the seasons. He stresses that this should not be undertaken lightly (which is correct) but I feel like there should be some instruction on what to do if the image needs to be taken apart or destroyed for some reason.  It’s not a terrible idea, but he also doesn’t give many suggestions for what to do with this (should it be veiled at all times, for example?) but I feel like it would be an interesting exercise were it fleshed out a bit.

The Black Goddess

This aspect of the Goddess functions more as what I would say is more like modern pagan views of the Crone, the mysteries of the night, the Underworld, the spaces between the stars (mostly void, partly stars) and behind the Moon. He provides a description of a spiritual experience he had during the contemplation of the Black Goddess.

Pearson also states that the Black Goddess is the one who creates “the next shapes of force to be unleased on the world.” She is also a deity who makes magic work, if I am reading this correctly – “It is to this aspect of the Goddess that we appeal for any of the grand magics, the great life-shaping and life-changing works that we would attempt. These are not to be approached without great consideration and meditation beforehand but, when we are certain that it is the right thing to do – and Traditional Crafters do meddle and change things – then it is to the great Black Goddess that we apply for the permission and power to carry out the work.”

I’m not like other girls. I meddle and change things.

We are also presented with an exercise meant to form a connection with the Black Goddess and also find out where your life is going. This involves constructing a threefold Circle of salt, ashes, and a mixture of water, wine, vinegar, and salt, addressing four aspects of the Black Goddess at the four quarters, consecrating water, and then scrying into it. It’s not a bad working!

Next up is a section titled Approaching the Power. This is a place where Pearson contradicts himself quite a bit, saying that some witches actually do believe that the God and Goddess come from one ultimate Power, which he suggests could be a Goddess who birthed the one he calls the Goddess, a sort of primeval creatrix like Chaos. Alternately, some may view this ultimate Power as the witches’ Devil, a being of rebellion and cunning and disorderliness. And yet some may view this Power as a union of the God and Goddess, which he describes in fairly conventional heterosexist terms. Nevermind that earlier Pearson shit all over Dion Fortune’s ‘all gods are one god’ maxim. Like I said, consistency is not his forte.

He also seems to believe that Traditional Witches existed historically: “Certainly they gathered together upon occasions when fellows were known in the vicinity and certainly they swapped lore and instructed each other in their individual ways of knowledge.”

He points out that dedication and initiation are separate things (correct) and provides a ritual for self-dedication. This is not a process I can disagree with! Initiation, as he states, is something bestowed upon you by another, be it a group of people you are joining or a spiritual experience. His self-dedication ritual contains elements that will be very familiar to anyone who has read anything on the subject – blessing with the four Elements, quarter calls, making a declaration of dedication. His ritual has some actions and language clearly borrowed from trial records from the European witch hysteria.

The closing of the ritual is conventional, and at this point he ends the book – no further information, no afterword or conclusion. Our long national nightmare is over.

Conclusion

It’s over! It’s finished! I finally got around to completing my chapter-by-chapter teardown on this shitty, shitty book. I don’t like his writing style. I don’t like his bad editing. I don’t like Pearson’s bad habit of making portentous, ominous statements with no follow-up, explanation, or further detail. I don’t like his shameless pillaging from other writers, the complete and total lack of footnotes and sources, or his constant whining about how awful those Wiccans are while lifting ideas, ritual practices, and theology from the religion wholesale. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating – there is nothing in this book that would be out of place in a conventional book on Wicca, nothing.

I’m still angry that some old fart Gardnerian Third Degree who had been initiated by Buckland who I met in the old Witches’ Chat Network chatroom spent so much time verbally fellating this book, to the extent that I actually found a copy of it, because this book sucks. It is tepid, bland, very pedestrian writing, and while it has some actual rituals and workings in it, the way that they’re presented and the pointless ramblings and incessant whining about other pagans that fills the pages between those rituals and workings made this an unpleasant read. Should you purchase this book? No. Should you illegally download this book mysteriously find a .pdf of it on your computer somehow? Also no. There are infinitely better books out there that won’t be as much of a waste of your time.

Consumnatum est.

#ttmt #treading the mill tuesdays #treading the mill #traditional witchcraft #tradcraft #trad craft #Fucking Trad Craft #nigel pearson #review

[medea10]

My Review of Requiem of the Rose King

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just see what my thoughts were the second I saw the promo poster.

“This looks like something that should have been made 15 years ago and something Studio Gonzo should have put a pin in. Are there going to be a bunch of Texans doing English accents? This looks to be promising to the female yaoi demographic. How is there not an ALI PROJECT song prepared for this? Wait, can we still get an ALI PROJECT song for this anime? Why isn’t there an ALI PROJECT song for this anime?!”

This story is loosely based on Shakespeare's plays. England has been in a hot-bed of royal fights over which house is fitting of being crowned King of England, the house of York or the house of Lancaster. At the beginning of our story, it’s decided that Henry VI is the rightful king. But let’s see if a certain Richard has a say in the matter.

Richard is the third son to the Duke of York (and his name’s sake). Richard was loved by his father but despised by his mother. Take your pick, it could be because Richard is neither man nor woman, Richard was born under a bad omen, or the fact that Richard looks absolutely nothing like his parents or his brothers. Despite the harsh shitty upbringing, he’s still devoted to his father and wants to help his father pursue the crown.

However, Richard’s father fell to defeat at the hands of the house of Lancaster. But Richard is determined to keep the dream alive by having his elder brothers Edward and George hold the crown once it was won by any means necessary. He’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty or setting up anyone that gets in his way. But aside from that, there is a bit of a love story that revolves around Richard and Henry VI.

Neither of them knows of each other’s family name (at the beginning), but things get tumultuous when everything is out in the open.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Before I go into who is in this anime, I must always praise this one voice actor. Mitsuki Saiga! If you need someone who can play literally every gender in the known world and even a few undiscovered ones and Megumi Ogata is in the can, Mitsuki Saiga can get the job done! Okay now that I got that out of my system, FUNimation nabbed this one at the last minute and saw it quite fitting to give this an English dub. Oh fuck! The Texas brigade dubbing something clearly British! It’s Black Butler all over again where J. Michael Tatum is the clear winner and everything else is on levels between ‘okay’ and ‘cringe’. I don’t know. I’m not brave enough to hear the English version. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Richard is played by Mitsuki Saiga (known for Drew on Pokemon AG, Maria on FMA, Yelena on Attack on Titan, Henry on Black Clover, Kurako on Princess Jellyfish, Wolfram on Kyou Kara Maou, and Rossiu on Gurren Lagann)

*Henry is played by Hikaru Midorikawa (known for Zel on Slayers, Zora on Black Clover, Tamahome on Fushigi Yugi, Li on Code Geass, Yoshino on Clannad, Best Jeanist on My Hero Academia, and 16 on DBZ)

ENGLISH CAST: *Richard is played by Ciaran Strange

*Henry is played by Landon Mcdonald (known for Enmu on Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Shun on Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Shiba on Tokyo Revengers)

SHIPPING: Characters screwing each other in more ways than once. There’s a lot of betrayal, usurping, and manipulating people’s emotions just to get their way.

Yeah, that’s Shakespeare!

Anyone named Henry loved Richard. Anyone who looked like Henry VI loved Richard. Anyone whose sperm has come from a Henry and has a penis loved Richard. Is that gay enough for you now, fangirls? Okay, how about any women? Yes, there was Ann, Richard’s childhood friend. Ann loves Richard too, but she’s being lead astray because of her father and her betrothed.

Oh sure, Ann does return to Richard. But that’s only after she becomes a pregnant widow. But this is such a staged marriage. They haven’t slept with each other! Well Ann doesn’t know about Richard’s peculiar body, so we can’t blame him there. Richard still yearns for Henry even though he’s long gone. Even after that, Richard finds himself spending nights with Buckingham. Richard almost ended up in certain trouble after many nights of fucking. But the point is, there’s a lot to unpack here. At least Richard isn’t the only person with a messed-up love life in the family. His eldest brother Edward really is no better.

Let’s just say that when it comes to Edward, he has shitty taste in women. He was betrothed to another woman at the start of his kingdom when he met Elizabeth and got married to her. And don’t get me started on that bitch either. She married into the royal family with the mission of destroying it because they killed her first husband. She didn’t love Edward. She just wanted to have babies with him and have them take over and do her bidding when they’re older. Even when married with kids, Edward had a bit of a hedonistic lifestyle. I honestly think he fucked around too much and caught something.

Do I have a ship that I support? I know fans of the franchise have chosen what side they want to be on when it comes to Richard. Team Henry, Team Henry, Team Henry, or Team Catesby. I’m just going along for the ride and seeing what happens next. Go team!

HALFWAY MARK: The York’s getting the crown for England wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Warwick (a long-time ally) turned out to be a double-crosser early on. He betrayed King Edward and offered his daughter Ann to Edward of Lancaster. But to cover his bases, he offered his other daughter to King Edward’s brother George. It all comes crashing down as Warwick is taken out on the battlefield by Buckingham (posed as Richard). The Lancaster family is captured. Edward is murdered in front of his mother by Richard. Edward is fine by this as he does have a thing for Richard. Like I said, any sperm that came from Henry has a thing for Richard.

But the biggest hit for Richard came in the form of learning that Henry was indeed THAT Henry, the previous king and (to Richard) the reason why his father perished. Though we all know that it was Henry’s wife Margaret that killed Richard’s father. Henry winds up with a bout of amnesia and is unable to remember Richard or the time they spent together. Richard’s mother goes and makes things worse by poisoning Henry with words disparaging her son. You’ll find this happens a lot throughout the rest of the series. Hearing Henry repeat his mother’s words made Richard snap and kill Henry. Of course, Richard had orders by his older brother to kill Henry, but I think Richard was acting on impulse. After that, he hooks up with Ann (after he kills her husband, father-in-law, and father).

We then get into a time-leap. King Edward is a skirt-chaser. George is drunk. And Richard is married to Ann and taking care of her and the baby she had with her previous husband. But everyone seems to believe the lie that the kid is Richard’s. Even though Ann’s child looks like her previous husband and IS his. I will not say the names of the kids these people had because everyone’s name is the fucking same. Geez England, add some different names please. Not everybody has to be named Richard, Edward, Henry, and Elizabeth.

ENDING: Richard is now King of England. Now it wasn’t an easy path to get to the throne and he was behind several people in line. First, both of Richard’s brothers died almost at the same time. George was murdered and King Edward croaked from an unspecified illness. Next in line would be King Edward’s eldest son (who is still a child). Richard and Buckingham had to take care of King Edward’s crazy widow in the meantime. She had her eyes on the throne and a slow-moving coup in the works with her supporters. Richard was able to do away with Elizabeth and her children. A few episodes later, two of her children were poisoned and I’m sure Richard will get blamed for that. And then a certain thorn in Richard’s side continues to stir up trouble and that is his mother. She tries to get the public enraged by telling them Richard is a demon. But a stunt by Buckingham and Richard fooled the public and they are all in agreement that he must become king.

But Richard’s problems are only beginning. There’s still that slow-moving coup I was talking about in the works to oust him. Henry might still be alive. Richard’s body is still a cluster-fuck! No, seriously it is! He has breasts, a penis, and now I think he has a uterus. At least it feels like it when he got a check-up and we’re aware of how many nights he’s together with Buckingham. This however wasn’t the only time Buckingham fucked Richard as he kinda betrayed the crown and was beheaded as a result. Now Richard is going through some severe Henry-withdrawal. Oh yeah, Buckingham’s real name was Henry. Imagine that! Another character named Henry that has an unhealthy lust for Richard. Just because Buckingham is dead doesn’t mean the trouble is over. An uprising is coming from this weird guy that we see smiling and plotting, Lord Richmond. He thinks he deserves the crown and wants the death of Richard. In fact, he’s the guy that gave the poison candies to Edward’s sons.

Richard’s wife Ann was worried as her health was declining due to tuberculosis and wants her son to have nothing to do with the crown. So Ann dies and they fake her son’s death and have him go in hiding with a fake name. And then Richard’s crazy mother (who I’m surprised is still alive given the average life span of this family) comes out to call him a demon once more and rooting for Richmond to defeat her son. To top it off, I’m pretty sure he caught tuberculosis from his now deceased wife.

So now it’s a showdown between Richard III and Lord Richmond. Who will come out vict…I don’t even need to finish that question because everyone and their mother knows who wins. Richmond takes out Richard. But we end with Richard’s only loyal ally Catesby coming to rescue him. But we’re pretty sure Richard is done for. Whether it was the battle or the tuberculosis, he’s done for.

Shakespeare works are not for everyone. Even the more amusing ones like A Midsummer Night’s Dream are not for everyone. It’s an odd taste. And it’s not going to help when the mangaka comes out to say that the manga has so much more that the anime has neglected to show and a lot more sex scenes. In my case, it does entice me to read the manga. I’ve seen so many thoughts on the internet surrounding this one particular anime. Most of them hate it and others see it as an underrated classic. I just thought it was okay.

In fact, I would like to think of this anime as a picture book. Maybe it was just bad timing with me and most people who watched this anime at the exact same time as Demon Slayer’s recent season. Because going from that to Requiem can give you whiplash. But the way the animation was, it almost felt like a picture book. That’s the nicest way I can put it for an anime that doesn’t show much in terms of a battle when every other episode has Richard in a battle.

If you are a Shakespeare enthusiast, I would say give it a chance. This wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m glad I was able to give it a chance. I’ll still stay on the record that Romeo x Juliet was the best anime adaptation of a Shakespeare play.

If you would like to watch Requiem of the Rose King, FUNimation and Crunchyroll have every episode (including the recap) available for streaming.

#requiem of the rose king #richard III #henry vi #anne neville #edward of york #henry stafford #baraou no souretsu #warwick #anime review

[never-rpg]

Welcome to NEVER RPG! Please send in your url within 48 hours. Be sure to look over our checklist, this, & this. We hope you enjoy, or at least survive, your time on the island!

Welcome to the island, LANCE! You’ve been accepted as SAWYER with the faceclaim of Froy Gutierrez.

You had me sold the moment I read that Sawyer tries to see Pan as an eldritch being! And, honestly, that’s a pretty accurate comparison. I love your interpretation of Sawyer and the through-line of apprehension and cautious optimism in them that runs throughout your app! ‘The ocean mimics their voice, reminding them that they were not happy in the Other World- although wrong, here they had a family’. Also, I’m glad to report that your proposed connection with Cecco and the use of he/they pronouns for Sawyer have both been approved!

Welcome to the island, LEO! You’ve been accepted as NIN with the faceclaim of Piploy Kanyarat.

Leo over here bringing us bits of Thai folklore goodness! Having come from a more isolated and sheltered sort of environment, Nin has such a unique view of Neverland. ‘Amongst other mermaid communities, she was only vaguely aware that [legged folks] even existed, so she’s very wary of getting too close to anyone right now. Behaving a bit like a wild animal, she’ll find someone she’s interested by, inch closer, and the second they seem to notice her she’ll scuttle away’. I'm so excited to find out what sort of effect the island’s inhabitants will have on Nin!

Welcome to the island, MARNIE! You’ve been accepted as ECHO with the faceclaim of Madelyn Cline.

You have given Echo such depth and provided some seriously compelling and wonderfully genre-aligned motives behind the edge that makes her the only girl who can truly call herself a Lost Boy! 'the stakes for echo are higher than they are for most people, and she’s determined not to lose her place in peter’s pantheon of immortal lost boys’. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll leave it to you to reveal the details, but I am beyond ecstatic about your interpretation of Echo and I can’t wait to see her in action!

ADMIN NOTE: Okay, okay, okay. So today could have been an incredibly hard decision for me. Two absolutely AMAZING writers put in phenomenal ocs for the one remaining small folk spot! However, I am a rebel, you all know this, and so I’ve decided to accept both because I truly think our island needs the both of them!!

Welcome to the island, HARPER! You’ve been accepted as OAK with the faceclaim of Kit Harington.

You brought me not only Celtic symbolism but also Shakespeare and for that I thank you! Oak’s devotion to the island and his distinctive perspective of how it all works together is such a joy! ‘After all, there’s no point in keeping the Island going if the core of it, its sense of vivacity and mischief, is lost with it. Oak loves to make people smile. It tickles the part of him buried beneath ash. The fact that a grimace and a scream were so close to a smile and a laugh really just makes Oak’s job easier’. The island quite literally needs this energy!!

Welcome to the island, MADS! You’ve been accepted as TICK-TOCK with the faceclaim of Jenna Ortega.

You have this wonderful way of digging your nails into the classic Neverland mythos and reshaping it into something lovely, gothic, and shades darker than it was first presented and I adore that about you! ‘Tick-tock goes the clock but the clock is a croc, counting down your days one by one. the reaper will come knocking with a leathery hand, claws outstretched & canines gleaming. time is death, & death is hungry’. Tick-tock’s connection with the larger-than-life croc is everything I never knew I needed!!

* Your trusty admin, Vada Ray, has also decided to take on a third character: a merfolk oc named Anouk who’s bio will be posted shortly along with the other oc bios that were accepted today! 🖤

#nrpgaccepted

[babischlong-six]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms, 10 Tags

10 Characters you love or 10 Characters you want to stab in the eye

Tagged by lovely @gosiksmallspace ❤️

In no particular order, here are ten of my many, many favorites. (See if you can detect a pattern 😂)

1. Luo Fei – Detective L

He's a gentleman, he's a bitch, he's kindhearted, he causes problems on purpose, he respects women, he's a genius, but he's not an arrogant prick, as is the current wont of writers writing smart people. Luo Fei is unselfconsciously weird, ridiculously cute, and has the best sense of humor. Not to mention drop-dead gorgeous and played by Bai Yu. Luo Fei stole my heart from the moment he showed up on screen. Also he gives very bisexual energy.

2. Lan Qiren – Mo Dao Zu Shi

A pissy, honorable, rigidly uptight old man who spends his entire life picking up the slack of his ridiculously messy family. As you may come to find after reading through this list, I am partial to the characters archetype known as a "DILF." He's not even a main character, I'm just viscerally into him.

3. Han Jaeho – The Merciless

He's a terrible person, but GOD, he's irresistibly charming. Han Jaeho does the absolute worst things, but he still manages to inspire sympathy. Is it the magnetic personality? That weird cackle? The way he looks in a suit, covered in blood? The screwed-up, homoerotic relationship he has with the protagonist? We may never know.

4. Elim Garak – Star Trek: Deep Space 9

I can't even express how much this character is beloved by me. He's a fussy middle-aged tailor. He's a terrifying super-spy in exile from a fascist alien superpower. Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie. He's completely devoted to what he believes is his duty. His first appearance onscreen, he makes a blatant come-on at a young man. I love him.

5. Lin Nansheng – The Rebel

The character development on this guy is just *chef's kiss*. He's honorable, but he's a spy. He's idealistic and self-sacrificing, but he's also way too devoted to the "cause," capable of but not wanting to to endanger and sacrifice those closest to him. He is absolutely miserable and incredibly hot – especially later on in the series when he comes into his own.

6. Wu Xie – Tomb of the Sea

Wu Xie specifically as played by Qin Hao has a special place in my heart. He's a bastard in the same way that a cat pushing things off a table is. He's middle-aged and tired. He has intense chemistry with literally anyone he's on screen with. Morally ambiguous with ultimately noble goals, which is so sexy.

7. Tatsu – Way of the Househusband

I fucking love that manga. A former gangster turned househusband approaches the everyday struggles and triumphs of domestic life from a very unique perspective. Also, he can get it.

8. John Watson – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson

I grew up on this serial, absolutely fuckin love it. Vitaly Solomin's Watson is great – a perfect balance of spirit and enthusiasm, whole being a companion rather than a sidekick to Holmes (like in so many other adaptations). At this point with how I've grown up watching this serial and keep revisiting it, he and Livanov's Holmes feel kinda like my uncles.

9. Milady – The Three Musketeers

My very first literary/movie crush. She's such a cool, compelling villain, and a really interesting character. I was entranced by her as a kid (and confused about why 😂) and I still am. Again, the Soviet Three Musketeers serial version of her is paramount in my heart because it's what I grew up with.

10. Xiao Long Nü – Return of the Condor Heroes

Another early crush. She kicks ass, she's gorgeous, and she's got an outwardly cold personality. Again, young me didn't stand a chance.

Anyways, that's all folks. Tagging @the-marron ❤️ no pressure tho

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

hi logan ! i’m a lil late for the ttrpg meme but 39 - 42 for thaavia pls ??

Sam. Sam I love you, don't worry about being late, the timing on this was perfect, I was having... not a great night and this definitely helped.

Under a cut cause this got beefy. And anyone who wants to send me these, there's a link to the ask game at the bottom!

39. are they insecure about their appearance? how about their personality? what aspects specifically worry them?

Picked a great one right off the bat for sure. She's definitely not insecure about her appearance. She's not arrogant either, and knows full well that since she's built like a bear (both in the animal way and in the gay way) she's not exactly Standard Pretty. She knows she's not everyone's thing, but who is? Thaavia likes how she looks, and while she may not be the kind of person making folks swoon in the streets, she's also never been short of potential partners when she wanted one either. (Also she knows that even if she's not someone's type, there's no denying she has amazing hair. She busts her ass to keep it nice even while traveling, it's her one big vanity.)

As far as being insecure about her personality, that's... a tougher question. For most of her career as a medic/healer paladin, she's had a fair few cases of patients Reading Into It when she was just doing her job. There's been a fair (or rather unfair) bit of getting put on a pedestal by someone who just sort of assumed they knew what she was like and having a fairly brutal reality check that they rarely took well. So she's worked hard on putting up a front of being cold, distant, and gruff to try and nip that in the bud. And she's gotten very good at it. (16 charisma and she uses all of it to be a bitch.)

Either way, the end result is the same; most folks don't bother to get close enough to see her, to the point where she can see where the line is drawn on someone's perception of her, whether it's Thaavia they see or Paladin Godbarter™. I wouldn't go so far as to say insecure, because to me that feels more active than just a lack of confidence, but that could just be my own nitpick. Regardless, she never expects it when someone A) bothers to look past Paladin Godbarter™ to see the person under the reputation, and B) prefers Thaavia to the version of herself people like to build her up to be.

As far as what worries her, she's got some rough stuff in her past and some bad habits that she just... never fed rather than properly breaking and she's terrified that in the right situation they'll make themselves known again. All during her childhood she was raised being told she'd be a great leader to their tribe one day if she'd just learn to make The Hard Decisions, and while she prides herself on her greatest rebellion against her upbringing being her mercy, she also remembers exactly how she almost listened, what that choice almost cost, and what that promise could possibly bring out in her again. (I will not elaborate on specifics in the ask because Kade. I've been itching to reveal the big dramatic backstory stuff in game for over a year now. I really want to talk about it tho, so I could definitely be convinced outside of an ask.)

40. if you had to remake this character right now, how would you change them?

Probably not a lot of huge changes, actually. Maybe tweak her height a little (still freakishly tall even for a goliath, either down to 8 feet even or up to 8'6 just so she's the same height as Lucy while kneeling, because I enjoy when Kade threatens me with violence), possibly make her just a tiny bit older, an even 40 rather than 38. Maybe change her subclass to Redemption paladin rather than Devotion, but even that's a coin toss because both are Incredibly Thematic for her, but also mildly moot considering I plan on changing her to a homebrew of my own as part of her arc (Oath of Hubris, it's a whole thing that I'd love to go further in depth about.)

Also, I'd probably see about putting my foot down and making her and her fire genasi partner Thyris parents. Velita may not be canon, but she lives on in my heart.

41. how do you keep notes for this character, if at all?

.......I have. So many notes. I have the shared character document for her and her twin brother that details their backstory, NPCs to pull from, and tidbits of goliath culture stuff I made up for our setting and the DM went "Yeah I dig that, yoink." I have the actual in-game notes that I've been taking for, again, over a year at this point (two years in february) and a refined notes document I really need to finish and share with the rest of the table because my Stream of Consciousness style of typing is uh. Not super conducive to looking for specific details without a LOT of Ctrl+F and luck. I've got a document that's literally just her in-character journal of medical/herbal knowledge in the front half and scraps of poetry, songs, and books that she's jotted down because she loved them enough to not want to forget them. And, of course, 80% of my discord dms between me and Kade for the last two-ish years have been about Lucy and Thaavia that I can go back to.

I take so many notes. Otherwise the brain gremlins eat the thoughts so I can't get them back.

42. can they dance?

Oh definitely. It's not her first pick and she's not gonna be particularly dazzling with it, but she knows how to lead, how to follow, and how not to step on toes. That partner of hers I mentioned, Thyris? He's a bard. (Technically Bard/Sorcerer, with a significantly heavier leaning into sorc, but the point still stands.) He made sure she at least knew enough to keep from looking silly. Plus it was, and continues to be, a great excuse to just hold dance with her for several hours.

And to the rest of y'all, please for the love of god send me some more, I am chewing on the walls since all my dnd games keep getting cancelled for one reason or another!

#not to go too tmi but coming off of adhd meds against my will on top of #feeling like I'm screaming uselessly into the void about my characters and wondering what I'm doing wrong that I get zero interaction #without literally begging 40 times in a row #ANYWAYS thank you very much I appreciate it #answers to questions y'all actually asked #aelyosos #my ocs #thaavia godbarter elanigo #also at least briefly mentioned #thyris griswold #feel free to dig through their tags #Lucy's gonna get dragged into things with them eventually #they're who I'm referring to whenever I tag something as #i cast greater polycule