#also the fact that she had already died and she was brought back simply because they knew she could get the job done

[leavesdriftinginthewind]

I think what pisses me off most about the Wednesday fandom is that so many are intentionally ignoring the fact that Tyler is MEANT to be a tragic character because he is a Hyde. We basically have it beaten over our heads that Hydes are the outcasts of outcasts, deemed too difficult to help, and therefore abandoned and left to their own devices, basically giving them no way to NOT be tortured into being someone’s slave or ultimately having something tragic or awful happen to them that forces out their Hyde and leaving them to become a monster and/or get killed.

So many people blame Tyler for every bad thing that happened in this first season when he LITERALLY had no option but to do exactly as Laurel wished. He was TOLD to go murder the people he murdered, he was TOLD to get Wednesday to trust him, he was TOLD to go after Eugene, he had no CHOICE but to obey, it’s literally in the show’s lore. And we are both told AND shown what lengths Laurel went to to literally torture this teenage boy into becoming a monster that was FORCED to obey her. Not only that, but all that “mama” talk and physical touch is gag-worthy. SHE is the true monster who wanted everyone dead, and she ruined that boy’s life to try and get what she wanted. And the show INTENTIONALLY shows AND tells you all that.

We are SHOWN how Tyler was chained, beaten, poisoned to bring the Hyde out, to become Laurel’s perfect slave. And still so many see HIM as the “true villain,” stating that if he was truly “good” he never would’ve done all he did. Meanwhile the lore has TOLD you, Hydes have no choice. But WAY too many disregard this plot point entirely simply because they see it as something to cling to for their preferred ship to happen. That’s infuriating to me, truly. Not only from a standpoint of really loving Tyler as a character, but also from a standpoint of it being apparent to ME of where the story is going, and knowing that so much of the fandom is gonna be pissed off about it because it’s Tyler-centric.

We are given so much information about “Hydes have been banned from Nevermore for 30 years,” “Faulkner was studying Hydes but he died before he could finish his research,” “nobody knows for sure if, once unlocked, Hydes are only monsters or if the person they were is still in there.” Between all this within the narrative itself and Hunter talking about how he’s excited to explore the duality of the Real Tyler versus the Hyde next season, I think it’s obvious that Wednesday and Tyler are basically going to get to the bottom of this “are Hydes all 100% bad and dangerous” problem themselves, and the result of their research will probably get Hydes accepted back into Nevermore.

Wednesday already knows how unjust the whole system is, she mentions it FREQUENTLY in the first season. Once she gets past feeling betrayed by what happened in season one, it’s likely going to weigh on her that someone she cared about deeply enough to bring her walls down for, to actually seek out to KISS, was so hurt by this system that he ended up doing all he did. And Tyler is inevitably returning, the writers have talked about how we’re going to learn more about Tyler and explore his true feelings for Wednesday. They’ll be brought back together, no doubt. And thus, the deep dive on Hydes will probably begin.

I don’t care what you ship, I don’t even care if you really LIKE Tyler as a character, but I DO care that so many have made him out to be a pure villain simply because that suits their own personal narrative better, and makes them feel like it’s more likely their preferred ship will win the “war.” Like, try and WATCH a show, actually WATCH it, and not simply cling to bits and pieces that suit the storyline you’ve made up in your head. You’re SUPPOSED to hate LAUREL, you’re supposed to, at the very least, wonder if the Real Tyler is still in there, if he can be helped, and you are SUPPOSED to feel some pity for the boy who was forced into becoming an enslaved monster.

#I’m just so exhausted by the takes I’ve been seeing #especially on Twitter #about how Tyler is pure evil #and how anybody who loves him is scum of the earth #like no? #i actually paid attention to the show #and the character development #and the narrative we were literally told #Tyler is so much more complex #and making him out to be a purely evil one-note villain drives me up a fkn wall #sorry he’s a threat to your ship I guess?? #but you’re gonna be super pissed to find out his character is critical to the overarching narrative of the show #he’s literally the male lead #I feel like that’s very obvious #weyler #wyler #tyler galpin #tyler x wednesday #wednesday x tyler #wednesday addams #wednesday netflix #Wednesday #I’ll defend Tyler Galpin til the cows come home #you’ll never catch me NOT defending him

[evaglass]

Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 4

Going back to the story of the Ronin and the Bride

This is official concept art, I believe. Look at the blue eyes, then specifically look at the baby, and the blanket the baby is wrapped around her. That blanket is seen somewhere else.

It looks like the blanket baby Mizu had laying below her

It's also seen again in a flashback when Mizu is a child and also used as her belt throughout the show.

Remember when I said that the Ronin and Bride could also represent her parents. Using the connections with the films that influenced the show, as well as hints of foreshadowing, I believe Mizu's mother found out she was pregnant, probably tried to run away to raise Mizu in safety (like the Bride in Kill Bill), realized that finding safety for both her and Mizu might take more time than she thought, left Mizu in the care the maid, during that time her actual mother was found and killed by one of the white men like Fowler stated before she could ever reunite with Mizu.

I also have a hunch that Mizu's biological mother died the same night Mizu's childhood home went up in flames, and she was left to survive on the streets. It would make the scene where Mizu is a child swearing to her 'mother' that she'll avenge them. Of course, Mizu was referring to the maid, who later turned out to survive that night, but then her quest for vengance later shifted to the reason being of her existence as a 'monster'.

I also believe the blue eyes of the Bride from the puppet show when she comes back as an Onryo are supposed to represent Mizu's mother's eyes as well, and that she got her blue eyes from her mother. Like Yuki, Mizu could be a representation of her mother's need for vengance after death.

Why? Well, because, as I said earlier, she could have tried to run away and find the best opportunity to leave Japan unnoticed (like how Beatrix tried to run away with her unborn daughter), but eventually was found and killed. So, her rage lives on through Mizu because her mother was taken away from her, was stripped of the chance to raise her, to be there when she was scared, lonely, or sad, to see all her milestones, to let her know that she loves her, etc.

Mizu could be a representation of her mother's rage beyond the grave, and she doesn't even know it

When Fowler finds out Mizu is actually a woman, he knows exactly who she is. That she was raised in hiding, that she had a maid raise her, that there's a high bounty for her.

I don't think Fowler laughed at the fact that Mizu is a woman, I think he might have laughed because he finds the situation ironic. He knows that Mizu is out for vengance because she's mad about her existence; that a white man, who brought pain to many people with his three fellow white men, impregnated her Japanese mother, causing her to be born a 'monster', and costing her the ability to live a normal life.

Fowler found out Mizu wants all her potential white fathers dead before he even found out she's a woman. After finding out Mizu is a woman, a specific woman too, he laughs because maybe he knows none of the white men are her father because it's mother who was the European one, and she's going through all that trouble only for the white person responsible for her existence to already be dead.

So if that's the case, why didn't Fowler just tell her? Well, do you honestly think Mizu would believe him? If anything, she could have seen the potential reveal of her mother being the European as getting him, Skeffington, and Routley to dodge responsibility. Fowler is a shitty person, but he's not stupid. Mizu is also a bit hot-headed, she probably would have definitely killed him if he revealed something like that.

Fowler knows Mizu being mixed-raced is a big insecurity for her and has proven to her that she will do anything to kill the people responsible for it. Fowler not telling her, could possibly be for the reason of simply buying himself time because him telling her she won't find Routley and Skeffington without him gives him the chance to find away to escape when they arrive at the British Isles.

Now, there's the question of who could be Mizu's father. I'll explain in part 5 (I know this already long, but I'm almost done)

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6

#blue eye samurai #bes #mizu #blue eye samurai theory #abijah fowler

[klaineharmony]

Why We Ship: Neo/Trinity (The Matrix)

I have not felt compelled to write one of these posts for a long time, but I watched The Matrix: Resurrections again while I was working this afternoon, and Goddess, I have so many feelings about these two.

I think it's hard to convey how utterly capitating the original Matrix was, back in 1999. And I could not have said, then, everything I can say about it now, because I didn't have the knowledge of myself, or the vocabulary, or simply the experience to be able to articulate why Neo and Trinity (and Trinity especially, but that's a separate post) felt like everything. Even apart from the incredible worldbuilding and commentary on society that was The Matrix itself, they were something special.

A lot of people got really salty and irritated with Resurrections because they felt like it was "less about the Matrix" and "more just about Neo and Trinity." And god damn, if that doesn't say everything about two different audiences who watched the original trilogy. If you didn't see that the whole trilogy was about Neo and Trinity's love from the beginning, then we were not watching the same films. Neo is The One because Trinity loves him; that is established in the first movie. He cannot be The One without her; he cannot believe in himself as The One without her and her love. "The Oracle told me that I would fall in love, and that the man I loved would be The One. So you see, Neo, you can't be dead. You can't be . . . because I love you." She literally brings him back from the dead with her love; she makes him The One because she loves him. She is the driving force behind all of it. And it's not a coincidence that Neo does the same for her in Reloaded; he catches her in midair, he pulls a bullet out of her body and keeps her from dying because she is everything to him.

And here I am, still writing a post that is more about Trinity than about Neo and Trinity together. But this is what still strikes me about them after all of these years: their love is complete and beautiful and all-consuming, but it is also grounded very firmly in the grim reality they are living. They are not blind about the fact that they could die; they know that every minute of every day, and every minute the spend in The Matrix, could be the last one. They do everything they can to keep that from happening, and they train with everything they have to try and prevent it, but they know, all the time, that one of them could lose the other. They cherish every moment they have, because they are living in this terrible world where another day is never a certainty. But even with all of that, and all that they feel, they are willing to fight, to do whatever needs to be done to try and bring down the machines and the Matrix. They do not shy away from what they see as their mission and their duty to others, even while they are so anchored in each other.

And it's part of what makes Revolutions so tortorous (I hated that movie when it came out; it broke my heart). They know. They've known it's coming; they've been waiting for it, and they go to die together. They still hope that somehow, they will make it, but if they don't, their entire intent is to die together. Because they love each other, they have literally saved each other's lives and brought each other back from the dead, and they have spent their entire time together trying to dismantle the Matrix. If they have to give up their lives to do it, then they will. And I think the thing that hurt so much, when I watched Revolutions as a much younger person (and who am I kidding, it still hurts) is that they still died apart. Trinity died first, and then Neo, and while Neo was with Trinity when she died, he had already been blinded and couldn't see her, and he died alone. And it felt like a betrayal of everything they were in the most gut-wrenching, soul-destroying way. Their love not only changed the world, it saved the world and destroyed the Matrix and altered the relationship between the machines and humans - and they still died apart.

I remember being emotionally devastated by that last film, so much so that I couldn't watch the trilogy again for years. I was so shattered by the ending, it hurt so much, that I couldn't bear to revisit it. And again, I don't know that I could have said that at the time, but I felt it.

When the trailer for Resurrections came out, I was so emotional the first time I watched it that I felt a little blindsided. I had packed away everything Neo and Trinity meant, because their ending hurt so much - and then there they were, on my screen again, getting another chance. Getting the second chance and the ending they should have had - defying the odds with their love one more time, and in an even more epic way. Neither of them is living, in the Matrix. As Thomas and Tiffany, they're existing. They're brainwashed. They barely remember who they used to be - Thomas is convinced it's all in his head, and Tiff is only Trinity when she's working on and riding her bikes. It's only when they find each other that they start to find themselves again. And even when Neo escapes and he's back in the real world, the hope of Trinity and his love for her is the only thing that keeps him strong enough to keep fighting, the only thing that allows him to access his former powers as The One.

They help each other survive. And it's complicated and difficult and not always pretty, and it's always in the midst of a world that is against them and trying to destroy them - but they survive because their love survives. They love together and fight together and survive together, always.

#The Matrix #The Matrix Resurrections #Neo #Trinity #Neotrin #otp: I'm never letting go #Why We Ship

[haggishlyhagging]

In her book My Fight for Birth Control (1931) [Margaret Sanger] is quite clear about the fact that while birth control may have served economic ends, and while it was a practice consistent with her analysis of society, it was none the less a response to women's needs - and not to men's needs of a revolution - that induced her to take on the double task of finding out how pregnancies (and births) could be prevented, and then of distributing the knowledge to women. While today we may think that the greater problem is finding safe and satisfactory means of birth control, in Sanger's time the greater problem was providing women with the information of the means.

The law stated - in Sanger's own words - ‘that no one could give information to prevent conception to anyone for any reason’ (1931, p. 152). It was illegal to publish such information or to send such 'obscene' material through the post. Because of this 'conspiracy of silence', it is understandable that many women thought there was a ‘secret,’ known only to the privileged few. This was the case with Sadie Sacks, whose experience Margaret Sanger cites in her own account of her commitment to the struggle for birth control.

Mrs Sacks already had three young children when she became pregnant again, and because she could not afford another child, physically or financially, she procured an abortion and Margaret Sanger arrived as the nurse who afterwards battled for her life. The woman survived but was very despondent, informing Sanger that another baby would kill her (either through abortion or birth) and that she was desperate to find a way of preventing it. She asked the doctor what she should do and he treated the whole issue facetiously; he scoffed at the idea that she should want to have her cake and eat it too, and suggested that she ‘ban’ her husband to the rooftop. After the doctor's departure, Mrs Sacks implored Sanger to tell her the secret, and Sanger states with rage and frustration that she simply did not know how you prevented pregnancy.

Sanger too left Mrs Sacks's home and over the next few months felt uneasy - even guilty - about the fate of Mrs Sacks. Then she was called once more; this time Mrs Sacks died from the abortion. Sanger returned to her own home, stunned, but gradually convinced throughout the course of the night that ‘uncontrolled breeding’ was the central social problem and determined to do something about it. She writes that at that moment she renounced all palliative work for ever. ‘I would never go back again to nurse women's ailing bodies while their miseries were as vast as the stars. I was now finished with superficial cures, with doctors and nurses and social workers who were brought face to face with this overwhelming truth of women's needs and yet turned to pass on the other side. They must be made to see these facts. I resolved that women should have knowledge of contraception. They have every right to know about their own bodies … I would tell the world what was going on in the lives of these poor women. I would be heard. No matter what it should cost. I would be heard’ (ibid., p. 56).

In 1916, Sanger opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn - the main emphasis being on contraception, not abortion - and while it was designed to provide women with information it was also a deliberate attempt to test the law. News of the clinic quickly spread, women flocked to its doors, and poured out their feelings of terror and pain on this issue which haunted their lives but which was a socially and legally taboo topic. The premises were raided, the women arrested and Sanger says, ‘We were not surprised at being arrested, but the shock and horror of it was that a woman, with a squad of five plain clothes men, conducted the raid and made the arrest. A woman - the irony of it!’ (ibid., p. 158). There can be no doubt that Sanger saw women as a group, with shared interests and a common cause. There was panic among the women in the waiting room - who were being bullied by the police in the attempt to obtain their names so that they could later be subpoenad to testify - and there was chaos outside (women, baby carriages, children - all waiting to get into the clinic). When Sanger and Tania Mindell were taken away, one woman ran after them, screaming wildly for them to come back and help her. The clinic was closed; the court declared it a ‘public nuisance’. Sanger was imprisoned but went on to fight again - and again.

-Dale Spender, Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them

#dale spender #margaret sanger #female oppression #birth control #feminist history #forced birth

[passionfruitbowls]

i know i haven’t written anything in a hot minute but i wanted to do something short and sweet for valentine’s day, so have this post-reveal ladynoir ficlet 💕

—————

“You okay? You’ve been awfully quiet since we got here.”

Slowly, Chat Noir opened one eye and glanced at Ladybug, who was looking down at him from her spot on top of the chimney.

“Of course, I’ve never been better.” He said as he stretched his arms above his head and yawned. 

Ladybug giggled, “It seems like that race we had earlier has tired you out.”

“Nonsense, m’lady, I’m simply making myself comfortable.” 

For a moment Ladybug said nothing, and Chat Noir lay back again, assuming that she was scanning the area for any stray akumas or amoks. Suddenly he heard a gentle thud followed by the sound of footsteps, and he realised that she had hopped down from the chimney and was making her way across the rooftop. 

“Mind if I join you?”

When Ladybug broke the silence her voice sounded a lot closer, and softer too; opening his eyes once more, Chat Noir saw that she was sitting next to him, resting her chin on her knee as she gazed down at him. There was a familiar glimmer in her eyes, and he instantly knew that his fate was sealed. 

“You are more than welcome.” Chat Noir said with a grin. After all, how could he say no to his girlfriend, and on Valentine’s Day, of all days? 

Satisfied with his answer, Ladybug shuffled forward and lay down beside him, deciding that his shoulder was a better place to rest her head. 

“So, did anything exciting happen to you today?” He asked, even though he could guess what her response would be, given that he had spent the majority of the day with her. 

She pursed her lips and hummed thoughtfully.

“Well…” She began, “my boyfriend gave me a really beautiful Valentine’s card this morning - he’d written a lovely message inside it for me, too! It was clear that he’d spent a lot of time on it. Oh, and he also got me this adorable teddy bear - seriously, I almost died from cuteness overload when I saw it - and some new needles for sewing since I keep losing the ones I already have.” 

“Wow!” Chat Noir exclaimed, raising a hand to his face to try and seem surprised. “That’s so sweet, your boyfriend sounds like a great guy.” 

“He really is.” Ladybug said with a smile, closing her eyes and pulling Chat Noir closer; he could feel his cheeks getting warmer as she did so. 

This was a habit that the two of them had gotten into over the past few months: asking innocuous questions that the other person could answer without jeopardising their identity, to make themselves seem happy and calm, and more importantly to put the public at ease. Right now, however, no one else was around; they were just doing this to please themselves. 

“So…” Ladybug piped up after a minute or two, “how about you? Did you get any interesting gifts that you’d like to tell me about?”

“Oh, I am so glad you asked!” Chat Noir beamed with pleasure. “My girlfriend brought me a box of pastries which she made herself - I’ve already tried one and words cannot describe just how delicious it was. It was like… everything that makes me happy combined into one food.” 

“I’m sure she would be delighted to hear that!” Ladybug said, playfully swatting her partner’s shoulder to hide the fact that she, too, was blushing furiously. 

“She definitely would be.” Chat Noir continued. “Anyways, she then gave me this super cute jumper because she knows that I can really struggle with the cold weather at this time of year. It’s this gorgeous shade of green and, get this, it has lots of little paw prints on it! Also, because she’s amazing, she made a black cat plush for me. It even came with a bell and a collar.”

“That’s very impressive! She must really care about you. Although…I can’t help but wonder if she knows that you’re Chat Noir.” Ladybug smirked. 

Chat Noir shrugged, then changed positions slightly so that he and Ladybug were face-to-face, their noses almost touching. 

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows.” He admitted. Then, just for good measure, he winked at Ladybug and whispered, “She’s smart enough to figure it out on her own. Probably.” 

Ladybug rolled her eyes and laughed. “I wouldn’t be so sure, Chaton, perhaps you’re better at figuring out identities than she is.” 

“Oh, really?” He asked, raising one eyebrow. “Well in that case, do you think my girlfriend would like it if I decided to show her that she’s the most incredible person I know?”

“Yes,” Ladybug murmured as Chat Noir’s lips brushed against her own, “I think she’d like that very much.”

#btw i AM working on part two of that new year’s ladrien fic i prommy. yes i know that we are now halfway through february #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug fanfic #ml leak free #ladynoir #ladybug #chat noir #pfb writes

[swiftscion]

Though she would have loved nothing more than to treat her daughter to a full breakfast in bed as Larcei did for her, the fact is that she must refrain from doing so when the girl’s bedroom is shared with her brother. If only Scáthach did not loathe her she would regale them both, but there is no use in lamenting. Instead she frees up the whole day to spend with Larcei — as she, regrettably, did not think to do on the occasion of her own birthday. Now is her chance to make up for that, and for so much more.

She finds her daughter early in the morning and waves as she walks up to her, a small box in the other hand. Larcei would likely not care for wrapping and so she hasn’t bothered with it, but the box itself is a luxury item: Crafted out of fine wood and covered in purple velvet with gold trimming, when opened its lid reveals not one but two pairs of bracelets. The four are also made of gold and meant to be worn crossed over, to match Ayra’s own. Alongside these, the box contains a pair of diamond earrings as well as a wooden horse, perfectly crafted.

“Happy birthday, my darling,” Ayra says by way of greeting, embracing the shorter woman with one arm and kissing her on both cheeks before presenting her with the still-closed jewelry box. “I know you do not care much for your title, but… Well, I regret that you could not be brought up with the comforts that it entails, and I thought…” She’s floundering, and she hates that she is. She thought, of course, that she might give the girl a gift to make up for it. It didn’t occur to her until now that Larcei might not like that. “You had the best upbringing possible under the circumstances, of course,” she adds quietly. “I only…” Trailing off, she reaches to cup Larcei’s cheek. 

In the silence, she elects not to explain the wooden horse at all: She carved it herself to give to a daughter far too old for such toys, simply because she missed the chance to do so before. Gods know Larcei does not think she needs to make up for anything, though. So she leaves it unsaid, instead only smiling and running her thumb over the girl’s skin. What a blessing it is, to be able to touch her at all. Even now, Ayra could weep for joy. But the child still does not know, and so she keeps her death to herself, too. This is a day for lighthearted pleasures.

“While I tried to give you my bracelet in the real world, it went… Rather poorly,” she laughs but provides no further explanation, deciding to spare Scáthach the embarrassment in case he hasn’t told his sister. “So I thought I might as well keep my pairs and give you ones to match instead. Of course, they can be worn as anklets too. I understand if you would rather not look any more like me than you already do.” With another laugh and a wink, she reaches to place an arm around her daughter’s shoulders.

“Now, dear, my whole day is all yours. We can do whatever you like, really. I thought perhaps we might have some tea… I still have a few of the blends I brought here from Isaach. Oh, but of course the call is yours.” She smiles fondly, recalling Larcei’s words two moons earlier. (Not that she could ever forget them.) “I’ll do everything you could wish for your mother to do, hmm?”

//via totally-on-time birthday asks; definitely not accepting !

Larcei would have looked prettier if she had died in her sleep.

Instead, her mother breaks her down into a crying mess. It starts gently, with a wave and a quick “G’morning!” exchanged for her greeting, but time can only delay the inevitable melting of her heart when she sees the gift box. It isn’t that she had forgotten, or thought her mother negligent enough to do so, but nineteen is a big number. Nineteen missed birthdays, nineteen of each holiday spent with Scathach, nineteen years of progress–of first steps and first words, first letter penned and first soldier struck down by the song of her sword. All evaded Ayra’s eye. And the worst part? In the end, she was fine. Larcei survived and fought back, Larcei became the maverick of Astra that she is now and, had Ayra forgotten, would have still drawn breath tomorrow.

She hates that things would have only hurt the same if her mother disappeared again. 

And so, her cheeks swell. Waterskins far too full of midnight’s stream, they bloat with unshed tears. There have been so many days of longing that she had let herself forget what life was like without it, and nothing is a harder testament to this fact than what she sees in front of her. Weak, yet-to-be-gloved hands stretch to take it, and as they make contact, a silent prayer is said that Scathach isn’t watching. 

She tries to hold herself back–she really does–but with her face pressed against the neck of her mom, and the warmth of the brighter star encompassing her, body and heart, the reservoir beneath her eyes opens up. She dampens Ayra’s clothing with her tears, taking time to listen to the broken-up, discordant sound of her voice trying to find the right words for the occasion. She hugs tighter. It could come out of her mouth like hogwash, and Larcei would still cherish it. Nothing else sounds more like home, after all, and she can tell that there is an otherworldly level of care being put into today. That there is the insurmountable burden of being abandoned Larcei’s long-lost mother is not something Ayra can be blamed for, so her daughter doesn’t. 

One by one, she addresses the many topics brought up by Isaach’s finest, but only after running her face dry, and choking down sniffles between each sentence, “... I get it, okay? You… You just want everything to be perfect for me. ‘Cause I’m your daughter, and you’re my mother, and nothin’ out there’s gonna change that.” Wrenching herself out of the woman’s grasp, she creates enough space between them to open the box. Through glassy eyes does she marvel at Ayra’s creation, holding each gift between her fingers like masterpieces. “But this is enough. We’re a family again, and that’s all I’m ever gonna need.” 

Lucky for the both of them, the Comet is still in her nightwear. She hasn’t put on her own, characteristic set of earrings, and so slips the gifts on in their place. And they shine there, dangling from her ears. They’re a little heavier than what she’s used to, and the shape might smack her against the cheek if she darts around too quickly, but with what Ayra said about her title, Larcei knows what she’ll use them for. “And hey, we’re going to have to go back home someday. I can’t escape bein’ a princess for long, especially now that I don’t have a reason to with you here.” 

The bracelets then take the place of her gloves, and she seats ear earrings with her palms to show the entire ensemble off. A shuddered laugh asks what she thinks before she addresses her inherited visage. “What’s the matter? Scared your daughter might start lookin’ better than you if she dresses nice?” The obvious tease is punctuated by a jab against the swordswoman’s side. The comment about the ‘real world’ escapes her, as does the meaning of the horse, but she does ambiently wonder if it had to do with any of the dreamscapes they had been fighting in.

“Tea’s good, and I’d like a battle where we don’t hold back so I’ll know what I’m up against,” she answers, in response to the final question, “but… There’s one other thing…” 

Larcei is a child again. She has just woken up in Tirnanog, to the smell of potatoes on the stove and the sound of wood meeting wood outside. Someone’s sparring, and she needs to spring up to join them. Maybe today will be the day–maybe red oak upgrades to gray steel as she is finally allowed a proper battle. And when she’s done, she’s sure breakfast will be finished. She kicks herself out of her cot, the pitter-patter of her feet sure to raise hell with all the adults who want to keep them hidden, and just as she’s about to reach the door, she’s stopped. 

“When I was little, Lady Edain used to do this thing for me every morning.” Her voice strains timidly, the decorated Larcei now holding her years-old hairbrush in her hand like a piece of incriminating evidence. Seating herself at her desk, her eyes glance at Ayra. “She’d sit me down and brush my hair, tellin’ me that I’d need to take care of it if I wanted to look like your daughter.” And now that she’s thrusting the brush toward her mother, she cannot bear to look her way. Blood paints her cheeks a rosy pink. “Except… Kid me would wish it could be you there, instead. I think, um…”

“... I think I want to make her wish come true.”

#IC #ASKBOX #ASTRASWORD #//imagine thinking i forgot about this #//(i did) #//but i remembered and HOLY SHIT WAS THIS SUCH AN INSANE ASK I THINK I MIGHT KILL MYSELF #//I LOVE ISAACH RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #//thank you rune and excuse me for being the worst daughter-mun alive

[thegirlwhowrites642]

Your favorite hinny scene and why?

This may sound weird but I think it's the break-up scene.

It's just that I think it is the perfect summary of how amazing they are, how it could only really be Ginny for Harry and no one else.

She met Harry's gaze with the same hard, blazing look that he had seen when she had hugged him after winning the Quidditch Cup in his absence, and he knew that at that moment they understood each other perfectly, and that when he told her what he was going to do now, she would not say 'Be careful', or 'Don't do it', but accept his decision, because she would not have expected anything less of him.

Notice how not only Ginny knows what's coming but Harry already knows how she will react to what he's going to say. They both know each other like the back of their hands.

And so he steeled himself to say what he had known he must say ever since Dumbledore had died.

I'm sorry, can we talk about the fact that he left this thing until the very last moment because he couldn't bear doing it sooner?

'Ginny, listen...' he said very quietly, as the buzz of conversation grew louder around them and people began to get to their feet. 'I can't be involved with you any more. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together.'

She said, with an oddly twisted smile, 'It's for some stupid, noble reason, isn't it?'

Of course, it's Ginny that gives us probably the best summary ever of Harry's personality. I love that line so much.

'It's been like... like something out of someone else's life, these last few weeks with you,' said Harry. 'But I can't... we can't... I've got things to do alone now.'

Ginny may not be crying but I am. For the love of God. "Something out of someone else's life". Harry let me give you a hug, please.

And then of course we have Harry who starts stammering because it's too painful and he doesn't even know how to say it again.

She did not cry, she simply looked at him, 'Voldemort uses people his enemies are close to. He's already used you as bait once, and that was just because you're my best friend's sister. Think how much danger you'll be in if we keep this up. He'll know, he'll find out. He'll try and get to me through you.'

Notice how the diary is brought back? The one thing that between CoS and OotP Harry never wanted to bring up? Because if we go back to CoS we can all remember how horrified Harry was about what had happened to Ginny. And in OotP, when the "lucky you" scene already happened, Harry still recalls the Chamber as that time he saved Ginny from a basilisk. And when he doesn't want her to go to the Ministry there's this contrast between his refusal and the fact that he admitted himself that she was good in the DA. And it all comes down to this sense of protectiveness that he always had towards her and was reflected in his refusal to bring to the front of his mind the diary. We see Harry in HBP not pushing this thing into the depths of his mind anymore but accepting instead Ginny's trauma. But now, exactly because he doesn't forget anymore, in his need to protect her, he can't help using what happened to increase his fears.

'What if I don't care?' said Ginny fiercely.

Stubborn idiot number one.

'I care,' said Harry. 'How do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral... and it was my fault ...'

And stubborn idiot number two.

A match made in heaven.

Also, Harry thinking about Ginny's funeral and how he wouldn't bear it. Because I wasn't already crying enough.

She looked away from him, over the lake.

The fact that Miss CEO of the blazing look can't look him in the eyes says a lot about her emotional state. The emotional resilience of this girl honestly. Of the both of them.

'I never really gave up on you,' she said. 'Not really. I always hoped... Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more - myself.'

And finally we have the behind the scenes of what was going on with Ginny.

But despite it all, she never gave up on him. How could she? They are soulmates! Ok, I'm fine, I swear. No, but seriously, this is such an important line because it adds to the sense of inevitability of Harry and Ginny. Their love goes beyond logic and it surely goes beyond convenience.

'Smart girl, that Hermione,' said Harry, trying to smile. 'I just wish I'd asked you sooner. We could've had ages... months... years maybe...'

And here Harry brings it up. The boy has clearly done some self-reflection, he had seven months of pining to occupy after all, and has realised that his feelings for Ginny were already old news when he acknowledged them.

'But you've been too busy saving the wizarding world,' said Ginny, half-laughing.

And Ginny explains to us what the author did to keep them apart for so many years: distract Harry. It's literally explained by the characters, I don't know how people don't get this.

'Well... I can't say I'm surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much.'

This. This part is so important. There's only one other person besides Ginny who acknowledges this very important thing, Dumbledore. Harry doesn't do what he does because he is the Chosen One, he is the Chosen One because he's Harry. And it's a very inconvenient thing because Harry won't stop worrying about evil once Voldemort is defeated, it was clear by his actions in the first book. Being on the front lines, even if to a minor degree, will always be part of Harry's life, and the fact that it's one of the reasons why Ginny loves him shows why their relationship was always destined to end in marriage. Harry is not an easy person to be with, therefore his life partner needs to be someone quite unique, one might say... a soulmate.

Harry could not bear to hear these things, nor did he think his resolution would hold if he remained sitting beside her.

My poor sweet angel. He knows that if he stays near her this will be the shortest break-up in history, as it will be proven in DH, and he can't allow that.

#I've never had the gift of summarising #harry x ginny #harry potter #hinny #ginny weasley #ginny x harry #harry and ginny #half blood prince #thegirlwhowrites642HPmeta

[sweatertheman]

ughhh, what do i do about Sprites?????

they're kind of important but also ehhhhh...

okay i think the whole reason im thinking about this is because nannasprite's whole deal is tied to the inanity of the paradox clones and the scratched timeline and fucking betty crocker.

actually, all of the sprite characters mean fucking around with shit i just don't wanna have. ectobiology, time travel, and guardians.

i think i'll want to have jadesprite simply because i think it'd be interesting. jadesprite is both the symbol of jade's connection to sburb as her dreamself, and the representation of that which she wishes to discard of herself, her feeling and convictions, her unconscious understanding that skaia's motives are cruel.

for the other dreamselves, i thought itd be interesting to have them appear around the middle in god tier form and fight in battles against the realselves, in a sort of battle for the soul they share. but i guess for jadesprite...

nono, wait... UGHHHHH THERE'S THE FUCKING TIME TRAVEL AGAIN, GOD DAMNIT. The whole fact Jade is able to prototype her own dreamself is because her dead dreamself's body got taken back in time and taxidermied in her home after she died, and then there's the whole Jake thing and aghghghghghghghghgh evil evil evil evil.

dream jade can't already be dead when the story starts because part of jade's character is that she's basically been raised by skaia and prospit propaganda, and she can't do that without a dreamself to take her there... ugh, i guess jadesprite is off limits?

unless i want to incorporate a *little bit* of time travel into this story. but that doesn't work unless her grandfather is also part of sburb because he's a paradox clone because why else would he be on the battlefield to collect her dead body in the future relative to his own time?????

okay, let me think this through. the interesting part about jadesprite isn't that she's a resurrected taxidermied half-dog sprite from the future, it's that she's jade, and jade essentially gets to talk to someone who both of them believe should be the same as them, even though they're different people. they argue constantly because jadesprite has had her afterlife ripped from her. she's inconsolable, because where she was, she was happy. she had played her part, she knew who she was, and she got to spend forever with the people she cared about most. but when she's brought back, she looses all of that. she isn't done, she doesn't know who she is now because she's not jade, and she doesn't get to be happy in her afterlife. the interesting part is seeing two sides of jade represented by these two people, one is her anger, and her desire to crush her feelings, the other is her sadness and her innocence.

idk im too tired ill think about this more tomorrow

#homestuck #homestuck^-1

[servamp-musings]

I have a theory! Sry if this is long, and pls tell me if this has already been theorized before.

So we all know about the Envy pair's connection to Christianity, and I just wanted to speculate about Jeje's past. (Might be gruesome) so many ppl theorize that jeje used to be a clergy/priest (idk). I imagined his death to be a bit gruesome as the origins of a snake (according to the Bible I think) was that a lizard's limbs were cut off in punishment. I don't remember if this is the same snake as in Adam and eve, but I think so. What if Jeje's death had something to do with his limbs being removed? That would kind of explain why he likes being covered, and probably explain why he shot a gun out of his knee when he shot Nicco.

If in this regard, jeje represents the snake, would his eves be the Edens? Jeje mentions in one of the flashback chapters that he contracted many eves, but they all succumbed to jealousy. If all the eves are Edens, what is the apple? And is the "adam" out of the picture?

In addition, where do you think Abel came from? I thought that similar to Kuro, Jeje asked Gear to seal a part of himself within an object (the doll) and so Abel carries most of his malice in hanging people. I thought that, but then it was revealed that Youtarou also makes those dolls. Unless the dolls are like an old ritual, i no longer have an hc for explanations. What do think of this?

Don’t worry, thank you for sharing this with me ☺️ I have heard that a lot of people theorise that Jeje used to be a priest/part of the clergy (me and my sister included) but that’s the first time I’ve heard loss of limbs being a possibly attributed to his death. I think it makes sense. I’ll be honest, seeing that he can summon a gun out of his knee kinda reminded me of the people considered Weapons in Soul Eater 😂 All jokes aside, it’s possible that it was done against his will either as a punishment of some kind, similar to the story or as a sacrifice for something. Another theory both me and my sister thought was that he could have been a soldier at some point as well, having died fighting in a war but then that doesn’t really explain how he apparently asked to be brought back to life (if I read that right).

Now, if Jeje did represent the snake, I think it wouldn’t be far off to consider his Eves to be Edens. The story of Adam and Eve took part in the Garden of Eden, and with each Eve, there are endless possibilities of what could happen. They could have all been considered “ideal” or “good and virtuous” people but within all that, there’s always a little bit of darkness deep down, sometimes disguised, sometimes simply hidden away and surpressed. That would be the theoretical “apple”; jealousy, insecurity, being scared etc and being more aware/conscious of it.

With Jeje, I truly believe that he never intentionally lead them to that but it just became easier to access the longer they stayed with him and the fact that he was the first Servamp stable with his demon, but how stable was that really? As a result, it ends up building and building until it gets too much and consuming them. This could be seen in Mikuni’s mother, she tried her best to atone for making a contract with Jeje and killing Misono’s mother by taking Misono in and raising him, but that darkness remained a part of her and as Misono grew up and began looking like his mother, she ended up being reminded of Mikado’s infidelity and couldn’t handle it anymore. People are often afraid of others seeing that side of them, so keep it to themselves. However in Mikuni’s case, he’s not afraid, or at least shows he’s not. He’s fully aware of what he did, and has stated himself that he is not a good person. He’s fairly open about his jealousy as if he’s accepted that it was a part of him. That’s probably why Jeje is ok with sticking by him (other than as Servamp and Eve), because it is probably unlikely for him to be consumed by Envy. For this reason, I think I agree with there being no “Adam”, as in they don’t have someone to share that “apple” with. On the flip side, “Adam” could be those they have shared it with, but only temporarily so that status doesn’t fully stay, if that makes sense.

With regards to Abel, I really like your idea. Before the latest chapter showed that Abel was made by Youtarou using Gear’s fur, and I’m assuming Mikuni’s able to use magic because of that, me and my sister did have a few ideas about her. Even though they’re disproven, I’ll share them anyway:

Abel holds a part of Mikuni that is considered to be “rational”. By keeping her with him, he was able to maintain his sanity and think clearly about what he wants to do, being “himself”. Without her, he becomes rather child-like and unstable. We originally thought that Mikuni had went to Gear to “remove” the side of him that he wants to forget (killing his mother) and the doll was used as a medium. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, it ended up being split into two; “Abel” and “Cain”, Abel housing “positivity” and Cain, “negativity”. Because Cain was the one who held the memories Mikuni wanted to forget, he left her behind with Gear. I know Gear’s ritual thing was to seal power into an object, but we thought maybe it could work for memories too.

Abel could be considered having part of Mikuni’s mother’s consciousness within her. One thing we had always thought is that Abel either was, or contained Mikuni and Jeje’s contract item. Therefore, similar to my mum’s theory on how maybe Mikuni is influenced by his mother’s jealousy through Jeje since Servamps and Eves are connected, it may have some play in Mikuni’s actions.

She was a gift to Mikuni from his mother. I like to think that Mikuni grew up rather open-minded and enjoyed a lot of different activities, including playing with dolls and being taught how to sew by his mother. Because she was special to him, he took her with him when he left the Alicein Manor. This somehow later became incorporated with his Lead. Speaking of his Lead, with the information from the new chapter, I’m now thinking that Mikuni’s “My Fair Lady” is the spell/technique that he uses to make Abel heavier and summon the statue, his Lead is only acting as the pivot. This makes it slightly different from the “team attacks” the other Servamps and Eves have.

However, if Abel meant so much to Mikuni, I was wondering why he allowed her to be beheaded in his technique (other than it can be seen as “killing” his mother once again as Abel was hers) but then realised that one of the properties of Gear’s fur was to repair matter so I’m assuming he didn’t really mind (and we saw that black wispy smoke from her).

As for now, I’m not really sure. In one of the events in the Land of Nod, I think Youtarou mentioned that he often makes dolls, clothes and other accessories to sell online although not all of it was made using Gear’s fur. I am curious as to how Abel got confiscated and ended up with the Aliceins. Also in why Youtarou thought about making dolls with Gear’s fur. Perhaps it was for some old ritual as an medium like you said, or to hold parts of Gear’s power in his attempt to still maintain his form of self when full moon comes. In that case, does that mean anyone with a doll can use magic with it as a catalyst as long as you know the method?

Overall, thanks again for this and I’m sorry for the long rambling, Jeje’s one of my favourite characters and I’m looking forward to finding out more about him 😂

Hope you have a nice day, and thanks for reading ☺️

#servamp #servamp thoughts #servamp theories #servamp jeje #servamp abel #long post #anon ask

[kiss-my-freckle]

According to fan comments I've been seeing lately, Damon and Elena meeting first was something the writers didn't actually plan for, but chose later when they decided to pair Elena with Damon. I'm posting this to explain why I disagree.

“Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school." 

Damon kills a couple in the road the night before he knows Stefan plans to attend school. The couple is then shown on the news as Elena has her coffee.  

“I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life.”

Bonnie and Elena are on their way to school just as Stefan is. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Elena nearly died with her parents when they went off the bridge, and four months later, Damon uses his crow to push Bonnie off the road while Elena’s in the car with her. He obviously knew about the accident. “Last spring, my parents' car drove off of a bridge into the lake. And I was in the backseat and I survived, but they didn't.” 

“That's not creepy or anything."

At the cemetery, it’s clear that Damon is purposefully trying to creep her out, similar to what he tried to do when he slammed the crow into Bonnie’s car. The crow isn’t enough, so he pulls in the fog. Freaked out by cars. Freaked out by the crow and the fog. 

“This was an animal attack.”

I believe they wanted to make it clear that Stefan kills just as Damon does. They also wanted to show how vampire deaths get covered up by the town because Damon bites into Vicki, so we should expect to see the animal control unit for a supposed animal attack.  

“That was weird. When I touched you, I saw a crow.”

Bonnie’s psychic reading is meant to find Stefan because they have no idea where he is. “A crow. There was fog. A man.” Made clear that she sees Damon rather than Stefan. She already knows what Stefan looks like because they already met. Damon is the only unknown. Also made clear that Bonnie sees them at the cemetery because that’s the only time the crow and the fog are shown together, and at the same time - shown with Elena. Had Damon brought the crow with him to the bonfire when he attacked Vicki, I’d question Bonnie seeing him at the bonfire because he pulls in the fog. 

“It's her neck. Something bit her."

Damon bites into Vicki and leaves her in the woods without  compelling her. Jeremy and Elena happen to be the ones who find her. That’s when Stefan takes off to the house and finds out Damon’s in town. “It's been 15 years, Damon.” Given the fact that Elena is now 17, she likely has no idea they’ve had “animal attacks” before. Damon and Stefan haven’t been in Mystic Falls since she was two-years-old, so the town has been vamp-free. Freaked out by cars, freaked out by the crow and the fog, freaked out by this supposed animal attack. 

“I have this feeling... that it's just the beginning.”

The crow, the fog, the man. The crow and the fog stop at episode 5, so it’s just the beginning for the man. Damon from beginning to end...

Bonnie: So, where is he? Elena: I don't know. You tell me, you're the psychic one.

Elena: Where is he? Bonnie: He's with Caroline. Saying goodbye.

“Caroline. You and me, it's not gonna happen."

At the same time Stefan gets invited into Elena’s home, Damon is flirting with Caroline at the Grill. The very girl Stefan bypassed for Elena, who also happens to be Elena’s best friend. 

Damon's actions in the pilot aren't meant to come off romantic. It's made clear that he’s trying to creep her out, not romance her. If he wanted to be in her life, to so much as stalk her, he wouldn't use the crow to do it. He'd simply enter her life and/or stalk her as Stefan does. He’s creeping her out for a reason, and just as much keeping his distance from her for a reason. He doesn’t flirt with Caroline until the end of the episode. 

“When'd you get here?” Stefan has no idea how long Damon's been home, but he knows Damon's been back long enough to kill the couple the night before school. Damon not only knows Elena exists, but he knows about the accident that took her parents. “She's a dead ringer for Katherine.” That’s in addition to his comment, which suggests he’s actually seen Elena, since he knows she looks exactly like Katherine. 

All of this leads me to two conclusions. 

Conclusion One: They planned for Damon and Elena to meet first. At some point, the writers would’ve had to explain how Damon not only knew about Elena and the accident that took her parents, but there had to be a moment where he actually saw her to know that she’s a dead ringer for Katherine. For Damon to stalk Elena the way Stefan does, and do it without so much as meeting her as Stefan did, he would’ve had to stalk Stefan first.  

This means Damon either learned of Elena’s existence by stalking Stefan, or Damon actually met Elena just as Stefan did. Had Damon learned of Elena’s existence by stalking Stefan, I’m pretty damn sure he would’ve checked to see if she was Katherine. He would've done the same research on Elena that Stefan did, or simply talked to her himself and compelled her afterward. Either way, both scenarios would’ve required the writers explain how Damon knew about Elena and the death of her parents. Had he learned about Elena by stalking Stefan, fine... have him admit he knew about her by stalking Stefan. 

Stefan stalked Elena from the moment he saved her life, so if Damon met her, then it’s clear that he met her first. Stefan would've known Damon was in town had he met Elena after Stefan saved her. One should also wonder where Damon has been for the last four months, since it’s clear he wasn’t staying at the Salvatore house, and Stefan had no idea he was home. Either Damon stayed in town, but kept his distance from Stefan... or he met Elena, then chose to stay out of Mystic Falls until he attacked that couple in the road. 

Conclusion Two: Damon is trying to protect Elena from Stefan. His actions toward her in the pilot episode don't make sense without further explanation, and their 3x22 flashback offers that. Why would he treat Katherine’s “dead ringer” like this. Why is he trying to freak her out. Why is he waiting until now to make contact with her, and why is he only making contact through his crow. Why does he even bother to get involved with her best friend, Caroline. 

Every single appearance Damon makes in this episode has just one thing in common - Stefan. “Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school." Stefan’s first day of school. “I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life.” Stefan saved Elena’s life on the bridge. “That's not creepy or anything." Stefan at the cemetery because his family IS Damon’s family. “This was an animal attack.” Zach suspecting Stefan of killing the couple. “That was weird. When I touched you, I saw a crow.” Bonnie’s psychic reading that was meant to find Stefan. “It's her neck. Something bit her.” Stefan at the bonfire. “Caroline. You and me, it's not gonna happen." Stefan bypassing Caroline for Elena. 

He wants to protect Elena from his vampire brother. 

“Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena. Imagine what her blood tastes like. I can.”

If he wanted to taste Elena’s blood, he would’ve done it already and compelled her afterward. It’s my opinion that the writers not only planned for Damon and Elena to meet first, but they had a certain time in mind to reveal that meeting. 3x22 is the perfect place for that, given the context of their first meeting, as well as his actions toward her in the pilot. Damon acting as a human when they first met and wanting her to get everything she’s looking for would try to protect her from his vampire brother. Best way to do that while his vampire brother pretends to be human... is to act like a vampire rather than a human. Every bit what he does from the moment he enters the picture. 

Stefan is attending school, so Damon wants Elena to go back home. He slams the crow into Bonnie’s car to freak her out. Stefan will be at the cemetery to visit their family, so he wants her to leave. Brings in the crow and the fog to scare her out. Stefan and Elena are at the bonfire, and he wants to separate them. Drops a body for the sake of pulling Stefan home. He so much as leaves Vicki without compelling her, which means he wants Elena to hear the word “vampire” come out of someone’s mouth. He then flirts with Caroline with the intent to enter her life... while Stefan gets invited into Elena’s home. 

[temporalbystander]

Have another

Well I'm up way to damn early and, since I can't fall back asleep, how about another theory that occurred to me right before we fell asleep? Now I'm going to say this has spoilers for emotion so if you haven't seen it? Don't read below the line.

So, we all accept that Kagami, Felix and Adrien are sentimonsters right? And as Nathalie showed us, using the miraculous when broken is dangerous and can result in the user's death. This we consider proven by the fact that both Felix's father and Adrien's mother died at around the same time, about a year before the show started. But here's the problem. Either Kagami also lost her father a year ago, something I think would have been brought up by now if that was the case, or her mother was the one to use it. But then why isn't she also dead?

Now, some people think that because Tomoe is blind that that was her price for using the miraculous but that doesn't make sense. We learn from Adrien that the dizzy spells and coughing that Nathalie went through is the same thing Emilie went through before she died. So, despite clearly being accelerated due to the multiple uses of Doosu's power, the process of the deterioration is the same. So, since Kagami's mother shows no signs of dying yet, unfortunately, she either didn't use the miraculous or, something else is at play here.

I have a couple of thoughts on this, each with their own problems.

Theory 1. Kagami has a father who died a year before the show and has never said anything about it. While being the most logical it seems like we really should have heard something about it before now. After all, what happened to Adrien's mother and Felix's father were among the first things we ever learned about the characters.

Theory 2. It's not just the miraculous that's the problem, it's the amok as well. If Tomoe put the ring away somewhere after a simple order of 'always do what your mother commands' it may explain why she didn't feel the effects like the others have. It could also explain why we get a shift in Kagami's personality after Riposte which is the timeframe she would have been given the ring. Or it's just good character development. However I see two problems with this theory. The first is that Nathalie never held onto the amok for long as Mayura. The only confirmed ones we have are Sentibug, when she was already feeling the effects, sentirobustus and Optigami, which she had when already sick. Now you could explain this as her repeatedly using the miraculous but that alone turning a 15 year death sentence into a couple of months seems a stretch. Speaking of which, if the miraculous user can sense amoks, even when not wearing the miraculous then just being near it should be enough to cause trouble. So either this theory is wrong or Tomoe just started her 15 year countdown.

Theory 3. This one makes sense in some regards but absolutely zero in others. It also has two forms, both under the same premise. One user, multiple sentimonsters. If an Akuma can akumatise multiple people through one object, even when they aren't all touching it ala Gang of Secrets, then why can't an amok make two sentimonsters from one object as well? Since we know Adrien's Amok is split between the twin rings why couldn't that split also make Adrien and Felix? After all, I can't be the only one that finds it weird that Adrien is said to be so much like his mother while Felix is cold, calculating, manipulative and willing to destroy the entire world to get what he wants. Sound like anyone else we know? However the problem here is getting Felix's father to be the one to make Kagami, which just seems very weird. Plus, even before he got the miraculous or one of the rings, Gabriel seemed to have no control over him.

Theory 3 b. There has only ever been one creator of Sentikids. Emilie herself. With the death of Felix's father at the same time simply being a coincidence. After all, we've never actually confirmed that the peacock miraculous can only make one amok at a time have we? Unlike an Akuma the connection isn't to the miraculous holder it's with the object so, in theory, there's nothing to say that you couldn't keep pulling feathers from the fan, especially if you detransformed inbetween. Again I see two problems with this theory, the fact that it goes against everything we're shown to be a limit to the powers of the miraculous, and there's no way shadowmoth wouldn't have created an army of the things if that was possible. 

There is a third potential problem of why Emilie would do it for others but I think I can explain that. Firstly I believe Emilie, Amelie and Tomoe were all incapable of having children. Emilie and Amelie due to a genetic condition they share as twins and Tomoe? Well either Tomoe has a similar condition, couldn't find a partner to meet her standards of perfection or didn't want to run the risk of having a child that would share her blindness, again due to her perfectionism. Now it makes sense that Emilie would do such a thing for her twin and that the kids would look similar, they probably wanted the boys to share the same bond they had growing up. But why would Emilie do it for Tomoe? How would either party even know of the others circumstances? Well I think a line in perfection that originally confused me has the answer.

Hear me out. What if Tomoe was the one that told Gabriel and Emilie about the Miraculous? How would she have known? I'm not sure but as someone so obsessed with an old culture like samurai I can believe her knowing other ancient stories. But then why didn't she go herself? Either she couldn't or didn't trust anyone not to take the power for themselves. So when she heard that Gabriel and Emilie were looking for a way to have a child just like her she told them about the stories and sent them looking under the condition that if they find anything they help her. With that being the case it makes sense why they came back to Paris after HawkMoth showed up. Tomoe wanted to know what was going on and that Gabriel wasn't going back on their deal.

.... God this took me over an hour to write... I'm sorry for wasting your time.

#way to long post #miraculous theory #emotion spoilers #sentiadrien #sentifelix #sentigami

[th3p0rtalmaker]

Hey! I just remembered this ask game thing! I'll go with 🌧️ 🌈 and 🌩️!

Thank you for this ask, @adventuretolkienlover! Sorry it took me a while; I've been dealing with the turbulence of homeless life.

🌧️ Share something angsty from your WIP. Alright so fun fact: I have a separate little underdeveloped au where Hector is the last surviving member of a tribe of people native to the Great Tree itself. The tribespeople had a special relationship with the Tree, in which they were allowed to share in its magic. When every child came of age, they were presented to the Great Tree for a special bonding ritual that gave them access to/control over the Great Tree's magic. When Zhan Tiri corrupted the Tree's heart, the tribespeople also suffered as her puppets; their minds and free will were overpowered and their bodies possessed just like Hector was in canon. (All of this requires massively shrinking the vague timeline from canon.)

Demanitus's enchanted spear didn't kill the Tree's heart, it simply put it to sleep. Once the heart was made dormant, the tribespeople were no longer enslaved to Zhan Tiri. Unfortunately, Demanitus had enlisted aid from warriors of the Dark Kingdom, seeing as the Great Tree was technically within their borders. The Great Tree Tribespeople were famously fierce warriors, but their weapons technology was far behind that of the Dark Kingdom. And Zhan Tiri was using them as weapons/human shields via her control of the Tree itself. The entire tribe was slaughtered in a single battle, but the Dark Kingdom only triumphed over Zhan Tiri and the Great Tree because of Demanitus's spear.

And of course, Hector's parents were casualties of that battle.

I didn't have any details in mind for Hector's father, but his mother fought Edmund personally. She was freed from the corrupted Great Tree's possession just before succumbing to the injuries Edmund inflicted on her, and she had but one goal: to secure her only child.

Grieved and horrified by the weight of what had happened that day, of what he himself had done, Edmund took baby Hector back to the Dark Kingdom's capital and made sure he was taken in by one of the crown's most trusted advisors. Hector grew up knowing that his people had been decimated in a battle against Zhan Tiri, who had forced the Great Tree to "turn" on his tribe and use them as puppet-weapons. And he knew he was adopted as an infant to make up for being tragically robbed of his blood family. The fur mantle he wears belonged to his biological mother, who made sure to swaddle him in it before she died.

But no one ever told Hector that it was Edmund who inflicted the killing blow on his mother.

🌩️ Share something funny/cracky from your WIP. A) I think this is the closest thing from Incarnate that counts as "crack" that I've made any progress on (and it's a year or two old now 😅):

Hector: “Bearcats will eat anything: fruits, vegetables, small animals. My adoptive mother tried her best to take care of me as her instincts dictated, but there were some ‘hiccups’ here and there.”

Lance: “Well at least you didn’t die from any of ‘em, right?”

Hector: “Exactly.”

Raps: “So, what kinds of things do bearcat moms do?”

Hector: “Well, one time she brought back this little…creature, I don’t know what it was. Big enough for my sisters to each have a piece to chew on and still leave some for me. You know, she, dropped it in front of me, made it obvious she wanted me to eat it, so I…picked it up, and I took a bite where she’d already torn it open and I could get a mouthful of just meat. Instant regret.”

Cass: “Well duh, you ate a mouthful of raw meat.”

Hector: “Oh I didn’t get as far as eating it. I was spitting out red flesh and dribbles of blood after I had it in my mouth for what, two seconds? I must have swallowed a little on accident, because several minutes later my stomach was feeling weird and I started puking up something. I remember looking up at her and thinking ‘Mother you betrayed me!’, and her looking back at me with this expression of ‘Crap, I broke the human baby.’”

🌈 Share something soft/fluffy from your WIP. A) This is a scene from Incarnate that I've ben meaning to write, so thank you for asking me to write it! XD

After allowing the bearcats to settle in, twined around Hector and each other, Adira sat herself on the floor next to the bed. All three seemed mildly agitated, and if someone only looked *mildly* agitated to Adira, then in reality they were quite upset. She didn't blame them; Bali and Palaw couldn't understand what was happening to their human brother, as intelligent as they were, and Hector had entered this semi-comatose state panicked and despaired. Without any leads on the Moondrop's intentions with its new host, Adira was left with no other options but to provide them all with vague gestures of comfort.

So she sat quietly by the bed, watching Hector's tight expression and slightly labored breathing, thinking about the most effective comforting techniques in her arsenal. Bali had done her best to squish her head beneath his jaw and snuggle against his neck, while Palaw had opted to begin gently licking his face and hairline. They wanted to comfort him too. Palaw had even wrapped her tail loosely around the man's waist; whether it was to stabilize herself or Hector, Adira couldn't tell. She did admire the total lack of fear being displayed by either creature. Both binturongs had witnessed the devastation that the black rocks were capable of. It had to have been unsettling for them to hear their third littermate shrieking from ungodly levels of pain in a language that wasn't quite human, nor quite bearcat, and then see him encased in the very same magic that had torn Umbra asunder. Neither animal was pleased with Hector's current state, but neither was choosing to avoid him or give him extra space. Adira was both proud and impressed.

Having made her decision, Adira reached carefully for Hector's face, pausing to let the bearcats smell-check her and give their blessing. "We're working together," she murmured assuringly, feeling the inquisitive breaths from Palaw's nose beat against her skin while Bali inspected her sleeve. Thankfully it wasn't enough to trigger the warrior's discomfort. Once the binturong sisters were satisfied, Adira began gently rubbing her thumb upwards between Hector's eyes and along the curve of his eyebrow, just as she'd done in the Moonstone chamber. His face appeared to relax, but his breathing was still quicker and harder than Adira liked.

So, she began to sing.

"Raise your weapon, sing a song - War is here, we waited so long. Prepare my brothers, battle will come - And when we die, our legend lives on."

It was the same lullaby she'd sung on the first night Hector spent in his new home. Umbra had a been a wildly new and fascinating land for teenage Hector to discover, and he drink it all in with wide eyes of wonder. But even after Adira's teenage self had constructed a hammock for him and the binturongs to sleep in, homesickness and anxiety took their toll on the boy. So she'd sung him the song her own mother had sang on the night Adira's father left for his first mission after her birth.

"See, the mad moon falling - Side by side, we stand strong. 'Til the end of days, through the clash of our blades - We'll sing the warrior song."

Hector's face relaxed just a little bit more. His breathing lightened noticeably. Even Bali and Palaw seemed more at peace. The tension in Bali's shoulders started to ebb away, and Palaw's grooming motions became slower. Adira repeated the lullaby several times, focusing on the rhythmic motion of her thumb along Hector's nose and brow, until she started dozing off herself.

This lullaby is not my own creation. It's called "Warrior Song", written by TheFatRat and sung by Stasia Estep!

#ask game #ask answered #fanfic writing ask game #writer ask game #fanfic writer ask game #writing ask game #tts ask #tangled the series #tts fanfic #Incarnate #incarnate sneak peeks #tts hector #tts adira #tts edmund #hector tts #adira tts #edmund tts #thank you for your patience!

[twdmusicboxmystery]

This is a rant(you don’t need to post this) but honestly it baffles me sometimes how the GA never questions how music was played at the end of Coda when Beth “died”, but it’s always quiet when other characters have died. Some may argue that Shane had music playing after his death, however straight after his death, the farm was about to get bombarded by hundreds of walkers—so obviously music was playing to show a cliffhanger. But no, for Beth, that was the LAST scene and it was depressing…so music wasn’t necessary unless they knew for a fact that Beth was going to be brought back in the future. Some also may argue that Beth wasn’t “important”, but honestly she’s the reason why Daryl is the way he is now. She’s completely changed him—and he is the fan-favorite and she’s very important to him. You also said in a post how there are never loose ends so I feel like the music confirms it because it would’ve been dead silent at the end of the show in memoriam for her character. It’s also insane how they don’t question how she was never given an on-screen grave compared to literally everyone else in the show—although Shane never got one I think, however it’s obvious as to why. There was NO time, and there was clearly a bigger struggle with the horde coming to them. But, they never showed an on-screen struggle with giving Beth a grave, and they just jumped straight to Tyreese’s grave even when Beth was on the show way longer than him and had greater connections to TF. So now I’m curious if they’re going to show what led to her grave never being revealed in the spin-off, because obviously there was a struggle so they had to abandon her which ultimately led to her new arc.

I love your rant! Totally agree with everything you said. These are the key sticking points of TD's arguments. And I'm constantly amazed that more of the GA doesn't pick up on them, too.

I do think we'll eventually see those missing 17 days. Because the thing to remember is that the idea that Emily filmed scenes in S5 that we haven't seen yet isn't a theory. We know that for a fact. If they'd simply changed the storyline, we would have seen that footage already. It would have been a DVD extra or something. But we haven't.

They're holding it back for some future point or story line. So, when or wherever we see Beth, I'm sure once she's revealed, we'll see that footage and understand, finally, what actually happened there.

Right there with ya, Nonny! Xoxo! 💌💖

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[i-did-not-mean-to]

A gift for a gift

@scyllas-revenge has been so very kind to draw this beautiful little Ori for me and I could not help myself but to write a very short fillet about my best boy :D

Words: 1k

Warnings: haunting (but crack)

“How are you? Cracking on?” the haunted doll from across the aisle whistled quietly at you.

“Break a leg,” you hissed back, meaning it quite literally; as far as ghosts and haunted objects went, you might well have been the worst – and not in the sense of ‘terrible’ and ‘dreadful’ – ever seen, or in your case, completely ignored.

Maybe it was because you had not died on a battlefield or in a vicious political coup; no, you had simply fallen in an old crone’s kitchen and broken your neck like the klutz that you were – had been, really – and now, as if to mock you, you were forever trapped in a teapot of all things. 

Found by some teenagers – high on another kind of pot altogether – you had been brought to this small shop of curiosities – just an embellishment for ‘useless but somehow already used objects’ – and thus been condemned to a literal eternity of emptiness. 

“I’m dainty while you’re just fragile,” the doll muttered, “also, you’re really quite ugly.”

As if you didn’t know, you thought acrimoniously; you had seen yourself in the reflection of her glassy, staring eyes more than once when they turned on you like beacons of doom. 

She – at least – was a terrifyingly creepy vessel of an old demon while you were just a piece of earthenware that would not compliment any set in existence; by now, you were so embittered that – were you ever to be purchased – your new owner had to be very fond of sweeteners if he didn’t want to drink hot vinegar instead of fragrant tea. 

“What about this one?” the voice of a young man asked and – a moment later – you could make out two dark eyes shining dimly in the badly lit porcelain section. 

“That’s an interesting piece,” the owner purred, lifting you off the shelf and presenting you proudly, “it is said to be haunted by the ghost of a mysterious girl.”

His hands were sweating and a tad too warm, probably because he was lying through his teeth; undoubtedly, he said that about every item in his darned, little shop. Also, you had never been mysterious, you were not even sure you were now despite being a haunted…teapot.

“It’s quite charming,” the man replied and took you from your jailor; this pair of hands was dry and long-fingered and the face looking down upon you was of a pale, friendly loveliness that made you wish that you had been polished more recently.

“Oh, yes,” the owner murmured, audibly unconvinced, “it’s a classic.”

You knew that you were horrendous; of a muddy beige with gaudy, bright flowers that looked as if they had been painted on by a toddler about to have a temper tantrum, you were far from beautiful or valuable in any way.

“I’ve just broken mine and I wouldn’t mind having a bit of company,” the man smiled and carried you – ever so carefully – to the counter.

“It is haunted though,” the owner repeated sharply, “and I do not vouch for what shall befall you nor will I take back the blasted thing if it starts rattling eerily in the middle of the night.”

Jesus in his manger, you cursed inwardly, that had been one time and you had only wanted to draw attention to the fact that there was a bit of cardboard stuck under your ceramic ass that made you sit uncomfortably.

“Oh, I think we’ll get along great,” the younger man replied with a warm smile and – waving aside the dark box you had dreaded – he lifted you into his arms and swaddled you in the soft wool of his knitted cardigan.

As soon as you were set down on a pristine kitchen counter after a thorough bath, a bag of herbal tea was dropped into you, followed by piping hot water that made you feel more alive than you had for a long time.

“What is that abomination?” another man popped his head around the corner and frowned at you.

“It’s my new teapot, isn’t it unique?” your owner – for you had claimed him as yours now – replied with a beaming smile that discouraged the newcomer from disparaging you further.

“Eh yes, quite,” he replied sheepishly and withdrew again with a low chuckle; maybe you had to rethink that part about not rattling loudly in the middle of the night after all. 

“Never mind Nori,” the soft man said, “I am Ori by the way. I hope we can be friends and you will not try to kill me or anything.”

He laughed under his breath – a bit embarrassed to be talking to what he thought to be an inanimate object – and carried you over to a small nook surrounded by high bookshelves.

“Ah greetings, newcomer,” a tiny ballerina made out of handblown glass chirped, “has Ori found another one?”

You stared through your awful flower decorations in shock.

“He’s lonely,” an antique hand mirror propped up against a row of books explained, “but too shy to actually go out and make friends; his soul yearns for companions and so, he keeps finding…well…us.” 

“Isn’t he gorgeous?” the glass beauty sighed, straining against the confines of her never-changing prison to crane her neck, “He is such a darling.”

A warm palm and five tender digits curled around your handle, and you let the sudden burst of affection in your truly immortal soul – the very emotion a memory you had thought long lost – sweeten the beverage as it gurgled into the sturdy mug, translating all the praise he would not understand.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” you asked as you were set down again, glancing around the room full of cursed and haunted objects.

“No,” the mirror answered sharply, “we get rid of those who would harm him.”

“We do,” came the squeaking, rusty affirmation from a miniature suit of armour standing guard on a doily on top of a pretty but rather scuffed sideboard.

The man – Ori – had pulled out a book from under an embroidered cushion of prodigious ugliness and was reading quietly now, smiling to himself, content with his little salmagundi of idiocies.

“We are his ghosts,” an old grandfather clock chimed.

And with a deep tenderness and a longing look lingering on Ori’s sweet face, you retorted: “And he is ours.”

So, this was my bad joke of the day, I hope you've enjoyed this :D

If so, I'd love for a bit of feedback...Nobody likes to laugh alone hahaha

<3

#fanfiction #the hobbit #ori #ori the dwarf #ori propaganda #Modern!AU #haunted teapot #crack #humour #a bit of love though

[gravyffxiv]

FFXIVWrite - Prompt 10: Channel

Her eye hurt.

More precisely, her missing eye did, the phantom pain a daily disturbance. The lack of respite brought back memories she thought had been buried years before, yet they resurfaced like flotsam after a flood.

Fresh memories joined the chorus of mental cacophony, keeping Gravy almost unable to focus on her work, or simply carrying on with her daily chores. She saw the faces of those that died so she could retrieve that treasure, the functional technological marvel that was the Allagan node, which now rested on her desk. She had been tinkering with its parts before, seeing what needed repair, and what might require an upgrade.

The notion of the node actually needing an upgrade was almost a joke, she knew. Nothing that she, or anyone, could create would come close to what the Allagan managed to produce. Not even the Garleans reached that level of quality, of accuracy and power. The best she could do was to adapt a few parts to more modern contexts, like giving the node an actual voice. That particular model had only been a data storage unit, communicating with only other machines of its kind. With parts from a different model, one meant to talk with its makers and masters, Gravy’s node would soon be able to talk to her.

If she could focus, of course. If the pain would go away.

She blamed no one but herself, and her hubris. She always did that, an aching desire to not only know who to blame, but also to try and fix it all herself. Her hands required work, her will to make instead of unmake screaming at her to keep working, keep creating new and better things than her peers, and herself. The fact she was so good at making weapons did not bother her, despite that drive to make up for all the lives she took. Not atone, no, for that would mean she felt sorry for it all. She felt nothing. She hated that she felt nothing.

If she had been faster at firing back, if her weapon did not need so much focus to properly activate, if she had not tried to emulate poorly understood schematics about Allagan aetherical weaponry… ‘if’s’ and ‘what if’s’ never stopped flooding her mind, and others would likely be driven mad because of it. Perhaps she already was.

A mug of coffee, drunk as soon as it was ready, as if the heat of it never bothered her, and she pushed herself to start on something new. To try again. Slowly. Cautiously. It would be the only way she could do it, with the pain never leaving, and her vision being diminished. Appropriate, she thought. No other way but slow.

It took her several days. The data on the node proved essential, its archive on weapons and energy flow more complete than anything Gravy had seen before. She also decided to trust her own skills this time, not rely on something simply because it’s supposedly better. The Allagan were not around anymore, and even if their tech was indeed superior, it was not reachable. Trying to seek it in its purest form would only lead to failure. Alloys are made by mixing different metals to make them better, after all.

No one was around in the Maelstrom training grounds. She knew quite many of the Limsan soldiers, and had done business with the officers, so it was not hard to offer gil and have some alone time in the yard. She would be joined only by her pain, her guilt, the yet-to-be-named node, and her gun.

The first shot missed by a few ilms. She had no time to waste on aiming, her weapon being made for rapid fire, with chaotic situations in mind. It had been the lack of speed that harmed her before, so she would seek to compensate that. Her depth perception was not up to par, so might as well not even try.

Different from her previous weapon, this one had a chamber for solid rounds, not only aether. She pulled the trigger again, firing off another shell, the sound of exploding firesand echoing around the empty yard. Another miss, but closer that time. So she fired again, and again, the chamber turning to place the next shell in front of the hammer. Each time, she got closer to her target, but soon ran out of bullets. That had been her goal.

She could feel the heat of each shot, could see the speed of each shell as they left the barrel. It was a test, both for the gun and for herself, trying to understand exactly how to make it all work the way it was supposed to.

The lines etched on the gun slowly began to glow, Gravy pushing her aether into the weapon. She knew Arcanima well enough to find the correct patterns to draw on the metal, the shapes that would guide her aether towards the barrel, and focus it on what she willed it to. Before, she would do it slowly, not fighting too hard against her own issues. That time, she did not hold back, aether blockage be damned.

Sparks of purple energy crackled around her hand as she channeled all that she could inside the barrel, every iota of aether that a single second of pushing could manage. The pain in her missing eye spiked, as if protesting the sudden exertion, and Gravy used that pain as fuel, like she used it to push herself before. She raised the gun again, pulling the trigger, the hammer hitting nothing but an empty chamber.

Magic needs precise movements and incantations. Gravy offered mechanical accuracy and silent words carved unto metal.

The shot hit its mark, the single pellet of pure levin flying off the gun at, appropriately, lightning speed. The wooden target was thick enough to withstand a few rounds of lead bullets before being replaced, yet now it turned to splinters and tinder. Instead of the smell of scorched wood, it was the scent of ozone that rose from the affected piece, more of it now wafting around Gravy as she continued pushing more and more aether into her gun, firing off shot after shot until all targets were all but vaporized. The node hurried to her side when she collapsed to her knees, her breathing shallow and wheezy. She had pushed herself too hard. A single drop of blood slowly made its way down her cheek, the bandage that had become part of her attire now stained red. It had all been worth it.

“Do you require assistance?” the node asked, its metallic voice bereft of tone or emotion. There was still work to be done.

“No…” Gravy replied after a few deep breaths, laying her gun on her lap. “I just need… time. And air.”

The node remained where it was, silently watching the engineer, her breathing slowly returning to normal. All the while, she looked at her gun, tracing the lines with her fingers, all the information she gleaned from that practice round echoing in her mind, numbers flying around and compiling themselves into data to be properly examined later. She was not yet done.

But she was on the right track.

“Come on.” She called the node while standing up, placing the gun back on its holster. “I’m gonna have to pay the Maelstrom an extra. They’re not gonna be too happy with this.”

#FFxivWrite2022 #FFxivWrite #allyn grav'nost #ffxiv #ffxivrp

[apparitionsxanonymous]

Group One [Part Two]

Apparition Anonymous is a collection of fictional stories told from the POV of the Grim Reaper as they guide newly departed souls to the Afterlife. Enjoy, and thank you for reading.

Read the previous part.

The elderly woman hummed aloud. “I guess that’s why you can’t see your peace then. You weren’t ready to come here, and it happened so suddenly.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the gentleman stated.

“Don’t apologize to him,” the woman said. “No one did anything wrong. He’s here because he’s supposed to be here now.”

The man glared at her. “Someone did something wrong if there was a car accident. Besides, he’s just a kid. He most certainly should not be here. Not now, not at his age.”

The woman shrugged her shoulders, turning her head defiantly away from the man. “The cards were dealt. Nothing we can do about that but face it.”

I noticed the young boy slouch back down in his chair. He was clearly uncomfortable, and I figured I’d probably see him for a one-on-one session at some point.

I couldn’t tell if this group session was going well or not. So far, no one was crying or shouting. I’m not sure if I’d call their conversation an argument or simply a debate, because the fact was they were both right in their own ways.

The man was correct - a young boy should not be a spirit at this time. But then that begs the question, what is the appropriate age to become a spirit? If everyone knew when they would leave their physical body to become one with their spirit body, then nothing would get accomplished. Time would always be wasted. Regrets would be plentiful; I’m pretty sure of that.

With that in mind, the old woman was also correct. The cards were dealt, as she explained when the young boy was born. They were all dealt cards. Of course, I knew it wasn’t actual cards. That was an expression the physical world came up with. Every physical body has an internal clock from the moment they’re born. No one can see it, not even me. But it’s there, and you never know how much time you have left. The clock had already made that decision the second your physical body arrived. In a way, the cards were a correct analogy.

The gentleman pinched the bridge of his nose at the woman’s words. He sighed, turning his attention to the shy boy. “Don’t worry about what she says. You’re allowed to be scared and confused. I am too.”

“You are?” the boy asked. “How did you get here?”

“I’m not sure. I went to sleep the other night, and when I awoke, I was with them,” he said, jutting a thumb toward me. “They brought me here saying my time was up.”

I nodded as though I had something to contribute to the conversation. The man told the truth. He had no idea how he died. He didn’t know what went wrong in his sleep. I knew, though. He had a heart attack while sleeping. His physical form didn’t react fast enough.

The man frowned, his shoulders dropping. “I was supposed to get married in a month. It was my second marriage. My first wife and I got a divorce a long time ago. I recently met a woman my age who was also divorced. I don’t know when it happened, but there was something between us. We decided to take a chance on each other, even after we’ve both been hurt by marriage before. But now… I guess we’ll never know how that was supposed to go.”

The woman opened her mouth to reply, but she immediately shut it. I knew what she was going to say. She was probably going to point out that they already knew the outcome of the marriage - it didn’t exist. He was always supposed to let go of his physical form at this time, whether he was engaged to be married or not.

“I guess not all of us can be so blessed. But my ending is nothing to gloat about,” the woman said gently. “I was sick, in the hospital. My body and mind went before I took my last breath. My family decided to pull the plug. They didn’t realize I could hear them, but I heard the whole conversation. I listened to the silence when they paused to catch their breath in between sobs. My last moments were spent listening to my loved ones cry due to the guilt of killing me.

“But I wanted to go. I wasn’t living anymore, and I was being a burden to my family. They shouldn’t have had to take time out of their days to see me at the hospital. I was there for months,” she continued.

But her family never pulled the plug. She had already died. What the woman remembered was her spirit watching over her family, grieving over her empty physical form. I know this because I watched for a little while before introducing myself to her spirit form. I wanted to give her a few moments to watch, collect her thoughts, and find peace with the current situation.

It was obvious to me she wasn’t at peace as much as she thought she was. The elderly woman assumed that she had passed because she felt she was done with life. She didn’t want to be a burden on her family anymore. But, in reality, her physical form had given up long before her mind did.

Now that everyone had spoken, I felt it was time I joined the conversation.

“Leaving your physical body is never an easy journey. It doesn’t matter if you’re expecting it or if it’s a sudden departure,” I said, looking at the two men. Then, I turned to look at the woman. “It also doesn’t matter if you’re ready to leave your physical form or you’re not.

“Every physical form,” I continued, “has a certain amount of time in that body. It’s not always clear why some have a longer time than others. It’s also not clear what you were supposed to accomplish in that time if you were supposed to accomplish anything at all. I believe, instead of taking life for granted, you’re meant to build friendships and relationships. Create memories and see what life has to offer. It has much more to offer than we realize.”

“But we can’t possibly figure out all that life has to offer, even if we lived to be over 100 years old,” the man replied.

I nodded. “You’re right. That’s why you’re meant to discover as much as you can.”

“How are we supposed to know what to discover?” the boy asked.

“What did you discover in your life?” I inquired.

The boy thought for a moment. “Well… math is hard. Women make no sense. Science explains everything and nothing at the same time. I realized that, even after living alone for two years, my mortgage payments still made no sense to me. But I did have my parents to support me. They were always there answering questions and helping me through tough times. My mother and I spoke on the phone every night.”

I smiled. “Then it sounds like you discovered hardships, but you also discovered one can’t do everything alone, and it’s okay to need to ask for help. You discovered a mother and father’s love.”

The boy’s mouth gaped open. “Oh, that’s what you meant by discovery. I thought you expected me to say I discovered a cure for some incurable disease.”

“As I said, there is much more to life than we all know,” I stated.

The man grinned. “I discovered love, as well. Even when you can’t love yourself, someone will be there to support you.”

The older woman laughed. “I suppose I discovered my own form of love. I learned that even when you’re old and gray, those who you stuck by for many years will come to your side. They’ll hold your hand until you decide to let go.”

“It’s about community. Family. Friends,” the man added. “It sounds as though, despite the timing of each of our deaths, we lived full lives. Or, full lives for us.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “because each life is a unique experience. You may all learn the same lesson, but it’ll be taught differently to each and every one of you.”

The group smiled at one another, nodding their nods in agreement.

The clock turned red, and I realized the session was now over. It seemed as though they had each learned something new through this conversation.

Now, they were free to roam the spirit world (or visit their loved ones in the physical world) in peace.

© Rachel Poli, All Rights Reserved

Thanks for reading. Apparitions Anonymous is updated every Monday and Friday. If you enjoy my work and would like to stay updated with my writing journey, please consider visiting my Ko-fi page.

Read the next part.

#creative writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #short story #paranormal fiction