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pianostarinwonderland · 11 months

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damn ok malleus

yes. i am back. and i am gonna not shut up about the last main story update but specifically about the mixed opinions on Malleus' actions.

There's been interesting sides I've seen, both on Twitter and Discord. You have the Malleus stans, mostly the Malleyuu stans, who feel very conflicted about Yuu not being "included" in the dream worlds that Malleus sent the boys to. Then there's the other Malleus stans who are like "lol those Malleyuu stans were in absolute delulu for thinking Malleus would treat Yuu so specially". Thennnn you have some fans who would start discussions about that discourse just to insert their Malleus dislike opinions, where at that point I wished I said pls take that shit out of the topic 🤡

And for me? Well, after a week, I am now sitting here all like . what dafaq

No because there’s something I don’t get and it’s the thing I want to address first: how Malleus' UM works and the whole 'Yuu isn't in the dreams'. You all can correct me on this since I've only been relying on TL summaries and the little context clues I can glean from listening to the main story. From my understanding of how his UM works, Malleus can put people to sleep and put them in their own dream worlds. He can watch these dream worlds since he's the one who has the magic to put these people to sleep.

But he isn't the one conjuring up said dream worlds.

Malleus sent Idia to sleep, but he's not the one creating the scenario where Ortho is still alive and studying in RSA. That's a dream world created not from Malleus' magic but from Idia's inner desires, his inner subconscious. And we are just seeing that his dream world is a world where his brother is alive and happy.

If we are to assume that Malleus created that dream world for Idia, that would mean that he would have known Idia's backstory and grief for Ortho. But like, he doesn't.

Suffice to say then that since Idia's dream is centered around his subconscious, of course Yuu won't be in the dream. To him, Yuu isn't that important in his life. This extends to Grim. While Grim is a cute kitty, ultimately he isn't that important to Idia either, enough that he'd be part of his dream.

And that's why none of the dreams we see so far have Yuu in them. I don't really think it's Malleus excluding them, it's that the other boys don't really find them important enough in their lives to have a spot in their dreams. Sounds harsh, but it is true, especially since this is strictly main story we are talking about. No events being included whatsoever, barely any personal stories being included either (Robe Idia personal being the notable exception as it was actually featured in main story).

Now the second important thing that I don't really have to address but want to really talk about: Malleus' actions. A lot of people find themselves at a point of contention with this. Again, you have a good amount of Malleyuu fans who ended up in their divorce era lmfao. Then there were people who don't necessarily stan him but still felt displeased by his actions.

I don't really have an issue with people not liking what he's doing or acting. I'm not the biggest fan of Malleus either, and people who have either followed me for a while or regularly talk to me on Discord will know this. But what I have an issue with is that it feels like there's been a lack of willingness to understand where Malleus' actions come from. I will acknowledge, I used to not want to understand him, but after some self reflecting and talking to the right people, I can see the dude in a better light than before. The poor guy's been judged pretty badly, maybe not as bad as the judgment that Vil and Leona got, but the shift in opinion and the little willingness to understand him is . welp. kinda lolz. Especially when this has been built up for a while.

People have mentioned already that Halloween 2 shows Malleus' selfishness, and I agree with this sentiment. He sent people to the ghost's dimension, thinking that everyone would be happy. But consequently, while the ghosts are happy, the students are upset at what he and Lilia did. And for good reason! Some of them were possessed, and the others had to save them, which meant getting into fights. It was a dangerous situation to throw them in, especially when they were somewhere else.

Halloween 2 is a perfect example of Malleus doing things thinking that everyone would be happy. But really, it only makes himself happy, and he doesn't see or understand the perspective of others.

Malleus' dorm card and story was also released pretty early on in chapter 7's story for a reason as well. His story shows that selfish side of him, on a much more mundane scale, which is bringing all dorm leaders to Diasomnia for a dorm leader meeting, thinking that it would satisfy everyone. But they were upset of course, because without consent, they were just teleported like that. And that's a pretty scary situation to be taken away unexpectedly.

In short, Malleus' selfishness has always been a part of him. People can have their criticisms and dislike it, just as how you would dislike something in a person. But you can't deny that it is a part of Malleus, just as how him finding value in forgotten things like old architecture and gargoyles is a part of him.

And then you apply this to Chapter 7 where Malleus puts everyone to sleep so that Lilia wouldn't leave. It can and does leave a bad taste that Malleus is putting an entire island to sleep for 1000 years just for one guy to not leave. It’s also maddening that he can watch everyone’s dreams especially when they’re going to be so personal. The show of power, the disregard for others, it can be irritating to people, and if it wasn’t for the fact that it meant getting to know the rest of Diasomnia more, I’d hate it too lol

But personally speaking, I see where the dude’s coming from. Loneliness is a bitch, and it's worsened by the fact that his reputation drives people away. It's no secret either that Malleus' grandma is very busy to the point that there were some dinners with him that she had to cancel last minute due to work. Malleus' parents are dead. And the rest of Briar Valley would treat him with utmost respect and nothing more. So of course he'd cling onto the few things and people in life that make him feel less lonely. It's why he has fondness for Silver and Sebek. It's why he's so interested in people like Yuu and Grim who aren't afraid of him. It's why he values architecture that's been long forgotten.

Lilia of course has been the most influential to him. He's been with him for majority of his life. He's taken care of Malleus, he's kept him company. And for Lilia to suddenly leave and possibly to never be seen again. I think that would be absolutely crushing for Malleus. It's all the trauma and hurt and war flashbacks (that can unfortunately be literal) coming to bite him.

All the powers of the world in his hands, and he cannot gain his happy ending. Poor man.

In short, loneliness really hurts. I also say this personally speaking. When Chapter 7 came out, I was really struggling with loneliness, so it kinda made me empathize with Malleus.

It's also worth noting that Malleus doesn't act entirely on his own feelings. He hears from others their own feedback and feelings and will do something. One of his motivations in doing what he's doing was seeing Silver's and Sebek's reactions. When the two of them reacted to the news, Malleus was the one who told them to accept Lilia's decisions, even if he himself was probably the most hurt by them. Malleus saw Silver cry about it.

It's definitely something ingrained in him as crown prince: that he would have to hear out a problem and come up with a solution. Not that he’s good at it (because interpersonal matters apparently didn’t matter that much to his teachers /hj.) But he does it because he’s taught to. And because he's so powerful, people will look to him to solve the problem. You really see this in Glorious Masquerade, especially when Idia, Azul, and Malleus went up the tower. Idia would be like, "Let Malleus take out the flowers!!" but Azul would use his magic to take them out. In hindsight, when Malleus complimented Azul for his ability, I now wonder if part of it was not just awe for such magical ability but also admiration that someone didn't just rely on Malleus, but stepped up to do something and succeeded in helping out.

There’s really a lot to Malleus right now that’s causing him to do these things. And hey, it’s just like with every other OB that we’ve encountered. Trauma that has hurt them since childhood affects the things that they do in the present, and either the trauma itself or their present actions will bite them back in the ass.

I don’t know anymore man, I’m literally like supposed to be the last person to defend Malleus 🤠 but there’s just some brainworms in the head that I want to let out because damn….. it sucks to see how too much devotion to a fanon version has caused this split and conflict and simultaneously see people who really dislike Malleus take the opportunity to dunk on him without really having substance and understanding in their arguments.

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst jp #malleus draconia

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dayurno · 6 months

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WIP Wednesday🪭

Send an ask telling me to work on one of my WIPs! (and I will post the snippet I'm working on!)

hiiii the ever sweet and talented @stabbyfoxandrew does this little wip game every wednesday so i thought perhaps i might try it today as well to get some of my own wips back into the land of the living :3 anyway here are some wip options! a thousand apologies beforehand for the titles

1. Kevin Milf Au (de-aged 5-year-olds Andreil au counterpart to 'the lovers, the dreamers, and me')

“I don’t work for your father, I fear. I’ve never even met him before.” Neil pales. Perhaps the idea that someone does not know his father seems outlandish when Neil has been raised under his dominion — Kevin is sure it feels that way, for Neil to look so stricken. Often when you are this small and your parents are the overlords of your world, it feels strange to learn that they are not the end-all-be-all of everyone else’s. Like a little tour guide, Andrew steps forward to explain, “I think you might be here because your mom and dad went away and children have to live somewhere.” …Of course, being five years old, his understanding of the situation is about as good as Kevin had expected.

2. Kandreil Thirty Year Old Men Yaoi (here's some context asks!)

"Can I ask you what made you change your mind?" Kevin asks after a moment, tapping the long glass neck of his beer against the edge of the table. "In the Olympics, I mean." Neil hums, resting his chin on his hands. "You were celebrating with Jeremy at the hotel bar. And—" He runs his fingers through his hair, as if conjuring the memory. "You were singing that song. That stupid song. You were laughing, and singing." Tilting his head to the side, Kevin questions, "What song? I don't remember." "That stupid song about— something about 'if you change your mind, I'm the first in line,'" Neil huffs. "I thought… I don't know what I thought. I guess I wanted it to be a sign." "A sign?" "That you were still— that it was still possible. Us. You, me, Andrew." He gulps down a few sips of beer before chuckling, fond, "That stupid song. I'd never seen you sing anything before."

3. Kevseth Seth lives Canon Divergence (with @rabidfox!)

“What is the point of this?” Kevin asks, studying their joined palms. Seth doesn’t even know. “Just wanted to see if mine was bigger,” he bullshits, awkwardly pulling his hand back. “And it is. Hah.” The look Kevin gives him is nothing short of nasty. “We have work to do, and you waste my time with something like this?” He asks, and while Seth might have taken offense before, now he can’t rid his head of thoughts he associates with slipping a pretty girl’s party dress off her shoulders. It is not unlike the times Allison reprimanded him as a way of flirting, and the thought leaves him disoriented. It is best to stir the conversation into milder topics.

4. Nurse Kevin Au (aka the period where jean stays in palmetto post-nest and a very sorry kevin's terrible bedside manners)

Kevin leans back over him, one hand beside Jean’s face and the other inching towards his mouth, careful. Helpless, Jean lets Kevin push the candy past his lips, sweetness bursting on his tongue with a tart strawberry undertone, sticking to his teeth. Kevin’s fingers linger on his mouth, resting on the puffy center of Jean’s lower lip; a salty contrast to the candy that they had just pushed in. “Is it good?” Kevin asks him, studying Jean’s face. “I’ll give you another one. You’ve had a hard day.” It’s really not true at all: how pampered has Jean gotten, that a day where he just lies back and kisses Kevin can be considered ‘hard’? Sure, it’s not nice to be in recovery, but it’s not nearly as cruel as Jean’s life was before Palmetto. Still, he lets Kevin watch him as he chews, and breathes lightly under Kevin’s hand when Kevin touches his throat to make sure he’s swallowed before he feeds him another one.

#thats all i think!#i really need to write for these specifically haha im a little stuck (Bloodshot eyes)#wip wednesday #kevjean #kandreil #kevseth

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frankendykes-monster · 6 months

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Countdown to Halloween 2023, Ranked

43. Swamp Thing (1982)

42. Curse of Bigfoot (1975)

41. The Haunting (1999)

40. Orca (1977)

39. Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958)

38. The Beast (1975)

37. Don't Go in The House (1979)

36. Countess Dracula (1971)

35. Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)

34. Beware! The Blob (1972)

33. Alien Space Avenger (1989)

32. Baby Blood (1990)

31. Shriek of The Mutilated (1974)

30. The Mutations (1974)

29. Phase IV (1974)

28. Curse of The Faceless Man (1958)

27. The Sadist (1963)

26. Jennifer (1978)

25. The Wasp Woman (1959)

24. Noroi: The Curse (2005)

23. Girls Nite Out (1982)

22. The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

21. The Cat and The Canary (1927)

20. Tell Your Children (Reefer Madness, 1936)

19. The Company of Wolves (1984)

18. It's Alive (1974)

17. The Wolf House (2018)

16. Michael Jackson's Halloween (2017)

15. The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

14. The Omega Man (1971)

13. Gamera: Rebirth (2023)

12. Student Bodies (1981)

11. Night Caller From Outer Space (1965)

10. Inhumanoids (episodes 1 - 5, 1986)

9. Blind Woman's Curse (1970)

8. Maniac (1980)

7. The Child (1977)

6. Zombie 3 (1988)

5. Return of The Living Dead (1985)

4. Spider Baby (1967)

3. Basket Case (1982)

2. Messiah of Evil (1973)

Godzilla (1954)

Woof. Okay. This has been a mostly disappointing viewing experience.

Critical difference between this year's countdown and the past two is that now that I have stable employment, there is far less time to be watching horror films. I normally begin the countdown in September but we started in July of this year and still barely managed to crack 40, with my original goal being a full 100 this year. Timing. As such a lot of my plans and possible viewings were cut short and compared to last year specifically we fell back on a lot of "seen it already" at least for the top of the list.

This year's batch of viewings were largely blah, but a step up from the shitshow I put myself through last year (watching nearly every Texas Chainsaw sequel does things to a person). As such it'll be difficult to conjure up words for a decent chunk of these mostly because yes, these movies exist, I watched them, I would not recommend that you yourself watch them. That is all. If I write briefly on a given film that's not necessarily an indictment of its quality as there a decent number of these that I saw and enjoyed it's just their impact might be a bit fleeting. You will know which ones I actively disliked. I mostly just want to write about the top five or so but I will play fair.

Our grand loser this year is Swamp Thing, the DC Comics adaptation by Wes Craven. I watched this pretty much entirely because I finally got the Alan Moore Swamp Thing run in paperback this year after quite some time of having it on my to-buy list. Longtime Rachael/Ray/Ratchet fans may recall me reading it in early 2019 alongside [REDACTED]. Still one of the best Moore comics, and a second volume of Swamp Thing wouldn't have been possible without the success of this film. For context I did read the early Swampies by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson and my general reaction to those was a'ight but there was definitely material for a serviceable film adaptation there. This is not that serviceable film adaptation. I'm not hung up on details like how Abigail has no connection to Arcane now despite being his niece in the comics, but this film is just kind of painful in how relatively unambitious it is which is saying something for Swamp Thing sword fighting another human mutation at the end of this. It's just silly and stupid and not scary or awe inspiring or anything, the Swamp Thing suit sucks, the action sucks, any sense of pathos is not there or gone, it stretches for 30 minutes too long like it's a padded TV pilot, the only highlight is being able to see Adrienne Barbeau's breasts. Fuck this it's a miserable experience to sit through. My mistake for watching a Wes Craven film that doesn't have "Scream" in the title.

Our next shitter is the two-for-one abomination that is Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958) and Curse of Bigfoot (1975); these are the same movie except Curse of Bigfoot has a 25 minute opening scene framing device that is bizarre given that "The Thing" of the original film is a Native American mummy of some sort unearthed by a group of white high school students. It's the rare personal pet project movie made for fun by some locals but the only highlights are the occasional kill scene, Curse of Bigfoot ranks lower just for making me sit through it longer. Blah.

Speedrunning through a bunch of these because theyre all varying degrees of bad and I don't want to spend any longer writing about these than you probably do reading about them: The Haunting is awful and I don't even super care for the original film so adding shitty CGI monsters and a moral lesson of "it's about family!" doesn't help. Orca is a shitty Jaws cash-in that's like a reverse Moby Dick where the sea animal hunts down the human, nice finale where the orca and shitty poacher guy are fighting it out in the Arctic but otherwise avoid. Don't Go in The House is a mysoginistic torture porn movie that really doesn't sell the "seemingly normal guy is a closet nutcase" thing even though movies made before and after have done it well (see Maniac several paragraphs below). The Beast is advertised as this really scandalous porno film but most of it is French aristocrats sitting around in stuffy rooms arguing about real estate. I think I only watched Countess Dracula for its inclusion in the "if this is her vibe I would fucking cum" meme and it's barely worth bringing up at all. Hillbillys in a Haunted House has an absolutely lovely Tennessee country soundtrack that I wish I could listen to without having to watch the actual movie which is devoid of both scares and laughs. Beware! The Blob gives off the feeling of sitting at a funeral for a family member that was just distant enough for you to be aware of them but not actually be upset but it's still a funeral so it's not like you're smiling, stick with the 1988 Blob film. Alien Space Avenger has some decent gore effects but that's all I can recall from it. Shriek of The Mutilated has one of the best titles for an otherwise uninspired yeti movie that has a needless third act twist about it being a cover for a cult and blah blah blah fuck you. Baby Blood has an alien mutant whatever crawl up a woman's vagina into her womb and she has to eat people to feed it and yeah I'm actually struggling to remember what happens here. The Mutations has a scene where a guy cuts into a tree and it bleeds, I think he's played by Donald Pleasance. Yeah, it's like Freaks except it plays to the freak show straight so you get to laugh at all the outcasts of society, no thank you.

Some odds and ends that I'd say are decent-to-pretty-good: Phase IV has some footage of ants and synth music. All you need is some footage of ants and synth music. Curse of The Faceless Man employs a rarely seen archetype of the living statue monster, it's cute. The Sadist is another starring vehicle for Arch Hall Jr., who was also the star of last Halloween's Eegah! (1962), though this film is a bold trendsetter for the 1960's with Hall being a unhinged killer holding people for ransom until they can fix his car and he can make a getaway. The film lives and dies by Hall's performance and it's mostly the latter until we get to an absolutely superb final act with him hunting down his remaining victims, it makes the whole film worth seeing. Jennifer is an oddball that plays out mostly like a character drama ("It wasn't my fault Daddy it was that stupid hillbilly bitch Jennifer") that suddenly remembers that it's supposed to be a cash-in of Carrie (1976) in the last 20 minutes and cue our titular character being able to summon and control snakes to send after her tormentors. Girls Nite Out is a plodding meandering slasher that's oddly hypnotizing considering so much of it takes place in pitch-black night and the killer is wearing a bear mascot costume with serrated knives hidden under the glove, not sure what fully to make of it. The Monster of Piedras Blancas is made up of leftover parts from the Gillman, Mole People, and Metaluna Mutant, but still manages to star in a decent enough film that gives a sense of what a series of monster attacks would do to a small seaside community. The Cat and The Canary is "cute" for lack of a better term being a horror comedy before the former genre had fully crystalized. Reefer Madness is horror adjacent more than anything but a hilariously good time about how the use of "marihuana" will drive today's youth into becoming crazed fiends and get involved in organized crime.

We can do this.

The Company of Wolves has an excellent story book like setting an atmosphere that you can't get in films nowadays and it's a shame that it's mostly remembered for its transformation sequences. it's Alive is the best Larry Cohen film by default of not sucking but it's still not "great", genius however for playing the concept of mutant newborn killer baby completely seriously without any sense of humor to the proceedings. The Girl Who Knew Too Much is almost a parody of giallo films which is interesting given those hadn't fully sprang up in 1963; absolute highlight is the main character being interviewed in bed by doctors and reporters and the like that yes she did see a murder and no she doesn't drink. I've always been fascinated and haunted by I Am Legend and while The Omega Man doesn't really capture the novel to a superb degree it's so beautifully shot that it lands high in the rankings for that alone. Night Caller From Outer Space is hilarious to me because of how it shifts halfway through from a Hammer-esque mystery about a meteorite with radioactive properties to a film about an alien that lures women in through a modeling advertisement. Blind Woman's Curse I've mentally confused with Irezumi for a while now (haha all 1960's Japanese genre films where woman have large animal tattoos on their backs are the saaame), and it's one I mostly watched for being directed by Teruo Ishii, but there's enough bloody yakuza fights and cats licking up blood for me to stick around; not the strongest Meiko Kaiji vehicle compared to Female Prisoner Scorpion or Lady Snowblood. Maniac I find mostly interesting as a precursor to American Psycho (2000) but also it's probably the only serious film to successfully pull off it's ending trope (which I will not spoil here). The Child is an absolutely lovely 1970's only-a-dozen-people-made-this-and-not-much-more-watched-it horror that oozes atmosphere, I could watch stuff like this all day. Aaand Zombie 3 is far and away the best film that Lucio Fulci has been involved with that I've ever seen. I love random scenes and set pieces of ghouls just massacring people that are shit out out of luck.

Okay, now for the ones I actually want to write about.

The Wasp Woman is one that sticks in my head way more than any other random monster movie that Roger Corman directed in the latw 1950's. I've said on here and Letterboxd that it could have served as a standard pop-feminist piece about how the cosmetology industry is built on misogyny and invariably a monster is accidentally created because of that, but this most recent viewing has made me sort of "get it" because that might be what the film is going for considering Susan Cabot's performance leads me to believe that she is aware that she is becoming a homicidal wasp monster but views it as a tragic means to an end where she still has the ability to have a new advertising campaign with her as the star. Tragic. This is why you don't wear make up.

Both Noroi: The Curse and The Wolf House are ones I didn't care for whatsoever but I put them in places on the ranking that I thought were fair given that people should probably watch them regardless of my personal thoughts. Noroi's format didn't really lend itself to the escalation of tension and reveal of information that the plot demanded and I found myself thinking it meanders quite a bit. The Wolf House was an odd one where everything that was happening onscreen bounced off of me mostly because I felt intimately aware that I was watching a movie, that someone had made something and that I was now being shown it. Blah. People like these so don't let me stop you.

Our animated offerings this year...

Michael Jackson's Halloween more than anything feels like an unlicensed creation that later had an English fan dub commissioned, not something that actually aired on CBS twice. Any laughs that I found in this thing were the unintentional type as we open up with Bubbles talking and being Jackson's chauffeur; you know exactly what you're getting into. Very little of the plot is explained but I'm assuming Jackson (who has no lines given this was made posthumously) orchestrates a dark fantasy adventure to hook two...teenagers? People in their late 20's? And convince them to follow their dreams of performing instead of working a deadend dayjob. I'm not sure who the actual audience for this was given it feels like so much of it was made for children but I will say anything that has this much of Michael Jackson's music in it can't be all bad, though I'm not sure why they didn't largely stick with tracks from the album Thriller (in the contention for best album ever, I don't care).

Gamera: Rebirth is one I feel like I'm on the outside on compared to most other tokusatsu fans because I didn't really *love* to a serious degree even though, yes, Gamera is finally back. The first three episodes are mostly just kind of a slog for me with the backhalf not doing enough to retroactively make me think highly of it, though giving off End of Evangelion vibes may make me consider that a second viewing must be in order down the line. Rebirth's strongest attribute is that it feels like it takes into consideration and influence from every prior era of Gamera, no stone is left unturned, and it's a marked contrast from how every recent Godzilla property only captures a single facet of their respective character. But that also creates unique issues like how a lot of criticism of ongoing US military presence in Japan is undercut so there can be a white kid in the main cast (because white children were always present in half of the Showa series) or having the ancient civilization that genetically engineered the kaiju now being malicious and actively sacrificing children as a means of reshaping the world gives me vaguely anti-semitic tones, I don't know, Gamera is still here, I guess.

"I was just a little twerp who liked Scooby-Doo and Smurfs, now I was viewing Cthulhu mutants ruin the Earth."

Everyday that we have Inhumanoids is a gift. Inhumanoids is another Hasbro/Sunbow production like G. I. Joe, Transformers, or Jem and The Holograms, and it is truly tragic that it never got anywhere near that level of attention compared to its siblings. The fact that a 1980's action figure tie-in cartoon is named for its antagonists is only the start; the series follows a small paramilitary outfit of scientists named Earth Core that are tasked with more or less saving the world alongside the Mutores, elemental beings, when the Inhumanoids, eldritch abominations, are unleashed. The degree of world-building beyond your typical "good guys vs. bad guys" affair is astounding with villainous humans and virtuous monsters abounding, but Inhumanoids is mostly magical and remembered for saying fuck all to any type of broadcast standards. Seeing giant monsters destroy cities, undead armies, and spelunking deep into the Earth (where nightmares begin...) are just standard fair here, as are witnessing the actual Inhumanoids such as Metlar (basically the devil) or D'Compose (giant undead entity that can zombify people by touching them and uses his ribcage like a jail cell) in action. The first five episodes here are the pilot movie of sorts for the series which only lasted thirteen overall, and they get more grissly from here on out, but maybe it's best that Inhumanoids is the short lived cartoon and no the cartoon that went soft as early as its second season. I will never not love this show, to this day it's one of my favorite animated series from any decade, much less the 1980's.

Back to our regularly scheduled live-action programming...

Student Bodies is a fascinating film for a myriad of reasons the first of which is that there were somehow enough slasher films by 1981 for there to be a comedy poking fun at all the already established genre-cliches. It's essentially Scary Movie (2000) a full 20 years ahead of the curve only actually funny in spite of the subject matter frequently being as juvenile and prejudiced; but it also reminds me quite a bit of Scream (1996) with stuff like two killers working together. All I know is I was in for a decent time when the film opens with three identical shots of a house just with different framing text: "HALLOWEEN," "FRIDAY THE 13TH," "JAMIE LEE CURTIS' BIRTHDAY" and then the killer, The Breather, calls the opening kill girl doing nothing but breathing heavily, she hangs up, he calls back with "I SAID [heavy breathing]."

Return of The Living Dead is one of those films that should have destroyed the any artifically-imposed boundaries between "high" and "low" art. Every aspect of this film is brilliantly made, it just so happens to be made for stuff like Scooby-Doo music overlaid on top of thunderstorms over graveyards where one female character is stripping to the concept of dying. Media involving ghouls is incredibly oversaturated, and this was still the case in the 1980's where a film like this had to redefine the rules to make it so killing ghouls was basically a non-option. It only recently struck me on this viewing that that's the whole purpose of removing virtually all weaknesses they have, to keep the characters as the nail instead of the hammer. Compared to the Romero films, there's never a point where anyone is in control of the situation, it just escalates further and further until there is literally no way out. Taking that into consideration, there's no way this film couldn't have been a comedy that frames people getting swarmed and eaten by ghouls as hilarious.

The soundtrack and the faux-punk sensibilities lend this a daft feeling of "you shouldn't be watching this" in spite of it not being one of the MOST gory horror films of the 1980's. I still don't get how this never broke into the mainstream. I mean somehow people know that ghouls (in this film) speak and only eat brains but I can't go down to Target and get a Tarman action figure like I can one of Michael Myers. As such Return of The Living Dead remains a criminally overlooked film regardless of its subject matter. It's made me laugh and cringe and feel disgusted and revolt at the concept at dying but mostly it's made me feel a delicious sense of joy at seeing corpses rise out of the ground to the tune of "Do you wanna party? IT'S PARTY TIIIME!" Some of you need to sit in the corner and think about your life choices for making stupid shit like Re-Animator (1985) or fucking Shaun of The Dead (2004) more popular than this, fuck you.

The act of watching Spider Baby is like discovering the missing link. For as much as 1960 gave us an explosion of horror (Eyes Without a Face, The Ship of Monsters, Psycho, Jigoku, Black Sunday, etc.) and Night of The Living Dead (1968) reins as the perennial transition point of the genre, Spider Baby is the road by which we go from The Cat and The Canary and The Old Dark House to the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eraserhead, it's magical finding an essential piece of a genre you love so much. Both the former and latter points of comparison are apt as a family of now only children [and their butler] suffering from Poe-esque hereditary illness have their condemned house set upon by distant relatives and everything slowly unravels.

Lon Chaney Jr. is an actor who for the longest time I felt never got a proper chance to shine wherein the last 25 years or so of his career was spent playing as side character actor in independent films. Spider Baby is his crowning achievement. Seeing him smile through almost tears on several occasions as he has to play bridge between worlds of sanity and madness and lie to everyone that he has some sense of control over the situation is brilliant in ways I always knew he was capable of but had never seen before this point. Bravo.

I will never not love Basket Case with everything I've got. This is the epitome of 1980's horror and my clear pick for best of the decade. It has everything from being a grungy putrid grindhouse spectacle to being an intimate character drama to everything presented through a wry ironic lense where you can't tell if any "bad" performances are all done on purpose. Between this, Brain Damage (1988), and Frankenhooker (1990), there is literally absolutely no reason why Frank Henenlotter shouldn't be more popular than Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, and Lloyd Kaufman *combined*. It's tragic that the world of cinema being enclosed and captured by studios again in the late 1980's prevented us from getting more from him, but realistically could we ask anymore than what we already got from Basket Case? I could watch this every day and never grow tired of it. I will never stop making more and more people watch this.

If Basket Case is the apex of 1980's horror, then Messiah of Evil is the same for 1970's horror. This is one of the most efficient horror films ever made in how not a single frame is wasted, the opening scene is literally a guy running from unseen force, seeking refuge, getting his throat slit, cue title card with synth music that then leads us to a sunburnt hallway as our narrator descends into acceptance of complete lack of control of the situation. Every night shot in this film must be 50 - 75% completely black with whatever headlight or store front there is just making the scenery look like a dollhouse that our characters are trapped inside. There's so many shots of people running away or walking down streets that make them look tiny as the camera is so far.

Every scene is an exercise in building up dread. There's no point where the film relents, something awful is not only coming, it's already here and there's nothing anyone can do. What I love particularly is that the mystery being laid out doesn't offer any answers because there's another mystery on top of what our characters find out only too late. Layers upon layers of dread that even the titular Messiah of Evil isn't the center of. The world is a cruel fucking place where this film languishes in obscurity whilst shit like The Exorcist enjoys mainstream attention. A lot of my taste amounts to "why isn't this thing I like more popular" and cases like Messiah of Evil vindicate me.

"Godzilla is the son of the atomic bomb. He is a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. He is the sacred beast of the apocalypse." - Tomoyuki Tanaka

Generally a yearly trend is that a #1 pick for Halloween is self-evident to me and this year it was Basket Case for all of 30 seconds until I picked Godzilla back up.

There's something to be said how Godzilla isn't quite a horror monster? Terrifying but not necessarily creepy, but what power do things that go bump in the night have against the destruction of everything you know? Everytime I watch Godzilla is like the very first time, when flashing lights out at sea destroy fishing ships I have no idea what happened, or at least any much of a clue as anyone in film does when we're told that the entire ocean exploded.

Godzilla is a reptile, but lacks scales and its entire body is coated in keloid scars. In 1954 Godzilla must have been the largest monster every committed to film, trains are derailed from running against its ankle and bell and radio towers are throttled for being a sensory inconvenience. Godzilla's first on-screen appearance on Odo Island is obscured by a hurricane but the impression is clear; you can't fight Godzilla in the same way you can't fight a natural disaster. When Tokyo is reduced to complete ruin amidst a sea of flames, it's an onslaught of destruction never before seen in a film of this genre. Survivors being afflicted with radiation poisoning shows that Godzilla will claim victims long after being driven back to sea.

There's a sheer apocalyptic dread to all of this sensed by all the characters. Love tries to exist on the edge of annihilation. There's nothing that can be done but persevere and maybe hope tomorrow will be better. A scene that always strikes me is when Serizawa is adamant about not using the Oxygen Destroyer until forcibly confronted with the results of one night of Godzilla making landfall in Japan. The absolute pain felt by everyone in the finale starts here, things couldn't play out any differently as the "scientist of the century" can't join in and celebrate his victory.

Godzilla is a rare perfect film. I will never tire of it.

#long post

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hiccstridshipper19 · 9 months

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Good Omens season 2 second watch observations

------------------ SPOILERS ALERT ------------------

The fly was crawling back into the box before Aziraphale picked it up

Aziraphale was so desperate for approval and praise that even the most nonchalant and out of context "I love you" from Amnesiac Gabriel (his former boss who tried to KILL him) got him tongue-tied and flustered. Which is really sad.

I knew something felt off when Crowley listed out the only three (and somewhat selfish) reasons why Aziraphale would call him and when Crowley was expected to do a whole-hearted apology (as much as I love the funny dance) upon coming back even though he had completely understandable reasons to react the way he did about Gabriel, the person who was so so so awful to both Aziraphale and Crowley. Their relationship is not balanced, and Aziraphale is definitely taking it for granted how Crowley would always do whatever Aziraphale asks. Not villainizing Aziraphale here but he's definitely got some character growth to do, their relationship has got work to do, before they officially get together in the end

And there it is again. "Do you want to hear my plan?" was met with "car keys, please" without even being directly answered

"But it's pretty 🥺"

Aziraphale brings a hand drawn portrait of Gabriel with him to investigate instead of taking a photograph with a camera, not even an antique one

Tiny Crowley

I can watch landanum poisoned Crowley for hours

This minisode is so tender oh- my heart. Someone please make a gif set of Aziraphale holding Crowley by the waist while they walked and Crowley being all woozy

I'm ready for the angsty edits reusing the gun firing scene for angsty purposes 🥰 (think of the possibilities! Like ooh how about Crowley is being mind controlled to shoot Aziraphale or something)

Aziraphale really went from "but that's for professional conjurers" to "working professional magicians such as myself!" after one encouraging pep talk from Crowley. I love these idiots

I'm quite liking the swing-jazzy version of the theme song in the outro. Fun instrumentations

Oh yeah this is unsettling. Definitely feel like Aziraphale is spiraling at this point like that one post said. It's off-putting how everyone in the room is made to do things that are not their intentions

Crowley's little hops when everyone was gasping about Mr. Brown

Electric candles. Aziraphale has switched over to battery operated candles instead of real ones so the bookshop couldn't get burned like last time

Crowley wearing slippers in heaven lmao. It's like his house or something

So where does the halo go? Does he get it back? Does he have an infinite regeneration of halos to throw around?

Ow. Ow ow ow owow. I have no coherent thoughts that can be delivered articulately because my brain is once again not functioning

Season 3 cannot come fast enough

#good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens 2 #go s2 spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #go season 2 spoilers #aziraphale #crowley

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enchantedchocolatebars · 3 months

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Another small snippet from Chapter 1 (Our Story Begins) of my big chapter fic “A Winsome Witch And A Happy Human” (Fic is very canon divergent. Context from first snippet here. Commission cover art here.)

(I'm currently at 867 words in the wip and I'm trying to reach 1000 or more. Will hopefully have the full chapter posted tomorrow.)

...

He puts the pawns in front, then lines up the other pieces symmetrically with the king and queen in the middle.

Next, the Titan walks over and, with extra care and very gentle claws, picks up his little eggling in the blue baseball cap.

Heading over to its chair, he produces a plump white pillow from thin air onto it and carefully sets it down.

Two more plump pillows are conjured across from the table as the Titan picks up his other two eggs and settles them down on their seats.

They were going to watch their papa play against their sibling in a match.

Upon taking his seat at the table, the Titan casts a sunny smile across his scruffy face as he gazed at his child.

"I know this is your first time playing chess," he began in a kind and understanding voice before continuing.

"So I'll share with you what I know."

"..." went the egg to its father.

Such an innocently childlike response led to the Titan's soft chuckle, his bony smile reaching all the way up to his round, hollow eyes.

"Don't worry," he reassured to his unhatched egg softly.

"I'll explain all the basics to you, and we'll start slowly and take our time while playing."

Chess was a challenging and complex game, he knew that.

The Titan wasn't very fond of the classic board game at first when he first started playing it with a man with blonde hair and a forelock.

However, as their games progressed and the man taught him the basics, his liking for it increased.

"..." asked the egg.

The Titan nodded. "Promise," he said as their chess lesson began.

The two most crucial pieces in the game are reached for by clawed hands.

"See these two guys here?" The Titan asked his egg, holding the pieces in his hand before continuing.

"In chess, we call them kings. Each player only gets one, and they're the most important pieces in the game. You want to attack your opponent's king while also keeping your own king safe and protected."

King.

Safe.

Protected.

The Titan's mind was filled with memories of his son, who was still alive.

He sighs of bliss from the memories before continuing with his explanation.

"Once the king is captured, the game ends, so always remember to keep him shielded."

As the Titan lists off the other pieces, he points at them.

"Each player controls 16 pieces: 8 pawns, 2 bishops, 2 knights, 2 rooks, 1 king, and 1 queen."

"..."

Papa Titan chuckles. "The knights are the little horse heads, and the rooks are the little castle towers," he told his little one.

"Each chess piece has its own unique way of moving across the board and potentially capturing your opponent's pieces as it goes."

He points at the pawns.

"Pawns have the ability to move one square forward per turn, except for their first turn when they have the ability to move two squares forward. Pawns move diagonally forward by capturing other pieces diagonally. They cannot move backward."

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snarktheater · 5 months

Note

I’d be game. I’ve been waiting for another Snark for a long time (especially for some of the YA series you started). Quick question: what did Brandon Sanderson do?

to grossly summarize and oversimplify: he was invited to guest on a wheel of time fan podcast to watch the season 2 finale of the TV adaptation, and spent the entire time complaining about essentially every choice being made, admitted he hadn't watched the rest of the season (which, I don't know, seems instrumental in understanding those choices) and generally denigrating the work of what, in my humble opinion, is a stellar piece of adaptation.

which I'll freely admit is a very petty thing to be mad about, but considering that he wrote the last wheel of time book (and split it into three, but like, okay that part may have been inevitable based on reports of the size of robert jordan's notes), massacred a good 70% of character arcs in the process, and didn't think the big slavery empire was a plot point worth addressing and in fact painted the characters who did want to address it as unreasonable, well, i think maybe he shouldn't get to throw stones at anyone else doing their own spin in robert jordan's work.

and that's of course building up on a decade of being adjacent to his fandom (mainly through the wheel of time) and having to deal with. for instance. a lot of apologia for his earlier homophobia, a stance which despite various claims from said apologists he has never actually retracted and has only couched in a vague language of "well I still believe the [mormon] church teaches the truth but i have gay friends so haha i guess i'm still struggling to reconcile those things". and other things, many of them, i'll be honest, are at least tangentially related to the mormon faith. because that church is fucked. more than your average conservative christian denomination.

which in turn circles back to the wheel of time amazon show, because it's hard not to look at his comments about it in the context of all that history. the show is faithful to the spirit of the books, and (i would say in accordance to that spirit) presents a fantasy world that is a lot more welcoming and diverse. i know this is a tired talking point to some, but it's true: the show just features a lot more people of color, it features queer people on the actual screen and not just by innuendo, it gives women agency and features their point of view in a way that jordan, for all his good intentions, sometimes failed to or only provided as far as it made them sexy. the show interrogates the narrative of the male hero and the concept of violent masculinity it's built upon in a way that both works with the themes of the books but also sometimes challenges the archetypes that the books, as forerunners in modern fantasy, have helped establish.

and so to have sanderson come in and criticize all that, well, it makes his weak attempts at appealing to his overwhelmingly more progressive than he is fandom come across as very shallow. i'm not saying he's a liar—i'm sure he's earnestly trying he's best—just that he seems to simply not understand the subject at all.

which is why i'm curious to see how it translates into his writing. if i can figure out which book to even look at. and if i can conjure up the willpower to stick through a whole book.

#i have not made any commitments yet #but it is good to know there's at least some interest #i honestly thought no one who followed the blog was still on the platform at all #as for other YA series i have started on here: i'm definitely not making any promises yet #making fun of cassandra clare and the like was fun but now it just seems…i don't know #there are so many worse targets #anyway i hope that clarifies it!#st: other posts #brandon sanderson #the wheel of time

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thebibliomancer · 8 months

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Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #40: And Now the... NIGHT SHIFT!

January, 1989

What a kooky band of villains for our heroes to tangle with. I'm pretty sure one of them is Candle- well, a guy named candle something. I have a post to write here, I can't afford to get kidnapped.

And one of them is Has Watch Will Travel? And a Hollywood werewolf? One of the Monarch's Murderflies from Venture Bros?

Weird.

But the regular writer was fired partway through the last issue and the new subplot he was setting up was unceremoniously taken out back and shot. Byrne is taking over the book with unlucky number 42.

So that means two issues to either spin the wheels or try to deal with what lingering plot threads are left.

I think the only lingering plot thread is the Mockingbird divorce, vengeful cowboy ghost thing.

I don't know if DeFalco called dibs on wrapping up the Mockingbird/Phantom Rider subplot or whether Gruenwald just didn't want to deal with it but in issue 40 we get wheel spinning. And then in issue 41, DeFalco and Macchio deal with the loose thread just before Byrne comes in.

So since this is a fill-in issue, what do we need to know?

Last times on West Coast Avengers: A lot happened but the relevant bits are that due to a disagreement over creepy stalker cowboy manslaughter, Mockingbird quit/was fired from the West Coast Avengers and took Tigra and Moon Knight with her. Scarlet Witch and Vision joined the team so that the WCA wouldn't just be Hawkeye and Wonder Man. Mantis looked like she was going to join but her only supporter, Steve Englehart, was fired and she was shoved out the door.

Mockingbird's team is still just kinda hanging around. They're Notvengers but keep fighting the good fight. Despite Mockingbird's moral stand that its okay to manslaughter cowboys sometimes, its not like she and her team have gone around manslaughtering other people. They're just a trio of like-minded Notvengers.

And when Mockingbird sees a weirdo burying people in the road, well, that's the kind of thing superheroes stick their nose into.

Mockingbird: "Ahh! This is what I live for... Throwing myself into a situation where the slightest misstep means disability or death. ... Pushing myself to the limit... and gambling that my all is enough to handle whatever I'm up against."

And what she's up against is a Frankenstein looking dude called the Digger who likes 1) digging, 2) telling scary stories to captive audiences, 3) and apparently being a zombie.

He's really annoyed when Mockingbird shows up and interrupts story time and tries to wallop her with his shovel.

She ultimately beats him with slapstick.

And takes him and the dudes he had buried in the road to the police to sort out.

Outside of LA, the rest of the Night Shift gang meets in a spooky Victorian manor called the Tower of Shadows. I don't think a manor is a tower but the house does have a tower.

Tower of Shadows is also the name of a Marvel horror mag. Digger was a horror host.

I know Marvel loves recycling its not superhero characters into the superhero context. Archie-ripoff Patsy Walker becomes Hellcat and so on.

But a horror host winding up on a supervillain team but still taking opportunities to force people to hear his spooky stories is a step above.

Its apparently later established that in-universe Digger was the horror host for a TV show called, yup, Tower of Shadows.

Fun minutiae.

Lets go around the table really quick.

The guy with the giant needle is named Needle. He has a paralyzing gaze. I have no idea what this has to do with needles but he also likes to sew people's mouths shut.

Dancing lady is Dansen Macabre. She has the power to dansen, in a macabre way. Also she can hypnotize or kill people who watch her dance.

Guy with the towering blond hair is Misfit. He's big 'n tough.

The guys with the high red collars and yet no corresponding capes are the Brothers Grim. They conjure items that are kinda sorta like things from fairy tales.

The guy that DOES have a cape is Tatterdemalion. He can rot paper and cloth with a touch thanks to gloves soaked in chemicals.

Behind him is Jack Russell terror, Werewolf-by-Night. Bad doggo.

And rounding out the table is Tick Tock. He's basically Destiny. Mystique's wife who can read ahead in the script? Yeah, Tick Tock is that but not as good.

And arriving is Gypsy Moth, who has an awkward name and POWER OVER FIBERS. Also, she later changes her name to Skein, probably because her first one was awkward but Lymantria Dispar Dispar doesn't roll off the tongue and Spongy Moth (the new Entomological Society of America approved name) doesn't strike fear in her enemies. So I'll roll with the name Skein.

West Coast Avengers acquaintance the Shroud runs this group of lower case-m misfits but he's not here right now.

Skein flies in and reports that she's heard rumor that when Digger was shaking down the Calamari Brothers, Mockingbird the Avenger beat the crap out of him and arrested him!

Clearly, such an insult can't stand!

Night Shift debates finding out where Digger is being held and busting him out but Shroud told them not to cause fuss with the cops when he's not around.

Tatterdemalion proposes they all go beat the shit out of the Avengers. Sure, Shroud told them not to mess with the Avengers either. But he's not here right now, is he?

Dansen Macabre: "I agree, Tatterdemalion! And as deputy leader in the Shroud's absence, I say it is high time we taught those daylight glory-grabbers the lesson that all of the Los Angeles underworld has learned -- don't mess with the Night Shift!"

This is amazing, for really dumb reasons.

It will later be retconned in that Well Actually, Evil Parent Gang the Pride controlled the West Coast but that they laid low to not get grief from superheroes before they (the Pride) could destroy the world (which they didn't actually manage).

That means they were lying low while jokers like Night Shift were swaggering around claiming to own this town.

Big, serious no nonsense supervillains like the Pride having to hold their tongues in the face of these goobers! Its amazing.

Anyway, since Night Shift are clearly people who hold to Aesthetic over all else, they of course drive everywhere in hearses. The whole team piles into two hearses and drives to the West Coast Avengers Compound.

Since Tick Tock is reading ahead in the script, he directs Night Shift how to use their powers to confound the security system. Including having Skein disassemble the fiber optics. Power over fiber is scary.

Since the West Coast Avengers Compound is a bunch of buildings, Night Shift just picks the closest one to storm.

Unfortunately, it's the bungalow for the support staff and a returning Joachin Mendez and a newly introduced Yolanda Russo get taken hostage.

Yolanda hears the ruckus and manages to hit the alarm before the Werewolf OH YEAHS through her door.

The intruder alarm alarms, alarming Hawkeye who was napping on a couch, presumably in the monitor room.

Hawkeye puts out an AVENGERS ASSEMBLE on the intercom.

It wakes up Scarlet Witch and Vision. Vision goes off to see what's wrong, leaving Wanda with the children.

She worries that if there's actually a real problem, the West Coast Avengers might be in trouble. There's only four people on the team right now. Wonder Man isn't even at the compound because he had a Hollywood social function. Presumably to promote his movie. Which changed names apparently. There's a poster for Arkon IV: Barbarian Berserkers. But it was subtitled the Goblin Pit last time we got a title for it. Probably because the writer change.

So four person team. Wonder Man not here. Scarlet Witch left with the babies. That only leaves Hawkeye and Vision. A two-person... well team feels like the wrong word. A dynamic duo maybe.

Tick-Tock uses his clock powers to predict Vision is approaching and will beat up the Brothers Grimm if they use wacky weapons funny foam or exploding eggs.

The brothers user the twinkie-dust which somehow can congeal intangible Vision and force him to the ground.

Hawkeye tries to shoot flare arrow (flarrows) to light up the Brothers Grimm so he can shoot them with different arrows. But Skein unravels Hawkeye's bowstring.

The two heroes become surrounded by the entire Night Shift (minus Shroud and Digger, but, eh, semantics). Plus, Needle has Yolanda as a hostage!

Night Shift having a hostage doesn't seem to faze Hawkeye though. He hucks a adhesive arrowhead at Skein, gunking up her wings.

Unfortunately, Skein doesn't use her moth wings to actually fly. Its just Aesthetic.

She's holding herself up with her fabric telekinesis. And she demonstrates by yoinking Hawkeye up into the air by his costume. Which I have to imagine has wedgy-like characteristics.

Vision still can't intangible because of the twinkie-dust. And is soon set upon by Werewolf, Tatterdemalion, and Misft. And Hawkeye is being menaced by the Brothers Grimm.

So Vision uses SOLAR BEAM to evaporate the Brothers' magic clouds. They fall and WHUMMMP on the floor. And Hawkeye throws an explosive arrow to knock Misfit off Vision.

Teamwork! Or, hmm, duowork.

MEANWHILE, back at L.A., Mockingbird rejoins Moon Knight and Tigra in Moon Knight's Moonwing.

Mockingbird reports her Digger arrest to her two fellow Notvengers. And then starts thinking aloud.

Digger supposedly works on Night Shift for the Shroud. And Mockingbird can't figure that guy out.

Hawkeye offered membership to the Shroud once but the guy seems like a criminal. Mockingbird always told Hawkeye they needed to arrest the guy or help him clear his name. She just doesn't get why the West Coast Avengers never busted him!

I'm not sure why Hawkeye didn't tell the other Avengers what the deal is with Shroud. Seems a weird omission.

Anyway, Moon Knight knows that Night Shift operates out of the Tower of Shadows so he decides the Notvengers should find out what Shroud's deal is once and for all.

And its his Moonwing so....

Back at the fight, Skein threatens to drop Hawkeye from a hundred feet off the ground. And Dansen Macabre sexy dances at Vision despite his protestations that sexy-based attacks don't work on him because he's an artificial human.

BUT: HERE SHE COMES TO SAVE THE DAY!

Scarlet Witch: "Sure would be improbable if gravity went wild -- and one person were suddenly pulled to Earth at great speed -- while another floated down like a leaf! But improbabilities become realities when the Scarlet Witch is around!"

Yeah, since the West Coast Avengers have an actual staff, Wanda got Jorge to watch the kids so she could come help Vision and Hawkeye.

And then five seconds later, the Brothers Grimm throw magic beans which explode into giant cotton balls. Wanda gets trapped in the cotton with Skein manipulating the fibers so her arms are stuck at her side.

And Needle uses Paralyze Gaze to freeze Hawkeye from running to help Scarlet Witch.

Womp womp.

With the West Coast Avengers defeated, Dansen Macabre states Night Shift's demands.

They want:

Digger to be released by the police and all charges dropped.

That's it.

And if the WCA do this, then Night Shift will release their Yolanda hostage.

Hawkeye now has no idea what this is about. He has no idea who Digger is or why Night Shift would think the Avengers have anything to do with him.

A Brother Grimm tells Werewolf by Night to try to sniff out more Avengers. I mean, only three Avengers? That's not much of a team!

Meanwhile, with the Notvengers breaking into the Tower of Shadows.

They get a net dropped on them.

I mean, Tigra and Moon Knight can rip through it because its meant for more mundane intruders.

Also: apparently: Khonshu being in the driver's seat is not a secret anymore? Tigra references to him as "an Egyptian God in a man's bod" so.

After escaping the net, the Notvengers head down the spiral staircase towards the hideout.

Tigra comments that it doesn't smell like anyone's been here for about two hours.

Mockingbird says it figures that a group called the Night Shift would be working at night.

The Notvengers finds Night Shift's meeting room which helpfully has all their stolen loot on the table as well as a note from Dansen Macabre to the Shroud.

Basically just saying 'hey, we've gone to pick a fight with the West Coast Avengers, feel free to pitch in.'

Tigra suggests going to help the West Coast Avengers or at least calling and giving a heads-up.

Mockingbird suggests an alternate plan.

The Notvengers lay in wait for Night Shift to come back and Hawkeye can go fuck himself.

If he was happy leaving the gang alone to do their thing, then he can enjoy having a play date with them.

Also, this creepy mansion doesn't have a phone and cell phones aren't in wide use yet.

But one gets the sense that its mostly spite.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, Hawkeye still has no fucking idea what Night Shift is talking about.

Of course, he's too paralyzed to say so.

Dansen Macabre tells Hawkeye that Night Shift is going to take off with their hostage so make sure to tell his wife to keep her nose out of Night Shift business.

And NOW Hawkeye understands.

Anyway, Wonder Man suddenly shows up to save the day.

Just plows through the entire Night Shift and saves Yolanda.

Tick Tock didn't predict this because... I guess his powers are based on eyesight?

Whatever, precog powers are broken anyway.

Wonder Man and Vision tear apart the cotton balls, freeing Scarlet Witch.

Misfit attacks Wonder Man both physically and emotionally by telling him his last movie sucked. Wonder Man ends up just punching the dude because he's strong but not Wonder Man strong.

That's the pattern. Wonder Man lets himself get beaten up for a while and then goes 'bee tee dubs, I've been sandbagging.'

Hawkeye throws some smoke arrowheads to blind Tick Tock and Werewolf-by-Night.

Vision punches out Needle and Tatterdemalion. They're basically normal dudes, in terms of their ability to take a punch. But Dansen Macabre dances and mesmerizes him. Despite his claims of immunity to sexy-based mind control.

Scarlet Witch locks down the Brothers Grimm and Skein by magicing their tricks back at them.

And for an encore, she goes and punches Dansen Macabre in the back of the head for sexy dancing at her husband.

That's her job, dammit!

Meanwhile, the Shroud arrives at the tower of Shadows and goes dammit the West Coast Avengers have broken into my sanctum and are touching my stuff! >=[

Tigra is specifically touching his itemized list of loot, which carefully spells out what criminals the loot was stolen from and how much.

Mockingbird quips that Night Shift is a "mob of monsters with M.B.A.'s."

Tigra then smells Shroud which means he can't just keep lurking watching them touch his stuff. So he switches right to spooky mode.

Shroud: "You have violated the inner sanctum of the Shroud! Speak your business at once!"

Mockingbird tells him to come out of the shadows because she doesn't like conversations with people she can't see. So Shroud just tells her to enjoy talking to herself and fucks off.

He managed to sense the note from Dansen Macabre so he's going to go bail out his team instead of talking to the people getting fingerprints on his things.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, having turned the tables on Night Shift, the West Coast Avengers have sat them down in chairs and lectured them about how Mockingbird left the team and what she does doesn't reflect on them.

Seriously. Sat them down in a sullen little classroom setting.

This is amazing.

Wonder Man is confused by Hawkeye's tone of trying to reason with them when they attacked the Avengers. They're crooks. Aren't we going to send them to jail?

But the room is suddenly engulfed in darkness and Shroud tells Night Shift to skedaddle.

Hawkeye manages to pin Shroud with an arrow and get a moment to talk with him during the run away. But Shroud says they'll talk in the usual place in ten minutes.

So Hawkeye lets Night Shift get away. And tells the West Coast Avengers to not try to pursue. To their bafflement and annoyance.

The usual place is apparently the cliffs overlooking the ocean in the West Coast Avengers Compound. Make-Out Cliffs, since that's where Tigra and Moon Knight used to go to make out.

Hawkeye and Shroud don't make out though.

Shroud starts the conversation by going 'okay, none of this was my idea.'

And Hawkeye believes that but he suggests that maybe Shroud can't handle this fake crime-boss game he's playing and can't keep his dangerous gang under control. And if not, maybe he should quit.

Shroud escalates in kind going 'yeah, well you can't keep your wife in line AND she took half the team in the divorce.'

Hawkeye is just surprised that Shroud talked to Mockingbird. Shroud tells him that she's probably still at the Tower of Shadows and gives him the phone number.

BECAUSE THE SPOOKY MANSION HAD A PHONE, MOCKINGBIRD JUST DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH.

Anyway, contact her. Tell her to stop messing with Night Shift. And this nonsense won't happen again.

Hawkeye: "Know something, Shroudy? That criminal facade of ours is getting pretty shop-worn. I take it you're still not letting your gang know your true colors." Shroud: "Most of them. I still find my cover useful. You fight evil your way, I'll fight it mine. Agreed?" Hawkeye: "Yeah. I'm gonna have to let my troops know the truth about you and your operation, you know." Shroud: "I trust your judgement. Now... farewell."

Okay.

Shroud is pulling a Green Hornet. Infiltrating the underworld to undermine it from within.

Specifically, he's taken a bunch of villains that would otherwise be causing problems and redirected them to target other criminals.

It looks like a gang robbing other gangs but it keeps the real gangs from getting too powerful.

(And somehow the Shroud never learned about the Pride. I suspect the Pride weren't as influential as they claimed, honestly. Claiming they kept the West Coast free of overt villainy to superheroes would lose interest in it kinda ignores everything that ever happened on the West Coast in Marvel.)

Hawkeye has been enabling the Shroud by keeping the West Coast Avengers from going after him. And its not like they didn't have other stuff to occupy their time.

FOR SOME REASON, Hawkeye decided not to tell any of his team that Shroud was pulling a Green Hornet.

Not even his wife, Mockingbird.

When Hawkeye's claimed problem with cowboy manslaughter was that Mockingbird didn't trust him with it.

And he's keeping the Shroud's true motives secret from her for no fucking reason.

Fuck Hawkeye.

But also: probably because of the change in writer.

The Shroud batmans away from the conversation, to Hawkeye's annoyance.

To sync up with Avengers and to bring us right up to the Byrne era, next time is another West Coast Avengers. Let's tie off that dangling cowboy ghost plot thread.

When West Coast Avengers started, I never thought vengeful cowboy ghost would be one of the more long-lasting subplots but here we are.

Follow @essential-avengers for more good times. Well, the same good times. I just reblog the essential avengers posts there so that they're all in a row. Like, reblog, and comment!

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redpeppermilkshake · 8 months

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Mulholland Drive - A Red Pepper Review

warning - huge spoilers ahead!!

RATING: 4/5 PEPPERS 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

A few years ago, I sat down and watched a little movie by an indie director named David Lynch. Maybe you've heard of him? He made a film called Mulholland Drive, which was released in 2001. Of course, I'm joking, and of course this movie is a cinematic marvel and cited as one of the greatest movie ever by critics and viewers alike.

So, then, why did I absolutely fucking hate it when I watched it? The credits rolled and I remember staring at my laptop feeling cheated. Why did this have a 4.5/5 on Letterboxd, and an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes? I found it hard to believe that anyone, let alone dummies like me, had watched this movie and actually come away from it with some semblance of understanding of what the fuck had just happened.

I chalked it up to not being my "thing". I warned friends not to watch it. But it nagged at me. I'm not stupid. There must be some way for me to understand this movie. I thought, as time passed, maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind when I watched it?

I was somewhat familiar with David Lynch. I watched Blue Velvet, and although that was baffling, it was still good. I watched The Elephant Man recently and was so touched by its soul crushing depiction of what it means to be a human being that I sobbed for an hour straight. But Mulholland Drive? It was an anomaly. It was a mountain I couldn't seem to climb.

So, I set out to change my own mind. It was worth another shot. If my second watch went as badly, I'd know it really wasn't for me.

Now, why am I so invested in this? I'm currently in my last few days of being unemployed, so what better time than now to hyper-fixate on a film I'm going to sit down and watch by myself on my bed.

I had to prepare. I read 3 or 4 articles. I wrote out a whole damn timeline on my iPad. I made a character chart. I read and read and researched and made a mental note of everything I came across. Of course, it can be argued that doing this could have taken away from the "authenticity" of what I was watching, but as far as I was concerned it would only compliment my viewing experience.

My first viewing was a fever dream, I told myself, as I sat down to start watching. This time around, with the added context of my first watch, I was sure I would get a better sense of what's going on.

And let me tell you, I did!! So much so that I have to write about it.

First of all, I think this movie REQUIRES more than one viewing to really wrap your head around it. It's a massive mind fuck. But a good one.

I honestly really enjoyed it! I became emotional a few times towards the end, which was probably a mix of pity, shock, sadness, and even fear. My mind was processing things at a mile a minute, and it was a a fun ride, albeit a chaotic one.

This time around, knowing that the first ~2 hrs are a dream made things click. No wonder the characters were a little bit off. They're a figment of someone's imagination. I LOVE dream analysis, so I really enjoyed being conscious of the fact that things weren't real as I was watching it. I have really vivid dreams, and I feel like the way it was depicted in this movie is almost an exact science. It's insane that they were able to capture that vibe so powerfully.

At some points, I kinda felt like Diane was lucid dreaming. Like when the woman in apartment 12 steps outside to join them to go to apartment 17. On one hand, maybe Diane's brain is trying to prevent them from going in because it's getting a little too close to home. But, then, how will they find the answers they're looking for if this random lady tags along?? She has to be stopped! It's almost like Diane is aware of this and conjures up a phone call to get her not to go.

This dream is constantly molded by Diane to be an amalgamation of events that can help her escape her shitty reality for as long as possible. When the singer at the club is clearly lip syncing, the jig is finally up and the ending is upon us.

Some of the awkward dialogue, which seemed weird and even bad on my first watch, now makes SO much more sense. And it really draws you into the story. The surrealness of the story is not only something you can see but something you can feel. It's all a little unsettling. I got some serious uncanny valley vibes - It's like everyone in Diane's dream is trying desperately to be human but they're falling just short of the mark and it made me so uneasy!

It was interesting watching the ending and piecing together how Diane's dream was formed. Afterall, the images and things you see in your dreams have to come from somewhere. She lives in a shitty, beat up apartment so she dreams that she's in a luxurious, well decorated one. Camilla doesn't love her back, so she dreams that Camilla is "Rita" and she's a placid, wounded bird who's ever so grateful for her help. But she doesn't say I love you back, and afterwards the cracks start to form. Diane hired the hitman in the diner, so in her dream "Dan" is utterly petrified by the "monster" in the back. In her dream, Diane (or Betty) has an unbelievably amazing audition where she blows away everyone in the room. She's compensating for her failure to become a successful actress in reality. Director Adam in the dream is being pressured by the mob to hire Camilla, underscoring the real Camilla's claim to fame. Diane makes it as if Camilla was hired for better roles than her due to things completely out of Diane's control, softening the blow of her failure to land big roles. Also, the girl who plays dream Camilla kisses the real Camilla at the dinner party, so she plays the dream Camilla whose hired based on false pretenses. This is all designed to make Diane feel better about her acting abilities and her miserable career. The "cowboy" briefly flashes on the screen when the woman that Camilla kisses at the party is leaving. He flashes by at the perfect time; Diane registers his appearance, and she sees him recently enough for him to become a character in her dream. And she sees him twice at the end of her dream, which is what he said would happen if she did something "bad". She hired that hitman—that's real bad!

I am struggling to wrap my mind around the significance of that old couple. I think I might fall down a rabbit hole about what they mean in a few short minutes. Maybe they're just there to taunt Camilla. They send her off in LA, wishing her well, but afterwards in the car at the airport there's a deviousness to their behavior. It's almost like they know she's bound to fail.

Anyways, there are just so many things I picked up on this time around that made watching this such an interesting experience. Another watch may be necessary in the future.

For now, if you're looking for a hard and irrevocable mind fuck (!), get into Mulholland Drive.

#mulholland drive #david lynch #movie review #film #spoiler #movie spoilers

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nv-archives-archive · 10 months

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I'm bored, and I have some Town of Salem screenshots stored in my phone.

Why don't I share with you their stories? =)

Oh hey! I have a fanfiction written about this one! But because it only tells the end game, I'll tell the whole story here :P

It all began when I roll Arsonist.

Night 1: I get jailed. I claim Lookout and ask who they are and if they'd like me to be on them as though I don't already know who the Jailor is.

Day 2: I keep quiet most of the time, but I do try to contribute to discussions. I notice that 1 claimed Trans somewhere in midday, so I conjure up a plan: play around with my douses using this Trans.

Night 2: I attempt to douse 1. In my will, I am writing up a will pretending to watch the Jailor.

Day 3: I notice that the only person doused is still Jailor. They died to an SK they jailed. I was about to grumble about having only one douse, but then I had a realisation.

I whisper to 1

Did you trans yourself with 7?

Lookout N1: jailed N2: 7 vb 1

Yeah I did!

Checks out

So I am an LO in the eyes of this Trans, and Jailor died to SK so that means no TP was on them. Still, I refrained from posting publicly just in case a random visited the Jailor.

Night 3: I try to douse 1. 1 transd themselves with 5

Day 4: I send them my n3 to keep up with the lie, wherein I said I "watched" them and that I "saw" them visit themselves.

Night 4: I finally douse 1. 5 fucking dies.

Day 5: It is now me, the SK, and the Trans left.

My absolute tarnation bumfuzzle brainfarted and accused Trans as Maf.

Bruh you saw me visit myself

Oh.

I gotta hand it to SK for trying though. They were fighting so hard in this losing battle, insisting that Trans was Hypno.

So we lynched SK, and Town blew up on dead chat after getting slapped in the face with an Arso win. Trans left within seconds without saying a word.

You know what would've been funnier? If I lynched Trans instead and feasted on the mass reports lmao (my account is still clean as of 507 games)

I also have a fanfic written for this one.

I don't feel like sharing the whole story. The only interesting part was this Vet 1v1 with Amb. I just thought the will was funny.

This one has a very uninteresting early game. I only screenshot this because of end game.

Basically, I played silent SK and claimed Doc because Invest existed.

By the end, it was me, WW, and 2 Mafs alive. In their eyes, I was still Doc, so I said to Maf that I will side them and that I will lynch WW for them. WW didn't really argue and left after getting lynched.

Before night started, I taunted them.

I still have a self-heal left :)

By morning, photo happened.

Y'all don't need a story or context for that

Maybe except for the fact that my friend as Vamp always tries to bite me first night, so I whispered this to the Jailor before they died.

Also, I was Esc.

I have a fanfic and comic strip reserved for this one ;)

Ok, I saved the best for the last.

Get ready because this is gonna be one hell of a long pillion ego trip.

Once upon a time, I roll my favourite NK: Arsonist

Night 1: I was roleblocked. That's fine. At least I still get a douse through passive, and I know who rb'd me.

Day 2: No Maf kills. Esc was hellbent on getting me lynched there and then thinking I was MK. I managed to pull through the accusations by demanding that Esc visit me again, that I was a "Sheriff" trying to do his job.

No lynches were made that day.

Night 2: As expected, I was roleblocked again, but lookie here, I have another passive douse.

Day 3: Esc dies to Amb. Maf has made a kill. I made sure to rub it in their faces that Amb could not visit fellow Maf, and Maf got a kill thus nullifying the accusations on me. Sheriff began to push Cons. No lynches were made.

Night 3: aheheheheHEHEHEHE

Day 4: I hard push Amb, saying they were sus. Sheriff fights for spotlight and tries to get Cons out instead. Town favours me and lynches Amb first. I am now semi-confirmed.

Night 4: I get attacked AND HEALED?

Day 5: Sheriff whispers me asking who I "checked". I waited a bit for Doc to come out. Thankfully, Doc whispered me because I was about to take a 50/50 and almost accused Doc as Maf.

As soon as I said that my other passive douse was sus, they left the game. I am now hard confirmed.

Sheriff finally gets Cons out after my embarrassing rant about Jailor not exeing Cons when they were getting rb'd by another Cons. In my defence, Jailor was silent as hell. I didn't know who they was.

Night 5: I attempt to douse 4 who died to Jailor that night.

Day 6: Sheriff whispers me again who I "checked", and we apparently checked the same person.

We lynch last Maf claiming Survivor.

They thought it was GG. It was only me, Sheriff, Doc, Jailor, and Surv left. All hard confirmed... except for one.

It's the Surv claim! Exe them!

I felt bad for saying that, but I had to save my pillion first in case Jailor tried something.

Then, whadd'ya know. The whole town is in fire except for me and the Surv.

#town of salem #town of salem screenshots #do tell me if the coloured text bothers ya

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cursepoem · 1 year

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Year in Review 2022 — Part 2 — TV

Not a big TV guy! I watched The White Lotus and (still) didn't love it (I know i'm on an island, here). The twinkle in F. Murray Abraham's eye, seeing problematic fave Michael Imperioli back at it, the revelation that is Meaghann Fahy, all of this kept me engaged even when I struggled with the broader goings on. The Rehearsal boasted some truly transcendent moments if the whole was a bit uneven, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't perfectly happy to be along for the ride. (And truly, Fielder's cameo at the Mets Wild Card Game is enough for a spot in these honorable mentions.) Admittedly, I succumbed late to the Andor hype off of the promise of Michael Clayton in space, a promise on which the first handful of episodes delivered, but ultimately it ended up being too Star Wars for my tastes. (File Star Wars next to Drake and smoking weed on the list of things I may have once had a genuine affection for, but long since conjure nothing for me. Kicked the habit with no real intention or effort, just one day realized I was over it.) Along with Rogue One, maybe the only installment in my lifetime that kinda works for me, here Tony Gilroy is able to tell a singular story and bring in some deft genre elements while still being firmly a part of the larger tapestry, which is respectable. What's harder to take in the right spirit are the political implications of rebellion against the fascist cosplay that's depicted, not to mention the obvious fact of the place its coming from, but I'm not the guy to really expound there. Diego Luna is watchable, hitting all the little desperate Clayton-esque grace notes. Adria Arjona even moreso in her own way, another revelation, but more in the entry below than her thankless performance here. Stellan had some moments and Genevieve O'Reilly played a woman who would eventually have short hair pretty convincingly. All that said, I still don't ever need to see Andy Serkis in anything ever again. Any screen time that guy gets outside of mo-cap is too much. (The word count I'm devoting here is pure recency bias, btw.) I was pretty floored with the first episode of Station Eleven, but didn't stick with it. Between being down for watching Mackenzie Davis do pretty much anything and boasting the best director in television (Hero Murai, more on which below), its definitely on my list to revisit.

Irma Vep dir. Olivier Assays (HBO) I was as uncertain as anyone when I heard about this. Not something anyone would ever expect would warrant a remake, not a role anyone could fathom being played by anyone other than Maggie Cheung, not exactly what I wanted from one of my favorite directors. I quickly came around once I saw just how playful Assayas was getting here, though. This is precisely the kind of work I really love (Licorice Pizza, Widows, most Soderbergh, etc) where you have someone just completely mining all the things they love, where it doesn't hinge on stakes or plot, but rather on all the idiosyncratic things that make this artist who they are, taking shape in the culmination of something that is purely them, an accretion of what makes them a singular voice. Here Assayas is having as much fun with the meta-framework of a disastrous miniseries production in satirizing all the obvious talking points of our modern content landscape as he is with the ur-text of Les Vampires that is obviously still knocking around in his head nearly two decades later. The ways he cuts between the world he's depicting, the meta narrative of the show they're producing before our eyes, and the grainy silent-era footage upon which its based is the stuff of cinema employed at maybe the most assured and meaningful I've seen in television. He's capturing back the things that streaming has taken from the form, but remains fully and playfully aware of its context. He gets lost in the weeds, sure, but that's all part of the fun, it's a rare joy to just watch these people work. And it's even full of little flourishes for the sickos like me; the Sonic Youth needle drop, the K-Stew cameo, these things had name hollering and fist-pumping on the couch. Make no mistake, this is an undeniably major entry in Assayas' filmography.

Atlanta dir. Hiro Murai et al. (FX) This is the rare send-off the show deserved. Months later, I'm still in awe of what this series achieved in its back half. The risks it took consistently had my jaw on the floor and we're going to be contending with the breadth of what it was able to explore for years to come. To return after such a long hiatus with a divisive and daring third season and then build upon it, be even more daring but all the more true to its characters and world, attempting to solve its own issues and pose even more new questions, the best television rarely scratches this surface and this show did it at every turn. It is a gift that this core of writers, directors, and performers were able to remain so true to the show's strange dreamlike world and the brutally surreal real one just beyond it simultaneously. I lost count of how many levels Episode 8 was operating on, all the different layers and lenses, but for all of this awesome density, it remains hilarious, breathlessly easy to watch. It walks a thrilling tightrope of escape and confrontation and manages to build deep emotional connection and make you howl with laughter all throughout. There are too many great episodes and moments here to count, and an abundance of great writing and interviews on the subject as well, so I'll do my best to avoid rambling and rehashing, but this truly is some pinnacle of the form level shit in my humble opinion, and I really just feel so fortunate we got what we did here.

#year in review #year in review 2022 #atlanta fx #irma vep #olivier assayas #lolmets

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cutiequokka · 3 years

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Psycho pt. 3 (Hyunin)

Genre: Smut

Word Count: 3.9k

Warnings: Dom/Bottom!Hyunjin, Sub/Top!Jeongin, hyung kink, humiliation, voice kink, So. Much. DIRTY TALK, unprotected sex, Jeongin starts talking in 3rd person and is also packing, cum play

Summary: After having been avoided by Jeongin for almost a week now, Hyunjin decides it's finally time to take action and make his tempting fantasies a reality.

A/N: I'm so so so sorry for the wait, writers block hit me like a freight train as well as bad mental health, but thank you guys for being patient with me! I hope you enjoy the final part! :D (Also if you haven't read parts 1 and 2 I HIGHLY suggest you do so you understand the context for all this.)

If Hyunjin hadn’t known any better, he would have thought Jeongin hated him.

The avoiding eye contact, the physical distancing, the way he made up the wildest of excuses as to not be in the same room as him. It was all bizarre and out of character for any outsider watching, but thankfully, Hyunjin did know better.

The beloved maknae didn’t hate him, he loved him dearly. A little too dearly for it just to be friendly.

Ever since he had overheard the younger jerking off to his Psycho performance, Hyunjin’s mind had been swimming with nothing but unfiltered fantasies that now had some tempting possibility. Every time he looked at the boy for even a second longer than a glance, his brain would conjure up vivid images of Jeongin being a good boy for him; on his knees, begging to suck him off, blushing as the filthy words left his pretty little mouth. It was enough to drive Hyunjin insane, and his dick was almost sore from the number of times he had jerked of hurriedly in a bathroom during a break at practice with the occasional two fingers buried in his ass, replays of Jeongin’s moaning bouncing around his skull.

God, he’s just so perfect, Hyunjin groaned to himself, wiping today’s load of sticky cum off his hands. I’m scared gonna lose my mind if I don’t fuck him soon. After washing his hands and checking to make sure he looked presentable in the mirror, Hyunjin swung the bathroom door open, only to be met face to face with the person who had been causing his wave of unfiltered horniness.

Jeongin. Damn, he looks delicious today.

Jeongin’s shirt was a loose tank top, hanging off his shoulders and accentuating his growing muscles beautifully. His light grey shorts were simple, yet managed to be just tight enough to show off the swell of his ass and thighs, making Hyunjin’s mouth water as he gulped and quickly composed himself.

“Hey Innie, sorry for scaring you,” he said cooly, leaning against the door frame for maximum sexy points. Jeongin blushed, head down and gaze taking a great interest in his hyung’s shoes.

“That’s ok, I was just... you know, gonna... yeah.” He pushed past the older and hurried into a stall, leaving Hyunjin alone in the doorway to simply sigh and head back to the rest of the group.

“Hyunjin-ah, can I talk to you please?” Chan asked once he saw the boy approaching. Hyunjin just shrugged and followed him to a corner of the studio, already knowing what this was about.

“Ok, so I don’t want to be nosy, but did you and Jeongin... have a fight or something?” The leader looked concerned, eyes flashing with worry. Hyunjin honestly felt bad for him, but he couldn’t think of a way to soothe his anxieties without saying the truth, which was certainly not an option. So instead, he played dumb, saying that Jeongin had simply started acting weird to him out of nowhere. Chan sighed, eyes trailing behind Hyunjin as the maknae emerged from the bathroom, heading straight for Minho to go over some tricky choreography.

“Well, between you and me, I’m worried that this issue is impacting both of your performances during practice recently.”

“How so?” Hyunjin asked, now nervous that Chan had picked up on his frequent restroom trips.

“I don’t know, you seem... distant. Like your thoughts are elsewhere,” Chan mused, studying Hyunjin’s face as the boy struggled to control a blush. “And Jeongin, he just, he avoids you like the plague. Even when he’s next to you in the choreo, he stares at the floor and refuses to make eye contact with anyone, almost like he’s scared it’ll be you.” Despite knowing the reason behind it, Hyunjin’s chest still clenched, heart aching with the thought of the precious maknae not feeling safe around him.

“So, all this to say that I was, uh, wondering if you guys could talk it out after practice today?”

Hyunjin’s brain suddenly short-circuited at the request. Talk it out? Together?? Alone??? His mind raced with possibilities, and he nodded enthusiastically, earning an eyebrow raise from Chan.

“I miss him, I wanna talk to him and get this all sorted out,” Hyunjin assured, and it technically wasn’t a lie. He just didn’t specify what “this” was.

“Good,” Chan smiled, patting the younger’s head affectionately. “I’ll make sure to clear the others out so you guys can talk in peace without them annoying you.” Hyunjin quickly thanked him and then returned to the group’s practice, eyes trailing hungrily on what he hoped was a soon-to-be-fucked Jeongin.

After what felt like an eternity of dancing, tweaking moves, and working out kinks in the choreo (pun intended), Chan finally declared it time to rest for the day. “I’m ordering dinner for anyone who’s interested, it’ll be a little thank you for working so hard the past few weeks,” he said, earning various “thank you hyung!”s in response. Felix and Jisung cheered eagerly, dashing to the door and already discussing what they wanted to eat while Seungmin and Changbin quickly followed close behind. Jeongin made a move to go as well, but Chan grabbed his shoulder gently.

“Hey, so I know you’ve been struggling on that one move and that it’s been stressing you out, so Hyunjin has volunteered to stay back and help you with it,” he explained, and Jeongin’s eyes grew wide.

“No no, that’s ok, Minho-hyung said he would do i-”

“That was before I learned food was happening,” Minho smirked, grabbing his water bottle and heading towards the door as well.

“But... but what if I’m hungry too!” Jeongin argued, clearly grasping at straws.

“I’ll get you your favorite, ok? There’s no need to be embarrassed about asking for help sometimes, and you don’t have to stay long. Just let Hyunjin review it and then you can come eat with us!” Jeongin looked defeated, realizing there was no way out of this. Hyunjin, who had been silently observing during this conversation, decided to speak up.

“Don’t worry, Innie, I’ll take good care of you.”

And the gulp Jeongin made at that moment made Hyunjin all the more excited.

Once the others had cleared out of the studio, the two were finally left alone to stand in uncomfortable silence. Jeongin glanced up at his hyung nervously, clearly wanting to get the exchange over with as soon as possible but also not wanting to make the first move. He was about to say something when Hyunjin’s low voice cut him off before he got the chance, making him freeze in panic.

“So, Innie, have you been practicing the Psycho choreo like you promised?”

Jeongin gaped at him, then Hyunjin watched as the recognition flashed in his eyes. He was almost certain the maknae hadn’t actually learned the dance but wanted to tease him nonetheless. Smirking, he watched as Jeongin fumbled to say something, eventually stuttering out an excuse about time as his ears turned a deep shade of pink.

“Oh really? I could have sworn I heard you listening to it the other day...” Jeongin simply shrugged noncommittally as his gaze bore holes in the studio floor, so Hyunjin decided to go even further and try and get a solid reaction out of him. “I even heard grunting, so I assumed you were exerting yourself.”

Jeongin practically choked on his own spit as he whipped his head up to meet Hyunjin’s firm gaze, pupils blown wide in shock and horror as he began to piece together what was happening. Hyunjin smirked and took a step towards the frozen boy, his voice dropping to an even lower level.

“Unless sweet little Innie was doing something else?”

A shiver ran down Jeongin’s spine as his mind raced, just barely concealing a whimper that had threatened to leave his mouth. Did Hyunjin know the whole story? Was he embarrassing him as a punishment? Was he mad? As if reading his mind, Hyunjin chuckled, reaching out to stroke Jeongin’s cheek; a touch surprisingly soft for the way his laugh sounded dark and dangerous.

“I’m not mad Innie, just surprised is all. I didn’t expect the beloved maknae to do something so filthy as to jerk off to his own band member’s performance.” Jeongin whined. He knew it was gross, he knew it was wrong, yet when Hyunjin's voice said such things it felt like they were going straight to his dick, already twitching despite Jeongin’s best efforts to remain calm.

Hyunjin wasn’t fooled though, and he knew he was one step closer to getting the boy to break for him.

“Imagine if the other members found out just how dirty you were, Jeongin. Would Chan-hyung be disappointed? And what about Minho and Seungmin, they’d never let you hear the end of it. I bet Jisung would be a brat about the whole thing and work extra hard on stage to rile you up.” Jeongin hated that he was getting off on this, on the idea of the whole group finding out his secret, but his horny-hazed brain simply didn’t seem to care as the filthy thoughts filled his mind.

“I’m sorry, hyung,” was all he managed to get out, sounding shaky even in his own ears but even more pitiful in Hyunjin’s.

“I know, and hyung forgives you,” Hyunjin replied, softening his voice to make sure the boy understood him. Jeongin simply stared at him wide-eyed, scared to say anything else since he knew his voice would betray him, but the bulge in his shorts told Hyunjin all he needed to know.

“Aww, is Innie getting turned on from all this talk?” Hyunjin asked, laughing when Jeongin nodded shyly in response. “Such a cutie, if only there was a devilishly handsome man here to help you…” If he wasn’t dying for a good dick, Jeongin would have scoffed and rolled his eyes. But instead, he leaned closer until their lips were dangerously close to touching, breathing in the older’s scent as he tried to steady his thumping heart.

And that was all the confirmation Hyunjin needed.

He grinned at that before smashing their lips together, shoving Jeongin back against the mirrored wall and snaking a hand around his waist. The softness of his lips made Jeongin’s head spin, his hands immediately traveled up to find a home in the blonde’s soft hair as he groaned unknowingly into the kiss.

Hyunjin pulled away all too soon, eyeing Jeongin up and down ferociously. “We don’t have long before Chan comes to check on us, so we gotta be quick.”

“Well maybe if someone hadn’t spent so long teasing-”

Hyunjin practically growled, hand shooting up to tug on Jeongin’s hair harshly, earning a whimper in response. “So now you’re gonna act all sly, hm? Remember who’s in charge here, or I’m leaving you here to deal with this yourself.” He cupped his hand over the younger’s bulge to prove his point, Jeongin’s eyes fluttering as he whimpered and rolled his hips to get more friction.

“You’re in charge hyung, just you, please don’t leave me.”

“Do you want me to help you?”

Jeongin nodded so hard his neck ached. “Please hyung, I’ve wanted you to for weeks.”

Hyunjin hummed, satisfied, and pulled Innie down to a sitting position on the floor. His own dick was starting to grow painful in his shorts, so he made quick work of stepping back and stripping off the remaining layers. Jeongin’s mouth hung open in admiration as he watched the dancer’s muscles ripple at the movement, cock hanging lazily between his legs. Jeongin felt a bolt of boldness when he saw just how hard Hyunjin was, and despite his better judgment, he decided to tease just a little bit more.

“For someone acting so smug, you sure are riled up there, hyung.” Hyunjin’s eyes narrowed as he leaned down to hover over Jeongin against the floor.

"For someone acting so shy, you sure are talking back quite a bit," he replied flatly, yet the tone in his voice told Jeongin that was the only warning he was gonna get.

"Now here's what's gonna happen," Hyunjin smirked, giving Jeongin a quick peck on the forehead. "I'm gonna strip your beautiful body down so I can see all your cuteness, ok?" Jeongin nodded, already raising his hips so the older could slip off his much-too-tight feeling shorts. Hyunjin chuckled at the clear eagerness of his actions but did exactly as he wanted, the shorts quickly being discarded into the pile along with the other clothes.

“B-boxers too please, hyung,” Jeongin requested, the almost pleading tone in his voice making Hyunjin also all the more impatient.

“As you wish, Innie.” And with that, Jeongin was naked from the waist down, his toned, gorgeous body on unabashed display.

Holy fucking shit.

Sure Hyunjin had fantasized many, many times before, but nothing could have prepared him for seeing the maknae’s dick for the first time. It stood proud and tall, curving up towards his stomach and twitching as Jeongin’s chest rose and fell heavily in anticipation. The head was an almost angry red, and Hyunjin practically drooled when he saw the beads of precum resting on the tip. Not only that, but Jeongin was big. Not in an unnatural way, but in a way that made Hyunjin choked back a shocked sound as he took in the glorious sight before him.

After a few moments of silent staring, Jeongin made out an impatient noise. “Can’t you do something instead of just eye-fucking me?” Hyunjin smirked, taking that as an invitation to lean forward and lick a long strip along the underside of his cock, making him gasp and roll his eyes back at the sudden pleasure.

“Innie, eyes open,” Hyunjin warned, giving Jeongin’s thigh a light slap. The boy’s eye immediately flew open again, already looking so far away it made the older want to laugh (in a loving way of course). “I’m going to give you two options, and you’re going to pick between them, ok?”

Jeongin nodded quickly, looking thoroughly interested.

“Option 1,” Hyunjin began, reaching out to stroke Jeongin’s cock as if to punctuate his statement. “I suck you off. I put this stunning, delicious dick in my mouth and suck you dry, then you do the same to me.” This was Hyunjin’s least favorite of the two, but he wanted to give Jeongin a non-sex option just in case that was going too far.

When he didn’t say anything in response, Hyunjin continued a little more carefully. “Option 2: we get to see what this dick can really do.”

Jeongin nearly blew his load at the thought alone, the filthy words coming out of the beautiful Hwang Hyunjin’s mouth. He nodded and bucked his hips up into his hand, curses flying out under his breath.

“I’ll take that as a pick for option 2?” Hyunjin smirked, accentuating the question with a firm squeeze.

“Yes,” Jeongin whined pathetically, and Hyunin’s groaned, watching in appreciation as the dick in his hand practically pulsed in excitement.

“Fuck baby, I was planning on railing you into next week, but after seeing this pretty cock, I might just have to have you top.” Jeongin moaned even louder at that, ears burning a deep shade of red. “Yeah? Would Innie like that? Would you like your cute cock buried in my tight little ass?” Hyunjin smirked, twisting his hand and drawing a frantic nod out of the other. “Hm, then how about I ride you. Does that sound good baby?” Jeongin whimpered out a hurried “yes, please” before Hyunjin pushed him back onto the floor, eagerly pressing their lips together again in a searing kiss.

To say the kiss was messy was an understatement, nothing but a flash of tangled tongues and drool spilling out of the corner of their lips, but neither seemed to care. When Hyunjin pulled away, a string of saliva connected their mouths, and he hummed contentedly.

“Ok baby, we need to open me up first, do you think you can help with that?” Despite his eyes being glassy and far away, Jeongin grinned eagerly, the smile making Hyunjin’s heart flutter despite the situation. Of course, his heart was also fluttering at the idea of the maknae’s beautiful hands working him open for his dick.

The process was slow, but Jeongin seemed more than eager to learn, and eventually, they had worked their way up to three fingers, with Hyunjin laying on his back as the younger loomed over him, veins in his arms bulging as he fingered him mercilessly. Feeling more than ready and extremely needy, Hyunjin was about to speak up when something stopped him.

A very intense something.

Three fingers plunging directly onto his prostate.

Hyunjin moaned so loudly it echoed off the dance studio walls. Jeongin jumped at the sudden noise before a look of concern crossed his handsome face. “H-hyung, are you ok?” He asked timidly, fingers still rubbing against the oh-so-sensitive spot. Hyunjin’s back arched as he nodded, quickly biting on his lower lip to keep in any more embarrassingly loud sounds.

“Fucking hell, stop moving Innie, g-gonna cum if you keep doing that, and- ah~ if I cum right now, you don’t get to f-fuck me.”

And with that, the hands were ripped away from his body, obediently flying to Jeongin’s sides as he gazed up almost apologetically.

The second he was free, Hyunjin pounced on Jeongin, hands grasping his strong shoulder as he grinded down on his lap. Jeongin hissed at the stimulation to his briefly neglected dick, wanting desperately to just get on with it. Luckily, Hyunjin seemed to feel the same way, and within moments, they both gasped at the sensation of Jeongin slowly entering him.

Even after being stretched with three long fingers, Hyunjin still felt a slight ache at the stretch. Somehow, Jeongin’s dick seemed even bigger inside him than just looking at it, if that was even possible, but he was loving every single second of it. After sheathing himself fully, he studied the younger’s face carefully, searching for any signs of regret or discomfort. Instead, all he found was the magnificent sight of Jeongin, head arched back, mouth hanging open in a silent moan as sweat already started to bead on his forehead. Deciding not to tease him anymore, Hyunjin simply muttered a quick “cute,” before setting a ruthless pace of sliding up and down the maknae’s cock.

Jeongin felt like he was in heaven, with Hyunjin being the beautiful angel bouncing on his dick, hair flopping against his face as he threw his head back in pleasure. Sure he’d had sex before, even anal, but Hyunjin just felt so tight, so secure, so strong. All Jeongin could do was moan unapologetically, overcome with the amount of pleasure and happiness he was feeling from finally, finally, having his dirty dream come true.

“F-Fuck, Innie, you feel so good inside me. Filling me up so well,” Hyunjin gasped, words low and raspy.

“Please k-keep talking,” Jeongin whimpered, and Hyunjin let out a breathy laugh.

“Baby just can’t get enough of my voice, huh? Is that why you jerked off to me singing? So you could hear me as you wrapped your hand around your pretty cock?”

Jeongin moaned pornographically as his mouth hung open. “Yes, yes Jinnie, I love it, I love your sexy voice and body and the way you dance and- fuck I’m gonna cum, Innie’s gonna cum!”

Hyunjin hummed, slamming his hips down even faster as the maknae gasped and practically shook in pleasure. “Aww, speaking in 3rd person now? Too fucked out by your hyung to even talk properly? So cute, Innie, so fucking cute,” he growled, his own high quickly approaching. Seeing the boy he had fantasized about for so long laying pliant underneath him, beautiful eyes squeezed shut and gasping for breath, was almost too much for Hyunjin to handle. What was even more heavenly though is when Jeongin reached between them and gave Hyunjin’s dick a nice, firm stroke, sending him moaning and collapsing forward against the younger’s body. It only took one last thrust into his prostate to send Hyunjin spilling all over his and Jeongin’s stomach, his groan bouncing around deliciously in the younger’s skull.

After fucking himself through his orgasm, Hyunjin panted, noticing that the man underneath him still hadn’t cum. He leaned forwards, ignoring the overstimulation as he clenched around Jeongin’s dick, kissing at his plump lips passionately before dipping down so his mouth was by his ear.

“Cum for me, fill me up like a good boy and-” Jeongin shook his head fervently and Hyunjin immediately stopped, about to ask what was wrong when the boy managed to whimper out an explanation.

“W-wanna cum on your face, please please, wanna see hyung’s painted all pretty with Innie’s cum, ah~ hyung please!”

And if Hyunjin could have gotten hard again, he would have.

Slowly pulling out, Hyunjin sat back and guided Jeongin into a kneeling positing supported up on his shins. Grabbing the back of his leg for support with one hand, he returned to furiously jerking the younger off with the other one, strokes occasionally being interrupted by a lick or a kiss. But most importantly, Hyunjin continued talking.

“Come on Innie, the last thing you can do after being so filthy is at least show me how you came the other day all sprawled out prettily on your bed. You know what, I bet you came on your phone, didn’t you? You saw my picture covered in your cum and needed to see it for real, hm? Fuck, you’re even dirtier than I thought, so much for the poor, sweet, innocent maknae that everyone cherishes, now there’s nothing in his place but a needy little slut.”

And it was that degradation, combined with Hyunjin’s merciless hand on his dick, that had Jeongin cumming with a high-pitched whine onto Hyunjin’s beautiful face. Some splattered across his cheek and chin, the rest dripping down and landing on his naked lap. Hyunjin grinned and licked off what was around his lips and Jeongin simply stared, fucked-out and awestruck, before reaching forward to wipe some off and feed it to the older himself. Raising an eyebrow, Hyunjin complied, opening his mouth to let Jeonhin’s sticky fingers slip in and cleaning them dutifully. After a little longer of that, Jeongin smiled lazily, laughing softly.

“What’s so funny?” Hyunjin asked, poking the maknae in the shoulder and grinning.

“You look messy,” he giggled, and Hyunjin rolled his eyes.

“You’re the one who came up with this idea.”

“I know I know, it’s messy, but I like it,” Jeongin replied sheepishly, ears just barely tinging pink, and Hyunjin cooed at his cuteness and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

“How about we get cleaned up and then go eat dinner, hm baby?”

Jeongin nodded before his smile slowly turned into a look of anxiety. “H-hey hyung, dirty talk aside, can this please remain a secret? Like, just between us two?”

Hyunjin laughed at that, nodding his head and ruffling the younger boy’s hair. “Of course baby, there’s no way in hell I’m gonna tell the others. After all, that side of you is far too magical to share with anyone else.” Jeongin beamed at that, a blush gracing his cheeks beautifully as he laughed.

“Oh and hyung?

“Yes Innie?”

Jeongin snickered as he leaned over, softly singing into the older’s ear…

“You got me feelin’ like a psycho~”

#stray kids smut #skz smut #hyunin smut #stray kids hyunin #jeongin smut #yang jeongin smut #hyunjin smut #hwang hyunjin smut #maknae on top

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devizakura · 3 years

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So I watched Cats German Tent Tour (2013 cast) [Part 3]

[Part 2]

Two Demestrap moments!! This makes the moment after the Macavity fight so much softer 😭

Now, these two made me a bit anxious during Gus's song because once Skimble climbs up on the car, Jenny seems to give him a little kiss, but it could just as well be a friendly catlike lick on the forehead, and he seems to gently paw at her head after, so it could be read as bestie behavior. But I'm posting those two gifs bc given the Jennylorum context, it feels a lot like Skimble playfully teasing Jenny about her gf 👉👈

SKIMBLE COMFORTING DEMETER DURING A MACAVITY SCARE, MY HEART (and Munk protecting her and briefly looking over to see if everything's okay)

And finally, these two bopping... whoever they are 😂

I think the front one is Rumpleteazer because I saw strong stripes after. If I had to guess based on the barely distinguishable features, the other one could possibly be Jelly or Deme.

Also, that one Tugger going "YEAH! MISTER MISTOFFELEES!" while pumping his fist but everyone has probably seen it by now and you need sound to fully get it.

Overall score: 9/10

Design: 9/10 The boot was really shitty but based on images from the wiki alone, they're really good. I already like the UK designs, they automatically rank a full score in the terms of recognizability, and they are really clean in this production which is important to me also! Buttttt it's not Asia Tour 2020, they're the only UK replica that gets a 10/10 from me.

Music: 9/10 Stellar cast, plenty of amazing voices, only that Demeter bothered me a bit, and Skimble's voice, while very good, did not fit the voices I like for him. However, I feel that the Tugger did an amazing job and loved Jelly's voice, the orchestra was just right, and the beats in the conjuring turns were just as I remember - for some reasons, I found that some productions go with a few less beats and it always throws me off.

Dance: 9/10 They did FANTASTIC. Particularly the two numbers that rely on the dance a lot - M&R and Mister Mistoffelees - DELIVERED. They had a lot of energy and fluidity I don't find in other productions often or in such quantities. One other number I often focus on choreographically is the Macavity fight - and as someone who's just not a fan of the Gilly version, I gotta take a point off for this one, and also because the throw wasn't super impressive. It does still rank pretty high because it's not as awkward as the 1998 one, with the strangely sensual Mac caressing himself and the Demeswing.

Interactions: 10/10 This is what I want when I watch a Cats musical. Cute little moments between everyone are fine, but I like when you can clearly tell how specific characters feel about each other, who is who's favorites etc. They're like one big family of course, but even in such a community some people will be closer to you than others. I like it when the actors' headcanons shine through visibly. Also, Skimble was pretty involved with the organization of the ball which is always endearing to me.

Comfort watching: 8/10 No weird Alonzo moments. The Skimbletable was present but somewhat tolerable. Skimble and Jenny had a few moments, sadly, but if I tried hard enough I could interpret them as platonic, especially having that Jennylorum head nuzzle to hang onto, and the fact they would seek each other out while Skimble and Jenny only got affectionate once they ended up sitting together and then he waved at her during his number.

#cats the musical #cats musical #cats german tent tour #skimbleshanks #jennyanydots #munkustrap #demestrap #demeter cats

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lalka-laski · 2 years

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1. Are there any television shows you’re looking forward to in the next few months? Midnight Mass is proving to be INCREDIBLE so I definitely look forward to making my way through that

2. When it’s time to dress up for a special occasion, are you more likely to wear a dress, a skirt, or dress pants? Dress or skirt. I love any excuse to wear either. 3. Does your family eat any unique foods for Thanksgiving that aren’t the norm? If so, what are they? We have some Polish foods for Thanksgiving which I guess differ from your typical American Thanksgiving dinner.

4. If you eat oatmeal, do you add water or milk to it? What is your favorite flavor? I add water although I'm certain milk would taste ten times better. And I only eat plain oatmeal these days but I loved Quaker cinnamon sugar when I was younger.

5. What is the best movie you’ve seen this month? The first two Conjuring movies

6. Was the last video you watched on Youtube a music video? If not, what was it of? It's slightly too embarrassing to admit here

7. Has your favorite color changed at all from when you were younger? If so, what was your favorite when you were little? I've always been a pink fanatic but I did go through a brief purple phase. Dark times... :P

8. What is your favorite breakfast food? I'm not sure I could ever pick a sole favorite because I love it all.

9. Have you ever been brave enough to cut your hair in a very different way? If you have, did you regret your decision after? No way

10. What was the last book you had to read for school? Did you enjoy it, or were you just trying to get through? I've been out of school so long I don't remember

11. Has anyone you know personally ever won the lottery? If so, how much did they win? Would/have you ever play(ed) the lottery? Nope, but I hardly know anyone who even plays the lottery

12. What was the first election you were able to vote in? If you aren’t old enough yet, will you vote in the first election possible? The first presidential election I voted in was Obama/McCain. Pretty sure I don't have to specify who got my vote...

13. When you come across a word that you don’t recognize, do you look it up or try to use context to figure out what it means? I'm pretty good with context clues but I look words up when I need to. Although I'm more likely to reach for a thesaurus than a dictionary

14. How many friends have you hung out with in the last week? Umm 5ish

15. If you were going to be a teacher, what subject would you teach? What age group? Creative writing, to any age group honestly

16. What was the last thing someone has sincerely thanked you for? Umm... I can't recall

17. If you could only own a hair dryer, curling iron, or straightener, which one would you choose? I have a hot air brush, so I'd choose that

18. If you aren’t religious, do you feel awkward at social situations when there’s a benediction/prayer/etc? If you are religious, how often do you pray? They used to make me feel awkward but I just coast through them now

19. What is your favorite type of art to take part in? The written word. Or music

20. What band/celebrity/etc do you know the most information about? Who would you like to learn more about? Bowie or The Killers. I'm inclined to say I know more about The Killers just because they're a younger act and therefore, there's less to know

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ofcloudsandstars · 6 years

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Hi! I'm new to the witchy scene and don't know where to start on anything tbh. It's hella overwhelming, esp bc I'm finding planetary stuff v interesting but also incredibly confusing. Any thoughts, suggestions, etc? Any blogs i should follow?? Favorote resources??? Idk. You seem v cool so i figured i would ask. My witchy sideblog is kosherkitchenwitch. 💜💜💜 (im on mobile 24/7 so sorry if you have that info somewhere and im being repetitive!!!)

I usually have a very long winded explanation for this question. Its just hard to write a very short answer because the topic itself describes several life styles and cultures and practices. To really get you started you have to be ok with journeying down a rabbit hole. (This answer by the way is it’s own rabbit hole so get comfortable lol).

Witchcraft is a practice but it’s also very spiritual so it’s definitely one of those things that become a lifestyle and you are forever learning something new. Don’t feel too overwhelmed that it is forever going on cause like its something that expands with everyone’s unique experiences!

I honestly should write a book for beginner witches with tips and exercises but for now I will leave you with this: (Though it’s very long and I apologize, I want to give you something concise to research and start with so that you have someplace to begin instead of just short and concise answers since that still won’t give you a good enough foundation.)

Here’s the top 5 tips I will tell you:

1- Know these Basic Terms

2- Know Yourself

3- Know Your Roots

4- Know Your Local Nature

5- ResourcesBelow I will flesh these points out:

BASIC TERMS

Ok so if we start with point 1, people will always tell you READ READ READ! And honestly that isn’t great advice cause most popular witchcraft books are either written by European people in the 60s and they are outdated as hell or they are full of rigid concepts or appropriation. Like don’t waste your time or stifle yourself diving into the typical witchcraft books cause you might feel like you can only exist in this narrow idea of what magic is and you won’t learn most of your abilities out of an old Scott Cunningham book or god forbid a Silver Ravenwolf published monstrosity.

The books that you would REALLY need eventually are moreso Witchcraft 201 type of books when you are diving into the specifics of practices. This is like for example if you are getting more into herbalism/herbology and now you are investing into books like local herbs or medicinal plants, or now you are getting more into astrology so you are buying books about astrological movements, or books on tarot tips and symbolism, or books like the Crystal Bible for all the esoteric crystal info. But don’t worry about all those books YET cause you are STILL JUST starting out.

However the things you should know are these terms: (also I have given some brief descriptions but please look them up even further lol that is your homework).

MagicKind of too complex to narrow into a definition here but there is a force of the universe and everything that flows within it that can be manipulated by projecting energy outward into the universe. That manipulation is referred to as Magic.

WitchA magical practitioner that uses magic to manifest their goal. Witch does not describe every magical practitioner as there are many from different cultures, but witch tends to describe one that uses magic of nature and the universe in a “grey” way (neither specifically to do good or evil) to bring about their desires.

Wicca/WiccanWicca is a religion founded in the 60s in England. A wiccan is a follower of this religion. They are witches that practice magic from revived practices of pre-christian western europe that fall under the ‘pagan’ umbrella. Not all witches are wiccan though it’s something people get confused over. Popular cultural ideas that are wiccan is the worship of the green god and triple goddess, the wiccan rede, the wheel of the year and also the terms ‘Blessed Be’ or ‘So Mote it Be’.

WizardIn popular culture referred to as a male that practices magic YET that’s cause we live in a dumb gendered society because Witch is gender neutral, anyone can be a witch and wizards/wizardry actually refers to a specific magical practice that includes elements of alchemy and transformation. I like to think of wizardry as the blending of the scientific process and magic.

Closed CulturesMagic exists in every form of the globe and in every aspect of nature but many magical practices/spiritualities or religions that deal with spirits and magic are closed for very obvious reasons that no one should be offended over. For example practices like Shinto or Mugyo have to do with the LAND they are on. Like with Mugyo for example, you literally can not practice this if you are not in Korea cause it has to do with the land itself and the spirits that live on it and the ancestors of korean people. (Theres a blogger on here that’s been raising money for a long time to be able to travel to Korea to do this). In other practices like Hoodoo or Brujera, it was carved out of the oppression of people that lost their roots and reforged a connection to protect themselves and their community from white colonialism/slavery. Indigenous American practices have to do with bonds that animal spirits and ancestors have had with tribes for generations (and also the land they live on) that will lose its context once taken out of the tribe’s culture. I think stumbling upon closed culture territory is very avoidable if you stick to the nature local to you and your roots, plus there are a lot of open cultures to choose from (and the culture that mostly dominates modern western witchcraft which has celtic roots is open to all), but honestly all cultures come from (1) nature, (2) local spirits that you’ve bonded with and (3) your history so you can always build your own magical foundation that will be stronger with your own personal connections instead of seeking something in a closed group. It’s very common when you meet witches from a hereditary line that they have their own unique practice passed down from their family. A lot of witches I know tend to make their own practice outside of a cultural tradition. Some closed folk practices and religions that you might stumble across in America are:

HoodooAfrican American folk spirituality that helped the black diaspora subjected to slave trade and racism find their ancestral roots and protect their community. It uses root work that deals with the roots, dirt and spices they have access to. Though you might see a lot of magic practitioners interchange this term with witchcraft, it exists in it’s own culture and it’s own context outside of witchcraft. This form of magic is closed to nonblack magical practitioners.

VodouIs not interchangable with Hoodoo. Its a religion of Haiti that haitians used to connect with their ancestors and spirits that watch over them.

SanteriaA religion that uses magic and has catholic influences yet the catholic saints are more like guides that help them fulfill magic. They’ve adapted the catholic imagery due to colonialism forcing christianity onto their culture but it was a way to disguise their old gods. (Hoodoo also uses christian tools to disguise their magic).

BrujaA form of folkmagic that can be found in Latinx culture. Just like Hoodoo and EVERY. OTHER. FORM. of FOLKMAGIC culture (just emphasizing these points cause like people do get UPset when you talk about closed cultures when there’s no reason to be) it uses plants and spices that were accessible to the people, they elevate their ancestors with altars, and have their own practices like using eggs for cleansing spells or eggshell powder (cascarilla).

BrauchereiI am UNSURE if this is closed or not but this is a type of magic found in Pennsylvania and in Appalachia due to German settlers. They use the bible too as a conjure book along with diviner rods and magic symbols (like the Haagel). Some people refer to this as “Pow Wow” magic but I feel weird about that for obvious reasons but if you want to do more research on it you can find stuff underneath that term. It has a very Country Aesthetique™ and you might recognize it by the tradition of Hex Signs painted on Pennsylvanian barns or Barnstars as a goodluck charm.*As a personal note I would say almost all folk magic is closed cause like it comes from a specific land, culture and context so it might lose meaning outside of the context unless if you are welcomed within the community and find people to teach you their folk magic secrets. Anyway Magic is EVERYWHERE so this is in no way to discourage you but also its interesting and fun to learn about other magical cultures as long as you don’t try to claim it as your own.General Magic Terms:

Energy WorkRefers to exercises or magic that is purely energy based. Some magic likes to use candles or tools but energy work is just using the body and your own energy.

GroundingA way to center your energy within your body typically through focusing on the connection of your feet or roots into the earth. There are many ways to ground and many places in nature you can ground other than your bare feet on the earth. For example some witches like to do it while their feet is under the waves by the sea, or some witches like to do it on a breezy hill or in front of a lit candle. You just focus on the energy flowing through your body by the environment surrounding you and center this before going into a ritual or casting a spell.

Chakras vs Energy PoolsChakras is a term taken from it’s cultural context and appropriated BUT the concept of Energy Pools is is A LOT of cultures and even creeping it’s way into science due to acupuncture and other therapeutic practices involving pressure points and energy pools being accepted into the mainstream. When doing energy work it’s good to be aware of the various energy pools in our body. (Its important to be familiar with the term Chakras since it’s still widely used so at least you will understand it’s meaning.)This can also be studied forever but I can try to write a brief blurb on it: The feet often obtain our lowest form of energy, the thighs can store emotional trauma and can hold our hidden emotions. The Pelvis is our root and connects us mostly to the physical world (when you do grounding work you can focus here as well as your feet if you feel you are drifting), the womb/bowels is where we have our passionate or lustful energy and that allows us to create. Our stomachs is our influence power and ego, our hearts is our compassion and empathy towards others. Our throats can help us communicate, our hands help us manifest, our third eye helps us with our intuition and dreams and our crown helps us be connected to the universe and receive messages from our guides. When you have physical ailments that are reoccuring in a part of the body you should think if maybe any emotional stress in those areas are contributing to physical sickness. I know the thighs might have more energetic abilities but I learned that they can store emotional trauma cause I used to feel a kind of stiff pain there when I was stressed and my friend who is training to be a yoga instructor told me that emotional trauma gets stored in the hips and thighs. She would give me yin yoga lessons for free to release that tension. Also if you feel you need to be more Compassionate, Confident, Vocal, you can focus on doing energy work in those corresponding areas of the body.

AstrologyThe study of planetary movements and how it effects our lives and the flow of things.

PlanetsKnow the planetary effects on yourself and society INCLUDING Chiron and mathematical points such as Lilith and the Ascendant

Star ChartThe positions of stars and planets when you were born and the strengths and qualities they’ve given you along with karmic lessons you must overcome. Look up your star chart here.

Moon CyclesThe phases of the moon have power to them too. Full is a great time to release energy and manifest things where as new is a great time to begin new plans and cleanse. The moon rules our emotional body and each sign it has a new or full moon in has a lesson for us.

Zodiac Signs and their ElementsEach zodiac sign has a sort of attribute to it. The way we think of the Four Elements as a type of quality, the 12 signs have their own unique qualities as well. Just familiarize yourself with them as best you can and their element. This will come in handy later when you are more familiar with the signs and will understand what it means when certain planets are transiting signs. (Meaning when planets are crossing over a zodiac sign in the sky).

ElementsThe Four elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire are like a quaternic attribute that can be applied to anything. Earth rules the solid form, The physical body and can be thought of as having qualities of structure and providing. Water rules the liquid form, the emotional body and can be thought of as having qualities of nurturing and cleansing. Air rules the gas form, the mind and can be thought of as having qualities of change, innovation and inspiration. Fire rules the energy form, the spirit and can be thought of as creative or explosive. You can apply these qualities to almost any thing such as: Carnelian the stone is Fiery because it possesses qualities of bursts of inspiration and motivation and sometimes sexuality. The Dandelion is very airy because it can spread far due to it’s seeds and its a poofy tuft. I also think the quaternity of the elements adds more flexibility in assigning attributes to things where as the binary is very black and white and I find it confining. (Also reinforcing gender stereotypes but we will get to that later). This quaternity will pop up in many places in your magical research, from the zodiac elements, to the tarot card suits.

Sun cyclesAs the moon has cycles so does the sun. The sun changes the zodiac sign like once a month and these periods of times are usually referred to {zodiac} season for example: ‘Sagittarius Season’ or 'Capricorn Season’ when the sun has lined up with the Sagittarius or Capricorn constellation in our sky. These moments of time also have lessons for us.

SabbatsThe Sabbats are witch holidays that derived from western europe that were revived in the wiccan religion that have to do with the earth and sun’s position throughout the year. Witches celebrate Spring and Autumn equinox and the winter and Summer Solstice. There are also crossquarters for points in between this time like Halloween/Samhain on Oct 31st/Nov 1, Beltane or May Day on May 1, Imbolc on Feb 1st and Lughnasadth on August 1st.

Wheel of the YearThe name for the cycle of sabbats. You can search the tumblr tag to learn a little more on it!

Agrarian CyclesEvery region has their own unique seasonal change and foods and living beings local to their environment. The Wheel of the Year does have Celtic western European roots but you can take the concept of celebrating nature and the seasons and make it secular and apply it to any region and put your own cultural roots into it. Just research your local land and your local farmers almanac and you can get started. Here are a few wheels and concepts taken from other cultures and regions (1)(2).

Bioregional AnimismThis is a fancy term meaning that local nature has it’s own spirit. You should be familiar with your local “magical terroir”. Being connected with nature is important for a witch as nature is where magic can be found. The body itself is a magical conductor but for a witch that does not have a connection to nature, using the body’s energy without any recharging can be draining. Most books on magic are very eurocentric based which does not help magical practitioners or witches that live in other climates that are not four seasonal or temperate. Also there are unique spirits and plants to each environment that can help you with your magic. I will link a post on this later.

SpiritsEntities that are noncorporeal that exist everywhere. Some live on this plane, some live solely on the astral. I feel like dealing with spirits is a Witchy 201 issue so I won’t dive in it here but know that almost everything has a spirit (disclaimer: I am an animist so I believe everything- especially everything living has a spirit), and the more you form friendships with entities like trees, plants, animals and your guides you will gain a stronger practice. I believe for a witchling its best to try to befriend or get to know the spirits of things you can see like local trees, animals, stones etc. Don’t mess with ghosts or astral entities yet haha. (Until you know how to ward and banish)

Spirit GuidesWe all have spirit guides. Whether it be our ancestors looking out for us or some spirits that genuinely like us and want to help us out. You can form a relationship with them to help you succeed in your goals.

Astral PlaneI might not be the best person to define this (your witchy homework is to further do research on all these vocab words I’ve put on here so far lol) but the astral plane is the realm beyond this physical one where dreams, thoughts, spirits all coincide. I think its kind of like a world in between worlds cause you can travel to other worlds within it. You can access it through dreams, trancing, guided meditation or astral projection (when your spirit leaves your body). Other spirits may not be friendly so it’s wise to protect yourself before trying to travel.

Astral ProjectionWhen you project your spirit from your physical body to travel.

Wardinga form of energy work to create a boundary so something won’t cross into your space. It’s like a magical security field.

BanishingTo get rid of an entity or toxic person in your life. It’s seen as a form of cursing since its a long term spell that’s not to the target’s benefit.

Hexing/Jinxing/CursingThere are multiple definitions for these but I define jinx as a quick kind of malicious energy put on someone to cause them bad luck. Like putting energy towards someone to wish they bust their ass going down the stairs and they do. A hex is more aggressive and usually pretty specific since a jinx is just general bad luck. A hex is usually more thought out and you want a specific outcome to happen yet its just general misfortune instead of any real physical harm. A Curse is the most long term and often is difficult to be free of until it’s over. Some curses last lifetimes or can even become generational. Usually you are forever barred from doing something or it reveals something about you to damage your reputation. A curse is often the most damaging out of the three. In Wicca there is the wiccan rede that forbids any negative spell casting but that’s only a rule for wiccans.

BlessingA form of positive spellwork to be casted upon someone. Opposite of hexing obviously lol.

SigilsI believe this has some long history with summoning entities but it’s now usually used to refer to magical symbols a witch can create to store energy or influence something with energy. For example you can carve a sigil in a candle to infuse the candle with a certain energy or put a sigil in your coffee with the creamer or paint a sigil on your nails for glamour magic. You should just search the tumblr tag for sigil.

Use of Masculine and Feminine EnergyUpon your witchy research you will find this binary to describe energy and I personally find it archaic but you should understand the difference despite my personal opinions. Since most are agreeing that referring to something active/fast/powerful is masculine and something passive/slow/nurturing is feminine is problematic, they are now rebranding the binary as “active” and “passive” but in my magical experience I find that active and passive are not great ways to think of energy because its more of a spectrum than a binary. Anything can be active, passive or neutralizing. Fire can be passive when it’s used as lighting to see. Earth can be active when it’s shaking the ground during a quake to form new surfaces. Water can be active when it’s changing topsoil and causing mudslides and floods. Air can be passive when it’s a gentle draft being pushed through a vent. I’d suggest thinking of this type of energy as a spectrum but also its good to know about this too.

The Use of X Witch/WitchcraftYou will definitely find upon your witchy research the use of 'Fire Witch’ or 'Kitchen Witch’ or 'Sea Witchcraft’ or 'Desert Witchcraft’ and to put it simply: Someone who calls them self an X witch basically is defining most of their craft around one aspect that they gravitate the most to wield magic. A LOT of witches however won’t use this because most witches have many aspects of magic they use in their craft so it’s hard to define themselves simply as X witch. However the easiest label most witches like to use deal with the local nature because your local nature usually always defines your magic in someway whether or not you are a City Witch, a Sea Witch, a Desert Witch, Swamp Witch, Mountain Witch, Farm Witch, Prairie Witch, Island Witch etc etc. Usually someone who really sticks to a label of X witch that’s not nature orientated really has a joy of that craft and on a platform like tumblr it’s used to find other witches that practice that. (Don’t feel pressured to pick a label) Other than labels you might find terms like Candle Witchcraft, Tech Witchcraft and Kitchen Witchcraft and those are just categories of witchcraft that have to do with those specific subjects. I sometimes refer to myself as a Cottage Witch (witchcraft that has to do with the home) and a lot of my magic deals with daily rituals at home!

Cottage Witchcraft/WitchMagic that has to do with the home, protecting the home, cleansing, the garden, the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom. It’s essentially kitchen/bath/green witchcraft all combined.

Kitchen MagicMagic that has to do specifically with cooking, using herbs in oils and recipes for magical outcomes, recipes as spells. Charming hot cocoa, magical teas.

Bath Magic/ Bath WitchMagic that has to do with the ritual of bathing. Face masks, bath bombs, home made soaps as spells, cleansing the body, infusing scents with intent. Wearing scented creams, lotions, perfumes as spells.

Glamoursa type of illusion magic to influence others to perceive you a certain way. (examples: making yourself invisible to others by spells that make you less noticeable, or making yourself more alluring to grab needed attention, or making yourself more intimidating to avoid confrontation). Glamour magic kind of goes hand in hand with bath magic too.

Green Witch/WitchcraftMagic that has to do with nature and gardening and herbs. Plants are our allies and have spirits that are willing to help us if we nurture them.

HerbologyThe study of plants and their properties

Hedge WitchcraftA form of magical practice that deals with working with spirits and traveling to other worlds for spirit work.

DivinationThe practice of fortune telling. There are MANY different ways to divine which are listed below:

Dream OraclingInterpreting your dreams based on your personal omens and experiences to do shadow work or to interpret omens that might signal something for your future.

Shadow Work (not divination- I’d categorize this as energy work- but I’m putting it here since I mentioned it)The practice of self reflection that’s often followed by meditation or sometimes coinciding with practices of dream oracling, tarot reading or trancing to delve deep within oneself to undo traumas and understand the “shadow” side of our self or our ego.

CartomancyDivination that has to do with reading cards. You can use regular 4 suit playing cards as many card readers do.

TarotThe most used card deck to divine with. There are 5 suits in a tarot deck. The Major arcana are cards in it’s own suit with a stronger symbolic meaning and the minor arcana are suits like hearts, spades etc (But instead cups-water, coins-earth, wands-fire and swords-air assigned an element) that tell an evolutionary story. There are a lot of simple tarot spreads on tumblr to help you get started if you wish to read tarot cards. Tarot tends to give very introspective answers.

LenormandA french style of divining cards using mostly archetypes instead of suits (though some cards are assigned a suit but its kind of irrelevant to the reading).

Oracle DecksCards that only have symbols and no suits. Each oracle deck is very unique from the next! I enjoy using oracle decks for one card draws for daily advice.

PalmistryThe divining technique of using palms to read someone’s qualities and obstacles in life.

RunesI will define them here as the divining practice of using small trinkets, or painted stones with symbols on them to toss and read your future. Some practitioners use bones, some use crystals, some use acorns, some use stones that are painted or carved. One set of runes you will see a lot are the Elder Futhark which is scandinavian (sorry I don’t know exactly from where) symbols that are carved in crystals or stones and read by tossing them.

NumerologyMagical Numbers. Each number has a power to it. You can find your life path number here. Also if you get drawn into the rabbit hole of numerology you should also look up Sacred Geometry.

TasseomancyDivination of reading tea leaves.Other Divination Forms that you can refer to by with less fancy names like Bone reading and flame reading (like with candles), scrying (looking for symbols in mirrors or crystal balls), shufflemancy (music and tech can be used as divination too!)

Tools:

PendulumA weight (usually a crystal or coin) used at the end of a string that’s used to find answers on a grid. (Usually if it swings vertically it means yes and horizontally means no but look up pendulum on the tumblr tag you will find a lot of wonderful examples).

Smoke CleansingEither using incense, a bundle of dried herbs or a twig of a tree or herb to burn to cleanse the air. Rosemary is great for warding along with lemongrass, sage and dragonsblood.Also FYI Some appropriating witches might refer to this as “Smudging” But Smudging is a specific practice of offering smoke to guides of a tribe in indigenous American cultures and it would be bastardizing the practice by referring to any form of smoke cleansing as smudging.

CrystalsSome crystals do have an electrical charge due to their crystaline structure. I am unsure of the specifics and I’ve already wrote too much lol but its a subtle and gentle force many magic practitioners like to use to create energy fields for rituals. They are often used as energy amplifiers and some crystals tend to have different energy than others. (For example lepidolite can help amplify the energy of healing and self love where as fire agate can help amplify the energy of motivation and starting new things).

CauldronUsed for burning loose herbs or cooking things. Large pewter cauldrons tend to be wild expensive so I haven’t seen a lot of witches use them. I typically see smaller ones to burn herbs in. Its a great tool to use in spell crafting when you toss ingredients in a spell to bubble and burn in.

Mortar and PestleTools to help crush herbs and roots into powder

BesomsBroomsticks made from certain twigs that can help cleanse the home with symbolic sweeping. The idea of witches riding on brooms come from a time where witches would put flying ointments made of mandrake or datura on the end of the broom and “ride” them by grinding their genitals on it therefore absorbing the ointment and “tripping” to another plane. Its a way of also acheiving astral projection and “flying” in on others to spy on them or completing tasks on other realms. This is like.. Witchcraft 301 its kind of dangerous please don’t try at home lol.

WandsA tool used to direct energy. If the body is its own source of energy and can conduct energy, the wand helps to focus it’s direction. Most wands have crystals or magical items fused onto it.

CharmA magical item charged with energy to have a purpose. For example a lucky necklace can become a charge if it is charged with the energy to bring luck or prosperity. Charms (unless they are made with a crystal or magical metal) tend to not have their own energetic charge so they constantly need to be recharged by the witch when the energy runs out.

AltarA space to work magic. A witch can have many altars. It really doesn’t need to be fancy. Some witches use their altars to put all of their tools and often the surface is like a grid of their crystals. Some make an altar to an entity or their ancestors and the things they put on it are very specific in order to devote the offering to their ancestor or entity. Some use an altar as a workspace. When I have my own place I will do all three. I have my bedroom altar which the surface is a space I work magic on but the bottom is where I keep my books and crystals. The bathroom and kitchen will have more messy spell crafting altar space where I concoct bath potions or food and the living room will be a very clean and organized altar dedicated to spirit guides. What all altars have in common is that they are sacred spaces so even if its a messy magic working space you still can’t dump whatever on it. Also some altars can be spacious where as some can be inside of an altoid tin box. Some altars can be inside of closets and some can be sprawled across a ground. Some can be set up just for a ritual and some can be forever apart of the living room space. They all just have in common that they are sacred magic spaces.

Ouija BoardA way to contact spirits that are currently around you in your space. The thing is that it doesn’t have a great filter so it’s like Chat Roulette but for spirits and you can get any creep coming in to harass you.

GrimoireBook of a witch where they keep all of their spells, remedies, techniques and magical secrets within.

Animal FamiliarSo I believe (though not sure) that familiars refer to 'familiar spirits’ or spirits that are companions to witches and help them complete tasks. In modern witch media this has been mixed up with the idea of witch’s animal companion. Regardless of the roots of the meaning (I have my own research to do lol!) you should know what a familiar means and that in most cases people will use it to refer to their animal companion though I have seen it in a few contexts to refer to a spirit companion.

Sorry this list is super Extensive but think of this as your Witchcraft 101 homework haha. Witchcraft is something used across many cultures for a long time so there’s a lot to know.

I am unsure if I should elaborate this much on the other points, but knowing me I will haha. Hopefully I can find other posts I’ve written about it to save this from becoming a novel but I will try to keep it brief!

Anyway the next three points is where the magical practice comes in!

2.Know Yourself

You are a magical conductor and have your own unique magic. Every witch is unique. Things that will help you bring out your own magic is knowing yourself and what brings out the best energy in you. You can learn about your magical self by learning about your star chart, your zodiac signs and elements, your life path number and of course your passions or hobbies! You can infuse magic into any practice you can be creative in. If you enjoy cooking there is kitchen witchcraft. If you enjoy make-up there are glamours, if you enjoy singing there is intoning and musical magic. If you don’t like making music but listening there is shufflemancy. If you like sleeping there is dream oracling. No matter how obscure your preferences are you can make magic from it. Even if you spend all day obsessing over fanfiction or fictional characters you can create your own pop culture magic path (I saw a post here once with someone making sailor moon magic a thing it was very cool), even if you just like blogging and putting aesthetics together you can make vision boards on pinterest. The best advice to this 2nd point is GET A MAGIC JOURNAL. Not a grimoire but Journal where you can be messy and just take magical notes. Write your favorite colors, the elements that call out to you, animals that you feel drawn to, your favorite places in nature, your favorite hobbies and how you can put magic into them. Knowing yourself and finding your own unique magic is the first step to being a powerful witch!

3.Know Your Roots

This point can be glossed over but it is an extension of point 2 and will also help going into point 4. This is very important point if your cultural identity bears a lot of meaning to you. Magic can be found anywhere in the world and if you would like to follow a tradition you can definitely find one in your own heritage. Every culture has its own magic and even if you can’t find something specific you can definitely find aspects of your culture that you can make magical! For example: vodou is closed and I am half haitian but theres not much of a way I could access it. Anyway that is fine because I still incorporate a lot of my haitian heritage into my magic, mostly by foods that are native to Haiti, using tropical fruits and roots and sometimes offering of rum to spirits and sometimes intuitively (like I made flower water and my mom commented once thats something that people did in vodou and I was like lol I had no idea I was just making this water..) I am also half French and I use Lenormand to divine with and also like recycle my dad’s fancy wine bottles for oil infusion haha (that’s more of a 'what I have access to’ then a cultural thing tho). Every culture has something special like in witchcraft there is knot magic but if you were chinese you can incorporate that with the chinese knot charms, or for south asian/east african heritage could make sigils on their body with henna or assigning different spice mixes with spells in kitchen magic, or southwest asian/northern african witches using their hookahs to smoke various herbs to help them do shadow work or astral traveling, or afro witches braiding spells into their boxbraids and adorning them with crystal beads for protection or european witches baking spells into bread. Like since this is also a continuation of point 2, this is about how magic relates to you and whatever you are surrounded by. You can make magic yours and incorporate it into your culture!

4. Know your Local Nature

I have spoken ENOUGH on this post haha I am sure I have given you enough reading material for two months but I will link this link here on it.

http://ofcloudsandstars.tumblr.com/post/165455994141/local-witchcraft (read all the links in it too they are all great posts!)

I think on this post I have already spoken enough about nature and how important it is to magic so you understand by now.

5. Resources

Seek out your local metaphysical, new age, crystal or magic shops! Even if you have none you can sometimes find helpful books in used book stores, or find tools in craft stores. Michaels is an incredible franchise that sells potion bottles, labels, crystal beads, edible glitter, pretty journals, things for altars, candles and candle wax and candle making things, JARS, pots for plants, jewelry making kits, mini mirrors and all kinds of things you can use in magic.

Here is my resource tag for more resources

OK THAT WAS A LOT

sorry for the novel, but I hope you will have time to research and start your journey! Good luck with everything! Feel free to shoot any more questions!! °☆.。.:*・

#scaredy-bee #kosherkitchenwitch #beginner witch #blog beginner #guide #advice #witchcraft*#witch tips

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