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7serendipities · 2 years

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Spirit Relationships for a Defensible Home, Part Two: Inside the House

In my blog on Warding for a Defensible Home, I mentioned that spirit relationships are a layer of my defensibility, and in my last blog, I discussed relationships with spirits who dwell outside my house and property. For this blog, I’ll be focusing on the inside.

Inside my house, besides the house itself, there are a number of spirits I consider to be part of my household, several of whom also assist in home defense. These spirits travel with me when I move, for the most part, and they’re connected to me (or to other human members of my household) more than to the place. In your house, you might also think about including any benign spirit residents or hauntings, if you have them, but the place I live now was uninhabited in that sense when we moved in.

My personal preference when it comes to spirits inside my house is to have a thriving ecosystem, not a barren void. I find that having a number of spirits around reduces the number of interlopers I get, as the space is already inhabited and busy. Plus, when unwanted guests do show up, I don’t have to rely on only my own awareness to sense them — I have help from the spirit members of my hosuehold, who can get my attention much more easily. I do get a fair number of unexpected guests who are willing to follow the house rules and play nicely, or to wait patiently for my attention in my office, and I think it helps that there are enforcers already here to keep them in line.

Some people might not want any additional residents or household spirits, or they might not feel equipped to handle them, and that’s fine, they aren’t necessary. But if you’re a reasonably advanced enough spiritworker to handle having spirit members of your household, and you’re interested in having spirit roommates who can help with making your home more defensible, I recommend having at least two: one to function as a steward and make sure the household is running smoothly and any problems with wards/etc are coming to your attention, and one to function as a guardian to help keep interlopers out, or to kick out any spirit guests who fail to follow the house rules. My household has quite a few at this point, but I have one of each of those, and they’ve both been with me for years. I can’t count the number of times they’ve been helpful, and I really find them to be invaluable.

My house steward is something like a brownie or a nisse, though when I first met him I did specify that I was looking for someone who would not be offended by a bit of clutter (which brownies are known to be, in folklore). Between the small child, and every adult in the household having some kind of disability, there’s just no way my house is ever going to be as clean as a magazine spread, or even as clean as I’d like it to be, and I’ve sort of had to make peace with that. A very finicky spirit would have just been incompatible and a waste of both our time, so I was sure to be specific in what I was after.

The closest this-world analogue to my guardian is probably a leopard, but she’s not an earthly creature (mundane leopards don’t usually glow blue), and she doesn’t have a fixed size, which is very useful in a defender. She doesn’t leave the property, though — she will chase things to the property line (if she doesn’t eat them), and then stay within my wards. Sometimes she’ll be aided by Scotty’s wolf companions, and those will follow things off the property and continue to pursue them (as long as the engagement is within the bounds of our agreements with the local Fair Folk). The leopard is also a spirit I sought out; the wolves are members of a pack to which Scotty’s wolf spirit familiar (for lack of a better word) belongs.

I mentioned in the first blog paying special attention to things like electrical cords and pipes flowing into your home, and we have two spirits who help with the management of those, and also of less physical egresses: mirrors and dreams. The first is a giant spider queen (or so she introduced herself), who, with her numerous children, guards our mirrors, the dreams of the human members of my household, and our internet connections. That last wasn’t something I’d even considered at first, but she offered, and made a pun about guarding webs. We first sought her out when we were having difficulties with nightmare attacks. The second spirit is more like a cluster of spirits, something akin to a siphonophore, a marine creature that’s actually a group of organisms that all have specific functions. They help maintain and protect our electrical and water systems, and in addition to guarding them, also have let me know on several occasions when something is beginning to go wrong with one of those systems. The siphonophore was brought to us by Manannán Mac Lir, when we consulted Him for possible help as we were settling into our current house.

Manannán also brought us two more of our current household spirits: a cleaner shrimp who changes sizes, and a fish similar to a cleaner wrasse (the species of which I haven’t been able to identify). The shrimp assists in removing stagnant energy that is missed or somehow gets stuck even despite my flushing system (which I mentioned in my warding blog). The fish removes small energetic parasites or other flack and detritus from the human members of my household, and sometimes from other people who enter our home, just to keep us from accidentally picking up their hitchhikers. They also both assist me in my healing work on in-person clients. (They aren’t the only ones, but describing that crew would fill another whole blog!)

As I’ve briefly touched on above, the spirits in my household mostly came to me by two means: 1) they were brought by a deity, or 2) I sought out a spirit that would fit a job description. The first method is fairly self explanatory, I think — just ask one of your gods whom you trust for a spirit helper, and verify the spirit when they arrive. The second method, however, is a little more involved, and I’d like to briefly describe my process. (Though if you’re not interested, feel free to stop here!)

My first step to deciding what kind of spirit to invite into the household is to identify the role, niche, or job I/you would like them to fill. Do you want a house guardian that will hunt and eat malevolent entities that come near your house? Do you want a house wight that’s more like a butler, keeping things running smoothly and helping you keep energies clean and tidy? Do you want a familiar, to help you with your craft? Do you have something specific you want to learn, and are you looking for a spirit that can teach you? Once you’ve figured out what general sort of relationship you want, start thinking about what sort of species or type of being you might like best. Be specific in who you’re looking for as you draft your contract!

Another consideration is offerings. Decide what sort of offerings you could provide, and how often, based on your budget. Most spirit companions are given offerings of food — is there anything you wouldn’t be willing to offer? One of my friends is a vegetarian, but she doesn’t mind buying fish, so she had to find a guardian spirit that would be happy with fish over red meat. I typically offer the leopard, wolves, and spider some kind of meat we’ve cooked as part of our own dinner, or raw pieces we set to the side before cooking the rest. My steward gets the first splash of any whole milk or cream, and also baked goods or potatoes or oatmeal. The other three that I mentioned above I light candles for, as they get enough to eat simply doing their jobs. You’ll also have to decide how frequently you’ll make offerings, and include that in your contract proposal.

Once I have an outline for the contract, I usually write it out in the manner of a personal ad:

SEEKING [type of spirit to fill a specific role], and OFFERING [what you’re willing to provide].

Once it’s written out, I sign it, and then send it out into the universe the way I might any other wish-spell. For me, that usually means a candle spell, but this can be adapted to suit any practice. Then — you wait, and see who answers!

When a spirit shows up, you’ll want to conduct an interview, similar to any human household employee. You’ll need good spirit-sense and discernment: call on your gods and guides to make sure you aren’t being deceived by a malevolent being; use divination to check that you’re understanding the spirit’s answers correctly. If you get multiple who show up, interview all of them, to find the one that seems to fit best. When you’re satisfied that a spirit is a good match, go over any house rules, and really nail down the contract details. Then it’s time for the binding agreement, which works best as a ritual (but again, is adaptable to suit any practice). I find that it’s best to start with a probationary period of about a month before moving on to something more permanent. You can attempt to renegotiate at any time, but it’s better to get the details as right as possible at the beginning! My final step when inviting someone new into the household is to do introductions to the others, if I haven’t already. My steward is usually involved in the interview process, but it’s a good idea for everyone to meet everyone else, and that includes introducing them to the land spirits.

#spiritwork #warding #household magic

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sunflowerwearyoftime · 2 years

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Household Magic

Okay but consider...

Draco teaching Harry household magic?? Like, Harry grew up in war zones. Almost constantly. His magic was build around necessity and survival and utility. And combat. How much does it mean to Harry Potter when Draco shows him a spell to make day lilies bloom, to make rooms free of sadness, to wash pans and iron, magic that creates, restores, heals. Draco has had access to the lineage, the life of magic since he was born. But to harry, it's all new. Petty magic, that only exists because it's funny, because people have whimsy and hope and idiocy. Magic for binding books, and leafing gold, for tickling, making a toddler dream only sweat things, for finding the perfect shade of blue, for seeing the stars more clearly. Magic that is beautiful and that they can live with.

#drarry #harry/draco #harry potter #harry potter houses #spells #household magic #imnoteveninvestedinthisshipijustwanthappyness

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mushrooms-and-possibilities · 2 years

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The tiny dragon and wizard keep me company in my kitchen window.

#dragon #wizard #photography #household magic #imagination

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softerhaze · 1 year

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al and sasha had their little baby (devon!) ;-;

#ts4 #*ts4gameplay #*sunday save #*sunday save gen 2 #z #*devon #*jay #*ruthie #s/o to ea for making it literal hell on earth to invite infants over #also i don't know if it was because he just wasn't *their* infant and sasha + al were around but #they would ask to hold the baby and then either sasha or al would take him right back lmaooooooo #i had to merge their households to take these <3 movie magic #q'd

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sideprince · 5 days

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I've seen the same post a hundred times now. Sometimes it's a few days old, sometimes it's from years ago, but it's always the same. Some anti posts about how they don't understand how anyone can like Snape because he was so awful, and then there's a long reply that goes something like, "imagine this happens to you, and then this, and then this" to describe Snape's experience. Sometimes there's some James Potter hate thrown in.

Look. You can go through describing a character's entire experience but you don't really need to. Here's the thing that antis don't understand:

For all her faults (and they're big, bigoted ones) Rowling understood a really integral part of the human experience and conveyed it through Snape. Everyone needs love and to feel accepted. It's that simple. Snape became a Death Eater to seek acceptance (Rowling has confirmed this, though I can't remember the source - whoever wants to add it please do), because it was the only way he could find any.

Snape's understanding of morality, like everyone's, is subjective. Some readers understand this and some don't. When faced against a morality that says there is good and bad in the world, everyone makes choices based on their personal experience. Context is everything. Someone who experiences pain and suffering will not see the person inflicting it on them as moral. That's it. 'How can this person be good when they caused me so much suffering?' = human psychology. Most of the people who think 'I'm a bad person and deserve this' have been gaslit and abused into thinking so, because it's not a natural reaction - it's one that has to often be socialized into someone at a young age, exactly because it's not natural. Everyone is the hero of their own story; no one sees themselves as a villain, because they see the valid aspects of their own perspective.

You can write essays on how vulnerable people needing acceptance is what cults and fascists exploit to recruit vulnerable people, or on how the standard anti's un-nuanced reading of Snape both ignores canon and displays a disturbing lack of empathy or compassion, but at its core it just boils down to context. From Snape's perspective he experienced cruelty, therefore the people inflicting it must be cruel. Again, it's that simple. He was a person, like any other, except he was fictional so he wasn't even real. On the flip side is James Potter, who, for all his faults, didn't get to live long enough to get a chance to change and grow unlike Snape, and I think the Snapedom also needs to acknowledge that.

They're fictional characters representing things an author wants to say, not sports teams, not martyrs, and not all good or all bad emblems that define your identity depending on how you feel about them. It's depressing how much time is wasted arguing with bullies and trolls whether from the Marauders fandom or just random antis. I literally can't find more than three blogs to follow without this argument coming across my feed daily. I know the Snapedom is Not OK™ and that's kind why we're all here, and I know that my take is super unpopular but like Snape, I don't care what others think: this fandom has been having the exact same argument for years and nothing has changed. There's fanart and meta and fic and so much content out there appreciating this character, you're not going to change an anti's mind who's deliberately trolling in the tags, so why are you trying? What are you getting out of it? What does it give you? It's exhausting just scrolling past it.

#The thing about morality is that it's subjective #the religious leader who's a beacon of moral purity to their congregation #is a source of selfishness and pain to someone they abuse in secret #is that abuse victim immoral for rejecting the values the religious leader represents?#the congregation might think so because their definition of morality relies on the religious leader being a moral guide #the victim might not think so though because how can something be righteous if it causes suffering #look this is just an example of how perspectives can vary and I know there are more possible takes on that example #my point is that the idea that there's no clear 'good' and 'evil' there's only power/what you do with it is actually how psychology works #'good' to one person can be pain to another #'scourgify' is an innocuous household spell that cleans stains until it's used to waterboard someone #context matters more than labels like 'light' and 'dark' magic

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maironsbigboobs · 7 months

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re: elf servants

I think generally there are servants in royal/noble households simply for practical reasons and they generally fall into 2 categories: specialised servants (think, stewards and messengers and scribes, masters of horses or kennels, that kind of thing) and servants who help with the upkeep of the household (cleaning, repairs, cooking and also the apprentices and assistants of specialised servants)

specialised servants are probably quite prestigious roles and fields of industry in their own right, and they are considered full members of a household, and probably are closely linked to the person they serve - it's as much a political and social statement to be Finwe's chief scribe as it is an economic one

but the second category are more associated with the house than the family living in it - for example, Finwe's palace in Tirion would function both as a home and a diplomatic and administrative centre, it would be impossible for him to rule and keep up with chores himself. But Fingolfin's personal home would probably not have any full-time servants - when there more people than usual to feed or house then professionals might be hired, but for the most part I imagine the day to day is done by the family (made possible by the fact elves sleep and eat less than humans)

IRL domestic service (at least in the 18th century) often functioned as a kind of prep stage for adult life (for women in particular, but gender is probably not as big a factor for elves) and I could definitely see this in Valinor - domestic servants being 80% elves between 50-100 who haven't chosen an apprenticeship or similar in another field who are earning extra money to set up their own households, getting experience outside of the family, meeting others in their own ae cohort, learning independence etc. It's a job that comes with the offer of room and board + the wages a king/prince/lord can provide. Not glamorous, but not terrible.

The other 20% is made up of professional servants - experienced elves who are genuinely like the work and are contracted workers as much as a builder or gardener might be. Some of them might be independent and others part of businesses set up by other elves who are really into cooking/cleaning etc.

In Beleriand the situation (for the exiles at least) is probably very different, though I think there would be attempts to adapt the system - but there aren't as many households that need servants and there aren't as many young elves.

#i confess i very much enjoy making ocs who are bg characters and servants are perfect for this #made my own post because i could not fit this in the tags LMAO #also the amount of labour needed to run a pre industrial household is HUGE #but elves generally get around this by having a population that is 90% adult and having magic #and having the time for anyone to become vastly skilled in their field in a lifetime #so things like food and clothing production is almost always communal and in the hands of elves who are REALLY into that specific area #the magic being relevant here because elf magic preserves - elven clothes won't wear out elf food doesn't go off etc #(or at least not as easily as human food/clothes)#i prefer to write elf societies that only visually mirror human ones - to an outsider it looks like a hierarchy of lord and servants #but the dynamic is very different #but that is just my preference #silm meta #not really a meta i just need to be able to find this post on my blog lol #long post #this is one of my fave topics hence the rambling

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fancyfade · 8 months

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Re-reading batman knightfall bc I got the tpbs specifically for days I wanted a somewhat entertaining comic that goes on a while but was too sick or bleh to read something that takes brainpower

And anyway I think with Tim's realistic lack of hair cutting experience, him giving Jean Paul a haircut in the batcave should result in Jean Paul having way chopper hair

#like I'm sorry hes a 13 or 14 year old rich kid who thinks its magic when dick does household chore #there's no way he knows how to give someone else a haircit #tim drake #batman: knightfall #dc comics #fade reads dc comics #jean paul valley

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brightgnosis · 11 days

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She passed just after we finished her bath this afternoon, around 2:00 pm. I and the bath aid held her hands while it happened.

And Ruth said, “Do not entreat me to forsake you, to turn back from you. For wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people [are] my people, and your God is my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. So may the LORD do to me or even more, for only death will part you and me”.

#Personal #2024 #She Called Me 'Her Ruth'#Multigenerational Households Are Fun Until They're Not #Religion & Magic #Trigger Warning

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ndostairlyrium · 10 months

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(◡‿◡✿)

#dragon age #cullen rutherford #ndo sta l'art tag #actual magical flower girl ✨#he's babygirl today #tomorrow I'll restart roasting him to death #no middle ground in this household #we either babygirlify or roast the strudel

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witchofthesouls · 3 months

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Deliciously fucked up way for Team Prime to find out about the supernatural: Have a fae show up in one of the kid's homes. False Artifact preying on Raf's baby/toddler siblings, a Pooka replacing the pet dog at Miko's, or a Kobold decides Jack's place is nice enough to stay. The kids have a feeling something is up but the bots think it's just nothing.

Until they find an old school packet with info that eeriely matches the signs in their respective home. Miko's Pooka Hunting goes a bit awry so Bulkhead ends up seeing her get chased outside the house by something that definitely isn't a dog. Raf barely got one sibling away from being eaten by a False Artifact. Arcee might've damaged the house to grab Jack as he accidentally spook a Kobold.

Cue concerned bot noises upon seeing the packets. I don't think they like the idea of children eating fae in their charges' homes.

Ahhh, this went in a different direction.

Warning: off-screen character death (age-related and car accident), dubcon/noncon body modifications, and underage drinking

Now the Darby household does have a Kobold. It's been following them (and the lineage) for a very long time. Generation after generation, parent to child as the unspoken agreement is held with family traditions, superstitions, and practices that have been ingrained into family lore.

If there's one thing June absolutely misses about her ex-husband, it's his family. While June hadn't cut ties with her own blood, her own kin (even her own parents) never spent time in one place for too long. They welcomed into their home. Treated her well with food and warmth and taught her their traditions as she married a son of theirs.

It's an unfortunate fact of life that time comes for all. Oma survived years of hardship by war and reconstruction, without her beloved husband, and the deaths of her own dwindling family, she died peacefully in her sleep during a visit to see a toddling Jack. His parents, though...

When the call came that his parents were killed in a massive pile-up on the freeway, their lives came crashing down.

Grief manifests in so many ways. June cherishes what was left behind. She uses the quilts and recipes and leaves out a portion of dinner for the 'spirit of the hearth.' Her husband, however, drowned himself inside the hospital; unable to come home and look at the reminders, refusing to do anything with it.

Their divorce comes and it's... amicable. The man who was once her husband stares back with a frozen heart, shrouded by his own grief, and he offers to leave them the house as well. June declines and searches for warmer shadows.

The house is sold. June and Jack move on, and the Kobold follows them.

June is a Darby child, and her son follows her as well. Memories are cherished by them. (Faithfully. Hungrily.) And June dutifully attends to her once-husband's family's traditions: leaving dusty corners, a few dirty plates in the sink, grease on the stove, and many, little things that keep the home running. He may try to escape them, but she won't deny their son the same happiness and joy in it.

Jack was too young to remember his family's faces outside of photos and portraits, but there is a lullaby that follows his dreams, crooning over his head and chasing away his nightmares.

For the longest time, he thought the extra dinner plate was for Oma because it's the same dishes and sweets she once ate, even to this day. Jack was quick to hunt for tidbits about them, and always attributed missing left shoes, misplaced kitchen pens, tipping empty glasses during holidays, and creaking floorboards at night as her mischief. I'm still here, it said. I won't leave.

Jack grew up with the same quilts that consumed him, produce that never spoils (the milk might, but it's easy to make cheese from sour milk), and all the little things that made a house a cozy home.

Much like her own family, June and Jack moved frequently as well. Pests were never a problem for them, nor were mold or leaks. They were strangely lucky in that regard.

The Esquivel home does have Others in their vicinity. It's due to the unknown actions of their youngest member. One day when Raf was far younger and playing hide-and-seek with his siblings and neighborhood kids, Raf came across a pitiful, little creature in a drying puddle.

It flopped and croaked, squirming and clawing at the edges of the barely wet concrete of the patio. Scales flaking in dull, resplendent hues, and its side bleeding a sluggish black ooze. It wasn't a fish. Fish had no arms or torsos, nor had his older brother's books on marine life had anything about fish with two tails. Or fish that scream hard enough to make his nose bleed and cry oily marbles that plink on the ground.

To this day, Raf doesn't know what compelled him to step closer but he did. He saw the strange eyes, blinded and pulsing with veins. Later he'll find out about nictitating membranes, but at the moment it was strange to see how a little, blind not-fish stared back at him, mewling something that skittered across his senses and he tasted blood at the back of his throat.

Mama Esquivel was livid over his son's wet jacket and then concerned when he showed the deep bite on his hand and how his nose continued to bleed.

The birdbath in their backyard does get visitors. Raf rises with the sun to watch strange fish-like creatures splash around the small fountain, singing beautifully to coax birds to eat them whole. His sisters think there's a hawk or an owl nearby that hunting down the smaller birds. Raf knows better. He leaves them lizards and newts, dead rats and mice from traps, and leftover meat and nopales that he can carefully sneak away. Much like corvids, they leave him those oily-slick marbles (pearls), carved sea glass that store whalesong, and beautifully intact shells that contain the noise of a howling tempest and the sea at its most furious.

He knows because they explained it to him. Safety, they said as Raf learns to invoke a flashflood and charm to remain inconspicuous and he understands.

"I wish I knew what you're saying to me," a boy told a small fae that was dropped by a red-tailed hawk, far away from any source of water to return home. Its laughter was the sounds of a babbling brook, the river rushing into the ocean's arms. It asked its savior what was the boon he wished for, and the child unknowingly answered. < Wish granted, little Mudman. > And it savagely bit his hand to share their blood for water touched everything and anything, and who else but the fae could bestow the gift of language of any tongue?

Just because Miko is far from Japan, that doesn't mean she doesn't have something attached to her. And of course, it's a cat.

At first, she thought a feral cat lost a match with a cactus or a porcupine and had recently escaped a trap based on all the pins and dragging tail, but not at all. Much to her amazement, it's fast on its paws. Far more agile and durable, she has seen the creature slash massive cacti and easily jump from the ground to rooftops.

The host family she stays at isn't as boring and straight-laced as she once thought. They do enjoy making homemade brews and other fermented goods. They allow the kids to sample it, but only on the weekends and after a good meal.

She gets a little information from her host family. It's a Catcus Cat - a mythical beast; something that isn't real.

Miko leaves a shallow bowl of her own efforts at making mead and other alcoholic beverages, and the Catcus Cat seems to take a liking to the fruitier and sweet drinks.

The Catcus Cat follows her to the Autobot base. Even when she was riding with Jack and Arcee, she was able to spy the beast racing alongside them in the sand, easily keeping pace.

It allows her to pet it occasionally. Purring as it keeps its spines flat and soft, still prickly but leaving no damage. But it prefers chasing games, so Miko cobbled a fishing rod with pieces of raw meat to play 'Fetch' and got a laser to watch it scramble up solid walls and scale cliffsides.

Unlike the Darby's Kobold and Raf's aquatic visitors, the Catcus Cat had interactions with the Autobots. Particularly Arcee and Bumblebee. They enjoy racing in the high-noon sun and dark empty roads at night. It comes along because very few can truly challenge them. And the Autobots think it's a baseline Earth animal. A charming one, even if its yowls are thundering.

Out of all the Autobots, it's Arcee that figured out something is off. Unlike Miko's inability to hide a new car and the Esquivel's already full garage, Arcee can fit comfortably in the Darby's garage. June even partitioned out an area for the Autobot to transform and scavenged large bean bags and thick body pillows as a makeshift bed.

June often works and Jack is either at Knockout Burger or the base after school, so Arcee has no idea how there are fresh meals, hot and ready on the stove as well as how the Pits her pillow nest is fluffed and straightened when there's no one at home!

Arcee thinks there's some sort of weird intruder in their house that likes being domestic, and it drives her nuts that June and Jack are completely nonchalant over the fact.

She's definitely not happy hearing it's been happening for over a decade, and no she doesn't believe it's the ghost of a dearly departed relative!

#ask #transformers #transformers prime #tfp #june darby #jack darby #raf esquivel #miko nakadai #arcee #magic #creature #fae #fantasy #minor character death #my writing #me and my way of explaining how the hell raf can understand bumblebee #arcee becomes that paranoid guy meme with the crazy board of potential hazards and strings #the darbys are very protective of their household spirit and so is the Kobold fond of them

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fluffypotatey · 2 years

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God, watched "Sins of the Father" last night and I. Just. Love. How the writers were like, "Ah, yes, let's finish out this episode with the most violent upheaval of Arthur's relationship with Uther. There is no need to mention this again."

Like, yeah, I get it, Merlin lied and stopped Arthur from killing King Cunt, but STILL. It happened. Arthur and Uther have had disagreements before, but those were small potatoes. Arthur challenged his father, the King, to a fight to the death. He was actively trying to kill his father. And that....had no effect on him? Or Uther?

Arthur doesn't always agree with Uther, and he does disobey him when he has to, but I don't think he ever would imagine himself capable of hurting his father, let alone killing him.

And Uther, being the manipulative, abusive piece of shit he is, was probably 100% certain Arthur would never turn on him, the same way any abusive parent is confident in their power over their victim.

But it happened.

And that's just........not important?

bestie.....are you sure you want the open that can of worms with me

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NO BECAUSE LISTEN I HAVE TOO MANY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS

imma holler @nextstopparis because they have bombass posts and meta about exactly this

anyway

yes bestie so true, we have seen in s1 and s2 that arthur is capable of having a little rebellious streak but not enough to truly slight his father because (despite his shitty and abusive uther is) arthur still loves him. arthur has craved uther's approval since day one. all he gets from uther is stunted shoulder pats and "you're my son" kind of affection. which, you know, explains SO MUCH about why arthur is emotionally constipated, compensates his emotions into hyper-masculinity, and a grade A jock.

we know arthur seeks uther's approval and just wants uther to be proud of him. motherfucker (uther) literally in episode 2 of s1 "stops by Arthur on his way to the stands and speaks to him in a low voice" about he "trust [Arthur] will make [him] proud" like bitch???? way to stress out your child.

tips on how to emotionally abuse/keep your child wanting you love

always makes sure you pressure them into making you proud

place conditions on your love (trust = love = pride for son = no longer disappointed = no longer sees arthur as the cause of ygraine's death oop did i type that)

move them away and speak in a low threatening voice because self image matters and your child would never risk that

undermine your child's worth to exterior factors, aka things your child never had a say in (being a captain/high ranking knight at 15, being the son of your dead wife, telling them to grow up when they literally are acting their age)

enforcing patriarcal ideals such as only encouraging stoicism for arthur because feelings are for weaklings and dismissing morgana's opinions for 'outbursts'

howdy folks! welcome to the uther sucks club and why the hell did bbc just ignore arthur's very understandable anger towards uther in s2 ep8

we will not touch arthur's self loathing blame for his mother's death because i will derail from this post

what happened in s2 ep8???? i'm so glad you asked

it is revealed that uther pendragon's reason for committing genocide for over 20 years boils down to a highly dangerous spell that he forced the high priestess nimueh to cast on his wife (who wasn't aware of the spell in the first place) so she could become pregnant and grant him an heir.

uther, the caricature of the british empire himself, caused the death of his queen then turned around and blamed a whole community of innocent people because "magic is evil and shouldn't be trusted" and "when you know one sorcerer, you know them all"

arthur, daddy issues galore, is understandably pissed and enraged. why, you ask? because for years he believed it was his birth that led to his mother's death

ARTHUR I'm so sorry. YGRAINE You have nothing to be sorry for. ARTHUR It was my birth that caused you to die.

ok so we are actually gonna discuss this

FOR 20 YEARS THIS MAN BELIEVED HIS FATHER'S GRIEF WAS HIS FAULT

AND YOU KNOW WHAT

UTHER NEVER CORRECTED HIM! UTHER NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO CONTRADICT ARTHUR'S INTERNAL STRUGGLE!

WHY YOU ASK????

BECAUSE THEN ARTHUR WOULD STAY LOYAL TO HIM, BECAUSE THEN ARTHUR WOULD DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO PROVE THAT HE COULD 'right this old wrong' EVEN THO IT WAS NEVER HIS FAULT!

ahem

and then arthur learns the truth. arthur learns that ygraine's death was never his fault. ygraine's death was all because uther pendragon "was so desperate for an heir". that was all uther cared about.

ARTHUR This is what fuels your hatred for those who practice magic. Rather than blame yourself for what you did, you blame them.

ARTHUR How many hundreds have you condemned to death to ease your guilt?

ARTHUR You speak of honour and nobility! You're nothing but a hypocrite and a liar!

do you think....after arthur learned the truth, he remembered all of morgana's old arguments that went ignored by uther? he could hear her voice, filled with self-righteousness and selfless anger about how uther always placed the blame on others, projected fear and hatred to those who were innocent. do you wonder if arthur thought of morgana as he spewed those words to uther?

and then he is told that morgause lied to him. that the ygraine he saw was actually an illusion meant to divide camelot. arthur is told that the ygraine he saw who told him that holding him was "the most precious" moments of her life was nothing more than a lie.

so, what does mean for arthur? does that mean that it truly was his fault that ygraine died? does he go back to blaming himself?

is there still that doubt of his father's ruling that lays restless inside of him? does he watch his father more closely and how he reacts to magic crimes compared to non-magical? does he begin to confide in morgana more because she, too, understand this kind of anger he feels nestled inside of him?

but we don't get that

what we get after this is a week or maybe more of a time skip where gwen is kidnapped and the show tries to further the arwencelot love triangle (and i mean, i'm not against the love triangle, it's just...timing my dude)

it just goes ignored by the show like it wasn't a big deal that arthur was ready to commit regicide (unlike morgana), like it wasn't a big deal that merlin lied to arthur like that and didn't feel conflicted, like it wasn't a big deal that uther's Purge began because of misplaced anger.

no, instead, arthur is back as his snarky and uptight self who never again thinks back to what happened when some big plot is heading his way. and so the show never dives back into that. mentions of arthur's mother don't come back until s4 but that's with agravaine and i do not have the time for that man.

this episode really seemed like it was supposed to lead to a shift in arthur's character, and yet it didn't. it was just...never touched on again and i will never forgive them for that

#long post #excuse me while i go off #i brought receipts (transcipts)#bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon #anti uther #we do not stan that man in this household #not to mention that this is the ep where arthur doubts his father's views on magic bc morgause is granting him this chance to see his mom #he has already doubted his father's views on class (lancelot) & duty (going to help merlin even if his presence could cause war w/ Essetir)#and then he learns that his father LIED #uther lied about magic users for 20 fucking years and didn't care #all he cared about was that the spell didn't work the way he wanted and decided that a whole community of ppl deserved to be wiped out #arthur is devasted bc you know what that means??????#that means that when arthur raided that druid camp all those years ago as a young captain of the knights its purpose was never moral #arthur aided his father and his father LIED ABOUT IT #the sins of the father #s2 ep8 #2.08 #i'm not sorry but also i am sorry that the post is a little long #merlin meta

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ladybugsimblr · 1 year

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We all know Lyree keeps it too real when she has something to say, so the fam was prepared for the worst. However, our friend woke up and chose love this morning, not violence. Can’t tell if these words of wisdom are from Brooklyn or Q’s playbook, but either way they were right on time.

#sulani sun still working magic in this household #bklegacy #bklgen2 #bailey kay #quinton #lyric #legend #rebi

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drksanctuary · 8 months

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Nicobaster: Soulmates/games

For day two I did a collaboration with @thomas-life and we did a combination of both prompts:

And a hastily written and edited little excerpt for ya:

Alabaster sifts through the last of what must've been 30 decks of Mythomagic cards.

"Ah! Found him.! Aevin Lackluster: Master Spellcaster. Edition 4. From the Medieyval Myth campaign. He was and perhaps still is my favorite from that series. A lot of the other editions didn't have actual characters...so it was exciting at the time." Alabaster shrugs non-chalantly but his eyes are practically beaming at the card. As if he's holding a literal piece of his childhood self. And Maybe he is.

Nico grins at him from his seat on the floor. He's hunched over his own mess of cards, looking much like a dragon guarding its hoard of treasure. Cards haphazardly spill out from under his legs emphasizing just how many he has... Alabaster briefly wonders where he had he been keeping them all.

"Not a bad card," Nico agrees, "but he's nothing compared to Myra Darkweave, Necromancer Queen, also from Edition 4." Nico holds up one of the cards, and turns it to face Alabaster. She holds a skull in one hand. Her crown is either silver or bone, and around her neck is a familiar green necklace.

Alabaster examines it. Myra’s picture is one that mostly displays Purple,red and black. But the small splash of green stands out.

“Huh, May I?” He reaches out to take the card.

Nico holds it out for Alabaster to take and feigns scandalized gasp, "You don't have her card? how can you call yourself a fan?"

Alabaster plucks the card from Nico's fingers, careful not to bend or rip it.

"She never came up in the packs I had." He says, shaking his head. "I could only get what I could steal"

Nico continues smirking at him.

Al rolls his eyes. "So annoying" he says. /but attractive/ he thinks.

Nico snorts and starts picking through his cards, organizing them by...color? Alabaster raises an eyebrow at the choice, but seeing as in order to play they'd have to shuffle them anyway he supposes its as good a way as any.

Nico speaks without looking at him, that insufferable smug look refusing to leave his face, "I got a lot of my cards in the Lotus hotel." The smirk drops a little but come back full force a moment later, "I won them by beating the older kids" he snickers, "they were so mad getting bean by a 10 year old...its one of my greatest accomplishments." He preens.

"So you've always been this maddening?" Alabaster quips, as he compares their favorite cards side by side. Imagining Nico as a 10 year old sends shivers down his spine...shivers of dread. They'd probably have hated eachother.

Or perhaps they'dve been friendly Rivals. Alabaster remembers himself at 12.../nah probably enemies actually/. He chuckles to himself and diverts his attention back to the cards and Myra’s green necklace. The pattern and design of it is unmistakable. He looks over to Aevin's card to see that he is wearing that same green necklace.

"D'you...." Alabaster considers. He doesn't remember the lore concerning that particular item. Which is maddening considering he usually knows these things offhand. Was it part of some group?

"Look at this" Al continues. "They both have the same necklace... I can't recall what it signifies... do you know what it's for?"

Nico pauses in his organizing to look at the cards, beautiful dark eyes focusing under thick eyelashes. Alabaster bites the inside of his lip to recenter himself, so he doesn't just start staring at Nico Di Angelo like a looney.

"I think I remember that it was some sort of gift?" Nico shrugs, "or a prize?" Or was it a prized-posession? Nico hates being dyslexic, but honestly he was also 10 when he tried to read it so his memory might be faulty.

Alabaster hums. "I see. Well!" He whips out his trusty enchanted glasses that help him read. "Maybe I can look it up."

He pulls out an mythomagic handbook that is so worn that Nico might've mistaken it for an ancient artifact.

He flips through tissue thin pages. "Ah, here we are" Aevin's necklace was made by him, he carved protection runes on the back of the pendant to keep the wearer safe. (Plus 5 defense and plus 2 evasion). So it's a protection necklace...but why is it..." Alabaster’s eyes travel to a small fact box on the side of the page. "When he got married he gifted it to his beloved wife...Myra Darkweave. Who gave him her bracelet in exchange. To solidify them as soulmates through the ages..."

Alabaster looks over to Nico. /what a coincidence/ he thinks. That those two are their favorites...

@them-awesome-rarepairs please accept our late submission 😅 thank you!!!

#it’s a little late but it’s done!#alabaster torrington #alabaster c torrington #pjo #percy jackson #nicobaster #heroes of olympus #son of magic #pjorarepairs2023 #nico di angelo #Shadowmagic #mythomagic #nicobaster household

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