#however. there are people acting like the man deserved to be burned at the stake for covering a song

[lunar-years]

While I’m complaining I’ll say the hate on Luke Combs for the success of his Fast Car cover has always been aggressively annoying, given Tracey Chapman has openly stated she likes the cover and loves the paychecks it brings in AND she made an extremely rare appearance at the Grammys to perform it with him, so there are clearly no hard feelings there whatsoever. And yet people continue to speak over her and make a problem where there isn’t one.

#stop telling women how we’re supposed to feel like it’s so annoying #I say this as someone who has never even listened to the cover all the way through because why would I when #fast car by Tracey Chapman exists #however. there are people acting like the man deserved to be burned at the stake for covering a song #I need the online community to get a grip step aside touch grass #that said I will now be logging off myself lmao #to listen to their performance which was the best of the night #grammys

[ceravisiae]

Consequences

BY WILLIAM MEREDITH

i. of choice

Despair is big with friends I love,

Hydrogen and burning jews.

I give them all the grief I have

But I tell them, friends, I choose, I choose,

Don’t make me say against my glands

Or how the world has treated me.

Though gay and modest give offense

And people grieve pretentiously,

More than I hoped to do, I do

And more than I deserve I get;

What little I attend, I know

And it argues order more than not.

My desperate friends, I want to tell

Them, you take too delicate offense

At the stench of time and man’s own smell,

It is only the smell of consequence.

ii. of love

People love each other and the light

Of love gilds but doesn’t alter,

People don’t change one another, can scarcely

By taking will and thought add a little

Now and then to their own statures

Which, praise them, they do,

So that here we are in all our sizes

Flooded in the impartial daylight sometimes,

Spotted sometimes in a light we make ourselves,

Human, the beams of attention

Of social animals at their work

Which is loving; and sometimes all dark.

The only correction is

By you of you, by me of me.

People are worth looking at in this light

And if you listen what they are saying is,

Love me sun out there whoever you are,

Chasing me from bed in the morning,

Spooking me all day with shadow,

Surprising me whenever you fall;

Make me conspicuous as I go here,

Spotted by however many beams,

Now light, finally dark. I fear

There is meant to be a lot of darkness,

You hear them say, but every last creature

Is the one it meant to be.

iii. my acts

The acts of my life swarm down the street like Puerto Rican kids,

Foreign but small and, except for one, unknived.

They do no harm though their voices slash like reeds;

All except one they have evidently been loved.

And down the hill where I’ve planted spruce and red pine

In a gang of spiked shadows they slouch at night.

I am reasonably brave. I have been, except on one occasion,

Myself: it is no good trying to be what you are not.

We live among gangs who seem to have no stake

In what we’re trying to do, no sense of property or race,

Yet if you speak with authority they will halt and break

And sullenly, one by one, show you a local face.

I dreamt once that they caught me and, holding me down,

Burned my genitals with gasoline;

In my stupid terror I was telling them names

So my manhood kept and the rest went up in flames.

‘Now, say the world is a fair place,’ the biggest one said,

And because there was no face worse than my own there

I said it and got up. Quite a lot of me is charred.

By our code it is fair. We play fair. The world is fair.

#ah such a vivid portrait of a conservative mind #consequences #william meredith #poetry

[entangledmuses]

muse round up

ORIGINALS

Emmy Janson Emmy wasn't always a werewof. She was attacked at the age of 15yrs old one night, when walking home from school late one night. She had no idea what really happened, only that she woke up in the hospital. She was told she had lost a lot of blood, but when she removed the bandages, feeling no pain, the wounds were healed. On the night of her first full moon, she got scared at what she was becoming, and scared that she would hurt her parents, she left. She was found in the woods the next morning, having no recollection of what had happened. She was found by an ALpha, who noticing a young girl, scared, and new to being a wolf, he took her in, and introduced her to his pack, letting her become part of their family.

Heather Ryder Heather is a very straight forward girl. She likes to tell it as it is. She isn't one who worries about fitting in with the crowd. Many think her stupid, but the truth is, she is actually incredibly smart. She just doesn't act like a nerd. She is a curious girl, and despite not being someone who fits in, she is extremely loyal and protective of her friends. St verse:  Heather was in the same class as Steve, and though they didn't hang out much, they got on pretty well. She wants to help the others stop Vecna, even if it means risking her own life.

Isla Perkiss Isla is a Witches familiar. She can shift in and out of a cat form at will. Being a Witches familiar isn’t just about being a cat, a Witches familiar is a guide to Witches. They help them understand and control their abilities. They are also Immortal.

Isla was born before the Salem Witch trials, and if you ever ask her about them, she will tell you the stories of those that were “witches” When in fact, the real Witches were safe, those that were actually born with the gift, and not in league with the Devil, were wise enough to stay away from the horror of the Salem Witch Trials. However, the man she had fallen in love with, a mortal, was burned at the stake for conspiring with Witches, which was just a “Game” led by foolish girls.

Witch familiars have limited powers, just enough to help those she trains and guide.

Walker Benson To the untrained eye, Walker just looks like some girl, fooling the public into believing she can read their futures. In reality, she actually can. Her mother was a precog, and Walker inherited her abilities. She uses her abilities to help others, though, to the world, she is just some young woman, fleecing people for money, she is actually a smart, kind and caring person. 

Behind her job, she does night classes, wanting to become something more than just the local Psychic girl.

Verses: Supernatural creature: Kappa. Supernatural creature: Fae

Kennedy Waite Kennedy was in Highschool when she fell pregnant, she was 17. Her boyfriend said he loved her, would stand by her, so she kept the baby, planning on being able to Graduate High school, then have a year with the baby before planning on joining him at College. However, at 8 Months Pregnant, her Boyfriend decided he couldn't commit to a life with a baby, and wanted to focus on his dreams. Kennedy was heart broken, and the day before she was meant to attend her Graduation, she went into Labour. Her daughter, Arden, became Kennedy's everything. Despite her fears and concerns, the moment she held her daughter, she knew she would do whatever she could to raise her right. With Arden now a Teenager, Kennedy does her best to give her daughter what she can. She works hard, working as a waitress at a place she has worked in for years. Its not a bad job, and her boss has always looked after her and Arden. But she works long hours so that she can send her daughter to college, and give her the life she deserves.

#muse round up! Muses added in the last month

[mattzerella-sticks]

“is scamming gay rights?” - Dean & Jack, DeanCas, Bi!Dean (ao3)

Jack tries teaching Dean about his latest obsession, TikTok, except a breakdown in communication teaches Dean that, sometimes, acronyms can mean more than one thing.

           Dean didn’t understand exactly what Jack rambled on about, but he passed the point of no return a few minutes back and couldn’t interrupt without revealing he had no clue what the younger boy prattled on and on about. As it was Jack currently kept pushing his phone in Dean’s face, gesturing at it and shaking it every ten seconds or so. Dean glanced between Jack and it; each time he did there was a new video on screen and by the time he shifted his focus back to his son the lecture had moved elsewhere along a road he had trouble following. By then, he let himself sink into the comfortable numbing cadence of Jack’s speech, sipping at his beer, surfacing only when he recognized a word before diving back under.

           His ears perked in familiarity as Jack used an acronym Dean recently learned, and so he tuned back in. Jack drew the phone closer to his side of the kitchen table, tapping on it. “There was this big problem with mlms actually, and even though I filtered my home page to avoid profiles like that, they kept popping up,” he said, “Luckily TikTok went ahead and basically blacklisted and deleted all mlm content. Now, I rarely see any of those kinds of content.”

           Dean’s features shuddered, mouth dropping slightly in fright. His ears echoed with the awful drumming of his heart, and a painful wheeze tickled his throat, demanding freedom. He released it on a sigh, slightly curling in on himself. “W-what?” he asked, “You… you didn’t like it?”

           Jack shrugged, “I mean, it was kind of annoying, but I learned to ignore them. When I learned how harmful the content was, however, I was very glad to hear that TikTok went ahead and took some sort of action – Hey!”

           On autopilot, Dean snatched the phone out of Jack’s hands. He slammed it, hard, on the table between them. Dean pointed a harsh finger towards Jack, snarling his next few words. “I don’t want to ever hear you talk like that again.”

           “What?”

           “Or!” he added, fist hammering Jack’s phone further into the wood, “use this, this damned app – if this is what it turns you into!” He huffed, hands retreating to steeple at his chin. “You think you’re raising a kid right… raising a kid to be accepting despite being so close to the Bible Belt… and one dumb app undoes all that hard work.”

           Jack, frozen in his seat, stared at Dean with concern shining in his comically wide eyes. “What are you talking about, Dean?”

           “Look,” Dean said instead, his finger extending once more to point at the younger boy. It was a less accusatory gesture, softened by the gentle tone Dean adopted. “I know I haven’t been the best role model with… with that kind of stuff. Hell of a lot better than my dad was, though… still not the best. But I’ve been getting better, especially after I…” His words bottlenecked on his tongue, and through great effort did Dean spit them out. “After I admitted my own attraction to… to men, especially one man in particular…” Dean’s head felt like it might erupt, magma-like blood swelling his brain to dangerous sizes. “Cas.”

           “Yes, Dean,” Jack nodded, “I know that. I’m… I’m confused what any of that has to do with this?”

           “What it has to do with…? Jack…” Dean pinched his brow, tense shoulders collapsing as the strain became too much, muscles snapping like bridge cables. “I might not be the most… the most out, or the most proud, okay? But I’m trying. Remember that bi flag pin I wore during that hunt one time? That was me… trying. And I’ll keep trying, because this isn’t something I’m ashamed of.” He reached for Jack, ensnaring his wrist to make sure his message was well received. “So you see, being gay isn’t – it’s not annoying. It shouldn’t be hidden, or… banned and it certainly isn’t harmful despite what some repressed shitheads might think.” Emboldened, Dean levelled a disappointing glare at Jack. His lower lip jutted out in fatherly disapproval. “And I’d rather be staked on some piece of rusty rebar than let a stupid app make you homophobic. No more… Ticking-tock. Period.”

           While Jack might not appreciate Dean’s ultimatum now, he will later on in his life. Dean imagined a future where he and Jack, much older than they were in this moment, sat on a porch swing talking about how good a job Dean did raising him to be a decent human being, as Jack’s partner, whose features he couldn’t distinguish from such a distance in their front yard, played with their son, named for the man who set Jack on the right path, obviously. He was knocked out of this fantasy, unfortunately, by the lumbering footsteps of his oafish brother.

           Sam entered the kitchen, Cas at his side with a tome held open in his hands. Their conversation withered as they took in the scene they walked in on. “Hey,” Sam said, shuffling his way to them, “what’s going on?”

           Dean opened his mouth, about to explain that he was dishing some serious parental law and wisdom. Except Jack hurriedly interrupted, rushing to speak first. “I have no idea,” he told them, “I was explaining TikTok to Dean, and suddenly he starts ranting about how it’s a homophobic platform?”

           “Because it is!” Dean argued. He grabbed Jack’s phone, waving it at the others. “Jack told me that they’ve gone full Russia – banning mlms and… and it was brainwashing him, making him hate gay people!”

           “Dean! I don’t hate gay people –“

           “Because I acted before any of the damage actually managed to take root,” he said, “If you used this any longer you would’ve had more harsh things to say about mlms than they’re annoying.”

           Jack groaned, scrubbing his face with twitching fingers. “They are annoying!”

           Dean gestured at Jack, asking with exaggerated brows and frown lines, what they should do about Jack’s denigration. Sam, for his part, seemed unbothered by Jack’s callous attitude. “I mean,” he shrugged, “Jack’s not wrong. Mlms are… pretty annoying.”

           Betrayed, Dean staggered to his feet. He faltered visibly, enough that Cas rushed over, dropping the yellowed book he held, and offered a hand. Dean accepted it, leaning on his boyfriend’s shoulder. The touch on the small of his back renewed his strength. “Sam,” he muttered, voice cracking, “how could you say that?”

           Sam mirrored the confusion noticeably present in Jack’s features. “Dean, why are you taking this so personally?”

           “Because, apparently,” Dean shouted at him, “you find me annoying!”

           “No more than I usually do,” Sam told Dean, “But that’s never bothered you before?”

           “Well, it’s pretty hard staying fucking unbothered when you think my sexuality is annoying.”

           “What?” Suddenly, something flashed behind Sam’s eyes, and the fog of bewilderment dissipated as pure rays of understanding shone from his smug expression and annoyingly struck Dean in the face. “Dean,” Sam sighed, “you… we’re not talking about gay people.”

           Dean snorted, “Of course you are. I’m not stupid.” Sam’s bitchy expression disagreed. “I’m hip, Sam. I know the lingo – better than you would, anyway… ‘ally’. Mlm… men loving men… What else could it be?”

           “Mlm is an acronym for multi-level marketing, Dean,” Sam explained, “that’s the kind of mlm we’ve been talking about this entire time.”

           “What?” Dean’s gaze bounced around the room, from Sam to Jack, then Cas, finally returning to Sam. “No, but I… the Internet, mlm is… it stands for…”

           “Things can have more than one meaning,” Cas supplied, appearing pained as he spoke, “especially acronyms.” He pressed a consolatory kiss upon Dean’s cheek, touch sparking a flame on his already burning skin. “It was nice to see how outspoken you’ve become, though.”

           “Yeah,” Sam agreed, “Like a modern-day Harvey Milk.”

           Dean refused to comment on Sam’s teasing, sinking into his seat again while his mind processed this new information. Cas joined him, continually rubbing soothing circles into his back. Sam sat next to Jack, across from them. Jack, sullenly tracing the cracks Dean made in his phone screen, asked, “Does this mean I’m not banned from TikTok?”

           “I just don’t get it,” Dean said, ignoring Jack’s question, “why would something that sounds boring like multi-level marketing even deserve its own acronym, let alone be banned from a whole app.”

           “Because it’s bad, Dean,” Sam explained, “multi-level marketing is, like, an evolved pyramid scheme, made more prevalent because of how easily social media disseminates misinformation and reaches impressionable people. Companies like TikTok are doing what they can to try and curb all these kinds of scams because, well… they’re annoying.”

           Adamant, Dean scowled and shook his head. “Mlm meaning that is what’s annoying.”

           “Too bad, Dean,” Sam said, “that’s probably the universally accepted meaning for it.”

           “No!” Dean said, “No, mlm is about gay people. It doesn’t have anything to do with scams.”

           Cas scoffed at Dean’s side, mumbling, “But what if scamming people is gay rights?”

           It was ridiculous, made in jest, and held no actual weight in a discussion, but Dean latched onto the throwaway line like it were the last life preserver on the Titanic. “You know what, Cas, you’re right!” he crowed, “Scamming is gay rights.”

           “It is?”

           “It should be,” Dean said, “I mean, do you know the number of times in my life I’ve scammed bigoted jerks for all they had? Scamming definitely feels like something that’s for gays only.”

           Sam rubbed his temples, battling an incoming migraine. “I don’t know why, but that take feels homophobic.”

           “Hush, Sam,” Cas told the other man, “I want to see where Dean goes with this.”

           Jack nodded, camera eclipsing his features. “Just let me hit record first, Dean. This could go viral.”

           Dean waited for the signal from Jack, a small thumbs up, and then he cleared his throat. “Okay, so here’s why scamming is a right for the gays and the gays alone…”

#supernatural #spn #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester #castiel #destiel #deancas #destiel fanfic #deancas fanfic #sam winchester #jack kline #mlm in both meanings of the acronym #spn crack

[neo-culture-mafia]

[23:44PM] (Based on Arrow 2x23) — It’s not a very wise decision to drag someone away from computers with FBI technology when this someone is the only person inside the whole mafia who can deal and work with such technology. And it gets even crazier when the city where you live is right in the middle of the chaos caused by a war between two mafias. 

“Taeyong, what are we doing here? The whole city is falling apart.” you question after Taeyong closes the door of your old basis that the mafia has decided to abandon some weeks ago after it got compromised during the war. 

“I know.” he exhales, walking you further in the room. “You need to stay here.”

“What?! An explanation would be nice, you know? You can’t just ask me to--”

“I’m not asking.” Taeyong firmly states, finally looking at your eyes. “I will come and get you when this is all over.” he says as he turns his back on you and starts to walk away.

It almost looks like he doesn’t know you enough to know that the next thing you would do in a situation like this is stopping him from leaving. 

“No! Okay, let me stop you right there.” you hold his arm, forcing him to look at you again. “You should hear yourself, you sound insane right now! We all have to be ready to fight against Slade, you can’t just lock me in here!”

“Y/N…” he warns you.

“I won’t stay, not unless you tell me why.” you insist, and by that, he finally takes a deep breath which tells you that you’ve made your point.

“I need you to be safe.” he answers, knowing that answer wouldn’t be enough.

“Well, I didn’t start helping you out because I wanted to be safe. I don’t want to be safe. I want to be with you… and the others, unsafe and fighting for our city!” you exclaim. 

“I can’t let that happen.” he addresses in a calm tone.

“Taeyong.” you gently grab his wrist, still not getting why he would drag you away from your responsibilities when the city is literally burning to ashes. “You’re not making any sense.” 

“Slade took my ex because he wants to kill the woman I love.” Taeyong starts to explain, still in a quiet volume.  

“I know, so?” you insist.

“So he took the wrong woman.” he points out. 

And by that words, the head of the mafia knows he’s just achieved what he needs to fool Slade, his enemy, who’s probably listening to the whole conversation through his not so hidden cameras. But the next words that will leave his mouth are not difficult to say because they aren’t true, they are difficult because Lee Taeyong, the man underneath the black leather jacket full of hidden knives and guns, knows that he will never be able to admit those words to himself again without putting you in danger. He treasures you way too much to put your life at risk. He may have lost a lot of people until now, people who died because of him, but his heart would never heal if he lost you.

“I love you.” 

Those three words were never so difficult to say before. It kills him to know that you can never know how serious he is about this, even though it’s just part of the plan at the moment, a plan that you don’t know yet. But he rathers you hating him forever for apparently “playing” with your feelings than to let you know the truth he hides even from himself. 

“Do you understand?” he asks as he quickly hands you the syringe knowing that the blind spot of Slade’s cameras wouldn’t get any view on that. He has his eyes on you, but if he could choose, he would look anywhere else but you. He knows how disappointed you would feel.

 “Yes.” you quietly murmur, not daring to move a muscle that isn’t related to your arm that is gathering all the strength you have left after that literal punch on your feelings to hide that syringe inside your pocket.

By the disappointed look on your face when you realize the plan, he knows he won’t ever be able to forgive himself. However, as he starts to walk away from you, he deep down hopes you can feel by those words how much it hurts him to leave you behind knowing that Slade is much likely coming to get you and how much it kills him to know that he would never be able to come clean about how he meant every single letter from those 3 words.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyong asks after taking a few steps away from the basis where you are now, waiting to be taken. 

“Witnessing my older brother destroy his well-deserved chance of being happy.” his sister appears from the shadows of that dark place, staring at his face. 

“How much have you heard?” he questions, closing his eyes for a few seconds knowing that he screwed up.

“Enough to know you’re making a terrible mistake. Why are you doing this, Tae?” she asks, approaching him carefully with a hard-to-read-expression on her face. 

“Practical reasons. She’s not like you and me, she doesn’t know how to fight, so when I confront Slade after we take down almost all of his men, he’ll have his guard down around her and won’t even expect her to do something like that. In conclusion, he passes out because of the medicine inside of it, giving us enough time to end this without killing him and creating a bigger problem with other mafias.” Taeyong explains in a robotic tone, almost as he had already thought about that question before. “He won’t have a chance to hurt her, don’t worry.”

“I'm not worried about that, I know we can protect her even under that kind of circumstances. Listen to me, I was the first one to call you out when you appeared on the door of our basis with a bullet next to your chest in the car of Y/N, remember? I told you that it was too dangerous to tell someone about us, even though you had no other option since we had entirely lost contact during that mission and you could’ve died without her help. And I remember pretty vividly that I almost freaked out when you appeared with her again a month later saying that she was the only person in the city who could crack that FBI code and help us discover what information our enemies were looking for on those computers.” 

“We all know she’s an I.T genius, get to the point.” Taeyong impatiently says, not looking at her in the eye.

“The point is, big brother: she’ll hate you for the rest of her life thinking that you played her here when you didn’t.” she completes. 

“What are you talking about?” he frowns. 

“I’m talking about how you didn’t lie about a word back there.” she declares, with a small smile appearing on her face after seeing Taeyong’s face twist in surprise as a response. “Try not to look so shocked, I’m your little sister, I know you better than anyone else.” 

“I’d rather her to hate me forever than her to find out about that. You are my sister, you’ve been back for a year since Mark found you and you’re literally the person who’s been in the most danger since then. What do you think they would do to her if I assume that I love her for real? Our enemies would never stop going after her.” he explains, finally staring at her eyes again, searching for any sign that she understands what he means. 

“I know you’re just trying to keep her safe, but all of us in Neo Culture have your back. We’re a family and I’m pretty sure that if you ever assume her, we will have her back as well. Taeyong, you could’ve chosen anyone, you could even have told her about this plan before, but do you know why you didn’t? Because you didn’t want to lose the only chance you think you have to tell her how you really feel and by that: Tonight it’s the first day I believe you have ever acted selfishly. And you know there is no space for selfishness when your life and the life of others you love are at stake all the time. Just think about this.” she taps on his shoulder, giving him a warm smile before she walks away, getting ready to inform all the others about the boss’ plan. 

#admin💫 #well surprise??? i guess #im surprising even jaz with this lol #JAZ I LOVE U #ill contact you soon bby #taeyong soft hours #taeyong angst #taeyong drabbles #nct mafia au #nct taeyong #nct 127 taeyong #nct blurbs #taeyong blurbs #nct u taeyong #superm taeyong #taeyong #lee taeyong

[ryansaiditposts]

The Lore of Folklore:

The Real Story Behind the Characters of Taylor Swift’s Folklore

 

 

We are all familiar with Taylor Swift’s record breaking, surprise quarantine love child, Folklore. Even more so in the Swiftie fanbase, we are familiar with the proverbial “love triangle” established in “Cardigan”, “August”, and “Betty”. What if I told you that I believe the entire album is centered around just these characters at different stages in life with Taylor’s story woven in? Also, what if I said that Taylor/Rebecca were an allegory? Not to mention the complexity of “Hoax” being a combination of all the characters in one? Of course, you would probably ask me for clarification, and that is the intention of the next few paragraphs. These characters reveal certain patterns of behavior, call and responses, and self-referential phrases that map out a much bigger story to tell. The trio of songs mentioned above were just the starting point.

 

To give you an overview of where we will be going, I want to give you the songs as they relate to each character. These will then be fleshed out to connect them in the way I hear and see Folklore play out. The songs and respective characters are as follows:

 

Betty- Cardigan, Mirrorball, and Exile (featuring James)

James- Betty, This Is Me Trying, and Exile (featuring Betty)

Augustine- August, The 1, and Illicit Affairs

Taylor- Seven, Invisible String, Mad Woman, Epiphany

Taylor/Rebecca- The Last Great American Dynasty, My Tears Ricochet, Peace

All Characters- Hoax

 

The genius of this album is that the struggles and identifiers of these characters can sometimes be interchangeable. That is what creates the magic, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. There is more than one perspective to these stories, but this is all what I heard from Inez.

 

The 1 (Augustine)-

I have been sitting with this song for a while. I began to wonder why, for lyrics that for all intents and purposes were sad, did I not get sad listening to this song. Sure, it’s about loss and what could have been, but it’s mere conjecture. Almost like a love that never really existed outside of the storyteller’s imagination. A film that was never made, if you will. Then it hit me, “you weren’t mine to lose”. Augustine simply imagined what it would have been like if the man she did not end up with could have been the one. Betty and James DID have a relationship and the theme of this “film” is repeated in the stories told throughout this album. She would have not gotten the chance to have the movie kind of romance if he had not chosen to be with her. Rose flowing with his chosen family.

 If one thing had been different, could everything be different today? Had he not already been in love with another woman, could we have been the greatest love story ever told? Something also struck me as odd. She called out him meeting some woman on the internet and taking her home. Knowing he has a tendency to stray, there could be a superficial level of jealousy. Imagining that he’s cheating on Betty, but disappointed that it isn’t with her. Not because she’s necessarily a bad person, but I think that as we will see later on in this breakdown, Augustine struggles with conventional relationship types and ties herself to sinking ships for the tragedy of it all.

 

Cardigan (Betty)-

So, not to rehash lore we are already incredibly familiar with, but this song is clearly Betty knowing that James is going to run back to her after straying the path. Cool, amazing, fierce. However, there is language here that suggests this is not the same instance as him showing up to the party. I believe that James has a very toxic pattern resulting from his wondering eye and Betty just has a bad case of loving him. At least, for a while. Betty likes the fact that she is able to show James who he really is when all is said and done, and being someone who has struggled with confidence, she doesn’t want to let this love go too soon. Even if she should. More on that in a bit.

 

Betty says, “Chase two girls, lose The 1”. We all assumed that she was referring to herself, but knowing that she was almost waiting for his return, it’s very possible that she intended to forgive him even before he asked. She had scars from years of not being enough and she may have even been bullied as indicated by this and him seeing in her what others could not when he was present in the relationship. That feeling of “what if” made sure she would not completely walk away. When you are young they assume you know nothing. Well, knowing something does not mean you know everything and I think she stayed long enough to find that out the hard way. Peter does lose Wendy because he cannot grow up.

 

The Last Great American Dynasty (Taylor/Rebecca)-

 

Taylor owns the previous home of Rebecca Harkness in Rhode Island. This beachside mansion has all the salt air and cliffsides to scream off of that anyone would want. Rebecca has a big reputation as a maneater who just isn’t ladylike and mild mannered enough. Sound familiar? Taylor Swift has been demonized, ridiculed, and made infamous based solely off of complete speculation. Rebecca faced the same fate as a middle-class divorcee who was cast as a gold digger after the Standard Oil estate. Truth is, both of these women were just in search of love that could last. Under circumstances far beyond their control these things ended so loudly that there was no right to privacy while they grieved or attempted to make sense of it all. Worse? They were blamed in a blameless situation.

 

Taylor makes her identity known to mirror Rebecca’s at the end of the story. So, what’s the connection to the album as a whole? Bill grew up in the area that the rest of them would eventually be in later on. Cliffside and salt air, the characters revisit these scenes and similar ones several times throughout the story. They lived at a different time here, years later. In fact, in terms of the house itself, it sat quietly for 50 years until Taylor would acquire it. She then marks her entrance to the rest of these stories as she then will later touch on points of her life leading up to Holiday House.

 

Exile (Betty and James)-

 

Communication is key. However, Betty and James eventually resented the back-and-forth nature of their relationship. He believed that she would always forgive him as she had always set that precedent each time before in their relationship. Although they always knew they walked a very thin line, they always felt like the other person would become better to them if they loved hard enough. Each had their demons, though. Between James cheating nature and drinking problem, he could become withdrawn and combative. Betty loved James so much that she gave him second, third and hundredth chances and even excused his more aggressive behaviors in a Streetcar Named Desire type loyalty. Until the branch broke that they were balancing on.

 

For someone like James, being left as a result of bad behavior can often be skewed as a betrayal in and of itself. Her leaving could have only been a result of her not telling him how to be a better partner. On the flip side, Betty was not clear in her signals of being fed up with his actions, but allowing him back time and again. The blame game ensues and each call out each other’s faults too little, too late. They have, in fact, seen this “film” before. They kept the hope that the cinematic love they were both obsessed with would eventually play out if they wanted it enough, but did not put in the work or self-reflect enough to make it so.

 

My Tears Ricochet (Taylor/Rebecca)-

 

Of course, it’s about a certain sellout record executive of her previous label who did not even have the decency to let her own her masters. I will not be bringing his name into it because he does not deserve to even be thought about. However, I think Taylor does an expert job of exploring the anger stage of grief and death that Rebecca and Bill would have had to face in his untimely death as well. The allegory dips in and out of this song to further establish the mirror effect of these two women and their fears/perception. Taylor calls out her own inability to leave with grace. Rebecca was left to burn at the stake after Bill died with no one to defend her either. While it is not his choice to have died, grieving does bring about emotions of abandonment when still panning out. Much like Taylor felt when the label she trusted acted like they had never met and that she had not given them her all to gift them any kind of notoriety.

 

Gathering stones is beachside activity, but when, so is collecting jewelry. This in a metaphorical sense could allude to also gathering dirt and receipts when it all falls down. This line has quite an impact in the context of a business transaction and the marriage of a rich couple. Toward the end, each woman speaks as though they have gone to the cliffside and screamed into the open air. Rebecca challenges the masses to go for her heart in same way the public felt she had gone for Bill’s, but knows that she would be missed all the same. Each woman is directly calling out their naysayers and bullies telling them they know they’re drunk on pain and negating the good they had done before tragedy. These fake people have both built them up and torn them down in times it benefitted them the most.

 

Mirrorball (Betty)-

 

As I previously mentioned, Betty struggles with self-confidence (relatable content). This song takes a deeper dive into Betty’s desire to be noticed by James in the way she needs him to and to show him that she knows him better than anyone else does. When he does not pay attention, she breaks into a million pieces. Although her friends consistently tell her that the end is imminent, she has committed herself to changing the narrative. She’s walking the tightrope, another call out to the thin line they feel they have always walked in regards to one another.

The insecurity is palpable in the self-deprecating “I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try”.  Remembering from their teenage years, Augustine, a natural beauty, is able to draw men in with a sense of sensuality and a carefree demeanor. She doesn’t have to get too invested in relationships because she only chooses men that are in high risk, low reward circumstances. On the outside, it seems like she has all the confidence in the world and that is intimidating to someone like Betty who does not exude the same assuredness and has been burned by trusting unnecessarily before. In spite of this, Betty is still a believer in true love even if James has given her no indication there is reason to believe.

 

Seven (Taylor)-

 

Little Tay on her Pennsylvania farm just discovering her own voice and the meaning of friendship. Making her own tales of time gone by and recounting the origin story of a girl who makes “too much” noise any time she wants. Also, quite possibly the REAL queer-canon of the album. Taylor was close to someone who she has not seen for a while, a girl. She remembers the feeling more than anything and a certain protectiveness that she felt for this person who was having to hide in the closet. Labels did not matter and love was love in this scenario. She wants them to know their story and the care she felt for them is not forgotten and still a source of inspiration for her life in present day. Think “hope ur ok” by Olivia Rodrigo.

 

This song explores Taylor’s fierce feminism and activism into adulthood. The unwavering support she gives to the underdogs and why Rebecca’s story resonates with her so much. She was the wild child the world tried to tame with constant expectation. The subject of Seven that she befriended reminded her that there are beautiful things out there and grounded her in a way to keep looking for meaningful connections and to respect the stories of each person she meets to gain perspective.

 

August (Augustine)-

 

Somewhere on the beaches just outside this small Rhode Island town, Augustine was manifesting a relationship that she knew had a slim to none chance with James. Despite her hopes and efforts, August came and went. James dreamed of Betty with Augustine in his arms, but wanted is cake and to eat it too as a seventeen-year-old boy. The thrill of it all enticed him to give his summer to Augustine instead. Particularly because she was willing to pursue him in the way she did. However, much like the surface level pining found in The 1, she just wished she could write her name on his back in a performative ownership move as if to say finders keepers.

This superficial relationship was hallmarked in sex and lust by being spent tipsy and wrapped and in bedsheets. It wasn’t shameful or tawdry to two kids, but would show it’s truth one single time before becoming a feeling both would continue to chase. The shaky and electrifying experience of sharing firsts and secrets though “Never Have I Ever” and the charged nature of “Are you sure?” feeling like a pact. Until guilt set in for James, there was only excitement and both were forever changed. One by the hope of it all, and the other by the excitement.

 

This Is Me Trying (James)-

 

Years after the first thrill and eventual heartbreak, James has never found direction. He fell behind the classmates that moved on with their lives and ended up here. Still in their same hometown, he is a shell of a man grappling with depression and alcoholism. He’s in Betty’s doorway once again in her front porch light begging for forgiveness. He even matched Betty’s previous speech pattern in “Mirrorball” by saying “I just wanted you to know…” as if to respond to her finally because he sees her after it’s all been said and done. He pulled the rusted, vintage car that once made him so cool off the road to the same cliffside that they once made out in front of. This represents the edge that they all seem to stand at one point or another to contemplate their mistakes. He calls out his own substance abuse and aggression (which we talked about in Exile as well).

 

He wants to continue his same party lifestyle, but feels like an open wound because his bad behavior has finally caught up to him. All he thinks about are his own shortcomings, especially now that he is left alone with them. Betty once again gets compared to a film in a reel on the one screen they have in this small town. Now, only a memory instead of a reality. The defensiveness from being what he perceived as betrayal has subsided and he is left to face the cages he mentally put himself into and the fear that he was not as good of a man as he tried to project to others around him. Betty being the product of his transgressions since she is left broken and resentful toward him now.

 

Illicit Affairs (Augustine)-

 

Augustine finally pulls back the layers on why she continues to try to recapture the feeling that James gave her at a mere sixteen years old. Someone displaying all the confidence in the world may have had less than Betty in actuality. It was all a misconception. Instead, Augustine feels that her looks and sex are what she has to offer and by giving herself away, she hopes to capture lightning in a bottle one of these times. She recreates the same structure of what she had with James only to meet the same disappointment.

 

The beautiful setting of the beach house gives way to the parking lot behind the mall in a way. In some twisted way, James brokenness recognized Augustine’s and she had never been seen in real way before that and then not again after. James thought Betty’s level headedness would fix him and did not want to have to face himself via Augustine since they understood each other in the worst way. Like I said, that first taste left her living for the hope of it all and it was simply a dwindling mercurial high. A drug, though, that could work a hundred times over.

 

Invisible String (Taylor)-

 

Taylor’s stories are often on this album the only ones with direct references to actual places. This one references Centennial Park and Los Angeles. This is the story of Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn (William Bowery to some). This in and of itself is a modern day, currently in the making folktale. The idea of an invisible force bringing the two together to tell a great love story just like Taylor had always imagined. Here she self-references her own part in contributing to the media circus surrounding breakups and dating and owning her growth in those situations.

 

Allowing herself to live in the moment, she talks about the colors and touches of humanity this relationship has brought her. A deeper appreciation of the present and making memories that will one day make beautiful stories to tell for both themselves and for others that once tried to taint her narratives on hearsay. This is her story in her words and an expression of gratitude. Hell was the journey, but it brought her heaven.

 

Mad Woman (Taylor)-

 

This one is about the other one and his soon to be ex-wife. The one the masters were sold to. Shares a name with a two wheeled ankle destroyer and will also not be mentioned by me.  This is a slight reference to her Rebecca allegory in the sense that character assassination played a big part in that story, but not enough to say it’s a direct correlation. Although, it is interesting to note that they are hunting all of the witches even if you aren’t one.

 

Taylor gets raw about the cheating nature of the man in question whether it is in business or in relationships and how he should be called out for it. There’s a hardship in feminism, though. She watches as a woman who knows she is in the wrong defend the thief instead of the robbed. It explores the right to be mad when lied to or stolen from, particularly when you’re willing to go on record with false statements if they serve a certain narrative. Undeniably, this moment will go down in infamy for generations to come. In a word, folklore.

 

Epiphany (Taylor)-

 

Paying homage to her grandfather, Taylor sets a scene as a war rages on. Keeping your helmet to keep your life is a good direct correlation to mask mandates that swept the country as COVID-19 developed. The horrors of watching someone die for things that may have arguably been avoided sets the anguish apart in this song to any other she has done. This is the world in a life and death lens and nothing else. Trying to make sense of what she and the rest of us are seeing when it did not have to be this way.

 

The most hard hitting look at medical staff and the precarious position they stood in for both instances is found in the bridge. They watch to make sure someone is breathing. They stand in the face of danger and are contained to one place while a threat is posed but serve unselfishly and risk falling like the people around them in the hopes of reaching a breaking point or a point of clarity in the chaos. On a metaphorical level, this song establishes a very important piece of perspective for us to hold onto long after this virus is contained lest we forget.

 

Betty (James)-

 

The first injustice and a look into the dramatics of young love. We now at least get to know why James loves Betty so much and humanize him a little more for the things he’s been dealing with internally since a young age. He comes off a lot more charming here even if unsure. Possibly a reason why he leans on liquid courage later on, James is actually a bit shy in group interactions. This also causes him to avoid confrontation if it can be helped or talking about his feelings. He also has a tendency to fear loneliness as a result so he’s easily convinced to go along for the ride even if it isn’t the right decision.

 

However, here, he nervously plans for weeks to gather up the courage to ask for a second chance. From what we can gather, he was likely forgiven in this instance which made him more comfortable than before to do so again and again. The cycle started here with this grand gesture, but post-cheating, the damage was likely already done since he had gotten a taste of the thrill. Betty would serve as a constant, but she would not stand alone.

 

Peace (Taylor/Rebecca)-

 

Taylor knows she will likely always be speculated on, but she loves intensely even if no one else believes. Here, you can see her sympathy and understanding of someone like Rebecca who no one ever even considered that she may actually love her late husband. All she can ever hope for is that the person she dedicates herself to can recognize how invested she really is and can handle the storm that comes with that. She talks with her own pack of friends being wild and rowdy much like Rebecca, but hopes he never sees that as a sign of disrespect. It’s just who she is.

 

Everyone DID think the love was for show, but they knew nothing of what happened behind closed doors. Does a woman pace rocks staring out at the midnight sea who isn’t missing someone? I don’t think so. Painting dreamscapes on the wall referring to the home they share together. The very same place that tied Rebecca and Taylor’s stories together in the first place. I think Taylor learned to embrace the madness before the rest of Rebecca’s story became hers and stopped apologizing for being so loud but remembered to continue to let love in.

 

Hoax (Everyone)-

 

Every time I listen to this song, I hear a different character speaking to me. Then I realized each one was just taking turns. This one is a bit different so I’m going to break it down by character:

 

Betty- He had drawn stars around her scars, but the way he made her feel was just as bad as the pain they caused. She believed him each time he said never again. She let him back in time and again to be hurt in the same way, but nobody else would have done for her if he could just be the things he promised to be. She was bound to him even though he never came through.

 

James- He knows exactly what he’s done and that he cannot fix it now. He knows that she possesses a love for him that will never die, but that is unrealistic after a certain point. He resigns himself to having to miss her forever. The hero has effectively died, so the movie has lost a purpose in plot. He tried, but did not succeed.

 

Augustine- She had a plan for them. No matter the means in which to get it, she wanted him to love her the way he did Betty. She used slight of hand and a little convincing to lead him to her. It left her aching for more when she knew that would never come back. August slipped away and there was no winning. Winter came and the ground was frozen.

 

Rebecca- She stood out there screaming for a reason why she had to be left alone in the life that was supposed to be theirs. I don’t think she ever quite got past that feeling of abandonment and just needed anything to believe in. This beautiful mansion had become a kingdom come undone. Bill’s heart had given out like a broken drum.

 

Taylor- When you sign a record deal at such a young age and a man who has always taken care of you in that time suddenly becomes your biggest enemy, it can certainly feel like a total heartbreak. The hoax was making her believe that even if all was said and done he would at least have her back. He most certainly did not. She screams at the sun (now eclipsed) on the cliffside while he listens to her stolen lullabies. The part of herself that remains in New York being her life’s work.

 

Please let me know if you have anything to add! Any new perspectives I may have missed? I would love to further this conversation and find new ways to explore the Folklorian Wilderness!

 

-Ryan Freeman

#folklore #taylornation #taylor swift #swifties

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 3 Episode 10)

This is it people! The series finale of Kipo; Let’s get to it.

Episode Title: Age of Wonderbeasts

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to handle spoilers

Hopefully she’s getting dressed for her funeral lol

1. Continuing on from last episode, the fireworks rigged with the cure goes off and a bunch of embers start falling from the sky. One of the Humming Bombers got into contact with one of them while attempting to flee and immediately de-mutes. I thought the cure needed to go into their bloodstream? Unless, the ember actually burned through their skin. It that’s the case, wow that’s dark....

It’s awesome that Earl and Lily are helping Molly since Molly saved their children awhile back. 

2. With her quick thinking, Kipo asks everyone to find shelter underneath her as she transforms into her Mega Jaguar form. However, that’s still not enough to protect everyone but luckily, the good humans step up to shield them with table cloths, which was heartwarming to see. 

The mutes are thanking the humans for their act of kindness

OMG. Lio and Song hugging Scarlemagne? I’m here for it.

3. Thankfully, the fireworks ended and Kipo then pleads with Emilia one last time to stop what she’s doing. Emilia, hard-headed as ever isn’t one to back down at all and makes a drastic decision to inject herself with the mutagen she sourced from the Mega Walrus, transforming herself into one ugly Mega Mute. 

Imagine seeing this in real life...shudders

4. I thought she was going to use the Mega Walrus’s DNA to make another cure that would affect Kipo. I didn’t think she would do this to herself. Kipo transforms back to her Mega form to take on Emilia before she could potentially hurt anyone. 

How many Troyson kisses do we want? Yes...hehe

5. Troy and Benson are directing everyone back to find safety inside the old burrow while Wolf joins Kipo to assist her in battling Emilia. Kipo has the upper hand at first because Emilia isn’t used to being a Mega Mute. However, as the fight progresses, Emilia is starting to get better and is landing some solid hits on Kipo. But I feel like Kipo shouldn’t be losing to Emilia since she has much more experience fighting as a Mega. I guess they want us to feel like the stakes are high.

Man, this fight is actually pretty brutal. Emilia is whooping major jaguar ass here.

6. During the battle, Wolf notices Greta nearby and thinks that she has the cure to turn back Emilia into a human. So, hopefully they can steal the cure from Greta and use it as leverage to get Emilia to stop. They split up with Wolf going after Greta and Kipo continuing to fight off Emilia. 

7. After taking a couple more punches, we see three of the Mega Dogs, the Mega Pigeon and the Mega Beaver heading their way towards the fight, with Jamack, Molly, Hoag, Amy, Zane, Label, Lio, Song, Scarlemagne, Dave, Benson and Mandu riding on them. I stan such supportive friends!

8. They each take turns kicking Emilia’s butt to buy Kipo some time to recover. Side note: It’s so cool that Jamack tells Emilia to do some “soul searching”! That’s literally the same line Kipo used on Jamack in Season 1 when he was an antagonist back then. During all of this, we see Emilia beginning to have some inner turmoil; It looks like she’s starting to lose herself in her current form.

9. We get to round 2 of Wolf vs Greta and it looks like the tables might turn in favor of Wolf but Greta is just too beefy for her to take on. While being held down in a pin, Wolf tries to butter her up with words by telling her that she’s not an idiot and she can think for herself, without the influence of Emilia. She also bribes her with all the pancakes she can eat if she hands over the cure to her and just like that, she agrees to hand it over. It’s so ironic that Greta is one of Emilia’s last followers but she’s so easily influenced to switch sides. 

Again, I don’t get why Kipo is losing to Emilia so badly

10. Kipo is down for the count and Emilia turns her attention to her friends/family. As she’s about to crush Lio and Song, Kipo charges in last minute to take the devastating blow for them; She then falls unconscious. However, Emilia’s not done yet.

Scarlemagne’s death in 3...2...1

11. Oh no...here we go. Scarlemagne decides to play hero by making his attempt at saving Kipo. He basically gives his swan song to Lio and Song. I have a bad feeling he’s going to die and I’m not at all prepared to watch. He takes off on his favorite Flamingo vehicle from Season 1 and 2 and flies towards Emilia to distract her.

We haven’t heard this laugh in ages. Also, did anyone get chills when he tells Emilia to “leave her sister alone”?

12. He crashes his vehicle into Emilia causing her to lose focus and it sets off her ‘losing herself to the mega mute’ phase. This in turn, causes Scarlemagne to crash land somewhere in Skyscraper Ridge. Was it necessary for him to crash like that? If that’s the way he goes out, I’m gonna be honest here and say I would be very disappointed with that. 

13. Emilia, who clearly is out of it runs off somewhere and Kipo, Wolf, Dave, Benson and Mandu all go after her with Lio and Song heading towards where Hugo/Scarlemagne crash landed. We then see the artistic representation of Emilia losing her mind to the mute, where her human form is quickly sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean. 

14. They catch up to Emilia and they could see her being distraught. We also know the reason why she’s this way and it’s because she doesn’t have an anchor. I love it how whatever explanation we’re being told by the characters is something that the audience should know based on past episodes. Now that’s good storytelling. 

15. Anyways, Kipo makes the decision to cure her because she thinks she doesn’t deserve to be punished this way. Really now? After all that she’s done? Maybe what Kipo means is that she deserves get whopped in her human form lol. After curing her, Kipo makes ANOTHER ATTEMPT (for the 3rd time) to convince her to make a change but of course this bitch isn’t going to change; She takes a shard of glass and tries to stab Kipo:

16. But our girl, Mandu quickly reacts and bites Emilia’s arm. She then loses her balance and falls stories high in the exact burrow her lab was located because we then see Fun Gus capturing her and taking her in as her “playdate”. Emilia is basically history. 

17. Yesss! And this punishment is fitting since she will probably be Fun Gus’s plaything till she goes insane and dies. Not to mention she despises mutes. So, it’s a great way for her to go out. Bye!!! That’s what you get for killing your brother, you heartless monster. Can I also point out that once again, Mandu is the one to take out Emilia. She did beat her in season 2 when Wolf, Dave and Benson couldn’t and now in season 3, she’s the one to finish the job. Don’t mess with Mandu lol. 

18. They head back to find where Scarlemagne, Lio and Song are but it’s almost too late because Hugo is dying. Kipo is in tears and I’m in tears too. Again, was it really necessary to kill him off? I felt like he’s more or less already redeemed as a character before this. He didn’t have to commit such a heroic act, which had cost his life. Ugh....And just like that, Hugo dies.....UGHHHHHH. I really don’t think he needed to die. If Catra (who committed just as many heinous acts, if not more than Hugo) got to live in She-Ra & The Princesses of Power, Hugo deserves to live too. I’m sorry...

19. Now it’s time for the epilogue set 5 years later, as told by an older Kipo. Let’s break it down:

Wolf’s Mega Corgi gave birth to a litter of puppies. Awww cuteness...

Wolf let her hair grow out and she looks AMAZING!!! Dayummmm

Benson and Troy own a successful restaurant together and they’re living the dream. Such domestic goals!

I got chills seeing Wolf and Benson walking side by side like that. They’ve grown up so much. It looks like they’re own their way to a picnic

Label and Zane is also running a gym together. Sweet!

Jamack is conductor for Las Vistas’s new transport system. 

Dave is now a guest lecturer at what is seems to be Lio and Song’s new research lab, where he talks about some of his research findings and theories. Well, mostly theories.

I love Kipo’s new do’

20. We find out that Kipo is updating Hugo (spiritually) what has everybody been up to on his birthday. 

Hugo gets a statue made in his honor, which is very fitting and Mandu...WOW MANDU has grown into an ADULT boar, with tusks and everything just like Bornak and Webber. 

21. Kipo meets up with her besties and her family and they have their wonderful picnic in commemoration of Hugo’s birthday. 

22. The scene cuts off to all of them having the time of their life riding on their Mega mutes. And that’s the official ending to the series. TEARS...

23. This has been an amazing show to watch, react and review. I can’t believe it only had 30 episodes but the story was so cohesive and felt complete on the most part. So you could say that this show wrapped up nicely. There are some loose ends that weren’t addressed/resolved at the end like the vaccine that Song and Lio were working on but I guess that could be something that’s explored further in future films hopefully. 

24. I will also be making a couple of video essays that will be posted to my YouTube channel, PeterSaidWhat; The first one will be my full spoiler review of the final season and the second video will be Troyson-focused. I can’t wait for all of you to watch them. And finally, I want to thank you all for reading my episodic reviews and going on this incredible journey with me. It’s been a pleasure to have Kipo be a part of my life and I’m sure yours as well. 

Much love,

Peter

#kipo #kipo and the age of wonderbeasts #heroes on fire #karen fukuhara #dreamworks animation #netflix cartoons #kipo dreamworks #sterling k brown #episode review #episode recap #kipo season 3 #series finale #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbt representation #gay cartoons #gay love #gay romance #lgbt love #troyson #troy and benson #troy x benson #benson x troy #spoiler review #epic ending

[badchoicesposts]

In a Land of Myth...

Chapter 15

Summary: When Selene, a young sorceress, arrived in Stormholt she had every intention of remaining anonymous. King Constantine Rys had strict rules on sorcery. The act itself was punishable by death, and she had no desire to be burnt at the stake for her “crimes”. However, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to remain unseen when she becomes Prince Liam’s personal maidservant, and it seems that it’s her job to protect him from everyone that wants to kill him.

Disclaimer: This AU is a cross between TRR, The Crown and The Flame, and BBC’s Merlin. Merlin follows the tale of King Arthur and the sorcerer Merlin. Merlin comes to Camelot where magic is outlawed and is made Prince Arthur’s servant. You do not have to watch the show to understand this fic, but it is based on the BBC show Merlin so the story line will be similar. I don’t own the plot to Merlin or any of the TRR characters.

Word Count: 3,157

Pairing: Liam x MC (Selene), Drake x MC, Platonic!Bastien x MC

Author’s Note: This chapter is a bit different since it won’t be taking place from Selene’s POV. This one takes place from multiple POV’s and we get to see Bas, Drake, and Liam’s perspective

Taglist: @flowerpowell, @bobasheebaby, @alexintheskyy, @slytherincursebreaker, @kingliam2019, @furiousherringoperatortoad, @goldenbirdcrystalcage, @burnsoslow​, @zilch3, @desireepow-1986​, @sanchita012

Let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from the taglist!

Catch Up: Masterlist

Time seemed to stand still for Bastien as he watched Selene fall to the ground. His heart shattered in his chest as he allowed himself to picture the rest of his life without the young woman who had become a daughter to him over the past few months. She had turned his life upside down. He could honestly say that he had no idea what he was getting himself into when he had decided to take in the twenty-one year old. Selene was every bit her mother’s daughter. She was strong, witty, and a force to be reckoned with. She had a big heart, one that was completely full of love for everyone she met. She was also more powerful than he had ever realized she could be. He had never seen magic so extraordinary before, but she was still young. She still needed guidance, and with it he knew she had the power to make the world a better place. But, now, in just a matter of seconds the world was about to lose her. 

He pushed Liam and Leo aside and gathered her body into his arms. Her body was completely limp against his as he began following Xinghai and Hana back to the physician’s quarters, barely registering the sound of the old man instructing someone to grab the poisoned goblet so he could figure out how to cure her. He lay her down onto the cot in the physician’s quarters gently, as if she were made of glass and pushed one of her curls out of her face. 

“She’s burning up,” he said, feeling the heat of her skin against his hand. 

Hana gave him a sympathetic smile and pushed her way past him to lay a damp cloth on Selene’s forehead. The door burst open a moment later and Drake, Leo, and Liam all crashed into the room. 

“I have the goblet,” Leo said, handing the offending item to Xinghai.

The three men crowded around Selene’s cot, and Bastien could see the pain written clearly on all of their faces. 

“Can you save her?” Liam asked the physician, his brow furrowed as he looked down at her. 

If it wasn’t for the thin layer of sweat that was covering her body, and the way she was shivering, they could almost pretend she was sleeping. Xinghai didn’t answer. He was too busy examining something on the inside of the goblet. 

“What is it?” Bastien asked, his voice thick with emotion as he finally turned away from the young girl’s body. 

Xinghai removed a flower petal from inside the goblet with a pair of forceps and examined it closely before turning to one of his books.

“A petal from the mortaeus flower,” he said. “According to this, someone poisoned by it can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the flower. It grows on the root of the mortaeus tree, that lies in the caves past the Blackspine Mountains.”

Bastien’s mind began to move a mile a minute. The Blackspine mountains. He knew the area well. However, it was dangerous to travel into the caves.

“The caves they’re protected by a creature, a cockatrice,” he finished. 

Xinghai nodded solemnly in his direction, before turning back to his book. “Even a single drop of the venom is deadly. Few, if any, who have travelled there have made it back alive.”

“I’ll go,” Bastien said, casting one last look to where Selene lay dying. “I’ll get the leaf.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Xinghai said, looking at him as if he were crazy.

“I refuse to let her die,” Bastien insisted as both men turned to see Hana dip her cloth into a bucket of water before resting it on Selene’s forehead once again. “I’d risk my own life before allowing hers to end without a fight.” 

“No, I’ll go,” Liam said, causing everyone to look up at him in surprise.

“Liam, I know you want to help, but you’re the heir to the throne. My life lost over this is nothing compared to yours,” Bastien said. 

“No. She did this for me. I have to be the one to make it right. She said that you were like a father to her. You should stay with her. She needs you here with her,” Liam insisted. “How much time does she have?

“The poison is slow acting and causes a long painful death. Four maybe five days at most,” Xinghai said.

~~~

“No,” Constantine said, his voice leaving no room for discussion. “She drank the poison to save your life and you want to end it anyway on a pointless rescue mission? This is why we have servants and royal tasters in the first place.”

Liam was disgusted with his father’s response. There were days when he admired the strength of the man, how fearless he always seemed to be. However, there were times when he couldn’t imagine how cruel he had become. 

“I won’t fail. I’ll get the antidote and returned unharmed,” Liam insisted. He needed to do this. He needed to do this for her.

“You are the heir to the throne. I can’t risk losing you for some serving girl,” Constantine argued.

“Why? Don’t you think that’s the least she deserves after saving my life, twice now?” he asked.

“No.”

“Her life is worth something. To me, to Leo, to Bastien, your most trusted knight.”

“Her life is worth less than yours,” Constantine argued, causing Liam to recoil at his words.

It was almost disturbing to hear his father care so little for the lives of the people he considered below them. He had made passing remarks about this topic before, but none had chilled Liam as much as hearing him say outright that they didn’t matter. He had no idea how much Selene mattered. 

“I won’t stand by and watch her die. Not for me,” Liam said.

“Then don’t look,” his father responded, his voice cold. “She’s not the first to die on your behalf, and she won’t be the last.”

“I’m going and you can’t stop me,” he said, turning away from his father and stalking down the hall. 

Liam could hear Constantine calling after him, but he paid him no mind. He was going to save her, consequences be damned. He went back to his chambers and grabbed his sword, packing a bag of a few essentials.

“I hear father forbade you from leaving the castle,” Leo’s called from behind him. 

Liam turned to see his brother standing there, dressed in his full armor and carrying a bag as well. Drake was standing next to him and both men had a look of determination on their faces.

“I’ve never been the rebellious type, but sometimes our father is wrong. Her life isn’t worth less than mine because she’s a servant,” he said.

Leo smirked at him and stalked into the room. 

“We’re coming with you,” he said.

“No, I’m going alone. It’s too dangerous. I won’t risk anymore lives,” Liam insisted.

“I’m not afraid of a little danger,” Leo said. “Are you, Drake?”

“Not at all,” Drake responded. 

Liam looked over to his best friend and sighed. 

“I can’t control either one of you, but you should stay here. He would have you executed if he knew you helped me defy him,” Liam insisted. 

Drake opened his mouth to protest, but Liam held his hand up to stop him. 

“Stay with her. Stay with Bastien. He needs you now too. I’ve never seen him so upset,” he instructed. 

Liam turned to his brother to try convincing him to stay once again, but Leo interrupted him. 

“I’m going with you. Besides, if our father wanted to have me executed he would have done it a long time ago,” he said, causing Liam to smile.

“Stay safe and come back soon,” Drake said, clapping him on the shoulder and nodding his head towards Leo before leaving them alone. 

The two brothers did their best to keep attention away from themselves as they exited the castle and made their way to the stables. After making sure their horses were prepared, they both mounted before Liam looked over to the other man nervously. 

“He’s not going to make it easy for us to leave,” he said. 

“Easy is boring. Let’s go!” Leo said, urging his horse forward. 

Liam repeated his actions and chased after his brother. As the two prepared to leave the castle courtyard, they noticed that their exit was blocked by two guards.

“Stop. By order of the king you are not permitted to leave these grounds!” one of them shouted. 

The Princes shared a look and instead of slowing down, they urged their horses to go faster, causing the two guards to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled. They had just managed to make it past one hurdle, but as the moved forward into the knight, Liam couldn’t help but feel that the battle had only just begun.

~~~

Drake sighed tiredly as the sun began to come up. He had been pacing the floor in front of Selene’s cot all night, not being able to get to sleep. Bastien was sitting in a chair next to her, falling in and out of a fitful sleep, but refusing to leave her side. He dipped the cloth from her forehead into the bucket of water before placing it back onto her skin. Hana had informed him that doing this would help keep the fever under control, but as her body continued to shiver and shake, he couldn’t help feeling that it was pointless. 

He felt useless as he looked down at her, his chest tightening at the sight that greeted him. He should be out there with Liam and Leo, helping them find the flower. He should be doing something. His mind wandered back over to the kiss they had shared. Pulling away from her that night had been one of the hardest things that he had ever done, but he told himself that it was what he needed to do. He dropped down onto the floor beside the cot and grabbed her hand in his. 

“Damn it, you need to come back. I need you to come back,” he whispered, squeezing her much smaller hand in his. 

He moved to pull his hand away from her when he noticed something strange on her forearm. He pushed her sleeve up just enough to reveal a small rash on her soft skin. 

“Xinghai!” he called over his shoulder to the man who had been dozing at his worktable. “There’s a rash on her arm.”

“What?” Xinghai called, slightly disoriented. 

He moved over to examine the newly discovered symptom as Bastien began to wake as well.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked, moving towards them.

“The rash isn’t supposed to appear until the last stage of the disease. Hand me that book,” Xinghai said, pointing in the direction of worktable.

Drake grabbed the book from the table and handed it to the physician. He watched with anxiety rolling over him as he read over the page on the mortaeus flower. 

“This says the effects of the poison can be accelerated if an enchantment is used with it,” Xinghai read. 

“But, Eirik isn’t a sorcerer. He may be annoying and self righteous, but he’s not smart enough to pull off an assassination attempt with sorcerery,” Drake mused.

“Did you see who it was? The person who told her the goblet was poisoned?” Bastien asked urgently. 

“I only saw her from across the room, but she was dressed as a servant. She had red hair, looked kind of old,” Drake said, straining to remember anything about the woman. “What? What is it?” 

“I can’t believe she would come here,” Bastien muttered to himself. 

“Who?” Drake pressed, frustrated that he wasn’t getting an answer. 

“How much longer does she have?” Bastien asked, instead of answering his questions. “Now that the progression has sped up?”

“Two days at most,” Xinghai answered. 

~~~

“What are you thinking about, brother?” Leo asked.

He turned his head to look at Liam, whose face had been screwed up in concentration since they had left Stormholt the night before. They were almost to the caves behind the Blackspine Mountains, having already made the bulk of the journey.

“Something father said about Selene’s life being worth less than mine. It didn’t sit well with me,” Liam confessed, causing Leo to smirk at him. 

“I’m sure her life means quite a bit to you,” he teased, relishing in the blush that appeared on his brother’s cheeks.

“No- I mean yes, but that’s not what I mean,” he stumbled over his words. “He’s always said things like that. He believes the lives of anyone not born of noble blood is worth less and that isn’t right. A king should be able to acknowledge that people of a lower station are just as important as people born with a title.”

“The fact that you believe that already makes you a better leader than our father,” Leo said simply. 

It was no secret that he and Constantine didn’t have the best relationship. But, if the king wanted to view him as a disappointment, so be it. He was done fighting with him. He had done so all his life, but Constantine liked to believe that anyone who disagreed with him was wrong. There was no reasoning with a man like that. However, instead of being comforted by these words Liam seemed more troubled than he was before. 

“For so long I’ve viewed him as a strong leader, as a man who I should aspire to be like. But, I don’t want to become someone so hateful,” Liam mused, and Leo could tell that it pained him to speak ill of their father.

“It’s okay to disagree with him, you know. It’s not the end of the world,” he said, trying to ease his mind.

Instead of responding, Liam simply nodded his head, still looking troubled as they continued to ride on. It didn’t take long for them to make the rest of the journey and entrance to the caves were soon within sight. 

“Be on guard. Xinghai said the cockatrice guarded the caves,” Leo instructed as the two dismounted their horses, intent on making the rest of the journey on foot. 

Both men moved forward, but stopped only a few moments later when they heard a soft rustling up ahead of them. They each reached for their swords, Leo motioning for his brother to go left as he went right. They both inched forward slowly, but when they closed in on the sound, instead of finding a monster they found a woman lying on the ground. There was a large scratch on her arm, and she was whimpering softly. Her brown eyes were filled with tears, and her red hair was matted and in knots. Leo thought there was something familiar about her, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. 

“Are you alright?” Liam asked, placing his sword back into his scabbard and approaching her. 

The woman flinched as he came closer, and Leo kept his distance, looking over his shoulder nervously. He had a bad feeling about this, he had a bad feeling about all of it, and none of it had anything to do with getting the flower. 

“What happened to you?” Liam asked, in a gentle voice. 

The woman looked up at him and began to answer. However, before any words were able to leave her mouth, she let out a loud scream. Leo turned to see the large beast they were worried about slowly approaching them, it’s teeth bared. The cockatrice was an almost lizard like creature with four dragon-like legs, and a rooster shaped head. A low growling was coming from deep in its throat, and the sound was chilling.

Leo took a deep breath and bounced a few times on the balls of his feet, psyching himself up for the fight that was about to take place. The cockatrice began to bound towards him, and he ran to the left, dodging the attack. The creature let out a loud roar and ran towards him once again.

“Damn it, the things I do for these people,” he grumbled to himself, knowing full well that as annoyed as he was right now there was no way he would let an innocent girl die. “A little help here, brother!” 

Suddenly, the cockatrice let out a shriek of pain before falling to the ground, Liam’s sword plunged deeply into it’s back. Leo scoffed while his brother smirked at him, moving forward to retrieve the weapon from the creature’s body. 

“You wouldn’t have been able to do that if I hadn’t been distracting it,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Whatever you say, Leo,” the man responded, moving back over to the woman’s side and kneeling down in front of her.

“What happened to you?” Liam asked her once again. 

“My master is a cruel man. I was running from him when the creature lunged at me. I fell to the ground and scraped my arm. I kept waiting for it to attack, but it never did,” she said, her voice full of fear. “Can you help me? Can you get me out of here?”

The two brothers shared a look. 

“We can, but there’s something we must do first,” Liam said. 

“What is it? Perhaps I can help,” the woman said. 

“We’re searching for something in the caves. A flower,” Leo answered hesitantly.

“The mortaeus flower?” 

“Yes,” he said, slightly suspicious. 

“I can help you. I’m from this area. I know where it grows,” she said. 

Leo grabbed onto Leo’s arm and pulled him away. 

“I have a bad feeling about this. It isn’t a good idea,” he said, glancing back over at the woman. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew her from somewhere. 

“If she can help us get to the flower faster then we should bring her along. Selene doesn’t have much time left.”

Leo sighed and glanced back over to the woman. 

“Okay.”

The woman began to lead them into the caves, stopping momentarily to grab a torch. Leo wondered silently how the item was light, but didn’t voice this as he followed closely behind his brother. They walked through the caves for a while until they came to a narrow ledge. 

“There,” the woman said, pointing to the stone wall across the ledge. 

There was a small gap between the ledge and the wall, but other than that the only way to get to the flower was to climb up the wall. The caves extended for miles both up and down, and it wouldn’t be an easy climb. If a person fell there was no way they were going to survive. 

“So, you or me?” Leo turned to his brother with a half smile.

#the royal romance #the royal heir #trr #trh #liam x mc #drake x mc #drake walker x mc #bastien lykel #trr bastien #bastien x mc #the crown and the flame #my fics #playchoices #choices fic #choices

[clarosowrites]

Mistletoe (Adam x f!Detective)

Adam stood at parade rest against the wall, dispassionately watching the other attendees of the Wayhaven Holliday Party. Most of the town was here, mingling in the festively decorated Mayor's mansion. A jazz band played Christmas music in the next room.

He had thankfully avoided any sparkles in the outfit tonight. His simple red button down and black suit was extravagant enough for him, though Felix disagreed, trying to force him to wear a sequined tie. He easily spotted the youngest member of the team in his glittering silver suit. He was kneeling next to one of Mr. Verde's children, smiling as she showed him her dredile.

With any luck, that would keep him busy the rest of the night.

Mason was...somewhere. Probably skirting the edges of the party, like him, or drinking. And he knew Nate planned to make rounds with Agent McClaran, socializing with the citizens.

Their handler claimed being at the party would help their reputation, which was apparently less than stellar. Adam thought it was pointless. Unit Bravo had been in Wayhaven for over a year, the town's opinion of them was likely set by now. It didn't matter anyway--they didn't need anyone's approval to protect the town.

Suddenly, the sound of a single heartbeat reached his ears.

His shoulders dropped. Even through the music and the noise of the crowd, he'd recognize her.

Adam fought back a smile as warmth flooded his chest. It had only been a week since they saw each other last, but he'd felt the Detective's absence acutely. A week was nothing, a blink of the eye to him usually.  Yet, in the two months he and Catherine had started courting--he refused to call it such an insignificant term like dating--time had stretched in odd ways. A day with her seemed like barely five minutes. Every day apart was spent waiting for the next.

He turned to the entrance. His fingers tapped a nervous staccato against his arm as he scanned the crowd for her.

The mass of people parted and revealed Catherine like clouds parting for the sun.

Red fabric hugged her figure. The dress dipped low in the front, flowed past her hips and flared around her knees. She seemed to glow under the twinkling lights, her already statuesque figure even more noticeable in red. Her hair curled around her face, soft and loose in a way that made his fingers itch to touch--

He cleared his throat as she approached. "Detective."

Her smile was strained as she slipped her hand into his. This close, he realized she wore heels--she stood several inches taller than him and he had to tilt his head back to meet her eyes.

"I'm never letting Tina dress me, ever again." She hissed through clenched teeth. Her lips were painted red to match the dress. "I look like a big red elephant."

"That's absurd." He said and pulled her a step closer.

Catherine ducked her head, turning away from the crowd. She pulled at the dress's neckline. The material was practically molded to her skin, though, and she gave up with a frustrated huff.

"Adam, this dress is way too revealing for a work party!" She gestured up and down her body. "And I shouldn't have to wear heels!"

It was less modest than her usual outfits, true, the Detective preferred turtlenecks and long sleeved shirts most days, but he'd seen several women tonight with more skin on display.

She always looked perfect, even in her messy workout clothes. But he was biased. Besides, he'd asked if she looked appropriate, not his personal feelings on her appearance.

"You look..." He swallowed down the breathtaking and stunning that strained at his throat, "nice. And the height is appealing."

"Really?" She picked again at the dress.

He took her other hand to stop her fussing and smiled. "Are you calling me a liar, Detective?"

"No." Catherine admitted. She pursed her lips. "You're sure I look okay?"

Far better than okay, he thought. "I promise. It's appropriate for the occasion."

"Just what every girl wants to hear." She said sarcastically, the tension easing from her.

"I apologize." He squeezed her hands and smiled up at her. "I'm out of practice in giving compliments."

"Lucky for you, I'm not used to receiving any." She grinned. "I think we'll get along just fine."

A sharp whistle grabbed his attention. He turned to see Tina, grinning next to Felix in a sequined gold dress and pointing above their heads.

...where a tiny spring of mistletoe hung.

Adam's mouth went dry. For everything they had shared, confessions and open souls and lazy afternoons, they had yet to go any farther physically. She would press her lips to his cheek as a goodbye, occasionally, or to his hand as she held it, but they hadn't kissed. Actually kissed.

"Come on, Adam, plant one on her!" Felix called.

He snapped his head around to glare at him, trying to ignore the warmth flooding his cheeks.

Cat sighed. He stiffened as she place a hand on his shoulder and dipped her head to brush her lips across his cheek. The touch burned like it always did, like hot wax pressed onto his skin. His breath caught in his throat.

She walked towards Tina without glancing at him. "Happy?" She asked.

He didn't hear her response as they moved away, focused on his evening out his breathing. He did, however hear Felix's laugh.

"What." He snapped at the younger vampire.

Felix grinned even wider. "You look like you just face down a stake to the ribs instead of kissing the girl you like."

"She is not--"

"What?" He arched an eyebrow. "A girl? Who you like?"

"You make it sound so juvenile." He scoffed.

"It is juvenile if you act like your girlfriend has cooties." He gestured to the Detective's retreating figure. "Do you even want to kiss her?"

"We are taking this slow." He grit out.

"There's slow and there's glacial, Adam."

Nate appeared at Felix's side with a smile. "I think Mason's going to spike the punch. Felix, can you keep an eye on him?"

"Sure, boss man!" He saluted.

Adam sighed as they watched him wander off into the crowd.

"You realize Felix is only going to encourage him."

"Yep. I thought I'd rescue you, actually."

"And not interrogate me about my love life at all, correct?"

"At least you're admitting it exists! Finally!" He laughed. Adam couldn't help but grin.

Over his short relationship with Catherine, Nate had been his sounding board for practically everything. Planning dates, dissecting conversations--anything at all that involved Cat--Adam had applied himself with a military precision and Nate had helped. No matter how ridiculous his request, he'd helped

Nate nudged him with an elbow. "Really, though. You couldn't ask for a better set up than mistletoe on New Year's Eve. Why the hesitation?"

"Besides having a crowd?" He asked. "I need more time to plan it."

"Whenever you get around to it, its not going to be perfect."

"Perfect is what she deserves." Adam said defensively.

He shook his head and laughed. "I think you're just scared."

"Scared."

Creatures more ferocious than Nathaniel Sewell have cowered under the glare that Adam gave him. Nate just smiled.

"Yeah. Chicken?"

"Are you daring me to kiss the Detective?" He asked incredulously.

"It is working?" He grinned and clapped him on the back. "Carpe diem, old friend. No time like the present."

Adam cursed under his breath as his best friend walked away. He was right. He was scared, more scared since he met Catherine than he'd been in the past 900 years. Scared of himself and terrified of the uncertainty that haunted every interaction.

But when did that stop him from doing anything?

"Damn it."

After a military acquisition of a certain decoration and ten minutes of searching, he managed to find the Detective in the kitchen, away from the rest of the party.

"Catherine?"

She looked up at her name and smiled. "Hey Adam."

She perched on the granite counter, swinging her bare feet under her. She fanned herself with an old magazine.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Those heels are killing me." She nodded to the black shoes on the floor. "And...there's a lot of booze in there."

"Ah." He frowned. "I cannot assist with that."

She shrugged, pushing her hair back and off her shoulders. "Its okay."

He took a steadying breathe and forced himself across the kitchen. Standing in front of her, he saw the uncertain tilt of her head and the way she unconsciously leaned into him.

"Catherine." He said again.

"Adam." She grinned. "What's going on?"

He cleared his throat, his mind suddenly blank. His fist clenched around the greenery he held.

"What's that?" She brought his hand up and he opened it, revealing the mistletoe.

Confusion flashed across her face. It transformed to delight and amusement as he slowly lifted it above their heads. He took the final step to close the gap between them, her knees pressing into his thighs.

She smiled, and god, he could loose himself in that smile, adoring and open and everything he doesn't deserve. And then she slid one hand up his chest, the other curling around the back of his neck, his skin burning underneath her touch, even through his clothes. His eyes fell shut--blocking out everything else but the feel of her hands.

At the first brush of her lips on his, Adam shuddered. At the second, he leaned into her, the mistletoe falling from his hand so he could cup her jaw. Fuck--if he thought her touch before was burning, then this was a brand. Her kiss seared into his lips and he wanted it to, for her to leave her mark on his skin that matched the one on the inside of his chest and--

She pulled away. He moaned at her absence, some small, broken thing that he couldn't bring himself to care about.

He chased her mouth, only halted by the hand pushing on his shoulder, a silent stop.

"We..." She said unsteadily, and he opened his eyes just to see her wet her lips and swallow. "We should..."

He nodded. "Get back to the party." It would be less than impressive if someone found the Detective in a compromising position, as much as he wanted to create one.

He dared to press for one more kiss, firm and swift, before lifting her from the counter. As he set her on her bare feet, she looked dazed.

"Right." Cat straightened her dress and slipped into her shoes. "Do I look okay?"

"You're beautiful." He said. "I should have said that earlier. Stunning."

"You big flirt." She accused, smiling broadly.

Her fingers curled around his collar. "I only have to stay for another hour or so. Maybe we could...go back to my apartment and hang out."

"I would like that." He murmured, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Okay." She stepped back. "Stay out of trouble until then."

"I will." He promised, dropping her hand reluctantly.

"Bye."

With a final wave, she slipped out of the kitchen and out of his sight. He leaned against the counter and sighed happily. He could rejoin the party in a few moments--for now, Adam closed his eyes and let himself follow her heartbeat.

#Detective Catherine McClaran #Adam du Mortain #A du Mortain #A #A romance #twc #the wayhaven chronicles #wayhaven #Adam x Detective #Adam du mortain x detective #female detective #twc fic

[laceymorganwrites]

somebody wanted my thoughts on Rei so here they are hehehe

I already ranted to my friend abt this but I´ll keep it more neutral and organized here haha

um I´m tagging u just in case, hope that´s alright! 

@star-doll-universe

uuuuh since this is bnha: pls no hate, those are just my opinions, k thanks bye (I mean ur still very allowed to voice ur opinon and have a different one than me, I won´t hate u cause u like her so pls don´t hate me cause I hate her)

putting this under a  cut cause spoilers

okay so let´s do this chronologically and work our way up to the point where I aboslutely started hating her (Aka the chapter 2 weeks ago)

Her portrayal:

Rei used to be portrayed as rather weak and quiet, not rlly doing much

and I never had a problem with that since I didn´t think she´d have that much of a role

I mean what I thought would happen was this: Rei is back with her family, Enji is no longer living with them, they all still hate him

um I will also quickly state my thoughts on him later when I´m done with this so yeah

now the problem I have with her ´character development´ is that it´s super sudden and feels really out of place

I mean she just suddenly barges in to Enji´s room and is being ´badass´ after not doing anything at all for her family??? aight

yeah she had her children visit her (minus Touya ofc, we´re gonna get into that in the next part)

it just really rubs me the wrong way how she´s suddenly acting like the savior and commanding people (going into depth in the third part)

she´s highly manipulative and even worse than Enji in my opinion

let´s get to why that is

What happened and why I´m a Shoto fan now:

let´s start with Touya´s childhood

Rei completely neglected him because Shoto was just her little angel and the wonder child Touya never could be

she did tell Enji to give him more attention so I´ll give her that

however it was also her fault that Touya and her had a falling out since he wouldn´t have been this angry if she was there for him

she was supposed to watch him on that particular day and she didn´t

of course she didn´t since she watched Shoto

she also isn´t shown to have cared much about the others

oh also, sorry to break the chronological stuff but it´s said that she was super cold and cunning when she met Enji and fully aware of the reasoning for the marriage obviously

so she never showed any love to him (they did go on dates and stuff and Enji still leaves her flowers, but we´ll get into their relationship in the next part)

so. she didn´t watch Touya and didn´t rlly care what happened to him (yeah she cried but only cause Enji got mad and she knew he would cause she fucking failed as a mother)

now. let´s skip to the hospital scene

she goes in like she owns everything

blames Enji for everything which just isn´t fair (again we´ll get to that)

and then she has the audacity to tell everyone what their next move should be???

excuse me maam but who the fuck do you think you are?

´our family only has one hero left. Shoto´

fuck you

that was the sentence that did it for me, guys

first of all: again, who the fuck are you to deny Enji´s hero status? who the fuck are you to paint Touya as a villain that, YOU MADE IN THE FIRST PLACE

yeah I´m biased af since Touya´s my fave but honestly...I always thought she´d be nicer to him and understand him since they went through the same thing

but no

and now why am I a Shoto fan because of this?

because I feel so incredibly sorry for him

he already has the weight of the world on his shoulders from his dad and now this???

I don´t understand how he forgave her honestly cause this guilt tripping and manipulation is worse than Enji´s ambition gone wrong

Shoto already has enough to do and she can´t tell him and command him to fight his brother

she cannot just pressure him into being the hero he never wanted to be, the perfect hero that Enji wanted him to be

I mean just imagine ur own mother sculpting u just like ur dad did when she´s the one who always told u that what he did was wrong and that she felt for you 

yes she apologized for scarring him but honestly she´d do it again

and now she´s acting as the victim again and being like: oh you all have to fight Touya (mostly Shoto tho cause he´s the only hero they have left apparently)

I don´t think Shoto even wants to fight Touya honestly

I mean he´s his brother still and if anyone can understand him it´s him

also now it makes sense why Touya wants revenge on Shoto cause he lived the life Touya wanted to have

anyway

I also don´t think Touya wants to fight Shoto since he´s already achieved everything he wanted to. he won

okay now for the final part:

Enji´s redemption:

I am outing myself now; I really like Enji´s development

he actually is aware of and sorry for the things he did and I believe him

he regrets everything he did

and still he´s being blamed by Rei

he´s already hurt enough and Rei just puts salt into his wound more than necessary

he´s just tired, man, let the man live pls

yes, Enji did fuck up in a lot of ways and he shouldn´t be forgiven for that

but everyone deserves a second chance and he´s trying so hard

he doesn´t deserve to be shut out like this

he doesn´t deserve the way Rei treats him

she doesn´t love him, I don´t buy it

if she did he´d tell him he´s a hero cause he is

she´s also kind of putting their children against him tbh

she just says Enji is at fault for everything that happened

and if we compare what they both did wrong we can see something very clearly

Rei is the victim and Enji is the bad guy

why is that?

why is Rei forgiven for neglecting Touya and burning Shoto and Enji is burned at stake for anger issues and his inferiority complex? 

they were both abusing their children

and only one of them gets completely forgiven

it´s so unfair to me

#veggies #bnha spoilers

[more-pokeimagines]

Stone Cold Body [03] - Chapter 2

A/N: Here’s chapter 2, I hope you enjoy it just as much as the previous parts. 

Warnings: mentions of violence and executions 

Past

The throne room was already full of people when the guards opened the door to let him in. He knew that he was way too late and wondered if he should think about an excuse but thankfully, his father was too busy with throwing his weight around to notice him. His mother, however, shook her head disapprovingly as he took his place next to his sister Carlina but the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips showed him that she was rather amused than angry.

“You’re late, son,” she said quietly. The fabric of her expensive, dark grey dress rustled quietly when she turned her body to look at him. Bede shrugged, quickly putting on a smile. “I’m sorry. I forgot about the trial. Father convicts so many people that it’s hard to keep track of it, honestly.”

Next to him, Carlina nodded. She was fifteen, four years younger than him, and she hated these trials almost as much as he did. He was just much better at hiding it, even though he still couldn’t stop himself from passing a sarcastic comment from time to time – but only when his father wasn’t paying attention.

It wasn’t a secret that the king wasn’t a patient or nice man. He knew exactly what he wanted and did everything to achieve his goals, no matter the cost. Everyone in the kingdom knew that it was dangerous to disgruntle him or to violate the law. Even his own family wasn’t safe from his angry outbursts sometimes – except Carlina. The king adored his daughter like nothing else and he couldn’t refuse her anything most of the time, maybe because she looked so much like him with her dark hair and hazel eyes while the prince himself took mostly after their mother.

When it came to the trials, however, things were a bit different – not even Carlina could convince their father to change the law.

“Bring the prisoner in!”

The king’s voice echoed with the tall walls. The crowd, mostly wealthy members of the rural nobility, turned their heads to the large and richly ornamented double doors in the front of the throne room to see the poor unfortunate soul that was about to get their fate sealed. 

It was a girl, not much younger than Carlina. She was accompanied by almost a dozen soldiers, her hands were tied at her back. Her plain dress was ripped and dirty, her long hair was matted but in her eyes, Bede could see a spark of anger, even though the guards had probably tried everything to knock the fight out of her.

He turned his head away. This girl had done nothing wrong, she had just been born into the wrong family, and still, his father wanted to see her dead. Simply because she was able to practice magic. As far as he knew, she wasn’t even good at it, not yet at least, but the fact that both her parents and her siblings were powerful sorcerers was enough to make her an enemy of the kingdom.

The guards pushed her down to her knees, and a murmur went through the crowd. Nobody had expected her to be so young. Bede’s sister silently reached for his hand. “Father is going to kill her, isn’t he?” she mumbled. He didn’t respond but Carlina knew that she was right anyway. Their father never showed mercy when it came to sorcerers.

“Tell me your name, girl,” the king commanded, his tone harsh and unyielding as he stared at her with a stern face. In moments like this, he looked even more intimidating, with his expensive robes and the crown that glistened in the light which fell through the large windows.

The girl looked up, not the tiniest bit afraid to stare the king directly into the eyes. She was braver than most prisoners Bede had seen but he knew that not even the bravest and strongest people could survive his father’s trials. “My name is none of your business,” she said. Then, after a few moments of silence, she added in an almost mocking tone, “Your Majesty.”

“Your stubbornness isn’t going to save you,” he replied. “But very well. Do you understand why you are here?”

Defiantly, she raised her chin. “Yes. I’m here because you hate people like me”, she raid. Her voice was shaking ever so slightly but she didn’t seem to be bothered by it. “I’m here because you’re afraid of us and of the things we could do to you and your family.”

“You practiced magic,” the king interrupted her and furrowed his brow. “My soldiers captured you because you broke the law – performing magic is a punishable offense, and it is my duty to penalize those who don’t pay attention to the rules I established.” He paused for a few seconds, waiting for a response and when the girl remained silent, he continued, “I’ll take your silence as a confession then.”

Some of the courtiers put their heads together, eagerly whispering words Bede couldn’t understand from where he was standing but it was evident that they agreed with their king’s decision. Most of them were too afraid to contradict him anyway.

At a sign from their king, the soldiers set the girl back on her feet. She was struggling to stand upright but the look in her eyes was still as undaunted and fierce as before as she awaited her sentence.

Bede watched his father from the corner of his eye. His voice was as cold as ice when he finally opened his mouth to speak again. Without batting an eye, he said, “For your crimes, I condemn you to death. At sunrise, you will be burned at the stake.”

*

She stayed in the background, the hood of her dark cloak successfully hiding her face as she watched the soldiers put the finishing touches on the stake. The wood was dry; it would burn like tinder in less than ten minutes. At least, the girl wouldn’t have to suffer for long.

Still, she could feel her heart ache when she thought about it. It wasn’t the first execution she watched and while it usually made her sad, this time was different. She was devastated. The girl didn’t deserve to die, she still got her whole life in front of her, and yet, the king had sentenced her to death without even feeling any remorse. He didn’t care that her death would tear her family apart even more; he didn’t care that he was about to burn another child at the stake.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the king and his family, all dressed up and arrogant as they stood on their balcony to watch the execution. She felt a wave of hatred washing over her and quickly averted her gaze before she got tempted to do something incredibly stupid.

Her time for revenge would come. But not today. There were still too many things she needed to figure out beforehand.

The quiet creak of the wooden door a few meters away from her snapped her out of her bitter thoughts, and when she looked up, she could see the convicted girl, surrounded by three more soldiers who kept a tight grip on her arms, even though her hands were still tied. Her eyes were red-rimmed as if she had cried for hours but other than that, she showed no sign of weakness.

The woman in the dark cloak smiled sadly. It always pained her when people like her were killed, especially when they were innocent and never did anything wrong in their entire life, but this time, it was particularly devastating.

She hated the fact that her people were hunted down like animals, simply because they were able to practice magic. Of course there were some who didn’t play by the rules and used black magic to get what they wanted but the vast majority wasn’t dangerous at all. And still the king acted like each of them posed a threat to the public, and his people, narrow-minded and gullible as they were, believed him unquestioningly.

The thought alone made her angry but right now, she couldn’t risk losing control. She was in the enemy’s territory right now; she needed to pull herself together if she didn’t want to be the next to die. So she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the soldiers guiding the girl towards the stake, and she turned her head away, trying to brace herself for what was going to happen.

She would never forgive herself for letting her sister die. She would never, not in a thousand years, forgive the king or his family for killing her. And one day, she would make them pay for what they did to her and her people.

Masterlist / Next chapter

#trainer bede x reader #bede x reader #gym leader bede x reader #reader insert #fairytale!AU #original series

[christianstevefinnell]

A DIFFERENT LOOK AT THE INQUISITION --GEORGE L. FAULL, REL. D.

IN ZURICH SWITZERLAND, ON JANUARY 18TH, 1525 AN ORDER WAS GIVEN BY THE ZURICH COUNCIL THAT ALL INFANTS MUST BE BAPTIZED WITHIN 8 DAYS OF BIRTH. THOSE NOT COMPLIANT TO THIS RULING WOULD BE BANISHED FROM ZURICH. ON JANUARY 21ST, ALL OPPONENTS OF THIS DECREE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MEET OR SPEAK IN PUBLIC.

THIS LED TO MARTYRDOM AND MANY OF THOSE WHO WERE MARTYRED WERE ANABAPTIST. AN ANABAPTIST IS NOT SPEAKING OF THOSE CALLED BAPTISTS TODAY. THEY WERE A PEOPLE WHO WERE NICKNAMED “ANABAPTIST”. THIS COMES FROM THE GREEK WHICH MEANS “OVER AGAIN” AND “BAPTISM”. SO AN ANABAPTIST IS “ONE WHO BAPTIZES AGAIN!” THEY DID NOT CONSIDER INFANT BAPTISM OR SPRINKLING A RECOGNIZED BAPTISM, SO THEY DID NOT CONSIDER BELIEVER-BAPTISM A REBAPTISM SO THEY REJECTED THE NICKNAME.

IN MARCH OF 1525, THIS ORDER WAS GIVEN: “YOU KNOW WITHOUT DOUBT, AND HAVE HEARD FROM MANY THAT FOR A LONG TIME, SOME PECULIAR MEN, WHO IMAGINE THAT THEY ARE LEARNED, HAVE COME FORWARD ASTONISHINGLY, AND WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, GIVEN AS A PRETEXT BY SIMPLE AND PIOUS MEN, HAVE PREACHED, AND WITHOUT THE PERMISSION AND CONSENT OF THE CHURCH, HAVE PROCLAIMED THAT INFANT BAPTISM DID NOT PROCEED FROM GOD, BUT FROM THE DEVIL, AND, THEREFORE, OUGHT NOT TO BE PRACTICED… WE, THEREFORE, ORDAIN AND REQUIRE THAT HEREAFTER ALL MEN, WOMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS FORSAKE REBAPTISM, AND SHALL NOT MAKE USE OF IT HEREAFTER, AND SHALL LET INFANTS BE BAPTIZED; WHOEVER SHALL ACT CONTRARY TO THIS PUBLIC EDICT SHALL BE FINED FOR EVERY OFFENSE, ONE MARK; AND IF ANY BE DISOBEDIENT AND STUBBORN THEY SHALL BE TREATED WITH SEVERITY; FOR, THE OBEDIENT WE WILL PROTECT; THE DISOBEDIENT WE WILL PUNISH ACCORDING TO HIS DESERTS, WITHOUT FAIL; BY THIS ALL ARE TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES. ALL THIS WE CONFIRM BY THIS PUBLIC DOCUMENT, STAMPED WITH THE SEAL OF OUR CITY, AND GIVEN ON ST. ANDREW’S DAY, A. D., 1525.”

RESULTS: FELIX MANZ, HENRY REIMAN, JACOB FALK WERE DROWNED. DECEMBER 1527 THEY WERE TOLD, “HE WHO IMMERSED SHALL BE IMMERSED”. A TOWNSMAN SAID, “THEY LIKE IMMERSION, SO LET US IMMERSE THEM”.

BALTHASAR HOBMAIER SAID, “THE COMMAND IS TO BAPTIZE THOSE WHO BELIEVE, TO BAPTIZE THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE, THEREFORE IS FORBIDDEN. HE WAS IMPRISONED AND LATER WHEN HE WAS SUPPOSED TO RECANT INSTEAD HE SHOUTED, “INFANT BAPTISM IS NOT OF GOD AND MEN MUST BE BAPTIZED BY FAITH IN CHRIST. I HAVE NEVER TAUGHT ANABAPTISM…BUT THE RIGHT BAPTISM OF CHRIST, WHICH IS PRECEDED BY TEACHING AND ORAL CONFESSION OF FAITH, I TEACH, AND SAY THAT INFANT BAPTISM IS A ROBBERY OF THE RIGHT BAPTISM OF CHRIST.” ON MARCH 10TH, 1528 IN VIENNA, HE WAS BURNED AT THE STAKE AND 8 DAYS LATER, HIS WIFE WAS DROWNED.

NOT ONLY IN ZURICH AND VIENNA WAS THIS PERSECUTION AGAINST THOSE WHO WERE FOR IMMERSION AND AGAINST INFANT BAPTISM PRACTICED BUT AT ST. GALL, SWITZERLAND THEY ISSUED THIS DECREE – SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1527: “IN ORDER THAT THE DANGEROUS, WICKED, TURBULENT AND SEDITIOUS SECT OF THE BAPTISTS MAY BE ERADICATED, WE HAVE THUS DECREED: IF ANYONE IS SUSPECTED OF REBAPTISM, HE IS TO BE WARNED BY THE MAGISTRACY TO LEAVE THE TERRITORY UNDER PENALTY OF THE DESIGNATED PUNISHMENT [TO BE DROWNED]. EVERY PERSON IS OBLIGED TO REPORT THOSE FAVORABLE TO REBAPTISM. WHOEVER SHALL NOT COMPLY WITH THIS ORDINANCE IS LIABLE TO PUNISHMENT ACCORDING TO THE SENTENCE OF THE MAGISTRACY. TEACHERS OF REBAPTISM, BAPTIZING PREACHERS, AND LEADERS OF HEDGE MEETINGS ARE TO BE DROWNED. THOSE PREVIOUSLY RELEASED FROM PRISON WHO HAVE SWORN TO DESIST FROM SUCH THINGS, SHALL INCUR THE SAME PENALTY. FOREIGN BAPTISTS ARE TO BE DRIVEN OUT; IF THEY RETURN THEY SHALL BE DROWNED. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO SECEDE FROM THE [ZWINGLIAN] CHURCH AND TO ABSENT HIMSELF FROM THE HOLY SUPPER.”

THE DECREE ON MARCH 26TH , 1530, WAS EVEN MORE SEVERE: “ALL WHO ADHERE TO OR FAVOR THE FALSE SECT OF THE BAPTISTS, AND WHO ATTEND HEDGE-MEETINGS, SHALL SUFFER THE MOST SEVERE PUNISHMENTS. BAPTIST LEADERS, THEIR FOLLOWERS, AND PROTECTORS SHALL BE DROWNED WITHOUT MERCY. THOSE, HOWEVER, WHO "FROM THE COWARDICE THAT SHRINKS FROM NEW TRUTH, FROM THE LAZINESS THAT IS CONTENT WITH HALFTRUTHS, FROM THE ARROGANCE THAT THINKS IT KNOWS ALL TRUTH, O, GOD OF TRUTH, DELIVER US." ULRICH ZWINGLI 2 THE GOSPEL UNASHAMED JULY 2015 ASSIST THEM, OR FAIL TO REPORT OR TO ARREST THEM SHALL BE PUNISHED OTHERWISE ON BODY AND GOODS AS INJURIOUS AND FAITHLESS SUBJECTS.”

LIKEWISE, THE GENEVA’S SWITZERLAND COUNCIL IN 1632, HUNG AND BURNED MEN FOR DENYING THE TRINITY. THE SAME PERSECUTION WAS IN DASIL AND BERNE.

IN GERMANY, LUTHER TAUGHT IMMERSION EVEN TRANSLATING “BAPTIZE” AS “DIP”. HE WROTE THESE WORDS IN 1518: “THE SIGNIFICATION OF BAPTISM DEMANDS, FOR IT SIGNIFIES THAT THE OLD MAN AND SINFUL BIRTH FROM THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHALL BE COMPLETELY DROWNED THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD.

THEREFORE, A MAN SHOULD SUFFICIENTLY PERFORM THE SIGNIFICATION AND A RIGHT PERFECT SIGN. THE SIGN RESTS, IN THIS, THAT A MAN PLUNGE A PERSON IN WATER IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, ETC., BUT DOES NOT LEAVE HIM THEREIN BUT LIFTS HIM OUT AGAIN; THEREFORE IT IS CALLED BEING LIFTED OUT OF THE FONT OR DEPTHS. AND SO MUST ALL OF BOTH OF THESE THINGS BE THE SIGN; THE DIPPING AND THE LIFTING OUT. THIRDLY, THE SIGNIFICATION IS A SAVING DEATH OF THE SINS AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE GRACE OF GOD. THE BAPTISM IS A BATH OF THE NEW BIRTH. ALSO A DROWNING OF THE SINS IN THE BAPTISM” (LUTHER, OPERA LUTHERI, I. 319. FOLIO EDITION).

HE ALSO WROTE: “THE TERM BAPTISM IS A GREEK WORD; IT MAY BE RENDERED INTO LATIN BY “MERSIO”: WHEN WE IMMERSE ANYTHING IN WATER, THAT IT MAY BE ENTIRELY COVERED WITH WATER. AND THOUGH THAT CUSTOM BE QUITE ABOLISHED AMONG THE GENERALITY, (FOR NEITHER DO THEY ENTIRELY DIP CHILDREN, BUT ONLY SPRINKLE THEM WITH A LITTLE WATER,) NEVERTHELESS THEY OUGHT TO BE WHOLLY IMMERSED, AND IMMEDIATELY TO BE DRAWN OUT AGAIN, FOR THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SEEMS TO REQUIRE IT. THE GERMANS CALL BAPTISM “TAUF”, FROM DEPTH, WHICH THEY CALL “TIEF” IN THEIR LANGUAGE; AS IF IT WERE PROPER THOSE SHOULD BE DEEPLY IMMERSED, WHO ARE BAPTIZED. AND TRULY, IF YOU CONSIDER WHAT BAPTISM SIGNIFIES THAT THE OLD MAN AND OUR NATIVE CHARACTER THAT IS FULL OF SIN, ENTIRELY OF FLESH AND BLOOD AS IT IS, MAY BE OVERWHELMED BY DIVINE GRACE. THE MANNER OF BAPTISM, THEREFORE OUGHT TO ANSWER TO THE SIGNIFICATION OF BAPTISM, SO THAT IT MAY SHOW FORTH A SIGN THAT IS CERTAIN AND FULL.” – OPERA

“WHEN THE WASHING AWAY OF SIN IS ATTRIBUTED TO BAPTISM, IT IS RIGHTLY SO ATTRIBUTED; BUT THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE IS TOO SLIGHT AND WEAK TO FULLY EXPRESS BAPTISM, WHICH IS RATHER A SYMBOL OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION. FOR THIS REASON I COULD WISH THAT THE BAPTIZED SHOULD BE TOTALLY IMMERSED, ACCORDING TO THE MEANING OF THE WORD AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE MYSTERY; NOT THAT I THINK IT NECESSARY TO DO SO, BUT THAT IT WOULD BE WELL THAT SO COMPLETE AND PERFECT THING AS BAPTISM SHOULD HAVE ITS SIGN ALSO IN COMPLETENESS AND PERFECTION, EVEN AS IT WAS DOUBTLESS INSTITUTED BY CHRIST.” – PRIMARY WORKS, P. 192.

LATER, LUTHER BEGAN TO OPPOSE IMMERSION AND THOSE WHO OPPOSED INFANT BAPTISM. THOUGH HE WAS OPPOSED TO EXECUTING THEM HE WISHED THEM ALL TO BE BANISHED FOR DISAGREEING WITH HIS DOCTRINES. AGAIN, HE CHANGED HIS MIND AND ENCOURAGED THE DESTRUCTION OF PEASANTS WHO REVOLTED FROM THE LORDS SEEKING THEIR FREEDOM.

HE WROTE: “THE PEASANTS WOULD NOT LISTEN; THEY WOULD NOT LET ANYONE TELL THEM ANYTHING; THEIR EARS MUST BE UNBUTTONED WITH BULLETS, TILL THEIR HEADS JUMP OFF THEIR SHOULDERS. ... ON THE OBSTINATE, HARDENED, BLINDED PEASANTS, LET NO ONE HAVE MERCY, BUT LET EVERYONE, AS HE IS ABLE, HEW, STAB, SLAY, LAY ABOUT HIM AS THOUGH AMONG MAD DOGS, . . . . SO THAT PEACE AND SAFETY MAY BE MAINTAINED...” [MARTIN LUTHER, WERKE, ERLANGEN EDITION, VOL. 24, P. 294; VOL.15, P. 276]

(OVER 100,000 PEASANTS DIED. DO I ACCUSE FALSELY? - GLF)

HE WROTE: “IT WAS I, MARTIN LUTHER, WHO SLEW ALL THE PEASANTS IN THE INSURRECTION, FOR I COMMANDED THEM TO BE SLAUGHTERED. ALL THEIR BLOOD IS UPON MY SHOULDERS. BUT I CAST IT ON OUR LORD GOD WHO COMMANDED ME TO SPEAK IN THIS WAY.” [MARTIN LUTHER, WERKE, ERLANGEN EDITION, VOL. 59, P. 284]

SO LUTHER SOUGHT THE DEATH OF THOSE OPPOSING INFANT BAPTISM AND FAVORED BELIEVERS’ IMMERSION. IN 1529, THE DIET OF SPEIRS ALL ANABAPTISTS WERE CONDEMNED TO DEATH. MR. HALLEY POINTS OUT 400 SPECIAL POLICE WERE HIRED TO HUNT DOWN THOSE BELIEVERS AND EXECUTE THEM ON THE SPOT. THOUSANDS WERE BURNED ACROSS EUROPE FOR THEIR FAITH. SO THE LUTHERANS KILLED MANY OF THE IMMERSED BELIEVERS.

URBANUS RHEGIUS WAS A LUTHERAN WHO WROTE A BOOK IN 1528 SHOWING A RIVER RUNNING INTO THE OCEAN OF WATER THAT WAS ON FIRE. THIS WAS THE VIEW OF SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY THAT IMMERSION LED TO HELL.

BANISHMENT, DEATH, BURNINGS, HANGINGS, TORTURING, BRANDING, AND IMPRISONMENT WAS THEIR FATE.

LIKEWISE, CALVIN WAS A PERSECUTOR AND A MURDERER. “SO ENTIRELY WAS HE IN FAVOUR OF PERSECUTING MEASURES, THAT HE WROTE A TREATISE IN DEFENCE OF THEM, MAINTAINING THE LAWFULNESS OF PUTTING HERETICS TO DEATH; AND HE REDUCED THESE RIGID THEORIES TO PRACTICE, IN HIS CONDUCT TOWARDS CASTELLIO, JEROM BOLSEE, AND SERVETUS, WHOSE FATES ARE TOO GENERALLY KNOWN TO REQUIRE BEING HERE REPEATED. AT THE COUNCIL OF GENEVA, 1632, NICHOLAS ANTHOINE WAS CONDEMNED TO BE FIRST HANGED AND THEN BURNED FOR OPPOSING THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY...” (J.J. STOCKDALE, THE HISTORY OF THE INQUISITIONS, 1810, P. XXVIII). MARTIN LUTHER JOHN CALVIN JULY 2015 THE GOSPEL UNASHAMED 3 IN THE DAYS OF KING EDWARD VI OF ENGLAND, CALVIN WROTE A LETTER TO LORD PROTECTOR SOMERSET AND URGED HIM TO PUT ANABAPTISTS TO DEATH: “THESE ALTOGETHER DESERVE TO BE WELL PUNISHED BY THE SWORD, SEEING THAT THEY DO CONSPIRE AGAINST GOD, WHO HAD SET HIM IN HIS ROYAL SEAT” (JOHN CHRISTIAN, A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS, VOL. 1, CHAP. 15).

HISTORIAN JOHN CHRISTIAN OBSERVES THAT CALVIN “WAS RESPONSIBLE IN A LARGE MEASURE FOR THE DEMON OF HATE AND FIERCE HOSTILITY WHICH THE BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND HAD TO ENCOUNTER.”

IN OCTOBER 1563, CALVIN HAD SERVETUS KILLED, BURNED AT THE STAKE FOR DISAGREEING ON THE TRINITY. IT WAS APPROVED BY BOTH MELANCHTHON OF GERMANY AND BULLINGER OF GENEVA AND OTHER LEADING REFORMERS. SOME OF THE WORST PERSECUTIONS WERE DONE BY THE CALVINISTS AGAINST THE ARMINIANS.

SOME WERE BEHEADED, IMPRISONED, OR BANISHED. LIKEWISE, THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND UNDER KING HENRY VIII, AS WELL AS KING EDWARD VI AND KING JAMES, PERSECUTED IMMERSIONISTS. THEY ORGANIZED BURNINGS. THESE INCLUDED BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. MANY OF THEIR NAMES ARE RECORDED IN HISTORY BUT ALL IN GOD’S BOOK OF MARTYRS. HANGINGS WERE COMMON AS WELL PERSECUTIONS AND IMPRISONMENTS WHICH CONTINUED OVER SEVERAL CENTURIES.

WHY DO I PRINT THIS? IT SHOWS THAT IT IS NOT ONLY THE MUSLIMS AND CATHOLICS THAT KILL THEIR OPPONENTS. THE REFORMERS ALSO PERSECUTED THOSE WHO INSISTED ON IMMERSION AND OTHER BIBLE TRUTHS. THE VERY FOUNDERS OF PROTESTANTISM WERE ALSO BUTCHERS FILLED WITH MURDEROUS PRACTICES ON THOSE WHO DISAGREED WITH THEIR DOCTRINES.

THE LEGACY OF ZWINGLI TODAY - HE WAS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR CALLING BAPTISM A WORK AND ESTABLISH THE “FAITH ONLY” DOCTRINE WE CONTEND WITH TO THIS DAY.

AS FOR JOHN CALVIN, THE FOUNDER OF CALVINISM, PREDESTINATION IS STILL TAUGHT IN MANY MAINLINE CHURCHES AND WAS THE CAUSE OF THE DEATH OF MANY BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. YET HE DID NOT PREDESTINATE THE MURDERS.

MARTIN LUTHER BY HIS OWN MOUTH CAUSED THE DEATHS OF MANY IN GERMANY AND PRUSSIA. HIS HATRED AND PERSECUTION OF JEWS IS ALSO RENOWNED. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND LIKEWISE TOOK THEIR TOLL ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

IRONICALLY, THESE MEN HAD BEEN GREATLY PERSECUTED BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. HOWEVER, WHERE THEY ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES ELSEWHERE IN SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, ENGLAND, ETC., THEY MOTIVATED OTHER COUNTRIES TO PROSECUTE AND PERSECUTE. THE PERSECUTED BECAME THE PERSECUTORS. ROMANS 11:16 SAYS, “IF THE ROOT IS HOLY, SO ARE THE BRANCHES.” IS NOT THE OPPOSITE TRUE? “IF THE ROOT IS UNHOLY, CAN THE BRANCHES BE HOLY?”

ISN’T IT STRANGE AND IRONIC THAT THE ADHERENTS TO THESE MEN’S HERITAGE NOW ARE SAYING THAT THE MODE, PURPOSE, AND CANDIDATES FOR BAPTISM IS SIMPLY IMMATERIAL? THE ROTTING CORPSES OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WHOM THEIR ANCESTORS TORTURED AND SLEW OVER THESE QUESTIONS GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR BELIEVERS’ IMMERSION. CHRIST NEVER INTENDED HIS KINGDOM TO BE SPREAD BY FORCE. THOSE WHO DO SO PROVE THEY ARE NONE OF HIS. IT WAS AT THE PRICE OF THE MARTYRS’ BLOOD THAT WE HAVE THE FREEDOM TODAY TO PREACH BELIEVERS BAPTISM. TRULY MANY OF OUR OWN BRETHREN LACK THE COURAGE IN THIS FREE SOCIETY TO PREACH THE NECESSITY OF BELIEVER’S BAPTISM.

TODAY, IF WE TEACH WHAT THE RESTORATION FATHERS TAUGHT IN REJECTING THE REFORMER’S TEACHINGS, BOTH WOULD BE COUNTED WORTHY OF MARTYRDOM BY THE FOUNDING REFORMERS. THE TOLERANCE MANY BROTHERS SHOW TOWARD THE DOCTRINE OF THE FOUNDING REFORMERS TO ME IS ASTOUNDING. TO TEACH THE FAITH-ONLY DOCTRINE OF ZWINGLI, THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION OF CALVIN, AND THE NON-NECESSITY OF IMMERSION OF LUTHER AS PRACTICED NOW BY MANY IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, DENIES NOT ONLY THE TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST BUT IS A REJECTION OF OUR HERITAGE. IT CHEAPENS AND TRAMPLES THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AND THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS. IT MAKES THE MARTYRS RADICAL LEGALISTS WHO SIMPLY DIED ON THE WRONG HILL.

(This article was collected from many sources. We especially are thankful for the writings of David Cloud.)

[isazulabaeorwhat]

Why did Azula smile?

The first time we actually saw Azula was in The Storm. She was presumably 10/11 yrs old at the time, and she was a spectator placed at the front, watching the Agni Kai between her brother, Prince Zuko, and her father, Fire Lord Ozai.

This first frame was just right after Ozai had finished saying:

“...and suffering will be your teacher.”

Nothing had started. No fight, no exchange of attacks, nothing. Only Zuko’s desperate attempts of apologizing to his father and refusing to engage in combat while basically groveling, and Ozai berating him for it.

You can see it in Iroh’s eyes that he feared for Zuko after the boy’s response. He had proudly accepted the Agni Kai, and was now refusing to fight because his opponent was the Fire Lord, his father, despite repeatedly being instructed to fight for his honor. Iroh knew that this was the one action that Zuko should not have done.

And so there’s only 3 emotions that can be expected towards a disgraceful shamed prince groveling on the floor: Pity, Disapproval and Pleasure.

Iroh bore the first emotion: Pity. He personally knew Zuko and unlike everyone else, had a soft spot for his nephew and could sympathize with him. Iroh saw Zuko as his son by this point.

The soldiers behind bore the second emotion: Disapproval. They gave a disapproving look towards the sight of their Prince begging. Backing down from a fight that was accepted was considered dishonorable and disrespectful, even more so from a Prince. One might even say that they were disgusted by their Prince’s cowardly act (from a FN’s soldier’s perspective).

Finally the third emotion: Pleasure. Only Azula and Zhao seem to have been displaying any sense of pleasure from the scene.

The second frame can be presumed to be the moment when Ozai is actually raising his hand to strike Zuko.

Everyone else but Iroh seems to be fine with watching the Agni Kai between the father and son. The people behind them looked neutral and stoic to the scene, as if they were well accustomed to these things (which they probably were as Agni Kais were hinted to be common by Ozai’s regime). The only 2 people who actually seemed to be enjoying this was Azula and Zhao.

Now here’s where misconceptions arise.

The fandom in general believes that Azula is sadistic and was deriving pleasure from seeing her brother being burned in the face due to this scene. However, they forget that Azula was around 11 at the time (an age where children generally do not mask their emotions well) and that Zuko and Azula’s relationship by this point of time had turned bitter and sour.

There are many reasons why a child would smile upon this kind of scene, especially someone who would be benefitting from it. As mentioned before, Azula and Zuko’s relationship was far from perfect or even good. As seen from Zuko’s POV, he clearly does not hold any good natured feelings for his sister and would rather avoid her.

This implies that by the time of Zuko and Ozai’s Agni Kai, both Zuko and Azula (Zuko especially) were disfavourable towards one another. Azula had already viewed Zuko as unworthy of the throne and him disrespecting their traditions and most importantly, their father, was enough for her to not feel any sympathy for Zuko. It sounds horrible, but why would you pity someone who you feel deserves the punishment?

Another reason would be that she was NOT actually deriving any pleasure from watching Zuko being burned by their own father, but rather that she was feeling triumphant over Zuko’s punishment. This can be seen when Azula’s hand is raised and clenched into a fist, mirroring the same action of a fist pump.

It’s the same logic during medieval times when public executions or retributions still existed, when witches were burnt at stake etc... and people cheered. They still cheered on as the convicted was punished because they believed that they had triumphed over the person. It’s inhumane, cruel and ruthless, but that’s what happened. People may not have been the one who was wronged by that person, but they were still pleased to see that person punished because they felt that they deserved it, and them being punished means that they triumphed.

It’s the same thing with Azula. She viewed Zuko as a lesser individual. Their relationship was basically non-existent. She knew that Zuko had disrespected their father by speaking over him during a war meeting. And now, he was embarrassing his father by refusing to fight in the Agni Kai, which he so proudly accepted because he thought the challenge came from a General. Zuko had committed many things that humiliated Ozai and their family to an extent, and Azula simply saw that something had to be done to teach Zuko a lesson. This was it.

What makes a person truly sadistic is if they simply find pleasure in someone else's suffering, despite not benefitting from it in any way whatsoever.

That would be Zhao. This was a man estimated to be around 30+ years old at the time, who was grinning sadistically at a 13 year old boy grovelling and being burned by his own father. Zhao did not have any reason to resent or want Zuko removed from the line of succesion like Azula did (and if he did, it's quite petty that a full grown adult would harbor a grudge against a child). He had no direct conflict with Zuko nor did Zuko’s action affect him whatsoever.

Zhao was simply grinning because he took pleasure in watching the ruthless spectacle of a father burning his own son’s face.

TL;TR - Azula may be a lot of things, but she’s not sadistic.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #azula #analysis #azula meta

[apenitentialprayer]

Humanity’s Last Hope

Attack on Titan and the Messianic Hero

(x) tl;dr the charismatic leader of a fascist movement is often identified with the movement itself. This grants the leader an extreme amount of power, bordering on a physical god in terms of influence. Affirming the inherent worth of each human being, which must be detached from their practical usefulness, is probably the best antidote to this way of thinking I feel like the past two rants have been about subjects that people might readily associate with fascism; they’re outside the mainstream just enough that people can feel like they don’t need to worry about them; unless you’re part of a group that espouses a mystical connection among the in-group, or believe that your group is perpetually in some sort of tension with the world at large, you don’t really have to worry about changing your behaviors to prevent a fascist tendency in them. This one is different, though; almost everyone can agree that heroism is good. We like heroes. We need heroes. But how do fascists deploy the concept of the hero in ways that further their cause? There is no question that Eren Yeager’s powers make him an important advantage for the humans residing in the Walls; with his ability to transform into a Titan and direct his powers against the enemy that has kept them trapped within the Walls for a century, Yeager’s discovery becomes a determinative moment in the history of his civilization. He will either be declared an Enemy of Mankind, too dangerous to be kept alive, or an asset that the military builds their entire hope around. And, because Eren is so essential to the plans that the military has staked its hopes on, they must ensure that Eren remains alive at all costs. This reaches the point where entire squads of soldiers boldly race to their deaths in order to buy time for Eren not even to escape, but to put a larger distance between himself and his pursuer, the Female Titan. Eren is distraught by this; these are his comrades. But, ultimately, they’re making a noble choice; they know that the plan cannot succeed without Eren, and so they are choosing to give up their lives in order to make sure that the mission can succeed. They transcend the self, identifying with a broader good, and decide that their life is something they’re willing to exchange for this broader good. In that regard, they fit the concept of the Islamic shahīd (sometimes, and I would say inaccurately, translated as “martyr”), the man who gives up his life in the pursuit of a righteous cause. We love this archetype; Rogue One is built around this concept; the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is immortalized by the film Glory for the way that they fit this concept; we sing songs about going "to fight for the right, without question or pause / To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause." In its most sublime form, this sacrifice is the recognition that there are things in this world bigger than ourselves, things worth fighting and dying for. But, in Attack on Titan, it isn’t that simple. We know the logic at play here from the speech the leader of Squad Rico gives Eren during the Trost operation; her wording there is key. In the above, you’ll notice that in the three examples I gave, people are sacrificing their lives for causes. When the squad leader tells Eren that people are going to die during the Trost operation, she tells him that they’re dying for him. What’s more, it is now Eren’s responsibility to ensure that those deaths have meaning by achieving his goal. And both of those statements need to be unpacked. First, I’m going to suggest that there is something noble about dying for a cause greater than yourself, and that there is something noble about dying to ensure the safety of someone else. Both of those things are moments of tragedy, surely, but they also have the potential to become a moment of sublime beauty, a moment of transcendental love: the firefighter who dies rescuing a little girl, the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save his squad, a parent going hungry to make sure their kids have enough to eat. These are tragedies, but they are mixed with something greater. I’m going to argue, however, that when these two acts of self-sacrifice are mixed, we have something potentially much uglier. When a particular person becomes equated with the cause, to the point that you can use that person and the cause interchangeably, we’re talking about an ideological Frankenstein that can create very unfortunate implications. When someone sacrifices themselves for another, we have someone trading their life for another. When someone sacrifices themselves for a cause, we have someone giving up their life for a greater good. When that person is the cause, well, does that make the person a greater good than the person being sacrificed? I hope I am articulating this clearly; when a broader cause is seen as objectively good, and we are identifying a single person as that cause, we are assigning extra value to that life as if that life is objectively more important than the lives of the people who support him. The Kim Il Sung, the Hitler, the Eren Yeager.... they become an aggregate, the receptacle of the hopes and dreams and inspirations of the people who follow them, charismatic leaders that act as living figures of devotion, invaluable icons whose loss would be tantamount to the destruction of the movement itself. To invest a human being with this level of power is dangerous. I want to make a distinction between the act of embodying and the state of embodiment for a second; to work to embody one’s ideals can a worthy goal. It requires you to assess yourself, to be critical of yourself, and to work to align yourself more with your ideals. You must decrease so that your ideal (which, hopefully, is a good one) may  increase. There is an inherent transcendence of the self in trying to embody an ideal. On the other hand, when you are the embodiment of an ideal, things are very different. To simply be is very powerful. To be an embodiment is to identify your needs with the cause’s needs, your desires with its desires, your hopes and aspirations with its hopes and aspirations. Someone who is embodying an ideal can be replaced; someone who embodies an ideal is irreplaceable. You get what I’m saying? Second, and this is very closely related to the above, is this idea that the sacrifice of the soldiers finds meaning in Eren’s success; we’ve spoken about the transcendental quality of race in certain forms of fascist thought in one of the previous posts I linked above. Here, however, the fascist is strictly materialist. These actions in and of themselves don’t have meaning. The heroism of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is irrelevant to the fascist; they failed to capture the fort, and so any sacrifice there was ultimately for naught. A shahīd is only a shahīd if that sacrifice contributes to a pragmatic end. A firefighter who died saving a girl, only for that girl to die from burn injuries two weeks later, is a firefighter who wasted his life. The fascist doesn’t see the valor of the act itself. That being said, the fascist also understands that most people will see sacrifice as heroic, and will assign such sacrifices a pragmatic result, even if the connection isn’t quite clear. The soldiers who died on the eastern front did die meaningfully, because somehow the disaster on the eastern front was actually just a distraction that allowed our victory on the western front. The point is, sacrifice is only valuable when it directly helps the cause/leader in a practical way, and when sacrifice is valued even when it doesn’t seem to have had a pragmatic effect, the fascist will coopt it in order to save face. What I’m hoping you’ll take away from all this is simple; do not worship the leaders of movements. Every member of a movement is valuable, and the face of any given movement is not more valuable than anyone else. The President of the United States is not the United States. The Pope of the Catholic Church is not the Catholic Church. They are people, just like you and me, and your inherent worth is not connected to whether or not you push their agendas further in a visible way. While I’m on this topic, I’m actually going to leave off with a MAJOR SPOILER for Season 3, a spoiler that gives me hope that the fascist themes of Attack on Titan may not actually have the last word in the narrative. Towards the end of the season, Armin sacrifices himself, suffering massive third degree burns all over his body, and there is enough medicine to save only one person, either Armin or the leader of the Survey Corps. And at first a practical argument is made; Armin is clever, he has come up with many of the plans that have aided humanity so far. In other words, Armin is worth just as much as the leader because he contributes to the cause. But that’s not the argument that convinces Levi to give Armin the medicine; in a rare instant of self reflection on his hatred, Eren says that Armin deserves the medicine because he has not been consumed by hatred. Since his mother has died, he wants nothing more than to kill all the Titans he can. “But... [Armin]’s not like that. Armin cares about more than just fighting. He has dreams.” It might be true that Armin is smart, and talented, and dedicated to the cause. But that’s not why Eren wants to save him, and it’s ultimately not why Levi chooses to save him. No, Armin is saved because they see a fifteen year old boy who dreams of one day being able to see the sea. With one season left, and the manga apparently winding down as well, I think Armin is going to be the key that determines whether or not the fascistic tones of this narrative actually have the last say in the story.

#Attack on Titan #Messiah #fascism #mysticism #idolatry #long post

[fullmetalscullyy]

the way it was - chapter 7

i’ll run to you

summary:  what if riza never went to war?  riza hawkeye has just married the man she loves. six months into their marriage, an unexpected surprise stops her from following roy to the military. a canon divergence au that explores what might have happened had riza been unable to join the military. there will be plenty of family fluff, angst, and royai.

rated: m | warnings: no archive warning apply

chapter 6 | read on ao3

1909

just call my name on the edge of the night

and i’ll run to you

Roy awoke with a pounding headache. He struggled to sit up, eventually giving up when the nausea threatened to overwhelm him. He groaned loudly and closed his eyes again, succumbing to his exhaustion.

“Wake up,” a gruff voice commanded. Roy cracked open an eyelid painfully. Maes was standing at the bottom of the bed, arms crossed and looking unimpressed.

“Maes?”

“Come on, sleeping beauty. Get up.”

Roy groaned. “I don’t think I can. My head hurts like hell.”

“Well, sucks to be you. Get up.”

“Hey –” Roy protested as Maes drew back the duvet, exposing his body to the cold chill of the apartment. This wasn’t unusual behaviour. By some divine power gifted upon him Maes never got a hangover and had very little sympathy for those who did, but it didn’t mean Roy had to appreciate or like it. His current state was self-inflicted after all, so no wonder Maes had no sympathy, and last night perhaps Roy had let himself get a little carried away. He needed to let loose, desperately so, and drinking with an old war buddy seemed like the best way to do it.

You didn’t need to let loose, a voice in his head whispered to him. You wanted to forget.The faces… The screams… Roy almost vomited again.

“What are you even doing here? Why come in just to annoy me?” Roy mumbled irritably, sitting himself up after much effort.

“Your wife and kid are away out on a walk with my girlfriend, and I’m bored.”

Wait. What?

Roy stopped rubbing his temples. Looking around the room he saw he was in his own bed. The duvet next to him was perfectly made and cold. It had been empty all night.

Riza…

He remembered coming home last night… He remembered mumbling something but couldn’t drag up the memory of what it was. Then there was a lot of vomit. He groaned. He hadn’t meant for things to get so out of control like that. He just hoped Riza hadn’t cleaned up his mess. That was for him to do.There was a vague recollection of him arguing with Maes about where he should sleep in the bar. He wished he’d kept his mouth shut and gone to Maes’. Riza didn’t need to see him in that state –

The rest of what had happened last night hit him like a truck.

“Don’t touch me You don’t deserve to.”

“I killed them!”

“I still hear their screams.”

Roy bolted to his bathroom – which was incredibly clean – and wretched. There was nothing in his stomach except bile. The acid burned his nose and throat as it came up. Oh god. Oh god. He’d said all those things to Riza. He’d lashed out. He’d told her some of what happened while he was drunk.

Idiot.

“So, the memory of last night has finally hit you?” Maes asked casually, a hard edge to his voice. Roy flushed the toilet, removing the evidence of his stomach contents. He staggered to his feet, the bright sunlight from his bathroom window hitting his eyeballs painfully. He pulled out the cleaning product and began to wipe down the toilet. He gagged at the strong smell of the bleach.

“It has,” Roy replied grimly. “Where is she?” he asked in a heartbeat. He needed to talk to Riza. He needed to apologise.

“Out with Gracia,” Maes replied. He reached forward and plucked the toilet brush from his hands. “Go back to bed. You look like you’re going to puke again from the smell alone.”

“No, I need to clean this up. This is my mess –”

“We’re not just talking about the vomit on the toilet seat, are we?”

“No.” He almost shook his head, but it was pounding, and every movement sent a shock of pain through his skull.

“Good answer. Go back to bed and stop the world from spinning. I’ll let you know when she gets back.”

“Did… Did you stay here last night?” Roy asked. Maes nodded as he worked, not looking back at his friend.

“Riza asked if we would mind staying. Just in case.” Roy’s stomach turned to lead. Just in case. Oh god, what had he done?

“Right.” Roy nodded and turned away.

“She had Mia, who is adorable, by the way, so Gracia offered to stay and help with the kid while I was drafted in to look after you.”

“I appreciate that. Thank you.”

Maes was quiet for a minute, sitting back on his heels as he stared at the white porcelain. “Don’t mention it, man.”

“Thanks for taking care of my family when I couldn’t.”

“Of course, Roy.” Maes’ voice was soft, then he returned to his task of cleaning up Roy’s vomit.

An hour later Roy had managed to move himself to the couch.  In passing, something caught his eye in the kitchen. In a bowl, on the countertop, sat a pair of socks attached with a note.

Exhibit A

Offensive material found behind the couch

Roy closed his eyes to try and stop the tears from falling. He remembered their banter before he’d left. Her smile flashed in his mind, the amused grin that was always infectious. He felt even worse now.

Feeling well and truly sorry for himself, Roy sat in their living room in silence, head tilted back and staring up at the ceiling. Maes moved around him, humming to himself as he did whatever it was to keep him entertained, then eventually settled in the kitchen as he began to make some food. The smell made Roy gag.

Roy wasn’t looking for sympathy. He needed to apologise for his behaviour and tell Riza what had happened before he could even begin to indulge in that feeling.

The front door opened and Riza paused when she saw Roy looking at her apologetically. She answered Gracia’s question and parked the pram in the hallway. She unclasped Mia from within and lifted their daughter up, the widest smile on her face. Roy taken away that happiness from her last night.

“Good morning,” she greeted. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t exactly the warmest tone she’d ever used with him. He deserved that. When he met her gaze, she held it for a second then averted it.

She’s putting up those walls again. He’d witnessed them before, as they were growing up. You did that to her.

“More like good afternoon, sleeping beauty,” Gracia quipped with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Ashamed. Embarrassed. Sorry.”

“… Ah. I’m sorry, Roy.”

“No, I am. Sorry for putting you through that, but thank you for taking care of me, and for looking out for Riza.” He’d lowered his voice. Riza had entered their kitchen where Maes greeted her and had begun to coo over baby Mia. Roy was sure she couldn’t hear them. “I really appreciate it.”

Gracia patted his knee. “What are friends for, right?”

“How can I ever repay you?”

“By making up with her,” Gracia smiled wryly.

“How is she?”

“Hurt.” Ouch. “Confused. And I think she’s feeling a little helpless right now. She wants to help you so badly, Roy, but she doesn’t know how to. She thinks you’ve finally shut her out, just like her father did.” Gracia’s face turned sympathetic when Roy’s face fell. Oh God, no. Anything but that. “I don’t know what happened, but that’s what she told me. I know you would never do that. Especially not to her, but she’s upset. Her hormones are still all over the place, you know, so she’s still hurt and upset. Remember, she’s only young,” Gracia added.

It suddenly hit Roy that Riza wasn’t even in her twenties yet. He knew this, of course, and it wasn’t strange for people their age to marry. It was extremely common. However, Riza always acted so much older than her years – she had her father’s upbringing to thank for that. She’d grown up too fast but hadn’t learned a healthy was to deal with confrontation like this. Roy had seen it first-hand. She’d submitted to Berthold as he’d hurled abuse at her. Roy had stepped in once, which seemed to startle Berthold to his senses. However, he’d simply scoffed and called her a stupid girl, dismissing them both from his study.

“She feels selfish, because this is about you, not her,” Gracia added. “And that frustrates her as well. However, I think it’s valid.”

“Yeah,” Roy agreed. They needed to talk. Now.

Gracia patted his knee again. “I can’t tell you what to tell her, Roy, only you can. But you two need to talk about what happened over there.”

“Did Maes tell you everything?”

Gracia smiled and shook her head. “No, but I’m not blind, and I know him very well. Just like your Riza knows you very well. We’re not stupid. We know it wasn’t sunshine and roses. It was war. Even if you don’t tell us, we could easily look it up in some report. So, ask yourself, Roy: would you rather she read it in a report – all your heroic deeds in the name of Amestris and its people – or would you rather she heard the truth from you?”

Roy was silent as he mulled over Gracia’s proposal. She was right, of course. Roy had learned the military had pushed a lot of propaganda after the State Alchemists went in. Roy hated to hear her talk about it, not that she ever really did, Riza rarely spoke about the war in front of him for his sake, but never corrected her when she brought up a piece of propaganda. He just didn’t want her to worry.

Now look where that had got him.

“We should get going,” Maes announced as he entered their living room, shooting a pointed look at Roy. “I’ll call you later Roy, all right?”

“Right.”

After a brief farewell, the two left.

Roy entered their kitchen slowly, squinting in the sunlight from the window. His head was still thumping, but he pushed through. He had to. There were bigger things at stake here than him.

“Hey.”

“Hello, Roy,” Riza greeted, briefly looking up at him. She had Mia in her arms as she waited for her bottle to cool down a little.

She was upset. She was angry. He could tell by the small quiver in her voice and the way she swallowed after speaking. Roy had never seen her angry before. She had every right to be after the way he’d acted last night. He’s raised his voice to her unfairly and –

Oh god, little Mia had been in the room too. He remembered Riza hurrying in after him and picking her up from her cot. She’d been sleeping soundly before he came in and started drunkenly yelling.

He was not only the worst husband, but the worst father.

“I’m so sorry, Riza,” he breathed. “For everything.”

“It’s okay, Roy. I told you, I’d give you all the time you needed,” she stated curtly, checking the bottle more thoroughly for its temperature.

Roy wanted to vomit again. “Riza –”

“I told you,” she interrupted evenly. “That I’d give you time, however that does not give you the excuse to use me as a verbal punching bag whenever the alcohol gets you talking,” she added, her voice hard. Riza’s fury was a quiet and a cold one, and Roy thought that was so much worse than her screaming and yelling at him. It was terrifying.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“And I won’t have you doing it while Mia is in the house. Is that clear?”

“Of course,” he swallowed, blinking at her. Looking at his wife he picked out her hard gaze, the twitch in her eye because of her anger, and the look in her eyes… She still looked slightly angry, but after he agreed with her, he noticed her slightly narrowed eyes soften. The anger slowly dissipated, and concern overtook her instead. He could see it in the way her hands shook and her voice wavered in strength.

What had he done? He’d never seen Riza like this before. She’d… She’d toughened up. In any other circumstance Roy would be happy that she’d broken out of her shell, but he despised the fact that it was because of him, and his idiotic actions, that had caused her to do it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Riza stared him out for a second longer before her shoulders relaxed. He’d been the cause of this. Her gaze turned to their daughter, who was cradled in Riza’s arms. “I already said that I understood if the person you needed to open up to wasn’t me,” Riza reminded him calmly and quietly, but he saw the shake in her hands. “I just needed to know if you’re alright. Clearly you’re not.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

It spurred him into action. Roy stood and shook off the feeling of nausea, rounding the table to crouch at her side. He took her free hand in his, clasping it tightly with one and covering it with the other.

“It will always be you,” Roy stressed. “Believe me, it will. I swear on my life.”

Riza closed her eyes briefly. Roy had witnessed it many times before, the way she composed herself. It was a minute movement, and barely lasted a second, but it was there. When her eyes opened the didn’t meet his and she extracted her hands, using the excuse for testing the bottle’s temperature again.

Roy didn’t move from her side, though. He couldn’t, because he’d done this to her. She’d been so desperate to help him and had tried so hard to calm him down last night, but he’d yelled in her face. She was only cold and emotionless when greeting him today because she was trying to protect herself. He’d seen it many times during interactions between her and her father.

Growing up, it had taken years for him to break them down. She’d finally let him in to see every part of her after he’d figured out his father’s flame alchemy. After returning from the academy he knew he was in love with her. But they were still young. She was eighteen, and he was just on the way to his twenty first birthday. They were too young. And yet, she’d boldly stepped up and done the thing he’d always been too scared to do – tell her how he felt. He’d regretted not doing so before leaving for the academy.

Riza offered no response, so Roy ploughed on ahead, letting everything out.

“I’m sorry for not telling you about what happened, for making it seem like I’d shut you out, and for lashing out last night.” He sat back on his heels, placing his hands on his knees. “It’s not an excuse, but I was drunk, and I was back there.” Roy swallowed as his heart rate picked up. He was finally opening up to her, like she’d deserved so many weeks ago, but it would be incredibly difficult. It meant reliving it. “I was back there, last night,” he repeated. “I could… I could hear the screams. Smell the burning. See the bodies –”

“Stop,” Riza whispered. Roy met her gaze, seeing her eyes were wet. “Please, stop.”

Roy blinked, feeling like he was snapping out of it. Riza’s expression was upset and concerned, for him. Her anger was gone. The hard look in her eyes was replaced with sorrow. He’d almost gone back. Roy could feel his heart rate picking up, feel the sweat breaking out over his skin.

“Was it… the alchemy?” she whispered.

“That played a part in the war. Yes,” Roy admitted. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to open up about just how much it had played a part. Not yet. He knew he was a monster, but a selfish part of him wanted to keep it to himself. Riza would run a mile with their child if she knew the truth, and Roy wouldn’t blame her. There were days where he couldn’t bear to look at her, ashamed of all the death he’d caused with the gift she’d given him.

He almost wished he hadn’t because her face crumpled as he revealed the truth, and Riza covered her face with her hands. Her body shook with sobs, a quiet sound escaping her lips as she cried.

“What’s wrong?” Roy asked, pulling her against him as tightly as he could with Mia still in her arms. Their daughter had begun to fuss, her arms flailing out, sensing her mother’s distress.

Riza shook her head against him. “You went through all of that. With what I gave you –”

“That was my choice.”

“But I played a part in it too. I could’ve kept it hidden, but I didn’t –” She cut herself off, but her meaning was already out there.

“Instead you gave it to me,” Roy finished for her. “And I used it to wreak havoc upon the people of Ishval.” Their house was silent as that admission settled over them both.

“Riza, you had no way of knowing,” Roy murmured, contemplating her statement.

“Neither did you!” Roy was silent after her outburst. “Last night you spoke about “that alchemy” like it was a disease. Imagine how I must have felt to hear you speaking like that?” She was right. He remembered blaming her father’s alchemy, throwing it in Riza’s face, like it was her fault he was in this mess.

“I wish he’d never completed his research,” she whispered. “I wish it had died along with him. It’s been a curse more than anything else, causing nothing but pain and suffering.” She pulled away and looked up at him. “I can see how much it’s hurting you, and how you’re suffering because of it after Ishval. I’m not stupid,” she added.

“No one said you were.” His voice was gentle and soothing as he rubbed up and down her arms. Roy placed his cheek against the top of her head, wishing he’d done this sooner rather than leave it to blow up in their faces.

“It’s a horrible thing you went through, but I just… I want to help you. To ease that pain. The flame alchemy is as much my burden as it is yours, and I know you’re hiding the extent of the damage it’s caused to try and protect me.”

Roy was silent, then exhaled sharply out of his nose. Damn, she saw right through him, as always. It was beyond his time for admitting that he was hiding things to protect her, but it was only because he didn’t want her to worry about him. It was a vicious cycle he was creating.

“You’re right,” he admitted quietly.

Riza nodded in acceptance and dropped her gaze. 

“But not because I don’t think you could handle it.” Roy pulled up his own chair and let her go, finding it more comfortable to sit and talk about this. “It’s still fresh and I don’t want to go back there. Not with you and Mia present. There’s a lot of darkness in my mind right now,” he admitted. “And I don’t want to taint you both with it. I told you that the other night.”

“That’s what I’m here for, though.” Riza offered him a sad smile through her tears. Her anger was gone completely, leaving sorrow and concern in its place. 

“I know,” Roy reassured her, gripping her hand tightly in her lap. “I know. I will tell you, I promise, but I… I can’t right now,” he added feeling helpless.

Riza nodded, her eyes understanding. “That’s fine, but don’t come home drunk like that again,” she warned quietly, wiping at her eyes. “I won’t have that in front of Mia.”

Roy’s stomach tightened, and he nodded. “Absolutely. I’m sorry. I lost control last night. I…” He sighed. “I can’t promise it won’t happen again if something sets me off.”

“Soldiers who have experienced war are rarely able to turn it off on a whim, I know that.”

“I won’t bring it home,” he promised. “I said I didn’t want to taint you both with it, and I did that last night. I’m sorry.”

Riza let out a loud sigh, followed by a short silence. “That’s all I ask for.” Riza met his gaze as she squeezed his hand. She offered him a small smile. Roy leaned in and kissed her, pressing his forehead against hers after it. “Thank you, for telling me about the alchemy too,” Riza stated quietly. “It makes me happier about my decision to burn the tattoo.”

Roy stiffened. “I know I failed you in that regard. I used it for something terrible.”

“What’s important now is what you do to redeem yourself of it.” Riza looked up at him with determined eyes. “We have to work through this. You have to.” Roy stood and wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders. Riza remained seated, clutching onto his forearm.

“I will. For both our sakes. It’s our burden to bear, and one I must rectify.”

“I’ll support you along every step of the way,” she whispered. “It’s the least I could do, after what I set loose into the world.”

“I don’t deserve you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

“Oh, I know,” Riza smirked. She pulled away as the smile dropped. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I still feel all over the place.” Riza pressed a hand to cover her face, then took a deep breath, letting it out in a rush. When she pulled it away, Roy watched her expression instantly turn calm. “And I hate it. I hate not being in control of how I’m feeling.”

Taking a seat, Roy had always marvelled at her ability to change her expression like that in an instant. He would say it was a gift, but it was the result of her abusive father’s upbringing. Still, she was more in control of her emotions and her mental state that Roy envied her. She was such a strong individual. Roy aspired to be more like her, and drew on that strength from Riza, and from their daughter. That’s why he hadn’t completely lost it already and turned to the whims of his more intrusive thoughts. He’d almost sought out his service weapon. Not to do anything, but just to hold it, to feel the weight and the power in his hands… Then he’d heard Hughes talking to Riza and it had drawn him up short. Then they’d gone home and he’d seen her. Roy had been horrified with himself that he’d even considered it. He couldn’t leave her alone. Not again. Besides, he’d promised Riza he wouldn’t.

Last night was when Roy realised he seriously needed help. Not only for his sake, but for his family’s too.

“You hate crying,” Roy added with a small smile, placing a hand on top of her head, running his fingers through her hair.

“I do!” Riza agreed, her tone lightening. “I hate the way it makes me feel. Plus, I look a sight now.” She wiped at her red and puffy eyes.

“You look beautiful.”

“You’re biased,” she replied petulantly.

“Maybe,” Roy agreed with a smile. “But it’s true, and always will be. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, Riza Mustang. No one could ever replace you.”

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