#Muse: Twice

[letsbreakhearts]

@musehotpot liked for a starter (picked your Dabi)

A life so dull, so purposeless, full of paranoia and unspoken struggles, he might as well cease to exist to save himself from his own troubles. Heroes sure never would come to save him after all. In a world where people always relied on others to solve the world’s problems, too many were overlooked in the process, left in the dust to fend for themselves.

Who would have guessed it were people like the league of villains that would greet him with open arms and not only give him a purpose but also the support he never had in his life. Inbetween their ranks he didn’t see himself as just a tool for the means, he saw all and each of them as his friends. Even though he had no former of the sort to compare them to, he still recognised the way he was treated here was way better than the rest of society ever could. His trauma and disabilities were not belittered. He was not seen as lesser, just because of that. His mistakes were not only forgiven, he also got the chances to make up for them. He truly felt like they cared for him and so did he for them.

So when Dabi started to put Hawk’s trustworthiness to the test, Jin had justified concern about his friend’s safety while doing so.

“I don’t know. Facing the current number two all on your own? What if it is a trap? Let me send a copy of you instead.”, Twice’s calm deep voice tried to reason with his team mate, arms crossed in front of his chest, only visualizing how closed off he was towards the idea of the deal with one of the top heroes.

As serious he had sounded one second however, the less his following fanboing seizure sounded when he high pitched announced “The number two on our side? Please get me an autograph, Dabi. Would you be so good, yeah? Pretty pleaseeee?”

[swordatsunset]

Oddly enough one of the most meaningful/painful parts of I Saw the TV Glow was when Owen is sitting there, watching the old tapes, someone with a family and an adulthood (or so she tells us), however small and sad that life is, and she tells us how abjectly humiliated she is rewatching them. The cheesiness of the show, its stilted and childish plots, the bad acting and bad visuals and whatever else— Owen is humiliated to have been saved by this bad TV show. And regardless of the fact that I don’t think the Pink Opaque she watches is the actual Pink Opaque that saved her, it tunes into this fascinating and essential part of living dissociated from your actual life and restored/saved/rescued by media, which is the shame of living like this. Yes, this was the thing that helped me survive; it was awful and childish and embarrassing and I can’t believe I survived it, I can’t believe I got through this period with the help of this. It’s so easy, when your life is so small, to be ashamed of your lifelines: it’s so easy to survive and look back and be horrified at how pathetic (however untrue it may be) and pitiable you were, and then, in reaction to that blinding embarrassment, lash out at your former self, try to say how much you’ve moved on (because you’re better now, of course you’re better, you don’t need to be saved by anything, right?). You loved this? The reason you’re alive is because of this? How embarrassing. How sad.

[critter-of-habit]

pt 2: of Bishova cowboy au 🔫🐎🤠

[shroomerr]

portrait study but its kenny

[inkpressedpetals]

[de4dking]

You construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men etc

[angryjewishcockroach]

One of my favorite things about Judaism is that Maimonides writes in his Eight Levels of Tzedakah that anonymous forms of donation are superior to forms of donation where the giver is known to the recipient, which plays in nicely with my desire to avoid the mortifying ordeal of being known.

[musespov]

Megan Thee Stallion via instragram (December 6th, 2024)

[inafieldofdaisies]

Blink Twice (2024) | Adria Arjona as Sarah (1-?)

"The truth is, is that you never know when you're gonna be stuck in the middle of nowhere in a totally terrifying situation with no one to save you, no one to even hear you scream, and you need to fight for your fucking life. 'Cause it's scary... out there."

[asexxxualerotica]

A Steamy Respite

Closed RP w/ @a-den-of-demons

Aaveraxx sighed with relief the moment the hot spring came into view. The half-dragon had been trudging through the wilderness for over a solid week now, his scales dull from sweat and grime. To make matters worse, he had been in rut the entire journey—it was a wonder he could even focus on his mission with how horny he’d get in the evenings. So a calm, relaxing dip in the bathhouse waters was definitely and exactly what he needed.

He barely even paused to pay, tossing the coins needed at the attendant, and practically ripping his clothes off once he was out of view. He tossed them equally as carelessly into an unclaimed basket to be washed, making his way right for the first bath he came across. He didn’t notice any signs it was occupied, any note that he should stop—it certainly wasn’t locked, so he let himself in.

He made it all of two steps before he froze, ice blue and fire amber eyes locked on the figure sitting in the water before him.

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

I can only imagine what they're talking about

[deadn30n-arch]

going through the dan heng tag on twitter and i will still never understand why anyone hates him or thinks he's boring??? he's literally so baby i'm putting him in my pocket and taking him away from the haters actually

[illyrian-teahouse]

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I used my Ability to cause chaos for the hell of it and played a more antagonistic role in this reality

And then I realize Atsu and Arata would probably hate me for it and I'm normal again

[hopeforchanges]

I'm actually marveling at your portrayal of Palpatine. Sure, in the new sith obi-wan au, but in every iteration I've read from you, it doesn't even compare to anything else I've read, I just can see and hear Palpy so clearly when you write him. It's disgusting how i character he is every time. I need like ... a tutorial? :D Pls??

haha, thank you :) yeah, ngl Palpatine IS the toughest character to get right and I will die on this hill; he is absolutely more difficult to write than Obi-Wan.

The tutorial consists of knowing how a groomer operates, essentially. Sure, you have the traits of psychopathy and sociopathy, the blatant narcissism, the delusions of being better than everyone, but if you want my two cents, (obviously you do when you sent this ask lol) the real core of his villainy is his grooming behavior. Sociopathy and psychopathy do not necessarily lead to evil, many diagnosed people lead fulfilling lives that do not cause them or others any destruction. Sociopathy and psychopathy are NOT inherently evil.

Grooming is evil by nature. And groomers absolutely follow a rulebook.

Step one: Targeting a vulnerable person. (Groomers have a radar for people who are in a vulnerable position - orphaned kids, traumatized people, homeless people, etc., could be anything.)

Step two: Gaining trust. (the victims of grooming call this 'kindness' - much like Anakin does on many occasions - when in reality, it's rehearsed empathy. It's a performance. They're nice to you, bring you gifts, take care of your most basic needs - food, shelter, companionship to make you feel like there's somebody in this world who actually gives a shit about you.

Step three: Isolating the target from their loved ones. If you are completely alone, that's a win for them, obviously. But because they more often than not target minors, there's someone taking care of them, at least one person who goes: this guy/gal has rancid vibes, I don't want you to hang out with them anymore. The groomer convinces the victim that their caretaker has nefarious motivations/goals (projecting much) and that if the victim calls the authority, they will be the one who's actually in trouble, not the groomer.

Step four: Slowly exposing the target to sexual stuff. This could be anything, really, it could start by just showing the victim porn without rhyme or reason to instructing them to perform some mild sexual acts. In Palpatine's case, this manifests as exposing the target to the power of the dark side and encouraging them to use it. However, do I think that Palpatine was entirely uninterested in Anakin in a sexual way? My feelings on this vary - sometimes I do see it and sometimes I don't. I see the constant unnecessary touching and constantly invading Anakin's personal space and I'm like: I need to perform exorcism on myself until I don't remember ever seeing this ever again. Then I see the intent behind and I think - hm, perhaps this is purely a slaver's touch asserting dominance over his property. Like I said, my feelings on this are unclear. Let's just say it's really fucking gross either way, which is something we can all agree on.

Step five: The actual sex. Again, in Palpatine's case, this manifests as revealing himself for who he is (abuser) and taking Anakin (the abused) down with him.

TLDR; you have to have the process of grooming at the forefront of your mind to write Palpatine well - even if in different aus his victim does not need to always be Anakin.

boy i did not mean for this shit to be this long lmao i hope this helps clarify not just how to effectively write Palpy but also for my girls and boys who may stumble upon a groomer irl.

Please be safe out there and talk to whoever you can to help you if you encounter a groomer.

[crystallizsch]

anyways happy end of tapis rouge on twsten and shout out again to ace and grim bc i'm telling you there is a Single Braincell buzzing in between these two

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

going from practicing the craft in a rural area to in town definitely through me for a loop. Especially with how special the farmhouse I was living in was; had easy access to an old cemetery (not on our property doe), a spring, a stream (which was crossed by a bridge) and pond, the property had its OG well, there was a lovely fireplace outside, a HUGE meadow. My preferred ritual areas were pretty private too. Ugh!!

I’m still kinda spoiled, even living in town, most our “towns” would probably be considered villages elsewhere and our “cities” small/medium towns. I mean, even in our larger cities you can still see the tree line. The nature trails are within walking distance. Would be nice to have some FUCKING SIDEWALKS THOUGH. only things I really feel lacking in are privacy and safety. Like I wouldn’t do a nighttime rite outside if my partner wasn’t nearby in the car.

Anyways, here’s some things I found helpful in my transition from YE OLDE FARMWYFE WYTCHE to YE ARTE OF CONCRETE AND METHE.

The town has a spirit too, think how many people have lived and died here!

Find the local cemeteries and learn about their dead. There’s a neat old cemetery just a few feet from my place.

Don’t neglect your house spirit! Again I’m spoiled as my building is old (well, for an American home). Used to be a farmhouse.

Find what the lifeblood of your town was or is. For us it was the mills, the river was/is our lifeblood. It winds all the way through the town.

Nature isn’t just the wild, it’s the weeds, birds and insects. 🐞 befriend them! Plantain, mugwort, knotweed (EVIL EVIL) lady’s mantle, gill-over-the-land and purslane are particularly prevalent here. It’s the change in seasons and the celestial bodies too.

Didn’t cross my mind till I moved out to collect bank dirt or other “building dirts”.

If it’s harder to get out to “the wild” bring it to you, a bag of earth and curios from a certain place or perhaps a nice flat rock.

The town has liminal places too, graveyards, bridges ( esp if they cross water) old railroads.

FIND YOUR OLD RAILROAD TRACKS!!!

Found myself using a compass far more often than I did at my fathers. Been considering swapping flour for acorn flour made from foraged acorns. Dunno if I’ll do it, depends how industrious I am.

Save jars, I didn’t need to store sacred water and preserved plants as MUCH as I do now. I could just go outside and get what I needed, really only needed to preserve what I need to get me through the winter months at dad’s place.

Speaking of father he is nuts nuts now and I love that for him he’s slaying queening so hard 💅🏼 I am seriously wondering if cutting down that hawthorn and the elder bush really did do something to him tbh 😂 (for clarification he cut them down after I moved out, I assume bc they reminded him of me)

There’s liminal places in your home

Kitchen is a great place to honor the house spirit

“Invisibility” magic has been such a blessing for avoiding curious eyes when I’m outside

Be aware of the reputation of your towns cops. They’re absolute fucking assholes here, bordering on bullies. Be safe

It was harder to develop a relationship with this places land spirits. The river was heavily polluted by the mill industry, the bit I go to for ritual still has the uhh idk what to call it foundation ig for the mill.

It’s much harder to let myself go during ritual, outside at least, still working on that one.

Learn where the crackheads tend to hang out, last thing you need is to happen upon a group of strung out strangers or to step on a meth needle. (the way this would induce an aneurysm in my mom if she found my blog)

Simmer pots, oils and perfumes are pretty solid substitutes for incense offerings. If you can’t burn things in your home. If the point of the offering is a pleasant scent. Less effective if the point of the incense is smoke as breath or spirit food or something like that.

downsize your rituals, I try to only take what I can fit in baggy jackets/hoddies.

Learn your neighbors routines so you can avoid them catching you, lest you be hanged as the heretical evil WYTCHE thou art. also helpful if one of them is a weird pervert who has a particularly disgusting habit which, lucky for you, happens to make it extremely easy to obtain a rather potent taglock.

Get to know your neighbors, even if you aren’t interested in befriending them. Helps to gauge what their reaction will be if they see you doing something. Mine have caught me twice and definitely just think I’m fuckin nuts. 🤷

Try and bring trash cleaning stuffs with you if you can. I try and leave places better than I found them.

House spirits are helpful for working on your landlords, if need be.

Materia can come from work too.

Always have hand sanitizer on you.