#/ * AESTHETICS : you know you should not have survived that right?

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Full Tech Day One pic today from kiko laureano (denizen of skid row / ensemble) & video (that's four seconds of "ya never know" playing over the static image) from & ft. marcia milgrom dodge (director / choreographer) double captioning "there might be puppets in this musical ;)" & "Well Shake my hand! Come see LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS @guthrietheater featuring @actually_will_roland's hand!"

[wonderer399]

Sebastian : Why he is Perfect for Ciel

Ever since I was in the black butler back in 2015, I was like 17 years old...I was obsessed with BB...I shipped Sebaxciel very hard, I still do and will continue to do it and none of your petty 'anti' opinions will make me change my mind like ever. You are free to judge me and I will judge you 'anti' back as well...You guys think that you are being 'self righteous' ? Tbh in reality you guys exactly sound like 'Alicent Hightower' from 'House of the Dragon' after she was living her miserable life with her 3 annoying kids and had to stick her nose into Rhaenera's bussiness because her 'morals' goes against what Rhaenera was doing....Therefore, stop being annoying and you guys better keep your own opinion to yourselves...I'm 25 now...and I will still ship SebaXciel..until my last breath...I may start the fandom very late , however I have more sense and adulting going on my brain to judge what is 'right' and what is 'wrong'...and what should be kept in the 'greyzone'

I have always defended Sebastian, still do and will always be defending him because he deserves it. Sebastian and Ciel both NEED each other. You guys might think Sebastian NEEDS ciel more...its the other way around ..CIEL NEEDS SEBASTIAN and without Sebastian HE CAN NOT SURVIVE A DAY WITHOUT BEING KIDNAPPED!!!!! OR WORSE BEING KILLED!!!! SEBASTIAN IS CIEL'S LIFE SUPPORT!!!

Sebastian keeps to be surprisingly being 'Kind' towards 'Ciel' by every chapter and each chapter their bond becomes stronger than ever, mostly because due to Agni's influence. And I remember exactly Ciel saying that 'If my soul He wants, then I will make sure to get my revenge properly'...Ciel KNOWS what did he sign up for with sebastian !!! CIEL MAY LOOK LIKE A CHILD ...BUT MENTALLY HE CAN SELL ADULTS IN THE BLACK MARKETS 10 TIMES WITHOUT ANY HESITATION THOSE WHO ARE AGAINST HIM ....He is that cunning!!! We have seen Ciel's Kind side as well...Ciel and Sebastian both knows when and to whom to be 'cunning' or 'Kind'...Both Sebastian and Ciel are Extremely Extremely cunning and will and does 'BEND' the rules of the game at their own advantage through their extremely calculated and refined dirty tricks and schemes ....Playing fair is not their 'concern' ... but 'winning' is ....if Ciel is the 'King' in the Chessplayer, Sebastian is the Ultimate Cheat code and Chessboard in the game ....and pawns are the other characters ....Sebastian can't be the pawn ...Sebastian simply sets up the helpful environment for Ciel to win...Sebastian simply assists Ciel in his own game ....

Sebastian is the STRICTEST, SMARTEST, GENTLEST and NICEST ( may not be the kindest ...but he is still trying his best ...he gives me more like 'TOUGH LOVE' vibes your asian households will give off ) guy to be able pull up with all of Ciel's bratty tantrums .... ( if you even dare to give off the same exact attitude to your parents as Ciel does to sebby time to time....In the white household you won't be affected that much but in the black/latina/asian household, parents will start beating with flipflops no more attitudes.... compared to that Ciel is in 'heaven' as Sebby keeps tolerating ) Sebastian STAYS with Ciel through thick and thin ...Sebby never EVER abondons Ciel ( I don't count filler episodes of season 1 because its not Cannon ) ....Sebby is not that kind of 'mannerless' character who would force himself into 'Ciel's' arm ..sebby HIGHLY VALUES MANNERS,GRACEFULNESS and AESTHETICS...Sebby knows his self worth... we even see sebby getting 'blushed' cheeked whenever ciel compliments him for his good work and that what motivates sebby to stay with ciel through their journey together...they both appriciate, tolerate, they get and understand each other and the same time they are very fond of each other as well...

In the emerald witch arc, it is very evident that when sebby saw ciel was at his worst state ...sebby gone mad and destroyed the entire german military single handedly...ciel is very PRECIOUS to him...once ciel realized how sad Sebby would have felt when he kept rejecting sebby touch...after waking up from psychic trauma, Ciel immidiately compansated sebby with constantly 'touching' sebby 'affectionately' ...its like the two lovers being aparted for wayy too long and when they meet again, they can't let go of each other that easily...their bond just keeps getting stronger...and yall antis be burning lol ...because we shippers got the latest TEA DATE in the chapter 212 !! in the victorian era it was not 'acceptable' to sit 'butlers' and 'noble man' together ...let alone sipping tea and flirting with each other...its so sad that you guys don't like something that's fine! ...but don't dictate us and don't rubb your moral dicks into our faces ...keep it in your pockets

SEBA X CIEL IS THE GREATEST UNCONDITIONAL LOVE SHIP EVER!!! THIS IS THE PUREST FORM OF LOVE !!! SEBBY LOVES CIEL FOR HIS SOUL POTENTIAL REGARDLESS OF HIS GENDER OR HIS AGE!! SEBBY IS WILLING TO WAIT FOREVER AS LONG AS IT TAKES FOR CIEL TO TAKE HIS REVENGE!!! SEBBY RESPONDED TO CIEL'S CALLING IN THE 1ST PLACE !!

[iamnmbr3]

I LOVE your meta! <3 can you tell me your opinion about the development of draco's and harry's feelings for each other as it was accidentally written into the story (even tho JKR clearly didn't intend for a romance)? when did you think it started for both boys? i'd be very interested to know what you think. :)

Thank you!!!! <3 What a great question. I've gotten so many good asks lately.

I don't think there was one definable moment. I think it grew between them. They were both drawn to each other in some ways right from day 1 and spent seven years paralleling and orbiting each other.

Draco tries to befriend Harry before he even knows who he is (even though Harry looks rather scruffy and surely Draco must already know the children of all the "important" Pureblood families). And then he tries again once he knows who Harry is and spends years smarting at Harry's rejection, seemingly unable to move on from it or from Harry.

He's determined to be a part of Harry's life, if not as a friend then as a rival. He can't cope with Harry's disregard and constantly seeks attention from him. Even Lucius can't stop him from openly antagonizing Harry despite cautioning Draco in book 2 that it's unwise to be so openly hostile to Harry at this point.

Meanwhile Harry constantly watches what Draco does and even dreams about him his very first night at Hogwarts. After being nearly murdered by Voldemort at the end of book 1, during the summer before his second year Harry thinks of Draco as his arch nemesis and also thinks about how he kinda misses him.

For the first 5 years they know each other, Draco's entire life revolves around Harry whereas Harry has other things that he's dealing with though he's always extremely aware of and attuned to Draco. In some ways this might lead one to think that Draco is aware of his feelings a lot earlier. But honestly I think they're both in deep denial, though I do think perhaps Draco has more of an inkling since he is the one seeking Harry out.

Still, given the sharpening lines of the war, especially from book 4 on, I think Draco knows this is something that he should not and cannot feel or pursue and he tries to tell himself it's just dislike. Especially since mortifyingly Harry despises everything he thinks he believes in.

I think Draco would be the first to admit it to himself though. Probably during 7th year, once he's started to realize how wrong he's been about so many things and once he's been forced to confront the fact that he is not and will never be the person he's supposed to be, that he hates and fears Voldemort and the Death Eater cause, and that he hopes somehow, somewhere Harry is alive and that all the whispers about him being the Chosen One are true and that he really can end this.

And maybe in that context he also starts to admit to himself that maybe he never really hated Harry after all, that maybe the whispered remarks his friends made when they were younger were true and maybe he does feel something for Harry other than disdain. And that maybe it's not just that he finds Harry's stupid messy hair and green eyes aesthetically pleasing. Maybe he actually likes him. As a person. Maybe he loves him.

By the time the war is over I think he's come come to terms with it. Harry is just another thing he's lost, his feelings for him another thing he realized far too late.

Meanwhile we know that from the end of book 6 on Harry stops thinking about Draco with rancor and instead pities and worries about him, doesn't blame him for anything, and tries to save him at every opportunity. However, Harry also has a job to do and he and Draco are on the opposite sides of a war. The reality is that nothing can come of any feelings Harry might have and 1 or both of them may very well not survive the war.

Harry compartmentalizes and shuts down all feelings he might have and all thoughts of what might have been. Especially after the Manor, when he realizes that Draco may well be tortured to death because of him, he blocks him from his mind. He can't afford to examine his feelings or he won't be able to go on. Plus, if Voldemort reads his mind it will put Draco in even more danger.

Besides, he has Ginny. Someone who is so much more acceptable to care about. Someone who symbolizes all the intangible things Harry imagines he will want after the war. I think post Manor is the closest Harry comes to really acknowledging and verbalizing to himself what he feels, but he doesn't quite get there. (Though you could also read it as Harry realizing his feelings after the Manor scene and then realizing how impossible it all is and shutting Draco out of his mind completely).

But then the war's over. Harry gets to have his relationship with Ginny. He gets to realize that somehow in the peace they don't quite click anymore. Maybe they drifted apart. Or maybe what they had wasn't that strong to begin with. He's not sure, though sometimes he remembers the way at the end of sixth year she thought he was going off to fight Voldemort because it was what would make him "happy" rather than because he felt he had to, and wonders if maybe they were never going to work out, no matter what.

And meanwhile Draco's cleaning up his life. Harry speaks for him at his trial. And somehow they find each other again in the postwar world. Because they always do. Because they haven't been able to do anything but orbit each other since they were 11. And when Harry looks at Draco he feels something. And maybe he's never really put it into words before, even to himself, but somehow it doesn't feel new at all. It feels inevitable.

[practicalsolarpunk]

is material consumption ok if it's for hobbies?

I want to start by thanking you for asking this question. It's an important one, and it leads to an idea that we don't really address much on practicalsolarpunk. But we definitely should discuss it more, and this is a good place to start. This may or may not be what you want to hear, anon, but I hope this helps a little bit. (Long post ahead.)

When I started this blog, most of the solarpunk content I could find was aesthetic, fiction, and political action. All of those are very important! Political action and resistance is how we will actually make changes on a systemic level. Aesthetic and fiction content are essential because it lets us imagine a better future, and it's impossible to create a future we can't imagine. But what I wanted was a blog of small things I could do right now or soon to reduce my consumption in general, learn new things, opt out in tiny ways, and make both the world and my own life a little better. This blog is about little things (and sometimes slightly bigger things) that we can do as individuals. Composting, gardening, foraging, and building community may make your life and the lives of those around you better, but they won't change the exploitative and destructive foundations of capitalist society.

practicalsolarpunk is not the definitive guide to solarpunk. It's not even the end goal. In my view, solarpunk has three interlocking aspects: Individual actions towards making a better future, building communities to make a better future together, and political action and resistance to move societal structures and systems towards a better future. On this blog, we mainly focus on individual actions and a little bit of community-building. Individual actions are great, but they can only go so far.

Coming back to your main concept, consumption: It's easy to come to the conclusion that consumption is bad, evil, wrong, destroying the environment, etc. If you hang out in solarpunk spaces, you've probably heard the "There is no ethical consumption under capitalism." And that's true - it is impossible to find anything created under capitalism that is not somehow exploiting the environment or people. However, consumption is required to survive. Eating food is consumption. Wearing clothes is consumption. Living indoors is consumption. Using any method of transportation besides walking is consumption. Even outside of capitalist systems, we must consume to live.

We are prone to black-and-white thinking. We want to sort things into "entirely good" and "entirely bad." When we have those boxes, we can do all of the things that make us good and none of the things that make us bad. It seems especially important to know what's good and what's bad to do when the future and the fate of the world are at stake. But in reality, almost nothing is fully good or fully bad. Everything is somewhere on the spectrum in between.

My guess is you want permission to buy things for your hobbies. (That's my guess because I have wanted the same thing - I hoped permission from someone who knew more than me about what was going on would help me feel less guilty about consuming.) And the reality is that I cannot give you that permission. There are reasonable arguments for either side. Material consumption for hobbies is good because hobbies are great for mental health and you can't change the world if your mental health is terrible. Material consumption for hobbies is bad because even though the consumption reduced is small it can build up to a greater effect over time.

Overconsumption is destroying the planet. We must consume to survive. There is no way to consume ethically under capitalism. All three of these statements are true. That means there is no "right" answer to your question. You can only make a decision based on your values, your needs, and your knowledge. I know what my choice would be in your situation, but I can't say what the best choice is for you.

I'm a huge fan of Maya Angelou's quote,: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." Make the best decision you can with the information you have. If and when you get more information, you may need to reevaluate it. Perfection is impossible. Even when the stakes seem terrifyingly high, your best is good enough.

And one final note, because this question has reminded me a lot of myself and I don't want you to fall into the same trap I once did: Don't let guilt dictate this decision. Guilt tells you that you're doing the wrong things, you're not doing the right things, and you're definitely not doing enough. It says that making yourself happy is a moral failing, that it's wrong to do things just for fun while people are suffering and the world is burning, and that you are partially to blame for the state of the world because you chose to consume. Guilt is a liar, and you will destroy yourself before you ever do enough or sacrifice enough to satisfy it.

Ultimately, solarpunk is about creating a better future for people. A future where humans are extinct might save the environment from human overconsumption, but that's not a solarpunk future. Excessive material consumption isn't solarpunk, but denying yourself consumption that would improve your life isn't solarpunk either.

- Mod J

[dontbelasagnax]

First, I love your art and your fics so much! Second, you seem like someone who has very good Codywan headcanons, and I’d love to hear some of them if you have any you’d like to share 🙂 (No pressure at all though!)

Tysm anon!!! I don't know what kind of headcanons you're looking for but I have soooo many always haha! They live in the nebulous realm of headcanons in which they are applied to every iteration of codywan unless they are not--for no reason other than vibes. All sfw but I always have thots (very intentional spelling) if anyone would like to hear about the nsfw things.

- Cody has spreadsheets for everything. It calms and organizes his mind. Helps him visualize and put the chaos to rights. When Obi-Wan notices Cody getting antsy and agitated, he gently asks him if he's made a spreadsheet recently. If that doesn't solve things, he'll offer to look over the charts together. If that doesn't solve the issue, he'll pull Cody into his lap, tenderly kiss any available real estate that needs kissing, and twirl fingers through his head of curls and massage away the tension. For all that Cody hates when his hair gets messed up, he does love being pet like a cat.

(the rest is going under the cut because I'm rather verbose)

- SPEAKING OF CATS! Cody is a cat person. This is nothing new, I just wholeheartedly know it to be true. It's only because he wants a cat so badly that he acts like he doesn't care for them. Obi-Wan sees through the facade. He saw how Cody looked at the stray tooka they rescued from the rubble one somber evening. How he cradled the lump of fluff and ran his thumb back between ears as if the lightest of touches would hurt the poor dear. How palpable was the anguish in his eyes after handing off the tooka to the surviving locals of the city. Even after he said, "Glad that's over with. Would hate to get cat hair on my blacks." Obi-Wan knows. So the next time he's on Coruscant, he buys a little orange plush tooka. It's tiny, only just bigger than his hand, but perfect. He ties a piece of flimsi reading '- OWK' to its neck with a ribbon and tucks it under the covers of Cody's bed so its head and front paws peek out. Perhaps he's a coward, perhaps he's just being gracious in letting Cody have some privacy in receiving his gift. What he does know is the next time he feels Cody staring long at the side of his face, he looks back and Cody blushes and smiles ever so slightly- shy. Oh, Obi-Wan loves him.

- Obi-Wan doesn't hate caf. It's simply not his favorite. When he does drink it, he likes it black. There could be many reasons for this but Cody thinks it's a superiority complex thing. Cody likes his caf with cream and two packets of sweetener. Sure, he'll drink any caf shoved his way, but what he truly enjoys? Yeah, it's not the shit coming straight from the dark depths of a Sith Lord's ass crack.

- Cody likes when Obi-Wan drives. Could be a ship, speeder--any mode of transport, really. It's not a secret that Obi-Wan does not like driving. With how calm and steady he remains at the wheel, there is tension in his jaw, bitten into his cheek, and clenched white into his knuckles. It stresses him out. But he is good at it. And he makes Cody feel safe. Cody doesn't get to feel safe a whole lot in the midst of war.

- Cody will never tell a living soul this (except maybe when he gets so sloshed he can't remember his name or all the reasons why he really should not lay out his honest bleeding truths) but his favorite color is not 212th gold. Yes, 212th gold is Cody's color. It's his. But blue is what he finds most aesthetically beautiful. It's the color of a certain Jedi's eyes in the sunlight and the unnatural glow of that same Jedi's lightsaber. It's the color of that Jedi's eyes in a dim room when he looks looks soft and tired, a blue that's more grey than anything resembling an actual blue. It's not one color and yet it is because he loves that color just like he loves that Jedi. He doesn't love the color just when it's pretty in one vibrant idealistic shade. He falls in love again and again when he sees it in new lights. Just like Obi-Wan.

- not to cozywan truth on main or anything but There's not a place Cody and Obi-Wan sleep better than in each other's arms. Or maybe not arms, per se, but sprawled across one another in some fashion. Touching. More often than not, in the tiny cots onboard The Negotiator, Cody ends up plastered to Obi-Wan's back, arm possessively wrapped round his front to keep him from falling off the edge. With the luxury of a bed actually made to fit two grown men, things aren't much better. Cody wakes to find he's being suffocated by Obi-Wan who, in his sleep, discovered the joys of lying directly on top of Cody. Cody's not innocent. He can count multiple occasions where he's buried his face in Obi-Wan's belly and woken up to being gently shoved away from his heated pillow because, oops, his resting place was a full bladder. Neither of them complain too much, not when it's so easy to be lulled into the warm, liquidy loose and easy clutches of cozy sleep in close quarters to the person they love. Something deep in the brain unlocks and says, 'everything's alright now, relax, let it all go--safe, safe, safe,' when Obi-Wan's cold nose finds the column of Cody's throat who's hand comes up to indulgently cards through silky hair. There's a resonating hum of rightness in their chests that says, 'home'.

[edenfenixblogs]

This is just terminology but regarding asking goyim to ID ourselves as such, may I ask if there's a specific reason you prefer that phrasing? Asking because I've previously heard that hearing someone self-describe as goyische can be a bit jarring due to Connotations from white supremacists "reclaiming" the term (scarequotes bc that's obviously not how reclamation works) so I'm wondering if you have an alternate perspective I should be taking into account or if it's just like, personal preference/not that deep.

Ah! @faggotry-enjoyer, My friend! I did not see this message from you until today! My deepest apologies!

I didn’t mean that every goy had to specifically call themselves goy. I’m just descended from Hungarian, Russian, French, and Mongolian Yiddish speakers and that’s more familiar a term to me than “gentiles.”

Personally, I’ve always found “gentiles” a little awkward as a term anyway. As I’ve stated repeatedly, goy is a fully neutral word with no positive or negative connotations. But the word “gentile” seems to have a weirdly positive connotation that I find off-putting. It seems far too close to the word “gentility” for me.

It feels like “gentile” is a person of “the gentility,” thus inherently socially, behaviorally, and aesthetically superior to non-gentiles (aka Jews). Perhaps this is just because of my relationship to Hebrew (and its use of root constructions that convey connotations in the base structure of the word) that this seems to be a term that is inherently critical of Jews in a pretty blatant way. But it always seems just…idk. Uncomfortable for me to use I guess. It feels like I’m putting myself down to elevate someone else and acknowledging their inherent superiority over me.

That said, I am in no way suggesting that this is how all Jews relate to this word. I have studied Hebrew since I was very young (I’m not a fluent speaker anymore, but I was once), and I’m a writer and love words and etymologies. It is extremely likely that I am thinking more about this than someone else would or does.

So, I say goy because it is the most neutral to me. It doesn’t convey that I’m better than a goy or that a goy is better than me.

When I said “goyim identify yourself as such,” I meant more generally, “if you’re not Jewish, please indicate that in your reblog or tags when reblogging from a Jewish person.”

And to anyone who is new to my blog, the reason I asked goyim to do this is because Jews feel very alone and hated right now and a very easy way to help us feel better is to just let us know that someone outside of our community sees and hears us. It so very often feels like we are shouting from inside a soundproof room and we can only hear and be heard by each other.

There are so very few Jews left in the world. It is simply impossible for us to survive if we advocate for ourselves alone. We need goyische voices alongside our own if we hope to be heard at all amongst those who outnumber us.

One thing about Jewish culture though, we all disagree a lot about a lot of things. Someone probably does find it offensive to self-label as a goy. Someone else probably finds it offensive to reject the idea of self-labeling as a goy.

However, by and large, I think most Jews won’t be concerned that you’re appropriating our language and culture if you are using our language to identify yourself as someone who supports our culture. Yiddish isn’t a religious language, but a cultural one. While Judaism is a closed-practice religion, Yiddish is the language of our culture in exile. It is the language we used while existing in a goyische world that was and remains hostile toward Jews.

I think, personally, that if you’re not using our language to demean us, it’s not off limits. Like, call yourself a goy! You are one! It’s not a bad thing! But, like, don’t call Jews you disagree with schmucks or something like that. And, obviously, if someone is antisemitic then I do not want them using Yiddish at all.

If someone wants to condemn our culture, then I loathe the idea of them picking out the parts they can use for their own purposes. If you reject an entire culture, you do not get access to the parts of that culture you like, imho.

So, I guess (in answer to your question) it is personal preference but is also that deep. Jewish culture is old, deep, and complex. I'd never speak for other Jews, and I'm sure plenty disagree with me on this. But I have personally never heard of a Jewish person offended that a goy calls themselves a goy. Personally, I find it endearing.

[danjaley]

Book-Blog Intermission:

Wonderful Journeys through Time and Literature with Nils Holgerson

Like most of my generation I grew up with the 1980 anime series. And, as I'll say at every opportunity, it spoiled me for pretty much any other TV-show. A good series should follow a literary original - and quite closely. It should have gorgeous aesthetics and music. A plot centered around adventure, history, tradition, loyalty and faith. Plot-decisions should never follow external factors like availability of actors or stale marketing formulas. And it should end when the story is told out.

My mother had the mad idea to try and read the book to me when I was about 5. I didn't understand a word of it. She had a very boring copy too, without any pictures.

Aged 25 I bought the cute edition on the right and made it a reading-project. After each chapter I watched the corresponding episode of the series. And I repeat: It shows the quality of the series that you can do this. Still is was super interesting to note everything they changed. Some things only made sense to me then. Like the story of the parade towards to icy mountain. As a child it just impressed me with its scariness. But in fact it's a parable of which plants can grow how far north.

Cute as it is, the left edition was so badly translated that I went ahead and learned Swedish to read it in the original (middle). In the meantime the German book-market also spoiled me with an up-to-date state-of-the-art unabridged translation (right). So I don't even need to use a dictionary :)

There is one other edition in the house and that's my grandmother's school-copy. As it is well know, Nils Holgerson was written as a reader for Swedish schools, covering geography, history and natural history of Sweden. Since it is an absolute masterpiece, it soon became a school-reader in many other European countries too.

Especially Germany in the 1930s had a fatal obsession with all things Nordic. So every school-child had to learn all about Swedish castles too. I always wondered why nobody at least tried to write a rip-off set in Germany. Only recently, in the course of my current research, I found out that someone did. Tamara Ramsay: Wunderbare Fahrten und Abenteuer der kleinen Dott (images not mine). But it only came out in 1941 and never made it to school-reader status.

My grandmother and her class enjoyed Nils Holgerson so much, they wrote collective fan-mail to Selma Lagerlöff. She replied too. She wrote that she got her German translator to decipher their letter and that she was very glad they enjoyed her book. The translator must have been the same Pauline Klaiber-Gottschau who first translated the book into German.

The original wild geese can of course be consulted at the International Youth Library in Munich. The building (Schloss Blutenburg) is the cutest little medieval castle that's been forgotten on the edge of the city. And in winter and spring you can meet the geese spending the winter in the moat. As a child I always regretted that Nils Holgerson ends just as the geese plan to cross to Germany. I'd have loved to see their Schloss Blutenburg adventure!

My Grandmother also appears to have read most other books by Selma Lagerlöff. At least she ticked them off in the list in her copy of Nils Holgerson. The only other one to survive in her collection is Gösta Berling (here in blue).

While the dated German bothered me a lot in Nils Holgerson, I deeply enjoy reading other Lagerlöff novels in as old editions as I can get hold of (here the much-mended red Gösta Berling). In old German print they just feel like they came from the dawn of time!

Those two have actually both been major inspirations for the McCarrics. Gösta Berling includes more or less the model for Fergus' dying-scene (if you ever want to see the subject treated by a nobel-prize-winner). And Herrn Arnes Schatz (Herr Arnes penningar) has the ghostly sister as well as badass Scotsmen (here unfortunately as the bad guys).

[midnighttrain-project]

Hello everyone! It’s time for another development blog!

Thank you very much for the support I received in the previous post! This time, the focus will be pixel art! In particular, we will talk about the creative process behind the new sprites of the remake.

As some of you may already know, MerúM is the artist in charge of the pixel art in Midnight Train. Let’s ask him some questions about it!

🌙🚂 Interview with MerúM 🚂🌙

Lydia: First of all, could you introduce yourself?

MerúM: I call myself MerúM. I am the pixel artist of Midnight Train: New Moon, and I am in charge of the sprites and animations of the characters. I also worked on Aria's Story and the previous version of Midnight Train doing the same job.

Lydia: The character sprites in Midnight Train: New Moon look quite different from the original version. Is there any reason for this change?

MerúM: Well, before the switch to RPG Maker MV, I was already working on the new sprites and animations for the Midnight Train remake. However, once we changed programs, I noticed that the character sprites were very small compared to the current screen dimensions. I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to redo the sprites from scratch as well, increasing their dimensions and detailing them more than the previous version allowed me, without wanting to move them too far away from the previous chibi style.

Lydia: Right now, you already completed all the characters sprites for chapter 1. Was there any challenge or something you’re really proud about? 

MerúM: After changing the sprites, the expressiveness of the characters has improved a lot. Characters now have many more unique animations and expressions, solidifying their personalities. I think this new style works very well with the aesthetic of Midnight Train’s world and makes them look quite unique from character to character.

Lydia: Could you describe your workflow and what programs you use to create your work?

MerúM: For my sprites, I use Aseprite. Before starting with a specific character, I tend to draw their base sprites and their walking animations. After this, I receive a list of events that will occur in the game related to those characters, and then I create the sprites and animations that fit into said scenes using the base sprites as a reference. Usually, I am in charge of designing how these scenes will look in pixel art, but with some more specific or complicated scenes I have received a quick sketch of how the sprite/animation should look like as a visual aid, and thus arrive at the version that best suits the scene.

Lydia: I’m just curious about something… Who is your favorite character from Midnight Train?

MerúM: I think all the characters are fantastic, maybe I could consider Neil Lawton my favorite. I think, in the end, we should all be a little like Neil. Even if you are afraid at first to move forward, just do it. This is what Neil does, he may be afraid, but he faces this fear to survive.

Lydia: Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

MerúM: What else could I say? I think Midnight Train: New Moon brings a story that will appeal to anyone who is passionate about mystery stories. By the way, it's fun to mention that in addition to Justice, Purity and some secondary characters, I have been the main designer of Larissa, one of the new characters in this remake. I hope you play Midnight Train: New Moon and get to know her!

🌙🚂 Progress 🚂🌙

I hope you liked the interview with MerúM! I wouldn't have been able to create my games without his help, as I'm pretty bad at pixel art. I'm excited to see all the sprites he will create for chapter 2! I personally can't wait to see Apollo's animations. Now, I want to report about the development of the game. I’m almost finished with the maps of chapter 2, so I expect to start programming this chapter very soon! Literally, there is only one map left…! I wanted to add a new puzzle to this map, so I’ve been stuck brainstorming ideas… Ahh, it feels like facing a final boss before proceeding to the next step.

Thank you a lot for your support and patience! See you next time~

[max1461]

From @raginrayguns:

More generally, I think I have a much more uh. I don't know what to call it. I think lots of ethics and aesthetics does and should cash out in very "practical" stuff like having money and not dying, you think it's much more arbitrary and "practical"-sounding justifications are ad hoc. But also my view leaves a lot of room for like, simple pleasures that are part "behavioral loops" that result in practical stuff. Like, don't just clean your house in order to avoid getting sick from black mold etc, tidy it and make it look nice and decorate it. Don't just take care of your health, instead try to make your body more to your tastes not just in health and function but also in appearance and gender expression. Objectivists are like this too, that's why there's so much sex and partying in Atlas Shrugged and the evil dictator is a slob (it keeps mentioning that his shirt has a droopy collar and he doesn't get it starched).

So, for me, it's not exactly that I think ethics and aesthetics are especially arbitrary in actuality, it's more that I think it's better to model them that way.

Like, in reality I do think that a lot of the desires that people have cash out to a small-ish set of "practical"/"visceral" desires, things like self-preservation, desire for food, for sex, for companionship, for admiration, for entertainment, etc. And even a lot of these basic desires share an evolutionary origin, e.g. we evolved to want food because that urge is useful to keep us alive and so on. But, speaking about any individual person and why they seek out food, their answer isn't going to be "because I want to survive, and I rationally concluded that food is necessary for that". It's mostly a pre-rational urge, they're hungry so they seek food. It's effectively axiomatic. This is evident in the fact that they may eat foods which actually aren't good for their survival, like junk food, because those foods taste better or sate their hunger better, etc. People also usually have a desire to survive, which might be strong enough to motivate them to stop eating junk food, but it's certainly best to model these two desires as separate things, individually axiomatic and sometimes conflicting, even though in a biological sense they derive from the same place.

Right, so, I assume(?) you agree already to some degree or another with the above, it seems pretty necessary for modeling human behavior. But I think that what I do is basically to extend this model to more types of desires, even those that indeed may be rationally derived from more "basic" ones as above. Like, if someone tells me they want to live in a snowy, cold weather place... maybe it's because they feel better at that temperature, or they like the smell of pines, or they are more attracted to the way people dress in cold-weather climates, or whatever. Probably it's a complicated mix of a bunch of factors. Unless I know them really well, I can't model all that. So it's useful to just be like "what they want is to live in a cold place; noted" and treat it as basically an axiom.

I guess this is all really tied up in the way that I see ethics generally, which is something that I think about as like, diplomacy, negotiation, an attempt at finding a satisfactory compromise between different people with different wants. So it's useful to think in terms of "what demands are people laying out? What's on the bargaining table?". I can't possibly model everyone's internal reasons for wanting what they want, what I need is an understanding of what people seem to want, and knowledge of how they're willing to trade some wants off against others. Obviously internal modeling can help with this, but at a certain point it's not practically achievable. You just gotta take people's word for it.

Right, so, that's part of it. But the other part is that I think this kind of, uh, official agnosticism towards where desires come from is useful for dealing with psychological variation. Because while it's true that lots of people's desires seem to cash out to a small generating set common to most of us, I think it's also true that some of our desires cannot be derived from this set, and furthermore that perhaps most of us have at least a few desires of this type.

Like, a big part of this is informed by being unusual in various ways (I don't love "neurodivergent", but it's true), and having to argue with people to get my needs met.

A lot of people seem really dedicated to their own substantive system of right and wrong, derived from what they think the wants and needs of "ordinary" people are. Often I'll have some need that is not covered by this, and I'll go "look, I have need X, I'm happy to go out of my way and do Y to accommodate the fact that I am asking you to be considerate of X, let's figure out something that can work for both of us". And their response is very often something like "no, [according to my substantive ethics] it's unfair of you to ask X, and it would also be unfair of me to ask Y ". So what's happening here is that their dedication to this substantive system is getting in the way of them making a compromise that would be good for everyone. And I then need to frame my own need X in terms of some substantive things that they already endorse, make it comprehensible within their system, before they take it seriously as a negotiating point. I find things much easier when people are willing to skip the substantive analysis step and just go straight to "ok, you want X, I want Y, let's negotiate".

So that's really where this is coming from. Yes, I think the bulk of human desires seem to derive from some fairly small set of axioms/terminal goals/whatever, but I also think:

It's really hard to know what exactly is in that set, and to usefully predict what people's on-the-ground desires will be from it, because modeling people psychologically is hard.

There is enough psychological variation in people that an individual's own personal set of terminal goals may differ from the consensus set in a morally- or socially-relevant way, and this happens often.

And so if you see ethics as being about negotiating some sort of "ideal" compromise between different people with different desires, it's better to imagine that anyone could walk up to you one day with basically any old want and be prepared (at least in some philosophical sense) to be able to handle that.

Uh, something like that.

[diacripticcomplex]

Hi if it's okay can I please ask for a yandere Carla with Yui wants to be with Carla but is worried that the sakamaki brothers and the makami brothers will get in the way with her happiness with Carla so she ends up getting a hold of Subaru's knife and killing them off one by one and Carla soon finds her the wax figure room in the

Sakamaki house in a bloody wedding dress

Tending to her wounds that the makami brothers and the sakamaki brothers inflicted on her

And a smut thick please

My small Aesthetic: bloody bride Yui /yandere Yui

Carla's POV:

"Brother, I have located her, she's in the Sakamaki Manor but the situation is rather strange, I think we should hurry on over there." Shin reported. It was still dusk, we believe those vampire scum took her during the day time. Nonetheless, Shin duly located her ensuring that we will have to punish all of Heinz's offspring and fake offspring as well. Those Mukami wretches were able to function normally in daylight hours, I do believe they were responsible for abducting her, would not be the first time they did this, but it will be the last time, I will assure that. We swiftly make our way to this disgusting pile of shit known as the sakamaki manor, it smelled so awful I thought I was going to cut my nose off. But among all this filthiness I could sense her. She smelled like lilac and warmth, it caused me to rush over to her scent. Going through the mansion I have not seen any of Heinz's scumbag sons, it was strange, I could smell them but so far they were nowhere to be found...

I smell her down a dark hallway, it led to a room filled with what appeared to be women at first, but after confirming with Shin they were indeed life size dolls, they must have been the previous brides or something. They have an energy to them that is uncanny. At the center of all the dolls, there she stood, in a white dress it appeared to be a wedding dress, blood stained this dress, it appeared rather fresh. "You've arrived my love.." she said, turning slowly her eyes were widened and a crazed smile appeared on her face, she had blood staining her hair. I remain silent, but I embrace her. "Ah, I'm sorry I must smell like them..I know how much you hate their scent.." she says, then lets out a giggle. "It was hard, but I did it, I killed them all.." I look at her, she looked like she was losing her mind, I take her bloodied hand and kiss it. "I did not want you to dirty yourself for me" I tell her then cup her cheek and kiss her lips, she melts into this kiss, lightly moaning, human women who react this way to intimate kissing indicate their love and lust, it was at a high for her. I never imagined she of all people would become like this, but I can comprehend that being amongst us she could develop such detrimental behavior. I am at fault here.

I pull away from our kissing, the stench of the decaying Sakamaki corpses were too much for me to endure right now. “Let’s go back now” I tell her, she smiles and nods, as we leave through the front gates another obstacle gets in the way. These second half breed scums. Heinz’s former human pets. His great beast Yuma was blocking the way. “Where do you think you’re going with Sow?” He asked then his eyes scanned her, “who’s blood is that..?!” He questions, I do not speak to low grade species so I do not say anything. But she began laughing hysterically “say…Yuma, didn’t you always want to reconcile with Shu..? I haven’t turned his body into ashes maybe you still have a chance.” She says, something in this great beast snaps and he launches himself towards her, i swiftly glide my hand through his heart, and snatch it out crushing it within my grasp, the disgusting blood tainted my hands. I threw it down and stepped on it. His body fell limb and with a finger snap his body was set a blaze, not for the first time I hear. This pathetic being survived a fire as a human, he should’ve stayed dead.

“What the fuck?!?” That annoying blonde pretty boy began to yell, revealing his hiding location along with the rest of his pseudo brothers. They tried to cease the fire of their burning brother but it is impossible to tamper with first blood magic. The horror on their faces, it was bringing back life to me. “You really choose this psychopath over us?!” The blonde let out again, I can never remember his name. “Yes Kou..he is the love of my life..I choose him” she says, this brings me a feeling I only get next to her, happiness. I noticed she had a silver dagger and I took it from her hands. “Shin, take them all and throw them in our dungeon” I tell him, I clench the dagger in my hand, I could kill them quickly but torturing them would be more sufficient.

We return to the manor, I bring her down with me to the dungeon and there we engage in much torture, I used the silver dagger to slice off the fingers of Mukami Ruki, he tried his best to suppress his pain, I forced the sickly scared one to eat his brother's fingers, I cut off the blondes tongue. It was very much pleasant torturing them, remembering what they did to her body, and her mind enraged me…I had an idea, I grabbed her and began kissing her passionately in front of them, of course she kissed back matching my pace. I tore off the bloodied dress and revealed her nude body, from the other side of the dungeon bars, all 3 of them looks with their eyes widened. I spread her legs apart and push her face into the bars, then begin ramming myself into her. She cried out my name and begged me to go harder, she was reaching back to me, and I grabbed her arms we were in sync going at my pace, with each thrust she howled, I change our positions and she is now riding me, the way she swayed her hips onto me, it felt electrifying. I could see the look of pain in their faces, she was all mine and they couldn’t do anything about it, the look of defeat and anguish on their ugly scum faces gave me so much energy I could make love to her all night long.

[klainepolls]

unexpected- day 5 of 7

by: @kurtsascot

day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4

POLL AT END DECIDES BLAINE’S RESPONSE

———

Blaine starts a cup of coffee. He has a limited catalogue of flavors and roasts, and he has no idea what Kurt likes to drink, but he reasons that bringing Kurt something is better than doing nothing.

He makes the coffee sweeter than he’d take it. He wastes time searching for the perfect mug.

Can coffee be too hot? Is that a thing he needs to worry about?

As the sound of Kurt’s shuffling diminishes, Blaine holds the cup close to his chest and knocks on the shuttered door with the back of his other hand. “Kurt?”

Silence.

The door starts to open, and Blaine tracks Kurt’s fingertips as they crest the frame. “Yeah?”

“I made you some coffee.”

The door falls the rest of the way open, and Kurt steps through the gap, all leg and long lines. Behind him, the blue puffer is airdrying over the side of the sink, its brown staining tenderly nursed away.

His cream dress shirt drapes over his shoulders, half unbuttoned and still damp, and clinging to his stomach.

Kurt’s eyes flick to the mug. He pops a hip against the door. “Are you going to spill it on me again?” He teases as he persuades the coffee out of Blaine’s fervid grip.

His hands are soft and smell like Blaine’s discounted detergent.

Blaine’s hands fall to his sides. “I am not.” The odd energy from earlier has largely dissipated, and Blaine is relieved- he can stomach a rib if it means everything is back to how it was outside the coffee shop.

Kurt takes a step forward, into the hallway, wet shirt and all.

In an act of self-preservation, Blaine politely steps back.

Cotton stays adhered to Kurt’s stomach, and, under the hex of New York City tap water and the glare of overhead light, the shirt has turned translucent. The fabric looks tauntingly paper-thin as it pools and wrinkles against Kurt’s skin…

Blaine stares for far too long.

“Did… Did you have a shirt in mind, or…”

“Ah. No, no- you can pick,” Blaine hurries to say, scrambling to lead Kurt to his closet.

Once inside his room, Blaine rakes a hand across his hangers, spreading the assortment of polos and dress shirts apart to give Kurt a better assessment of all that he has.

Blaine’s style is regimented; there isn’t much variety. It’s hard to picture Kurt in any of his staples. “I don’t think our aesthetics have much overlap.” Blaine’s also not sure if he can survive seeing Kurt fill out something tighter when he’s going this insane over a wet button-down; Kurt’s got three inches on him, and… his shoulders…

“I’ll make it work,” Kurt declares, already leafing through Blaine’s closet with his left hand. In his right, he lifts the mug to his face, takes a sip, and coughs. “This is terrible,” he spits with a wild look in his eye. “How do you drink this!?”

Blaine grimaces. “I should have warned you- The coffee shop is much better.”

Kurt pulls out a lavender dress shirt and holds it up to the light. “I’ll have to take your word for it. I haven’t had their coffee yet.” He quirks an eyebrow, and, out of the corner of his mouth, hums, “Someone prevented me from going inside.”

Right. “I’m sorry,” Blaine repeats, helplessly.

Kurt cracks into a smile and tosses the shirt onto the bed, the plastic hanger thumping against Blaine’s checkered, linen sheets. “I’m messing with you,” he tsks. He lifts the mug to his lips and takes another sip. He doesn’t cough, and, this time, his eyes dance beyond the brim. “Thank you.”

Blaine watches Kurt take another long taste before he snaps out of his reverie. “I’ll let you get changed.”

He starts to flee.

Kurt’s mug rattles onto a coaster. “Blaine?”

Blaine stops in the doorway and turns.

Kurt leans his back against the lip of the desk, his hands steading himself on the edge, curling under the wood.

He’s quiet until he isn’t.

“You lied to me,” Kurt says. “Why?”

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Okay, but what about a What We Do In The Shadows Fruity Four (Steddie + Ronance) AU? 

I'm just stuck with an AU idea of a vampire Eddie and Steve as his accidentally vampire hunting familiar who is just so done with all the vampire shit. Steve ran away to become a familiar from his strict parents and expectations and becoming a vampire sure sounds better than taking over his dad’s business. He just snuck out one evening, went to a bar and got very, very drunk, poured his heart out to a young man with the prettiest wavy hair he’s ever seen. The next morning, he woke up in a room that looks like a 80s rock kid’s dream with a pounding headache and a sense that he’s dreaming when Eddie explains to him what he is and what he can offer to Steve. He tries to explain to Steve how being a familiar works, that he’d basically be with Eddie 24/7 and do everything that requires being in the sunlight and then one day he might become a vampire himself, but Steve just shrugs and says “does this mean I’ll never have to see a pristine white carpet? Those would stain with blood, right? I’m in.” 

Turns out Eddie lives with a duo of other two fairly fresh/new vampires, Nancy and Robin. Things might be a bit weird for a moment because Nancy was Steve’s first serious girlfriend, but she seems happy and that’s enough for him. Nancy asks if it bothers him what she is now, that she drinks blood to survive, and he just shrugs his shoulders again and says “not more than when you used to drink decaf. That was fucked up, Nance.” Robin makes fun of him a lot and sometimes sends him on the weirdest quests possible (”get me a music sheet for Never Gonna Give You Up, but it needs to be for a trumpet”), but she has a soft spot for him. Nancy and Robin have a familiar too, a runaway teen called Max, but Steve’s fairly sure it’s less of a familiar situation and more of an unofficial adoption. Max is snarky and Steve adores her. 

Steve suspects Eddie knows way more about recent pop culture and vampire media, but he's always saying stupid things to drive Steve crazy. He also likes to see Steve squirm. Steve’s suspicions are confirmed when they go to the store to buy some celebratory decorations for the arrival of Uncle Wayne, the vampire who made Eddie (Eddie doesn’t talk about it much, but apparently Wayne bit him when he was getting lynched by a mob to save his life in the 80s), Eddie kept scaring Steve by stories of what an ancient vampire Wayne is and how traditional he acts, but then Eddie goes to the craft section of the store and starts collecting crepe paper (”creepy paper! Creepy paper!”) and smudging glitter on himself (”I’ll sparkle like Twilight!”) while Steve is 100% sure Wayne is going to kill him. And when Wayne arrives, he looks just like a normal guy, hugs Eddie and when Steve asks where his famous 19th century cape is, Wayne just rolls his eyes and smacks Eddie’s chest. “You’re up to your usual tricks, I see.” Apparently, Wayne got turned in the 50s when he tried to save his own brother from his stupidity, dragging him away after he tried to steal from a real 19th century vampire. 

Their lives are not really ideal because a lot of vampires consider it a mockery of their species that these three don’t just adhere to their aesthetic (no coffins for one, well, Eddie has one but he stores his electric guitar there because “she deserves the comfort”), but they also don’t treat their familiars as they should, too relaxed. So there are sometimes invaders aiming to harm the three vampires and Steve is 100% determined to keep his new home, so when an attacker sneaks through the kitchen window, he grabs the nearest item - chopsticks, he was about to eat his takeout - and stabs it into the invader’s chest. Apparently that counts as a stake. And of course that’s exactly when Uncle Wayne walks in, looks at the pile of ash at Steve’s feet (yep, killing vampires is a big no no in their community) and silently hands him a vacuum cleaner. They never talk about it. Max claims she never saw anything, but she inconspicuously hands Steve a hand-carved stake. “For rats,” she says, her innocent blue eyes peering into his. “They sometimes get reeeeally big.” 

Eddie is slowly getting ready to turn Steve, but he’s grown fond of him so much that he’s afraid if he gives him what he wants (well, Steve says he doesn’t necessarily want to be a vampire but why else would he stick around, Eddie thinks), Steve is going to leave. So he keeps stalling, making vague promises and Steve is like “yeah okay, sure, next sabbath or whatever sounds nice, but could you please do your levitation thingy, I want to sweep the floor now”. 

(Also Steve often comes from the outside into the dark house and Eddie kind of misses the sun, but when he’s around Steve he can feel the warmth radiating from his skin and Eddie just wants to wrap himself around Steve like a vampire backpack)

[blundrdskiesnburninlands]

Title: The Enigma of Death Angel Mushroom

Greetings, my favoured companions,

Allow me, to introduce to you the realm of ethereal beings cloaked in beauty yet veiled in peril, the allure of Death Angel Mushroom, which captivated my attention and interest.

Quite a name, isn’t it? It dances upon the tongue and lurks with dangers that take hold of oneself silently. A white beauty with a sweet smell and taste, straight out of a fairyland, these beautiful

Amanita mushrooms are responsible for bringing deaths and pain to humans worldwide.

Behold the majesty of the Amanita family, with over 900 species, among which these Death Angel mushrooms and Death Cap mushrooms are part of the nine species that produce amatoxins, a family of deadly and potent toxic compounds. For those science guys and girls, it consists of eight amino acids arranged in a ring structure, called cyclic octapeptides.

Habitat and Manifestation

One might find these mushrooms in oak-hardwood forests and growing in a bunch or singly, under the shade of the tree. Pristine whiteness, delicately smooth with a convex cap ranging from 5-10 cm in diameter with white pores and a smooth skirt-like ring and stem, basking in the ephemeral glow of sunlight for a few hours each day. While maintaining the fairyland aesthetic, they appear and proliferate in springs and summer and soon die in autumn and winter, concealing a lethal secret.

Amatoxin, a lovely yet nefarious agent of destruction, having three henchmen,- Alpha, Beta and Gamma amanitin, plays a very twisted and simple dance of death. It blocks a key enzyme called RNA polymerase II which is crucial for making mRNA, basically instructing cells to produce proteins. Without mRNA, cells can’t make proteins which are essential for various functions and most of all survival of the cells. Without the proteins, the cells start to die, especially the liver and kidneys which are targeted organs, working hard to process toxins and maintaining body functions.

Symphonic Suffering

A symphony of symptoms unfolds, 6-12 hours after ingestion. A tumultuous attack on the stomach and intestines, very similar and often mistaken as normal mushroom poisoning, followed by profuse diarrhoea and vomiting. Ideally, this would be the right time to seek immediate medical attention but often ideocracy and human incompetency disguised as overconfidence gets in the way and these symptoms get overlooked, misplacing the key to salvation.

This initial phase affecting the gastrointestinal tract may soon end in a few hours causing a feeling of relief or creating a fake recovery period. But here’s the catch, dear acquaintances, these toxins crawl about one’s body causing slow and steady damage while under the pretence of low blood pressure. For a few days, one shall live but all one feels is that the mushroom poisoning is all done and in the past.

And as soon as that fake realization sets in, the second attack or phase starts, within mere days. One will greet kidney and liver failure, bleeding disorders and eventual brain dysfunction occurs, which is when toxins have been successful in damaging the vital organs and will eventually lead the path to coma and sweet death.

Salvation

While all hope would be lost after the second stage, hospital or emergency room should be the first choice of treatment which prevent severe symptoms and organ damage with intensive care

if one feels they have ingested death angel mushroom or something similar. And know this, dear acquaintances, it might prove beneficial for you someday, that a general antidote for such poisons is activated charcoal, taken by mouth. It plays a simple yet crucial role in preventing the absorption of any poison in the stomach or intestines. Mix it with a laxative and the poison’s excretion will be faster and the unavoidable can be kept at bay, at least for today.

Dehydration is something which could severely aid this agent of death, by impacting your blood pressure and de-accelerating one’s body to a dangerous condition. Electrolytes and fluids will be prescribed to restore hydration if timed correctly.

A famous antidote for mushroom poisoning is Silibinin or Silybin, cultivated to inhibit the uptake of amatoxins by liver cells, reducing liver damage and enhancing the elimination of toxins from the body. One can find it available in both oral supplement and intravenous formulations, the latter is usually preferred. Other drugs like NAC, is also used with or without, depending on the availability of the former.

When all hope is lost, Haemodialysis is what one is left with, if one’s too late for the above-mentioned antidotes. Mainly to remove toxins and waste products from one’s blood if the kidneys have eventually failed, Haemodialysis is the last treatment to be done as a treatment for amatoxin poisoning.

A final note

Beneath the forest canopy, the death angel mushroom hides its lethal secret amidst the innocent guise of the button mushroom. Its pristine appearance might make it look like a healthier and prettier version of the button mushroom and an easy choice to be handpicked. A nice amount of death angel mushroom is toxic enough to kill a person within a few days of ingestion, the symptoms slowly but surely show up and can be deadly without quick medical help.

Such a delicate beauty can show the fragility of life and the resilience of the human spirit if any. Tread lightly in the realm of nature’s dark embrace, cause the allure of darkness and death doesn’t let go of one’s hand after a sweet interaction with this botanical odyssey.

Till next time…

.

.

.

.

References-

*The images attached are not my own, explored from Pinterest

Sources vary, yet are reliable tbh I forgot to note them down as I wrote this... WebMD, Clinical Toxicology, Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora etc*

[girl4music]

Can men be lesbians? In reality… probably not since a “lesbian” is wholly defined as a female homosexual.

In fiction? Hell yes because fiction is representation.

The thing with being a lesbian is that it’s not just a sexuality. It’s a whole damn aesthetic and some actual characters that identify as male in art/entertainment do have that aesthetic and possess the qualities and traits of what you would typically have of a lesbian. It’s a stereotype, don’t get me wrong. But it’s used often enough in fiction and art/entertainment that it’s a thing. Take Spike for example. Now, to me, his whole vibe just screams out “repressed lesbian” because he undergoes an entire character arc of performing something he thinks he should or must be but actually isn’t. That of an evil thing only. A beast. A monster. But when push comes to shove is really just a hapless, scorned pathetic loser with the kindest and most compassionate heart. In his human lifetime as William Pratt he gets nicknamed “William the Bloody” not because he kills people but because he kills poetry. He is a “bloody awful poet” and he takes that insult to heart so much to the point where he rebrands himself when he becomes a vampire. With the help of Druscilla who sires him and moulds his world anew, he turns his unfortunate nickname into one that actually is because he kills people. And he becomes “William the Bloody” because he is an evil thing only. A beast. A monster. But one that only exists and is created because he was treated so cruelly himself and not because his inherent nature and identity is evil because he is now a vampire - a demon with no soul.

Why does this make me view him as a repressed lesbian? What does any of this have to do with queerness at all? Well, in much the same way that Buffy’s Slayerism is a metaphor/allegory for being or feeling queer, Spike’s vampirism is a metaphor/allegory for performing that of which doesn’t fit quite right and is only a costume one is wearing to protect themselves from feeling like nothing but a weakling and a loser. Very much like Willow. A performance and projection of evil but is nowhere near that in actuality. Spike represses a part of him that is the foundation for everything that he is and that he becomes; William Pratt. And with the help of The Fanged Four fashions an identity that is only the armor for his vulnerability. It all depends on what external influence he has how he acts because he is like a wounded animal incarcerated. Animals are genuinely the most passionate and loyal of creatures - but they do bite you if you hurt them or something they care about. They will do what they can to survive, feed off the blood and the meat and marrow of other creatures and are insanely and fiercely protective of their own.

‘Fool For Love’ practically tells you everything you need to know about Spike through his backstory because his backstory is HIS backstory. It doesn’t belong to some separate human entity that died that he, as a demon, now possesses and assumes the identity of. William IS that of the same entity of that of which IS Spike. They are the same conscious entity. Spike IS the human and IS the demon simultaneously. Everything we get with Spike is informed by William and everything we get with William creates Spike. The “evil demon” that “sets up shop” in the body doesn’t exist because it is not a possession. It’s an evolution. Which is why when he gets his soul, we don’t get William Pratt back. We just get Spike with a soul. No different from the entity that was when there wasn’t one besides a change of perspective in morality. But very much the same exact person as soulless Spike because the soul is just an internal moral compass. It’s just a conscience and nothing more than that really. However, the inherent nature and identity that was William is so strong and so encompassing within Spike (because he is the same entity as William) that it was possible Spike could become good without a soul. It would be extremely difficult for him yes, because he didn’t know the difference between right and wrong on his own. He didn’t have Jiminy Cricket within him. But he did possess a human psyche that was good. His consciousness is what would have helped him eventually evolve into a selfless and empathetic being because he already possessed those traits and qualities anyway. He already was capable of doing good just as much as he was capable of doing evil and were he treated with kindness and respect from the Scoobies - would have had more opportunity to override his demonic nature and cultivate his human. And I absolutely refuse to believe that he couldn’t because as far as I’m concerned, the only damn thing that made the difference was who was in his company.

And besides from all of that - just fucking LOOK AT HIM. The bleach blonde hair, the nail polish, the eyes. Tell me he doesn’t look like the most feminine male there is and the most masculine female there is. I’m sorry to involve the stereotypes but you cannot tell me that this is not what they were going for with his characterization when they began to conceive him.

[ladynamida]

Devil May Cry: Vergil's Clothes

Warning: self-indulgent headcanons and rambling to follow. Tw for very brief mentions of violence against children (this is Vergil we're talking about here and I don't think he's had a good time).

I'm thinking again about how Vergil is wrapped in so many layers of clothes. Yes Vergil being so gussied up is an aesthetic treat but why is he like this?

On that day, the day of the fire, he was attacked, stabbed to within an inch of his life and turfed out of his home - and his family, or so he thought - wearing a shirt, shorts and boots. Suitable for a life on the run and on the streets it was not. It makes sense that once he was able he would dress in sturdier clothes for travelling, fighting demons and inclement weather alike.

We don't know the details of Vergil's later childhood years but I don't think the DMC universe is so different to ours that we should assume it is different than for real vulnerable street children. (Barring the eternal threat of demons hunting the blood of Sparda - but the parallels between them and real human traffickers and perpetrators of violence - physical, mental or sexual - against children are a whole other matter to consider.)

There was some information saying he was raised in isolation or in hell but I don't think that was confirmed as canon and still lacks any kind of detail. So how did young Vergil survive? Was he taken in? It strikes me that kind of situation may not have lasted long if he was hunted... Did he find sympathisers willing to support him?... Did he steal?... Did the mighty Son of Sparda have to beg for socks and bread? What a treasure trove of humiliating memories for such a proud and haughty man, pre-packaged and ready to be used against him by anyone wishing to cause him pain (looking at you Mundus). Somehow I doubt he immediately learned how to glamour-up a new outfit a la Trish's technique without guidance but it would have been helpful.

When we see Vergil in DMC3 he is dressed for the party: that beautiful, vivid blue battle coat with its gold lining and thorns/vine motif, the snakeskin trousers and belt combo, the boots and of course the infamous ascot scarf...

However he got them, to me it feels like a statement. "I'm not hiding any more." Chin jutted out, frown between brows, you can see me and I am untouchable. You have shown me no mercy, see how strong and unforgiving I am now. Who is that message for... the demonic legions hunting him or the scared little boy who had to grow up too quickly? Denial (like many behaviours) can be a useful emotional self-defence mechanism until it takes you too far down a dangerous path and reality catches up with you.

... and despite the overt flair and flamboyance if you look past the jewel colours he's pretty well wrapped - especially if you compare his outfit with Dante's. I know I know, in his defence Dante was rudely interrupted by Arkham's invitation and jumped right into action, but even so their clothes mimic their mannerisms. Vergil's? Stoic. Upright. Inviolable. Closed off. Separate. Alone. Lonely?

We know what "clothes" Vergil wears next. Armour: dark, constricting, binding, hopeless. Eventual escape - but not rescue.

So now imagine surviving the unsurvivable only to find yourself crumbling apart from the inside, knowing no matter how many cloaks or rags you wear you can't hide this time when the monster is inside your skin. A time to mourn then, the colours muted, darker, but an attempt to reclaim "oneself" - whatever that looks like after being torn apart. The thorns return and his own colour, but not the sparkling blues that almost glowed in the darkness of Temen Ni Gru. Perhaps a more grown up outfit for a man who didn't really live through all of the years he has been alive but survived them none-the-less. Scars, tattered coat-tails and all.

V. V, V, V... who didn't initially choose the outfit he wore but seemed to choose to keep wearing it despite spending a month surrounded by abandoned clothes stores or at least homes. Surely he could have pilfered some more sensible or logical devil hunting threads, unless he felt he didn't need to. Metaphorically cloaked by the support of his nightmares, maybe? (Or maybe he felt like your average run-of-the-mill demons wouldn't be as interested in getting their claws into him - and besides, what could they possibly do to him that hadn't been done before?) Dangerous bravado for someone so physically weak, a reminder of whom he came from.

Urizen, containing Vergil's lust for power and propped up by the skills he valued at the time of his Yamato-induced schism - power and strength, physical and demonic. In self preservation and to become stronger he armoured himself with the Qliphoth tendrils and used them to take the blood of human innocents. Take, take, take. Why shouldn't he take when so much has been taken from him? His outermost armour and shield, the faithful friend he carried and was protected by throughout those formative childhood years - Yamato. He eats the Fruit and sheds the armour - why would it be necessary now? Again, he feels untouchable, unbreakable, strong (using his own somewhat limited definition of the term). He loses of course because he is incomplete - V had strength too though it manifested in different ways. The strength to overcome, the strength to do whatever it takes to survive and the strength to ask for help (although perhaps that is debatable, since he acted at times as though he thought he was in control and manipulating those foolish enough to help him).

Even after reforming as Vergil and meeting Dante atop the Qliphoth nothing seems to have changed. Of course we know from Visions of V that a lot has changed. The way Vergil feels is laid bare for us to see and Vergil regains some parts of himself that he lost all of those years ago... not only that day but throughout the following years where his only option was to survive.

But no open-necked Henley, no forearms on show, still wrapped in those layers. Another armoured vest (sleeveless?) zipped and buttoned to within an inch of his life (and chin - those animations don't exactly make it look comfortable). The other devil hunters in the series seem much happier casually flashing their skin - midriff, cleavage, abs and ass cheeks aplenty - so what makes Vergil any different, other than his antagonist status? (Maybe I'm thinking too deeply and it's purely fan-service.)

So, still looking for protection, still hiding, still afraid of appearing (or being) anything other than untouchable? Still protecting his vulnerable core from anyone or anything that would harm him?

Recovery from trauma is an ongoing process, not something that can be "fixed" within the scope of a game, or a year, or a decade, nor can people be "fixed" to become the same person they once were. But people can grow and become something more and find life worth living again. So maybe one day we'll get to see all three descendants of Sparda with their coats on the ground and hearts on their sleeves, sparring for fun as a family.

Tldr: something something a self-defence mechanism against the entire world something

--------------

If you made it to the bottom of this self-indulgent ramble then kudos to you! So many thoughts, so difficult to articulate and so few words... and there are so many tangents I could go off on but I won't since we somehow made it to a conclusion. Sometimes you've just got to let it out 🎶

[star-junk]

Only Bones

Ch. 3

Rating: Mature

Pairings: Alastor x ReaderOC, Vox x ReaderOC, Future Lucifer x ReaderOC

Second Person POV, Change of POV, Slow burn (or fast burn - really moving through the plot quickly), please forgive the typos.

Warnings: Dark Themes, Altered state of consciousness, possessive behavior, mention of dv, non-con elements in the future, cannibalism and just things not being nice--it's Hell.

General Notes: Still not sure if Alastor will remain ace within the confines of my story. Also, operating under many assumptions for Season 2 so walk with me on this one.

Author Notes: I know nothing about TV production so I'm just winging most of this. Continuing with the breakneck pace bc otherwise I'd spend endless chapters setting shit up.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Jo asks.

“Hmm, I think I only feel better about it because it’s Rosie’s friend? He seemed nice enough.” You reply, sprinkling flour over the table for the dough you’re working on. The old radio you bought plays a nice melodic tune as you prepare for the next day’s special orders.

“He’s the Radio Demon, Nuria.” He insists.

“I mean, yes he is, but I hear the Princess is really nice too, so.”

He makes a point to walk over to you so you can see the skepticism on his stare while still stirring pie filling, bowl in hand and everything. “I just find it amazing how quickly you flip once money is involved.” 

“C'mon, Jo, it’s not like you’re any different.” You respond.

He pauses his stirring. “Yeah, but I actually have survival instincts." He argues, "You remind me of my uncle, you know. He used to work for the mob in the Greed Ring and guess what? He went missing years ago!” You roll your eyes, concentrating on the dough instead.

Jo refused to come on the agreed upon day, saying he wanted nothing in whatever it was you were getting yourself into. So there you were bright and early at the time and address the Radio De—Alastor gave you. 

Parking right in front of the Hotel, you had to admit the renovations made the place look like a 5 star stay. It stood out against the rest of dilapidated buildings in the surrounding area, and much like the V Tower; Different elements come together to represent a single entity. There was a radio tower at one end (no guessing who that space belonged to) and a red apple at the other.

“Quite the sight, isn’t it?” 

You nearly jump out of your skin. Alastor stands right outside to your van’s window. Your hand goes to your chest to keep your heart from escaping out of your ribcage as his smile widens. 

“H-hi, yes, yes it’s quite beautiful. ‘Morning.” You greet. “Dear Lord, you startled me.”

“My apologies, I tend to have that effect on people.” He opens the door motioning for you. “Please, Charlie is eager to meet you.” 

“Thank you.” You smile, reaching for your purse and the tasting boxes. He snaps one of his fingers and suddenly there’s a tiny shadowy creature taking the boxes from you. No matter how many years pass, you don’t think you’ll ever adjust to these kinds of things being a normal occurrence. He then helps you out of the van. “You're very kind.” 

“Ha! Aren’t you a darling.” He responds amused. You pause only for a moment before linking an arm with his when he offers it, his old manners shining through. You’re starting to see why Rosie likes him so much - ‘a proper gentleman.’

Walking up to the Hotel you take in the view. The landscape is mostly dead as it is in most places of hell but was at least kept neat. You spot some widow’s kisses blooming here and there, so the soil couldn’t be a complete lost cause.

“Do you have many guests staying?” You ask to give yourself an idea of how much work will be involved if things go well in this meeting.

“Hmm, not currently, no. But Charlie is hoping for more soon.” You get the feeling he's not very attached to the Hotel despite also being its Facility Manager.

“I don’t see why people wouldn’t want to book a stay. The renovations are quite nice, aesthetics alone should draw in crowds, if anything.” You are being completely honest about that.

“They’re… acceptable, I suppose.” And there it is again. As if he didn’t have a hand in that either, but for all that you know maybe he didn’t. “Though the staff is wonderful, a very welcoming bunch, you’ll love them!” He concedes.

You sure hope so. You swallow nearing the Hotel’s entrance, your hold unconsciously tightening around his arm.

“Oh there’s nothing to fret, my dear, there’s nothing but good ol’ chums here, mostly.” He says with a bit of flare as the doors to the Hotel open and you step inside. 

It’s just as luxurious inside as it is on the outside, of course it is, you don’t know what you were expecting. The varied crimson hues are heightened with the golden touches here and there. The furniture with elaborate designs looks expensive as all hell and yeah, maybe you could make good business here if—

“Hello, HI! Welcome!” 

A youthful cheery voice greets you. It’s Ms. Morningstar the Princess of Hell herself. You hardly have time to return the greeting as she takes your hand in a very enthusiastic handshake. Her eyes and smile outshine anyone you’ve ever met before. “We are sooo excited to make business with our first vendor.” She gushes with not an ounce of malice in her voice, “Alastor spoke very highly of your pastries.” 

“Thank you, your Royal Highness. A pleasure to meet you.” You reply, finally letting go of Alastor’s arm.

“Charlie is fine.” She waves off the title.

“Hon, we need to see if we even like them first.” Someone says behind her. 

"I'm sure we'll like them, Vaggie." She replies to a girl with long pale hair and sooty skin. "This is Vaggie, she’s our Hotel’s Manager .” She smiles, dragging the other girl by the hand. They must be close. The other girl gives you a once over before extending her hand.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Her tone is way less cheery than her companion, but is at the very least neutral. “You’re one of Alastor’s little… friends?” 

Oh, whatever idea she has of you must be reset at once. “I just had the honor to make his acquaintance last week, Rosie introduced us.” 

Her brow perks up at that. “Wait, these are not— “

“No, Miss, I wouldn't dare.” You assure her. “Rosie has her own special orders. These are the ones we sell at my shop for the general public.” 

“So these are not people pies?” A girlish voice draws your attention below. A short crimson bob frames a single intense eye. “Are you Alastor’s new soul? Are those wings? You smell good!” The petite girl waves, her eye trained on you with a mixture of curiosity and predatory glee. 

“And this is Nifty, our Cleaning Staff.” Alastor introduces.

Ah. “Hi… Nifty, a pleasure to meet you.” You don’t even dare shake her hand.

“Alright that’s enough of introductions,” Vaggie claps stepping forward, “show us the goods, we still got work to do putting this event together.” Her bossy tones gives her away former (current?) military.

You glance at Alastor who merely chuckles before commenting. “She’s always like that.” 

Ah. 

Charlie guides you to the currently unstaffed bar where the tasting boxes were set. “I wish everyone could be here to give their opinion.” She sighs. 

“Babe, as long as you like them it should be enough.” Vaggie is right about that, you think. “Who knows what time Angel will come back and Husk? At this time of morning? Forget about it.”

“Alright, but maybe Dad wants to come down?” She says procuring her cell phone as you get busy setting up the samples—wait, the King of Hell is staying here too?

“Oh don’t bother His Highness, dear, it’s far too early in the morning.” Alastor says, resting a gentle hand over hers. “And hadn’t he been feeling rather… undisposed lately?” 

“Yeah, but I mean he shouldn’t spend so much time holed up there.“ 

“I can set some aside, if you’d like.” You offer, you weren't so eager to meet him, tense and overwhelmed as you are right now.

She smiles, turning to you, “That would be great, thank you.”

“Of course.” She was a breath of fresh air. It’s ironic the Princess of actual literal Hell turned out to be one of the nicest people you met down here. You hand everyone a plate with the pie samples. “Alright so starting from the right  is our shop’s best seller, it’s darkberry with yumava fruit. I should mention our flour is made with a combination of actual topside flour and wheat from the Wrath Ring. We use organic butter from cattle also from Wrath, its brought up by my shop’s assistant. And the sugar comes from... “ You go on about the ingredients and cooking method, watching as their faces go from skepticism to full enjoyment. “I can make the more savory ones as appetizers as well. Princess, I think these would go great with the event if you’re trying to foster a kind of environment sinners can call home and you know what they say, there’s nothing more comforting than homemade pie!” 

Her brows rise at that; Yup, she’s yours. She sets her fork and plate down, grasps your hands coming inches from your face declaring. “We’ll take 100 of each!” Oh Boy.

“What— Charlie, we don’t even know if that many will show up in the first place!” 

“Because we don’t know Vaggie, we should prepare!” And you can’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm.

“She a funny one.” Alastor comments, having read your mind. 

“Princess, how about we do 10 of each? That would still be plenty.” And more realistic to the numbers of attendees. “I’m sure you’ll have other foods to offer as well.” 

“Okay, yeah, sorry… I’m just kind of nervous, we’ve had a lot of inquiries lately” (‘Five is not a lot,’ the little maid chirps but you pretend not to hear her.) “about the Hotel so I want to make a good impression.” She admits scratching the back of her head and wow, she really does seem to care for this place.

“I understand, Princess, but your friend is right, it be a pity if the food went to waste.” You rest a hand on her shoulder. “But let me write down this really good recipe I know for frazzled nerves in the meantime.” You offer with a smile.

You thank the Princess once more for her business, it has been the smoothest transaction you’ve ever done, half of the commission already paid in advance.

Alastor waits for you, offering his arm again to walk you back to your van.

“She’s great.” You comment,  making your way down the pebbled road leading to the gates.

“That she is, my dear.” He answers, “Nothing like her Father.”

Oh. “Got a beef with the King of Hell?” 

“Hah ha ha!! No, of course not, nothing of the sort...” His frown at odds with his sharp smile. You prod no further as you near your van. “I thought you’d certainly take her initial request for a hundred pies— Oh the hilarity!”

You laugh along with him. “It just didn’t feel right doing that, you know? But maybe it would have been different if she had been a brat.”

He laughs, “Seems like you and I have a lot in common,” and who would have thought? “Well, I’ve delivered you safe and sound to your vehicle, so I’m afraid this is good bye— “

“Wait, Alastor.” You interrupt climbing inside the van, “I have something for you.” You procure a bottle of wine, it’s the kind Rosie said he likes the best. “A thank you gift for everything.” 

He looks from the bottle to you for a brief moment before responding, his head tilting to the side as if deciding how to respond. “Oh My, you shouldn't have!” He says finally bringing the flat of his palm up to refuse. “I cannot accept.”

“Aw, after I went through the trouble?” You shoot him your best hurt puppy dog eyes.

“Hmm.” The soft sound of changing stations comes through the strange filter he emits as his eyes settle on the wine. “Well, who am I to scorn a lady’s thoughtful gift?”

You chuckle, handing him the bottle.

………………….

The next day you stopped by Alicia’s speakeasy to pay the rental for the bakery space, being one of the handful of buildings she owned around the city. Dim cool light welcomes you as you enter, alongside the smell of cheap beer and cigarettes. Goodness knows how you were able to work here every night.

“The usual, Nuria?” Old Vince asks as soon as he sees you take a seat.

“Yes, the usual.” You nod. “Is she busy today?” 

“When is she not, doll. But let me let her know you’re here.” He leaves to get her as soon as he’s done with your drink. You hope Alicia comes quickly. One time you had to wait almost two hours before she remembered you were there. ‘I forgot’ she said, though you’re sure she did it on purpose - never getting over you leaving her employment. You’re gonna be so mad if she makes you do the same, you had some shopping to do today. In the mean time you sit there reviewing your shopping list making sure nothing is missing while you wait. Declining offers for company here and there.

“Hey there, beautiful.” Alicia’s fake affection draws your attention up. Her scaly skin and green eyes glistening in the low ambiance of the bar. Draping dark fins parted to one side to hide the ugly scar at the corner of her mouth.

“Hi Alicia. I’m here to pay rent.” You get to the point, going through your purse to retrieve your wallet.

“Yeah, about that, babe. Rent went up.” 

You have to be kidding. 

“What?! Again?!”

“Yeah, turns out demons from other rings are interested in setting up shop in the city now that we know angels can be handled.” She explains, crossing her arms to inspect her nails.

“Alicia, please don’t do this to me.” This could really affect the rate of your savings, you’re barely making enough of a profit - discounting the debt you have for the equipment, packaging materials, ingredients, electricity, Jo’s wages, the van, and your own personal expenses - your own rent. Why the fuck do you still have to pay rent in hell?!

“I could keep it the same if you came back to perform,” Oh this scummy bitch, “Dezba is long gone, so he can’t tell you what to do anymore!” She snorts mockingly.

“Do not!!” Your voice low as your body moves on its own, jabbing a finger at her chest. “Don't you ever dare bring him up again! Now how much is the increase, you vindictive old bitch!” 

“Twice for that.” She answers, unbothered. 

Fuck!

………………………..

You pour over the budget books back at the pie shop, reviewing receipts and expenses. The careful balancing act that took you months of hardwork and dedication  to get going toppled over by that single one unexpected expense. 

“Relax, Nuria, is not as bad as you’re making it out to be!” Jo tries to console you, hand on your shoulder. “You’re still making enough to cover even the rent increase.”

“But now I can’t save Jo! That’s the issue here! And what happens when the next increase comes? And yeah we’re doing okay right now, but who can say this will always be the case? Will other expenses start increasing too?! When will we ever own a place of our own if— ” 

“Nuria, Nuria! Relax, okay? You still got options, ask Rosie for help.” 

“No, I could never… “  She has been helping you enough, you slump over the table, you want to cry. You know you’re truly in hell when capitalism exists even down here.

Knocking at the front of the bakery pulls you out of your misery, you both look at each other. No deliveries were expected today. Peeking from the corner of the kitchen you spot a tall corpulent figure. You really should invest in a security system, you think in hindsight. You swallow turning one of the lights at the front of the shop.

The light reveals a man dressed in a swanky suit, a manic smile plastered on his face - a poor attempt at friendliness when his shark incarnation speaks to a predatory nature. 

“I told you we should keep at least a gun or two on hand.” Jo whispers.

“You must be Ms. Nuria! May I please come in? I mean no harm, I’m a representative from VoxTek.”

VokTek? You and Jo exchange puzzled glances before you decide to open the door. Jo goes to stand where he kept his studded metal bat for shady situations like this. Not like it could do much if someone with that influence wanted to do something to the shop.

“Yes. How can I help you?”

“Good evening, ma’am. I am here because your lovely pies have been quite a hit at the Network.” Really? That was days ago. “One of our producers would like to extend a warm invitation for you to join us as a special guest for our early morning program, The Vibe!”

Well, this is very unexpected. “I… don’t think I’ve heard of the program before?”

“It’s a talk show, with a focus on celebrity gossip.” Jo supplies.

“Celebrity gossip is such an unpleasant way to put it. The Vibe keeps up with the latest trends, entrepreneurs and entertainers of our time!” The VoxTek representative corrects.

“Then it sounds like my humble pies would be out of place in a show like that.”

“Nonsense, why our very own Velvette gave them her seal of approval.” He flashes his phone with a picture of a very staged-going-for-natural picture of a female demon holding one of your pies, your shop’s box visible right next to her with a caption: Wanted to see what the fuss is about. Gotta say, pie was pretty legit. That was… nice, though why does she look so off-put by it? You don’t get a chance to make more observations as the phone is pulled away and the shark demon extends his hand toward you, “Whaddaya say?” 

“Nuria, if you get on the show we could get more customers and hike up the prices too!” 

"Your imp is right, once in an eternity opportunity!"

“He’s not my imp.” It’s the first thing you clarify. “But I… “ There’s something you don’t like about this, un mal presentimiento, looking at the demon’s hand. But Jo has a point, this one thing could balance the books again. “Alright.” You reply, taking his hand.

He squeezes it hard. His fanged smile doesn't reach his eyes.

“My boss will be delighted, Miss!” 

---