#(I think I spelled those correctly)

[camellcat]

you ever realize you never properly learned how to say a character's name, so by the time you finally HEAR it, you have no idea who they're talking about? cause I feel like I keep doing this and it's very confusing to keep being corrected like that

[aeolianblues]

I remembered suddenly that when I was 10, in the very early days of social media, when things were way more lawless and casual, and social media did not link to real life, for all intents and purposes, I did not have internet, save for to be able to do a school-assigned summer project every summer break for which I’d hand-write info from Wikipedia (and other sites) and select some pictures to print out and paste into a scrapbook. In those days, my only real exposure to America was through television. I wasn’t really into sitcoms and whatnot, which are often American, and of course we had Hollywood films. But we also had (have) a lot of indigenous cinema, and so of course I heard a lot of media in my own accent and languages, and read a lot of work written in my own English. Owing to a long and tedious history, our English was British English. Our books were either the English editions, English imports, or occasionally Indian editions. And of course, we had a rich literature of local English-language and Anglo-Indian authors (I hadn’t read The Room On The Roof aged 10! But I would have read it by 15, which honestly is the right age).

There was some exposure to American* English and voices through Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon shows, and through American dubs of kids’ anime, however. So I grew up loving Pokémon, Beyblade, a bunch of other series that my generation at least, watched in English. (*yes I’m aware the Beyblade dub is Canadian. Only Canadians know the difference between a Canadian and an American accent.)

So here we are in around 2009, 2010, all I know about America is: it's vast, very clean (my mum’s dust allergies did not flare up for the first time ever when we visited family there, and so America must be dust-free. As an adult, I maintain my own house now and laugh at the notion that *anywhere* could really be dust-free; my mum visited me and sneezed once. Yet, I do have to concede that she sneezes more in her own house, which shall always be 10x cleaner than mine, and saying this even is a compliment to my house. I try to be my mum. I fail, regularly. (<- was sweeping at 2 am last night because I’d rather have the dust IN the dustbin that I had to take out for garbage collection the next morning. Also it’s!! the hair!!). It has Disneyland, President Obama, Pokémon and Beyblade, mindful of the knowledge that two of these were actually Japanese. No obstacle.

This is my view of America. Sounds quite nice, doesn’t it? And they speak differently to us, but the only people I’ve heard speaking like this are 1. my cousins (very sweet) 2. ‘YES WE CAN!’ A+, inspiring 3. ‘Go Pikachu!’

So I warm to this little novelty. I can still do Ash Ketchum’s voice, and at one point aged like 11 everyone thought I was going to be a voice actor because I could do accents. Never mind that my range was very limited, and I had never been ‘y’all’ed at. All I had was ‘GenAm.’ Southern exposure would come later in life.

I couldn’t just speak American, that would’ve had me cast out immediately. No way. We were harsh on ‘snobs’ that pretended they were from elsewhere, who had a ‘posh upbringing’, went to the international schools, or spoke with an accent we recognised as from the foreign English(-first language) world (read: British or American. Australians were our cricket sledging rivals: we’d done their accent a million times and they’d done ours. They were the reason why Indians have an odd propensity for the word 'mate' despite not being British. The Aussies didn’t count. Also we didn’t really have Australian schools in the country, international schools were usually IB or IGCSE, which usually produced one of two accents). But almost as a little nod, as a token of admiration, I could spell just a handful of words differently.

And so I could declare the color of pH indicators on my tests and then go home to watch my favorite animated series. It was seen simply as a mark of internationalism: what a well-read kid! You were clearly reading outside the curriculum if you were reading American editions. I don't particularly ever remember being taken aside for my spelling or discouraged from it, besides the occasional circling of 'bad' spelling in my work with a red pen by a teacher. The world continued to turn. I volunteered with organisations, my documents were notarised, my sentences ended with fullstops. My sums pointedly ignoring the 'hundred thousands' and 'millions'. I'd come home and sit in the bathroom, furiously scribbling away my Pokémon ideas, telling my mum I needed longer to shower, mental tyres screeching to a halt when she'd turn off the light in frustration. But true to character, at least the scripts retained their proper geographical localisation (localization?), albeit spoken through the mouth of a 13 year old who certainly did not live in the USA. But could put on a damn decent voice in a few specific situations.

I don't remember when exactly this stopped, it likely faded away like many childhood enthusiasms do, aided by a resigned fear of being marked down by external examiners on important tests, and the subsequent need to standardise language for the widest possible readership, but it was long enough ago that I had forgotten I ever wrote like that in the first place. I think it was definitely gone by 2016, for both reasons. I'm not sure 'American' was really 'cool' to anyone anymore. And we were coming up to 15, 16. That was when I first got a phone.

In a few short years, you'd got to a point (not gotten, note) where you had to be connected to the internet: emails from school, class whatsapp group chats, worksheets up on Google Drive rather than wasting 5 minutes of class time distributing printouts in class. Wifi was now a must, as were laptops at home, rather than just the occasional logging onto the family computer. You had to have a phone, silly. (Mine honestly was because my mum would often be an hour late in picking me up from places. We tried the rubber-button Nokia for a while, but it was increasingly becoming obvious that the trajectory for me and anyone around me still without a phone was to eventually get one. I inaugurated mine with beginning listening to the Smiths on Youtube, reading a PDF version of one of the Bourne series books, checking my email regularly, starting a Wordpress blog (which felt very antiquated at the time) and eventually ruining my eyes. Tumblr wasn't even in the picture yet).

We got on social media too. Suddenly, America was everywhere. Suddenly, there were a million casual references to things we'd never heard before. We were taken, up close and personably, into the very houses of Americans we'd never otherwise have met. It was exciting, wasn't it? You could have friends in America! And unlike the chatroom days, there was a chance you'd see them again, because you could follow them. I personally was pretty much only on the cricket and Muse sides and of social media (remember when you didn't need an account to see everything happening on a website?) So I still think I was seeing fewer Americans than usual. The Resistance and 2nd Law periods felt like the first times a lot of Americans were discovering Muse: there were the Grammys in 2009, Kate Hudson and the resulting press hounds, Undisclosed Desires to some, and finally Madness that broke them to many. The fanbase around Muse felt largely European at the time.

But then there were memes. Memespeak. I think today with a more critical lens on what we were consuming (and notice how what used to be 'conversation' in the 00s slowly became 'consumption' of ideas), we realise that a lot of 'memespeak', 'twitter speak', and now 'gen Z talk' and 'tiktok speak' was AAVE that got removed further from its context with every new corner of the world it reached. It's happening right now! Have you heard the latest: 'very demure, very mindful'. I chanced upon the original video. She's talking about her workday makeup. People have now applied it as a lifestyle choice. It came from a black woman and now sounds like tradwife-tok. What on earth were kids in India doing occasionally imbibing their speech with AAVE? Regardless, it was still an Americanism entering our lexicon and consciousness.

Back in 2016, I was very firmly of the belief that the online did not affect your offline life. We lived so far away from it all! Once you log off, it's a different world. It's also kind of why cyberbullying had never really bothered me. What's an American troubling me online going to do, get on a 17 hour, $1000-flight about it? Even if I ever slipped up and narrowed it down to one city, was this hypothetical American going to come and find me specifically amidst 12 million other people? Get out of here. The threat of someone angry driving five hours to cause me harm was simply not the kind of reality for me compared to, well. The Americans that made up like 80% of the internet at the time and dominated the conversation.

Still we learned. Emergency helplines in the US. Safety tips in the US. What to do on the highway. We crossed the highway once in two years. For the longest time, despite all the online awareness being spread, I simply knew that my biggest path to safety was 1) to be in a group that included our guy friends 2) wear jeans rather than skirts and tops that went all the way up 3) get home by 10. (And of course, know that that would still fall woefully short. I saw friends get catcalled at 1 PM, and all I could do was wag a finger in their face and drag my friend away.) The online and offline worlds were different places.

Nonetheless, as time went on, it got a little harder to stop thinking about America in our logged-off time. American politics filters through. Initially, it's just the laughing along with late night hosts on YouTube clips. Then it's the shock and disgust at the actual headlines that would begin to overtake national news as top headlines on the front pages of the news. Slowly, you begin to see the parallels. We cannot point and laugh the way Europe does, unfortunately. We see too much of our own reality reflected in you. The ugly bits. We don't like to see them because we want to think of ourselves as progressive, but we are like you. Or are we? 'Hindus for Trump'. The Americanisation continues apace.

I think we did eventually put our foot down to occupy some floor space. To make our presence felt. To talk about a life that was not American. Deliberately looked for the things that marked us out as non-Americans. We say we are not like them. We say they are nothing like us. But you know, perhaps we don't have to be alike. But there are reflections of each other as people within ourselves. They're not always pleasant to recognise.

[hazard-and-friends]

ugh names

[shanedoesdoodles]

You ever look for a specific word/thing to describe a feeling you're having and think you've found it but as you look more into it it turns out it was a simular concept but very distinct from what you were looking for? And then when you try to be more specific everything that pulls up is still the same close but definitely not the same thing to describe it? I'm a stuck in a bit of a loop at the moment

[drowningincaffiene]

Snapping a stapler in my family's face and barking is my new auditory zoomies

[wholemleko]

.

[summerteeths]

i was going through the tags of one of the high level combat updates and apparently people liked the knight enchanter build in dai which is. batshit insane to me. one man’s trash i guess

[die-lerche]

with becoming a mother comes a great question: how much of a buzzkill am i willing to be to other people?

first of all, Czech people mispronounce my daughter's name all the time because they have a similar name (which i don't like). i would probably reconsider her name (even though it's my favorite name) if i knew that was a thing, but i didn't, so here we are. and like, okay. you heard it wrong once, that's fair, why are you keep doing it after i corrected you? it's a slavic name from a different slavic language, so it's not that hard for you, how about putting minimum effort into respecting my culture.

then, i had THREE separate (white) people comment that she looks "tanned" (she's a mixed baby). it just bugs me, because it sounds like being a white person is a default, and everything else can only be described in comparison to white people. that comment is so unnecessary! imagine me telling someone "wow, your baby looks like you put ten layers of sunscreen on them!".

but the thing is, of course, that people ✨don't mean anything bad by it✨, which makes people sometimes feel that their intent matters more than someone's feelings. idk, i think i should correct people more.

[nyssasorbit]

Rain and Crowdy's ball outfits!

[marmorenshud]

AAAAAAAH I TOUCHED THE MOLD I TOUCHED DIRECTLY ON THE MOLD NOOOOOO

[ajortga]

affection deprived

pairing: jenna ortega x fem reader

authors note: i do not like this but hopefully you do, please send more requests

word count: 1.5k+

-

based off this request!

-

where r asks emma to hold jenna's hand to see if she notices and the second emma held jennas hand she immediately knew it wasnt r's hand

-🥝

It was another filming day. You come in at least 4 times a week, rather if it’s to run a scene over, hair and makeup, a chemistry read or checking on costumes. 

As you get on set, you grab a coffee (that always manages to go untouched and goes cold) while playing a thumb war with your best friend, Emma Myers.

“Do they have strawberries today?” You ask while having your tongue slightly stuck out in concentration. “I don’t know where they get them from, but they’re always so perfectly sweet.”

Emma giggles, trapping your thumb as you squeal. “Gotcha! 1..2.. I think they do, I saw watermelons too if I remember correctly. 3… 4..”

You giggle, huffing when she wins the match. “At least those will make my day. Hey, your hands are so soft.” You begin playing with her hands, admiring how squishy they are.

“Thanks, babycakes,” the blonde jokes, holding your hand as you both swing back and forth while walking through set.

If anything, holding hands makes you think of Jenna. You haven’t been cuddly with her at the moment. You think it’s because she’s so caught up in work and how you always seem to hold her hand, that she doesn’t notice when you’re not. It’s like everywhere you go she automatically thinks her hands are intertwined with your warm ones.

“Hey, Emma. I wanted to ask you something,” you say, glancing into the distance as you see your girlfriend unaware of your presence far away, talking to one of the directors.

“What is it? You need me to help you with something?”

You nod, tearing your eyes away from the ones that weren’t looking at you to the ones that were. “You think you could help me out in trying to cast some spell on Jenna to make her realize that I miss her touches?”

“Oh yes.” The blonde says, making a small ‘pshhhh’ sound as she takes out her invisible wand. “Jenna Marie Ortega, I command you to snap out of your acting character and recognize your girlfriend’s needs!” She says, swaying up and down.

Your eyes roll, watching her be silly and take the opportunity to snap a photo. “Uh huh. I don’t know.. Okay. Jenna and I used to do this thing where I’d sneak under the table and cling onto her hand. It’s just been something that we’ve done ever since.”

In your relationship, you were the sucker for the people who knew you inside and out. Jenna was just that person. She’d rub your knuckles gently in a circle with her thumb whenever you grew nervous, always came home from her other film projects with something you’d like. 

Obviously she still does, you’ve just been feeling like you’ve had the lack of affection. “Which makes you grumpy,” Emma would say. You would sulk before filming a scene and Jenna would’ve noticed if hadn’t a distraction popped up. It was almost like you could see the small puzzles in her head would begin to turn then be interrupted. 

“So.. How is me holding your girlfriend’s hand going to do anything?”

“Hopefully it makes her notice how AFFECTION DEPRIVED I AM!” You almost yell. If she really thought Emma’s hand was really yours, you think you’d break up with her. (You would never be the one to break up first.)

-

It was Friday night. Some would say it was the night to party all night long. 

They were true.

Almost every Friday the Wednesday cast would gather at someone’s house, preferably Georgie’s because he had a trampoline and some dope snacks. You didn’t want to admit that when you and Jenna first saw how many good snacks he had, you slammed them into your bag. Jenna brought an extra tote bag smashed under the things in her backpack to push all the snacks in there the next time you went to Georgie’s house.

You stare down at your hand, chatter filling the room as everyone talks while eating. You wonder if it’s any special. You’re not sure why it matters so much to you. It's just like every other hand, right?

No one knows you better than Jenna, maybe you should just be straightforward with her and the lack of affection you’ve been feeling lately. 

“Ems?” You holler, looking around. You find her on the couch across from your girlfriend, in a deep conversation with each other.

And when Jenna turns to you with those sweet brown eyes, you feel like the happy giddy feeling in your chest. The feeling that lingered when you had a silly, puppy loved crush on the girl for the first time. You were a bundle of nerves, squeaking whenever you talked to her, cheeks flushing easily. 

And she was yours. Except that feeling just popped up again. Your eyes dart the room, opening your mouth to say something, then shutting it. Instead, you give an awkward wave and run out.

Jenna gave you a smile, eyebrows furrowing as she watched you dash out.

“I think my baby is scared of me.”

Emma rolls her eyes, looking at you go, “An affection deprived baby.”

-

“Okay Agent Double Two x Five thousand and Sixty Two, it’s time.” You whisper, you and the blonde eyeing the target in front of you.

Like two partners in crime.

“Roger that.”

Emma crawls under the table and you almost break your facade, a silly smile threatening to plaster on your lips as you see her bump her head on accident. You can see Jenna, talking to Hunter as she brings her drink to her lips. 

You look away, looking down at Emma’s current journey.

As she keeps talking, Emma counts the hands to be able to reach the right one. She approaches the brunette, where her hands are against her lap, and lightly taps it. A stupid grin forms on your face when you see your girlfriend’s face contort into confusion.

Jenna processes what’s going on as her hands roam around. She lightly catches the hand and feels it. Assuming it was you, she intertwined her hand with yours.

It doesn’t take 10 seconds before she feels like something is out of place. The hand is soft, but it’s too soft. Yours is just the perfect amount of soft. She rubs her thumb over the person’s knuckles and the pattern isn’t familiar.

She immediately tugs her hand away and looks under the table to see a goofy Emma Myers looking back.

“Emma? What the hell are you doing under there?”

“I was actually looking for my ball that I dropped.” Emma backs herself up, shoving her hand into her pocket and bringing up a neon green ball with a smiley face. “Oh wow! It was here all along! Thanks!” 

The blonde crawls out as the other girl blinks and watches her walk off. Something about realizing it wasn’t you made Jenna feel disappointed. She hasn’t held your hand whenever you nudged it while walking down the streets together. She’d brush it off thinking that you did it by accident. 

The events of the endless hours of filming caught up to her, she had been neglecting you with her lack of affection. All the signs were in front of her, yet she didn’t notice.

She excuses herself and looks around for you, peeking her head into the living room to see you scrolling through your phone.

“Hey, cutie. I missed you.” The brunette says softly, catching your attention as she squeezes next to you. You don’t respond, making grabby arms. She almost feels how twitchy you are as you cling onto her, her fingers thread through your hair, hoping she can make you feel a little better.

Your hands touch something soft and you feel hers nudging into yours. The perfect amount of softness. She didn’t realize how much she missed your touch until you’re curled up to her like a koala.

“I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting your affection needs. I just feel like filming messes with my surroundings. I would never do it on purpose, okay?”

God you missed her. You missed her cuddles. You missed her hugs. You missed-

“Y/N.”

“You swear?”

“I’ll swear on.. I don’t know!”

She wraps her arms around you tightly, lifting you up on her lap as she presses her lips to your cheek. "I want you to tell me whenever you feel this way, okay? I can’t survive knowing that I let you feel a certain way you don’t like and I don’t even notice.”

“Okay. I will, I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to think that I’m too affectionate.”

“Never.”

A small grin comes upon your lips, “Now can you teach me how to distinguish people’s hands?”

For the rest of the night, Jenna lets her scent comfort you, your hand laced in hers for almost the rest of the party. When you see Emma, you give her a goofy smile and a thumbs up. She grins and does a two finger salute.

Let’s just say that all the days after, you were woken up with kisses and hugs, and definitely a bit too spoiled on set with a showered affectionate girlfriend. She even tied your shoes. Maybe it was too much, but you didn’t want anything less. Too much made you feel like the happiest girl in the world.

[sugaroto]

If Neil ever came to Greece he should've named himself Evaggelia and he would've been fine for at least 13 years

[orbitsaturn]

"go outside!"

━ in which the guy you're beefing with online turns out to be cute

modern au! kinich x reader

part 2 here!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"your builds are lackluster, I suggest using these artifacts for better damage" you read, gritting your teeth, about to smash the computer screen right in front of you.

It's been about 5 minutes since you started beefing with this random dude off the internet for apparently no reason. (you started it) about the builds of characters that you showcase.

"my builds aren't your business!" typing harshly on your keyboard, it's noises loud. almost instantly you get a respond back. "well, you posted saying you wanted an opinion on how good your character is. I just gave you the input you asked for." the reply reads.

"but you badiaccly worded it in a way that Impliees my builf is trash!" you type hastily, not bothering to fix the spelling mistakes. to be fair, you were overreacting a bit (a lot.) but you had a bad day today! and some random dude off the internet is making it worse.

"my apologies." he replies.

"..." you stare at the computer screen in front of you for a moment, wondering what to do. either you continue the petty fight you have or accept his apology right now. either way, it's your decision.

and somehow you choose to continue fighting the random stranger online!

almost instantly you type back a response, the clicks of your keyboard filling the room. "my apologies? MY APOLOGIES?! my apologies my ass. that wasn't genuine at all!" you type before hitting send. after a few seconds you see a reply pop up, "friend me, i'll help you build your character correctly."

THE AUDAC-

wait. if you did accept his offer, you can flex your newfound damage to your friends...

...

..

.

never mind!

"no!"

right after the reply you sent, a notification quickly popped up.

"have fun with your trash characters then, loser."

HUH?!

almost instantly you start typing a response the moment you saw those words on the computer screen.

"TRASH CHARACTERS?! TRASH?? CHARACTERS?? why are you even beefing with some stranger online. GET A LIFE!!"

"sorry that was my pet lizard."

.

PET LIZARD?? DOES HE THINK IM STUPID??

"you're kidding me. pet lizard?? you think I'd believe that?? you're just trying to find an excuse."

"no, I'm serious, that really was my lizard. his name is ajaw."

your eye twitched, is he really going to keep up with the 'my pet dog ate my homework' type of shit?? you sigh, maybe it was time to just let him go, i mean... he really used his lizard as an excuse... so you quickly type out a response, expecting the argument to be over. (no) "geez. just stop... go outside! this is actually really sad."

"I do go outside, I go out a lot actually"

man. now he's (you) dragging it out.

"i doubt that. proof?" you respond, closing your computer for the day, not expecting a reply. after a bad day, you really needed a good afternoon nap.

----

RING RIIINGGG RINGGG RINGGG

RINGGG RIIIIIINGGGG

loud ringing could be heard from your phone, instantly waking you up, delirious on whether it was the next day or in the middle of the night. you grab your phone lazily, the sound of ringing feeding you feelings of annoyance. as you look at your screen your alarm clock asking you to snooze more or stop the alarm.

obviously you would've chosen to snooze more. but you were feeling a bit more productive today! (spending all your time on games)

so you got up, turning your computer on getting ready to have another late night gaming session, when you something at the corner of your eye.

1 new message from almightydragonlord!

oh it was that rude fellow from earlier...

but of course you clicked on the notification, not expecting to see anything grand.

but your jaw instantly drops.

because in the video you see.

is a cute ass boy with dark hair and green eyes.

"hi sparklingtoots, I do go outside, as for this video, ajaw insisted on giving you hard concrete proof, I didn't really want to. but here you go."

as the video pans out you can see inside a helicopter..?

oh he's jumping out

wait.

HE'S JUMPING OUT?!

and when the camera pans outside the helicopter, the figure of the almightydragonlord was getting smaller and smaller as he falls down. with the video ending right when he pulls his parachute.

"what the fuck." was all you could say.

you stare off into space, what the hell did you just see? some cute dude skydiving off a helicopter? a really. really. cute dude skydiving off a helicopter? the cute dude you were beefing with a few hours ago?

and suddenly a notification popped up, your eyes almost bulging out of your sockets on what you see.

"see, i told you i do go outside."

and it follows up with something that makes you scream internally.

"accept my friend request too."

and of course you accepted this time.

[ckret2]

Do you think Bill Cipher is his real name? The book suggests it is since he used to be called Billy but he also tells Gideon that his true name would drive mortals insane. But maybe he was lying! About which we’ll never know.

I personally think it would be really dumb for

an alien

with bizarre alien biology that involves speaking through some organ that clearly isn't a mouth

because his mouth is also his EYE SOCKET and occupied by an EYEBALL

who's not only from a different planet but from a different UNIVERSE

which is so different from ours that the LAWS OF PHYSICS aren't even compatible

because they don't have a THIRD DIMENSION

and who was named ONE TRILLION YEARS before any humans existed

never mind human languages

never mind "common" human names like Bill

to have a normal human name made with normal human sounds.

So I buy the "my name is unintelligible to your species; Bill Cipher is just a dimensional pen name I use because you can pronounce it" explanation, due to the alternative offending my sci-fi worldbuilder sensibilities. The "if you heard my name you'd explode with an expression of ecstasy and agony on your face" part in the Bill Cipher AMA might be a boast to sound cool, but nevertheless I buy that his name can't be spelled, pronounced, or possibly even heard correctly by humans.

The most common explanation I've heard for why he would claim his REAL name is incomprehensible if his name is actually just "Bill" is that he thinks "Bill" is lame and wants people to think he has a cooler name. But, if that were the case... why wouldn't he just... y'know. Give himself a cooler name? Like, who's gonna call him out on it? Birth certificate's incinerated. Parents aren't gonna call him his deadname in front of his friends. The only reason he'd tell people his name is Bill Cipher would be if he wants to go by "Bill Cipher."

When he goes by "Bill" and refers to himself as a child as "Billy" I'm assuming that that's, like... the dub version of his name. Like how the main character of Pokémon is named サトシ but in the dub it's changed to "Ash" because surely American children can't pronounce that bizarre foreign name!! Bill's real name is [EERIE INCOMPREHENSIBLE SOUND] and as a kid sometimes his mom called him [A SIMILAR BUT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT EERIE INCOMPREHENSIBLE SOUND THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING TO US BUT TO BILL'S SPECIES SOUNDS LIKE A CUTESY VERSION OF THE FIRST SOUND] and when talking to humans he translates those as "Bill" and "Billy."

[esoteric-chaos]

Safety in Witchcraft

What’s not talked about enough in the spiritual community is mundane safety along with spiritual. Critical thinking is vital. I wanted to share a lot of my personal rules for myself that I have adapted into my craft.

Fire safety, never leave an open flame unattended. Ever. Always burn in an open enough area with a fire safe dish or on ceramic tile away from animals and children. If you leave the room extinguish the flame. Do not sleep with fire going. I know we want to keep that spell going even during a nap but sometimes we don’t wake up in time for danger. This is absolutely vital to keep you safe. It won’t ruin a spell I promise or anger anything. Please do not add those herbs to that candle. I know it’s nice and pretty but that is a fire hazard. Stay safe.

On that note always have an open window or a well ventilated area when burning items. That goes for herbs, incense, or candle. Smoke inhalation can ruin your lungs.

Rodents, reptiles, birds, any animal is sensitive to scents and have small respiratory systems. Be careful using anything around them. Research what can be used around them. I mean research! Cross reference. Use veterinarian hospital guides, not pro essential oil blogs. Please don’t put any essential oils on your pets. They can be seriously harmed.

Moon water actually molds, very easily. So can herbal blends if not stored correctly. Check frequently and use before end of date. Distilled water is your friend to prolongs shelf-life along is storing in a cold dark place.

Witchcraft and magic is not a replacement for medical treatment and medically prescribed medication. It absolutely can aid your treatment but it is never a replacement.

Do not ingest any herbal remedies without consultation with your doctor and/or Herbalist. Especially if you have pre-existing conditions and need to take medications for it. Things can conflict and are deadly.

Also forage responsibly. Unless you are 100% certain what you have foraged is the correct plant. Don’t even chance it. It’s not worth sickness or in worst cases death.

Do NOT ingest essential oils. I don’t care what you have heard from pro essential oil pages. The distillery methods are not safe for ingestion. It can tear up your stomach lining and throat. Cause extreme nausea and vomiting. Seizures and in worst cases death.

Some covens and practitioners are not your friends. Be cautious and use stranger danger. Be cautious and never give out all of your personal information online. There are predatory people everywhere, including in this community. Please be safe. Always use your gut instinct.

Please feel free in the comments and tags to add important safety pointers you have.

[mochatsin]

WHEN MC COMES HOME INJURED

There are a lot of issues that you can come across as a human in Devildom and sometimes, the brothers aren’t really prepared for the worst case scenarios. One day they find you at home injured from other demons, how will they respond to this?

TW: Implied Bullying, Violence, Torture, Injury

sometimes I wonder if MC is a bit desensitized to violence (but not to a level where they’re no longer bothered by it). Think about it, the brothers have war-level fights all the time in the house. Plus MC lives in a realm full of devils.

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

Lucifer  

His patience has never been so tested, all he can think about right now is going straight home. He heard that there was a  commotion that happened in one of your classes, so everyone was excused to leave early.

He never heard any of the details, and he would’ve asked the teachers or anyone in your class but it was better to hear from you instead. The wellbeing of the exchange student is his responsibility after all.

Lucifer was about to knock on your door but he heard a sniffle coming from your room which made him start panicking. “MC? Pardon me, but I’m coming over.” 

He found you by the bed, clutching your arm that’s poorly bandaged. Seeing the tears in your eyes broke his heart as he ran to your side. 

You told him that things got bad during your potions class. You don’t know how it went wrong when you followed the instructions correctly, but the cauldron exploded and gave you a bad burn. The teacher even scolded you in front of the class despite being in pain, making you an example of a foolish student before dismissing everyone.

Lucifer knows you’re not one to make clumsy mistakes like this, yet he keeps quiet to himself about that. His focus for now is to treat your wounds properly. But boy, he could feel his blood boil through his veins. How dare they make a fool out of you?! 

He promised to find something human-friendly for your skin as he applied a spell to numb the pain before going back to RAD. 

On his way, he overheard two students snickering to each other. Lucifer recognized them from your class. 

“Who knew adding fire newt tongues would’ve made it that explosive?” “You should’ve seen the look on their face when the teacher got mad. I knew the teacher hated them but it was hilarious when they looked like they were gonna cry!”

Lucifer had this sinister smile on his face as he walked up to the students. “Meet me in my office. We need to have a little talk.” 

It takes him an hour before he can come back to you with a healing salve. Gently applying it to your skin, you were astonished at how it was instantly restored!

Before you can comment about your amazement, Lucifer brings you in for a tight hug. “I’m so sorry… I’ll make sure you won’t get hurt like this again. I promise.” He tries to act calm but with how his hands held you so firmly, you can feel that he really was worried.

You could say that Lucifer keeps to his word when you find the demons, even your teacher, hung up by their legs in the potions classroom. They were beaten beyond recognition, you can’t even tell if they were still alive because the brothers lured you away from the scene before you could inspect them further. 

The whole school got the message, to never mess with the Morningstar’s human. The punishments are beyond what they could imagine, it’s not worth the few moments of satisfaction from making you cry.

Those people were dragged away by Barbatos to the castle’s dungeon, never to be seen again. Diavolo had to make arrangements for a replacement, and Lucifer ensured that you have at least one brother for every class to watch over you. 

He was strict and a bit more overprotective to you than usual, so it took a lot of time for you to reassure him that you’ll be fine.

Mammon 

To lesser demons, it’s a wonder how his denial with his problematic gambling and theft still made him think that he’s amazing and great. 

The stacks of reports about Mammon in the student council room can break records. He would ask Grimm that he would refuse to pay back, steal things he considers valuable, and his money-making schemes have caused lots of problems for other students. 

Despite the punishments from Lucifer, some demons think that it’s not enough. They want to hit him where it hurts. 

Mammon has been waiting for you, spamming your D.D.D. with several messages. You both planned to spend the night watching a movie together once you get home, but you’ve been running late and he’s getting impatient. 

When he hears the main door open, he rushes with the intention of complaining about what took you so long, until he finds you limping your way inside. 

“HEY MC I– huh… MC? What’s up with you? HEY!” As soon as he realizes that there’s more injuries on you, he instantly carries you to the bathroom and treats your wounds as best as he can.

He doesn’t speak, but he can’t hide the trembling of his fingers when he applies gauze pads and disinfectants on your wounds. 

You tried to explain what happened to him to the best of your abilities. You were cornered by some demons you didn’t even know on your way back home and they picked a fight. When you described what they looked like, Mammon instantly knew who they were.

“How about you rest first in the room while I go handle something yeah? Maybe report this to Lucifer” He lied of course. As if he’s going to waste a single second not hunting down these bastards. He lets one of his brothers tend to your wounds, he has other matters to attend to.

Mammon would send those demons a message, saying that he’s ready to repay them if they meet up. He was ready to give them back 10 times the pain they gave you. Break their legs for making you limp, even. 

You wake up in your bed to find him asleep next to you, holding your body close. The small tear stains on his cheeks made you pout and… well, you don’t tell him about the red stains left on his hands.

He walks you back to your classroom only for you to find it trashed. Broken chairs and desks, holes in the black board and the walls, and the demons from yesterday looking so bruised and wounded that they could barely shrink back in fear when they saw you and Mammon together. 

Lucifer would’ve punished Mammon for wrecking school property until you explained to him what happened. Given the nature of these circumstances, he didn’t tie up his brother from the roof like usual, but made him clean up the classroom he trashed.

Even with his goofiness around you, that incident was a reminder for the school that he’s still the second most powerful brother and the wisest thing is to never touch Greed’s treasure. 

Levi

Levi noticed that you haven’t been yourself lately when you come home. You’re always too tired to watch his shows and when you do, he finds one thing odd. 

When the anime he was watching showed a scene about bullying, you would flinch or turn away. You were never like this before and now Levi is suspicious. What has been happening in RAD when he’s not there?

Lucifer called him in to catch up on his classes since he’s been slacking off due to his games. He stayed a bit behind and when he finally finished, all he could think of was finally getting his hands back to his controller but then he stopped when he saw you in one of the empty classrooms. 

You were being cornered by a large demon, probably the size of Beel, who taunted you. About how you’re nothing but a weakling without the brothers, and calling them here would just prove his point. 

He was raising his fists to land another blow so you used your arms to protect yourself, but it never came. Instead, you find Levi kneeling down next to you with a sad look on his face.

He was in his full demon form, his tail holding onto the demon’s fist and won’t let go. “MC… why didn’t you tell me? Or at least any of us?” He seemed hurt because he didn’t know you’ve been in so much pain, especially when he saw the bruises on your skin as he tugged your sleeves down. 

He wrapped his jacket around you and wiped away your tears, trying to calm you down. Though it’s hard when Levi’s tail now has a death grip on the wrist of the demon who’s now screaming in pain and begging to be let go. 

“Shut up!” He hissed, his fangs bared out when he turned to the larger demon. 

Levi snaps his fingers and the demon disappears. The demon finds himself in the depths of the deep sea, struggling to breathe and swim up. He was spared from the agonizing suffocation by the sharp teeth of Lotan who swallowed him. 

He shifts back to his regular form and waits until you’re okay to be held. He tries to be gentle with you given the amount of bruises you’ve gotten. Since he’s not good at magic, maybe one of the angels can do something about this.

He doesn’t leave your side while Simeon tends to your bruises, all while he calls Lucifer to inform him of what happened.

“You’re my player two, we’re supposed to help each other out you know? That’s how the game works. S-so rely on me more MC!” 

He didn’t want to let you watch some anime that has bullying in the story, out of fear that it might remind you of what happened. The last thing he wants is to accidentally make you upset. 

Levi started attending school more, waiting for you outside your classroom every dismissal. You’d spot him gaming on his phone and if you’d ask why won’t he go straight back to the house, he’d just stutter way beyond comprehension. 

His cute flustered look as he struggles with the slightest physical contact, no one would guess that he’s the reason for the disappearance of the biggest bully in your class. It’s all game over when you mess with the Grand Admiral after all.

Satan 

Despite being just a new exchange student in a realm with little to no knowledge, you still somehow make it through the academic year and even get better marks than half of the demon brothers who lived for centuries. 

Some demons in class find it infuriating to see a lowly human do better. ‘Maybe they’ve just cheated.’ ‘Perhaps they use spells to see the answers’ ‘the wizard knows some sorcery, maybe this one does too’ ‘how wicked.’

Those were rumors you hear when you enter a classroom before a lecture. You try to not let it bother you because they’re not true. It’s from the combined effort of your hard work and the brother’s teaching you from scratch. 

Satan has been waiting for you in the house since you told him that your lesson from today was a bit difficult to understand, so you both set up a small study session for when you get home. But it’s been about an hour ever since your last message. 

No amount of reading has calmed his nerves since you’re not one to be late for no reason. It’s been raining really hard so he thought that maybe you’re stuck in this weather, but the lack of messages is still concerning. 

When he heard the door open, he closed his book with the intent of questioning why you were late, but he saw how soaked you were from head to toe. 

He grabs your arm to help clean you up, but you hissed and yanked it away. He looked at you confusingly before he noticed the puddle of rain water was mixed with something… red. 

Without haste, he sits you down in the living room and rushes to get the first aid kit. He’s thankful for learning about first aid, but never did he think that he would have to use it on you like this. 

He focused first on calming you down, placing soft kisses on your head every time you’d whimper. It worried him a lot, but he didn’t want to ask you about your tears until he’s sure you’re okay. 

It took half an hour, and a whole lot of pain relievers until you’re okay. Satan went to grab your things left at the door, only to see a lot of your books and homework torn to bits. Connecting two and two together, he knew what happened. 

When you slept, there was only one thing racing in his thoughts. To hunt. He’s heard of the rumors about you, and he’s had enough of staying passive about it. 

He practically interrogates every student he comes across until he gets his answers. When he finally has a name, he would turn each stone in the realm until he finds them. 

The moment he does, the demons are facing the most agonizing cat and mouse chase of their lives. Satan would follow suit behind their tails, and each time they ran across him they would shed more blood and tears. 

He would’ve killed them on the spot with one snap of a finger, but that’s too easy. He wanted them to feel the fear, let it consume their soul until they go insane and give up. Only then did he grant them the release from this torture by burning them in green fire that not even the storm can put out, until there’s only ash. 

He comes home, covered in blood and ash. He smiles as he places a kiss on your head when he finds you still asleep. After that, Satan offered to help you get some spare books and do something about your ruined homework. 

He became much more aggressive afterwards, no longer tolerating any ill intent directed towards you. Mutter something under your breath, he’ll make sure it’s your last. That’s how they’ll pay the price. 

Asmo

Asmo has so many admirers that are not limited to adoring fans online, but even famous celebrities that had the luck of working with him in magazine gigs and product commercials.

To him it doesn’t matter what kind of attention he gets, whether it's healthy or parasocial, he’ll bask in all of it as long as he’s the object of their affections. 

He wouldn’t normally care when his brothers would get crowded with his fans who wanted them to deliver their love letters and gifts, despite all of his brother’s complaints or protests. However, you’re the exception. 

Asmo doesn’t really hide how he feels about you. He would post your pictures with him on Devilgram or brag about you online. It did harbor some jealousy, but there are some that dealt with this worse than others. 

‘It’s unbearable to see him with such a lowly human!’ a demoness thought as she found a new post from asmo’s page with you in the background. Her nails could crack through her phone at the sheer rage and she plans to do something about these feelings.

Asmo has been calling you nonstop since you two were supposed to meet up at the house to go to a salon together, after your shift ends of course. However, you’re running late and the salon would close in half an hour. 

He was by his room when he heard your door open and closed. Asmo had the full intent to be extra whiny about your tardiness when he went to your room and opened the door. 

He was in the middle of complaining but trailed off when he saw you clenching your cheek and turned away quickly from his gaze. You were trying to make him leave, saying that you’ll change first, but he’s not buying it. “Let me see, please?” 

He moved your hands away from your face and gasped at the claw marks that ran across your cheeks. It hurts him to see that you try to hide the face he finds so adoring, so pretty. And he wants to find out who dared to ruin it.

He sits you on his lap while he applies any sort of healing skin that can restore it. He’s not going to allow a single scar caused by some low blood demon to rest on your face. He looks at you with a pout on his lips as he asks “... who was it?” 

You can’t help it, so you explain that the demoness that was also in the magazine cover with him the other week, stopped by your work and slapped you across the cheek. About how a human should not have her place next to the Avatar of Lust. 

For a quick second, he was wrath and you felt it. But he gave you a smile and held you close “you know that’s not true right darling?” and whispered sweet words to you.

Asmo spent the next few hours asking Levi and Solomon for help. The demoness instantly lost thousands of followers online, each and every scandal anonymously  exposed for the whole realm to see. He was hell bent on ruining her life with all the power he has as an influencer and a demon.

You never see the demoness again, you just know that she lost every connection and supporters she had overnight. If you ask Asmo about it, he’ll just shrug and smile “It’s just how it works honey. But don’t worry about that thing, why don’t we go to the spa like we should’ve done a few days ago? I booked a new appointment for us” 

Only Asmo, and maybe Solomon, knows the truth. So if you see a pink toad at the side of the road, pay no attention to it. 

Beel

Beel has been regarded as the star athlete when it comes to Fangol. Other than his towering height and unbelievable strength, it’s a product of all his hard work and training. He’s been doing more every time you promised to watch his games. 

He treats you like your lucky charm, and every time you’re there he would always do so well in his games. The other team doesn’t like that, they’re tired of the constant loss. Maybe if they do something about Beel’s lucky charm, he would be demotivated to play.

They’re demons after all, so cheating is not exempted in their nature. They’re willing to do what it takes to get Beel down to his knees, even if it means they’ll get their hands dirty.

There’s two days before the big game and Beel wanted to get a family-sized snack as usual from the fridge to calm his nerves. That’s when he found you rummaging through the freezer. 

Maybe you were trying to get some hellfire ice cream, so he thought. Until he saw that you pressed an ice pack against your head. “MC? Are you okay?” He walks in to check on you. 

He gasped when he saw that you looked a bit roughed up. There’s a bruise slowly forming on the corner of your lip, and some dried blood from the side of your temple. 

He knows that this was no accident when he found more bruises by your arm. Since he got a bunch of those during Fangol, he knows how to treat them. You’re no player though. After putting two and two together? He’s starting to get an idea what might’ve happened.

You did eventually open up about why you were hurt. You were going home and felt someone throw a Fangol ball to your head. You recognized that they were from the opposing team of the upcoming match and they continued to use you as target practice as you ran all the way back to the house. 

Beel was holding onto a bowl of cold water with a damp towel to treat you and as soon as you finished your story, the bowl was nothing but shards on his palm. 

His deathly aura must’ve alerted the whole house, especially Belphie who suddenly woke up from a nap as he came running towards the kitchen only to find his twin already in demon form. 

You’ve never seen him this angry that was outside food (or Belphie) and you tried to calm Beel down, but he left you in Belphie’s care while he walked out of the house. There was no way he was going to let this pass, not when you’ve already gotten hurt.

It doesn’t take Beel a long while to find the opposing team, especially when they always wear those ridiculous jersey jackets. Despite their large sizes that almost compare to him, they’re nothing but flies to Beelzebub himself. 

“Heard you had a bit of target practice earlier… I wanted to go easy on you, so if you drop out of the game and never show yourself again I'll spare you.” 

One of them scoffed and tried to throw a punch at his face. Let’s just say… never aim so close to his jaw. That player was no longer capable of holding a Fangol ball anymore, and the whole team got the message. 

You received a notification online that the upcoming Fangol game has been canceled, as the team captain is suddenly incapable of playing anymore. 

Beel comes home with a smile on his face while he has takeout of your favorite food. Mammon would comment about how it’s a miracle that he didn’t eat it on the way home, and all Beel said “It’s okay, I already grabbed a bite somewhere else.”

Belphie 

If demons would cower under the sights of Lucifer, the exact opposite can be said about the youngest. Not everyone can find the demon who does nothing but sleep to be intimidating, despite his status and power. 

Belphie doesn’t really care about trivial things about that. As if the demon who was willing to go against the royal prince himself was actually going to get bothered by mere rumors, even though it was all true.

He wouldn’t mind being called ‘a heavy weight’ when it comes to doing work, since he’d rather exert the least amount of effort if that’s what it takes for him to sleep faster. Sometimes he would forget important meetings because of his 8-hour naps. 

Today was one of those days where Belphie overslept while you were waiting for him in the library to do work together. He woke up and realized that he was almost an hour late so he was rushing towards the door but surprisingly bumped into you. 

“MC! I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to make you wait so long…” He was a bit panicked because you looked upset, though you told him that you’re fine and tried to walk back to your room. 

He grabs your arm and you wince, pulling it away from him. He looks at you confusingly, before he notices a slight cut on your cheek and how your clothes look a bit dirtier than usual. So he gets worried and asks what happened to you. 

You explained that while waiting in the library, you overheard some demons talking so badly about Belphie and calling him names. You confronted them, trying to defend his name, and the demons gave you a certain lesson for trying to sermon them. 

Belphie whines and pulls you in for a hug, trying to provide any sort of comfort he can give. “You didn’t have to do that for me MC… but thank you. Go get some rest, you deserve it more than I do.” 

His touch with you is so gentle when he makes little circles on your back as he hugs you. He lets you rest on his chest, feeling calm and safe in his arms. But Belphie was far from that. 

He could feel himself close to popping a vein, the only thing stopping him from shifting into his demon form was because he was holding you. When he puts you down on your bed as you sleep, he stares at you for a while before whispering “... I’ll repay you for your kindness, MC” 

The demons were laughing as they left the library, talking about the human they just picked on earlier. Too busy in their own merry to notice the pair of eyes that’s been following them.

Such carelessness would be their demise when they ended up getting thrown down the alley by the very demon they’ve been speaking ill of. Belphie stares down at them with no mercy in his eyes, despite the blood and screams. Unlike his twin, he was not as merciful. 

“I can tolerate the nasty things about me… but if you hurt my MC, then you deserve eternal sleep.” 

He comes home and immediately after dealing with the trash and starts walking back to your room. He’s glad to see that one of the brothers must’ve healed your wounds since your skin has been restored. 

‘... if they really see the best in me, maybe I should put in more effort.’ he thought to himself, hugging you close as he drifts off to sleep. You wake up only to find that, surprisingly, Belphie has done all the work for the both of you.