#A Officer's corruption part 11

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

||An Officer's corruption part Eleven||

Hi all there today on this Saturday. Time for another one to be added to this now mini series. XD This is a small series me and @demon-blood-youths is doing so please understand this gets dark and mature. So just a heads up.

||Previous Chapters 1-7||((Click here))

Part Eight ((Slight NSFW warning))

Part Nine

Part Ten

((Your reading part Eleven))

||OVA Chapters|| ((My friend Demon mun is writing for the series))

OVA part one

OVA part two

||Drabble summary||

From planing and thinking, tonight would be the night the prisoners will try to get Melinda under their clutches and the other female guards too. However, their little plan might have a slight mess up. What will happen in this one? And it seems Jinx was going to check on her prison but it seems she ran into another issue. Wanna know what? Read to find out.

||Warning||

~Medium nsfw is present in this drabble ((Sexual theme is present))

~Friends with benefits is present in this

~Drug use is present in this drabble

~Flirting is present in this drabble

~Possessive behavior will be present

~Dom and sub behavior is present in this

||Guests in Drabble||

Kinie Ger, Jaron Jackal, Ahmed, Fin Reer, and Van Ink belongs to my amazing Rp partner @demon-blood-youths Also Kisho belongs to her but is from the side blog @chunibyo-x-sorcerer

Jinx violet, Melinda brooks, Summer, and Winter are OCs that belong to me and the same for Sukuna Ryomen, Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro comes from Jujutsu Kaisen but also me due to having him as a muse.

((Note: Their will be grammar mistakes and errors in this drabble as others have this warning. But like I state before, this is written for fun. So I hope you like it and my friend too. Enjoy))

A few hours were gone by but Sukuna was gone after it started to heavily rain seeing the clouds forming. Warden Kinie was silent looking from the window but her golden eyes were glowing as she looks quiet hearing some thunder.

"........"

~~~~Flashback/Two hours ago~~~~~

'What are you implying here? You wish to-'

"As I said; I wish to know more about you Kinie. So how about a simple..meet up at my main office you and me. I really would love to know more about you. Even with us speaking to business. So, here is my deal. After you see what I'm willing to offer, you can get to know me better and I'll help you with whatever you ask. Anything at all." He was holding her hand again but she looks quiet then down.

What is his deal? Kinie wasn't sure how to feel about this given the fact she was one of the toughest wardens here in New York. However, this man..he had more power around his little finger and it was terrifying. But she wouldn't let him know that!

"..I said I would think about it remember? I don't....I still need time to think of a answer."

"I know you do..but take all the time you need. I can be of some help to you my princess. I mean, after all.." He then did something she was not expecting. He pulls her close against his strong form, making her tense as he feels her hand held so delicately while touching her cheek.

"I know that I'm willing to help someone as beautiful as you." he said with his red eyes looking down at her. He was way too close but she only looks away from his gaze that Sukuna smiled. Still cute. In a moment, he gently lets go but looks still holding her hand.

"I hope to hear from you again, Miss Warden but don't take too long..I tend to be.....curious of your choice. And I Hope to hear about more of my baby brother's release sooner than I hoped....." he said getting ready to leave but in that moment, he kissed her cheek making her quickly hold it. He smiled to her then turns to leave the office and a speechless Kinie.

"......."

~~~~~~~~~End of Flashback~~~~~~~~~

Kinie said nothing but she only grits her teeth growling deeply to herself. Damn it. She will not show weakness even to a man like that. Though, she was curious to what he means by what he said. Even so, she only sighed to cover her face for a moment while wondering. What will she do now?

~~~~~~Meanwhile with Jinx & Ink~~~~~~~~

They were taking a slight break but Ink was happily eating some food that luckily had pizza bites here! She was smiling chewing on one she enjoyed with Jinx eating some calazone for herself.

"Hey Ink?" she sees her swallow the pizza bite to look at her.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Have you heard anything from Kali? She's been gone for a while now." she mutters thinking about where she is. However, Ink thinks a bit then shrugs.

"I don't know. I think she might be doing something really important right now so she isn't here with us. But, I'm hoping she is alright. Knowing her.." she smiled eating another pizza bite. Of course Jinx thinks about that but she also was checking her phone seeing that her other officers; Melinda, Vivi, Breezy, Mouse, Echo, and Ping were alright. Each still busy from their group chat messages. She smiled knowing her friends and officer sisters were good.

"Oh well, I'm sure she will be fine and what about the six claws? Are they behaving themselves?" she asked.

"Huh? They are but they are all pretty funny though. Even though six of them have done bad things..they seem like good guys somehow. I don't know, it's just a feeling in a way." she laughed rubbing the back of her head that Jinx blinks to laugh.

"True but knowing that I bet it's true. Even if some of these prisoners are evil and cold, not all of them are...bad. Though, it's hard to find which one is which.." she said thinking about Yuji again but when she did her cheeks flushed pink that Ink noticed.

"Uhhh you okay Jinx? Your face is red-"

"Ah! I'm fine! Sorry just thinking about something silly." she said waving her hand laughing that Ink tilts her head to blink. "Though, have you heard from your officers too?"

"I have. I already talked to Rust but he sounded busy. Hellmare is working with getting one prisoner to turn his ways back. It was said he was in a gang where the head leader is the baby sister of that other guy." Ink said thinking.

"Hold on, baby sister?" Jinx asked seeing Ink nod.

"Uhhhh what else? Oh! I heard Maggie was watching a wild ice fire user prisoner but he's pretty tough. She and him already got into some fights so far but she is tough to take him on. Fosh is alright working with officer mouse uhhh.....I heard Gerald and Taz were still in the study board and helping two new young officers. Ping and Timmy were their names......." Ink was thinking.

"Navarro is working with another special bomber I think that's on your time Echo right? He and her are working the bomb squad together and their doing well. OF course Jaron is alright working with Melinda from what he told me though he sounded worried about something." Ink said.

"Then Ophelia is working with another doctor named Hex I believe his name was but he seems to be a bit silent for one. He might be a bit nervous working around officers but she is getting close and hoping he is with her too.

"Hmmmm seems their all busy. Oh! But what about Shdwkyz? Have you heard from him?"

"As for him..No. I have tried to call him but his phone goes to voice mail. He's always busy even so but I understand. I heard the one he's watching over is also going through some investigation..."

"Geez..they all are busy alright. Well, hopefully they are all doing alright though Ink." she said smiling but Ink smiled knowing her fellow officers were alright. However, as the two were eating, they look seeing the heavy rain geez, it's coming down like crazy.

"Seems we might be in if this keeps up to tomorrow."

"Yeah...though, the rain is nice.." Jinx said with a hum seeing Ink smiling to nod. However, their break was over. Seems it was time to head back to work.

"I'll see you later Ink and be careful ya hear." Jinx smiled as Ink grins doing a fistbump with her as the two leave to head to their locations.

~~~With Jinx~~~

She was walking down the hallway thinking to herself but hearing the heavy downpours along with the storm passing by. "Wow, they were not kidding when they said it was going to be heavy rain today..guess this means it will go into tonight. Seems it will be loud during dinner." she sighed to keep walking. However, as she did, she looks seeing she's near Itadori's cell.

"........" She remains quiet thinking about it but looks away shaking her head. 'No no, your fine Jinx. Just keep moving along. I need to get to my location regarding keeping a eye on him. Or was he still doing his daily workout near the Gym? No, he as the other inmates are back in their cells till dinner comes around......so what is....' she thought as she was able to take a step.

A slight noise was heard making her stop. Her eyes widen hearing that and looks to the area where the cell was. She wonders if she was hearing things. Maybe she was. She turns to walk but the next noise was a weak moan this time to her eyes widen.

'Ohhhh no..no no not again...just ignore it Jinx..I need to....but what if something is wrong?' she thought hearing the really soft moans now coming out but they seem to be muffled? Biting her cheek, she goes to check it out. 'I'll just take a slight look see. It couldn't be that.....right?'

In a while, she gets to the same area again but Jinx made sure she was careful. She could just go and check on them just a quick look. 'You can do this. Just look and that's it......I need to be sure to show I'm-' as she was about to, the sound was more clear hearing a whimpering moan that made her quiet to press up against where she was before that night.

"Easy Kisho...don't struggle so much. You might end up getting hurting your wrists if you keep moving.." A familiar voice. Wasn't that Fushiguro? She heard nothing from him but heard another voice.

"Damn, you really got him tied up Megumi. I thought you said you were not into this sort of thing.."

"It's trying new things Itadori. Besides, he don't seem to mind it given the fact he's being punished again."

She blinks confused hearing this but given her better judgement, she goes to take a peak. Right away, her red eyes widen seeing what she did. Itadori and Megumi were there but Kisho too. However, he seems to be tied up using some of the sheets in their cell. He was sitting up against the wall with something covering his eyes and mouth a gag maybe? He was twitching and shaking with his head down but the sound of buzzing is heard.

'Hold on..what the fuck?! what are they doing to him!' she thought but saw some things were inside of him. It twitched quivering as he was shaking and whimpering through the gag they got him in.

"Mfffnnnnnn!! Mmmm!! Mmmmfffnnmmmm!!!" He was struggling from the binds Megumi put him in but he only looks holding the collar while he was near him.

"What's wrong? Feels good? You seem to be squirming there Kisho.." He said this into his ear but he lowers one hand to brush against the hole that he tenses up crying behind the gag.

"Mffnnn!!!"

"Hmmm, that's not a clear answer. Though...you seem to like it." He speaks against his neck but Yuji was looking at his cell phone while relaxing. However, he gets the feeling someone was watching that he only smirked.

"Or maybe we need to increase the vibrations.." he said seeing Megumi look till he held up a main remove and turns the dial. The vibrations got stronger that made Kisho throw his head back screaming behind his gag.

"MMMMMMMM!!!!!!! MMMMMMMM!!!!!!!" Right away, Kisho accidentally came again right on both Megumi and a bit on Yuji. The two blink seeing this but looks to him as Kisho falls back, panting through his nose deeply with tears running down his cheeks. Drool was even seeping past the gag that Yuji whistled.

"That was a big one.....I think we might have made him too sensitive."

"Maybe but he knows what I warned him. He was being punished because of today..and I'm sticking to it. Though, seeing him like this is still arousing..I think he'll sing nicely.." he said already hard.

"I figure but remember, he can't be too loud..you can do that later tonight after everyone is sent to bed Megumi.."

"Fine fine.." he grumbled but looks to him. "Hey Kisho, you still with us..." he asked but he pulls him close but he saw he was shaking still feeling the hard vibrations. He was squirming in pleasure not able to think that Yuji smiled.

"Hey Megumi, how about we ask him? Remove the gag for a second." Jinx blinks hearing this from her hiding spot, hearing some shuffling but heard heavy panting with weak moans now coming out.

"Ahhh~ Naahhh nuggnnnnn!!!" Kisho was shaking looking like he really was out of it. Even if he came twice, his body was aching and throbbing.

"Haaa...haaaaa...n..no....ah!! N..no more..No more p..pleasure please..I..I said I was..s..s..sorry.....mmmm..." He was twitching claming down on the vibrators inside of him. They were just going nuts and he's having trouble focusing right now.

"Ah ah ah remember what I said Kisho? You are being punished for today remember?...and it seems like a fun idea don't you think?" He gets near him that Kisho backs up shaking but he feels his chin grabbed to be pulled up.

"B..b...but it..eeeiiii!" He feels him pushing fingers into him now messing with his hole again. He shudders biting down on his bottom lip with Megumi kissing his neck.

"But what? Your not fighting back..so maybe you don't mind. You seem to Love the punishments I give you...naughty little phoenix.." he growls seeing Kisho shaking again.

"P..Pl...ease..please s..spare me...I.....Mfffnn!" He got kissed by him to keep him silent but Yuji saw this only to look at the door. Jinx was silent in hiding but her face was red again. Not again! She just took care of it but she was shaking where she stood hearing this.

'I have t..to stop this..I have to tell Warden Kinie b..but...why won't my legs move? I can't move..' she thought looking down hearing the moans from Kisho.

Yuji decided to smile having a idea even with the thunder outside. "Hey, let me have a go again..I think he really needs to be punished Megumi." He blinks to hear but Kisho's eyes widen. Again!?

"Hmmmm...fine...though knowing you, you'll end up maybe breaking him." he said but he carefully lets him go that Yuji pulls him against his chest looking down at him. Now Kisho was shaking with Megumi behind him to grab the vibrators.

"Y..Yuji?"

"It's alright....besides, I can give you something else. Think of it as another mini lesson...." he said before Megumi pulls them out hearing a yelp from Kisho that moans out loudly by mistake before Yuji covers his mouth.

"Mfffmm!?"

"Shhhhhhh....naughty phoenix. You'll make too much noise......." he chuckled but makes him lay down right on his back looking down at him. Even if Kisho was shaking, twitching and already aching he was too weak to move.

"Y..Yuji..w..wait please..I...I don't know if I'll st..stay sane if you d..do it again."

"Hmmm but that's the point. Since you wanna misbehave and keep getting in trouble...maybe we need to keep showing you that it's not good to be bad like that." he said to shift his position. He could see Kisho's half lidded eyes looking up at him shaking but he knew Megumi was watching seeing what he will do. He already lowers his own pants down showing himself off that Kisho was shaking worse.

"And since you came so much..you'll really be moaning just like a girl being so sensitive...." he teased.

"I..Itadori..I....wait a s...second I'm.." Before he could, he tenses feeling something hot slam into him that he arches his back crying out with eyes wide but they were hidden with the brown bangs that his lips were parted drooling as he quickly tightens around him. Yuji twitched feeling the hotter heat again that he chuckled to look at him.

"What was that? Seems you almost came from that. And the moan was blocked off thanks to the thunder. It's always hot to do it even during a storm..." he said keeping him down before pulling his hips back then thrusts down into him hearing weak moans from Kisho again.

"Ahhhhh....ahhhhhh.......hhaaaaa...N..No no..n.not a..a..ahhhhhhh...a...again..not a..again..mmmmmmm...."

"Not again? But your liking it...your already sucking me in so nicely...that means you must really want it." he said but Kisho was already in a daze gripping the sheets as Itadori was thrusting into him.

"I..I never said I..nuggghhhh!! Ahhhhh....ahhhhhhh......Ohhhh f..fuck....f..fu..mmmmmm!!"

"Don't lie to me Kisho..your tightening around me..and moaning out even if I'm not going hard..your already losing it. Besides, it feels good..don't it?" he said seeing him shaking but not answer. Growling, Yuji keeps looking down at him before quickening his hips.

"Answer me Kisho. Does it feel good?"

"Ahhhhhhh!!!! Y...Yes s..sir! F..fuck it f..feels good! It feels s..so good..I can f...feel it so d....deep..it's really deep!" he moans twitching as he was keeping his head back into the pillow while thrusting hard into him.

"mmmm good boy...even if you say you want to stop..your already submitting to me." he teased still slamming into him that Kisho was crying out still crying in pleasure shaking. Megumi was watching even if he was excited himself but he got hard already wanting a turn but he will wait. That and he'll have time to play with him tonight.

In the hall, Jinx was shocked hearing the moans but the storm was cutting out Kisho's moans with the rain. Though, he sounded so lost from this. These guys were just punishing him like nothing. She should do something but..she couldn't move. She couldn't speak thinking how Itadori would have dominated her if he wanted to!

"......"

However, she hears more moans and crying out as Kisho was moaning.

"Y..Yuji w..wait wait wait!" He struggles but he was shaking trying to clear his thoughts.

N..Not t..this position...N..Not this oooohhhhh!!!" He was shaking feeling Yuji's hands on his thighs holding them down as he thrusts now rougher into him. He was panting still punishing him but he only closed his eyes ripping the sheets due to the roughness.

"Ohhhhhh D...deep! T..too deep!!" he moans twitching that his tongue was out slightly while looking dazed out in pleasure.

"Damn Itadori.."

"Sorry, seeing him like this sorta got me wanna break him...though if you broke him it would be fun. I see that Miko will have fun breaking him herself if she wanted to." he teased seeing Kisho twitching but he only leans down to kiss him as he muffled the moans and yet he didn't stop.

When he breaks the kiss, he sees Kisho twitching again with his cries being worse. "Though, you would love that..wouldn't you?" he said against his neck but Kisho couldn't help it that his hands were about to move but Megumi held them down.

"Ahhhhhhh!!! ahhhhh!!!!...f..fuck m..me...fuck me!! Fuck fuck fuck fuck-FUCK!!" He moans wrapping his legs around Itadori's waist.

"Haaaaa so greedy....what do you want now Kisho?" Yuji teased but he looks at him showing a primal expression like his own eyes were glowing.

"Ohhhhh m..more..f.fuck m..me more! Please I w..wanna c..cum! Let me cum!" he begs but Megumi looks to him as he was still being rammed into.

"What was that?" Itadori said snapping his hips forward to stop seeing Kisho shaking as he was panting.

"P..Please......"

"Please..what Kisho?" he said in a low tone but he gulps shaking tightening more around him. Damn that voice was already hitting him.

"...P..Please f..fuck me more...b..break me please......" Hearing this, Yuji smiled to hold his hips pulling him.

"Grrrrr..fine.....I'll break you. I'll break you over and over till you cum non stop." he said now jackhammering into him that he screams looking dazed again.

"AHHHH Y..YESSSS YES PLEASE HARDER! I WANT IT HARDER!!" he begs but Megumi was kissing him to hush him but he only kisses back with Yuji still punishing him. He seriously was a mess but he didn't mind. He tries to stay sane even if his body was throbbing all over. Yuji was a beast in bed but he feels the kiss break panting out moaning that his eyes were hidden.

"Y..Yuji..Yuji....hhaaaa Y..Yuji!!!!!!"

"That's it..just savor it Kisho..let it all come out...." he teased thrusting into him. "That way, you'll feel even better won't you?" he said against his neck but he latches onto it kissing him there but he won't bite him.

"Y..Yes sir..oh god y..yes sir!!" he moans out of it but he felt something burning in his stomach as he throbs like he was going to cum.

"Hmm? He's close...did you wanna cum Kisho?" he asked but he only nods to squirm.

"Y...yes..s..so close! I'm close!" he begs but Yuji smiled still quickening his hips. "Y..Yes right there! I..I wanna cum..I wanna cum......." He only laughed that he suddenly uses his strength to lift him up and hold him in his arms now ramming up as Kisho screams holding onto him. He looks up at the ceiling clawing his back feeling the monster thrusts.

"Then go ahead and cum Kisho..let it out. We wanna see you cum." he growls that Kisho was shaking.

"I...I'm c...cumming..I'm cumming..I..I'm gonna!" as he threw his head back screaming he came violently on himself and Itadori's chest as he clams around him only to cum inside hard. He panted holding his hips down making sure he took every drop as the two were heavily panting sweaty.

Megumi was impressed but he only sees Kisho twitching feeling some of the hot cum dripping out even if he was shaking.

"I think I broke him a bit..but..at least he'll be more fun later tonight for you." he teased Megumi who rolls his eyes to look. However, while holding Kisho his eyes looks to the door and wonders if his guest liked the second show.

In the hallway, jinx was gone but their was a slight puddle there where she stood.

~~~~~~~~Meanwhile at Fin's prison~~~~~~~~~~

Fin was speaking with Winter again to check on her but it seems she was just as quiet as usual. She's been doing something but with the tempting towards him, it was getting harder not to be mad at her.

"For the last time, will you please stop? I only came to check on you and here you are trying to-"

"I said I wasn't doing anything warden..I'm behaving as you said...besides, you keep checking on me meaning you must care hmm?" she giggled that Fin sighed. Yeah, she was just as worse as the other.

"......"

"Or are you here for another reason? Finally give into your urges to have a-"

"No! Look just....I'm here to give you your food for dinner..I'm asking that you stay at the wall and wait till I leave to get it." he said but Winter smiled unsure about that. However, she held her hands up to show she might 'behave'. Seeing this, he goes to unlock the cell and opens it. He walks in with the tray but goes to look at her who looks back.

Both her Cobalt ice blue eyes meets with his cold blue eyes. A lycan and a fallen maiden demon. Almost like a werewolf against a vampire. Ready to rip at each other's throats due to their blood aggravating one another. They said nothing looking to one another but he only looks away trying not to do anything. He sets her food down showing it was just made but he only turns to leave her cell. However, as he did he felt something only to quickly turn showing a ice hatchets that blocks a ice daggers.

"!?" What the fuck was she doing!? "The hell are you-" He feels her ram him against the cell door but she only looks to him as their eyes glow to one another.

"You really are strong..how fun. You really are a strong one~" she purrs to look right at him. Gritting he shoves her back as she rolls on the ground quickly rebounding to see him trying to get out. However, she trips him as he slams against the wall of her prison making him wince. However, he hears something stab into the wall trapping him by the collar of his uniform sleeves. She was sitting on top of his lap looking down at him.

"The hell!? Get off of me!"

"Now now..I won't kill you..your way too much fun to. Besides..I only wanted to say sorry." she pouts in a kid like voice that he glares at her.

"How the hell is this saying sorry! Get the hell off of me!"

"Hmmmm...I will. Though..I would love to give you something in case you wanna play again.." she said.

"The hell are you saying? As the warden I order you to get off of-" However, his words were stopped by her. His eyes widen to feel her soft lips against his own. She kissed him while gripping his uniform. He closed his eyes and closed his hands into fists but he also tasted something like copper that made had her break the kiss. She panted to smile, licking her lips showing she bit him.

"Not bad your one cute kisser." she teased but he only growls to shove her off but gets free from the daggers. He leaves the cell relocking it and leaves quickly. Winter sits there looking at him but she only looks to her fingers then touches her bottom lip. She still tasted some of his blood licking her lip clean slowly.

"Oh my warden..you really are going to be fun to tease..." she giggled. Meanwhile, as Ahmed was heading back from giving Summer her dinner, he spots Fin who was rushing off.

"Fin? Hey! Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just to the office! I just....I need to sit down."

"But we-hold on, are you okay? What happened to your uniform?!" he asked seeing it but Fin said nothing to sigh covering his face.

"It's nothing I......" as he turns to tell him that, he stops noticing that Ahmed was holding his neck. Was he hurt? "Hold on, are you-"

"....Lets just say Summer is a biter.." he said in a cold tone but the two knew they were getting worse. This might be a problem.

~~~~~~Later at dinnertime~~~~~

Finally, the plan was set. Seeing that all the prisoners were eating now. All officers were standing guard or some being on break. Right now, Melinda was sitting with Jaron eating some food while hearing other officers talking about today. It was crazy given the close riot happening but lucky it didn't.

"I'm telling you guys it's true! I think we might need to rethink of a new plan here." one officer said but Jaron blinks to look.

"Maybe but we could always try another way." he said pointing his fork at the other who thinks.

"Well, I think how you persway others works really well. You were able to stop so many random fights thanks to it, officer Jackal." a male officer said but Jaron smiled.

"I don't got a mind for violence but I try to use that more than the violent way." he said as Melinda laughs to agree.

"Knowing you Jaron you always had a good heart. Though, violent never fixes anything even when one tries to cause it. That's why I'm glad to know that you always have that caring side about you." she said that Jaron scratches his cheek blushing a bit.

"Thanks Melinda." he said.

While they were eating, the few prisoners that was able to hide the drug was happily waiting for the plan to work. They said their would be a special desert for everyone but they were seeing the officers talking.

"Are you sure the chef in that kitchen put the drug in her food? It's not working."

"Trust me, it takes a bit to kick in but I made sure he got enough to do it. We just need to wait." he said eating some food as the other prisoners were curious. Would the drugs work? So far, everyone was talking or eating more as the time passes......until Melinda felt off for some reason.

"Hmm?" she held her head but she was confused.

"Hey, you okay?" Jaron asked.

"Yeah..I'm okay. Just a slight headache.." she said smiling to him but he blinks wondering that.

"Huh? But you were fine just now. Did you need one of us to take you to the infirmary?" Haliee said worried.

"No no, I'm fine. I'm sure it will go away on it's own. That and the fact I never eaten breakfast due to the roll call." she said smiling. However, Haliee and Jaron was worried knowing if she was alright she would be. So they left it alone. As Dinner kept going, the headache got worse, that Melinda stops eating to hold her head but now she felt like something was wrong.

"........." Somehow, she felt hot and she didn't know why to make her rest her head against Jaron's shoulder.

"Hmm? Melinda? What's the matter? Are you alright?" he asked worried.

"...I.....I said I'm fine. I just..my headache went away but I...don't feel.." she mutters but he noticed she looked flushed that made the other officers worry. The prisoner that had the drug put in her food smiled. Seems like it worked.

"Heh, time to go gentlemen...do it." he said as one nods before another begins to signal two others. One quickly goes to see the generator of power for the cafeteria before the light went out!

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!"

"IT'S A BLACKOUT!"

Right away, prisoners got up now shouting to start fighting the officers while some others were causing confusion. However, Jaron was looking about with Haliee getting up trying to stop them. Though, that's when a few prisoners quickly attack with one grabbing Melinda who struggles trying to push them away but he picks her up over his shoulder rushing out.

"MELINDA!!" two officers shouted but Jaron noticed.

"HEY, PUT HER DOWN!" he said giving chase but he got through now following after the prisoner that took her. Everywhere was a black out even with two officers trying to get the generator back up. Jaron runs following the prisoner before he sees him make a left turn. Though, in a way, as he did, he looks to see the two were gone.

"Melinda!?...Melinda!!!...Damn it! Where did he go!" he hissed but that's when one shows up behind him and suddenly hits him hard behind the head to knock him out. He passed out before being taken as well.

~~~~~~~Somewhere else~~~~~~

Something splashes against Jaron waking him up with a gasp coughing slightly. He winces from the headache he got and a stinging throbbing pain. With a groan he opens his eyes to blink but his vision was fuzzy. "...What...where.." he looks to move but he couldn't feeling his wrists tied up.

"Well, good to see you can join us.." he looks up quickly hearing a voice but stops seeing who. A prisoner was there but he was smiling. However, that's not what got him worried. He saw another officer but she had her wrists tied up, sitting in the corner but her head was tilted to the side while softly breathing like she was ill. Whatever was going on, something happened that Jaron looks worried to see the prisoner look at him.

"Lets have a little...chat, officer Jackal."

[whoops-all-jennas]

Past Lives pt. 11

Wednesday x witch!reader

"I've got this strangest feeling."

"This isn't our first time around."

Summary: You were kidnapped and Wednesday tries to rescue you.

Warnings: Descriptions of blood, cuts, and pain

The door to Weems' office slams open, revealing Bianca and Xavier. Weems looks at them with concern.

"Y/n's gone." Bianca says. "But, Xavier says he might know where she went."

Weems immediately stands, her concern turning to anxiety as she notices the light cast by the pale moon illuminating the room shifting to a dark ominous red.

Weems turns to her balcony, met with the blood moon hanging over the school.

"Don't bother." Weems states, turning back to her desk. She holds the button next to a microphone, before speaking into the intercom. "All students and faculty, evacuate the school and meet at the busses. This is not a drill."

She releases the button, glaring at Xavier and Bianca before heading towards the door. Xavier and Bianca look at each other with concern before following her.

Enid sits up, alarmed at Weems message. She rushes around the empty dorm to find anything you or Wednesday might want her to grab. When she rushes to your side of the room, she notices your silver hairs littered around.

The hairs are crawling like worms, all slithering towards the direction of the moon in the window.

It suddenly clicks in her head, what your white hair meant. Enid runs to Wednesday's side of the dorm, quickly finding the novel she's been working on. She skims the last few passages, finding Wednesday describing resurrection and the blood moon required for it.

Next to Wednesday's novel, Enid finds the drawing that Rowan gave to her. All the events of tonight connecting.

She finds the door, fighting through the crowd of students to a different exit of the school.

Enid runs after she gets through the crowd, before finding her way into the dark forest. Her path illuminated by your blood moon.

Tyler's car stops in front of Crackstone's Crypt, the engine cuts off as we exit the vehicle. I go to enter before looking back at Tyler.

"I'll stay out here and keep watch." He says. I silently acknowledge him before descending the stairs into the crypt.

At the bottom I find Ms. Thornhill and you placing jars containing the body parts of the victims on runic symbols. Your hair is that silvery white that I'm still not accustomed to. You walk with a limp, blood trickling down your arms and legs.

My priority of you blinds me of the fact that Ms. Thornhill and you are setting up the ritual to revive Joseph Crackstone.

"Y/n!" I find myself running towards you, interrupted by Ms. Thornhill putting herself between the two of us.

"Not so fast, Wednesday." Thornhill holds a knife that's already stained with your blood towards me.

I suddenly visualize Ms Thornhill as the one who tied you down in the corrupted vision. As if a final puzzle piece finally slide into place.

After you place the final jar, you face towards me, revealing a white haze clouding over your eyes.

I put my hands up, taking a few steps back.

Thornhill quickly grabs you, holding the knife near your throat. "Try anything, and Y/n's dead. Understand?"

I find myself lost in your clouded gaze for a moment before looking at Thornhill. "What'd you do to her?"

A mischievous smile creeps up onto Thornhill's face. "Just took some notes from the book you left for me, the book of curses that Y/n was too weak to cast from."

Thornhill releases her grasp from you, knife still to your throat. She pulls out a pair of handcuffs, putting them in your obedient hands. "Y/n, be a good puppet and restrain Wednesday for me."

Thornhill moves the knife from your throat to the nape of your neck, following you as you approach.

I hold my hands out in front of me, powerless in this situation. You click the handcuffs gently over my wrists, your blood streaks down your arms, dripping onto my hands.

"Now take ten steps back." Ms. Thornhill demands, you follow her orders without hesitation or emotion.

"If Wednesday attempts to hurt me, I demand that you defend me. Understand?" You nod to Thornhill's order before she lowers the knife.

Thornhill looks past me to the exit. "And don't even think about trying to escape, I got Tyler outside waiting for you to make a move."

Thornhill takes a few steps towards me ominously.

"You know, we have roots that go all the way back to Joseph Crackstone." Thornhill takes the opportunity to begin to monologue.

"So you come from a line of psychotic killers too." I say flatly, my restrained hands resting in front of me.

Thornhill's expression is suddenly fueled with anger. "Joseph Crackstone was a visionary, dedicated to protecting normies from outcasts until his life was cut short by your ancestor, Goody Addams."

The blood from the wounds on your arms and legs are starting to puddle underneath you as you stand idly.

"And then, to add insult to injury, they stole his land to build that abomination of a school. But, throughout the centuries, my family has remained committed to Crackstone's mission. My brother died serving that cause. I decided to take a different approach. The supernatural."

"So you're resurrecting Joseph Crackstone?" I say, confused by her plan, relying on one person.

"The one man who nearly succeeded in eradicating the outcasts." Thornhill moves to the casket, picking up the book of shadows.

"It wasn't enough for Goody to kill Crackstone. She had to curse his soul too."

I find myself silent for a second. "What does this have to do with me?"

"My dear Wednesday, you are the key. Your arrival at Nevermore set the chubby wheels of my plans in motion. Goody sealed Crackstone in his sarcophagus with a blood lock. Only one of her direct descendants can open it. A living descendant on the night of a blood moon."

Thornhill glances at you, meeting my idle gaze soon after. "That's where Y/n comes in. It was a miracle that the only witch to attend our school this year just happened to be afflicted with the curse of the moon. Originally a ritual done to connect witches with the stars, turned into one for the intention of resurrection. Poor souls, only born to bleed for others."

"Y/n's more than a bag of blood." I say, defensively. Thornhill smirks at my response, satisfied with her decision to take you hostage.

"You're right, she's a pawn in my game. Defenseless, just like you." Thornhill turns to you. "Y/n, be a doll and unlock the blood lock."

You take wobbly steps towards me due to the injuries and blood loss, pulling your wand out. You forcefully grab my hand, dragging me towards the casket.

I grab her wrist, resisting. "Y/n stop!" I shout. I notice Thornhill's smile becoming sinister before opening the book of shadows, flipping through the pages.

We're now merely inches away from the casket, she takes the wand to my hand. "Sectum Sempra."

You quickly guide your wand across the palm of my hand, blood instantly trickling out of the fresh cut.

You force my hand onto the the circular icon on the front of the casket. I release a cry of pain as it cauterizes the cut on my hand, the symbol burning an ominous red.

You let go, taking a step back as your order was completed. I try to pry my hand off the casket, stuck to the symbol, until it finally releases me. I find the floor as I fall backwards from my built up momentum.

Thornhill puts the book of shadows on the casket before grabbing the chains of my restraints, dragging me towards the pillar, my back against it.

She finds her way back to the book, picking it up and taking a few steps back. She begins to recite the incantation as I find my pocket knife in my shoe.

The jars illuminate a pale blue, the runic symbols beneath them glowing an ominous orange as I stick the pocket knife into the keyhole of the cuffs.

The sound of thunder fills the room, the flashes of lightning contrasting the red cast by the moon.

Electricity links between the jars, all connecting to the casket before a dark fog emanates from the lid.

The fog fills the room, fading to reveal Joseph Crackstone above his own casket.

Thornhill takes a step towards him. "I am of your blood. I have summoned you to rid the world of outcasts once and for all."

Crackstone holds out his hand, soon met with Thornhill's eager one. Her lips meet his decrepit hand. "My vengeance will be swift and true."

"As will mine." I stand, the cuffs clinking as they hit the ground.

He holds his staff towards me, the end glowing an ominous green. I find myself stuck in place, a magical force covering my body. "Goody Addams. You haunt me still. You will suffer the same fate you bequeathed me."

He pulls out a dagger, stepping closer.

"Wait!"

Thornhill shouts. Crackstone turns his head to her, seeing you past her. "I know how to make this vengeance sweeter." She says with a sinister smile.

"Y/n!" Thornhill grabs a knife, placing it in your hands. "Stab and kill Wednesday Addams."

The knife trembles for a moment, your body resisting the order.

Thornhill notices your willpower resisting, pulling out her wand. She points it at you, determination in her eyes. "Crucio!"

You release a loud cry of pain as your body seizes as if electricity was coursing through your body. You drop the knife as you fall to the ground in pain.

You continue to squirm on the ground as Thornhill keeps the wand on you, releasing a constant scream of agony.

I watch in horror at the suffering you're going through, thinking of a thousand different ways to make Thornhill suffer a worse fate. Her shouting the incantation replaying over and over in my head.

Thornhill pants after releasing the curse, pulling Goody's wand away. Your body rests only for a moment before forcing itself to stand, picking up the knife.

I'm still stuck in place as Crackstone's magic is still in effect. You slowly limp towards me, sadness managing to find your face past the curse you were under.

"Elsie Y/l/n. What a symbolic way to end Goody's life." Crackstone says with a crooked smile.

My heart rate is now uncontrollable as you stand in front of me for a moment, your body hesitating.

In a sudden motion you stab me in the abdomen, releasing the knife after the full impact. I fall back on to the pillar, sliding down the wall as I cough up blood.

I look up to find your cloudy white eyes looking down upon me.

I open my eyes to find myself in a dark endless void. I pull out my wand, followed by a pale light emitting from the end of it.

I see my reflection on the dark floor. My hair in it's white, true form. I take a step forward to find ripples beneath my feet, as if I was walking on water.

"Hello?" I shout, replied with the echo of my own voice. The air is chilly, yet comforting as I take a few more steps forwards to find a silhouette of a woman in front of me, her long white hair flowing with elegance.

She turns around, looking at the ground before meeting my gaze. I instantly recognize her face as mine.

She holds out her hand, a red line tangled around her fingers. The line crawls out of the center of her hand, revealing a glowing red string.

I hold out my hand instinctively. A similar string crawling from the depth of my palm.

The woman's face finds a heartfelt smile as the strings slithers through the air, before tying together.

"The spell I cast on that dreadful night was stronger than I imagined." Her soft voice reaches my ears as the string starts to expand from the knot in the center out to our side. "It didn't connect just Goody and my soul, but every version of us."

A knot is found in the air at the end of the string, splitting off into two. The strings start to tangle themselves around the silhouette of two different hands, soon embedding themselves into their skin, revealing their true appearance.

The color appears on the woman next to me, wearing a black robe with yellow accents and glasses that perfectly frame what I found to be my face.

Across from her appeared Wednesday, wearing the same black robe but with green accents. A symbol with a snake imprinted on the robe.

The glowing string continues past them, finding another knot in the air splitting in two again. The string finds two others hand. I am unable to make out my appearance past the version of me with glasses, but I can see that Wednesday looks very different. Her hair is a dark brown instead of her raven black, she's wearing a color other than black, and her style of clothing is very different.

I look back in front of me to find the girl with long white hair to be replaced with Wednesday, my Wednesday.

My eyes soften after seeing her, her eyes looking at me longingly as I get lost in them. Her lips begin to move, but her voice is muted as I start to feel more and more separated from this realm.

"Y/n..."

"Y/n..."

"Y/n!"

I release a gasp as it feels as if a veil was lifted from my eyes. I fall to my knees as the pain of several cuts and wounds settle in.

I look in front of me to find Wednesday with a knife stabbed through her abdomen.

"No, no, no!" I instinctively hover my hands over her wound, blood trickling out of the many cuts on my limbs.

"Just thought I'd be generous enough to let you watch Wednesday bleed out in front of you." Thornhill says while putting away her wand.

"Ciao." She says fluttering her fingers in a wave as she ascends the stairs with Joseph Crackstone out of the crypt.

"Wednesday I- I just saw so much." I begin to ramble about what I saw, suddenly cutting myself off as she bleeds in front of me.

Even as she nears death, she still gives me that soft gentle look she gives no one else. How much she cares about me written in her eyes when it's herself she should be worried about.

I find myself lost in her eyes, something taking control over my thoughts, visualizing the red string from before. I look down at my hands, finding the string slithering from inside both of them.

I instinctively feel my hands grab Wednesday's, closing my eyes. Even though I'm aware I'm in Crackstone's Crypt, it feels as if I'm in the meeting house. My long white hair tangled on the chains, restrained to the floor. Goody's fingers interlocked with mine.

I feel the string emerge from my hands, injecting itself into Wednesday. The string glows from under her skin as it navigates through her body to her lower abdomen.

The knife slowly elevates itself out of her wound, clinking as it hits the floor.

The glowing string emerges near her wound before entering near it again. It slowly repeats this, stitching her wound closed before fading away, her skin fully healed.

I feel the string split up inside my body, spreading out between my arms and legs. I feel them stitch my wounds painlessly.

I see Goody going to hide, feeling the heat of the flames encumber me until I open my eyes.

Suddenly the heat is gone, finding myself back at Crackstone's Crypt.

"Goody, you're okay!" I instinctively call out to Wednesday in the moment, throwing my weakened body onto her in an embrace.

I feel Wednesday's tears for the first time as she holds me, her hands trembling with fear. "I thought I lost you again." It feels as if someone else is speaking for her.

I find myself draw my head back to see her glossy eyes. "We need to stop Thornhill." I say, trying to reorganize our thoughts.

I try to stand, instantly falling again due to my lack of blood.

"Y/n!" Wednesday calls, catching me before I hit the ground before gently lowering me. "Don't worry, I will finish this."

She starts to walk towards the exit, leaving me on the ground. "I'll be back for you. I promise."

She continues her steps towards the exit. It feels as if something is missing, something I need to do.

"Goody, wait!" I call out instinctively. "I mean, Wednesday."

Her footsteps stop, looking back to me with her soft eyes.

"I need to do something first, in case anything goes wrong." I say longingly. Wednesday's footsteps come back as she approaches back to me, before kneeling beside me.

I find my face flush with heat at my thoughts. "Can- can I kiss you?"

She admires my face for a moment, glancing at my lips before nodding. She gently grabs my face with her right hand, staining my face with blood.

She closes the distance between us, her cold yet comforting lips finding mine. As the kiss deepens, I feel my eyes get glossy. A tear breaks through the threshold of my closed eyes, landing onto Wednesday's bloodied hand.

The tear wasn't mine.

Wednesday releases her lips from mine. I see she also has fresh tears before she wipes them away. She stands, turning to face the exit again. "I will be back for you, Elsie."

I watch as she walks away, a new found confidence in her step.

I exit Crackstone's Crypt, the feeling of your lips lingering on mine. The red light that used to be cast now illuminating its usual pale blue.

The crunching of the leaves fill the woods as I rush through the forest, soon interrupted by Tyler revealing himself behind a tree. "Laurel said you were dead."

"I'm feeling much better now." I said sarcastically.

Tyler begins to step closer intimidatingly. "You're like a cockroach."

"Please, flattery will get you nowhere."

Tyler grabs the collar of my shirt, trying to be intimidating. "This will not end well for you." I say, threateningly.

Tyler's eyes start to bulge unnaturally, his clothes tearing as he shifts into the monster.

He dashes forward, lifting me into the air before pushing me into the broken stump of a dead tree. He raises his right claw, about to slash me until what looks like a giant wolf tackles him.

The sound of both of them tumbling through the leaves fills the woods before the wolf throws Tyler into a tree.

I pry myself off the stump, looking towards the wolf. The wolf turns towards me, their colored hair glistening in the moonlight.

"Enid?" I ask, feeling a combination of curiosity and excitement.

The Hyde stands behind Enid, the shadows cast by the trees giving him an intimidating aura.

"Enid!" I shout before Tyler slaps her away with the back of his hand.

Enid lands on all fours, growling after making eye contact with Tyler. They both start sprinting towards each other to attack.

"I need to get back to school!" I start to run, before suddenly stopping. I turn back to look at Enid. "Check on Y/n at Crackstone Crypt after you deal with this!"

I turn again, navigating through the trees before reaching Nevermore Academy.

I run into the school, confused by the lack of panic and students. As I make my way up stairs, I hear growling through the wall towards the quad. I hasten my steps, finding a sword on a pedestal that I've walked past a million times before.

I quickly walk onto the balcony, looking over the quad that's filled with fire and smoke. My eyes find Crackstone fighting what appears to be the Hyde, but something looks different about it.

It looks as if it was drawn.

Crackstone blasts a magic projectile from his staff, the Hyde turning to dust at the impact. Soon after, another one appears through the door.

"Xavier." I mutter to myself, descending the staircase.

I hear a deafening silence as I enter the quad, graphite dust filling the air before hitting the ground. I watch on, waiting for another one to appear, but found no such luck.

I take a few steps into the grass, the flames around me reflecting off the sword. "Howdy, pilgrim."

Crackstone quickly turns around, shock on his face. "How canst thy heart still beat? What demon sorcery is this?"

"Stay away from her!" I turn to find Xavier with a fully drawn bow and arrow, pointed past me towards Crackstone.

He let's go of the bowstring, the arrow flying through the air.

As it rapidly approaches Crackstone, he holds out his hand, the arrow stopping in the air in front of him. He turns his fingers slowly, the arrow following the motion until it faces back towards Xavier. Suddenly, the arrow is flying back.

I instinctively stepped in front of the arrow, losing my breath at the impact. I recognize a lack of pain as the arrow hits the ground.

"No!" Xavier shouts, running towards me.

I feel a chain slip from around my neck, Goody's protection talisman falling to the ground, bouncing at the impact.

Xavier suddenly stops in place, a few steps away from me. "Wednesday?"

I turn towards him as I catch my breath. "I'll be fine."

I look down at the necklace resting in the grass, a part of the silver caving in.

"Goody's talisman." Crackstone states. "Foiling my mission yet again."

I bend over, picking up the necklace by the chain before wrapping it around my bare hand.

Suddenly, we hear students exclaim in fear as they watch from the end of the quad.

"Get them out of here." I demand, gripping the talisman tightly.

Xavier looks at me for a moment before running to the group of students, guiding them out of the quad.

Crackstone and I stand before each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

I rush towards him, swinging my blade horizontally towards his chest. He blocks it with the end of the staff before attempting to hit me with it.

I evade his attack, making distance with a backhand spring.

He goes for an overhead swing, a spark emitting from it as it hits the ground. I take the opportunity to take another swing. He quickly raises his staff, blocking my attack yet again.

I find my arm moves past the staff, the blade breaking at the impact.

I take a step back, startled by how weak the sword was. He holds his staff towards me, suddenly feeling an immense magical energy push me into a broken table.

I have trouble finding air, as he holds his staff against me. He takes a few steps towards me, a crooked smile on his face. "I will send you back to hell."

The tip of the staff shifts from green to red, mere centimeters from my chest as he channels more arcane power.

Suddenly, a fragment of the broken blade stabs through his chest, causing him to release his hold on me.

After the blade is withdrawn, he turns to find Bianca. He motions his arm across her, sending her flying across the quad.

I slide down the broken table, grabbing another fragment of the blade with my hand that's wrapped with the chain of Goody's Talisman.

I stand before Crackstone as he turns towards me. It feels as if I lose control of where to aim, as if something else is guiding me to strike him in the heart.

He releases a groaning sound past the sizzling in his chest. I take my other hand to the blade, twisting it in his heart.

He takes a few steps back, the sound of a fire crackling from within chest. His chest begins to cave inwards, revealing a flame within, eating him from the inside out. The smoke escapes his final breath as explodes in a final wave of fire, dropping his ring onto the grass.

Bianca and I share eye contact, before I hear a footstep behind me.

I turn, my eyes filled with fear as Thornhill approaches, pointing Goody's wand at me. Stopping just before the grass.

"You brought a gun to a sword fight." I remark, hiding my fear. "It's probably the first smart decision you've made today."

"I might not get to kill all the outcasts, but at least I'll get to kill you, Wednesday."

She draws he wand back, preparing to cast a spell. Her face is full of malice before she utters the incantation.

"Avada-"

"Expelliarmus!"

Goody's wand flys out of Thornhill's grasp, landing on the grass. The wand rolling towards my feet.

Thornhill and I look to where the noise came from to find you. Your left arm is wrapped around Enid's shoulder, your wand still pointing at Thornhill's frame as your lips smile in relief. You stumble for a moment before regaining your footing.

I pick up the wand from the ground, pointing it at Thornhill. She scoffs. "Please Wednesday, you don't know anything about magic." She isn't scared by your presence, knowing your inability to kill and your weakened state.

I stare in Thornhill's eyes with a stoic face, my mind flashing to when she performed the torture curse on you. The incantation repeats itself in my mind, the memory forever vivid in my head.

My face contorts to an expression of anger before Thornhill reaches behind her, drawing out a pistol.

"Crucio!" I shout, the emotions from reliving the memory fill my voice.

She instantly screams in agony as she drops the pistol onto the ground. It looks as if an electric current is coursing through her veins as she draws her hands over her chest.

She falls over as I take a few steps closer, her body seizing on the ground under the curse.

"I think that's enough Wednesday." I faintly recognize Enid's voice past the trance I find myself in.

Thornhill continues to writh in agony, squirming on the floor as I approach ever closer.

"Wednesday!" The sound of your voice instantly clears my mind, cancelling the curse.

My expression returns to its normal stoic appearance as I lower my wand. I watch as Thornhill begins to sob on the floor.

"Stupefy!" I hear you shout another incantation, a red projectile finding a way onto Thornhill. Her sobs instantly stop as she goes unconscious, rolling at the impact of your spell.

I look towards you and Enid with a heartfelt expression as I start to approach.

You manage to break to Enid's grasp, attempting to run towards me with glossy eyes, before falling.

I hasten my next few steps as I catch you in my arms, hearing your quiet sobs as I hold you in my chest. Your hands grab me tightly, nails scratching at the fabric of my uniform.

You break away from my chest to look into my eyes, raw emotion written on you as you grab my face with both hands. "I was so scared that I was going to lose you again."

"I- I don't know what I would do without you." You say, breaking eye contact as tears stream down your face.

You drive your head into my chest as you throw your arms over my shoulders, your tears soaking into my dirty uniform.

I hold you tightly in the embrace, caressing your hair comfortingly. I feel the same emotions, hoping that my relief and love is felt through my arms, unable to find the words you found so easily.

I find myself in what use to be Wednesday, Enid, and I's shared dorm. The dorm feels empty without all their belongings littered around.

The school is going on break for the rest of the semester due to the incident and Principal Weems is letting me stay on campus. It's not like there's anywhere else for me to go.

I walk towards my side of the dorm, approaching the window. I step out onto the balcony, staring at the cars and students below me.

I hear the sound of the door opening behind me to find Wednesday standing at the entrance of the dorm, looking around before noticing me on the balcony.

Her stoic steps fill the dorm as she walks to the other side, meeting me on the balcony.

"Hey, Wednesday." I say, looking at her with a bittersweet smile. I look down to notice a box wrapped in black wrapping paper. "Is that for me?"

She nods, holding it out towards me.

I take the box gently out of her hands, looking into her eyes for a moment before unwrapping the present.

"With your birthday gift to me, you said don't take it romantically." She begins to say as I open the box, revealing a necklace with a vial of blood attached to it. Underneath the necklace is a folded piece of paper.

"That is a vial of my blood, the same gift you have given me." She says, looking into my eyes longingly. "There is one difference."

I look up from the gift towards her eyes. "I do mean this as a romantic gesture, An undying symbol of my feelings towards you, feeling that I have trouble expressing."

I put the necklace around my neck, putting the hook around the chain before grabbing the letter.

Wednesday puts her hand over mine, stopping me. "I want you to read this letter whenever you miss me. It's going to be rough not seeing you for the rest of the semester, but we'll make it through."

I close the lid of the box. "Like we always do."

Wednesday and I look longingly into each other's eyes for a few seconds that feel so long, yet not long enough. Sharing our emotions and feelings through the windows to our soul.

"Wednesday!" We both hear faintly beneath us to find Pugsley waving in the quad.

Wednesday looks down to the side. "I suppose it's time for me to leave."

I look at her for another moment, admiring all her features. "Maybe I can try to visit sometime."

Wednesday meets my eyes again, taking a step forward.

For the first time, Wednesday is the one initiating the our embrace, her arms holding me needily. I wrap my arms around her with the same emotion.

"I'm going to miss you Wednesday." I say, sinking my head into her shoulder.

Wednesday tightens her embrace, as if to say 'I'll miss you too.'

"It won't be too long till we meet again, hopefully next time we can talk and hangout like normal people instead of solving a murder case." I say with a smile.

Wednesday loosens her grip, taking a step back. "Where's the fun in that?" She says with a sly smile, heading towards the circular window.

"Goodbye Y/n." She says, before leaving the balcony.

"Goodbye Wednesday." I say with a bittersweet smile, already missing her presence.

I turn to the balcony, after a few minutes I see Wednesday's family hearse go past the gate of the school.

I glance at the box containing the rest of Wednesday's gift. I life the lid of the present again, opening the letter found inside.

Dear Y/n,

Knowing you, you're likely reading this immediately after I left.

I noticed you discovered the same truth I have. Our souls are perpetually tied together by an unbreakable string. This string will forever bind us, guiding us to each other even if death attempts to due us part.

Do you recall on Outreach Day when I had a vision? I may not have told you everything I saw. In that vision I was met with Goody and Elsie, two names you know by now.

I witnessed the moment our souls permanently become interconnected, moments before Elsie's death. Before she perished, she performed a spell with a string with Goody. It's strange how a measly string can be so strong.

To be honest, I was anxious that if I told you what I saw it'd scare you away. How naive of me. I can't believe how you changed me. I use to be so independent and pleasantly lonely until you came along. I never thought I'd be the type of person willing to sacrifice the world for someone else, someone who I managed to find so much importance in.

I know you don't have the same introverted traits I do, but I hope you'd do the same for me.

Xavier gave me a phone today. He so boldly left his number inside as well. Now if I may be so bold, I leave my new phone number with this letter.

May our paths connect once again soon,

Wednesday Addams.

A smile creeps up onto my face, pulling out my phone to add the number to my contacts.

I stare over the balcony, holding the necklace in my hand with thoughts of Wednesday. I watch the hearse just before it escapes my view.

"Don't wake me, I'm not dreamin'."

"Don't wake me, I'm not dreamin'."

Past Lives Masterlist

a/n: thank you to everyone who read and stuck through my first long fic. A majority of the new main plot points in this were ideas I've had brewing for months, but felt I was too unskilled to write. I hope all the ideas connected together well :))

(the last two lines are just lyrics from the song that inspired this fic, they don't mean anything)

taglist

@oishiiiz @jessiemariano21494

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 29 December 2024

The end of the year kicked my ass, but I wanted to get one last one of these out for 2024! The last one before this was 10 November. If you're interested in GL older than that, check out my GL rec list through Feb 2024 and my #gl recs tag for the other odds and ends posts. New series marked with an asterisk*.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to 29 Dec):

The Fragrance You inherit 5/8 (Japanese, Friday/Saturday-ish, no official distribution but fansub on @isaksbestpillow's blog [thank you Siiri!] I have been really enjoying this show and have been writing when I have time (last post was for ep4). At its core this is a gentle show about kind people who love each other doing their best, which is always my favourite thing. Subs are on pause for the moment so you have time to catch up before the finale!

Pluto ep 11/12 (Thai, Saturdays 9:30 AM ET, YouTube) This plot continues to be absolutely wild. There's a lot of discourse around Oom this week, to which I'll just say: Setting a test to see if the people you love will hurt themselves in order to make you feel better is not loving or healthy behaviour, even if your motivations are understandable and sympathetic. Namtan is doing a great job making these twins feel like different people, and she and Film are still gorgeous together. And I have no idea what's up with the messy lesbian sides, but I'm on the side of all of them need a time out! I've been pretty dialed out of this show because it's not my thing, so I'm not that invested in any of the relationships going into the finale, but it's been a wild ride and it seems to be holding together for those who enjoy the high drama of this plot.

*Petrichor ep 5/10 (Thai, Saturdays, 10:00 AM ET, iQIYI) The procedural aspects of this show are unfortunately not well executed, but Engfa and Charlotte have fantastic chemistry. I'm also really loving seeing Na and Max again even though I am very worried about getting too attached to their characters. It's always hard for me when a show is about a police officer trying to do good work in a corrupt system because the only takeaway I can accept is that that is not possible lol but I'm enjoying seeing these two on my screen every week (except this week, because we sadly did not get a new episode today).

*Mate, 6/12 (Thai, Tuesdays, WeTV (uncut version)) This one is hard to describe. It seems to be trying to do for trauma in a GL what Love in the Air and Bed Friend did in BL--show a realistic depiction of trauma in one of their characters and have them fall in love, and be taken care of and healed that way. But that also makes it extremely hard to watch. The trauma flashbacks and trauma responses is rough. The main character is not very likeable but that's kinda the point, I'm not minding that part of it so much. There are a lot of things I like about this show, so I don't want to discourage views. Just go into this one informed, and make the decision that's right for you.

*INTP 1/? (Korean, Fridays (?), YouTube) This is the latest short series from RedQ, who produced some of my favourite GL short series including More than or equal to 75 degrees C, and To the Ex who Hated Me. No info on how long it will be or if it will be weekly, so that Fridays release schedule is a total guess. The setup of this one reminded me of Semantic Error if SangWoo realized he was attracted to JaeYoung at their first group assignment meeting.

Recently Completed:

Apple My Love 6.5 50-min eps (Thai, Oct 12-Nov 16, GagaOOLala and YouTube) I ended up feeling like this one bit off a bit more than it could chew, as much fun as I had with it, it was a wobbly landing. I was ok with the ending at the end but I spent a lot of time watching the finale uncertain about how I felt about all of it. There's a 30 min "episode 5.1" that is an important bridge between episodes 5 and 6 (and also includes a 10-min fingering scene, thank you show) that I think resulted from either poor pacing or realizing they needed to set up the episode better? It was odd but something to make sure not to skip. The show does a lot of what I love about Kongthup's latest BLs: it avoids the worst drama pitfalls and calls them out in the show itself when it uses them, and it is largely about being kind to its characters who are figuring themselves out. Warning for extremely hard to watch secondhand embarrassment in the first couple of episodes lol Kris is such a cringefail lesbian I love her. With the caveats above, if you don't mind secondhand embarrassment and want a comedy GL and are willing to be a little patient with the ending, give this one a try!

The Loyal Pin 16 65-min eps (Thai, Aug 4-Dec 1, YouTube) Anin was the bravest right through to the end. I really liked a lot of this show, but I found the pacing a bit uneven and the finale a little rough. It's hard, because I actually am happy with the way the show ended--it makes perfect sense and was where I was hoping they would get to the entire show. What I didn't like was how we got there. It seemed wild that Pin and Anin didn't at least talk about this possibility before we got there; and didn't feel like we ever resolved the disparity between the two leads, though the show was aware of it the whole time which I did like. And you may have seen the shouting about the prank in the finale, it was in really poor taste. In the end, this show was beautiful, gave a platform for promoting Thai culture (food, clothing, history), and had excellent intimacy. I really enjoyed the slow burn between Anin and Pin, and I loved that every character had and used the agency they had, but that the show was realistic about what was in and outside of their control. If you want a slow-burn and high-heat romance and are willing to be a little frustrated for the sake of the drama, and/or you really like a pigtail-pulling romantic dynamic, you should watch this show.

Red Whisper 8 10-min eps (Korea, Oct 2-Nov 11, YouTube) Honestly this show never got better after what I wrote about it a month ago about how its portrayal of bisexuality and nonmonogamy was upsetting. For the record one last time: Not all bisexuals are nonmonogamous, and entering a monogamous relationship under false pretenses and then acting like your partner is being unreasonable by not wanting an open relationship is shitty behaviour. This one is sadly not recommended.

The Nipple Talk 10 30-min eps (Taiwanese, Nov 8-22, GagaOOLala) I highly recommended the first half, and so I am so sad to say that I can't say the same for the second half of the show. I was really enjoying how much the show seemed to support a mix of monogamy and nonmonogamy, but the second half of the show leaned heavily into 'everyone wants a monogamous relationship when they meet the right person', which disappointed me. The show also tried to introduce some themes that felt very dated in terms of how they handled them (e.g. HIV) and I ended up just not really liking the Pony character as a person by the end. The lesbian relationship was super messy in a way that I did not find fun too. Mama was the best part of this show, and I hope we get more characters like them in future (better) shows!

*Soul Sisters 24 12-min eps (Chinese, iQIYI) This entire show dropped this week so I binged it in one go. The basic setup is a GL version of Meet You At the Blossom, except the gender fuckery lasts for most of the series and they don't actually ever get to kiss. I loved this little show; it is a frenetic, very silly and censored comedy, so calibrate your expectations accordingly. But it walks the line in a way that is palatable (or was for me, anyway). Without giving too much away, it is an open happy ending. The caveats for this one are that there is no wasted tape, so the pacing is rollercoaster fast, and the cuts are sometimes jarring. But it's a surprisingly beautiful show for the budget, and I really appreciated all of the ways they came up with to give these women shippy moments. Also, good lord this main character is so competent, which is a major weakness of mine. I had a great time!

*Whisper Me a Love Song 12 25-min eps (Japanese anime, Apr-27 Dec, HiDive) This started airing in April but there was a delay and the last episode didn't air until yesterday. High school lesbians in a band having embarrassing confused and misunderstood feelings all over the place (with good endings including a kiss for at least one of our couples). I appreciate that this anime is not playing with the 'are they friends who joke about wanting to touch each other's boobs or are they more' line, they outright say they want to be more than friends and then kiss. The music is good too! Recommended if you are feeling like a high school dramedy with good tunes that stays pretty light and is in the 'bubble'.

Recent One-offs, Side Couples, etc.:

My Hot Butch Roommate (actually a 2-parter) aired on bilibili 1, 2) and was subtitled by @douqi7s on YouTube (1, 2) These two are very cute, and this little short does a ton with the very tiny 5 minutes of total runtime it uses. Give the original bilibili uploads a stream so they get views, even if you watch the YT subbed version!

Fufuknows put out a new lesbian short titled The Choices of Two Lesbian Couples in Love on YouTube This was a great short (11 min) film featuring the story of two couples at different stages in their relationship, and the different choices they make about their futures. I really enjoy Fufuknows as queer short filmmakers, and I appreciate that they regularly include lesbian and wlw content in their bi-weekly (as in, every other week) fictional shorts that they produce and release. This one is recommended!

Aim's Lesbian plotline in the new Love Sick 2024 remake concluded (this was not a plotline in the 2014 version and it's one of the changes I really like and that I think works really well) Spoiler: she doesn't get a romance happy ending but her story ends with acceptance from her friends about who she is, which was lovely to watch

There was a brief of-the-week lesbian couple who wanted to marry in Spare Me Your Mercy Spoiler: their story is tragic, which is par for the course in a murder mystery

I am suspecting wlw sides in See Your Love I may end up eating these words but I was getting vibes, and so I'm putting this out in the universe now in hopes I'm right lol

There is a new Korean shorts production company on YouTube called Lovememory (Their first BL ep is out and the GL, First Love, has a trailer)

Mom Ped Sawan started airing but I don't have a source so I can't give any info or links unfortunately. If anyone knows of a subtitled source for this show, please let me know!

My Ex's Wedding came out in Thai theatres waiting for an international source for this too

Korean short film What's In my Bag was uploaded to Matchbox I haven't seen it yet but the trailer is on YouTube if anyone is curious! The film is available now for a small fee on Vimeo (runtime 12 mins).

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so; that being said I haven't had time recently so if I've missed anything good let me know!

Starting soon:

Us the series, Thai, 18 January 2025, most likely YouTube (as this is a GMMTV show) Caveat that this date is a rumour, see comments

Fragrance of the First Flower s2, Taiwanese, 18 February 2025, GagaOOLala ok this isn't that soon but I'm just so excited we're getting this second season after all!

It is so, so nice that we have this much GL to keep track of, I can't complain! This covers a whole month of content and it was a month I was very distracted from my QL consumption so while I always welcome anyone pointing out stuff I missed, I would particularly appreciate it this round.

[reality-detective]

I'm going to spell it out one more time for those of you who are lost and not registering the 100's of fuckin clues I've been dropping for you. So please pay close attention because I'm tired of repeating the same shit. 👇

YOU ARE WATCHING A MOVIE 🎬 📽️

A lot of what you are seeing is complete bullshit and fake. It's so outrageous on purpose to get your attention at this point and it will continue until it has accomplished the goal fully and arrest will be ongoing with or without you.

There isn't/and never was a Biden presidency. The real Biden was executed for his crimes long ago, along with Clinton and many other deep state goons. You can't arrest them if no crime has been committed and the minions are still committing crimes.

You are seeing actors. Some have masks. That's why Biden keeps referring to himself as the mask president. This means they are the good guys in this movie on the team of freedom.

This whole election was fake along with a fake inauguration.

Fake Biden executive orders.

Fake oval office.

It's all bullshit.

Wake up. 👀

The military right now is controlling our country until the new elections in the coming months. The Insurrection Act has been signed. Executive Orders from Trump are in full effect and I've pointed those out.

Things will soon be revealed publicly. Hopefully, you can wake up before then so you don't have a heart attack in the process.

They really tried stealing our election that part is real. Trump knew this and allowed it to happen to expose them and arrest those involved and he and the military will be implementing a blockchain fraud proof election system, which was already patented back in August 2020. He skipped the 9th circuit corrupt courts because they, too, were compromised and went 100% FISA. This whole thing has been a total military sting operation.

The goal was to arrest and remove these crooks first before ever winning an election. Furthermore, the Vatican owned the corrupt DC corporation, and that is no longer intact, it has been dismantled.

It will soon be a republic for which it stands under the constitution as originally intended. You will get a history lesson in the process along with a solid grasp of what the constitution actually is.

Many corrupt DC rats and Hollywood pedophiles have gone to jail and/or have been executed for crimes of high treason, conspiracy and other crimes against humanity. Many more are in the process of meeting justice via military tribunals as I'm posting this.

Things will be made public in due time, no more secrets, no more games.

There are many actors in this movie, not just the Biden double comedian guy. Who's who at this point is somewhat of a mystery. We don't know exactly who is who 100%. Some actors have been playing a part from the very beginning. Others flipped for a deal and are now playing a part in this movie to avoid the death penalty.

The best thing you can do right now is just wake up to the truth that's being shown to you, take heart and know that communists have no real power over our country and look forward to the things Trump has already pre-planned long ago for you.

I'll warn you now. Things WILL get stranger from here on out.

If you pay attention and listen to what I've been trying to tell you here, you'll start laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole production.

If you are watching the mockingbird media CNN or the other FAUX NEWS networks, you'll probably cry.

Whatever you do, please don't call Joe Biden the president. He really has been long gone, and his double has no power. And that ain't Kamala Harris.

Enjoy the show 🍿 As the federal government is being removed via the military.

https://rumble.com/v5cidlv-8.26.24-the-tipping-point-on-revolution.radio-with-l.t.-col.-riccardo-bosi.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp

If you people would listen to Riccardo Bosi in the above 👆 link you will see what I'm saying. The interview begins at the 1:11:11 mark it's about an hour long. Scott McKay talks about other things before bringing on Lt. Col. Bosi. I posted this 👆 earlier and I know people didn't listen to it. A lot of you are still stuck on the fake bullshit and if you wanna know the truth then put in the time required to learn it. I can't put this anymore clearly. 🤔

[moociaoafterdark]

Why is no one have a hc of Horus an sanguinius giving part of themselves as a gift to each other? Horus can give sanguinius a blood necklace from his blood ofc and sanguinius can give Horus broch made of his hair like

NO WAIT THIS IS SO GOOD, ANON??

Who are you?? Please come out, your take was so good!!!

I had a similar head canon where Sanguinius would leave a feather or some feathers behind as a good luck charm. More fluffier scenario is where Sanguinius sneakily puts his feather in Horus' wolf pelt and then tries to see how long it will take for the Warmaster to notice it. Usually it's by the time when he is taking off either his clothes (🌚) or his armor. A sight of a single white feather sticking out of the black fur of the pelt never fails to make Horus smile like a fool in love that he is. (Has this been done yet? Idk idk, but I never seen it anywhere before)

Alternatively, Horus takes the feather and orders it to be turned into a quill (Sanguinius' wings closely resemble those of a swan, so, the feathers are actually perfect for that). That way, anything he writes was also technically co-signed by Sanguinius as well.

Now, Sanguinius is a big gift giver (because bird), but what about Horus? Your idea with a blood necklace is *chief kiss*, but I wonder if Sanguinius can even drink it? (Assuming this is like a blood vial on the chain or anything like that) Is this the kind of gift that has serious practical use? No doubt that a blood of Primarch is way more potent and nutritious than a blood of Space Marines, let alone baselines. So could this be a way of Horus looking out for his brother? An emergency power boost, in case Sanguinius desperately needs it? A way for Horus to share his power with him? A very thoughtful and a very practical gift, that I think would suit Horus.

Though, realistically, anything involving blood is a serious biohazard and blood in a vial (unless it's vacuum) doesn't stay in liquid form forever and loves to clot, dry and decay outside of our bodies, due to being a biological material. As someone who works in the blood sampling office and constantly works with blood vials, I don't find the blood vial necklaces romantic at all, lmao... However, perhaps, if this is a corrupted Horus, maybe this necklace has another purpose? Say, a way to corrupt our angel boy and sway him to give in to a certain God of death and decay? 👀

Anyway, HoruSang are my little blorbos and this idea? So good. 11/10. But I need to think more about it.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Media Manipulation, Bias, Cooperation and its impact

Media manipulation, misinformation, and propaganda are part of conflicts world wide. Every country, government, NGO, and agency engages in these tactics in some way. There is a story to be told from a certain perspective that pushes an agenda. What we, as the consumer of such media, have to do is determine if we're being fed a biased perspective and/or outright lies that we can then parse through. The current I/P war has seen a huge influx of misinformation and propaganda from social media and traditional news sources. The former is expected as we are in the era of influencers and algorithms. However, traditional sources, such as the AP or WashingtonPost, have long been an issue when it comes to coverage of Israel and Palestine.

Matti Friedman wrote about this a decade ago in an article for the Atlantic titled What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel.

Friedman is a former journalist for the AP and throughout their piece details the biased reporting that they witnessed firsthand, the association with terrorist groups, the influence of terrorists on reporting, and the outright corrupt nature of an organization that touts itself as a bastion of good journalism. From the article:

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

Most consumers of the Israel story don’t understand how the story is manufactured. But Hamas does. Since assuming power in Gaza in 2007, the Islamic Resistance Movement has come to understand that many reporters are committed to a narrative wherein Israelis are oppressors and Palestinians passive victims with reasonable goals, and are uninterested in contradictory information. Recognizing this, certain Hamas spokesmen have taken to confiding to Western journalists, including some I know personally, that the group is in fact a secretly pragmatic outfit with bellicose rhetoric, and journalists—eager to believe the confession, and sometimes unwilling to credit locals with the smarts necessary to deceive them—have taken it as a scoop instead of as spin.

During my time at the AP, we helped Hamas get this point across with a school of reporting that might be classified as “Surprising Signs of Moderation” (a direct precursor to the “Muslim Brotherhood Is Actually Liberal” school that enjoyed a brief vogue in Egypt). In one of my favorite stories, “More Tolerant Hamas” (December 11, 2011), reporters quoted a Hamas spokesman informing readers that the movement’s policy was that “we are not going to dictate anything to anyone,” and another Hamas leader saying the movement had “learned it needs to be more tolerant of others.” Around the same time, I was informed by the bureau’s senior editors that our Palestinian reporter in Gaza couldn’t possibly provide critical coverage of Hamas because doing so would put him in danger.

Hamas is aided in its manipulation of the media by the old reportorial belief, a kind of reflex, according to which reporters shouldn’t mention the existence of reporters. In a conflict like ours, this ends up requiring considerable exertions: So many photographers cover protests in Israel and the Palestinian territories, for example, that one of the challenges for anyone taking pictures is keeping colleagues out of the frame. That the other photographers are as important to the story as Palestinian protesters or Israeli soldiers—this does not seem to be considered.

....

When Hamas’s leaders surveyed their assets before this summer’s round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas. (This happened.) Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it. (This also happened.) Cameramen waiting outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City would film the arrival of civilian casualties and then, at a signal from an official, turn off their cameras when wounded and dead fighters came in, helping Hamas maintain the illusion that only civilians were dying. (This too happened; the information comes from multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of these incidents.)

Colford, the AP spokesman, confirmed that armed militants entered the AP’s Gaza office in the early days of the war to complain about a photo showing the location of a rocket launch, though he said that Hamas claimed that the men “did not represent the group.” The AP “does not report many interactions with militias, armies, thugs or governments,” he wrote. “These incidents are part of the challenge of getting out the news—and not themselves news.”

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

Back in 2021 the IDF destroyed the AP's building because Hamas was using it as a base as well. The AP denied all knowledge of Hamas being in the building, except Friedman and other journalists had previously established that there was a relationship between the terrorists and news outfit. The insistence on denying Hamas's actions for fear of reprisal and to continue the "moral failure" narrative is part of AP's m.o. This standard of avoidance regarding Hamas's actions, couching them in a comparison of "Hamas is bad, but look how much worse Israel is!", justify, or even reduce the horrid nature of them has been part of the formula for years. It explains why we see so many of the major news sources tell the same story in the same manner when it comes to this area. Talking about Hamas, PIJ, and other groups and their bad actions is taboo. Another quote from earlier in the article stands out that highlights this rhetoric. "In these circles, in my experience, a distaste for Israel has come to be something between an acceptable prejudice and a prerequisite for entry. I don’t mean a critical approach to Israeli policies or to the ham-fisted government currently in charge in this country, but a belief that to some extent the Jews of Israel are a symbol of the world’s ills, particularly those connected to nationalism, militarism, colonialism, and racism—an idea quickly becoming one of the central elements of the “progressive” Western zeitgeist, spreading from the European left to American college campuses and intellectuals, including journalists."

Many of us have talked about the antisemitism that is baked into most cultures, and a Jewish journalist documented through their own experiences how that is an inherent part of a "trusted" international news source. The fact that it was/is "in vogue" to paint Israel and its actions as the "moral failing of Jews" and hold them responsible for all the "evils" of the region while handling terrorist groups with kid gloves is abhorrent. It's antisemitic and a continuation of age old conspiracies. Every decade we say this is an issue, and every decade you forget or brush it aside.

[thecreaturecodex]

Skelm, Palace

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[Talking with me during the development of her red hag, @soylent-crocodile referred to it as "a species of Starscreams". Which is a great description, and also an accurate assessment of the palace skelm. Although it's obvious that Grima Wormtongue is also a major influence on this PF2e monster. The fact that palace skelms and red hags are the same CR and would absolutely hate each other is the icing on the cake for me.]

Palace Skelm CR 8 LE Monstrous Humanoid This humanoid figure is almost human, except for the pair of gleaming antlers growing from his skull. He is dressed in fine noble’s clothing.

Palace skelms are creatures that delight in the corruption of power. They often are found among military officers and politicians, some of whom transformed into skelms in that position. Palace skelms spend their time either jockeying for power or abusing the power that they do have, treating their subordinates with casual cruelty. A palace skelm is an excellent liar, and they can even insert their words into the mouths of others. They encourage competition, jealousy and paranoia in any court they find themselves in, turning functioning governments into a den of vipers to exploit. They are ostentatious by nature, and frequently flaunt their wealth and status with finery.

Most palace skelms prefer to exert power from behind the throne, ingratiating himself to a ruler and warping their perceptions so that they only trust the skelm. Coups and political upheavals are dangerous for palace skelms, as they simultaneously allow for more opportunities to inflict suffering while increasing the risk of the skelm’s true nature being exposed, or of the skelm losing their grasp on what power they have. Palace skelms have a tendency to self-sabotage, as their interlocking schemes can spiral out of their control, and their answer to being caught in the act is usually murder.

Palace Skelm     CR 8 XP 4,800 LE Medium monstrous humanoid Init +4; Senses Perception +16, scent

Defense AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 18 (+4 Dex, +8 natural) hp 102 (12d10+36) Fort +7, Ref +12, Will +11; -2 vs. emotion effects DR 10/cold iron

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee gore +18 (1d12+6 plus trip), slam +18 (1d6+6) Special Attacks incite violence Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +13 (+17 casting defensively) Constant—tongues At will—message, paranoia (DC 17) 3/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, enthrall (DC 17), invisibility, suggestion (DC 18) 1/day—charm monster (DC 19), curse of the outcast (DC 21), private sanctum

Statistics Str 23, Dex 18, Con 17, Int 18, Wis 17, Cha 20 Base Atk +12; CMB +18 (+20 trip); CMD 32 (34 vs. trip) Feats Combat Casting,Combat Expertise, Deceitful, Improved Trip, Improved Vital Strike, Vital Strike Skills Bluff +21, Disguise +21, Diplomacy +14, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (local, nobility) +14, Perception +16, Sense Motive +13, Sleight of Hand +13, Stealth +16; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate Languages Aklo, Common, tongues SQ change shape (Small or Medium humanoid, alter self), corrupt speech, skelm traits

Ecology Environment urban Organization solitary Treasure standard

Special Abilities Corrupt Speech (Su) As an immediate action, a palace skelm can corrupt the speech of a creature within 30 feet. The skelm can say up to twelve words and makes a Bluff check as opposed to the Perception of other creatures that can hear the original speech. If the skelm succeeds, the perceiving creatures hear the palace skelm’s words come out of the speaker’s mouth. If the skelm fails, they hear the original speech. If the Perception check succeeds by more than 5, the perceiving creature hears both phrases, and knows that the skelm spoke the words. If the skelm’s Bluff check against a target succeeds by 5 or more, the skelm can cast suggestion or paranoia on that target as part of the same action. A skelm cannot use a spell-like ability on multiple targets in this way at a time, even if it successfully deceives multiple creatures. Incite Violence (Su) As a standard action once per day, a palace skelm can incite violence in all creatures that can hear it within 30 feet. If a creature fails a DC 21 Will save, it makes a melee attack against an adjacent creature of the skelm’s choosing, choosing its most powerful weapon or natural attack if it has multiple. If a skelm uses this ability and an affected creature has no creatures adjacent to it, the creature is instead stunned for 1 round. This is a mind-influencing, compulsion, sonic effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.  Skelm Traits (Ex) A skelm gains a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks and a -2 penalty on saving throws against emotion effects.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * * *

Lessons from our success!

November 22, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration for Attorney General is instructive on many levels. Most of the lessons learned should fortify us for the battles to come.

Lessons include:

Public pressure works. Although the proximate cause of Gaetz’s withdrawal was a lack of support among GOP Senators, that lack of congressional support was the first derivative of public outrage over Gaetz’s reprehensible conduct. We must repeat that public pressure with respect to Pete Hegseth, Robert Kennedy, and Tulsi Gabbard, among others. Everyone who called their Senators or otherwise raised the alarm about Gaetz deserves a pat on the back.

Just because Trump wants something doesn’t mean he can get it. Those who oppose Trump sometimes accept the myth that he can accomplish everything and anything he wants. Not so. On Wednesday, Trump expressed public support for Gaetz’s nomination as Attorney General. On Thursday, he told Gaetz, “You don’t have the votes.” If we resist, we can win. Timothy Snyder advises us, “Do not obey in advance.” To that admonition we should add, “Do not concede before the battle is over.”

Trump was bluffing about recess appointments. Like most bullies, Trump relies on bluffing to get most of what he wants. When challenged, he retreats. Trump threatened to use recess appointments (and the Adjournment Clause) to force nominations through the Senate. However, he allowed Gaetz to drop out as soon as it was clear that Gaetz did not have the votes for confirmation. See The Bulwark, ‘You Don’t Have the Votes’: How Trump Barred the Gaetz

If Trump were serious about forcing the Senate into an involuntary adjournment, he would not care whether Gaetz had the votes. The fact that Trump cared whether Gaetz had the votes for confirmation shows that Trump was bluffing about forcing recess appointments.

Every defeat suffered by Trump weakens the illusion that he is invincible. Part of Trump's bluffing strategy depends on the fiction that he is invincible. But every time Trump loses a battle, the illusion of his invincibility becomes weaker. That should give us hope in the battles over Hegseth, Kennedy, and Gabbard.

Trump has other corrupt and corruptible candidates to replace every nominee we defeat. That’s okay. Trump immediately replaced Gaetz with Pam Bondi, former Attorney General of Florida. Bondi supported Trump's claims that the 2020 election was rigged and dropped an investigation against Trump University’s fraudulent practices after Trump donated $25,000 to her campaign. See NYTimes, New Records Shed Light on Donald Trump’s $25,000 Gift to Florida Official. Per the Times,

[In September], a check for $25,000 from the Donald J. Trump Foundation landed in the Tampa office of a political action committee that had been formed to support Ms. Bondi’s 2014 re-election. In mid-October, her office announced that it would not be acting on the Trump University complaints.

There is no bottom to the supply of corrupt and corruptible Trump loyalists who can (and will) replace every corrupt and corruptible nominee or appointee who takes office in the Trump administration. That’s okay. The point is to resist, disrupt, and expose the corruption. We need to keep it up, every day!

As I replied to a friend who alerted me to Matt Gaetz’s announcement on Twitter that he was withdrawing, “One down. Fourteen to go.”

Will Matt Gaetz rejoin the House of Representatives? Maybe.

Matt Gaetz resigned from the 118th Congress, which ends on January 3, 2025 at 11:59 a.m.

Gaetz was elected to the new Congress (the 119th), which begins on January 3, 2025, at Noon.

In his letter of resignation, Gaetz said that he “does not intend” to take his seat in the 119th Congress. Saying that you “do not intend” to do something is not the same as a “resignation.”

What if Gaetz changes his mind and shows up on January 3, 2025, to be sworn into the 119th Congress? Gaetz could easily say, “I didn’t intend to be sworn into the 119th Congress because I thought I would be the Attorney General. That didn’t happen, so I changed my mind.”

If that happens, the answer to “What comes next isn’t clear.” See HuffPo, So, Matt Gaetz Won’t Be AG. Can He Go Back To Congress?

I don’t know what will happen. I am simply noting that Gaetz has a plausible path back to Congress—which would presumably resurrect the House Ethics investigation. Query whether that investigation would need to begin from scratch. The 118th Congress is not the 119th Congress.

New questions about Pete Hegseth emerge

On Thursday, news organizations obtained a copy of a police report investigating a reported sexual assault by Hegseth in 2017 at a conservative conference. See AP, Police report reveals assault allegations against Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary. The police report is linked in the AP article. It contains graphic descriptions of the reported assault.

The conclusion of the report states, “I recommend this report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.” That recommendation does not exonerate Hegseth, as he claimed in statements to the press on Thursday. See ABC News, Hegseth says he's 'completely cleared' in sex assault case. The police report doesn't say that.

Hegseth later entered into a non-disclosure agreement with the woman who reported the assault. Hegseth paid the woman an undisclosed amount of money to enter into the non-disclosure agreement. Hegseth’s attorney claims that the the woman “was the aggressor” and that she fabricated the story of rape in order to “save face” with her husband, who was staying at the hotel with his wife when the sexual assault took place.

More evidence will be gathered, including the investigation from local prosecutor to whom the case was referred for review. And since Hegseth has made public statements about the alleged assault despite the non-disclosure agreement, it may be that the woman he allegedly assaulted is free to speak to Senate investigators and the media.

The incident took place while Hegseth was in the middle of a divorce from his second wife and fathering a child with his then-girlfriend, who is now his third wife. If Hegseth was an active duty military officer at the time, it is likely he would have been discharged—possibly dishonorably.

Equally troubling are Hegseth’s public statements that express strong sympathy for white nationalist views and animosity toward fellow Americans who do not share those views. See Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic, Pete Hegseth Might Be Trump’s Most Dangerous Nominee.

Chait writes,

In his [Hegseth’s] three most recent books, Hegseth puts forward a wide range of familiarly misguided ideas: vaccines are “poisonous”; climate change is a hoax (they used to warn about global cooling, you know); George Floyd died of a drug overdose and was not murdered; the Holocaust was perpetrated by “German socialists.” [¶¶]

The Marxist conspiracy has also, according to Hegseth, begun creeping into the U.S. military, the institution he is now poised to run. His most recent book calls for a straightforward political purge of military brass who had the gall to obey Democratic administrations: “Fire any general who has carried water for Obama and Biden’s extraconstitutional and agenda-driven transformation of our military.” [¶¶]

In the most chilling passage of his three books, Hegseth declares his fellow citizens to be enemies:

The clearest through line of all three books is the application of Hegseth’s wartime mentality to his struggle against domestic opponents. American Crusade calls for the “categorical defeat of the Left,” with the goal of “utter annihilation,” without which “America cannot, and will not, survive.” Are the Crusades just a metaphor? Sort of, but not really: “Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet.” (Emphasis—gulp—his.)

Hegseth bears tattoos that are associated with the white supremacist movement. He is unfit to serve in the military, much less serve as Secretary of Defense. Call your Senators to let them know how you feel about a man accused of rape (allegations he papered over with a non-disclosure agreement) and who views his fellow Americans as the enemy.

You can reach your Senators by entering your home state in the dialog box at U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators.

+

Women, in particular, are in disbelief that their fellow Americans did not rise to defend their status as full citizens under the Constitution. And after the reprehensible effort by the House to stigmatize trans people, everyone who is not straight, white, and in a same-sex marriage is understandably looking over their shoulder to see if the morality police are following them.

Yesterday, Heather Cox Richardson addressed an op-ed in the WSJ by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. See November 20, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson. The Musk-Ramaswamy op-ed distressed many readers. (See the Comments to Today’s Edition Newsletter date 10/21/24.)

Professor Richardson criticizes the Musk-Ramaswamy op-ed and planned “Department of Government Efficiency” in her usual professional, historical, and classy way—which is why she is a national treasure.

Me, not so much. I will say it directly: Musk and Ramaswamy are like a couple of twelve-year-old boys who know nothing about the world but are confident that they can make the world bend to their will because they are twelve-year-old boys who don’t know any better.

They have been put in charge of a fake “department” that can make recommendations that are dependent entirely on members of Congress—who will think twice about cutting two trillion dollars from programs that directly impact their constituents. To underscore this point, Musk has been on a diet of humble pie for over a week—repeatedly failing to persuade Trump and US Senators that Musk’s favorite candidates for the cabinet should be appointed. If Musk were a baseball player, his batting average would be perfect—0.000.

I am not saying that Trump will fail in his effort to cause chaos and inflict pain. He will do so intentionally and negligently in abundance. But the Dynamic Duds of Musk and his sidekick Vivek will be engaged in the equivalent of a kindergarten production of “Wheels on the Bus” while the adults are across town at the opera house watching Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Musk and Ramaswamy are designated psychological terrorists. Their purpose in the new administration is to issue baseless but ominous pronouncements that will garner press coverage and create the illusion that Trump is doing something. They will hold live hearings. Indeed, they will livestream them on Twitter so that Musk can fabricate viewer numbers that do not match reality. Musk and Ramaswamy will slap one another on the back as they congratulate themselves for the masterful production of “Wheels on the Bus.”

Their job is to upset us. Don’t let them. They are jesters in the classic sense of the word. Their job is to mollify the petulant and bored king. Do not let them fool and distract us. The real action is in the Oval Office and the Capitol. Let’s focus our resistance on those venues—which are ultimately accountable to the American people, as the Matt Gaetz withdrawal demonstrated today.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[allthecanadianpolitics]

SNC-Lavalin is changing its name to AtkinsRealis as it faces an "inflection point" in its 112-year history, according to CEO Ian Edwards, after a tumultuous decade for the engineering giant.

The rebrand follows 11 years markedby trouble with the law, including the Libya corruption scandal that tarnished its reputation and ensnared the highest office of the Canadian government, as well as lacklustre earnings at times.

The company also hopes to shed the costly backlog of big, over-budget rail contracts that has plagued it for years and launch expansion plans after a steady slim-down regimen and, until 2021, declining revenue and headcount.

"Four years ago when I became the CEO, I think we were very transparent: We said there's a part of the company which is excellent, performs really well; there's parts of the company which don't ... We're going to stop doing what's not working, we're going to do more of what working really well," Edwards told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"From here, it's all about growth." [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[raineandsky]

The Villain's Housekeeper

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8) (part 9) (part 10) (part 11)

tw: death mention, implied torture

The villain leaves, as promised. The hero sees them off at the door for the first time with a smile they stop pretending is genuine after a few seconds.

The villain wraps them in a slightly desperate hug, to their surprise. Their body’s warm, their arms shaking slightly. Nerves? Dread? Fear? The hero doesn’t know.

“I hope things get better for you,” they mumble into the hero’s shoulder. “I really mean that.”

They lean back to hold the hero at arm’s length. Their eyes glisten with tears the hero can’t put an emotion to. Doesn’t want to. “Stay safe, [Hero].”

And with that they’re on their way, their coat wrapped tight around them and their step quick. The hero watches them until they disappear around the corner. They shut the door slowly, slowly, and when it clicks into place they vaguely realise that they don’t know what to do with themself anymore.

So they do what they always do—they clean shelves, sweep the floor, clean counters. By the time they’re done the house is spotless and they’re out of work to swallow down that gnawing anxiety in their chest.

They flop down on the sofa—they’re not going to use the villain’s bed whilst it’s still warm, they’re not an animal—and let the exhaustion of the work overtake their worry and force them into a light sleep.

Light enough that they wake to the sound of the front door quietly clicking open. They sit up, ready to vocalise their surprise at the villain’s return, until they hear that the footsteps in the hall are decidedly not the villain’s. Too heavy, too slow. Too familiar.

The hero’s on their feet immediately. They want to hide, to run away, to do something, but their body feels like it’s weighed down by stone as the superhero turns the corner into the living room.

“Ah, [Hero].” Surprise is lacking in the superhero’s voice. A small smile stretches at his mouth. “I heard rumours. It’ll be nice to have you back with us.”

With us. For a moment all the hero can think about is those long days in the jail, treated like nothing more than a stain in the agency’s gleaming record. “How—” The hero’s voice chokes in their throat, and they curse themself inwardly. “How did you know—”

“Good people do not hide things from the agency, [Hero],” the superhero says smoothly. “Common civilians are ranking higher than you in that aspect.”

“I wasn’t hiding anything,” the hero spits desperately. “I– I was never one of them.”

The last word comes out a little harsher than they intended. They were never one of the corrupt demons that kindly lets their nemesis hide in their home. No, no, of course not. No, no one would want to be like the villain.

The hero, though, didn’t become a hero without an innate eagerness to please. To prove themself. To show the superhero how good they can be.

“I was never one of them,” the hero repeats, and the superhero cocks his head. Interest. “I– I can prove it.”

The superhero hums a cold laugh, and for a moment the hero feels like they’re back in that awful little basement, chains on their wrists, swearing their innocence, assaulted by the sound of dragging leather behind them—

The hero quickly turns on their heel to avoid looking at the superhero any longer.

They lead the way to the villain’s office, desperate to keep themself a few paces ahead. A belt sits at the superhero’s waist, and they don’t want to get close enough to see him unsheathe it again.

The door swings inward. The superhero looks inside momentarily. His gaze turns to the hero. Disappointed.

Please, no. “This is– it’s [Villain]’s office,” they add quickly. “This is their house.”

The superhero’s eyes linger on them for a moment. His face gives nothing away. Then he turns away to step into the office, and it feels like the hero can breathe again.

The hero stays in the doorway whilst the superhero peruses like this is nothing more than his weekly trip to the shops. He flits through papers, looks through drawers. He taps his chin in thought. His eyes scan across the room curiously. Eventually, after an eternity of the hero trying to figure out whether this is how they repent, he glances back up to meet the hero’s gaze.

“This is a good find.” The superhero offers something of a kind smile, and the hero has to hold back an entirely too genuine grin of their own. “Good. Very good.”

He collects a stack of papers. “Thank you for this, [Hero],” he says as he lugs them into his arms. “Let’s head back to the agency, hm?”

The hero’s evaded the superhero’s fury. There’s no way this is real. They can’t believe their luck. “Y–Yes, sir.”

The hero follows the superhero to his car. Another one waits behind it, a sleek black thing straight from the agency garage. The hero swallows and averts their gaze—of course he knew they were here. Of course he didn’t come alone.

The superhero doesn’t say much on the journey back to the agency. His gaze speaks volumes without the words, continuously slipping to the piles of paper the entire way, a satisfied smirk pulling at his lips. The hero decides to point their interest to the world passing outside in the hopes that they can ignore what they’ve done to the villain to put themself in the superhero’s favour.

It doesn’t matter, their mind promises in sickening whispers. They’ll be dead soon. Step on their corpse to survive if you have to.

The superhero sighs shortly as he pulls the car into the agency’s underground garage. Waves the hero along as he lets himself into the building. Invites them into his office. Lets the door click shut behind him.

“It is nice to see you back where you belong, [Hero],” the superhero says as he settles at his desk. It looks comically small in comparison to the giant room it's set in. “And with documents! You’ve gone above and beyond.”

The hero allows themself the smallest of smiles. “Thank you, sir.”

“To prove innocence I don’t believe you have.”

The smile falters. Their heart leaps into their throat. “... What?”

The superhero smiles lightly. “We don’t do coincidences in this agency, [Hero]. Everything has a meaning. Even if it is a mistake, it is set in stone, and we will treat it as such. You relayed information to a spy. That is all I need to know.”

The hero turns on their heel. Security is already in the doorway, a pair of metal cuffs in his hand. The superhero laughs humorlessly.

“Don’t you worry, [Hero].” The hero whips back to him, their face surely a myriad of pain and horror and betrayal. “Innocence means nothing to us. You’ll make up for what you’ve done.”

The cuffs click around the hero’s wrists. They can’t even find it in themself to struggle against them. They just stare at the superhero, aghast. “You… you tricked me.”

The superhero arranges the villain’s papers on his desk idly. “It is nothing on me if you were foolish enough to trust me.”

The man behind the hero tugs them towards the door. Jail. Right back where they started. The superhero throws them one last smirk. Satisfied, cruel, mocking. Disgusting.

“Thanks for coming back, [Hero]. Really,” he says as his door swings open in a creaking goodbye. “It’s nice to have you back where you belong.”

(next part)

Taglist:

@runarelle @thiefofthecrowns

[bullet-prooflove]

Eeeee, okay, you know I gotta: 11. When you've been fighting for it all your life for my baby Will Trent 💕

Will doesn’t realise who your father is, not until he finds the photograph by accident. He’s trying to put up a bookshelf above the cabinet in your home office when the damn thing slips from his hand and crashes into the picture frame of your college graduation.

He curses under his breath as it clatters onto the floor before he bends down to pick up the pieces. It’s a picture he’s seen a thousand times throughout the course of the relationship, he just hadn’t realised that up until that moment that he hadn’t seen the whole picture. He’s always thought it was just you and your mom but then he unfolds the part of the image that’s been tucked behind the frame, and he sees your father.

Benito Iglesias.

It’s a name that no one in Georgia law enforcement is likely to forget any time soon, he guesses that’s why you’ve hidden it.

Camilla Rodrigez is what he knows you by, your mother’s maiden name he suspects.

The timing of your transfer to GBI makes a lot more sense now. Captain Iglesias had been arrested almost eighteen months ago for corruption, along with several other cops in Atlanta PD.

It had been Will’s investigation.

You have to know, he thinks as he sits on the floor and stares at the picture, you have to know that he’s the man that sent your father to prison. It raises some questions about your relationship, the most pressing one being, was any of it even real?

He’s waiting for you in the living room, the photograph smoothed out across the coffee table when you return from the grocery store. You’re cooking dinner tonight as a thank you for him putting up the shelves that are currently still propped up against your desk.

“Why?” He asks you when you step through the door.

You hesitate when you see the picture laid out in front of him. Your demeanour changes and he feels the gap between the two of you grow as you set the bag of groceries down. You take a seat alongside of him before picking up the photograph, your thumb tracing over your father’s features before you clear your throat.

“He’s the reason I joined the police you know?” You say quietly, your gaze turning distance. “Now I wonder if he was doing it even back then.”

“He was.” Will finds himself saying. “There’s evidence dating as far back as 92.”

You raise your eyes up to the ceiling and he sees the tears on your lashes.

“I was away at a conference in LA when it happened, my mom called me to tell me he’d been arrested and it’s like my world just fell apart.” You tell him, clutching the image tightly between your hands. “Your dad’s a dirty cop, people assume that you’re a dirty cop. When I transferred to GBI, it was like a fresh start. New name, name place, nobody knew who I was…”

You use the back of your hand to wipe the tears from your cheeks.

“It’s over, isn’t it?” You say softly as you set the photograph back down on the coffee table. “I lied to you…”

It’s in that moment that Will realises you have no idea that he’s the man that arrested your father. He wonders how that can be possible but then he remembers the sabbatical you took right before your transfer to GBI, studying law enforcement techniques in other states, you had told him. He realises the truth behind that now, you were struggling to come to terms with your father’s incarceration, the nature of his crimes…

He reaches for you, his thumb chasing away the tears that leak down your cheek. He doesn’t want to do this; he doesn’t want to destroy the most precious thing in his life but he’s a realist and he knows that this is going to come out sooner or later. It feels like someone is tearing his heart right out of his chest and he almost can’t bear it.

“I love you.” He tells you, his voice rough. “But you’re not going to love me after what I’m about to tell you.”

Love Will? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Interested in supporting me? Join my Patreon for Bonus Content!

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

@kmc1989 @yezzyyae @darqchilddaydreamz

[americatransformed]

Can we believe a word he says?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-project-2025-russell-vought-brendan-carr-b2650943.html

The US is a representative democracy, a Republic and many say Empire simultaneously. Is this the part where the democracy part dies as we turn into full on empire with emperors instead of presidents? Is this going to be the Rome burns moment for America? I sure hope not, but the writing is on the wall! Notice how Elon and Trump are both retweeting videos depicting themselves living in the Roman Empire or showing scenes of soldiers riding into battle during the crusades. 😣 Also Trump has made posts comparing the movement to Nazis. Does Trump not know about the Nero fiddling while Rome burned legend? 🤔 In this first video link on X below, the girl who is singing (Emma Kok) has disavowed whoever made it, making it look like she’s endorsing MAGA and Trump!

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1850700452805136479?s=61

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1853948745521439079?s=61

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/us/donald-trump-reich-video.html

My MAGA friend is trying to convince me only OAN, Newsmax and Fox should be trusted on Project 2025! And everything below is “false and misleading” 🤔 It sounds like those who believe this are parroting Trump’s fake news line, that the free press is the “enemy of the people,” which started out as 80%, but has since moved up to a whopping 90%!

The free press called out corruption throughout every election I’ve voted for including democrat and republican, and MAGA wants me to believe they’ve all of a sudden turned to spreading lies, because of a “witch hunt” as Trump says. 😣 extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence! Makes more sense these people reporting the news are doing their job, no matter how upset that makes MAGA and Trump!

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/21/trump-taps-project-2025-authors-administration-00191047

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-team-turns-project-2025-disavowing-effort-campaign-rcna180689

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-22/project-2025-goes-from-pariah-to-pipeline-as-trump-staffs-up

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/22/project-2025-trump-picks

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-project-2025-administration/story?id=116019369

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/11/19/these-trump-administration-picks-have-ties-to-project-2025/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-russ-vought-office-of-management-budget/

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-project-2025-cabinet-picks-1989565

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-project-2025-russell-vought-brendan-carr-b2650943.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-to-name-project-2025-mastermind-russ-vought-to-lead-office-of-management-and-budget/

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/project-2025-contributors-trump-administration-picks-1235175351/

https://newrepublic.com/post/188662/trump-russ-vought-omb-project-2025

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/11/20/trump-after-distancing-himself-from-project-2025-picks-people-who-worked-on-it/76456148007/

https://www.vox.com/politics/386224/project-2025-trump-cabinet-carr-homan

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/20/trump-project-2025-second-administration/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-transition-team-turns-project-120000787.html

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-vetting-project-2025-architect-top-administration-post/story?id=115993180

[beardedmrbean]

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted Thursday on charges that he took illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals in exchange for favors that included helping Turkish officials get fire safety approvals for a new diplomatic building in the city. Read the indictment.

Adams, a former police officer, faces conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges in a five-count indictment that describes a decade-long trail of crimes.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan alleges in the indictment that Adams “compounded his gains” from the illegal contributions by gaming the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small dollar donations. His campaign received more than $10,000 in matching funds as a result of the false certifications, according to the indictment.

Adams allegedly “solicited and demanded” bribes, including free and heavily discounted luxury travel benefits from a Turkish official, the indictment alleges, noting that the official was seeking Adams’ help pertaining to regulations of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan.

FBI agents entered the mayor’s official residence and seized his phone early Thursday, hours before the indictment was made public.

“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams phone (again),” Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said in a statement hours before the indictment was made public. “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in.”

In a video speech released Wednesday night, Adams vowed to fights any charges against him, claiming he had been made a “target” in a case “based on lies.”

“I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit,” he said.

The indictment caps off an extraordinary few weeks in New York City, as federal investigators have honed in on members of Adams’ inner circle, producing a drum-beat of raids, subpoenas and high-level resignations that have thrust City Hall into crisis.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has declined to comment on the investigation, though it said it would announce “significant public corruption charges” at an 11:30 a.m. news conference. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for the mayor did not immediately respond to questions Thursday morning.

In a video speech released Wednesday night, Adams vowed to fight any charges against him, claiming he had been made a “target” in a case “based on lies.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul has the power to remove Adams from office. Her spokesperson, Avi Small, issued a statement late Wednesday that said “Governor Hochul is aware of these concerning news reports and is monitoring the situation. It would be premature to comment further until the matter is confirmed by law enforcement.”

The indictment caps off an extraordinary few weeks in New York City, as federal investigators have homed in on members of Adams' inner circle, producing a drum-beat of raids, subpoenas and high-level resignations.

Federal prosecutors are believed to be leading multiple, separate inquiries involving Adams and his senior aides, relatives of those aides, campaign fundraising and possible influence peddling of the police and fire departments.

In the last two weeks alone, the city’s police commissioner and head of the school’s system have announced their resignations.

FBI agents had seized Adams’ electronic devices nearly a year ago as part of an investigation focused, at least partly, on campaign contributions and Adams’ interactions with the Turkish government. Because the charges were sealed, it was unknown whether they dealt with those same matters.

In early September, federal investigators seized devices from his police commissioner, schools chancellor, two deputy mayors and other trusted confidants both in and out of City Hall.

All have denied wrongdoing.

Read the Eric Adams indictment

[yiga-hellhole]

TFTK CHAPTER 18: RECONAISSANCE WITH THE TWILIGHT KING

hello again everyone! sorry for the delay of the chapter illustration, Yuga took the forefront for a moment there. you understand. anyhow! shorter chapter this time. many thanks to @bulgariansumo and @orfeoarte for giving this chapter the once-over, and of course, to everyone for reading!

Ganondorf receives a visitor.

ao3 mirror

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

The land of Hyrule had always been an isolated country. Steeped in self-righteous legends, of Creation myths and earth-shaking tyranny. It was the World’s holy ground as much as it was avoided as though plague-ridden and abandoned. For in being blessed by the Goddesses, so too was it cursed. By holding the world’s greatest source of power, conflict drew to it like moths to a flame. The Triforce did corrupt. Under the weight of the responsibility thrust upon it, the Royal Family of Hyrule was no exception to this. Time and time again, they would buckle, either under the weight of their hubris, or torn down when too weak to defend against those seeking its boons. Each time its end threatened to draw near, its Arbiter would be born, together with a Hero to fight them, and the Maiden as their mediator. This was a feud that would never end. One of greed, of cruelty inflicted under Holy name, and a Cycle of retaliation that had spiraled on since the very dawn of time.

In short, Hyrule was the tabletop of the Gods, where virtue and vice were ripped from mortal bodies by the tendon. 

Surrounding countries simply watched, hoping that the next Cycle would be as merciful as the last. Each of them prayed that the fickle Empire would once again uphold the status quo and keep their lands from ruin.

This vapid comfort was no longer. As if all the world had drawn a bated breath, it all bursted out in fraught cries. All ruling creeds, be it kingdoms or counties, scrambled to commune with either side of the war. For the first time in centuries, the Triforce had fallen into the hands of the Demon King. Something as simple as a wish exploded the world into a flurry of letters, laughably spewed forth from every corner, to beg for mercy. Sending a piece of parchment was far easier than crossing into actively hostile territory, certainly. Much less to fall to one’s knees and grovel before the deadliest man currently alive! The cowardice of it all annoyed Ganondorf, but he was glad for it all the same. Such pitiful displays of royal visitation would stop being amusing after mopping up the drool, tears, and blood of, give or take, the fifth diplomat.

The Hyrule Royal Family, and their commanders with them, predictably withdrew into hiding. Given the circumstances, though, surrendering immediately would have been a far more logical approach. With the current state of their army, any struggle was only procrastination of the inevitable execution. After suffering a crushing defeat, their pieces of the world’s most prized artifact were now seized by their fated nemesis. 

Said nemesis, too, sat in his office chair, laying surprisingly low. Hyrule Castle was not yet seized and would not be for some time. Ganondorf looked up from his stacks of correspondence, his gaze straying to his left hand. Ever since completed, the mark of the Triforce had been resting visibly on his palm, glowing persistently. Reclaiming the piece of Power had felt natural, or at least, like something that belonged. Every incarnation before him had possessed it, falling only into the collective hand of Cialana in this era. As for why this injustice had occurred, he couldn’t know. It didn’t matter either way. The magic of his birthright had returned to him all the same.

He’d had no trouble growing accustomed to this. The arcane had no secrets left to keep from him; it’d simply been a matter of adjusting to his greater strengths, honing the claws he’d grown. His success in Hyrule Field was a testament to the importance of this thorough preparation. Now bearing two more shards, each unfamiliar to him, he knew he could not afford to cut corners. With his new powers came new insights, some of which informed, inversely, about their risks. The truth of the matter was that there was much to be done once he established his kingdom amidst the carrion of Hyrule. Should he use the full potential of the Triforce now, he would not be able to predict its effect on him. The ancient, dark forces that dwelled deep within him were well within his control now, but should they be fed any more…

He did not fear it. Caution simply had to be taken. The ghostly whisper, elusive and chiming like a bell, that slipped in between every conscious thought, could not be left unattended. The Triforce yearned to be used, to fulfill his wish, and coaxed and purred for it insistently. It wasn’t meant to dwell in the mind for long – but Ganondorf was no mortal man. He would make it wait.

His other Kingly duties, however, were of a more timely sort. Even domestically, he had his hands full with governesses who demanded the most up-to-date state of affairs that he could divulge. Not to mention the political promises he’d made for his lieutenants, which still needed attending. As loyal as they were to him now, soon, they would come to demand their own fattened seats among the oceans of spoils. Such was the nature of war. But unlike other royals, he had more than mere advisors to depend on. Those scheming lot often had their own selfish goals hidden behind their backs. No, he had a far more dependable source to fall back on. He carried the accumulated knowledge of dozens of Demon Kings before him, deep within his soul.

A knock at the door interrupted his train of thought. It snapped him back to a present reality, where his quill spilled a fat drop of ink on a document he still debated on signing. He bid whoever waited outside to enter, rubbing his brow with budding exasperation.

Slipping his way in through the door, clutching a stack of documents to his chest, was Zant. He waited not a moment to dawdle and went straight to his desk, prattling away. “If I might have just a moment of your time, King Dragmire. Our mail couriers are swamped with work, as you know, and there are quite a few letters I wish to discuss with you.”

Ganondorf raised a brow at his bold, blabbering approach, but allowed him his whims. Placing his quill in its holder, he straightened in his seat to meet the Shadow Lord at near-eye level. “Speak. It must be urgent, for you to disturb me in such haste.”

“Well, Master. To start, the War has been getting quite the attention from overseas,” Zant announced, dropping meticulously re-folded envelopes on the desk with the rest of them. He chose the top-most to review, handing it to him for perusal. “We have received correspondence with the Duke of Tarn. I found it quite a promising offer – enough grain to fill our stocks for months to come, in exchange for peace. Of course, I would make no such drastic diplomatic decisions without your input, Sire.”

Ganondorf took the proffered letter and began skimming it with a nudge of his spectacles. Tarn… From his own few centuries of lingering in this world, such a place left little impression on him. Further down, however, something reflexively growled at the name. The unraveled threads of a past self for a moment braided together, clinging fiber to fiber to once again take to the lectern. What spewed forth was incoherent, but gnashed its teeth, growled with naught but grudge and disdain. Affronted not by a betrayal, but abandonment much more cold and mundane. 

Ganondorf could hazard a guess. Wrapping these threads back around their spool, he banished that building inherited rage, and considered his judgment, “A promising offer indeed,” he proclaimed, his eyes trailing over the curling letters out of meditation. Not to read, per se. Perusing the words was no longer necessary; he’d made up his mind. That state was one of many to have wronged him and those following him in the exact same way. Zant needed not to be lectured, they were similarly motivated men, after all. 

But he could do with a reminder. “I have but one question. Where was this Tarn when the women of my tribe were being slaughtered, mere centuries past? Punished for the mere crime of survival. Did they not stand idle when we required their aid? Yet, now that we pose a military threat, they come to me on their knees, begging to be spared?”

Zant’s expression darkened. Watching it be carelessly flicked back across the desk, he took the envelope, folding it back to its former state. Just like Ganondorf expected, he understood. “... As you say, Master.”

Furrowing his brows, the Gerudo reclined, perusing the map to trail back his fragmented memories. It was difficult not to burn bridges, but Zant ought to walk out the door with at least some positive correspondence. He raised his face again, which Zant met with his own gaze reflexively. “By any chance, have we received correspondence from the Zuna?”

Zant perked up, immediately picking up his stack to sift through the envelopes. Impressively so, he seemed to have memorized the wax seals. He plucked out a single envelope and held it out. “Indeed we have. They offer us an initial deposit of one-hundred tons in milled ore, paired with shared access to their mines, asking for our protection and mercy in return.”

Ganondorf raised his brows again, reviewing the contents of the message himself. The offers were relayed to the letter, along with some other favors that were perhaps less monumental, but still to appeal to him as King. 

He nodded briskly and handed the letter back to him. “The Zuna were most charitable to the Gerudo prior to my banishing in the age of Twilight, as you may recall. Accept their terms.”

A smile returned to Zant’s face, who looked greatly pleased. As if he had any choice but to be. “I will have it signed, Sire… Though, do you not think it would make these new compatriots, shall I say, nervous, to see their neighbors slaughtered?”

“Either that, or it will prove to be a lesson,” Ganondorf growled, but in his ponderings, his eyes strayed back to that letter from Tarn. He slid it back before him and unfolded it, before snatching his quill back out of its holder, and dunking it in the inkwell. Paper nearly bled under the scratch of his nib. “As an alternative, I say we increase the grain offer and demand a sum of their soldiers to fight alongside us as we take over Hyrule. Perhaps we will not attack them outright, but they will not escape this war without loss. Such is the price I demand for their negligence when we required their aid.”

Zant nodded, retreating his hands into his sleeves in his usual fidget of excitement. “An excellent arrangement, indeed.”

The corner of Ganondorf’s lips crooked into a grin at his praise. None of his lieutenants were short on compliments. Frankly, most of it slipped past his notice these days. Yet, sitting across him, filing through these letters, something struck him as peculiar. Ganondorf set his quill back in its rest and leaned back, forcing their gazes to lock so he could pry about. “... I must express my surprise, Zant. I did not expect the man who so swiftly conquered all of Hyrule in cold blood to be so concerned with peaceful negotiations.”

Zant narrowed his eyes, bearing a somewhat wistful, bittersweet expression. He sighed, his once happily twiddling hands now falling limply by his sides. “Such negotiations were commonplace in the Palace of Twilight, Master, and I’ve grown to be proficient in them. Resources were scarce, and to divide them fairly among our people was a sensitive affair. When you are so few, you simply cannot risk war, lest every House tear itself to the ground.” Zant paused for a moment, wrenching himself free from their mutual gaze to glare down at the map. The ferocity with which he eyed down the depiction of Hyrule Castle could have burned holes in the parchment. “I did not deem Hyrule deserving of those mercies, as it was the reason the scarcities existed in the first place.”

Ganondorf grunted in return. So, an odd sense of mercy yet lingered in that broken mind. For all his eccentricities, he made for a fine tactician, indeed. His curiosity now satisfied, he allowed the both of them a slight smile and reached out, palm upturned, for his next letter. Zant took not a moment’s rest and orated every last offer that he held in his hands, for them to scrutinize and entrap in their final verdict.

After falling into a short silence, the cracking of a wax seal shattered Ganondorf’s line of thought with a single pop. His eyes widened, staring down at his desk in perturbed silence. In the almost automated rhythm of their negotiations, as natural as they were like the ebb and flow of the sea, Ganondorf had failed to notice they breezed through the stacks of correspondence Zant brought along. And now, the Twilight King took the liberty of taking their next task from the pile Ganondorf had lain there for himself. 

How long had he been doing that? How many had he already taken, browsed, and picked apart right under his nose? Ganondorf looked up after composing himself, staring up at the one across his desk. The moon that pulled at his waves, but now left them in a sudden harsh standstill, looked back at him curiously, cocking his head. 

Wordlessly, he took the envelope from Zant’s hand, who let it slip through his fingers as if it’d turned to dust before him. Ganondorf eyed him suspiciously, before turning his attention to the piles of correspondence and the freshly opened envelope now in his hands. Losing control over a situation, as harmless as it may have seemed, was unheard of to the Demon King. Let alone in his own office. He cared not for if Zant intended to do so – it was an affront. He knew the man to be careful and explicit in his words, as much as it contrasted with the way he carried himself in battle. As such, he could only come to one troubling conclusion. 

Zant had sensed a moment of weakness and slipped by on purpose. 

Setting down the envelope, Ganondorf leaned back in his chair and beckoned him. “Come hither.”

Zant’s expression did not change. Perfectly on command, he stepped on over to stand by his side, interrupting his stare only to blink. 

When Ganondorf’s hand reached for him, he flinched some, his glazy pupils darting between the approaching palm and his Master’s face. Yet he did not recoil, only squinted his eyes shut with a peep when broad fingers slipped under the edge of his coif. With the leathery fabric gradually tugged down to bundle at the base of his neck, his ears flopped free, sticking out between meticulously cut locks. 

As he remembered, one of those ears was significantly shorter. Ganondorf’s eyes strayed to the pale blue scar tissue that besmirched the Twili’s right ear.

Feeling his stare trying to capture him Ganondorf addressed him, nodding toward his injury. “Does this ail you, still?”

“No, Sire. It has healed splendidly.”

Ganondorf hummed in return, withdrawing his hand from the bunched-up fabric at his neck. “You took my warning seriously. Your efforts at Hyrule Field did not go unnoticed, Zant.”

A brief smile flashed across his face, but Zant’s expression soon turned blank. His ear twitched a moment in his consideration. “I would have been a fool not to, Sire. I believe I am many things, but a fool, I am not.”

Zant spoke with the cadence of telling a joke, but his face showed no tellings of a smile. A sense of unease bristled the hairs on the back of his neck, leading Ganondorf to consider the events of that day again. There was no mistaking it – facing off against Princess Zelda, Zant was at a disadvantage at every front, but still he prevailed.

No matter how reserved he was, Zant never disobeyed a command. Ganondorf simply had to look into his words carefully. Resting his chin on his knuckles, he inquired. “I have been toying with an idle curiosity since that day, Shadow Lord Zant. How did you defeat her? When we saw her magic rain from the sky, we were certain you had perished.”

“I took some inspiration from an old friend, is all,” Zant grinned, lacing his fingers together in a talkative gesture. “Perhaps you would find the method dishonorable, but faced against such a foe, I could not exactly play fair.” 

He was being vague... Ganondorf growled. “Cease your colorful language.”

“A blight, Master,” He blurted out after a beat of silence. “A withering curse. After I infected the Princess with it, I only had to beat her in a battle of endurance. The arrows were her last resort, and I simply dodged out of their way. I struck her down mere seconds after.”

Ganondorf hummed, the skin of his cheek denting under the pressure of his knuckles. With how the Princess looked last he saw her, Zant appeared to be telling the truth. 

“I no longer concern myself with matters of ‘honor’, not since Hyrule has abandoned all of theirs,” the Demon King grumbled, waving his hand dismissively. “You fought well. Nothing more than that is expected from you. Ah… You may fix yourself,” he muttered, gesturing for the coif still bunched around Zant’s neck.

Zant perked up at this command and set off to tend to himself, tucking his hair and ears back into place. His headdress now properly framing his head, the Twili peered at him with what would be expectation, but…

Not a single emotion could be read in those eyes. It was the same empty, invasive stare that bored into him when he gave him the very scar he just hid away. His sword carved through skin and cartilage like paper, and Zant hadn’t so much as flinched. The same man who cried and yelped as freely as he breathed stood dead-silent before him, blood running down his cheek. His golden eyes quietly filled with tears but his gaze was piercing and unrelenting. They only parted from him for a moment to glance at the dismembered piece of flesh as his Master tossed it on the ground beside him.

When Ganondorf dismissed him, he spoke not a word. The Lord of Shadows bowed at the waist, turned, and slipped right out of the tent. Only when he left did the torches in the room stop shuddering, and burned brightly as normal.

There was something deeply wrong with the lieutenant. Not in the way that typically defined a madman, for he wore those telltale signs on his sleeve, plainly for all to see. No, it was in these quiet moments that Zant’s behavior began to unsettle him. His co-lieutenants had a particular spark in their eyes; one of admiration and unwavering loyalty. Zant lacked it thoroughly. Once, that very first day, it glittered with promise in those amber globes, and he did not recall when exactly it disappeared. But his eyes were not empty. On the contrary. When their eyes locked, it felt like there were two sets staring back.

Ganondorf didn’t fear him, no. Since acquiring his new power, not even the passing worry he once had dared to rear its head anymore. Zant simply was not to be trusted. Certainly, he was a fine addition to his army. Among all of them, the Twili was the most cunning. A deeply learned man on all fronts, he bore knowledge rarely rivaled by others not yet in their third decade. Each time they shared a space, he so freely shared his pearls of wisdom with his Master without the slightest complaint. Yet, all the time they spent, sharing tales of justice and diplomacy, made Ganondorf all the more aware of his many flaws. He was fickle, easily distracted, and, hidden behind a gentle smile, deftly manipulative. 

Those vices were contagious to the rest of his men. Ghirahim in particular seemed susceptible to him. The trouble he’d given him at his recruitment turned to blind loyalty nauseatingly quickly. Once, Ganondorf doubted him, thinking that his flattery and devotion were a trick to worm under his skin. But as he’d proven to him, Ghirahim clung to him like a dog would its Master. Dedication so obsessive that it bordered on the selfish, he had long abandoned the thought that the sword spirit was in any way the ringleader of this bout of frivolity. All signs pointed to the one standing by his side, peering outside like it was his first time seeing the sun. So long as those hands were occupied by their present worship, Zant was meek as a kitten, eager for his praise and happy to serve. Ganondorf had no interest in discovering whether his fragile mood would one day shatter and make an enemy of him, instead. 

Running his fingers through his beard, Ganondorf turned back to the matters on his desk. A low grumble escaped him as his eyes wandered to the map. Many preparations were still in order: frontlines to secure; resources to manage; alliances to forge. He wondered what shreds of them he could still thrust into the hands of the man beside him.

Zant watched his machinations in silence for a while, until he realized Ganondorf paid him no mind any longer. Hands clasped behind his back, he retreated, opting instead to linger by the window and gaze out toward the training fields.

There was no denying it. Among the lieutenants, they stuck out like sore thumbs. Zant and Ghirahim were loyal, and even if they hadn’t been, they were no threat to him. But slithering as a viper under the grass, beyond their assigned duties, the party enjoyed one too many ambitions that strayed them from their path. Perhaps they were under the impression they were acting in secrecy, but it was not so. Ganondorf was perfectly aware of their little escapades. Wandering off like squabbling children was one thing, but to do so behind his back, where he knew not where they lingered… Whether it was an attempt at sabotage was irrelevant. Their disobedience was enough to draw his ire, to whittle away his trust. 

Ganondorf’s fingers curled around the armrests of his seat, its wood creaking ever so slightly under his grip. Yes, he was certain of it now. He had no need for these boys any longer. His power was greater than ever, and what he himself could not do, his remaining lieutenants would serve him well. 

One last mission. They were to chip away at the Hyrule’s bastions, before enemy troops would ultimately overwhelm the pair of exiles and release him of their burden. Ganondorf deployed them in such a way before, he recalled. They failed him then, and they would fail him now.

And should they succeed in their defense, he would do away with them himself.

When he looked up from his ponderings to turn back to Zant, he met with golden pupils that had long been staring at him. 

If he had the nerve to suspect his King, enough to be emboldened into such an accusing gaze, he had another thing coming. Zant’s life was in his hands, his to command – he had known this since he first ripped his soul from the Quiet beyond, and had no right to protest it now. 

Ganondorf would punish him as he saw fit. And so, he beckoned him over. “There is one final matter I will discuss with you, Zant.”

Zant’s expression grew ever so slightly colder, but he approached without hesitation nonetheless, joining closely by his side. “Of course.”

Carefully setting his previous commitments aside, Ganondorf cleared the surface of the map on his desk. Zant closely followed his every move as his finger slid across the grid. Now was the right time to ease some of his lingering worries, and take care of some other problems, in one fell swoop. 

“As of now, the war is at a standstill. But soon, Hyrule will come looking for me. Their first target will be our base of operations at Gerudo Palace, and we cannot let them raze it to the ground.” Pausing for a moment, he glanced over his shoulder to see his lieutenant still attentively clinging to his every word. “I intend to send you and Ghirahim to stop their advance. The Desert is our home. Since I enlisted you both to reclaim it, I will trust none other to defend it during our final stand. With Hyrule’s troops then occupied, I will seize their Castle, and all of the lands will be ours.”

Zant paused. His intrigued expression turned blank until he withdrew into silent contemplation. “Understood. We will not disappoint you, Master.”

If there was anything more telling of Zant’s character than his nearly constant shouting, it was his silence. Ganondorf took note of the tone in the Twili’s force. Coldly compliant, hiding something bitter underneath. Something hesitant. For a mission so crucial, he could not use hesitation. At this stage, the urge to struggle bordered on the stubborn. On refusal. This he would not accept. If anything bothered the lieutenant, he would let him stew in it, if only to make it more difficult for him to deny his reluctance. 

Ganondorf sat back in his chair, reclining with his eye on the map, before interrupting the silence with a demand of his attention. “You seem displeased.”

There – Zant swallowed a moment, averted his eyes. It was subtle, but his conflict was there. Zant responded. “There is simply the matter of Ghirahim, Sire. Hearing that he will once again be parted from you in such a climactic moment… It will surely break his heart.”

Now that he did not expect! Ganondorf burst into laughter; a cold and mocking sound, heard only by the last lingering punters at the gallows. “Spare me. Break his heart? He does not have one.”

Zant stood and watched him laugh, grinning softly himself. But it was an empty one. “... Of course not. Nothing more than a figure of speech, Master.”

“You indulge him too much, Zant. I’ll not tolerate any more weakening of his spirit. Or must I discipline him again?”

He responded a little too quickly. “That will not be necessary. Our Blade is sharp and strikes true. He will not fail what he is made for.”

Ganondorf leaned back in his chair, narrowing his eyes as he judged his expression. Again an alarming itch in the back of his mind urged him to put him back in his place. Zant stared back unmovingly but flinched at his next words. “And this is your promise to make?”

Face downcast, the lieutenant pondered for a moment, before answering with a determined clench of his lips. “Perhaps not. But I am confident that he will listen to me.”

“Then you shall be my conduit to him,” Ganondorf said, rising from his chair, it whining in protest under his massive frame. His fingers found the sharp slope of Zant’s chin and tipped his head back, forcing them back into a stare piercing enough to make their ears ring. “I expect nothing but carnage from him. Feed his bloodlust, perhaps then will he abandon his wretched drive to be my lapdog.”

Zant blinked up at him, for a moment frozen in place. Light poured in through the windows just darkened by his towering shadow, catching blushing-pink strands in his rosewood locks. Wide-set eyes soon narrowed, and squinted under the grin that stretched across his face. For the first time that day, Zant smiled at him genuinely, giggling with what could only be bubbling excitement over the death he would soon spread. Still laughing, the pallid creature nigh cuddled up in his robes and raised a hand to lay it over the one cradling his chin. Affectionately, he cupped it, and pressed a kiss to the jewels on his Master’s rings.

“I promise you just that, Your Majesty,” he tittered. His eyes, having closed in his act of worship, fluttered back open. The Triforce on his palm glittered golden in his pupils.

“Then you are dismissed.”

Relinquishing his grip on his left hand, Zant gave him one more broad grin, the slits at the corners of his mouth tugging and fluttering. He bowed at the waist and retrieved what little he had left to sign from the desk, then briskly made his way back over to the door.

Only to then be startled by a sudden knock. Both men perked up, one more caught off guard by the other. Already on his way out, Zant peered through the opening.

“Zant? You’re here,” inquired a feathery voice beyond the door. 

The makeshift doorman seemed equally pleasantly surprised. “Yuga,” he exclaimed. “You have returned to work already? Well, I should not pry.”

Doubtlessly already shooed out of the way by a burning glare, Zant somewhat nervously looked back into the room. Suddenly, the imposing man from earlier vanished entirely, instead making place for the skittish young apprentice that stood waiting for his approval now. 

Ganondorf couldn’t help a chuckle at the sight. He nodded, gesturing for his new guest. One lieutenant made room for the other, and in entered Yuga, his approach announced by one more tap than usual. He bound his way to him on crutches, each painted flashily – no doubt in his spare time. 

“Oh, that boy,” he huffed. “He’s been buzzing about the Temple all day. A smart one, he is, but I swear he’ll be the death of me!”

Ganondorf chuckled warmly, not quite yet meeting eyes with the man across his desk. He knew if he would, he wouldn’t be able to escape his gaze for quite some time. Dipping his quill in its ink, he took one last document in front of him, and signed. 

“Not to worry. He will not.”

[eretzyisrael]

By Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg

Throughout the 17 years since the Hamas takeover, numerous reports have been published and videos posted detailing the growth of the terrorist capabilities inside Gaza. The frequent clashes with the IDF exposed additional information on the terror network and command centers located under and inside civilian locations, such as hospitals, mosques, schools and residential buildings. In the course of the operation that began following the October 7 attack, the IDF and journalists have added to this information, posting numerous pictures and videos showing the links between the aid operations and Hamas installations.

UNRWA is the largest aid framework operating in Gaza. It employs 30,000 staffers, mainly Palestinians, as well as about 200 international staff members, many based in Gaza or periodic visitors. It strains credulity to claim that the heads of the organization were unaware of the Hamas activities under and in the immediate proximity of their facilities and residences. In fact, evidence indicates that UNRWA international officials maintained a code of silence and cooperation with Hamas and associated terror groups, including promoting their propaganda and incitement and training of children for terror. Many UNRWA teachers have participated in antisemitic social media platforms, as documented repeatedly by UN Watch and other watchdogs. (On UNRWA corruption, see “UN Aid Chief Quits Amid Probe Into Palestinian Refugee Program.”) In May 2021, following the 11-day conflict, the top UNRWA international staffer in Gaza was forced to resign after acknowledging that the IDF counterterror strikes had been “precise” and “sophisticated.” The logical assumption, to be examined in this documentation process and evaluation, is that other UNRWA officials would have had similar information.

In addition to UNRWA, at least 12 other UN agencies are active in Gaza, including UN-OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization. A preliminary review of the history indicates that the officials and employees of these organizations also followed a policy of silence, and in some cases, directly cooperated with Hamas.

Similarly, UNICEF maintained direct and open cooperation with terror-linked NGOs, such as Defense for Children in Palestine (DCIP). UNICEF also provided medical services during the Hamas-organized violent confrontations along the border with Israel under the facade of the “Great March of Return” (2018-2019), which served as rehearsals for the October 7 massacre. In addition, UNICEF’s disregard for Israeli children targeted in missile attacks from Gaza, including those who were murdered, is another important part of the record.

The same questions and issues apply to documenting the terror-enabling activities of diplomats and officials from government aid organizations. The EU is the largest single financial supporter and aid donor to the Palestinians, and therefore likely to have been a major source of materials diverted to terror. In this context, it should be noted that the European Union’s Head of Delegation (ambassador) to the West Bank and Gaza, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff (2019-2023), met with officials of NGOs linked to terror organizations (see below), and in February 2022, participated in an EU-funded workshop “focused on the strategies and mechanisms needed to combat counter-terrorism policies, regulations, and policies (sic).” In July 2023, von Burgsdorff smuggled a paraglider into Gaza and demonstrated its use, declaring, “Once you have a free Palestine, a free Gaza, you can do exactly the same thing.” Three months later, the Hamas attack involved terrorists using paragliders.

The third category concerns leaders and employees of NGOs that operated in Gaza. NGO Monitor has compiled a list, based on UN financial information, of 70 NGOs that were active in recent years, and the total is likely to be higher. The largest, as measured by budgets and extent of involvement, include the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and Islamic Relief. Many major donor countries, including the US, maintain a list of “trusted partners” whose activities and personnel are exempt from detailed oversight and review.

[greater-than-the-sword]

Gender in the Age to Come

A reply to a tumblr mutual in light of James B. Jordan's "Restoring the Office of Woman in the Church"

In order to respond here, my discourse in this post will necessarily take the form of somewhat esoteric musings. I apologize for this to everyone else. It is not my intention to be esoteric, but I am responding to a set of very niche and almost mystical claims.

As well, I do not intend this post to be a speculation about the exact nature of the resurrection bodies, since I do believe that is beyond the scope of what is revealed to us in the Bible. Sorry if that disappoints anyone.

Essentially what I set out to disprove here is the notion that manhood or masculinity is inherently corrupt, violent, a result of the fall, doomed to destruction, or even transient and temporal in a manner that stands opposed to the allegedly superior eternality of feminine qualities.

(Although this may not be your intention, it's hard to imagine how this wouldn't devolve into straight up female superiority brand sexism. But I digress.)

We thankfully agree that James B. Jordan is wrong when he says that the verse stating "woman is the glory of man" means that woman is a type of improved man. That's because of the context of that verse which also says, "Man is the glory of God" (yet as you astutely pointed out, man is not an improved God.)

So, what DOES it mean that woman is the glory of man? I think Jordan hits way closer to this later on in his essay series when he points out that glory is a type of situational relationship evoking the idea of emanation or generation. (obviously that's not ALL it is but I will get into this.)

It's clear to me that Jordan is a man of great wisdom and insight, however he does make some mistakes and he also clearly comes from a very high-church denominational background which colors some of his views.

As much progress as Jordan makes toward explaining some of the more esoteric verses on gender in the Bible, he does still neglect to explore some of the most interesting verses on gender, and does not explore how they might interact with the framework he has set up.

That is what I aim to do here. Although I have a number of quibbles with Jordan, mainly I want to take his best ideas and run with them to their logical conclusion.

My proposition is essentially that masculinity is about the imitation of Christ.

Is man's masculinity not the image of God? If this were not so masculinity would be a result of the fall, but it is not.

Will man not continue to be God's image for the rest of eternity? Or will he relinquish a part of this image?

Is God's image not a gift? Does God take back his gifts? Surely not, because, "the gifts and calling of God cannot be revoked". (Romans 11:26) [We are speaking here of spiritual giftings rather than material ones of course.]

Let's go through this point by point.

Consider the role of masculinity prior to the fall. Of course many things about Adam can be said to represent humanity in general rather than males in particular, but there is one very obviously gendered thing Adam did prior to the fall. (Yes, Jordan is correct in that the Bible is implicit that Adam conveyed God's commands to Eve, but I am talking about something that's actually spelled out in the text.)

Adam had a role in the creation of Eve.

Hardly anyone these days wants to juice any meaning out of this part of the text for fear it will make women look inferior, but it is juicy. And when male inferiority is on the table, it is worth looking into.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:11-12,

Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

And from there straight into the verses that Jordan covered.

It is interesting that Paul mentions man's labor in creating woman on an equal footing, which seems odd on the surface when you think that Adam's role in the creation of Eve was completely passive and not comparable to the labor that thousands of women do daily to create new men, but Paul seems to think it is both noteworthy and comparable that woman was created out of man, and it's worth asking why.

If you like esoteric analogies, consider that Adam was put to sleep or "died" metaphorically speaking, sacrificing himself to create Eve. But after that time he again rose, with new "glory", that is, the woman.

So Adam underwent a symbolic sacrificial death that Eve might be created.

Woman did not do this. Only a male did this. Therefore this scene is a viable candidate for a defining masculine trait.

Sure, this is a pre-fall world. So Adam feels no pain, and the thing which he must sacrifice is not something that he will ever miss. But the symbolism is undeniable.

While imitating Christ, man not only dies, but also is resurrected and glorified.

As was our Lord, the ultimate Man. In whose image you are made.

For Adam that was not literal death, and glory meant getting the rewards of experiencing marriage. Therefore, if a man is 'made for death', he is made for resurrection and glorification as well, is he not? And isn't that too a part of his masculine nature as much as the sacrificial symbolic death which preceded it?

Now, I posit the imitation of Christ is a goal of an eternal nature and not merely temporal. In eternity when men are resurrected in glory will their masculine aspects not be more completely fulfilled by having this happen to them?

Clearly the purpose of men isn't to destroy life but to protect it. And ultimately even create it.

I would argue that even a man's capacity for violence isn't the defining characteristic of masculinity but an auxiliary characteristic that springs out of this central defining characteristic.

One might argue, "How can the believer's eventual death, resurrection and glorification be a male fulfillment if all women also die?"

A couple counter arguments:

You might as well argue that Jordan's theory of feminine "responsiveness" is not uniquely feminine since all believers submit to Christ.

All people have in them some germ of both masculine and feminine traits.

Essentially, if as you believe "death is masculine", then so is resurrection and glorification - you can not have the 1st be true without the 2nd also being true.

In the age to come, I posit that redeemed humanity will inherit both the masculine and feminine gifts, but the blessings we've already been given are by no means revoked. Women, having experienced death, resurrection and glorification with Christ; and men, having experienced spiritual marriage and unity to Christ, will both have achieved both masculine and feminine aspects.

Therefore, in the next age, everyone will find a way to share in both masculine and feminine. It is unclear to me whether we will all be therefore genderless from that point on or if some people will still be more masculine than feminine much in the way we are on earth where in our personality people have both masculine and feminine attributes.

After all, may I remind you that "The Bride" is not the ONLY metaphor used to describe the Church in eternity, we are also said to be "kings" who will "rule together with Christ" and "share in his likeness".

Remember that we relate to Christ not only as receivers of him but also as imitators of him.

Or do women not also have a calling to imitate Christ's sacrificial nature? Can women not protect at times? Just as men submit to Christ's headship.

(For one example not mentioned in the articles, Esther was a Christ-figure when she risked death to protect her people.)

On earth the "exceptional cases" of non conformity to gender roles in the Bible exist seemingly to prove that women are also ultimately inheritors of the masculine aspects of the divine nature just as men are of the feminine.

Genuinely I truly hope this helps. I have some other comments on Jordan's work as well, for example his part 3 seems to imply that pastors are intrinsically more masculine than other men, which I thought was very strange. But there are things about his insights that I liked very much. For example, would you believe me if I told you this was the first take on gender roles that I've ever read which defines femininity as anything remotely approaching analytical or rational? Having long considered myself "masculine in temperament" I find this perspective both refreshing and validating.

Anyway, hope this helps. I am powerless to prevent you from somehow twisting this in a blackpilled manner, but I don't think it should be.