#I have to remember to change everything to American spelling

[birdofdawning]

The Woman From the Sea

7. Ownership

The beginning is here; the previous part is here.

The Lovell calls in while Dottie is showering.

“Captain says we should be able to pick her up if you can get her to the sand right now. After that he doesn’t think we’ll be able to get close to you for maybe three days. That weather is turning fast, Rizzoli.”

The Lighthouse Keeper considers. “How dicey is ‘right now’?”

“Yeah, not gonna lie, pretty dicey. She injured?”

“No.” She makes a decision. “Look, we’re okay. We’ll be fine for three days. Come by when this thing blows itself out, okay?”

She gives an update on the arial — repaired, but not yet remounted. Probably no point if it’s all going to blow down again. Later, after she signs off, she turns and looks through the office doorway into the sitting room. Dottie is in a pink fluffy robe, a rarely used gift from the Lighthouse Keeper’s mother, and she’s crouched down in front of the crammed bookcase. She turns and smiles across at the Lighthouse Keeper. “You have To The Lighthouse! That’s funny!”

“Yeah.” The Lighthouse Keeper leans against the door jam. “So the next front’s about to hit again and it’s gonna be bad for a few days. And you’re gonna be stuck here until it dies down. Okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Dottie looks back to the shelves. “You certainly have a lot of classic mysteries. Christie, Sayers. The Red House Mystery. Christie was a trained pharmacist. That’s why her pharmacology, the poisons and so-on, was so accurate. Accurate for her time, you understand.”

“Yeah, I knew that.”

“You don’t have much modern crime fiction. Somehow I thought you’d be more of a hard crime reader. Gritty police procedurals and psychological thrillers and so-on.”

“Not so much. Dottie, can you look at me?”

Dottie turns immediately and smiles beneficently at her, and the Lighthouse Keeper can feel her own heart beating inside her chest, pushing her blood through her veins. It’s disconcerting and maybe a little unpleasant.

“So you’re going to be stuck here on the Rock for at least three days. You understand? It’ll just be me and canned food and a lot of rain. And I’ll be working through most of it.”

“I understand, Jane,” says Dottie earnestly. “I can help cook and clean. I don’t know how good I’d be at repairing things, but I can hold a torch and hand out tools.”

“No, no, absolutely not. That’s my job. You’ll stay inside and rest up, okay? Stay out of the wet. Doctor’s orders.”

Dottie’s eyes widen. “You have a medical degree?”

“What? No. That’s just a… okay, Keeper’s orders then. And probably OSHA’s orders.”

Dottie turns back to the bookcase. “Actually, napping on that couch and reading books sounds rather lovely right now. I’ve spent such a long time being…”

The Lighthouse Keeper waits, but her guest does not continue. Well, they’ll be together for the next three days. Plenty of time to win Dottie’s confidence. And she’s always been good at that aspect of an interrogation.

Because all of the Lighthouse Keeper’s professional instincts are telling her that the Woman From the Sea is hiding from something that scares her.

After Dottie is in bed, the Lighthouse Keeper takes a moment to step into the laundry house and put a load of clothes in the machine. There’ll be twice as much laundry to do now — more, because she’ll have to start wearing fresh clothes every day like a civilized person.

She almost trips up over a bucket of water she’s left out. Remembering, she reaches in and lifts out the coat, carrying it over to drip into the tub to examine. She’ll have to wait for it to dry, but it’s quality material and the salt doesn’t seem to have damaged it too badly. Maybe a few stitches needed at one shoulder and along the bottom of the lining. She's got a little time, so she spends ten minutes painfully wringing the coat out by hand.

It's while she’s pressing the creases out with the ancient iron that the tag catches her eye. It has been carefully stitched inside, just below the neckline, and is only now becoming visible as the coat dries out. It’s a tailor’s mark, and it has a name: ‘Maura Fairfield’.

That rings a bell. Fairfield. A rich Boston family? Probably blown off a super-yacht or something. The Lighthouse Keeper shrugs and eases the garment onto a hanger, leaving it to dry out behind the hot water cylinder. Maura Fairfield’s coat belongs to her now.

[petermorwood]

Food on St Patrick's Day (in the USA)...

...is usually Corned Beef & Cabbage, which is the Irish-American version of the original Irish boiled bacon & cabbage, but while the celebratory Irishness is still going strong, try something a bit more authentic.

A nice warm coddle. Not cuddle, coddle, though just as comforting in its own way. (Some sources suggest it's a hangover cure, not that such a thing would ever be necessary at this time of year, oh dear me no.)

Coddle is a stew using potatoes, onions, bacon, sausages, stout-if-desired / stock-if-not, pepper, sage, thyme and Time.

You'll often see it called "Dublin Coddle", but my Mum made Lisburn Coddle lots of times, I've made West Wicklow Coddle more than once, and on one occasion in a Belgian holiday apartment I made Brugsekoddel, which is an OK spelling for something that doesn't exist in any cookbook.

*****

I do remember one amendment I made to Mum's recipe, which met with slight resistance at the time and great appreciation thereafter.

Her coddle was originally cooked on the stove-top, not in the oven, and nothing was pre-cooked. Potatoes were quartered, onions were sliced, bacon was cut into chunks and then everything went into the big iron casserole, then onto the slow back ring, and there it simmered Until Done.

However, the bacon was thick-cut back rashers, and the sausages were pork chipolatas.

Raw, they looked like this:

...and the bacon looked like this:

Cooked in the way Mum initially did, they looked pretty much the same afterwards. The sausages didn't change colour. Nor did the bacon.

While everything tasted fine, the meat parts always looked - to me, anyway - somewhat ... less than appealing. "Surgical appliance pink" is the kindest way to put it, and that's all I'm saying. This is apparently "white coddle" and Dubs can get quite defensive about This Is The Way It SHOULD Look.

I'm not a Dub, so I persuaded Mum to fry both the bacon and sausages first, just enough to get a bit of brown on, and wow! Improvement! I remember my Dad nodding in approval but - because he was Wise - not saying anything aloud until Mum gave it the green light as well.

Doing the coddle in the oven, first with lid on then with lid off, came later and met with equal approval. So did using only half of the onion raw and frying the other half lightly golden in the bacon fat.

Nobody quoted from a movie that wouldn't be made for another decade, but there was a definite feeling of...

*****

There are coddle recipes all over the Net: I've made sure that these are from Ireland to avoid the corned-beef-not-boiled-bacon "adjustment" versions which are definitely out there. I've already seen one with Bratwurst. Just wait, it'll be chorizo next.

Oh, hell's teeth, I was right. And from RTE...

Returning to relative normality, here's Donal Skehan's white coddle and his browned coddle with barley (I'm going to try that one).

Here's Dairina Allen's Frenchified with US measurements version. (I feel considerably less heretical now.)

And finally (OK, not Irish, but it references a couple of the previous ones and is a VERY comprehensive write-up, so gets a pass) Felicity Cloake's Perfect Dublin Coddle (perfect according to who, exactly...?) in The Guardian.

*****

Returning to the beginning, and how boiled bacon became corned beef (a question which prompted @dduane to start an entire website...!)

The traditional Irish meat animal for those who could afford it was the pig, but when Irish immigrants (even before the Great Famine) arrived in the USA, they often lived in the same urban districts as Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

For fairly obvious reasons pork, bacon and other piggy products were unavailable in those districts, but salt beef was right there and far cheaper than any meat Irish immigrants had ever seen before.

Insist on tradition or eat what was easy to find? There'd have been contest - and do I sometimes wonder a bit if sauerkraut ever came close to replacing cabbage for the same reason.

The pre-Famine Irish palate liked sour tastes: a German (?) visitor to Ireland in the mid-1600s wrote about about what were called "the best-favoured peasantry in Europe", and mentioned that they had "seventy-several sour milks and creams*, and the sourer they be, the better they like them."

* Yogurt? Kefir? Skyr? Gosh...

Corned beef and Kraut as the immigrants' celebratory "Irish" meal for St Patrick's Day? Maybe, maybe not.

Time for "Immigrant Song" (with kittens).

*****

Corned beef got its name from the size of the salt grains with which the beef was prepared. They were usually bigger than kosher salt, like pinhead oats or even as large as grains of wheat, and their name derived originally from "corned (gun)powder", the large coarse grains used in cannon.

BTW, "corn" has been a generic English term for "grain" for centuries, and "but Europe didn't have corn" is an American mistake assuming the word refers to sweetcorn / maize, which it doesn't.

Lindsey Davis, author of the "Falco" series, had a couple of rants about it and other US-requested "corrections". As she points out, mistakes need corrected but "corn" is not a mistake, just a difference in vocabulary.

*****

In Ancient and Medieval Ireland pig would have included wild boar, the hunting of which was a suitable pastime for warriors and heroes, because Mr Boar took a very dim view of the whole proceeding and wasn't shy about showing it (see "wild boar" in my tags and learn more).

Cattle were for milk, butter, cream and little cattle; also wealth, status, and heroic displays in their theft, defence or recovery. It's no accident that THE great Irish epic is "The Cattle-Raid of Cooley" / Táin Bó Cúailnge (tawn / toyn boh cool-nyah).

Killing a cow for meat was ostentation on a level of lighting cigars with 100-, or even 500-, currency-unit notes. Once it had been cooked and eaten there'd be no more milk, butter, cream or little cattle from that source, so eating beef was showing off And Then Some.

Also, loaning a prize bull to run with someone else's heifers was a sign of great friendship or alliance, while refusing it might be an excuse for enmity or even war. IMO that's what Maeve of Connaught intended all along, picking undiplomatic envoys who would get drunk and shoot their mouths off so the loan was refused and she, insulted, would have an excuse to...

But I digress, as usual. Or again. Or still... :->

*****

For the most part, "pig" mean "domestic porker", and in later periods right up to the Famine, these animals were seldom eaten.

Instead, known as "the gentleman who pays the rent", the family pig ate kitchen scraps and rooted about for other foods, none of which the tenant had to grow or buy for them. These fattened pigs would go to market twice a year, and the money from their sale would literally pay that half-year's rent.

For wealthier (less poor?) farmers, pigs had another advantage. Calves arrived singly, lambs might be a pair, but piglets popped out by the dozen. A sow with (some of) her farrow was even commemorated on the old ha'penny coin...

What with bulls, chickens, hares, horses, hounds, pigs, salmon and stags, the pre-decimal Irish coinage is a good inspiration for some sort of fantasy currency.

But that's another post, for another day.

[storiesbyrhi]

Witch!Reader x Bat/Vampire!Eddie Munson Series Masterlist The Grimoire The Timeline

Warnings: canon typical violence, horror genre typical violence, swearing, animal death, no beta, warnings updated each chapter.

Synopsis: No witch has stepped foot in Hawkins since 1845, but when Vecna opens the ground and poisons the town, a voice begins to call to you. Have you been brought back to this cursed place to heal the townspeople’s wounds, to save a hexed bat that always finds its way to you, or to redefine your history with a reunion 150 years in the making?

Chapter Summary: Bury a candle and give allegiance. 2740 words.

1986

Time had passed since you’d delivered the final line of the spell. Nine minutes, to be precise. You’d said the words, then got off your knees to sit more comfortably on the tiles, your back to the wall. Edward sunk into the bath, letting the water come up to his shoulders.

“We’re almost done,” you whispered. “You have to bury the candle.”

As he dried off and dressed, you retrieved a glass from the kitchen while making a mental note to add clothes to your shopping list.

Carrying the glass of the powered bathwater, you lead the way outside, through Forest Hills, and out to the small wooded area you’d first crossed paths with him. A few neighbours watched you as you went by, but most were busy packing to leave Hawkins.

The vampire dug a small hole and placed the candle in it, then took the glass of water and poured that on top. He covered it up and stood by your side.

“It’s done,” you confirmed. “How do you feel?”

He considered the question for a moment. “The same,”

“You don’t remember anything else?”

Shaking his head, he looked at you. “I’m sorry,”

“What? What are you sorry for?”

“I wasn’t your burden to bear,” he offered. “You do not owe me anything.”

You felt you did though. It was a deep and profound feeling. One that somehow surpassed everything you knew to be true about vampires. It surpassed witch allegiance, seeing you undo another’s hex. And it surpassed both your innate need to protect living creatures and your oath to harm none.

There had to be a reason, but searching for the meaning was a dangerous road to go down. It was a luxury too, one that Hawkins would not afford you.

“We should go home,” you said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

…

1836

“You would never tell me a lie, would you?” You fluttered your eyelashes.

“Me? Deceive you? My beloved little witch? Never.” Although there was levity in his voice, you knew he was being truthful.

“So, then you can confess to me. You can transform into a bat!”

Eddie laughed. “I promise you, I cannot,”

“But the stories!”

“And what of the witches in the stories?” he counterargued, rolling onto his side.

It was past midnight and you were lying together beneath an old oak tree. The ground was still warm, fall not yet prickling the dark with a cool change.

Eddie reached out to gently touch your face. His skin was cold, but it made you flush hot.

“Vampires are very boring,” you teased.

“Imagine my good fortune then, being bound to bore for all eternity, only to find you.”

A day had not passed by since that first kiss without you sneaking off after dark to meet with Eddie. The sun has risen and set no less than sixty days.

In the moonlight you listened to Eddie tell you how he came to be a vampire, how he was damned, amoral, and evil like the others. You knew he was different. It did not matter what he had done, it mattered what he was doing. He hadn’t hunted any of the villagers who lived unaware of such beasts, nor the Native Americans who knew a monster when they saw one.

You knew there were things Eddie kept hidden. How, sometimes he ushered you back to the village earlier than usual, and he’d hunt elsewhere. Inhuman speed allowing him to travel great distances quickly. No, your vampire was not on an animal diet. It was something left unspoken between you.

Instead, you spoke about the places you had been and how the world use to be. You theorised about the future, about how the 1800s would end and what the 1900s would look like. “I cannot picture you in the year 2000,” you said as you sat up.

“No?”

You crossed your legs and Eddie shuffled to lay his head in your lap. As you began to braid sections of his long hair, you tried to imagine it. “Well, we change with the world…”

“I can change with the world,” he argued.

“Can you? How many days did it take for you to answer to Eddie,”

“But I answer to it now,”

“True. You do.” You leaned down to place a kiss on his forehead. He smiled, his upper canines slotting neatly into the lower. “Would you answer to it when you’re in your bat form?”

Eddie moved quick, had your fingers between his teeth. There was no pressure, you could take them back at any moment. He looked up at you with his dark eyes, something feral and held in reserve glinting through. He let your hand go.

“If I could do that, would I not be hidden in your pocket all the time?”

Giggling, you nodded. “You would. I would like that,”

“No bats. No… garlic undoings…” He tried to think of all the falsehoods. “Nor beds of soil from the grounds of our deaths. Nor hawthorn. Nor insight into your thoughts…”

It was terrifying, how little of the stories were true. What did that leave known about the vampires?

“Can I protect the humans by telling them not to invite anyone over the threshold of their homes? By arming them with blessed water?”

Eddie’s smile dropped. “Protect them from me?”

“No… Not you. But-”

“My kind… The colony…” He sat up and looked at you.

“I will not feel guilt for this,”

“I wouldn’t expect a witch to feel guilt about anything. The spoils of the righteous,”

“Eddie,” you whispered, reaching out for him.

He flinched, at first. A darkness settled over him. He was still in absolute.

“The colony – are they your family?” you asked.

“If they are, will you tell your coven to stop the hunt?”

It was the first acknowledgment of both Eddie’s colony and the coven’s hunt for them.

A vampire’s warning always comes in the death of livestock. Vicious killings of cows and lamb. They had been infrequent, not enough to alarm the farmers. The witches wove fact with fiction to keep the peace. It had been three seasons since the first lost sheep.

That is why you weren’t surprised by the vampire when you first crossed paths.

There was a limit to how many animals a witch would let die so brutally. Eddie’s colony had yet to reach it. Likewise, they had not brought harm to any townspeople. Until those conditions were met, the witches only prepared for the hunt. They sharpened their weapons and perfected their spells. They would lay in wait until then.

“There will be no hunting unless-”

“When,” Eddie interrupted. “When they come upon your village like a plague or Pestilence himself in the night, it won’t matter if they are kin.”

Your eyes had welled up. “No,” you agreed as a tear slipped down your cheek. “I will protect the humans.”

Eddie nodded slowly, then took your hand and let you cup his face. He closed his eyes. “Little witch. I envy your world of absolutes. And I love you so.”

When he took you in his arms, you held on tight, refusing to let him go until the first songs of the morning birds sang misery.

…

1986

“So, I keep trying to call you… Edward… in my head, but it’s not sticking,” you admitted as you checked the temperature of the water in the kettle, putting it back on the stove to reach boiling point. “So, maybe we’ll need that nickname after all,”

“Nickname?”

“Yeah, I mean, you do look like an Edward. But the only people that would go by Edward now are, um, the elderly, and while me and you both technically count… let’s try to keep you as inconspicuous as possible.”

Back inside the trailer, the vampire had sat on the couch, tried his hand at looking normal. It was coming back to him, how to move in this body and how to find his words.

While you mentally added ‘nice tea’ to your ever-growing shopping list, you continued on your train of thought. “But, you’re lucky, because Edward, Ed, Eddie, easy. Take your pick.”

He only took a few seconds. “Eddie,” he decided, waiting on you for approval.

“Eddie��” You looked at him from the kitchen bench, how he was watching you intently. Nodding once you turned away as the kettle whistled.

With your mug of tea warming your palms, you sat on the couch next to Eddie. Pulling your legs up and crossing them, you shuffled around to face him.

“You should go first… Have you remembered anything else?”

“No,” he said quietly. “I… I’ve been here for many, many years,”

“Longer than the humans?”

“No… The humans have always been here. Not as they are now though. They were once… quiet. And they…” Eddie struggled to explain how it used to be. “They have changed the land,”

“They have,” you replied. “They used to know better. They… They know, now. It’s like they’ve forgotten to care.”

Eddie could hear the sadness in your voice. Did he feel empathy… or was it simple recognition? “You love them,” he stated.

“I did once. I don’t know if love is what I would call it anymore. It’s complicated. Do you remember that about witches? That we watch over the humans?”

Eddie’s gaze wandered up and away as he searched through his mind. “Maybe… Yes… That is why we…” As his sentence failed, you saw an expression creep over his features. It was the first time he looked truly vampiric. It wasn’t a smile. It was a knowing smirk. “We are not friends,” Eddie finished, his eyes snapping back to yours suddenly.

“Do you remember what happened to the vampires?” The need to assert yourself as not only a healing witch, but as a dangerous thing too bubbled up in you.

“No,”

“There are no more. Not anywhere on this earth.”

Eddie’s head tilted and his little grin fell. “Vampires cannot be killed,”

“You couldn’t. Not a stake through the heart or even sunlight. But we figured it out,”

“We?”

The tension was rising but you held steady, refusing to feel regret or fear. “Witches spent eons hunting vampires who hunted humans. Covens got so close to working out how to properly kill… them. But it was my coven, here in Hawkins, that did it. It was more than a lifetime ago, but it still feels… recent, I guess.”

Eddie’s stare was unblinking. “Clever witches,” he whispered. “I was… hexed… before that then,”

“Yeah. They would have just killed you otherwise,” you confirmed.

Eddie remembered to blink. He nodded. “And what year is it now?”

“1986.”

There was knowledge stored in his cells. Small pieces of information in his biology, but not much. Just… vampire. Blood. Apex, cannot be killed. Walk by moonlight. Don’t trust a witch. The thought led Eddie to his first question for you.

“Why help me?”

“I… I didn’t know what you were.  I thought you were just an injured bat,”

“But you didn’t stop… helping me. When you knew.”

You opened your mouth to speak but got caught wordless. Shrugging, you shook your head. “I don’t know.”

Eddie wanted to force more out of you. He wanted to know what would possess a witch to resurrect an already defeated enemy. He wanted to know what it felt like to hand over the dog. He wanted to know how often hexes were reversed.

The wetness of your eyes and the shaky breath you were trying to even, they made him settle for an ‘I don’t know.’

“Next question. Do you know about what’s happening here? The evil?”

“It has been here for a long time,” Eddie answered with a slow nod.

You cocked your head. “Have you seen him?”

“Him?”

“Uh, the humans call him Vecna. He’s something else. Not like us,” you told him.

Eddie smiled. “How are we alike?”

“Oh… I guess… I guess we’re not. I meant, he was somehow made, by other humans… But… so are vampires… So was the first vampire,”

“The evil is like me,”

“No. It’s different.” It was getting under your skin, the comparison between Eddie and Vecna. Why though? “I wish I knew more. But whatever doorway was opened, it’s not one witches can see through. All I know is that there is world beyond this one and he hides there. He travels through the mind and has power over people. He’s already killed people and hurt more.”

Eddie thought of the white long-limbed creature with its face of teeth. The monster made of humans, how it snapped and crushed. They had been visible from the sky; he’d tailed the chaos as a bat. Vecna had never shown himself like those things had.

“Where are the witches?” Eddie asked.

“They are… not coming. As far as we can tell, Vecna doesn’t know about us. Or anything supernatural beyond his own world. The coven fears if he discovers it, he’ll either try to drain our power or kill us all. Or both,”

“And what of the humans?”

Despite the questions being entirely valid, you felt interrogated. “They have won before. More than once,”

“And if they fail?”

You sucked in your bottom lip and chewed while you formulated a response. “The coven will intervene… They won’t let him go further than Hawkins,”

“You do not sound convinced,” Eddie observed.

“I will intervene. I will protect the humans.”

Eddie’s instincts told him that witches were steadfast in their conventions. Virtuous and stubborn. Yet, every rule you had, you’d seemed to have already broken or committed to doing so. He couldn’t remember if he was meant to feel. Was he meant to like you, to show preference at all? You were so flawed though and it endeared him to you.

“If it comes to that, I will help you…” He didn't say your name. It didn't feel right on his tongue. There’s something else there though, living on the tip of it. It’s lost. Trapped in the memories your spell couldn’t bring back.

You nodded and gave him a forced smile. Vecna hurt to think about. The children hurt to think about; Erica Sinclair at age eleven.

“Something called me here,” you said suddenly. You were caught off guard by your own admission. “To Hawkins. My coven thinks it’s… not haunted, but something like that. None of us have been back since we left. But when Vecna did what he did, I started to hear it,”

“The calling,”

“Yeah. When prolific events happen, it unsettles everything. What he did to the earth and to his victims… It could have changed something. Let me hear something I couldn’t before.” Part of you was simply thinking out loud, a stream of consciousness that finally had an audience in Eddie. And, an attentive audience at that.

Eddie had relaxed back into the couch like he’d grown up on that very one. Every minute he spent reinhabiting his old body was comfort. He was watching you still, those dark eyes trained on your changing expressions and lively movements.

“When you hear it, does it have a voice?” he asked you.

“Almost? It almost did… Just like there were almost words. But… it was… I don’t know. Like someone else’s thoughts in my head. But it stopped when I got here. I kind of sold this whole thing to myself as following that voice. That it had to mean something. But now it’s gone. And I don’t know if it was him… or…”

“Me,” Eddie finished for you.

You nodded. “But you… you didn’t,”

“I don’t have magic,” he reminded you. “And I was… just a bat,”

“Right,” you said slowly, trying to recognise the emotion on his face. “Just a bat…”

“I owe the voice my gratitude,” Eddie said, dipping his head and smiling. “And, maybe… Vecna… He will rue the day that voice dared to call to this little witch.”

It exploded across Eddie’s body. A prickly warmth that responded to the combination of those two little words. He watched your pupils expand at his words. Your blood smelt rich. Thick. Hot.

It was entirely beyond either of your understanding. What had happened. What was happening. And what hadn’t yet transpired. Yet, for a fleeting moment on the couch of a run down trailer, you and the vampire were of one mind.

End Note: No, it won't be as easy as the unhexing spell bringing back Eddie's memories. And now, there is a looming threat in Vecna that may sidetrack this little witch's mission to turn back time. Thank you for reading. I am frothing at all the predictions of what is going to happen and what is going to be revealed. Some of you are hot and some are cold. xo Rhi

Fic Taglist: @kaitebugg03 @paranoidmunson @munsonsbait @idkidknemore @paprikaquinn @stardustworlds @loz-brooke @wyverntatty @vintagehellfire @dark-academia-slut @scarletwitchwhore @becks1002 @mrsdollardog @heyndrix @luceneraium @rosaline-black @devilinthepalemoonlite @goldencherriess @iamwhisperingstars @wiltedwonderland @blueywrites @breezybeesposts @jadehowlettthewolf @spikesvamp79 @foreveranexpatsposts @tortoiseshellspells @wingedpeachjudgegiant @stardustmunson @live-love-be-unique @fangirling-4-ever @reanimated-alice @b-irock @gh0stlybunnie @myown-worstenemy-2003 @woozzz @cyberxlust @hiscrimsonangel @buckysbarne @m00nlight101 @word-wytch

All Eddie Taglist: @solomons-finest-rum @ruinedbythehobbit @sweetpeapod @thorfemmes  @corrodedhawkins @grungegrrrl @lilzabob  @averagemisfit03 @ches-86 @ilovecupcakesandtea @onehotgreasymechanic @hazydespair @mel-the-fangirl @eddies-hid3out @siren-lungs

[elminx]

Numerology, Part 2: Musings on Numerology in Spellwork

Note: I began my discussion about Numerology, how it relates to astrology, and why I use it here. This post is about the practical application of numerology. Please refer to the first post for how to calculate the numerology for specific years, months, and lunar events.

When thinking about Numerology, it is important to remember that it works sympathetically. Geometric shapes and numbers have intrinsic cultural meanings which we can apply magically. We will spend some time discussing the shapes made by varying numbers - the shape of the number itself and the shape made by combining that number of objects. You probably already understand how Numerology works in spellwork and might even use Numerology in your magic practice without knowing it! Numbers commonly used magically are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9. I will focus on those numbers in this post. Numerology will change somewhat based on cultural practices and superstitions. If you are not American, your mileage may vary.

It is wise to keep in mind that numerology reads like an ascending story that begins at 1 and ends at 9 - once you understand this story, you can identify where your intended spellwork falls and apply numerology more accurately.

Number 1 1 is the number of beginnings. Everything starts with 1. When we are born and take our first breath, we individualize and enter selfhood. This is why the number one is connected, through the 1st house and the Ascendant (dictated by the exact minute of our first breath), with Aries and the planet Mars. One can look at all ideas as intellectualized pregnancy; we need energy and oomph to bring that idea out of our minds and into reality. That energy (Mars) comes from the number 1. In this way, any start to a project or beginning of any kind can be augmented by the use of 1 numerologically. We do this instinctively with based candle magic (burning a single candle), by writing one focused petition, or by making a spell bag or a spell jar. Other than the Number 9, the Number 1 is the most complete number. Many types of spellwork can be achieved with a single candle burn or other action. To begin a longer project or to perform a one-off spell, apply the Number 1.

We have all heard the phrase "One is the loneliest number". Though this is true for many, there is one big caveat to it: if you are not a number 1. Those who carry Aries (or the first house) strongly in their charts know this intimately. Many tasks are better performed alone. When that doesn't work, we move on to the later numbers.

Practical Applications: 1 Magic is fairly simplistic. You can burn one candle, write a petition for 1 thing, create 1 spell pouch, or enchant 1 item. This is really the basis of magic. The energy of 1 can be combined well with the energy of any of the other numbers as I will outline below.

Number 2

Number 2 is a connection number; it can be used to combine or to separate. It is often used in relationship spells of all kinds - one might burn two candles in a movement spell to bring two people together or in a cord-cutting to create distance. There are also candles made with two wicks that might be used for marriage work for good or ill. That said, relationships are not the only thing we want to draw into our lives. If your magic involves you and anything else, you can use the powers of two to draw together or push apart.

An easy way to think about the sympathetic magic of the Number 2 is to consider a line between two points. You can strengthen that connection by decreasing the distance between these two points or weaken it by moving them farther away from each other. Or, alternatively, you can interpose something between the two objects, breaking the line altogether. Practical Applications: Because of the nature of 2 energy, it also almost always includes the energy of the Number 1 as well. In this way, when doing relationship work, one will use one candle to represent the first partner and the second candle to represent the other. Alternatively, we can use one candle and a spell jar to bring in or remove, depending on our needs. Sometimes, especially in separation work, we may combine a third candle or object (therefore invoking the number 3) that we move one candle towards. Sort of a "fuck off and go find something else" energy. Number 3 If you look at it from a procreative perspective, three is a creation number. It takes the combined DNA of two individuals to make a baby and in this way, three naturally comes out of the combining of two number 1s. This shows the natural association with fertility and fecundity magic of all kinds, but don't let that pigeonhole your thinking about the number.

Undoubtedly, 3 is the most commonly used number in modern witchcraft and other esoteric practices. Whether it's within the Christian idea of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Wiccanized Maiden, Mother, and Crone, the Threefold Law, and many other practices, three is almost always considered a very magical number. And it is!

An easy way to visualize how to use the number 3 is to think about the triangle. A triangle has a base with two connected points and a third point offset from them. Depending on how you draw your triangle, it can be used to increase or decrease energy. An upright triangle is believed to increase energy whereas a downward-facing triangle is believed to decrease energy. (you see this in the folk magic of Abracadabra, as an example) Practical Applications: Incorporating a triangle shape into your magic is an easy way to bring the number 3 into play. Additionally, you could burn 3 candles or use 3 items in your spellwork. A great "basic" creation ritual is formed when you use 1 candle + 1 oil + 1 herb in a spell. Here you are adding the Number 1 of new beginnings with the Number 3 of creation.

Number 4

The number 4 is a stabilizing number. It is highly represented in our world (we acknowledge four seasons Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, the directions North, South, East, and Wes)t, and in magic with the four common elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. We marvel at the longevity of objects like the Egyptian pyramids which have four sides.

The Number 4 can be represented as open (an equal-armed cross) or closed (a square). As one might imagine, for ultimate stability, a square is advised. A square 4 is complete, it needs no outside influence - this can be highly advantageous for certain types of magic where you want to control something or hold something in place. Alternatively, four energy can remain open and than it carries the energy of all. Open 4 energy carries with it the liminality of the crossroads: it contains everything and can travel everywhere. This echoes the prevailing idea that through the four primal elements of earth, air, fire, and water, control of all things is possible. Pathfinding, compass magic, road opening, and many other types of magic often invoke 4 energy. In this way, you are turning the inner creation of 3 into reality and forcing it out and into the world.

Practical Applications: When you put something into a box to control it, you are invoking the energy of the number 4 (and some of the number 6). Calling the elements to complete a magic circle of protection is also invoking the 4 energy of control. 4 naturally combines with 1 energy quite well. It is common in candle magic to separate the burning surface into four quadrants: sometimes the past/present/mental/physical, or other times, the elemental energies. This can be used for divination purposes (reading whether the candle wax flows amongst these quadrants). Alternatively, it is common to burn 1 primary candle and 4 support candles when trying to accomplish a complicated task. This combination is especially well applied for things like building long-term wealth or growing a business, topics that are well supported by the structure of 4 energy. One can also burn one candle with lines leading away in the four cardinal directions, this directs the energy of your 1 intention out into all the corners of the world. Number 5

The number 5 can be seen as a tense number that breaks the perfect symmetry of the 4-sided square. You may notice that five is considered a tense number in the minor arcana of the tarot that often indicates conflicts and strife. Alternatively, the 5 Major Arcana card in the tarot is the Hierophant which shows the other way that five energy can be used magically: to focus.

This has been used traditionally in magic through the shape of the pentacle or pentagram. Here, in modern magic, the four elements of magic are joined by a fifth: spirit. For some, spirit is considered to reside within us all but others view it as a Higher Power, much like the Hierophant or "Pope" of the major arcana. I want to note a connection here to the 5th House, the Sun, and Leo - all rulers of the number 5, and the mythology of how Jesus was born under the sign of the King of Kings which would almost certainly make him a Leo. In this way, 5 is our power number. You can use the number 5 to increase or decrease the power of yourself or another - especially through the use of the upright (power up) or down turned (power down) five-pointed star. Practical Applications: I often see the use of 5 in magic through the shape of the pentacle. Point the star upwards for an increase in power or downwards for a decrease in power. A pentacle can be drawn onto a surface, made with an arrangement of five candles, or drawn in the air with your finger or tool of choice.

Number 8

Though I find reference to the number 8 less often in magical lore, I think that it is important to mention here. If you turn an eight on its side you can immediately see that it is an auroboros or infinity sign. This gives an important hint as to the meaning and uses of this number.

As an infinity sign, the energy of 8 is neverending. This energy can be harnessed for beneficial and baneful magic alike. Want to trip somebody's life up? Put them in an endless cycle of not having enough or of being forced to repeat the same lessons that they inevitably can't seem to master. Alternatively, do you want all the money that goes out of your house to return to you? 8 can do that, too. What about the love that you send out into the world? With the number 8, the possibilities are endless. I will caution that the number 8 is more fiddly and you have to be willing to accept the nadirs that come with the apexes of this energy. As an example, if you are trying to save money, that eight money trick wouldn't work so well because it is predicated on the idea that money is going out to come back in. I would instead look to the number 4 combined with 3 (see also that pyramid energy) for money matters of that kind. Practical Applications: What comes around, goes around. Draw an infinity symbol, and go from there. You can put a candle representing yourself or your target on one "end" and the thing that you want to return to them at the other. Focus on the cycling of energy here, it is easy to manipulate energy around this shape. You can use your pen, your finger, or some other object to direct it if you wish. For returning magic, consider writing your intention in the pattern of an infinity sign. Because breathwork is cyclical, it holds a natural affinity with the number 8. Try breathing in and out prosperity while imagining it as an ever-returning infinity sign between you and the world as a way to get yourself in the right headspace to perform some money magic.

Number 9

As the last of our base numerological numbers, 9 is the number of endings and completion. This can be used to stop something in its tracks or to bring a long-standing project to fruition.

Practical Applications: Many traditional spells call for burning a candle or performing a ritual for nine days; this invokes the energy of completion. Also, all 3x3 magic uses the energy of the number 9; the idea here is that the creation of 3 performed 3 times will reinforce your final result (9). I will write more about 3x3 spells in particular as they are a topic worth their own post. -----------------------------------------

My goal in writing this series is to take numerology out of the hands of the New Age woo-machine and place it where it rightfully belongs, in our magic. No matter how mathy you are, numbers still exist. They make up a fundamental way in which we all collectively choose to view the world. We can use that. Moreover, numbers are ALREADY in our magic. If nothing else, I hope this series helps you to understand why a particular writer might call for you to use 3 cloves or burn a candle for 9 days.

Do you need to use numerology in your magic? Absolutely not. (Why do I need to keep saying that?!?) Can it help your magic?

Absolutely.

Do you like my work? You can support me over on Kofi by tipping me, purchasing art or an astrological report, or becoming a monthly supporter of my writing.

[carriesthewind]

ok so i didnt know about the first guy (sorry i cant remember how to spell his name ✌😔) not being licensed to practice law. that changes absolutely everything in my perception of this. i thought they were equals here, yknow? as i said, i know very little about law, much less american law, i assumed that maybe you sometimes have a coworker look over and cosign stuff. but he was in some way OVERSEEING the other guy??? for 27 years???? why didnt you help him get licenced??? in those 27 years??? if you thought he could be trusted enough to sign his work without reading??? absolutely agree there is no excuse for this, and while yeah, a very human thing to do still, what the hell

and yeah. i obviously feel worst for the original client. from the little information i knew about them from your post, i was rooting for 'em, bc i will always root for the little guy seeking retribution from a large company like an airline. i hope their case doesnt get thrown out bc of this, and that they will be able to find/afford better legal counsel. honestly i hope they get their money back, bc i know from exp that legal costs are A LOT

Ah! So this is a misunderstanding from me not being clear, sorry.

Because the law in the U.S. is a weird mess where you have federal law and then each states have their own individual laws, lawyers in the U.S. don't get a general license to practice law. Instead, lawyers are admitted (or "barred") in individual jurisdictions. So lawyers are licensed to practice in individual state(s). E.g. Attorney Smith may be licensed to practice in New York, and Attorney Jones may be licensed to practice in California. If Attorney Jones has a client with a case in New York, they normally couldn't represent their client in that New York case, because even though they are a licensed attorney, they are not licensed to practice in the state of New York. However, they could be admitted "pro hac vice" (e.g. on a temporary matter, normally for a single case or matter), which usually requires the out-of-state attorney to have "local counsel" - an attorney who is admitted in the state who is the attorney of record in the case.

Since federal courts are a different jurisdiction from state courts, even if they are covering the same geographical area, just because an attorney is licensed to practice in state court, they are not automatically licensed to practice in the local federal court. So in this case, LoDuca was licensed to practice in both the state of New York and the Southern District of New York (the federal court where this case is taking place). However, Schwartz was only admitted in the state of New York.

So Schwartz is a barred attorney, and he is licensed to practice law. He just isn't licensed to practice law in the court that this case was in.

Now, being admitted to the local federal court is usually pretty simple, especially pro hac vice. I just checked the rules for the Southern District of New York - it should have been trivially easy to do. He didn't even need local counsel. Basically he just needed to file a quick motion, fill out an affidavit, submit a certificate of good standing from the New York state bar, and pay a couple hundred bucks. It seems like he just didn't do so in this case because these clowns were cutting every single corner they could.

So to be admitted to practice in SDNY, Schwartz wouldn't have had to prove any additional legal knowledge (although he should have, you know, read the local rules, at a minimum). But because he didn't bother to get admitted pro hac vice, LoDuca entered an appearance as the plaintiff's attorney and filed all of Schwartz's motions for him, and signed them as his filings. And therefore, LoDuca became responsible for the content of all of those filings, because he was the attorney of record in the case, and they became all of his motions and submissions. So even though normally, yes, they would be coworkers, when LoDuca agreed to put his name and license on all these documents, he should have been overseeing and checking all his work.

I hope that helps clarify the issue, and wasn't too technical or confusing!

I've written more about the original client's options here.

[profoundbondfanfic]

Would u consider reccing Jensen’s other characters with Cas fics ? - Thank u

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of fics between Dean or Cas with Jensen or Misha's other characters. But here's one with Jensen's Soldier Boy that we've liked:

one little Soldier Boy, left all alone by Castielslostwings [Explicit, 56k words]

Known to the world as the all-American superhero called "Soldier Boy", Dean was raised by Vought International to be exactly that and nothing more. His life is all fame, fortune, and fucking. Objectively awesome, right up until the moment when he's accosted in an elevator by someone claiming to be his brother, a man who insists that Dean's entire life has been built on a lie, and what happens next changes everything. As if unraveling his true identity while on the run from his former employers—and the closest thing he's ever had to family—isn't enough, Dean's brainwashed best friend (who he is definitely not in love with, thanks) is hot on his trails with marching orders to take him out for good. What's a devilishly handsome superhero with a dick the size of his forearm to do?

And a few from Misha's shows:

Bridgewaternatural by you-cant-spell-subtext-without [Teen, 3k words]

Dean is a mess. Professor Bradshaw is not amused by it.

I See the Shadows Of Your Face (and yet it's still not you) by stratiotis [Mature, 59k words]

It’s been four months since Cas died, Jack left, and the world was safe. Dean and Sam pick up on local disappearances in the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts and the upsurge of new activity after Thomas Bradshaw’s badge was found despite his disappearance back in 1980. They make their way to Massachusetts for what Dean and Sam think will be a routine monster hunt. But things take a turn when they meet Thomas Bradshaw’s son, who is also hell bent on figuring out what happened to his vanished father and looks exactly like someone they've lost.

Losing Time by FriendofCarlotta [Mature, 7k words]

Harvey Dent is struggling with memory gaps. There are places he can’t remember going, and calls he can’t remember making. One night, a man calling himself Dean Winchester pays him a visit. Dean claims to have an explanation for Harvey’s missing memories — a strange tale of angelic possession, alternate universes and life after death. Worse, Dean’s face is as familiar to Harvey as his own. It’s the face of a friend he believed was dead and gone: Bruce Wayne.

The Angels of Freetown by FriendofCarlotta [Explicit, 50k words]

Freetown is the sort of place where hardly anything ever happens — a picturesque, close-knit town in the foothills of the Appalachians. Professor Castiel Novak loves his job at the local university’s history department, and he loves his husband, Chief of Police Dean Winchester. Then, one night in September, all the leaves around town drop and an eerie fog descends. Before long, people begin to disappear. When Dean becomes the latest resident of Freetown to vanish, Castiel and an unlikely band of allies set out to bring him back and free the town from the things that roam the fog.

[drjohnweston]

Being Human Q&A 17th December 2022

Everything I can remember from the Q&A, under the read more because it's pretty long!!

Unfortunately, due to Covid, Kate Bracken was unable to attend the event.

Toby Whithouse on being asked why he had selected Making History 4.07 as the episode to be shown: "It was the most ambitious series where we changed the genre slightly, having two timelines running alongside each other with one happening 25 years in the future. This was the episode where those timelines converged."

They then aired the episode before Toby was joined onstage by Jason Watkins and Damien Molony.

Question to Toby: “Where did it all start?"

Toby had been asked to write a TV series about 3 university friends buying a house together, which after struggling to come up with ideas, eventually evolved into a person with anger management issues, a person with agoraphobia, and a person with addiction issues sharing a house, with one of the characters being named George.

At the same time TW had also written a short film romcom about a werewolf named George. The two ideas merged together to give the characters a story and the connections were made between agoraphobia and being a ghost and addiction and being a vampire.

The very first draft of the script was written purely as a sitcom and the second draft of the script was written as if it was an independent American short film.

At first people could not understand that it was a combination of horror, comedy, and drama, but Toby Whithouse thought that this was much more representative of real life, where we are never confined to one genre.

TW also spoke about how the stories he connected with the most were the ones that took place in our world. He said that “The best escapism was into stories that could take place around us.” And that “I was writing for 14-year-old me.”

On the subject of Being Human spanning genres, Jason Watkins added that in reality, at their most horrific moments, people make jokes. He also said that there was “Something colloquial, speakable, domestic, and modern” About the Being Human script.

Q: Were there any references to favourite vampires when creating the show?

TW spoke a little about the mythology and the limitations they were under. “If you can have the vampires only appear at night that is a production nightmare, a scheduling nightmare.”

He also spoke about two new pieces of mythology added in series 4 and how one they thought was perfectly logical and that they would get away with, and another that they thought there was no way the fans would forgive them for and would accuse them of “making shit up.” However, when the series aired those two pieces of new mythology, toxic werewolf blood and Rent-A-Ghosting vampires were received completely the opposite way around and TW was shocked that people hated toxic werewolf blood as a concept so much.

Q: What was it like for Damien Molony joining the series and how did he prepare?

When he went for his audition, he had been acting in the play Tis a Pity She’s a Whore and was spending every night being covered in fake blood from head to toe “like in Carrie”. He said that when he travelled down to the audition, he’d been unable to clean off all of the fake blood and thought that might have helped him to get the part, that the casting agents probably went “wow that guy’s really method.”

After getting the role, Damien watched all the previous series of Being Human and was sent 10 DVDs of vampire films to watch as a crash course 5 days before filming started. He was also given a playlist of music that Hal would listen to and talked about OCD and dominoes.

Later in the QA, an audience member asked specifically how he prepared to show Hal’s OCD, to which Damien replied that he watched lots of documentaries on channel 4 on demand (as the service was called back then) and that he used to spell out the name of the old American actor Hal Holbrook on his fingers on set.

He also added that the domino spiral was set up on set 2 weeks in advance of filming and that everyone on set had to resist the temptation not to touch it and had to tip toe around so as not to accidentally knock it, causing hours of work to put it back.

Another anecdote from Damien Molony came after being reminded about how much beetroot juice he had to drink when they were filming Making History, with 10 litres of beetroot juice having effects that caused him to phone his doctor dad with some worried questions.

The Q&A moved back to Jason Watkins, airing a clip of Herrick in the isolation chamber with Mitchell, George, and Annie in Bad Moon Rising 1.06.  Jason was asked “How did you approach a character with such a black heart”

Jason spoke about Herrick’s complete enjoyment of all the things that he does, his psychopathic nature. “As a villain, he has a pure appetite for it. He ticks all those awful boxes.”

Toby Whithouse added that Herrick “has one mode, summed up by the line “You’re a shark, be a shark.” He never has a single moment of doubt.

Jason Watkins also talked of Herrick as a “paternal figure, he has these sort of sons.” And how he needed to have people like Mitchell in that position, because he needed to be in control, describing it as “having control over somebody and needing that control to know where you are in the world.”

This prompted Ruby, the interviewer to ask about the relationships between vampires and their makers, pointing out that we had just witnessed a twisted version of that relationship in 4.07 between Hal and Cutler.

Damien Molony described Hal as a “straight-jacketed, terrified loner being suddenly confronted with the victim turned master” in Cutler. There was much praise from the panel for Andrew Gower’s performance as Cutler.

Another question to Damien: “As we as fans often see good Hal and Bad Hal and separate people, like Angel in Buffy”, do you see them as different” Damien described good Hal as closed off, straight-jacketed (again), and very controlled. Whereas he said that bad Hal is at ease and open.

Back to Jason Watkins who was asked “Could Herrick be redeemed if he shared a house with Annie Sawyer?” Jason started to go into a longer explanation, but Toby Whithouse replied with a simple no.

Back to the question about relationships between vampires and their makers, Jason Watkins brought up the existence of a script for a scene that was never filmed about Herrick’s recruitment (this is still accessible via the old official Being Human Blog archives and there is a link on my blog).

Jason also recalled the time they were filming Herrick’s resurrection for the end of series 2. Which was not filmed in an empty snowy field, but in a park in the middle of Bristol with a group of elderly people from a local care home watching from the side-lines.

Lastly from Jason Watkins, replying to an audience question about what he took from the role of Herrick, he spoke about how “it was a bit of a break for him” (career wise) and how Herrick’s confidence “was him on a really good day,” and that by playing Herrick it increased his own confidence in his work and performance.

As both members of the cast on the panel had played vampires, the questions had been more focussed on them.

Speaking about the werewolves, Toby said “Werewolves become boring after they’ve transformed, they just become a thing. … It’s all about the tension, the lead up and the aftermath.” That’s the interesting part.

An audience member asked if Toby could discuss the ghosts, saying “they are the glue of the show, how did you come up with them?”

Toby responded that actually, the ghost episodes had always been the hardest ones to write and that he tended to lean more into the comedy aspect with them, because both Lenora and Kate were good at comedy. He said that he always paired their characters up with more experienced ghosts, because both Annie and Alex were new to that world. But he also said that he had to start to break his own rules and bring Annie out of the house as “Ding Dong, it’s a ghost” turning up at the door as a plotline would have gotten old very quickly.

He shared that he and Gilbert had the same musical taste, and that it meant he could “write jokes about people like Marc Almond that only he (toby) would find funny.”

And finally, one audience member asked, “Did you ever see things online and think I wish we would have done that?”

Toby Whithouse replied “the online community I absolutely loved. It added another layer of joy. During series 2 airing someone came up with the idea that Professor Jaggat was a werewolf and that was why she wasn’t there at during the (first) transformation, and I thought oh that’s a really good idea.” He went on to add “You can’t pay too much attention to audience feedback.” And spoke about writing what audiences need rather than what they might necessarily want to see. But that he would read the (official) blog because it was fun and so many lovely things were said.

[lovemesomesurveys]

chipotle order? I don't eat Chipotle anymore, it's been like ten years since I've had it. I used to love their chicken burritos with the lime rice or whatever, beans, cheese, guac, sour cream, and the hot sauce. I don't remember if there were other toppings I added too, I don't remember what toppings they have. I can't eat spicy food anymore, though, and that's what I liked about it. thoughts on veganism? Great for those who do it. It's so extreme, though. I'd have nothing to eat lol I'm already too fucking picky. a specific color that gives you the ick? A color doesn't give me the ick. mythical creature you think/believe is real? None, they're MYTHical lol. favorite form of potato? Basically all ways. Although, not a super big fan of scalloped potatoes. do you use a watch? Nope, just my phone mainly. what animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium? None really in particular it's just all pretty cool. EXCEPT for killer whales. I'm fucking terrified of those. do you change into specific clothes for the house when you get home? I wear the same clothes at home and when I go somewhere. do you have a skincare routine (and how many steps is it)? I don't. Most I do is apply moisturizer sometimes. I need to work on that, my face gets so dry. I don't have an acne problem, though. One or two little ones pop up once in a great while. I had awful acne as a teen and young adult. on a plane, do you ask for apple or orange juice? I haven't asked for either one, but if I did apple juice is the only correct choice. OJ is shit. anything from your childhood you’ve held on to? Lots of stuffed animals and a lot of my Barbies/accessories, and other mementos. I'm a nostalgic person and hold on to a lot of stuff. brand of haircare/bodycare/skincare that you trust 100%? I use this red shampoo cause I dye my hair red, I don't remember the brand, I use Caress bar soap, and only skincare I do is occasionally apply moisturizer, which currently I have an ELF one and Neutrogena one. first thing you’re doing in the purge? I'd die. do you think you’re dehydrated? I could always use more water I don't drink enough. rank the methods of death: freezing, burning, drowning Uh, they're all not exactly pleasant. thoughts on mint chocolate chip? Loveee it. an anxious compulsion you do everyday? I sway. your boba/tea order? Good ol' regular milk tea no boba. the veggie you dislike the most? Most of them. favorite disney princess movie? I include Alice in Wonderland as a princess and The Little Mermaid. a number that weirds you out? None. do you have an emotional support water bottle? No. do you wear jewelry? I have a few rings and a few bracelets. which do you find yourself using, american or british english? Well, American. Although, I do like the spelling as "grey" instead of "gray." would you say you have good taste in music? Well, I obviously think so cause I like it. how’s your spice tolerance? Oh, ZERO. I used to eat spicy everything, but I can't anymore. what’s your favorite or go-to outfit? What I always wear--leggings and an oversized tee. last meal on earth? Food would me the last of my concern. I couldn't eat if I knew I was being put to death. preferred pasta noodle? Ramen, spaghetti, angel hair, penne. Yes, the shape of the noodle makes a difference.

[liopleurodean]

Season 12, Episode 4: American Nightmare

They always show the churches so empty

She is not okay

...were those the cross wounds?

They are!

What is she saying?

The crown of thorns...

Must be Enochian

Not again

Sean Penn and Robert De Niro are the stars of the movie "We're No Angels"...

Poor guy

Dean.

He's not exactly wrong

It seemed angelic

That's one way to put it

They are. So loud. And surrounded by people

That was weird

Aw, Dean...

No, you're not

Again.

Sounds like a great TV show

...

Sam, what does that mean?

I thought Sam hated rock. Of all kinds. My whole world is upside down right now

Dean asking the real questions

Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani (I'm proud of myself, I looked it up to make sure the spelling was right and only two letters were off)

They want to know

Yikes

He is definitely not okay

That's one way to put it

Dean...

Sounds like Jesus to me

Wait, THAT'S what stigmata means? I gotta go find that Tumblr poll

Huh.

Romans

Yikes

Right...

Not likely

Hmm

Makes sense

Wouldn't it be really funny if there was a tiny file about the Winchesters in there? Like, ages ago some ran across them living in a motel and filed a report but they moved out before anything happened

Dean, no

Jumping to conclusions

He is really antsy

Another one

Yikes

That's a lead

It's hard to do

Oh! Magda Peterson! Okay

More likely than the Wiccan

Sweater time

Oh, this is funny

Remember when Dean was able to parkour off of chain link fences? Yeah, me too

Dean.

...

But she doesn't hate you!

I've definitely done better with my brother after time apart

Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek were both in The Doors, known for the song "Light My Fire."

Dean.

That was an interesting reaction

I can imagine

Hah. Hahahaha. Yeah, they know God.

Concerning

The bike from the previous episode. Men of Letters tailing them, maybe?

I miss the old plates

Guess so

Wow. That's rough, buddy. What made the change?

Not me, sitting in front of two screens, typing about fake people doing fake things 😭

I can respect that

There we go

Ah

"behavior-enhancing", what does that mean? Anti-depressants?

...that's not concerning at all

But not for too long

I guess it worked

Sacrifices for longevity?

Sam...

Out of context, this probably looks horrible

Dean is confused™

I think Sam is on the better track

Dean.

Don't shoot her, Dean

Huh. Abraham and Elijah. Magda for Magdalene? I wonder what the wife's name is

Oh, don't ruin one of my favorite childhood songs like this

That must be Magda

She's skipping around in the song

Poor girl

Heh.

I don't think it's Lucifer

What is that, a flail?

...are they making her whip herself???

It's not her fault

Kid, get away from there

Spooky

I don't think so

The psychic powers

One of the horseshoes is upside down

...he has the Men of Letters symbol as his background? Seriously?

Nice candle

Dean, no

Yeah, I bet

That is kind of hilarious

Thank goodness they had that conversation

Great, he doesn't have an alibi

Where did they get the Aramaic from?

Well, I may not recognize most of the words, but I know a-do-nay!

Spooky

They were both wrong

Uh oh

Elijah, no

Dang it

I know this song, too

Is it?

You're not the devil, kid

Sam would know

That's not the devil, kiddo

How old is she?

Telekinesis

He hasn't used them in a hot minute

He used to

Hah! Not really

It wasn't on purpose

Oh, Magda...

It wasn't your fault, kiddo

Is this a normal situation?

Definitely not helping!

No, you really don't!

That doesn't sound right

No! No, it doesn't! That's against everything Jesus stood for!

What?

She's a psychopath!

Elijah, no!

Magda, help him!

No. Not even remotely

No!

This is horrifying

Magda, no, please

Thank goodness

Right

Let's hope she's not as psycho

Oh really? What makes you say that, Dean?

It's okay

I hope so

Wow.

Yeah...

Speaking of

Aw. Cute

Liar

Heh. She's got that hunter chic

...I don't think she's gonna make it to California

There's biker guy

Magda, look out!

Oh no...

Ketch?

Those freaking--

[loveforaphrodite]

Introduction

Hello lovelies! My name is Cordelia, but you can also call me Cora, Delia, or Camryn. Here's some things so you can get to know more about me and my blog!

About Me

I'm a minor, I'm 15 so if you're not comfortable with me interacting with you or your blog, please block me! It's not that I have anything against you, it's just that I want to make sure that I won't accidentally interact.

I'm Irish-American. I'm half Irish, along with some Hispanic and Serbian. I am not greek as far as I know, however I feel most drawn to greek legends.

I use they/them pronouns. If you don't like that, and will hate on me for it, or will try to make me change my pronouns, then please leave my account because I don't welcome that stuff here!

I welcome all kinds of people to my blog, so you're welcome to my account regardless of religion, age, gender, etc. The only people I won't accept on my blog are people who will try to change me, whether that is my pronouns, religion, or any aspect of me, and also creepy people who will be inappropriate to me. These are the only two types of people who I am not comfortable interacting with me or my blog. I will block if I need to.

My Blog

On this blog, I'll be sharing everything Aphrodite related. Memes, artwork, altar ideas, prayers, poetry, and more. If this sounds interesting, please give me a follow so you can see when I start posting!

My Paganism

I currently am a polytheistic hellenic pagan. This blog is entirely dedicated to the only deity I am devoted to and worship as of right now, Aphrodite!

I'm new to paganism and deity worship, not so new to witchcraft. I've always been drawn to things involved in witchcraft, like spells for example. And I've always been drawn to things which are associated with Aphrodite, before I even knew of her. The ocean, ancient legends, and roses are a few of them.

When I was around 10 or 12 years old, I realized that witchcraft was actually a thing and I immediately started researching. I wrote down deities/gods/goddesses I felt connected to... however none of them were Aphrodite, I just didn't feel connected to her like I do now. When I was 14, I revisited the list of greek gods to see if anything has changed. My memories get a bit blurry after this, but I remember I started to do research on Aphrodite. I fell in love right then. Not romantic or sexual love, but like a longing for her. I admired her beauty, her strength and power, and how iconic she is! I made an altar for her after that, this was the first altar I've made. It's sitting on the shelf next to my bed, along with my Samhain altar, crystal shelf, and a collection of miscellaneous witchy things. Every time I'm in my room, it's a sweet reminder of Aphrodite.

Ending Notes

If you have any questions please let me know and I'll be happy to answer them! If me or my blog seems cool or interesting, please give me a follow! Have a good day everyone! 💗

[patdroid]

Alright! I caved in! I made an OC for The Amazing Digital Circus! And she surprisingly turned out better than I expected.

Meet Fishie; a human from the real world who now takes the form of a children’s bath toy (which looks like a mermaid) while in the circus. She also has elements of a fire eater and a fire breather, which paired up with the fact that she can hold water in her, she has the ability to breathe out steam.

There’s a few other details that should be known about Fishie, so let’s do this!

Age: 26 (but half a year younger than Gangle)

Gender: Nonbinary, but sticks with female pronouns

Orientation: Demi-panromantic and asexual

Favorite Food: Bento (While here, I will also mention that she was a Japanese-Taiwanese-American person named Abby Greene who had two moms.)

Why Did She Join the Circus?: Easy. She wanted to escape from experiencing surgery and saw it as a last ditch effort. Unfortunately, the one part of her that remains human is the thing that she has to get surgery for, meaning that until it is removed, she’ll be experiencing the pain, even while IN the circus. (And before anyone asks what kind of surgery it is…it’s to get her gallbladder removed)

Languages Spoken: She can fluently speak English, Taiwanese (Chinese), Japanese, and surprisingly Spanish

Anyone She Would Prank if Caine let Her?: Jax. 100% Jax. No one likes him, not even she likes him, so pranking him would be a taste of his own medicine.

Relationships: Besides disliking Jax with everyone else in the circus, she gets along with Zooble (which is surprising), becomes besties with Gangle, helps Bubble out while cooking the digital meals, is amazed by Kinger’s fascination of insect collections, genuinely wants to help Pomni out, becomes creeped out by Caine, and with Ragatha, after enough time, she starts to crush on her. (Update: She has yet to know Cracker and she’s also besties with Glasie.)

Fun Facts: Since she looks like a mermaid and can hold water inside of her while still being able to breathe, she doesn’t drown in the Digital Lake. In fact, she can swim in the lake with ease. Also, the little mark on her body may look like a scar, but it can open up and acts like a big pocket for Fishie. Her outfit doesn’t have any real pockets, so the next best thing to hold everything is within herself. Depending on where a certain object is placed, she might or might not have to clean her stuff up from her still-existing gallbladder.

How does she even move?!: She either bounces up and down in a set pattern while moving herself forward, just like how a seal does it, or she walks on her hands. It really depends on where she’s going, how much pain she is in, or if she wants to trip Jax with her tail. (I’m now realizing that seals were a part of the circus back in the past, so it’s kind of funny that one of the ways she moves is just like how a seal would move.)

And I think that’s all for Fishie’s information…except for who gave her the name! Caine gave her the name of “Fishy” when she first realized that she couldn’t remember her name, but she was the one to change the spelling from “Fishy” to “Fishie”. They sound exactly the same, yes, but she personally liked the spelling with the “-ie” ending better.

NOW that’s everything! I might show more pictures with Fishie in them, but for now, there’s just one picture.

[thenightling]

A small pet peeve of mine is the British assumption that all Americans say "Trash" instead of "garbage" and "Fall" instead of "Autumn."

(Small note for people misunderstanding this post: This is NOT about What Brits say. It's about what Brits think Americans say. I know about the word "Rubbish." Thank you. It exists here too, it's just not as common as "Trash" or "Garbage." I should not have had to add this disclaimer...)

Both words are correct here in the US.

I'll start with Autumn.

The only reason the word "Fall" became popular is because it's literally cheaper to print (or it used to be). This is the same reason Hallowe'en lost the ' here in America even though both Halloween and Hallowe'en are correct according to dictionary dot com.

Many years ago it saved money on printing by shortening words. It's why there are Xmas things and why Hallowe'en lost the ' in most American merchandise. And also why "Fall" seemed to become popular, because merchandise and postcards started to favor the slightly shorter word.

Lots of Americans still say the word autumn. I, myself, prefer autumn. You hear the word "Autumn" in the song "Into the Unknown" from Over the Garden Wall, the American-made animated mini-series by Patrick McHale.

Also there are the "Autumn People" from Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This way Comes. Ray Bradbury only passed away in 2012. The film version of Something Wicked This way Comes was made in 1983. That's not that long ago in the grand scheme of things. An American-made movie by an American author born in the Mid-West.

Autumn is actually still a very popular girl's name here. One of my best friends has a niece named Autumn.

____________________________________________

Now for Trash and Garbage.... This is actually sort of regional. Both are correct in the US and neither sounds strange to American ears (usually). Where I live, in New York, you hear both used pretty regularly.

You hear one parent tell a child "Take out the trash." while another might say "Take out the garbage." We say "Garbage dump" and many people have "garbage disposals." (Not everyone has one though).

There's the famous parody trading cards "Garbage pail kids."

And if something is bad or vulgar you'll hear someone call it trash or garbage, equally interchangeably.

There are some states where one word might be favored over the other but both are used pretty evenly here in New York state.

Try to remember, America is like fifty small countries in a trench coat. And each one makes up its own dialect, accents, and even word swaps. Some states say "Pop" others say "Soda." And at least one calls everything "Coke." :-P

It even happens within the same state. When I moved upstate (New York) I tried to order an eggplant hero at an Italian restaurant. The waiter looked at me like I had sprouted a second head. I went through several words. Hero, sub, hoagie... Finally he recognized the word grinder.

Shopping carts are called shopping carts or shopping baskets intechangibly here too.

And though Parking Lot is more common, there are people (usually older) who say Parking Field. With "Grey" and "Gray" both spellings are considered correct in the American dictionary. The reason we spell certain words weird like our "Color" instead of "Colour" and our use of the double quotation marks for a single quote and singular for a quote within a quote (when it's the opposite in the UK) is because Noah Webster was a linguist who believed if he changed words just slightly, and certain grammatical rules slightly, it would help provoke American-English to evolve into its own language. Thanks to inventions like the telephone, and movies with sound, and now the Internet this is never likely to happen.

[lemony-snickers]

1, 5, 12, 24, 26?

hey anon - thank you for playing! I hope you’re having a great week!

1 - chipotle order?

I cannot remember the last time I was in a chipotle but it would probably be a black bean burrito with guac and extra cheese or something to that effect.

5 - favorite form of potato?

I gotta tell you, I glanced at the other asks i received and this was a very popular one ahaha. Potatoes are beloved in all forms in lemony land but if you pressured me to choose only one I would say hash browns. Crispy crunchy golden goodness.

12 - brand of haircare/bodycare/skincare that you trust 100%?

none ahaha. I have very sensitive skin and even trusted brands have been known to break me out upon occasion. I will say I really appreciate the ordinary and what it did to make certain types of ingredients affordable. It’s also nice because since their formulations are pretty basic, I can get a lactic acid without Other Stuff in it that irritates my skin, so that’s very helpful for someone like me. I don’t like that they are using so much more plastic packaging as they continue to expand their product line, however.

24 - which do you find yourself using, american or british english?

I grew up reading mostly British books and for a long time was that Obnoxious Nerd who insisted on using British English spelling for everything. This changed in college because I had to and now it’s mostly American English with the random “ou” or “pyjamas” tossed in.

26 - how’s your spice tolerance?

compared to my fellow Americans? Extremely high. Compared to people from most other parts of the world? Well, I’m American so that should answer that ahaha.

[jessiriot14]

Waffle House 2

A/N: Spelling errors and grammar probably. Characters are a little ooc. I do hope you enjoy the second installment of my Waffle House series! 

“Welcome to Waffle House. Please, sit anywhere you like.” She smiled at the new customer who looked around curiously. “What can I get you to drink?”

U-4989 glanced around in confusion. Was this part of the body? He walked over to the bar that had the built-in stools. If this was part of the body, then it must be new. He had recently been sent on a mission to kill viruses that had entered. When running with his crew, he got lost. 

“Drink?” he asked as he sat down at the bar. “I don’t drink.” 

“I see, well if you change your mind, I am here.” Lila handed the white blood cell a menu and started on the dishes. 

The white blood cell glanced at the menu and picked it up. He needed clarification as to what he was reading. He had never seen anything like this before and was a little flustered. 

“Uh…excuse me, miss? What..what exactly is this?” He looked between the menu and the waitress. 

The waitress smiled and dried her hands on a clean blue towel. She walked back up to him and smiled nicely. 

“Ah, I see. You’re white blood cell, right? This is food. Normally the body consumes food for energy, correct? That is what this is. Also, do not worry about the price. It’s on the house for tonight.” Lila winked at the guy. 

“Oh-oh. Thank you.” He blushed and continued to observe. 

Ding

“Welcome to Waffle House! Sit anywhere you like?”

“Thank you!”

Rengoku strolled into the diner with confidence. He picked one seat away from the white blood cell. He had remembered his friend, Tanjirou, mentioning demons white pure white skin and hair. He wanted to make sure that he was correct before attacking. 

Rengoku sensed no malice from the pure white man, but the woman behind the counter, he could not get a read on. The women looked happy and content, but that was it. She looked happy, but there was no feeling of any emotion emitting from the woman. “How odd.” Rengoku thought. He will have to keep a close eye on the two. 

“Here is a menu, do you know what you would like to drink?” Lila handed Rengoku a menu while smiling at him. 

Rengoku smiled and looked into her brown eyes. “Water would be great!” He glanced at her name tag, “Lila, that is a pretty name.”

“Why thank you. I wear this name tag with honor.” she smiled and set down a cup of ice water. 

“Why thank you, Lila.” Rengoku smiled and glanced at the menu. “Oh, this is new.”

Lila nodded her head, “It would be to you. This is American breakfast food. Order as much as you like, it’s on the house.”

On the house? It is not uncommon for some restaurants to offer free food to demon slayers, those who are in know about demons. However, Rengoku never heard of this place being a safe house. This is a little more concerning than he thought. 

Rengoku nodded at the waitress and continued to browse the menu. This is strange, this place was very interesting. 

“Are you ready to order, or do you need some more time, dear?” Lila walked up to U-4989 with her pen and pad. 

“I am!” he grinned like a child and pointed to a waffle. “Can I try two pecan waffles and eggs?”

“How would you like your eggs? Scrambled, over easy, medium, hard? Sunny side up?”

U-4989 blinked in confusion and tilted his head, “I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know what any of that means.”

“Here, let’s try all of them! Besides, you could use all the energy.” Lila smiled at the white blood cell. 

U-4989 nodded in agreement and blushed a little. He had to admit that the nice lady was very pretty. She was not like any cell, macrophage, helper T cell. You name it, but she sure is pretty. 

“Do you still need a minute or are you ready?” Lila questioned and she glanced at Rengoku. 

“I am ready! I will have the two-egg breakfast with sausage instead of bacon. I would also like my eggs sunny side up please.” Rengoku spoke aloud as he wanted the waitress as she wrote everything down. 

Lila clicked her pen and smiled at two gentlemen. “I will get started on those right away.”

The two gentlemen watched as Lila glided from station to station with various food items. She seemed super focused on her cooking task and every move she made seemed flawless. She was doing everything at an almost inhuman speed, but the two gentlemen were not strangers to such things. 

However, there was something about this woman that did not seem natural. She may look human, but she seemed a bit off. 

Ding

“Welcome to Waffle House! I will be with you in a moment.”

The two gentlemen glanced at the door and saw another man enter the diner. Unlike the hashira and cell, this man looked like a regular person. 

Aizawa walked over to the far end of the bar and sat in the seat closest to the register. He already knew what he wanted to order so he did not bother with looking at the menu. To avoid pointless conversation, as Aizawa would say, he pulled out his phone and started to mindlessly scroll on a random social platform. 

“All right gentlemen, here are your meals. Enjoy and if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” Lila set all of their plates down in front of the two guys. 

“Thank you so much!” U-4989 picked up his fork and started eating. After taking his first bite, his eyes widened. He had never eaten something so delicious! Even though he would consume bacteria to identify them they were not as good as this. Even if he had previously not known what eggs were, he can identify the proteins and nutrients the food can provide. 

Rengoku was observing the white man as he was eating. Although his reaction to food was interesting, demons do not eat food. Unless this is a new demon that has somehow evolved to be able to consume food. Now, he is in a predicament. He doesn’t trust the waitress and also the gentlemen in all-white. 

He could make a move and see how she reacts…but what about that man who just came in? He looks almost…homeless. Rengoku was also very curious as to what Aizawa was holding. Just what is that rectangle thing in his hand? Is it magic? 

Besides, he needs to figure out what to do. Although he is not a strategist like his fellow hashira, he needs a plan. 

“What can I get started for you today?” She clicked her pen and looked at the black-haired man. 

“This will be to-go please.” Aizawa set his phone down and started to order. 

As Lila was jotting down Aizawa’s large order, Rengoku slowly started to eat his food. He must admit, the food was amazing! Part of him would not be upset if the food was poisoned and he died right there. No matter anyway, good food, or bad food, he needs to figure out if this woman is a threat. 

Rengoku watched closely as Lila jotted down Aizawa’s order. The two gentlemen noticed how much food that man was ordering. He must have a family he’s going to feed, unless he could eat all that by himself, but who’s to judge? 

“Alright, I will get that started for you! Would you like anything to drink while you wait?” Lila set down her pad and started to get the food out. 

“Coffee, please.” Aizawa nodded at the waitress. He was glad that there were not many customers in there. That way he can get food quicker to Eri, Shinso, and his friend Hizashi. He can only hope that when he gets back to school, Hizashi would have the spare common room still intact while taking care of the kids. 

Lila started to make Aizawa’s food while humming. Aizawa went back to scrolling on his phone, Rengoku eating while watching Lila, and U-4989 scarfing his eggs down.

“Miss Lila, do you work here alone? I noticed that there was no one in the back. It’s just you, isn’t it?” the white blood cell questioned as he glanced to the door where employees could access the back. 

She must admit, even though he can seem aloof, he is very observant. “I am. I’m surprised you have noticed. Not many do or care enough. It is Waffle House after all.” Lila should have assumed some customers would ask these questions. It seems that this group of characters is the same in caring for someone. 

“I see. Is-Is it that you’re alone on this shift or..?” He trailed off, he did not want to assume that she is the only person taking care of the establishment. As much as she seems to hold everything together, one cannot help but worry if she is overworking herself. 

“I am the only employee here. I take orders, cook, clean, and manage. It might seem like a lot but do not worry, I can manage.” She twirled the spatula in her hand as she winked at the white blood cell. “If I could not do something as simple as this, then what kind of employee would I be?”

She turned around to pay attention to the food. This might be my chance to try something. Rengoku accidentally dropped his fork on the ground. As he reached down for the fork, he slid his hand along the bar, pushing his cup of water to the edge. He grabs the fork and successfully pushes the cup off the edge. Or so he thinks. 

“My apologies, I-” Rengoku pauses as he sees a new cup, filled and sitting right by his plate of food. Also another fork to the opposite side of the plate. How? I did not hear, not that my hearing is great, or sense her move at all. He glanced at the other two gentlemen, the white blood cell finishing up his food and the other still tapping on that device. 

They did not notice, she is not human. He had to do something quickly. Not knowing what kind of demon power she possesses is a dangerous gamble. Especially since this seems like her domain, can she create buildings at will? If so, just how powerful is she? 

Lila turned around with three bags in hand, all containing Aizawa’s food. In the midst of turning around, she heard shuffling, grunts, plates crashing and a sword being unsheathed. She glanced up from the bags, ginning at the sight of Rengoku standing on the counter with his sword raised. Rengoku’s blade inches from her face. His sword was being stopped by Aizawa’s capture weapon. U-4989 was holding the flame hasira’s ankles to prevent him from leaping off the counter. 

“Oh my, you three seem to be in quite the predicament gentlemen.” She smiled to herself and moved away from the sword without care. 

“Why are you two stopping me? Can’t you see she is not human? She’s a demon!” Rengoku could not understand how his sword was not cutting through this scarf. 

“You tried to attack a woman, unprovoked. She did not do anything.” Aizawa had his quirk activated so his hair was floating and his usual black eyes were glowing red. However, there was still fire coming from the man’s sword. Was his quirk not working? No, it is because he can feel the regular stinging in his eyes and his hair was off of his neck. Maybe the sword is a support weapon, but it looks like any traditional katana. 

“Why would you call her a demon? She is really nice and gave us free food!” U-4989 was trying to pull him back down but Rengoku wasn't going down without a fight. 

“Unprovoked, yes I will admit that. How can you two not see she will kill us?”

“Killing is boring, I take pride in serving my customers to the best of my abilities. You two can let him go I will be fine.” 

Aizawa scoffed a little but did not take his eyes off Rengoku, “He is trying to kill you. I think it’s best if you-” 

“I said I will be fine, Aizawa. No need to worry about me.” She smiled at them “I can handle him myself if he chooses to continue attacking me.”  

Now it was Lila’s turn to be captured by Aizawa. He wanted to believe he was dealing with one crazy person, not a crazy person and possible villain. All he wanted to do was get dinner and head back. He was going to get an earful from Hizashi when he returns hours later with cold food. I’m tired of this.

“Huh?! You too? She is really nice, why are you being mean to her?” White blood cell let go of Rengoku and was about to help Lila until Aizawa blocked his path. 

“I never gave her my name for the order. How do you know my name? Are you with the league of villains?” Aizawa began questioning. He slowly released Rengoku once he saw the flame hashira relax in the hold. 

“You got me, it seems I have slipped up. You three are a rowdy bunch.” Lila easily slipped out of his capture weapon and went to tidy up the mess. “I am no threat, it is up to you three if you believe me or not.” 

“I don’t think you’re a threat! You gave me free food and it replenished my energy!” 

“Are you a demon? You move faster than any human or demon slayer. You are not normal. Can you blame me for assuming the worst?” Rengoku watches her like a hawk as she gathers the shattered glass. 

“How do you know my name and how did you get out of my capture weapon?” Aizawa looked baffled as she easily slipped from his grasp. 

“That is a little difficult to explain, and would take a while too. I do believe you three need to head back at some time.” She dumped the dirty dishes into the sink and started to clean them. 

“If you have information about us, you need to tell us. You seem like an understanding person so explain why we should be calm about this.” Aizawa crossed his arms and watched her. 

“Think of me as an examiner. Or a person that has been given information about all of my customers. Now, I may know your whole life story, where you come from, how old you are, your names, age, powers, and abilities.” She set some dishes on a drying rack and began scrubbing more. “Feel free to ask me some questions and I might be able to answer them.”

“What is my name?” The white blood cell asked. He was still sure that she is a nice lady but he was curious how she knew the other’s names. 

“U-4989, a white blood cell.”

“What is my full name?” Rengoku asked. 

“Renguko Kyojuro.”

“What’s my quirk?”

“It's called Erasure, you can disable a person's quirk by looking at them. However, once you close your eyes your quirk deactivates. So unfortunately your eyes get very dry at times. It can affect multiple targets at once,  also you can look at other things too, again if you blink your quirk deactivates.”

Who the hell is this woman? Only other teachers at U.A. or close friends know the extent of his quirk.  It took Shigaraki maybe an hour to figure out that his quirk stops when he blinks. 

“Do I have any siblings?” 

“You have a younger brother named Senjuro. You two inherit a lot of your looks from your father. Like mini Shinjuro’s, I however do not like his attitude.” Lila scoffed a little. That might be the first time they saw her express any kind of negative emotion. 

“What are the names of my friends?” Aizawa narrowed his eyes at her. 

“There is HIzashi Yamada, Nemuri Kayama, and there is Oboro Shirokumo. My condolences to your late friend.” She bowed her head towards Aizawa. He was stunned, how did she know about him? Only Hizashi and Nemrui knew the extent of their friendship and that he passed. This woman did know a lot. 

“Any more questions?” Lila wiped down the counter where the three had sat previously. 

“Just one. What are you?” Rengoku put his sword back in his holster and stood up straight. 

“Oh, I would tell you but the thing is, I do not quite know myself.” She smiled at them. 

Caw caw

Bzzt bzzt

Ding Ding

“Well it seems you three have somewhere to be, don’t let me hold you up.” Lila waved at the gentlemen with a kind smile on her face. “Tell Mitsuri I said hi and if you see Mirko tell her I said hi as well.”

“Thank you so much for the food Ms. Lila, I hope I can see you again!” U-4989 waved as he ran out, there were bacteria nearby that he had to handle. 

“You know Mitsrui? Did she come here also-alright I’m coming Kaname. Thank you for the food.” Rengoku bowed and walked out with his crow in tow. He will definitely need to talk to the Love hashira about this place and that woman.

“You’re lucky I have people to feed, otherwise I would take you into questioning. You know too much.” Aizawa grabbed the bags of food and walked towards the door. 

“Am I lucky because of them, or am I lucky because you realize you would lose in a fight against me?  Not to sound cocky, more to compliment how smart you are Shota. Take care.” She nodded towards Aizawa as he chuckled a little then walked out. 

Lila sighed, grabbed her piece of cake, and sat down in a chair at the end of the counter. “You gave me some troublesome characters this time.” She took a bite of the cake and her eyes widened, with multiple colors spirling. “Oh but this lovely cake makes up for it. Was this done by Master Saturn? I simply love his cooking.” She ate the rest of her cake in silence. As she set down the empty plate it disappeared with a poof. 

“Now then,” She stood up and dusted her pants off while walking back behind the counter. “Let’s see the next group that comes in.” 

[spellbook-gayboy]

these prompts are all so good omg...how about number 3? :]

3.

"Really?" Eve asked.

Ian looked back at his friend. "Oh, of course they are! Not only is the American mega-mall a shameless monument to blind consumerism, they're also popular meeting places for the souls of the dead! You just can't see them, is all" he said, not stopping as he pushed open the door of the shop. 

“Remind me not to come earring shopping with you on Halloween ever again!” she murmured, following behind him. The pair soon found themselves in front of rows of earrings in packets or hanging off pegs, everything from bones to little cartoon alien heads. “Wait a minute...” she added, “can you see them?”

“I can perceive, at any given moment, five different layers of reality simultaneously. Sounds cool, but it actually puts quite the strain on my eyes” the wizard explained, reaching to pick up two pairs off the shelf. He turned to Eve, asking “now then, pumpkins or tombstones?”

Eve considered it for a moment. “Pumpkins. They go with your hair better”

“Fair point” Ian muttered, placing the other earrings back where they belonged. “But to actually answer your question? Yes, I can. There’s actually a small Puritan girl floating next to you, and I think she likes your jacket”

Eve glanced behind herself. Nothing. “Can you... show me?” she asked hesitantly, unsure of how he might react.

He did give her a quizzical look, but soon shrugged and relented “Well, you are a superhero, I guess. If anyone here could handle it, it’d probably be you. Alright, come here”

“Okay, so what do we-?” the heroine began, only to have a glowing finger pressed into the space directly between her eyes. In an instant, she was struck by a splitting headache, scrunching her eyes shut, with them feeling like they were about to pop from the strain on them. “Owww!” she whined as the pain began to die down. When it was finally gone, and she felt comfortable enough to open them again, she was greeted by a fairly bizarre sight. 

Nothing about the shop had changed. Everything was the same place that she remembered them being in, and the other customers were still there, there was just... more of them now. 

They definitely looked how she thought ghosts did, translucent and still wearing the clothes they presumably died in. despite how different they all were from each other, everything from a medieval knight gliding about in full armour to the young Puritan girl Ian had mentioned, who sat on top of the shelf and looked down at the heroine with a curious look. Eve gave her a little wave, which was answered by the girl’s more enthusiastic reply. “Woah”

“I know, right? If you think that’s good, you should see the inside of the Guardians HQ!” Ian replied. “Though I should warn you, your first go round with this spell might end a bit... less than ideally”

Eve looked at him in confusion. “Huh? What does that me- oh god, I’m gonna be sick!” she shouted mid-sentence, doubling over as her hand flew to cover her mouth. “Oh Jesus, what is going on?!”

“Less than ideal, remember?” the wizard reiterated, removing her view into the afterlife with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, you might wanna...” he started, trailing off as Eve ran out of the shop, hand stuck tightly over her mouth. Now alone, he turned his attention back to the earrings in his hand. “Hmm... I guess they do go with my hair.”

[girlwithakiwi]

I posted 1,281 times in 2022

That's 181 more posts than 2021!

210 posts created (16%)

1,071 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@aimmyarrowshigh

@amarguerite

@seananmcguire

@girlwithakiwi

@dduane

I tagged 1,273 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#the queue station - 662 posts

#chase writes things - 188 posts

#the silhouette of a single memory - 143 posts

#jonerys - 83 posts

#chase answers - 74 posts

#jonerys fanfic - 70 posts

#tiktok - 51 posts

#jonerys au - 47 posts

#game of thrones - 45 posts

#jon snow - 42 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#just because many of the classics that are taught in school are very white and european or sad american male writer with a drinking problem

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Chapters: 71/71 (COMPLETE)  Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV); A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen

Summary: "Jon is their catspaw because above all things he is an honorable man. And in his entire life, he has never wanted to be anything other than that damnable virtue as much as he wants it now."

When Jon Snow enters the throne room, the ruins of King's Landing still smoke on the pyre of conquest and destruction. When he confronts Daenerys Targaryen beneath the suffocating shadow of the Iron Throne, the slaughtered corpses of men, women, and children still soundlessly howl in terror and agony. This is the price of the dragon queen's crown and he has followed her now to be judge, jury, and executioner, to end the nightmare, to end the madness, once and for all. But for players of a different game, a loss is nothing but victory postponed—and there is always one more play, one more chance, to turn a war in their favor. Or: Jon doesn't kill Daenerys and everything they know about the Long Night changes. [COMPLETE] 4/6/22 UPDATE: Spelling/grammar/clarity edits of this fic are complete. I now consider this fic completely finished. If you are a previous reader, you may have noticed that the word count increased by 10,000 words. Please note that nothing in the plot changed. I only expanded a couple of scenes and expounded on a few things for clarity.

30 notes - Posted April 6, 2022

#4

Chapters: 14/19 Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV); A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen  

Summary:

And then he whispers a single name into her hair. It is warm, like the memory of home and dark nights before a fire, and as sweet as treacle, sugar and butterscotch and promises she cannot remember. And she thinks, as she presses him into a fervent and hungry kiss, chasing the letters and the cadence and the brogue with her tongue, it should not sound so familiar. “Dany”.   He has called her “Dany”.   But…     That isn’t her name.         •       A one-night stand ends up being a whole goddamned mess and two people whose names are certainly (probably) not Daenerys Targaryen or Jon Snow find themselves untangling strange dreams of war and betrayal and lives lost, lived, and forgotten.

31 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

#3

listen 😂😂😂

43 notes - Posted October 19, 2022

#2

this dude is literally the living, breathing embodiment of :3 and this whole ass family is what happens when you give a bunch of theater kids some dragons

57 notes - Posted October 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

124 notes - Posted June 4, 2022

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