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switchedandbewitched · 1 month

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Switched and Bewitched Chapter 6: #25 Menace at Mummy Manor? Got it.

Read more on AO3!

#scooby doo #velma dinkley #daphne blake #fred jones #shaggy rogers #mystery inc #mystery incorporated #scooby gang #what's new scooby doo #detectives #supernatural elements #lgbtq #lesbian velma #daphne x fred #marcie x velma #scooby doo on zombie island #marcie fleach

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misc-obeyme · 7 months

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yooo it’s ur weeb friend!!

lmao so asmo got banned from peru (and probably greece after the incident with helen BUT that’s water under the bridge) and levi got banned from japan for being too cringe-fail (the americans are already enough, NO MORE) but what about the others?

i feel like beel got banned from ireland after causing the great potato famine and from italy after eating all the pasta in the entire country once…

mammon got banned from vegas FOR SURE for causing a scene (not a country BUT he’s been banned from every casino in the US, and steadily working his way through canada and europe (starting with england) he’s making progress…

lucifer got banned from italy also for the vatican city incident. he wanted to see it cause he’d heard so much about it. no one is allowed to talk about it…but the brothers will tell you about it later if you want to know.

belphie and diavolo got banned from all of africa because due to a mix up they got blamed for spreading the sleeping sickness and malaria respectively (they didn’t actually do it but can’t seem to escape the allegations)

i think solomon got banned from mexico and all of south america and is the cause behind a lot of the superstitions based on devils/the occult there. people run from him in fear. he claims to not know why but you know there’s a reason. you can try to ask someone but they’re all too busy fleeing in terror.

barbatos claims he got banned from russia and china. no one knows why, not even diavolo. it’s one of the mysteries that he’s very secretive about, but legend has it that it’s related to something he did before he joined forces with diavolo.

i also think asmo got banned from india and some regions of france as well as various other european countries like spain and scotland but the stories behind those pretty much revolve around a party, drinking, and members of nobility. and they’re usually so long and crazy and asmo is always insistent he did nothing wrong and will leave out parts of the story to make himself sound good BUT if you’re a real history buff you can usually sus out what actually happened. or get him drunk. he always has loose lips when he drinks.

satan got banned from the americas (specifically north america) due to his rebellious streak/temper tantrum days resulting in the satanic panic. mostly caused by americans being rude and making him angry. he’s also a basis for a lot of mexico/south american superstition, though somehow…not as much as solomon?

just my silly lil ideas i wanted to share! what are your thoughts?? 🤔🤔🤔

Hello there, my friend!!

al;dskjfasdlksfj Beel causing the potato famine looool!

I definitely think they all have the potential to get banned for causing specific issues. Definitely Beel eating all of everything, Mammon causing trouble at casinos, and Asmo just getting drunk and partying too much.

I also think Mammon would be banned for doing something like insurance fraud. I don't know why but that just seems like something he'd get himself into. Or maybe it turns out he's the mastermind behind all the internet email scams asking you to send them thousands of dollars.

I think Lucifer has to be extra careful because uh... he's Lucifer. You would think he'd be banned from the Vatican before he ever even showed up there. Satan, too. Just stay away from religious locations when the religion in question considers you to be the source of evil, okay?? Though I would absolutely demand the story from the other brothers about the incident lol.

Okay see I headcanon Solomon spent a significant amount of time in the southwestern US just because he's always wearing that bolo tie lol. So I love the idea that he was also in Mexico and South America, just being the menace he always is. In the Devildom, the stuff he does isn't too weird, but can you imagine normal people in the human world encountering him and all his weird experiments? And if he was actually covered in pacts marks that look like demonic sigils? I have no doubt that he would be the source of years worth of superstitions.

I LOVE all ideas where Satan is the cause of any kind of Satantic activity anywhere. Like the Satanic panic was so ridiculous, but I love the idea of him causing it just by being angry about rude people.

I do think Satan could also have been banned from Japan - most specifically, Tashirojima where the cat population far surpasses that of the human one. Possibly also Hydra Island in Greece, which is another island known for its high cat population. I just think eventually they'd be like listen we appreciate how much you love the cats, but you need to leave now lol.

All of this seems more than enough to get any of them banned from the various human world locations they've caused trouble in. It's so funny to think about them running rampant in the human world. Lucifer out here probably acting like he'd never get banned, but he's caused his fair amount of problems, too.

#seriously hilarious #MC finds out about it all over time and is just like... that was YOU #I should've known lol #obey me #obey me nightbringer #anon asks #misc answers

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duelistkingdom · 1 year

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cursed

Summary: bakura's considered himself cursed for the longest time. all sorts of problems happen whenever he's around. but one friend reminds him that maybe he's not a cursed as he thinks he is.

Warning: this does deal with some heavy content, with references to financial abuse. proceed with caution

Rating: T

Ships: Yugi Muto/Ryo Bakura if you squint

Author’s note: this has been upon ao3 for a while but i utterly forgot to post this here. this was a gift for the ygo mini exchange and i don't know the giftee's tumblr (or if they even have one). it was for the user gourdier on ao3, so if you know their tumblr, feel free to pass this along to them.

read on ao3 / consider supporting me on ko-fi (battle city & above tiers get early access) / join my discord (18+)

Bakura used to be able to push his emotions down easier than this. He used to be able to ignore things that bothered him. And yet everything was sitting in his mind. He thought he was past this. The puckered scars on his chest brushed against his shirt, and the texture made him grit his teeth. It was a brief distraction from his previous thought regarding his father, who was insistent upon him completing university. It wasn’t easy, either. It seemed like everyone understood the material better than he did and he was embarrassed to ask his professors for more information.

Or really, it was more like the idea of seeing another person in a coma because he’d gotten too close. Nope, put that in a box again. He didn’t have time to deal with that. Much like he didn’t have time to be angry with his father for holding good grades in university as leverage for paying rent on the space his shop was in. While Bakura was certain that he might be able to afford the rent on the place himself now, it would probably mean giving up his apartment. Which would mean living in the roof of his occult shop. Not something he really wanted to do.

He’d been zoning out at his text book when a familiar voice finally reached him. “Yeah, I get that a lot,” Yugi was telling another customer, with a familiar look on his face. The look that meant that Yugi didn’t really want to interact with the public right now. “But no, I’m not him.”

“Oh, hi there,” Bakura said with a light smile. “I believe I have your order in the back, sir. If you could come this way,” he said, motioning to Yugi to come behind the counter. “And for the other person… If you steal, the cursed artifacts will deal an appropriate punishment,” Bakura said serenely. “Keep that in mind before you nick anything!”

Yugi had a small grin on his face as he ducked behind the counter. Normally, Bakura wouldn’t pay much mind to the scars on Yugi’s hands from the fire when they were both teenagers. But as of now, it was on spotlight as Bakura realized that he’d had a blackout prior to that fire. For a second, Bakura considered asking Yugi about the scars. He did not, as always. As always, Bakura pretended they weren’t there the same way Yugi politely ignored the scars on Bakura’s chest. They had a tendency of doing that, really.

It was always the same routine. Polite small talk, Yugi talking about how his university courses were going and Bakura pretending that his courses were going the same. Anything that cuts too deep, push those feelings down. It wasn’t that Yugi didn’t try at first, but Bakura was good at lying. Bakura liked it that way. No need to rehash anything that hurts too much. And Yugi knew better than to talk about it with Bakura. No, they kept each other at arm’s length. At least, that’s what Bakura came to expect. He wasn’t expecting Yugi’s sharp gaze on him, as if he was a puzzle to figure out. “Yesterday you told a customer you don’t sell ouija boards because you don’t sell toys,” Yugi said slowly, as if testing the waters out. “But… I don’t think that’s why you don’t.”

Yugi’s gaze was so sharp that it felt like a knife to the neck. Bakura took a moment to think about the fact that Anzu was in America and her calls were so infrequent. Not that he blamed her. International calling was expensive, and she didn’t owe him anything. It wasn’t like they were particularly close. Jounouchi rarely stopped by, but then again, Jounouchi had always been scared of ghosts. And Bakura had spent most of his life being haunted by a ghost of revenge. Enough to put anyone who hated horror the way Jounouchi did off. Honda was always busy working for his father, and Bakura couldn’t bring himself to complain about the pressure on him from his own father to Honda. After all, at least Bakura was getting to do something he liked… in exchange for something that was killing him inside. Either way, Yugi was the only one Bakura saw regularly. And even then, Bakura purposefully isolated himself. What right did he have to any of their friendships? Perhaps they knew that. Perhaps it was why they rarely reached out to him.

“It’s a cheap toy, Yugi,” Bakura said quietly, not wanting to go into it. Everyone had seen him playing a Destiny Board deck. Everyone except him. As usual. He thought he could control the spirit in the Millennium Ring, and everyone around him had paid for hubris. Everyone except for him. The only brunt he bore from any of it had been the scars in his chest. And his father… “I don’t sell cheap toys.”

“You have severed hand props,” Yugi said with a furrowed brow. “No, I think this is more about the things we don’t talk about.”

Bakura stood up without thinking, and felt woozy from it immediately. That was a mistake. He shouldn’t have stood up that quickly. All the ways the spirit of the Ring had brutalized his body without his consent. And yet Yugi did not carry the same markers. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle… Atem… hadn’t treated Yugi’s body like a child in a candy store after dark. Yugi knew the name of the spirit that had shared his body. How was that fair? “There’s a reason why we don’t talk about it,” Bakura said, trying to regulate his breathing. “It’s… It’s in the past, Yugi.”

Yugi’s violet eyed stare felt violent, and Bakura wondered when Yugi learned that. Once upon a time, Yugi might’ve been kinder than anyone deserved. Atem’s impact on Yugi left Yugi a changed man. “It doesn't feel like it,” Yugi said softly. “When I close my eyes… I still see the remnants of Atem’s soul room. Of when Atem shared my heart. And… you’re the only one who could understand what that’s like. No one else understands what it’s like to have someone use your body as their own, and for them to be gone.”

For a second, Bakura felt like snapping. He wasn’t sure where that urge came from. It wasn’t like Yugi had intended to say anything that would hurt Bakura’s feelings. Nor was it like Yugi was doing this to be cruel. Still, Bakura faced away from Yugi, staring at the door they’d entered from. “I never saw his soul room,” Bakura finally admitted after a long pause. “I barely knew him. I would wake up with new scars with no idea of where it came from. After a while… I began to wonder if this was penance for something I’d done wrong. He’d told me that I wished for this… and I can’t help but wonder if that’s because…”

Bakura trailed off, and he expected Yugi to leave. Instead, when he turned around, Yugi was still sitting there. His violet gaze had softened from its prior violence, and felt like a lavender bath - warm and gentle. “It wasn’t your fault,” Yugi said, as if he somehow knew the inner workings of the universe. “Bakura, what exactly was your wish?”

It’d been so long since he’d made that wish, actually. “I… wished that my friends and I could play together forever,” Bakura said slowly as Yugi’s hand wrapped around his wrist. “I’d.. been having so much fun with my friends playing Monster World that I’d wished it could be like this forever. And… when I was scared of the coach who was making fun, I wished he’d go away.”

“But you didn’t wish for them to go into comas,” Yugi said, and the firmness in his voice took Bakura aback. “You wished to play forever with your friends. That’s a normal thing to want.” Yugi paused, and glanced. “I mean, I wished for friends on the Puzzle.”

Bakura didn’t know exactly how to respond to that. For Yugi, it seems to have worked out just fine. For Bakura, well… it’d just proven how cursed he was, right? Only a cursed child could have caused their father such harm. Ever since that fateful trip to Egypt, Bakura’s father had kept him at a distance. And Bakura could not have blamed him. Who would want to keep someone who was so obviously a danger to be around? “But those friends didn’t wind up in a coma, Yugi.”

“No but,” Yugi said, clearly hesitant to speak. Bakura followed Yugi’s line of sight down to his hands, where the reminder of that fire was seared into his flesh. A moment passed before Yugi finally spoke again. “Other stuff happened. Before you transferred, I… had moments of forgetting too. And Atem… had done things neither of us wanted to speak of. Remember how Pegasus had said there was a dark presence in the Items? That’s when Atem… had decided to stop doing penalty games.” Yugi fiddled with his hands, glancing away. “We all have things in our past we’re not proud of, things that we’d do differently. But wishing to get to spend more time with your friends… that’s a good wish to have. And you should act on it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Bakura, you rarely call us,” Yugi said, worry starting to seep into his voice. “Anzu says you rarely call, Honda says he can’t remember the last time you offered to hang out, and Jounouchi says that he’s always having to call you. In fact, most of them think you don’t want to be our friend. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think you’re purposely isolating yourself from us because of what the spirit of the Ring did to us.”

Once again, Yugi was right. It was, in part, due to everything the spirit of the Ring had done. “He used my body for it,” Bakura said, shaking his head. “How can any of you stand to look at me and not see the person who hurt you?”

“You’re our friend,” Yugi said as he stood up. “You can choose to believe me or not but… you aren’t the spirit of the Ring. You’re our friend, Bakura. And we’d like to hear from you more often. Tell us more about your shop, about the things going on in your life, about your problems and how we can help. But we can’t be part of your life if you keep us out of it. You have to start letting us in.” He glanced at his watch, and shook his head. “I’ll let you think for a bit, okay? I have to get back to my internship or Kaiba will throw a fit, and I really don’t feel like Dueling to keep my internship today. But after that… I’ll be back. And I wanna hear more about what’s going on in your life. No more walls.”

And with that, Yugi left, leaving Bakura to wonder what kind of luck he had to have friends that wanted to be someone as cursed as him.

#myfanfic

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mildly-mandy · 7 months

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The Making Of a Fanfic

Okay, so I've brought it up here before, but I have a fanfic I'm working on over on AO3. It's called Some Kind of Cyberpunk, and it's a Yoroiden Samurai Troopers/Digimon fusion fic.

Why, you ask? Because I could. But mainly because some years ago, I got a secondhand or more copy of the old Bandai DVD release of the Gaiden and Legend of the Kikoutei Armor OAV. One side had the dubbed Ronin Warriors version, and the other had the subbed Samurai Troopers version.

Gaiden is a WEIRD story. I think I read somewhere that it was a thank you for fans who supported the series. It's two episodes for a story that absolutely needed at least three or four, and it shows. Anyway, the storyline involves the Troopers discovering that their friend Seiji has been lured to America in order for a sorcerer and a mad scientist that I've described as an absolutely unlikeable version of Peter Venkman to experiment with controlling his armor via technomystical means. They meet up with a girl named Luna who wants revenge for her dead brother, and end up having to go to Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood to confront the culprits. Seiji is unhooked from the computer he's been hotwired into, and Luna dies taking a blow for the sidekick characters Nastui and Jun while trying to stab the sorcerer when he goes after them.

The OAV ends with them back in New York, reuniting with their friends, and Ryo throws a bouquet of flowers off of a bridge, presumably for Luna.

That's it. The events of this little storyline are never mentioned again, aside from the implication that Shuu has had to use the rest of the money he won in Gaiden to pay for their trip to Africa in the next OAV. The final OAV storyline, Message, is done mostly in monologues by the Troopers over flashback footage, and Seiji's episode never mentions the use of his armor to murder innocent people. Ryo's episode never brings up that a girl who loved him died in his arms, a smile on her face.

And that irked me. But more than that, I was inspired. Because as the computer freaked out over the Kikoutei super armor, I remembered how in Digimon lore Ikkakkumon was discovered in the computer of an Arctic research base. And then I wondered what kind of Digimon could have resulted from a teenage boy with mystical armor made from a demon lord's corpse being hotwired into a computer with occultic programming.

I organized what would become the prototype playlist that acted as a soundtrack. The characters came next. Dianamon has always played a major role in the story, but as the plot evolved, so did her role. Much has been made about the fact that she can shift to a human form. As of right now in the story, the reasoning behind that is a mystery to the characters, who are still in the dark about many things.

Sage has always been meant to be a riff on the Ronin Warriors dub, but it's also a misinterpretation of his first words when encountered. He is an embodiment of the program used to control the Korin armor (and something else), and due to the extensive connection with Seiji, has his memories up until a certain point.

The people who discovered him are original characters, a necessity for a series so focused on the core characters that there is pretty much no one else important to the series. Background characters are rare in Samurai Troopers, and the title characters and their three companions are always kept separate from them. Anyone else who interacts with them are either enemies or are going to die. That's it.

So I wanted a way for the OCs to be able to connect. And that's where Rachel and her parents come in. Rachel and her friend Jason like doing urban exploration, a practice of wandering around places that are obscure or off limits. This can be hazardous, due to various circumstances like building conditions, people, and surprise animals.

Rachel learned self defense from her father, a man who had joined the army after she was born to help his little family. After he was stationed in Okinawa when she was three, the events of the first arc of the Samurai Troopers TV series occurred, and he was among a group from his base sent into Shinjuku when the populace went missing. His experience would lead to a great deal of PTSD, an honorable discharge, and an eventual career as the paranormal consultant for the city of Los Angeles due to it. He's still amazed that that turned out to be an actual career choice, but has set up a network of informants and associates that keep an eye on the City of the Angels.

Rachel herself is a young foul mouthed blonde woman with a tendency to think with her fists when she's angry, something that has gotten her into trouble in the past. An encounter with a bully in kindergarten led her to her friend Jason, a quiet nerdy boy with black hair that's always falling into his eyes. They've been friends ever since, and he treats their exploration hobby like real life dungeon crawling, making maps and researching the places they visit. He gets a lot of help from Rachel's mother Laura, a librarian at the LA Public Library. A fellow nerd, Laura speaks her mind, a habit her daughter has picked up on (much to her chagrin).

A report about a hidden tunnel in a cemetery outside of a long abandoned Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo sets off the events of the story. There have long been stories about that part of the neighborhood, as the property had been known to be associated with a man who had a reputation as a sorcerer. People who crossed him tended to end up in bad shape, dead, or just never seen again and presumed dead. Wanting to check this out before the neighborhood kids get curious and investigate it themselves, Richard calls his daughter, asking her and Jason to help look things over before closing it off.

Needless to say, they find more than they bargained for, A burned out computer on a raised platform above a pool of water. Wires leading into the pool below, weighed down by a white shape that moves in a way that Richard Does Not Like. Scattered papers and notes about a process to mesh magic and technology, using what sounds like a teenager lured to the place for that specific purpose. An old army knife and a bloodstain. And then there's the boy who shifts like satellite signal in bad weather, who can give off static and emit lightning. Using what information they can gather from him and the notes, they form a theory about what happened.

They think Sage is a remnant created from a boy that died down in that moldy pit that still smells of ashes and rot.

They aren't right. But they're not wrong, either. They're just missing a great deal of information. Either way, they mean to track down his companions, the mysterious Samurai Troopers. Because they deserve to know that their friend is still alive, in a way.

But what's going to happen when they meet? What are these strange beings that call themselves Digimon, and just what can they do?

I have had a LOT of fun plotting out this story. It's been in my head for about ten years now, and I'm still tweaking it.

#Samurai Troopers #Ronin Warriors #Digimon #Fanfic

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satanicpanicatthedicerolls · 1 year

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Remembering the Satanic Panic -- D&D and the 1980s

When someone thinks about Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in 2023, some things that may come to mind are shows with it involved or surrounding it, such as Netflix’s Stranger Things or Amazon’s The Legends of Vox Machina, but the mainstream enjoyment of D&D is a newer phenomenon, as many painted the roleplaying game (RPG) as something much more sinister. The Satanic Panic was a phenomenon in the 1980s when many believed satanic cults were abusing others across much of North America, and corrupting its youths, and one of the factors of the moral panic was the game Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy roleplaying game first published the decade prior, in 1974. I believe that many were frightened of societal changes, and wished to worry about anything else besides change, and so they put the blame on Dungeons & Dragons.

The belief was that satanic cults were working to manipulate people into joining them. To some of those worrying, D&D was a way to train people in the ways of the occult, as the game includes aspects such as spellcasting and necromancy (Goodwin, 2020). Much of this worrying came from an uptick in concern for the safety of children. The 1980s held an uptick in those concerned about the welfare of children, and preventing the sexual abuse of children because the media coverage and outreach had started a conversation about it, leading to more people reporting sexual abuse, and the trend began that demonic cultists were to blame (Goodwin, 2020). The religious aspect of the Satanic Panic comes from the fact that much of the worry was rooted in religious fundamentalism (Cohen, 2021), as in the 1980s, the United States was beginning to have a rift with other religious movements that had started to rise in notoriety in the decades prior, and many white Christans began to see the emergence of what they saw as “cults”, and the changes society was going through as a decline in morality, further being fueled by President Reagan’s Good v. Evil mentality (Goodwin, 2020). Many wanted to fight the “evil” that was coming to the world, and they started to worry that D&D was one of the reasons that these abuses were happening more and more. It was a new game where people can explore whatever their hearts desire with a fantasy background, and with any sort of fantasy comes aspects such as spellcasting and sorcery, which many believed placed it in direct opposition of the bible, so to them, it had to be a culprit (BBC, 2014). The game allows people to create a character however they desire, to cast spells, to wield a sword and shield, to be gay, to be promiscuous – it was all up to the players and the Game Master. In a time in the United States when it was dangerous to explore what people saw as sinful, there was an outlet available where people could do what they wished and not have to worry about being disowned, abused, or even killed. Even if the societal landscape denied many the pleasures of being who they want to be in public, there was the chance to allow them the ability to do so in a more private setting. Things were changing, and people were slowly becoming more open to who they were, and this frightened people. Change is a terrifying concept, it is as though you are jumping into darkness knowing the way you came in will be closed off the moment you go further, and you must go further. Younger people went on without fear, and used outlets such as D&D that eased the process, adding the current societal landscape or something similar to the campaign where people can pause, take moments to breathe and reflect, and where they are not required to immediately react. The more religious people decided to combat the change and try to stop it from happening, citing anything that was not Christian as demonic, and citing any change as evil (Goodwin, 2020). The changing of society is a scary concept, as is the changing of someone you love, and another way people blamed Satan and the existence of Dungeons & Dragons on a person changing.

There is a meme with many jokes about it that says if you die in a game, you die in real life. As much as it is a trope many have used in different forms of media, many were scared that is what Dungeons & Dragons was actually doing. It did not involve a television, or screen of any kind, and was just a group of people using their imaginations, so what would happen if a character died? Those who are familiar with D&D know that you roll up a new character, or try to cast a resurrection spell, but there were parents who blamed the demise of their children on the game itself. In 1979, there was an incident where a teenage boy had gone into hiding due to an episode of self harm, and ended up killing himself three years later, and another instance where another student died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound (BBC, 2014). In both of these tragedies, even though one had a history of mental illness, and the other was said to have trouble fitting in, people believed they died because of their interests in D&D. As the Satanic Panic continued on and people became more and more fearful, evangelical groups began creating claims that no one challenged – that youth could not distinguish fantasy and reality, and wild claims including that if a character died, the player was more likely to commit suicide (BBC, 2014). What this unfortunately did was give wild claims and excuses to what was mental illness and bullying, and religious groups were attempting to put the blame on anything that wasn't mental illness. If there was a change in a child’s behaviour, parents do not want to blame themselves, or their genetics for the development of what could be neurodivergence, and instead choose to point at the game their child has been interested in, and realizing it has magic and demons, so they can throw baseless, religious claims that whatever happens is the work of the devil. No one ends up winning in that way – parents still have dead children, and D&D becomes stigmatized into being a cultist’s favourite indoctrination. In reality, D&D had a chance to help, as when linked with other forms of therapy, D&D can be used as an outcome-oriented tool (Henrich & Worthington, 2021). So a game once seen as the reason many perished now becomes a tool to help those in learning to overcome the true reason the lives were lost.

The best way to see why these sorts of moral panics happen is to look at the societal landscape of the time. The United States had a president with ideals rooted in fundamentalism, and so it became the dominant ideology. Times were rapidly changing, with the last decades having people living openly and proudly as themselves. With the change, there are always those who want everything to stay exactly how it is, and in this instance, those not wishing for the changes were the dominant ideology, and so a game seen as imaginative fun was labeled as the work of Satan instead. To see why it all happens, it may be best to ask ourselves why people do the things they do, whether it be pure fear, wanting to be protective, or wanting to explore who they are without the worry of social repercussions. It’s best to look at a moral panic and at first, you may go, “why in the world did this happen?”, but then step back and analytically ask the exact same question.

During the Satanic Panic, Dungeons & Dragons became the target for much blame, whether it be to explain the changes of society, or the changing of a loved one. As much as the panic grew and religious fundamentalism grew with it in the 1980s, the panic faded, and there will be many moral panics as time goes on – as long as there is change, there will be people to panic alongside it, and get it large enough to be a new moral panic to discover and analyze why.

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normal-horoscopes · 3 years

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5 Things. You can answer whatever you want, however you want. (Or, just listen! That's fine too.)

1: Sorry about the "classicist" thing.

2: I went to an esoteric tarot divination, told through theatre. I assumed I would draw the "Fool". I was assigned "The Hanged Man". There was an esoteric performance about it, personalized to me, one that was terrifyingly accurate. Do you have any information on "The Hanged Man" tarot card, from an occultist perspective?

3: What are some methods of Dionysus worship/Dionysian practice in the modern day? Not just "How can I revive Dionysian worship?" (That's a ME problem.) More like, "Is it still around in the modern world, in some way?"

4: I joined a local neo-pagan groupchat, and someone has the worst takes I've ever heard. They're neither mythologically, historically, or ritualisticly backed. But, I don't want to be an asshole. This seems important to her. How do you deal with unsupported takes on the occult, personally?

5: I'm reading the newest edition of "Drawing Down the Moon" by Margot Adler. It's a study of modern neo-paganism in America. This is a book recommendation! (Or, wondering if you've read it!)

1) no clue what you're talking about king

2) Neat! The hanged man means pause, surrender, letting go, and new perspectives.

3) Get drunk and have fun. Pour out some wine for the big guy upstairs.

4) it wouldn't be a neopagan group chat without someone dropping absolutely anthrax laced takes

5) Highly recommend

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theparanormalperiodical · 3 years

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What The Hell Is Satanism? The Backstory, The Beliefs, And The A-To-Z On Devil Worshippers

4 days ago, Nike decided to sue a small indie art collective based in New York.

This isn’t news. This isn’t the first time a profit-mongering fashion-giant has targeted businesses trying to make a name for themselves. And it won’t be the last.

But this time, there’s probably something else influencing the executives reclining on their plush leather seats: they said it was because MSCHF stamped on the Nike Swoosh. But we all know what the real problem was:

These kicks were soaked with Satanic imagery - oh, and a single drop of human blood.

"MSCHF and its unauthorised Satan Shoes are likely to cause confusion and dilution and create an erroneous association between MSCHF's products and Nike”

Translation: no, we don’t want to be associated with devil worshippers.

Satan and his followers have once again hit the press following Lil Nas X’s latest viral YouTube hit and release of his custom footwear. And he does the belief system - and the LGBTQA+ community - justice.

But Satanism goes much deeper than pole dancing your way to hell.

It goes deeper than the fears of your evangelical aunt, it goes deeper than the rumours of a sacrificial ritual that happened in the woods outside of town, and it goes deeper than QAnon conspiracy theories.

Today we explore what Satanism really is. And what it really isn’t.

*twerks towards hell*

What Is Satanism?

Satanism is a group of modern religions that are centred around Satan, an entity in Abrahamic religions (e.g. Christianity and Judaism) that rebelled against God, has power over Hell and demons, and seduces humans into sin. Satan features in a vast number of major religions: he started off in Zoroastrianism, then making his way to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. But the modern followers of Satanism are inspired by the Christian fallen angel and ruler of hell.

A large proportion of Satanists follow atheistic Satanism - they don’t necessarily believe in an entity but follow a philosophy that focuses on individualism and satisfying the ego, or rebel specifically against the dominance of Christianity in Western society.

Although Satan is typically considered the embodiment of evil, most strands of Satanism are not. However, there are some groups that fit this mould like the Order of the Nine Angles: they’re neo-Nazis.

The actual worship of Satanism only began just over 50 years ago, in 1966. But the use of the term ‘Satanist’ stretches back centuries further. Calling someone a ‘Satanist’ (or something to that effect) was an insult reserved for those that disagreed with a Christian group’s beliefs.

A Not-very-brief-but-look-I-tried-ok History Of Satanism

Here’s the thing about Satanism: at one point in history, every religious group was deemed Satanist.

You see, that’s how it all started.

Even the term ‘Satan’ originally meant ‘adversary’. It didn’t necessarily refer to a horned, evil ex-angel once scorned by the Almighty. It meant ‘other’; it was just an insult. It wasn’t created by groups of men draped in blood red robes preparing to slaughter a virgin to their ungodly master - Satanism was actually created by Christians.

The word ‘Satanism’ was first recorded in French and English literature back in the 16th century. Against the backdrop of the Reformation (when the Western Christian Church split off into Protestantism, Catholicism, and other more niche shards) rival religious groups would label each other with such terms frequently in various tracts and texts.

It was not to say that Protestants, for example, were actively worshipping Satan but were instead deviating from what Catholics thought was true Christianity. By ‘incorrectly’ serving God, they were supporting Satan’s claim to ruin the world with sin and evil.

*Disney villain laugh*

In the 19th century it broadened to encompass anyone that lived an immoral lifestyle and was thus serving Satan’s will. But in this same century it evolved yet again.

Yep, it’s time to introduce the actual Satanists: texts began to emerge that mention people that revered and worshipped Satan. It took a long 300 years for Satanists to reclaim their title. But the story doesn’t end here: this is a really important theme that runs like blood through the history of Satanism. Or, rather, the history of religious prejudice and persecution.

Throughout, well, all of human history, we have been swept up unto the belief that there is a dark, evil force lurking within our communities. The most recent example claims Joe Biden and his Democrat friends are Satan-worshipping baby-eating America-hating pedophiles. The fears of a discrete force that can hide at will fits the descriptors of the Judeo-Christian devil. And so, it had been applied to persecuted groups for centuries.

The Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition are the most famous examples of this. Satanism evolved in the Medieval era to scapegoat certain groups or to reinforce social norms by emphasising the apparently very real fight between good and evil.

Narratives of the French Revolution at the time were contorted with rumours of revolutionaries being part of a secret Satanic conspiracy. This revolution struck a blow to the power of the Catholic church, and some fingers pointed towards the dark lord of hell himself. Some even believed these revolutionaries had amassed supernatural powers to curse people and shape-shift into various creature ‘n’ critters like cats or fleas!

In the 20th century, another historical shift took place. And this time it (supposedly) happened from within the secret societies themselves: non-fiction authors and tabloids began to recount the allegations of people who once claimed to have been part of Satanic groups before converting to Christianity.

Doreen Irvine claimed she was given the ability to levitate amongst other witchy-powers. But Irvine’s claims sent shockwaves across the pond in the US. Much more horrific allegations were about to take centre stage. In the 1980s this would reach its climax with the Satanic Panic:

Also known as the Satanism Scare, the book Michelle Remembers (1980) detailed the alleged repressed memories of a psychiatrist’s patient which claimed they had been abused as a child for Satanic rituals. In these rituals, babies would be sacrificed and Satan would appear.

Reports of sexual child abuse for these rituals - known as Satanic Ritual Abuse - proliferated until the 1983 case made against the McMartin family. The McMartins owned a preschool in California and were allegedly sexually abusing the children in their care for ritualistic purposes. A lengthy trial ensued and the McMartins were eventually cleared of all charges.

But it was too late.

An evangelical anti-Satanism movement emerged claiming no children would lie about such claims and therefore all accused must be guilty. A conspiracy theory similar to those before emerged claiming SRA was rampant across the US, but it lost momentum by the turn of the 90s. Various investigations by the FBI and British government looked into SRA but found no evidence of Satanism or rituals in any cases of child abuse. Some lone cases of pedophiles did involve rituals, but these were isolated events that never involved Satanist groups.

The 7 Types Of Satanism

Satanism is an umbrella term to describe a vast array of religious groups. There’s a swirling sea of beliefs from the philosophical Satanists that don’t actually believe in Satan to the minority groups that are willing to sacrifice humans in the name of worshipping their god.

However, this ocean does share a common focus on individualism, self-perception, and non-conformity - traditional traits associated with the devil.

There are 3 forms of Satanism: reactive (attempts to invert Christianity and celebrates rebellion), rationalist (atheist and materialistic beliefs), and esoteric (actually worships Satan and draws upon religions like Paganism and western Esotericism).

The Church of Satan kick-started modern Satanism. Erected in 1966, Anton LaVey promoted an atheistic philosophy that focused on indulgence and an ‘eye for an eye’ ethical code that celebrated mankind as animals in an amoral world. Hate and aggression were not wrong but were advantageous for one’s survival. Yes, the seven deadly sins were actually beneficial for the individual.

The First Satanic Church was founded on Halloween night in 1999 by the daughter of Anton LaVey after his church was taken over by a new administration that Karla deemed against her father’s work.

The Satanic Temple is an atheist-activist group that stages political ‘pranks’ that rebel against the political and social dominance of Christianity. They aim to showcase religious hypocrisy in stunts such as performing a ‘Pink Mass’ over the grave of a Westboro Baptist Church goer (known for their explicit and offensive signs). They use Satan as a metaphor to rebel against a society that restricts personal autonomy and curiosity.

Luciferianism is a belief system that pivots around the characteristics associated with Lucifer. Followers believe Lucifer is the illuminated aspect of Satan, thus considering themselves Satanists. But some believe he is a more positive force than Satan. They follow the ancient myths of Egypt, Rome, and western Occultism. They consider him the true god - a destroyer but also a ‘light-bringer’ to the world.

The Temple of Set does not necessarily revere Satan by instead a being they call Set. Satan was the corrupted name of set, an entity that is the one true god. It gave humanity intellectual abilities to separate it from animals and they believe in a Setian philosophy with self-deification as the aim of all humanity.

The Order of the Nine Angles was inspired by ancient Pagan groups resident in Shropshire in the late 60s. But the founder of the group, Anton Long, is considered the pseudonym of neo-Nazi David Myatt. They encourage human sacrifice as a part of rituals and several members have joined the police and the military to do this without getting caught. The ONA is linked to several rapes, murders, cases of child abuse, and right-wing terrorism. They are also connected to several neo-nazi terror organisations.

The Joy Of Satan - contrary to its name - ain’t joyful. It’s an Occultist group that combines Satanism, Paganism, and UFO conspiracy theories. Just like the ONA, they’re Nazis. They believe Satan is one of many demonic deities which are powerful humanoid extraterrestrial beings which are equated with ancient gods. They believe Satan created humanity and brought us knowledge.

Reactivism isn’t a form of Satanism that is followed by an organised group but rather practiced on a personal, isolated level. It is considered an anti-social means of rebelling in a society dominated by Christianity. Most reactive Satanists are adolescents, mentally-disturbed, and have taken part in criminal activity associated with Satanic rituals they discovered through personal learning.

For example, in the 1970s two groups of teenagers in LA and Big Sur killed 3 people and ate parts of their corpses as a part of rituals devoted to Satan. Plotted murder and cannibalism are common traits of reactive Satanist crimes.

The A-To-Z Of Devil Worship

Baphomet

A deity that the Knights Templar allegedly worshipped. It is associated with the Sabbatic Goat which represents the equilibrium of opposites (half-man and half-goat, male and female, good and evil).

Black Mass

It is traditionally known as a requiem mass (funeral mass) in the Roman Catholic church from which the celebrants wear black clothes. However, it has been appropriated by Satanic cults. It often involves a naked woman as an altar and is the site of various Satanic magical rituals.

Cutter vs Wilkinson

A Supreme Court case which claimed federal funds cannot deny prisoners accommodations that are needed to engage in religious practices. Five residents of an Ohio prison including a member of a white supremacist Christian church, a Wiccan, and a Satanist filed the suit, claiming the officials failed to accommodate their ‘nonmainstream’ religions.

Devil

The personification of evil which shows up in many different religions. It is Satan in Abrahamic texts.

Demon

A supernatural entity often associated with evil. The original Greek word - daimon - did not have negative connotations.

Demonology

The study of demons.

Demonolatry

The worship of demons.

Goats

Satanism is always associated with goats. But why? There are several reasons: Baphomet is half-man, half-goat; the ‘infernal goat’ is depicted in many witches’ sabbats; Pagan traditions involved horned gods Christian forces deemed devilish; and the tarot card depicting the devil is a goat. In 1966, the church of Satan adopted baphomet as the sigil.

Lucifer

The name of mythological and religious figures associated with Venus. It is associated in the Christian tradition with Satan as he supposedly fell from heaven. Often called ‘the morning star’ or described as ‘light bringing’.

Stanislaw Przybyszewski

The first guy to promote a Satanic philosophy.

What do you think?

Let me know in a comment below! And while you’re there, make sure you like and reblog this article.

Want to read an article on the paranormal every Saturday? And a real ghost story everyday/whenever I’m bothered? Hit follow!

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copadjacent · 3 years

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re-posting this bc tumblr’s update made the format wonky

current rp wishlist

- i really really want patrick to interact with a psychiatrist / therapist muse. either in lieu of his canonical psychiatrist shortly after his family is murdered or sometime after he joins the cbi. patrick doesn’t take therapy well and i think it would be interesting to write him trying to get into the therapist’s head as much as they’re trying to get into his… without the hostility.

- pre-series conman patrick! let him “”contact”” a muse’s dead loved one and take their money! let him use his psychic powers to dictate bizarre parts of your muse’s life! let him be a smooth-talking piece of garbage! who also loves his wife and daughter very dearly and shows you pictures in his wallet of his beautiful pride and joy. - amnesiac patrick who is kind of like conman patrick except he doesn’t know he was married and is extremely flirtatious because of it. life of the party patrick jane who will hold a séance for you, woo you into a seedy hotel, and then be gone in the morning with more money and valuables than you remember giving him. - i realize the people who are familiar with this series are few and far between, but a w man, curseworkers au patrick. he’s a memory worker, but instead of getting blowback that makes it hard to remember things, he gets blowback that makes it impossible for him to forget anything. sometimes that’s worse. - old west au patrick who works still as a professional psychic and sometimes something of a snake oil salesman. cashing in hard on the sudden interest in the occult and spiritualism during the 19th century. alternatively, old west au patrick who works like harry houdini, going around trying to debunk psychics and so on. - someone??? reminding patrick painfully a lot of angela and/or charlotte. - PATRICK WITH KIDS. LET HIM ADOPT YOUR CHILD IDC WHO THEY ARE. - i’m not sure how this would work but percy jackson au patrick who thinks he’s a child of hermes but plot twist his godly parent is actually aphrodite because he has charmspeak. - any excuse for a scary “do not get in my way” patrick jane who will break someone psychologically or otherwise if one of his friends gets hurt. - red john defeat canon divergence where someone has to try to talk patrick out of killing himself (because i really don’t think patrick intended on making it out alive when taking down red john; his relationship that had blossomed with teresa during canon at the time is one of the few things that saved him). - idk i kinda just want someone to get high with patrick. - patrick being prison cellmates with another muse. - anything with a young patrick jane who still works at the carnival as the “psychic boy wonder”. maybe your muse is also working at the carnival, maybe they’re a visitor, or maybe they’re a desperate soul that patrick and his dad are going to con. - college professor au. which i’ve talked about before here. but i wanna also say that in this verse, i’ve decided he’s probably some sort of criminology professor who specializes in mentalism. perhaps he also does a small literary class for the fun of it here and there, but it isn’t his focus. ANYWAY. he’s also lowkey trying to hunt down rj still in this verse, and occasionally does help the local police / cbi / whoever when possible. - i’d also really love to do more with jane during his period in the psych ward or immediately after, before he joins the cbi. i would say that it could be interesting to explore his time after his family’s murder but before his big breakdown, but... i feel like he’d just be kind of dead and not very interesting to write against. - on the flip side... i’d love to write him post-rj when he’s escaped to south america, living on the beach, trying to find his footing again. patrick working through all of his complex emotions, trying to find purpose again, and healing would be very nice. let him find his happiness again. or... at least let him find a reason to be a person again.

#suicide mention for ts #stories yet told [wishlist];

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musicfeedsmysoul12 · 5 years

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A Fox and a Guardian-Part 1

Originally this was one huge post but given I got caught up in work and didn’t finish, I decided to do this in smaller posts- this is my JayTim MariBat au!!! Hope you guys like!!!

When Marinette steps into her new home she nearly breaks down crying. She doesn’t. But just barely.

“Here are the keys Miss Fu.” The realtor smiles and hands her the set of keys to the house. She smiles and takes them.

“Thank you,” she tells the woman who leaves with a wave. Marinette already knows the story. Store on the bottom, three-bedroom apartment up top. Movers had already gone ahead and put her furniture in the house, along with her luggage except for the two bags she carried. She doesn’t need to know more.

It’s only when the woman is gone Marinette collapses.

She chokes out big heavy sobs, shoulders shaking as Tikki, Plagg and the others fly out to comfort her.

She’s finally safe. She’s safe. Oh god, she’s safe.

-0-

It all went to hell when they confronted Hawkmoth. He managed to get their Miraculous and use it for his wish.

He wanted his wife back.

Gabriel wanted his wife back.

He got his wish.

But he lost his son.

One second Chat was next to her- no not Chat, Adrien- alive and terrified, trying to get back the Miraculous from his own father. He knew as well as she did that they were dangerous in anyone’s hands.

One second he was alive, next to her. The next he was dead.

A life for a life.

While Emilie and Gabriel were screaming, yelling at one another, Marinette had snatched the Miraculous. All of them. And then she’d run.

Emilie never made an appearance. Gabriel claimed Marinette had murdered Adrien after he rejected her.

Paris believed it. And Marinette had no proof otherwise.

Her parents helped her run. Her parents knew everything and helped her flee. Jagged helped as well as she ran away from Paris, promises coming from her lips.

She kept running until she reached Tibet. Where only three Masters remained. The new time period wasn’t healthy for them. They had been old, diseases had mutated.

Only three. And they were dying.

She learned what she could, gained the vast fortune they had left to Fu now left to her. And then she’s made a new name for herself, a new identity.

She buried the last Masters and headed to America. Gotham to be exact. No one would expect her there in the criminal capital of America.

She had bought a building. A place to call her own, a place to work and be herself.

She had bought herself a sanctuary:

-0-

The new shop near the Bowery is a bit of a strange mix between an occult store and a bookstore. The owner is this Asian girl with a bright smile who wears flowered shirts- often Hawaiian tourist shirts- and soothing colours. She talks about crystals and chakras and karma with everyone who comes in. Her books are a strange collection but she knows a lot and is always willing to chat.

People who go in, feel calmer and happier, people who try to shake the place down find themselves with cards about job training or new thoughts- or they’re just beaten up. Women who struggle in relationships either find ways to fix things or find the courage to end it after talking to the owner who calls herself Mari.

The shop, The Black Bug, is an adorable place in Gotham.

-0-

Mari steps out on the balcony in her apartment, transformed using the Black Cat. She needs to run, needs to feel the magic of the Kwami in her as she runs across Gotham. Smiling, she takes off.

She runs across Gotham, feeling the air, feeling the rush of the world passing her by. She smiles as she lands on a rooftop, tears trickling in her eyes.

“I wish you were here Kitty,” she says to the ghosts of the past. She stands on the rooftop, staring at the smog-filled sky.

Noises make her turn her head to an alley, the former hero slinking over to study what was going on below her.

Batman and Robin are fighting some thugs it seemed. Marinette sighs, smiling. She remembers fighting street crime with Adrien. It was magical, the two working together.

She watches for a short time, sighing. About to leave, she stops when something in the back of her mind tugs her attention.

A little boy on the rooftop across from her, carrying a camera.

Look, whispers the voice in her head. A strong candidate for a Holder, a strong future Guardian.

Oh… oh… oh dear.

-0-

Tim Drake loves Batman and Robin. He has since he was a little boy and saw Dick Grayson fly. He loves Batman with a fever that few could match.

That being said, Tim isn’t unaware of other heroes around the world.

So when Lady Noire- as in Ladybug from Paris- drops down to sit next to him, he has a little, tiny… sorta huge freakout.

“Oh god…” he breathes and the woman grins.

“Well, looks like I have a fan.” she smiles at him, and honestly Tim has never felt so happy.

-0-

His name is Tim Drake and he’s just a little boy with neglectful parents who prefer their money and work to their son.

She sees a blonde with green eyes when she hears that.

She takes him on trips around the rooftops, trips always ending in food he loves and laughs about.

He talks about his cameras, shows her his pictures, admits his love of detectives and babbles all about heroes. Marinette sees herself when he speaks of that.

She makes sure to meet him daily, giving him advice on stalking Robin and Batman. Mostly Batman now, the two heroes arguing and fighting more. Tim is sad about it, so Marinette begins telling him stories about past Holders, sharing stories about Chat even that makes him laugh.

“You miss him, don’t you?” he asks her, one night while they’re drinking milkshakes and sitting on a rooftop.

“He was my partner- we were yin and yang. I never thought I’d lose him.” she tells him. He reaches out to hold her hand and she smiles at him, this little boy who reminds her of Adrien and herself.

One day, while he whines he couldn’t get good enough pictures of his heroes, she grins and holds out a box.

“Want to try something else out?”

-0-

A fox joins Lady Noire as the two run around Gotham, laughing and playing.

The Black Bug gains a cute little shop assistant who helps out the owner and has his own array of knowledge.

Jack and Janet Drake lose their son in a quiet custody battle that is very one-sided with the proof of their neglect. They let go when it’s pointed out how bad it could be to the company if it got out how they treated their son.

Marianne Fu and her son Tim Fu are very happy in a little shop in Gotham.

#maribat #ml au #part 1 #miraculous ladybug

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vfdarkness · 3 years

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AVFD Transcript: S2E01 Dying, Disappeared, and Dead

You’re in a crowded bar on a Friday night.

The lights flash off and in the darkness you see glowing red eyes staring at you from across the room.

When the lights switch back on, the eyes are gone.

The lights go out again, and now the bar is filled with glowing red eyes - all fixated on you.

You need my help.

[AVFD theme fades in]

This is A Voice From Darkness.

[AVFD theme fades out]

Hello, this is Dr. Malcolm Ryder, parapsychologist, coming to you from our studio here in the stormy, husky, brawling city of big shoulders— Chicago, Illinois. And speaking of Chicago, I’m happy to announce our show recently launched a Patreon. In our inaugural episode I answer a few questions about the Second City. So if you want to hear where I get pizza or know about the fabled Chicago bar, The Odd-Shaped Room, who’s doors will only open for you once please feel free to join us over at: Patreon.com/vfdarkness. That once again is Patreon.com/vfdarkness.

With that out of the way, we have a very special episode tonight. My sister, Amelia Ryder, Professor of Occult Studies at Ravenswood University will be on the line later. It’s been awhile since she’s appeared as a guest on the show, and as she recently returned from an expedition, I’m sure she has something interesting to share with us. More on that later though. For now, let’s delve into our National Alerts.

[NA music fades in]

There’s only one National Alert for tonight, and it’s for the Greenpoint Neighborhood of New York City. There’s a movie theatre at the corner of Driggs Avenue and Leonard Street called The Luminous Spirit. A film currently playing there, titled: We Are Always This Way, should be avoided at all costs. Last night it was shown for the first time in nearly thirty years.

Outside the theatre you’ll see a poster advertising the film - featuring a happy family all with blonde hair standing in a green field. Judging by the filmstock, color grading, and clothing the family wears - the movie appears to have been made sometime in the late 40s or early 50s.

We Are Always This Way opens with the camera panning across wide, grassy hills. A child whistles a cheerful tune. The song grows louder as the camera comes upon a blonde boy sitting on a tree stump, whistling, and whittling a stick with a small pocket knife. When the camera focuses on him, he stops. He places the stick next to him on the stump, neatly folds back the blade of his knife, and puts it in his pocket. He stares directly at the audience and asks everyone, one at a time, if they are happy.

The movie doesn’t continue, the boy seemingly waits, until everyone in the theatre verbally answers him. If an audience member responds they are not happy, the boy probes further. He’ll ask for the cause of their unhappiness. He asks: what would make them happy? Someone in a showing thirty years prior, a young woman, told the blonde boy she no longer loved her boyfriend. They lived together and she didn’t know how to tell him. The boy smiled at her and said, “That’s all right. I just want you to be happy!”

He continued to ask others in the crowd if they were happy. No one else responded that they were not. The blonde boy then walked off screen as the camera panned left. The rest of the blonde family from the film’s poster: a mother, father, an older sister with a guitar, and a brother and sister a little older than the whittling boy began to sing as the elder sister played guitar.

The song had the same cheerful melody the blonde boy whistled at the start of the film. Partway through the second chorus, the blonde boy walked back on screen and joined his family. There was blood on his hands. He said nothing of this and neither did his family. The film ends abruptly without the song coming to an end.

The woman who’d told the blonde boy she was unhappy in her relationship went back to her apartment that night and found her boyfriend dead. Stabbed dozens of times with a small blade. A partially whittled stick was found next to the body. I repeat - do not see the film We Are Always This Way at The Luminous Spirit in Greenpoint, New York City.

That is our only National Alert for this evening

[NA music fades out]

Next-up is Today In Odd America, and then we’ll be speaking to Professor Amelia Ryder about some of her recent research. The subject of which she’s kept hidden even from me. So we’ll be finding out what my sister has been up to together. But first…

[TIOA music fades in]

Today in Odd America we find ourselves in Granger, South Dakota. The year - 1991. Matthew Bast threw open the door of Baum’s Bazaar. The small town bar was crowded that night and when Bast made such a loud entrance people turned his way. Bast was a big man, tall and imposing. He spoke loudly and confidently on matters as if his word were law.

“I saw scarecrows on the way here,” Bast told the bar patrons. An old farmer laughed.

“Of course you did,” he said. “We have them all over our fields.” Bast eyed the farmer with contempt. He didn’t like when people laughed at him.

“I know you’ve got scarecrows in your fields,” Bast said. “I’m not simple. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the ones running around town.”

“People in costumes?” Someone yelled.

“Likely so,” Bast said. “Probably from the city. You know how they hate us.”

Sioux Falls was the nearest city, and some folks in Granger believed the nearby city folks looked down on them. No evidence for this belief was ever stated. But it was a belief many in the small town had— including Matthew Bast.

“Don’t worry,” Bast assured the crowd. He withdrew a pistol from a leg holster. “I scared them off. Chased them back to Sioux Falls.” Bast expected applause or for the bartender to shout that drinks were on the house. But that’s not the reception he got.

“Put that damn thing away,” the bartender said. Bast reluctantly obliged.

“Why would folks from Sioux Falls come all the way down here dressed as Scarecrows?” Someone asked. Bast made his way to them. There was a half-full pitcher of beer which Bast took and poured a generous amount of into an empty glass.

“They’re mocking us,” he said. “Our small town ways. Our lifestyle. You hear about these things all the time on the radio.”

“I never heard about any of that on the radio,” someone said.

“Cause you ain’t listening to the right frequencies,” Bast said. “Don’t worry. I do. I listen all the time. I know how this world works. These people from the city hate us. They hate themselves even more. And they can’t stand that we’re out here living a simple life, free and easy, nice and happy. So they figure they can come out here dressed in costumes meant to mock our farms and fields, and maybe make us scared of our rural ways.”

Most in the bar doubted Bast and ignored him. But a handful paid for his drinks, kept his glass full, and asked him to talk more about what he’d heard on the radio and more about these scarecrows from Sioux Falls.

A week went by and Bast claimed to have seen scarecrows around Granger doing various misdeeds. A fair number believed him on his word alone. Community patrols were started. Folks would roam the streets with guns openly displayed and stop vehicles they didn’t recognize. The Sheriff asked Bast and his posse to stand down. Said that what they were doing was unnecessary— and illegal. Bast disagreed.

A month later, all the shops on main street had their windows broken. Tires slashed on cars that’d been parked overnight on the street. Bast held an informal town meeting at Baum's Bazaar. He showed pictures he took of scarecrows doing all the destruction. Someone was quick to point out that all the scarecrows were about Bast’s height and build and were wearing the same outfit except for a different hat in each picture. The skeptic was escorted out of the bar.

“But what’s to be done?” Someone shouted. Bast didn’t answer right away. He took a long drink first.

“What Sioux Falls does to us, we gotta do tenfold to them,” he said. He was asked to elaborate on what he meant. And so he did: “These city slickers think we’re scared of scarecrows. Us country bumpkins believe they come alive at night and wander around. They believe we’re that stupid. We need to make them feel that way. Make them know we’ll never be scared of them, but they should be terrified of us.” The crowd cheered.

Bast laid out a plan— everyone present would dress as scarecrows. Not simple ones, but frightening and awful ones. Disgusting and hideous ones. They’d travel to Sioux Falls and do as much damage as they could. With pitchforks, scythes, and guns. They’d show the people of Sioux Falls they needed to fear the folk who lived out in the country.

The sky was black the following night. There was no moon. Bast met with all his followers in front of Baum's Bazaar. Though each used only simple material to make their costumes - old clothing that’d turned to rags, coarse twine, burlap sacks - each person appeared unique and haunting in their own ways. Some had stuffed themselves with hay to give extra girth. Others painted nightmarish eyes and smiles on their burlap faces.

They didn’t get far out of Granger. The Sheriff had blocked the road. Said he’d go easy on them all if they turned around and went back to their homes. Everyone could forget this whole thing. For a moment, the scarecrows considered the sheriff’s offer, thought maybe they were going too far based on too little information.

But a low static hiss rumbled from the sheriff’s radio. Bast tilted his head like a dog trying to make sense of human words. Then a high-pitched, unnatural squelch burst from the machine, causing it to explode. Bast laughed.

He stabbed The Sheriff through the torso with his pitchfork and carried the law man off to the side of the road. Bast threw The Sheriff onto the soil.

“Your radio,” Bast said to the dying man, “Your radio defies you. Says we ought to move on with our plan.”

“It’s just noise, Bast. Loud, angry noise,” The Sheriff said.

But Bast could no longer make sense of The Sheriff’s words. They were distorted to him like radio static. Bast stabbed The Sheriff through his throat to stop the noise he made.

The convoy continued down the road into Sioux Falls. Over the next several hours, tens of thousands of dollars of destruction was done to the city. Businesses were broken into, cars destroyed, citizens of Sioux Falls attacked. Some killed.

Several of the Granger Scarecrows were shot in the street— by law enforcement and by citizens. The rest though… As the sun rose in Sioux Falls, beams of light hit the scarecrows, hit the people of Granger that Bast had convinced to come with him on this mission, they all froze in place. Stranger still, law enforcement found no evidence that these scarecrows were costumes with living, breathing people inside, but were simply sacks filled with hay. No different than any other scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield. Some speculated this was a trick Bast and his followers played. That they’d left behind actual scarecrows after they ran away from the city. But Bast and his group were nowhere to be found back in Granger.

The scarecrows were placed in an evidence locker until something further could be determined about what happened to Bast and the others from Granger.

A month later, when the night sky was without moon, the scarecrows disappeared from police storage.

Ever since that night, across the country, cities have reported invasions of scarecrows. Ones that attack on dark, moonless nights and disappear before the first beam of sunlight. Know this though, a warning sign always precedes them. On the night of a new moon, turn your radio on and tune it to empty static. If it squelches. If it makes inhuman, angry noises, then you should prepare yourselves. Your city is in danger that night. But do not listen too long to the radio signal you find… or it may convince you to join Bast and his cohorts. Listen too long and no human words will be able to talk you out of it.

This has been Today In Odd America. And now back to our main show.

ACT II

TIOA music fades out.

RYDER

And we're back. My sister Professor Amelia Ryder at Ravenswood University is on the line with us.

AMELIA

Hello, Malcolm. It's been awhile since you've had me on your show.

RYDER

The last time you were on things got a bit heated.

AMELIA

The time before that too, from what I recall.

RYDER

You put forward The Three Twins Conjecture. It's one of the least credible theories of supernatural metaphysics.

AMELIA

(defensive)

I didn't put it forward. I merely stated that it was possible.

RYDER

Possible, but no serious scholar holds that view.

AMELIA

There was one very serious scholar who held that view, but he's dead now.

RYDER

There's no reason to bring up Duncan, Amelia.

AMELIA

It's partly why I came on your show tonight, actually.

A beat.

AMELIA

I went back to the lake house.

RYDER

That's incredibly reckless.

Malcolm takes a breath.

RYDER

For listeners' context, the lake house in question is The Holloway Lakehouse. A ridiculous estate built during the gilded age once occupied during the summers by Nicholas and Zelda Holloway before their tragic deaths. Along with their children Julian...

AMELIA

And Miranda.

RYDER

You went looking for her?

AMELIA

I had to.

RYDER

I strongly disagree.

AMELIA

If Julian's back-

RYDER

(interrupts)

That means nothing. His return in no way means she has returned. That she can return. Amelia, I'm sorry, but-

AMELIA

(interrupts)

You don't get to decide when, and if, I move on.

A beat.

AMELIA

If she's gone, truly gone, then where's her body? And why can't you tell me what happened that night?

RYDER

Amelia, we've been over this a thousand times-

AMELIA

(interrupts)

And never once have you been able to answer my questions.

Malcolm sighs.

RYDER

This is not something I wanted to talk about publically.

AMELIA

Then you should have answered my questions better privately.

RYDER

I've told you everything I remember about that night.

AMELIA

You've told me everything except what I need to know: Where is Miranda?

A beat.

RYDER

I don't remember. I'm sorry that's not enough, but-

AMELIA

(interrupts)

If you two hadn't conspired against me she would-

RYDER

(interrupts)

Conspired against you? We protected you because of how much we care about you.

A beat.

RYDER

If we're having this conversation, and we are, then I at least want to make sure anyone listening can follow what we're saying. That they understand why I did what I did.

AMELIA

Say whatever you need.

RYDER

Over a decade ago The Traveling Salesman was destroying towns across the country. People were disappearing in numbers and ways they never had before. He had to be dealt with before he brought this country to ruin.

AMELIA

Grandpa Duncan called us all together. All to the island.

RYDER

He did. At his request, the best scholars at Ravenswood searched for anything that might stop Julian. Charlotte Price, the most powerful oneironaut of our generation, convinced those like her, with a supernatural gift who'd been trained at Ravenswood, to join the cause.

AMELIA

I was at that initial meeting of "The Ravenswood Conspiracy" or whatever Grandpa Duncan labeled it. And several after. I thought I was part of the conspiracy...

RYDER

You were a vital part.

AMELIA

Five months after that first meeting, I had a nightmare. I was in bed, and Miranda appeared before me out of nowhere. Holding herself. She was soaked in blood. And in terrible pain. I asked her what was wrong. She looked at me and said: "Malcolm. Lake house." After those words, she vanished.

A beat.

AMELIA

I tried calling you. You didn't answer. I tried Miranda. I wanted to see if I'd just had a bad dream. She didn't answer. I tried Grandpa Duncan. No answer. Dying, disappeared, and dead.

That's what you all were. I didn't know it at the time, but you were bleeding to death at the lake house, Miranda had vanished, and Grandpa Duncan was already dead.

RYDER

Amelia, I'm sorry. I know that night was traumatic. But I feel you-

AMELIA

(interrupts)

I found you in a pool of your own blood, the life drained from your face. Next to the corpse of our grandfather, who'd practically raised me. And spread throughout the rest of the estate were a dozen more bodies. People from the university I knew and loved like family. You brought them, you brought Miranda, all there to die that night. But you didn't bring me.

RYDER

Because we wanted you to survive. Miranda and I made that call together. You, Charlotte, and a handful of others had to be excluded from the confrontation at the lake house in case we failed. Charlotte knew our plan. She would have-

AMELIA

(interrupts)

-What? Helped me bury you?

RYDER

Four people fell dead the moment Julian materialized. Two more were dead with the wave of his hand. Duncan shot him once with the revolver used to kill the Veiled Prince of Saint Louis. If it could kill one dark and immortal being- why not another? But Duncan only grazed him. Barely caused Julian to flinch. Duncan was dead before he could take a second shot. If you'd been there, you would have been killed too.

Both of us would be dead now. There's no alternative to that reality.

AMELIA

(confused)

There were three bullets fired from the revolver. And it was in your hand. I know. I took it from you. I still carry it with me in case I ever see Julian.

RYDER

Julian slammed me against the wall. Broke my ribs. Punctured one of my lungs. But he threw me next to Duncan's body. I grabbed the revolver. As Julian came close, to kill me, I fired. That's all I remember. I woke up three days later in a hospital with you next to me. Amelia, I've told you all this before. Dozens of times. Miranda's role in that night was to lure Julian there and then perform a ritual to trap him. To bind him so he couldn't travel away. In the chaos of it all, I have no idea what happened to her.

AMELIA

I just need to know... If Julian's back... if she's out there somewhere, and I'm not looking for her... what does that say about how much I love her if I don't look for her?

RYDER

Did I tell you what I did a year ago on June 8th? I'm not sure that I did.

AMELIA

June 8th?

A beat.

AMELIA

Your 603 day. I'm sorry, I almost forgot.

RYDER

It's all right. I don't like to talk about it. But a year ago, I read a rumor online. A single forum post with no corroboration saying that if you went to the border of New Hampshire, spent the night there when you'd normally receive your 603 call... you'd dream of the person you're missing.

A beat.

AMELIA

Did you dream of her?

RYDER

I did. But I don't know if I spoke to her in a dream. Or if only dreamed of speaking to her. But that's not even the point of sharing this. I meant to say is, I understand why you have to keep looking. I support you. Just please don't go back to the lakehouse. At least not alone.

AMELIA

I don't have any intentions to. Nothing had changed. I don't think anyone has been there in years. Possibly since that night. But I won't stop looking for Miranda. If Julian's back, she has to be.

RYDER

And I hope you find her.

A beat.

RYDER

Well that was not what I expected us to get into tonight. Before we go, do you have any final words?

AMELIA

Miranda, if you can hear this... please know that I love you. I don't know where you are, but I'll do everything I can to find you.

RYDER

And we'll end things there. Next time, if you're experiencing any supernatural, paranormal, or otherworldly problems be sure to call in, next time on: A Voice From Darkness.

AVFD OUTRO THEME

#a voice from darkness

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hlcreators · 4 years

Photo

AUTHOR REC: mediawhore / @mediawhorefics

Be sure to show some love and leave kudos and a comment!

The Murmur of Yearning (93k)

Four years ago, Harry Styles was forced into a marriage of convenience to enrich and ally both his and his promised's families. The sudden, and slightly suspicious, death of the Marquess of Haxshire, however, brings great disturbance to Crescentfield Hall and, as his late's husband's closest male relative, Harry unexpectedly finds himself the head of a family he never felt he belonged to. Between a meddling distant cousin hellbent on inserting himself in Harry’s life, his wicked and mistrustful mother-in-law and his late husband’s advisors refusing to help or take him seriously, Harry struggles in the fight to keep what he’s earned and make the Estate finally feel like home.

Luckily, he doesn’t stand completely alone and finds himself an unlikely ally in Mr Tomlinson, the elusive Land Stewart who has been taking care of the property in the shadows for years. Louis Tomlinson is caring, patient, and unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to think Harry committed a murder.

‘Sup (6.7k)

Gemma really wants her little brother to sign up for a dating app and get back in the game after a messy divorce. Harry thinks he’s way too old to swipe. They compromise to devastatingly embarrassing results.

Meanwhile, all Louis wants is to finish the play he’s been commissioned to write, but one of the regulars at his local coffee shop keeps distracting him.

ft. older larry, pushy gemma, harry being a disaster gay and silver fox louis.

Tired Tired Sea (113k)

As a B&B owner on the most remote of all the British Isles, Louis Tomlinson is used to spending the coldest half of the year in complete isolation, with his dog and the sea as sole companions. Until, one day, a mysterious stranger on a quest to rebuild himself rents a room for the winter.

The Blood of Words (33.7k)

Louis Tomlinson hasn’t sworn off relationships per se. He just doesn’t think he’s quite ready for one yet, despite his therapist’s encouragements. He’s comfortable in his position as editor for Styles Publishing and he’s happy to focus on his career while he gives himself more time to heal.

Enter his CEO’s brother, a boxer with a heart of gold who is determined to carve himself a space in Louis’ life and, more importantly, his heart.

Peace In Your Arms (1.5k)

The happily ever after ... Or a series of TEC codas

the dead things we carry (25k)

September ‘49 He hasn’t seen him since that day in France, that horrible muddy day where for one terrifyingly long second, Louis really thought he was going to die. He winces with the phantom pain, the hand not holding his cane going to his stomach automatically, remembering the franticness, the tenderness, of Harry’s hands while Louis was bleeding out.

This is the man who saved Louis’ life.

For one second, Louis fears Harry won’t recognise him, but his eyes widen when he turns to his left and they meet Louis’. He takes a step forward, reaching for him with a shaky hand before stopping himself.

“Louis,’ Harry says with a shudder and Louis doesn’t think his name has ever carried more weight.

This is the only man Louis ever thought about kissing for real.

“Oh,” Mrs. Padley says, clearly taken aback. “You two know each other?”

There are some things people never fully come home from. Until, one day, if they’re lucky, home comes to them.

Things Gone Cold (24k)

"your heart is warm for things gone cold.”— Sophocles, Antigone

With his soulmate’s thoughts about him written on his skin and the world’s eyes trailing his every movement, Harry Styles is having a bit of a rough time releasing his second album in peace. And that’s not even counting the breakup. Or the car crash.

Through Eerie Chaos (102k)

For as long as anyone can remember, Old Hillsbridge Manor has always been believed to be haunted. Everyone in the village agrees and keeps a respectful, fearful, distance. New in town after a bad breakup and an internship that led to disappointment rather than a permanent job, Harry Styles figures taking pictures of the decrepit building could be a great new creative project. Or at least a much-needed distraction while he searches for a job and crashes at his parents’ new house. No one warned him about the apparitions though; about the music, the laughter, the people who flicker and vanish when you call after them, the echoes of a past that should be long gone… Harry has never believed in spirits but even he can admit that there’s something weird going on. What starts as mere curiosity evolves into a full-blown investigation and soon enough, Harry finds himself making friends with an aristocrat from the 1920s and struggling with finding the best way to tell him that he’s dead.

The Ghost Hunter AU where Niall lives to prove ghosts are real, Zayn is a skeptical librarian and Harry gets caught up in a century-old mystery and catches feeling in the process.

Sleep It Off (844)

I've felt better ! Hello 2017 !!

What do you mean he’s coming? (15k)

When Harry accepted to be his sister’s Maid of Honour, despite how non-traditional of a choice he was, he didn’t think writing a speech for the wedding reception would be this hard. Now, not only does he have less than two weeks left to find something moving and inspirational to say, but Gemma just confided in him that her old childhood best friend is going to be in attendance. The one who moved to LA and they haven’t seen in fifteen years because he was too busy becoming an Academy Awards winner. But hey, no pressure. It’s just Louis Fucking Tomlinson.

Harry is screwed.

a fully armed battalion (to remind you of my love) (5.6k)

“He was flirting with you by the way,” Niall says casually once he’s finished saying goodbye to Louis and he’s joined Harry outside.

“No he wasn’t,” Harry replies automatically, feeling his heart clench at the thought. Was he?

Niall simply raises a mocking eyebrow in response before wrapping his scarf twice around his neck.

“Not that it matters!” Harry says quickly, eyes widening. “I wouldn’t care even if he did because he’s awful and the worst.”

Everyone at Hogwarts knows that Professor Styles and Professor Tomlinson absolutely despise each other. It's too bad that they're in love.

Coax the Cold (86k)

England, 1897.

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

All These Lights (34.8k)

“People vote for alphas because they’re strong and they’re not only beautiful but also mesmerizing. They make you want to give them all of your attention, make you want to beg for some of theirs back. They’re shiny, oozing sex appeal and a commanding presence, and people always want more and more. Omegas are enticing too for sure, but it’s not the same. It makes people uncomfortable. It doesn’t make them want to root for you.”

the canon fic where Harry is an omega and dreams come with a price.

wash him deep where the tides are turning (3.7k)

"When Harry finally tells Louis about his family’s curse and the true love spell that broke it, they’ve been dating for seven months, nineteen days and about twelve hours and Louis’ cock is buried deep inside his arse."

Part two of a practical magic au.

a long way down (to the bottom of the river) (24k)

“ Most people would call Harry silly for believing in curses. Childish would also be a probable insult thrown his way. In their little town full of little people, Harry’s whimsical nature and beliefs mean that he’s subjected to frequent judgemental looks and whispers. It doesn’t usually bother him. Most people don’t know about the magic thrumming through his veins or about how powerful words can truly be. Most people don’t carry around their ancestors grief like a burden. They don’t have to pay for deeds hundreds of years old like Harry and his family have. They get to love freely without fear.

Harry and his kin aren’t so lucky.”

a practical magic au in which Harry and his sister accidentally kill her abusive boyfriend with magic and Louis is the D.I working the case.

loose lips sink ship all the damn time (not this time) (39k)

“Louis Tomlinson is gay,” Fiona announces and she sounds calm at least. “That’s not a scandal,” Nick replies automatically even though he feels slightly sick. He needs to call Louis back. Now. “No,” Fiona agrees quickly. “But his underage gay sex tape is.” The one where Louis is outed via a sex tape he made before the X-Factor and Nick can't resist flying to America to give him a shoulder to cry on. Told through flashbacks, this is a story of getting together and getting back together.

all that i’ll ever need is in your eyes (4.2k)

Louis has known he's going to marry Harry Styles since he was eighteen years old. Five years later, he has the perfect proposal planned. Too bad he can't help blurting it out while they're detained at the mall.

hi hater, kiss kiss (3.8k)

Nick has had a crush on Louis Tomlinson ever since he first saw him perform on the x-factor. Almost four years later, he's finally accepted that their ongoing, unstoppable feud is the only thing the two of them will ever share. One game of Call or Delete with Niall Horan, however, starts to shake this belief.

your bones illuminate (5.4k)

High School AU Snapshots of Harry and Louis' relationship through their last year of sixth form. Warning: There is no plot. Only fluff.

the last people standing (at the end of the night) (7.4k)

Sequel to the greatest pretenders (in the cold morning light)

A year after his undercover assignment ended, Louis should finally feel at peace. With Cowell & Co finally dead or behind bars, his life is more simple than ever. It's too bad his feelings can't be buried as deep as the people he's lost.

An undercover cops AU

you think fashion is your friend, my friend (fashion is danger) (27k)

"Louis has one rule, and one rule only, that he simply refuses to break. He forbids himself to be attracted to anyone he might work with. No wanking to models who might wear his clothes! It’s hardly fair, considering he spends 95% of his time working with the most attractive men on the planet, but his career is more important. Besides, in Louis’ experience, it always leads to disaster. Harry Styles makes respecting the rule really damn hard though and Louis is not quite sure why."

the one where Louis is a famous British designer and Harry is the clumsy, most likely straight model that makes his heart race.

the greatest pretenders (in the cold morning light) (41.5k)

undercover cops/the departed au

Louis and Nick are on two different sides of the law and mobster Simon Cowell is not the only person they have in common. The one where Louis is an undercover cop and Harry is the court-ordered shrink who refuses to prescribe him Valium.

#writer appreciation week #1dsource #hljournal #fics #author rec

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thebeatleaesthetic · 4 years

Photo

What is possibly the last pictures of John Lennon with Kyoko Chan Cox, Yoko Ono’s daughter from her second marriage with Tony Cox. This would’ve been April 1971 in Majorca, Spain.

After Yoko and Tony’s divorce, neither won sole custody. Yet Cox became increasingly reluctant to let Yoko and her new husband spend time with Kyoko, and finally refused to permit it at all. For a year before the Lennons came to America, they had been chasing Mr. Cox and Kyoko around Europe. In Majorca, Spain, the Lennons caught up with them and spirited Kyoko off to their hotel; but Mr. Cox called the police, and a Spanish court gave the child back to him. The incident added to his fear that the Lennons wanted to take her away from him for good. After their failed visit to Majorca, Yoko was awarded permanent custody by the United States Virgin Islands court. But, the legal battle would go on as Tony joined a religious cult known as The Walk and refused to reveal Kyoko’s location or allow Yoko and John to visit. Kyoko was also taught by Tony that she was rescued from her mother, who “was involved in drugs and the occult” and “stood for corruption”. Yoko and John continued searching for Kyoko for much of the 1970s. Kyoko wouldn’t reunite with her mother until 1998.

[From the 1980 Playboy Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono:]

ONO: "I lost Kyoko when she was about five...”

PLAYBOY: "What happened when she was five?"

ONO: "John and I got together and I separated from my ex-husband." (Tony Cox) "He took Kyoko away. It became a case of parent kidnapping and we tried to get her back..."

LENNON: "...We chased him all over the world. God knows where he went. So if you're reading this, Tony, let's grow up about it. It's gone. We don't want to chase you anymore, because we've done enough damage... It was like we were after an escaped convict..."

ONO: "...She is totally frightened. There was a time in Spain when a lawyer and John thought that we should kidnap her."

LENNON: (sighing) "I was just going to commit hara-kiri first."

ONO: "And we did kidnap her and went to court. The court did a very sensible thing... the judge took her into a room and asked her which one of us she wanted to go with. Of course, she said Tony. We had scared her to death."

#I believe this is him carrying her to the police station because from reports he carried her in his arms when Tony called the cops.#john lennon #yoko ono #kyoko cox #anthony cox #music history #1971 #spain #1970s #photos

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fragenherrdoktor · 4 years

Text

Dok's backstory relating to this ask.

In the prototype manga Doc's Story, we see someone who looks like a younger Hellsing Doktor. He's working on developing a weapon that turns out to be a sexy catgirl. Some fans take this as the crux for both the Doktor's backstory and Schrödinger's creation.

I don't because one, Dok's prototype gets shot and dies, and two it implies that Hitler and the Catgirl are Schrödinger's parents via rape. I don't enjoy either Coyote or Doc's Story, at all. Most of Hirano's earlier hentai works aren't a pleasant reading experience, in my opinion.

Considering one of his aliases is the Grand Professor, and he's such a sadistic 'yes man' on top of all his awful medical works, I pull more of his backstory from the life and actions of Joseph Mengele.

Keeping in line with this likeness, I imagine Dok was born in a small village in Bavaria to an enterprising family that developed farming equipment.

He seems a little older than the Major, so Dok likely was born around the 1910s, making him in his mid to late 30s by the end of WW2.

He was probably incredibly academically ambitious, given that the man seems to create most of the technology that makes Millennium function. His title is a direct reference to the Herr Doktor troupe. He's such a mad scientist; one can speculate that he studied a ridiculous amount of subjects (anthropology, medicine, genetics, virology, engineering, etc.) and likely started a career as a researcher before joining the party.

Since both Major and Dok are the worst type of otakus, he's deeply into esoteric thought and probably takes occult teachings as fact. I imagine he was a Thule Society member.

His studying of Mina Harker's corpse mirrors how the original protagonists in Dracula study the supernatural to defeat the Count. Dok's goals, considering his rant to Walter at the end, are directed toward trying to surpass Alucard and create something indistinguishable from a miracle. His breakdown highlights his massive god-complex and that he wants something different out of the events of Hellsing than the Major. This makes me believe that neither Dok or the Major is ever 100% open about their true end goals to the rest of Millennium or even each other. They are both incredibly self-serving.

I doubt he was ever that well-liked, even within the party. Probably one of the reasons he's so ambitious and got into medicine was to understand his genetic anomaly (Syndactyly). I don’t think that would have earned him much fondness from anyone but the Major, who seems to enjoy/not mind unorthodox people if they serve his needs. Dok is more than willing to be of service and lends his expertise to the Major, given how devoted Dok seems to him for the majority of Hellsing.

I imagine he was probably married at some point since you sort of had to be to rise up the ranks. His wife likely divorced him when he fled to South America with Millennium, if not prior, during the war (or died under mysterious circumstances).

I don't think Avondale Napyeer is his real name and was something he picked to hide his identity.

If the party had never risen to power, Dok would have still been an uptight jerk who enjoys the suffering of others. None of the Millennium cast could ever be considered 'nice' people, just like Mengele, given this quote from a former inmate physician, "In ordinary times, Mengele could have been a slightly sadistic German professor." Even if events unfolded differently, Dok would have been that dreaded nightmare professor in college.

#Hellsing #The Doktor #Herr Doktor #Hellsing Ultimate #Hellsing manga #alaysis #headcanon #nazi tw #Thanks for your patience #still got a few more to get through #asks #westenra1897 #long post #millennium

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thcmasdcherty · 4 years

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— ❝ 𝖜𝖊'𝖗𝖊 𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊

hello everyone, ty for taking the time to read this request. i’m looking for two people that are/will be important in the life of jasmine nolastnameyet (elizabeth gillies). both being important in the plot i want to write with her so both would be appreciated! if interested, pls dm me on discord (feral catra#3066)

tw: death & murder, blood, sexual themes & cheating

husband // mid-late 20s // human the first is jasmine’s husband. some background on these two: jasmine is an ex child actor from LA. still managing to make it work in the industry, despite all the odds being against her. her husband is an actor from las vegas, joining the scene as the teenage heart throb. he was The White Boy Of The Month (not that he has to be white, but just so you understand the vibe here). they never acted together but they got together and quickly became the Hollywood It couple. the fans loved them. everyone was rooting for them.

the problem is, they got married far too quickly — such be the life of a celebrity. while at first they were stuck in the honeymoon frame of mind, as soon as that was gone, so was their spark. the two stuck together though, mostly because they weren’t sure what else they would do. sure, they’re not really in love anymore, but they support each other. it’s not friendship, it’s something else, and they can’t let each other go.

but these two aren’t good people. this is where i would like to pick up the plot within the rp. having moved back to las vegas in the past year, husband starts to... look into the occult. he feels his career is starting to slow, and greed and envy pushes him to turning to other means to bag himself a new role in the next big blockbuster franchise. he and jasmine start to mess with things they don’t understand, going to the wrong places, messing with the wrong people.

and one night it goes horribly wrong, as they piss off exactly the wrong person. husband watches as jasmine is ‘murdered’ right in front of him. he returns home, suddenly filled with guilt and panic, knowing that his very famous wife is now dead and he isn’t sure how he can explain this away. sure, america hates the supernatural, but he’s right at the heart of this and it will not look good for him.

a couple of days go by, him shaken up and drinking heavily, when he hears some movement within the large mansion. he makes his way downstairs, and what does he find? oh, but his late wife, confused and lightheaded with blood covering her mouth and front...

sire // open age // vampire that’s right folks, jasmine of course is not going to die — but i would love the vampire that’s going to sire her. see, when she ‘dies’ (however that may be) it isn’t actually explicit. sure there will be a lot of blood but she won’t get there... yet, anyway. she probably would die if this lovely vampire doesn’t bother saving her, but thankfully we can all rest easy because he does !!

he’s very different from her husband, and with the sire connection, she’s going to be drawn to him in ways she doesn’t want to be. i suspect he helps feed her in the first couple of days before letting her run back home, but he’ll step in to help show her the ways of the vampires. and she’ll keep going back to him, unable to deny that draw. it’s going to be angsty, it’s going to be sexy, and she’s gonna feel bad about cheating on her husband — but they fell out of love ages ago, right??

both players are very important to the plot i want to write so i will feel like jasmine is unable to move forward until i have both around, so please if you’re even a little interested and want to inquire about the plot or the characters, dm me on discord at feral catra#3066. i’m so excited for this and i hope you would be too!!

xoxo, gossip girl teddy

#cruelrp

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hellofriend · 4 years

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THE HISTORY OF RABBIT #19/EMIKO KOBAYASHI 小林恵美子

(Yes long overdue but just roll with it)

February 25th 2004

Emiko gets found in the wreckage of a plane crash

Is found under the body of a well known CEO of Tatsumi Company & Co.

Possibly was being protected by him

Deemed as the only survivor of the plane crash

Doesn't remember who her birth parents are and her previous life before the crash

She doesn't even remember her name

Gets named by the rescuers Emiko (恵美子) because she must have been blessed to have survived the crash

No one comes to claim Emiko for months and is deemed an orphan

She spends almost year after that crash in an orphanage

Adoption

Gets adopted on Christmas week by the widower of the late CEO and receives the last name Kobayashi (小林)

Becomes the older sister of the late CEO's daughter Shiki who is at the time just almost a year old baby

Honestly just adopted to help her mom cope with her late husband's death by protecting the thing he gave his life to protect- this small 4 year old girl

Immediately gets bathed and fed as soon as she steps into her new home

For that week she gets pampered by nannies and opens a ton of presents on Christmas day

The New Years Eve party is when she first gets introduced to the world as part of the Kobayashi family

Then things go downhill

Childhood

Doesn't get that much attention from her mom anymore after that

Is put into learning stuff kids her age wouldn't be learning and then at the end of the week getting tested on that

Is also never let out unless it's to show the public how "nice" her family is and to strengthen her mom's relations with other companies

As Shiki gets older she joins her in that routine

Both of them get close to one another as time goes on and both want their mom's attention

Emiko gets it by being more studious

Shiki by being more troublesome and involving her sister in most of her schemes

Shiki and Emiko wish to go out on their own but mom is too protective and just makes them so attached to her for safety Emiko forms separation anxiety from her

Mom tries to combat the anxiety by bringing her and her sister to more events with her to making her socialize and making her learn talents she can show at events but it just makes it worse

Eventually just teaches Emiko to mask her Anxiety with a serious no nonsense attitude persona

Their mom grants Shiki to go to boarding school alone and outside the country in 5th grade as long as her grades are decent

Emiko is not for this reason

"Your younger sister is to be the future owner of this company and has no choice but to be seen, you on the other hand don't. This is to protect you, not to trap you."

Honestly fucks her up a little but hey guess their mom's way of showing that she cares so

Honestly gets kind of lonely without Shiki there but hey she comes back on holiday breaks so they usually spend all their time together

Eventually Shiki teaches Emiko of gambling and she becomes way good at that

Honestly gets taught a lot of cool things from her sister on holiday breaks

She kind of wishes she could get out too but is too scared after being so attached to her mom after so long

Leaving home

Eventually gets the courage to ask her mom to let her go to college in America after Shiki has a talk with her on how she can't just stay with her mom forever

After lots of arguing and a little help from Shiki her mom lets her finally be free and study in the States

Emiko leaves Japan to study at a university in the US

B.P.T. = Before Phoenix Trials

FREEDOM FUCK YEAH NO MORE PRESSURE FROM MOM

Apartment may be a little small and cheap... And no air conditioning... BUT IT'S A START

Honestly the adrenaline of being free is everything

But then there's going to classes and not being able to drive

And then there's just having no friends due to her being so quiet and shy

I mean there is that one weird guy that's into the occult and really smart at math but...

And yeah she gets allowance from her mom every month to pay for groceries and rent but...

....

Yeah she needs more independence

Is trying to get a job and applying to lots of places

Tries to be more social but fails due to anxiety and scaring people away

Eventually all hope is lost in trying to get new friends

Then boom youtube video promoting something like idk a fun little puzzle hunt with codes and stuff

And theres a form!

Wow turns out there's this chat thing you'll have to be in too! Yay a way to get friends!

I mean, never worked with codes and stuff before but it seems cool!

Signs the fuck up and is just yay friends!

Oh sweet baby angel no

TRIAL TIME~

Yay she's in! She's happy she can't wait to get to see some people and stuff

OH COOL THE FUCKING CHATS ARE OPEN

Wait what the fuck

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN DIE?!?

Honestly panics a lot after this and doesn't know what to do now

Really scared but eventually is like

NO I'M NOT DYING I'M SURVIVING THIS NO MATTER WHAT FORGET THIS

Immediately searches up stuff on habbit and stuff

Spends so much time on trials to be certain she's not eliminated

Gets really attached to people in her warren Gets really attached to people in her warren???

Welp oops

Hey she wanted to have friends and she got some

But hey she gets way close to this 1 person

Ooo and they live close

And I flirted with them oh shit

DAMMIT I FUCKING LIKE THEM AND ARE DATING THEM HOW AM I GONNA TELL THIS TO MOM

Eventually is just disappointed at herself for getting close cause dude most of these people are dying fuck

Then a fucking surprise visit from mom and Shiki

Force her to move somewhere else

It's way more fancier and has air conditioning but she really liked her old apartment T~T

FINALLY GETS A JOB BECAUSE MOM PULLED SOME STRINGS WOO

BUT TRIALS

THERE'S ANOTHER RICH PERSON HERE?!?

YAY RICH BUDS

Wow this hiatus on the trials is really long... getting kind of scary

20 NO

Omg this is the worst thing ever

Silence forever in the chat but hey she gets to meet 18 and some of the other rabbits and everything is fine now so we're safe!

YAY!!!

THE END

#this is long overdue #but hey I just remembered this and decided to finally finish it and post it #even if there's no hype for tpp7 now T-T #whatever!#tpp7 #god I miss this character

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hadit93 · 4 years

Text

AA, Thelema, Crowley, and OTO.

This post can also be read here.

The title of this post refers to the order of importance which I ascribe to the various aspects of the Modern Thelemic movement. It is my intention to briefly define what all these things are and describe where they reside in the modern Thelemic movement. Why the first two are more important than the last two even thought the last two are often placed upon a pedestal above the first.

The term AA has become synonymous with various outer order mundane spiritual groups which offer teaching and testing in the system of magic and yoga laid down by Crowley. AA is often stated to stand for Argentium Astrum or Astron Argon. Either way it is said to refer to the order of the Silver Star. This is all well and good when Crowley was alive and there was a single order, however, now everyone and their creepy uncle claims to be the head of a lineage or indeed the ‘one true AA’ and things get messy. The truth is there are many lineages which claim to be in touch with the AA and members of the AA which add others to the chain so that they too may know the AA. No human being is the head of the AA, not even Crowley was head of the AA.

The reason for this is that the AA proper is not a terrestrial organisation of occultists. It is a spiritual order which exists outside of time and space and it ‘run’ or influenced and delivered by beings which the Western Mystery Tradition calls ‘Secret Chiefs’. I won’t pretend to know what these beings are or shove a dogma down your throat, however, I would assert they are not people like your neighbour next door. They are definitely spiritual in nature.

The AA has existed since time began and will continue to exist when humans dwindle. Their mode of teaching differs and Thelema is but one mode of teaching which they have selected for mankind. At least, this is the narrative which Crowley taught. The AA were also responsible for the mystery cults of Greece, for Christianity and Islam, for Judaism, for every single spiritual movement on the planet. The AA is made up of those beings people would calls Gods, Ascended Masters, Secret Chiefs. It is a collection of spiritual ideas which influences the tides of humankind. All true spiritual gnosis arises from the spiritual AA, the mundane AA is but one outer vehicle of that spiritual order.

The AA in terms of terrestrial lineages is the third order, the order beyond the abyss in the city of the Pyramids which Magister Templi and beyond inhabit. I won’t say more on that because I am sorely unqualified to do so.

Thelema.

As touched upon above, Thelema is but one vehicle for the AA. It arose from the AA, however, it does not mean it is the totality of the AA. Thelema is the method of spiritual attainment which Thelemites believe is the norm or the most productive in the New Aeon. The times have changed and with it the formulae of initiation. Thelema was not created by Crowley, there have been echoes of Thelema for centuries. Crowley simply wrote a lot down and did a lot of work and developed an updated system.

People scoff at this idea, but the truth is Thelema has touched and inspired most of the modern occult movements which are still active. Wicca is effectively the watered down grand baby of Traditional Witchcraft and Thelema. When you look at most Western societies you can see more and more Thelemic principles being normalised. Free speech, equality for all, love, light, life, and liberty. You may not have picked up a Crowley book or even know who Ra-Hoor-Khuit is, but if you are living to the true expression of yourself and seek to be in line with the universe you are for all intents and purposes a Thelemite.

Thelema needn’t refer to the religion which modern practitioners have tried to force it into. It was never meant to be that, Crowley didn’t want that. But people have attempted to make it so and it is a bastardisation of what Thelema was meant to be. Crowley was not a man to be revered, yet revered he is. Crowley wrote it all down, he wanted people to forge their own paths, find their own mysteries to solve, to be true Thelemites and follow THEIR Will. What has come out of 1970s America has been a disappointment which he foresaw on his death bed. The current Caliph OTO has bastardised Thelema and I fear there is no turning back.

Thelema is bigger than Crowley. It is bigger than modern day Thelemites. It is bigger than a religion or a philosophy. It is a current which extends from the AA for all humanity not just some weird occultist drawing geometric shapes in their mothers basement. You can be a Thelemite and never practice yoga or magic in your life. You can be a Thelemite and practice a spiritualised form of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism. So long as you strive to find your purpose and accomplish it, limiting your restrictions- both internal and external as you do so, you are a Thelemite. At least in my non-dogmatic eyes.

Crowley.

I can’t cover the man that is Crowley in a few simple paragraphs. Books have been written and a couple of them are good. Don’t google him, don’t watch documentaries, the rumours and lies have been presented as truths and it has perverted the truth. He was an arsehole, he was born in Victorian England into a wealthy family. He was entitled, held racist attitudes, essentially hated anyone. Often made homophobic remarks despite being openly bisexual himself. He was complicated. He was human and incredibly flawed. In fact, I probably would have hated him.

The thing is, he was also brilliant. He also received genuine spiritual insight because he genuinely did the work, which is something few can honestly state. He also had two sides, Crowley the spiritual teacher was definitely a believer in equal rights for all humans, Crowley the man was white, English and a Tory. Since most white, English Tories have not changed in modern times either (Boris Johnson) perhaps we should not be too surprised.

Crowleys spiritual writings are important, the so-called ‘holy books’ are important. The system of AA which he laid down is important. His personal letters, remarks, attacks- his entire personal life is not important. People need to stop avoiding him because of it or worse still idolising him because of it.

BUT, your own work and own spiritual insights are more important. As I mentioned above, Thelema is bigger than Crowley. Crowley penned founding documents, it is up to us to flesh the system out further. It is okay to disagree with Crowley- he was wrong on multiple occasions. It is okay to go in a different direction- if your will takes you there, follow it. Too few have dared to go further. Instead what we have seen in Thelema’s first century is the regurgitation of the same ideas often watered down in outdated psychology. Over and over. It is sickening. It is stagnation. It needs to end. If you are thinking of publishing a book which simply teaches basic qabalah and the Golden Dawn system. Stop! We have enough Regardie and enough Cicero books- they have done fabulous work we don’t need any more.

There are few who dare to dream, who dare to explore. Kenneth Grant and Michael Bertiaux are too example who have taken Thelema in weird and wonderful directions. Often going against some of Crowley’s beliefs and teachings because they have found in their experience that he was wrong.

I guess I could go on forever, but to sum it up- be a Thelemite not a parrot.

OTO.

The OTO stands for Ordo Templi Orientis and refers to a pseudo-Masonic order which existed before Crowley and allowed both men and women to join- which was at that time anathema in freemasonry. Furthermore there are less degrees and a central secret of sex magick practice which has since been published openly much to their chagrin.

Crowley became head of the order in shady circumstances and reworked the lower degrees to conform to the new aeon. The OTO was said to be a vehicle inspired by the AA- that is the spiritual order- and thus had to be in line with the Thelemic current. It was a publishing vehicle, a means for promulgating the teachings of Thelema, a social group. Above all it was and is a failure.

Crowley created the mundane AA with the intent of limiting social contact, because things get nasty in magical orders when social contact is concerned. The current OTO has become the nastiest of the nastiest despite promoting itself as a loving and nurturing environment.

I am wary of space and so I will be brief. The OTO and AA died with Germer- a student of Crowley whom Crowley still recognised as a master. The OTO was revived by Grady McMurty and Phyllis Seckler. TImes were probably good then. Then after Grady’s death the black brotherhood moved in. They have connections with the far right. They want to assume control of the AA and of Thelema- both of which as I have mentioned are beyond humanity and thus cannot be controlled by a part of people. They want to brainwash and indoctrinate rather than guide.

You will often hear that the AA lead by Gunther is the one true AA- it is the AA that the OTO sided with. This is inherently false. Anyone claiming to be the one true AA is selling you a lie. Anyone claiming to be a representative off that order and has a lineage is probably also selling you a lie- although there are a couple of decent claims to that. The AA exists outside of terrestrial affairs and certainly does not inhabit beings who side with the far right and no-nazi scum.

The reason the OTO backs up this claim is because the head of OTO and his right hand, gun wielding, man are students of Gunther. Gunther was actually expelled by his teacher, he has no lineage claims to hold on to. His claims are that he is in touch with the secret chiefs- he is also apparently a magus and received a word. He is also the new Thelemic messiah. In truth he is a messed up individual with a southern baptist background trying to create a religion out of Thelema which as mentioned above is a bastardisation of the current.

I have been quite quiet on these matters, but who you get your teachings from matters. Who you link with spiritually matters. Avoid the stagnation. Avoid the poison. I’m not an ex member of OTO, I have no reason to hate them. I don’t hate the members, but I can see from the outside what the organisation stands for and what it has become. I am not blinded by the principles in the blue equinox because they are not my imaginary utopia.

The OTO is not, in my opinion, a true representation of the Thelemic current any longer. It is dead, it is inert. It lost its ability to claim to be an order of love, life, light and liberty when it covered up rape scandals and protected the abusers whilst slut shaming the victims. They are despicable and they need to answer for their crimes. And everyone who is still involved with them, even those who are beautiful people- I am sure there a lot of them- are equally despicable for paying dues to the organisation. Hang your heads in shame you have forgotten your brothers and sisters in favour of advancement.

Seek the true Silver Star, do the work yourself, question everything, and seek that which is beyond.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

#thelema #magick #AA #A.’.A.’.#OTO #Crowley

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