#WHY THE ELLIPSES. DEMONIC

[vulpinesaint]

cannot even describe how ludicrous this seems to me right now. so i'm just saving it. coming back to it in the morning

[the-seas-incarnadine]

TCOAAL - Metaphysics Theory

Okay so we've seen some interesting stuff in the most recent tcoaal progress report, and I'm SO ready to read a lot of stuff into it.

Some observations:

People have souls. There are also a number of Entities whose natures are more or less mysterious.

This lil guy is generally referred to as The Entity. It has a greater or lesser degree of difficulty finding summoning circles in the human world from its usual residence on the other side of the dream borderlands. It makes a pact with Ashley. It seems to want to collect or consume human souls. Its name is unknown, its dialogue is displayed as being spoken by "? ? ?".

The Entity notes that Ashley has a "tar-colored soul", and it refers to her as "tar soul". It implies that this is why it does not want to take her soul. It further indicates that this is not just a nickname but a preexisting phenomenon, the nature of which is unclear.

Ashley seems to be much better at summoning entities than the cultists we encounter, despite proceeding fairly haphazardly and without much background knowledge.

While in the dream borderlands, Ashley sometimes encounters what seem to be human souls. Normal souls appear like this.

During her vision in the Decay route, Ashley encounters a soul that looks like this. It is part of a group of four souls in a small room, hovering near The Entity. If Ashley tries to speak to it, a heart pops up between it and another (normal) soul. The Entity describes it as "a Tar Soul to be" that never "hatched", and remarks that Ashley's soul looks similar but darker.

That is, a Tar Soul proper, like Ashley, is either a "hatched" version of this, or has the potential to "hatch" into... something.

Given that the number of souls in this area corresponds to the number of souls The Entity has taken, and the Tar Soul To Be is part of a couple, it is sometimes theorized that this is Ms. Graves's soul.

This is Lord Unknown, to whom the Cult seems to be dedicated, and who our heroes are able to summon (but not communicate with) in the cult building.

Lord Unknown shares some imagery with The Entity, but they seem to be distinct.

In the Burial route, during the second summoning / the sacrifice of the Graves parents, Ashley says that The Entity can't have Andrew's soul, because it belongs to her. The Entity tells her it intends to summon her again, and instructs her to bring Andrew with her.

In the Burial / Sane route, during her vision, Ashley encounters a number of souls and must capture them in bottles. Afterward, she encounters this lil guy, who is referred to as "an entity". When she makes her way to it, she seems to recognize it, threatens to put it into a bottle (as a joke), and then says "let's get out of here before it finds us". Additionally, though its name is displayed as "? ? ?" (like The Entity" and it does not speak any words, the ellipses in its dialogue boxes are displayed in green. This seems to suggest that this is Andrew's soul.

From its appearance, we might conclude that this is a Tar Soul that has Hatched or that is closer to Hatching than the Tar Soul To Be encountered earlier.

Additionally, it seems to be taking a shape more similar to that of Lord Unknown (scale aside) than the human souls we've encountered.

All of that suggests that what a Tar Soul is is a soul on the path towards becoming an Entity like Lord Unknown - or, colloquially, a nascent demon.

The newest progress report gives us a few new images, but we're going to be focusing on these two in particular:

Hmm!! Interesting!!

Let's zoom in on that second one:

Here's what I'm seeing:

A Hatched / Hatching Tar Soul appears to be the playable character in this scene.

The other image seems to depict this same entity catching some red flowers (associated with The Entity and with the dream borderlands), with some trepidation.

This entity has lost track of "time."

Given what we saw of the Hatched / Hatching Tar Soul in chapter 2, and given that it seems to be a playable character, it seems reasonable to conclude that this is either Andrew or Ashley - given what we've observed above, Ashley's soul likely looks something like this, or will at some point, or did at some point.

The rest of this is way more speculative, and I'm unsure what direction it might go in chapter 3:

After the Burial / Sane vision (which Ashley seems to have brought Andrew's soul into), Andrew tells us that he was unable to sleep during that time.

Andrew often has trouble sleeping, and Ashley's presence helps.

In these new screenshots, the Hatched / Hatching Tar Soul seems to be confused about time, suggesting it's been in a strange state outside of the normal world for a long, ah, time.

This suggests that there is something unusual about the entanglement of Andrew and Ashley's souls. Does she literally have his soul in some way? Was she able to remove it from his body when she had this vision? How are their souls connected? Is the proximity of his own soul affecting his ability to sleep?

I'm not sure this is anything, but my curiosity has been piqued.

Anyway. That's just some thoughts, based on my current understanding of things! I hope people find it interesting, I'd love to hear what others think of these speculations.

[attorneys-against-court-violence]

Damon Gant scares the hell out of me.

This man. This. Sodding. Demon. It's been a few weeks since I beat Rise From the Ashes, but the events of that case and the actions of this character have made the name "Gant" borderline blasphemous. For how far I have gotten into Ace Attorney, he's probably the most terrifying of the villains so far. Yes, that includes Manfred.

Now, coming fresh off the fourth case like me, you may have wondered given his reputation; how can they make this goofy orange funny man more paralysing than THE Manfred von Karma himself? Old Karma set the bar pretty high after all - never was there a worse feeling than catching him in the Evidence Room with a taser after all the work you put in to incriminate him and his witness.

Karma was built from Edgeworth's reputation, the way he was talked up prior to the trial, and his control over the courtroom. He was introduced on a pedestal and kept there till the very end. You are *expected* to fear this man and plays him pretty straight. No ambiguity, he's just that terrifying.

Gant? He practically comes out of nowhere. Even Edgeworth is surprised (even fearful?) when he appears. And he introduces himself by... just standing there. Not even in ellipses as Karma did - he just stares at you until bursting into friendly dialogue. He indirectly helps you connect the SL-9 incident to the current case. He scolds Edgeworth with a smug grin.

You have no idea what to expect from this man. He hits you with so many conflicting signals that you can't tell what you're supposed to think of him. He seems friendly enough, I guess? Maybe he's just like good ol' Gumshoe right? But that stare and the way he taunts Edgeworth... it makes you wonder what's going on with the guy.

Your fears may be alleviated slightly when he lets you into the evidence room. Maybe that same, cold stare he gives you only raises your eyebrows. At best he's a very eccentric fellow, at worst you have no idea why he's keeping up such a façade... if there even is one.

Then the pieces start coming together. There's a good reason why he was so protective of his office; everything you find in there ties him into both cases in a very disturbing way. The way Lana is acting, why Jake Marshall is so interested in SL-9, everything that connects him to Ema especially paints him in a very ominous light. He was involved with all their lives and how they turned out and it isn't shaping up to be a very positive influence. Even smaller details - like how he blasts organ music at officers under his watch to punish them - paint him in an ominous light.

By the time he's standing as a witness for the second time, it becomes crystal clear. Damon Gant is a ruthless, selfish and thoroughly manipulative person. Everything, from SL-9 to now, was planned and thought-out by this horrid man to ensure he gets off scott-free. No matter how many lives he ruins in the process. He frames Ema for murder. He convinces Lana to help him cover up a fake crime. He kills Marshall's brother in the process. He gave Edgeworth false evidence when he took over as prosecutor for SL-9. He did his damndest to remove everyone who investigated SL-9 from power.

Bruce Goodman died because he was getting too close seeing Gants web of lies he had spent 2 years weaving and keeping at this rate. He pulls every string he has - Lana, Edgeworth, even Ema as a scapegoat - to make sure Bruce dies with his secrets. One wrong move from Phoenix and he would have walked out a free man.

Why?

Because he was desperate. They had their serial killer - Joe Darke - but no evidence to prove it. Right or wrong, Gant wanted someone to pay for these violent murders, so he sought justice through the most vile means possible. Manfred only did what he did because he's a perfectionist. Gant did what he did because he wanted justice - or at least the next best thing.

And yet he's still incredibly goofy, mentioning swimming at the slightest chance, giving people nicknames, the whole $50 thing... Manfred doesn't have many humanising moments in Ace Attorney, especially in the first game. Gant is presented as just another eccentric dude with a kind streak and is given plenty of opportunity to look human.

Which might be the scariest part about him.

He's an old and silly police chief who did some truly terrible things for the right reasons. His ruthlessness combined with his eccentric behaviour puts him in an uncanny valley of sorts. He's so close, but yet so far from being likeable as a person (compared to Manfred, who's the textbook definition of "love to hate").

I don't blame Edgeworth for being shaken by his final words.

[thehauntedinfirmary]

Riding to you over the radio waves comes the Haunted Infirmary's Spirit Radio Prompt Event 2023! We've got six fics, so far, to share with you! So settle in and enjoy reading this weekend!

All links to these AO3 fics are also findable on our tumblr posts under the tag ---> #the ghosts said kiss.

I told my demons about you (they told me to get therapy) by Ren_Saxon. Featuring lots of introspection, with a bit of comedy and maybe a lot of therapy, this one will have you laughing! Complete | 5k words

“Anything new going on this week?” asked Ryan’s second therapist two days later. “Went to a haunted prison,” Ryan told him. “I think a ghost there might be sexually attracted to my co-host.” His second therapist raised an eyebrow. “The one you’d, and I quote, ‘climb like a tree’?”

ellipses by poiregourmande. This story here is part pure shyan, part rarepair, and entirely a good time of a fic! Complete | 7k words

He just thought she would have been a bit more understanding of how much of a bad idea it would be if Shane stopped hiding behind ellipses.

A pair of headphones and a whole lotta you by PhyllisDietrichson. A night at the library spent being an antenna for the spirit radio and wondering who's really speaking the words that come in from the mysterious beyond. Complete | 5k words

It’s Ryan who looks haunted, Shane thinks to himself. Not me.

The Law of Parsimony by ÉcrivainFantôme. A spooky abandoned asylum investigation, complete with stories of ghosts and left-behind feelings. Settle in for quite a story! Ch 1 of 3 | 8k words

“I will not hooey your ass, Ryan. We are in respectable company.” Shane pushes off the wall. “Turn on the light if you are respectable company, ghost.” The light doesn’t react. Shane chuckles. “Maybe I will hooey your ass.” The light turns on. Ryan guffaws so deeply that Shane can’t help but join in.

locked in by VileKepler. An office lock-in, courtesy of the ghosts! What will happen? You'll just have to keep up with this WIP to see! Ch 2 of ? | 5k words

The ghosts want something from him and Shane, that much is clear.

Orville Redenbacher Rules by breathtaken. Venture into this haunted location with all your senses atingle and get ready for your breath to be — taken by this fic! Ch 1 of 2 | 6k words

“No-one likes to give Ryan Bergara a good scare more than Ryan Bergara does. That’s why you made all of this happen.”

[runeseaks]

✨Writeblr Intro✨

Hello! (Finally getting around to doing this lol.) I’m fairly new to actually using tumblr, and not just viewing other people’s posts, so have mercy on me as I learn what the hell I’m doing lol. DMs, feedback, and advice welcome!

ABOUT ME 🖋

Name: Ren or Rune

Pronouns: They/Them

Age: Physically tired, mentally still kicking (20s)

Hobbies: Writing, reading, drawing, photography, video games, and I’ve dabbled in cosplay. I love crafting things and learning new skills.

Favorite punctuation: Ellipses… [I’m sorry, in advance.]

And I’m aroace as fuh. 💚🤍🖤🤍💜

MY WRITING ⚔

Primarily write new adult or adult fantasy of the character driven variety, and include many human and non-human characters (vampires, demons, fae, and other immortal beings...). [Disclaimer that the demons I write are not of the religious variety, and could just as easily be called fae or aliens. I just chose demon as a catch-all term. They are non-human and quite varied and/or inspired by mythical creatures.]

🏳‍🌈 Naturally, many of my characters are LGBTQIA+ in some way. And a good number of my non-humans do not necessarily follow human constructs (of sex and gender and all those lovely things).

🔥 I’ve started dabbling in romance and spicy content. I may not be sexual, but some of my characters definitely are, so, y’know. Tumblr of spice: https://www.tumblr.com/runewilde. Twitter of spice: @RuneWilde. [18+ only, please]

I do try to post content warnings for any potentially sensitive topics. Feel free to let me know if I miss any.

Many of my current WIPs take place within the same universe.

I actually do like poetry in the times when I’ve been forced to write it lol—which might sound strange. It’s not something I typically write in my spare time, but sometimes it just happens…  

WIPS

🔥 Playing with Fire (1st person retrospective, character driven, adult, fantasy) Includes morally grey characters galore, dark themes, and family struggles. Alcander’s younger years as he grows into a notorious killer—with the help of a few bad influences—and digs himself into a deep hole he may never escape. 

🐺 The Hunter’s Dog (1st person retrospective, character driven, adult, fantasy with some slowburn romance) After the events of Playing with Fire. It took nearly 200 years, but Alcander starts to realize how deep of a hole his past self dug. Just when he can no longer see any way out, he meets a Hunter willing to give him a hand [kinda sus]. Can the Hunter pull Alcander out or will Alcander drag the Hunter down with him? [I do have 2 chapters of this posted on Medium, but I plan on majorly reworking it, so… lol.]    

🧛‍♀️💘 Untitled (3rd person, adult, fantasy, historical romance) How Alcander’s parents, a demon and a vampire, fell in love in the early 1800s despite opposition. Claudia Revell was never one for doing as she was told. So, when her father tell her demons should be avoided, the headstrong vampire waltzes directly into the demon district to find out why. Little did she know she'd find herself entranced by the very beings her father despises and doing everything in her power to keep it a secret. It can only end well.  

Various Shorts:

I have a few different short form projects… Most are character driven, many are episodic, and so far all connect to the same main world (all the main characters tend to know each other in some capacity). 

Reluctant Service [18+] (3rd person, M/M, erotic fantasy… I hesitate to say romance for reasons lol) Another spicy short fic, involving Leon (asexual) and Eras (some sort of sexual). There will be other shorts with them, but I haven’t decided a ‘main title’ for the stories involving them. They have a rather dark dynamic at it’s core, so be warned.

Untitled [18+] Tales of an incubus sex worker [Alcander’s uncle, Lysander]. Will be spicy and potentially have dark themes at times. Definitely will be more episodic. [I need more confidence with this genre and subject matter, before I feel capable of writing this lol.]

Definitely some shorts involving Alcander, spicy or not, that aren’t necessarily going to be included in his main WIPs. 

[void-the-bear]

Are we able to ask for one shots involving your ocs

Yeah, I guess. I mainly implied it for it to be cookie run but I can do some with my OCs. Here's a list of my OCs, normally it's just a separate tab on my blog but mobile doesn't like it so :b

Note: This is far from all my OCs, but these are ones I’d like to share more about. Some of my other OCs have an ask blog. Sorry these don’t go into much detail, I wanna keep them as transparent as possible in case I ever wanna change one, but these ones will likely not be undergoing major changes though

Phantasma, a ghost

Nameless, a conglomeration of multiple animals(I have art for him that @maskoni-five made for me, just ask if you wanna see it-)

Catrine, a cat that can turn into a neko. She sells scarves in a snowy tundra

Luna, the Werewolf Queen(personally one of my favorite characters I’ve made)

Expo, a sphinx cat that’s half-void and has unnatural abilities because of that

Blacky, a void “demon” and Expo’s best friend.(Blacky already had a love interest and it started The Great Void War because of it)

Sky the Cloud Dragon, an aging warrior who’s best known for his time in the sky wars

Vinnie the Velociraptor, he came from Sky’s dream realm and helps others who are having bad dreams break away from them. He’s also not the brightest crayon in the box

Snatggbu(Snatg for short), a tyrant that killed a lotta people and destroyed multiple worlds. His power was in his horn, but since his horn was snapped off by his own creation, he’s dead.

Plobbetba(Plob for short), said creation. Was originally just a 2 year old dragon living with her family till Snatg killed them all. Snatg brought Plob back by making her a cyborg who can melt anything but herself, for the purpose of melting planets. She keeps Snatg’s horn close to her at all times, knowing how dangerous it can be in the wrong hands

Fiqunzur, it’s not just an OC, it’s a species. Here’s a picture of one I drew myself. They take whatever they find interesting with their tail-hand and take it back to their dens. They’re really soft, have 6 eyes so they can see all around them(their only blind spot is directly behind them), and are infamous for being able to change color and shape, thus able to get through just about any cage.

Qwarkon “The Blood Moon’s Ghost”, a weather elemental(which makes him looks ghostly) who can only use his powers when under moonlight, when getting power from the moon the moon appears to be a blood red for those nearby.

Ellipse the alien, her kind was cursed with immortality by “green fire”, and her planet was destroyed by a pink entity who called themselves “The Leader”. However, she can still feel pain, so whenever somebody threatens her, she says “Better make it hurt. Better make me scream in pain.” She’s a lizard-looking creature with feathers that change color based on what she eats, and she’s a super fast learner, learning English within a few hours. While I was in a roleplay server, I had her attempt to flirt with SCP 682(who was run by somebody else).

(this one is FNaF OC, the rest aren't for any fandom :b) Puzzles the Chameleon Animatronic(More colors will be added, though IDK how often I’m gonna update him. If you draw him, just keep one of the pieces on his head color code 842593) A Chameleon Animatronic that was loved by kids because they were able to color in puzzle pieces of him. When he was eventually sold to Fazbear Entertainment™️, he had a very unique touch-screen-suit on him, and he purposefully recolored each color on him exactly where it used to be, even though the pieces on him got smaller so more can fit onto him. He’s always friendly, and is really good with special needs kids. During hugs his screen usually changes to a chameleon pattern so it won’t mess up the pieces on him. He remembers fondly of the first color ever put on him, being Purple Color Code 842593((don’t get why? Read the color code backwards)) on his forehead. He’s usually very calm, though eager to make new friends. He lets the children approach him over him approaching the children, unless said child is having a meltdown or sensory overload, in which he’ll calmly usher them into a quiet place and play a music box which has different options, the default being Somewhere Out There from An American Tail(a real movie that came out in 1986). He’s also resistant of anything that makes him aggressive, and the only thing he’ll become aggressive to is the person or thing that tried to make him aggressive. He will always help whoever the other animatronics are trying to hurt for little reason. His default voice is calming, not too deep, not too high, and he can change his voice in a range. While he doesn’t have a chest cavity like Glamrock Freddy, he helps kids who’re trapped by mimicking their clothes pattern which is a diversion to the other animatronics, or if he’s helping a Nightguard, he changes colors like the animatronic that’s the nearest to the guard. He’s also had plenty of memory upgrades, voice range upgrades, upgrades to make him have more puzzle pieces, and music box upgrades so he can play anything he considers calming music, and kids can make requests to play certain songs or just to not play anything. Though his music box upgrades also allows him to learn new things from the internet as a whole, he always checks multiple sources before adding something to his memory from the internet. His room is a designated quiet room, though he usually spends his time outside of it so loud kids don’t rush in to disturb the kids or even adults that need a quiet place to calm down.

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Season Three, Episode Twelve: Lunar Ellipse

I feel like the whole 'darkness around your heart' thing never amounts to anything? Unless it's what allows the Nogitsune into Stiles? And obviously Allison dies, so... maybe that's got something to do with the movie?

Ah yes, Soggy!Stiles. The fandom goes wild again.

Baby Scott, aww.

Omg, the Nemeton was there the whole time? That's a fun retcon, I forgot about that.

Ha, I thought that was Allison in the car in the pilot, that's some Vampire Diaries shit right there.

These are the best kinds of retcons, I love this shit.

Also Crystal's the only one who hasn't changed so she can play herself in the pilot, since Posey and DOB look so different now.

Last Cora? Or maybe she's in 3B, I don't remember.

This is Ethan, doing the right thing presumably? Since he's always been the good twin.

Oh shit, Daddy issues time. We do NOT have time for this.

Yeah, and Aidan's defending Lydia. Damn, the Carvers are really identical lmao.

Super...villain? Landing!

And that's the end of Voltron!Wolf.

Bye Kali. There's no healing from that one. And no remorse, right to the end. Brutal.

Oh, nope, there's Voltron!Wolf again.

And there he goes.

Allison's turn to be a BAMF with the smoke grenade.

Noooo Roscoe! (And Stiles, I guess).

Ah I wondered why we didn't see the root cellar again, it's going to collapse.

The Demon Wolf!!!

You've got no chance, Derek, sorry.

"Who's going to save them? Your friends?" "My pack!" <3

Eclipse time.

Bat saves the day yet again.

And now Deucalion is never blind. Shame his first sight is the Darach's creepy face.

Mountain ash circle, my beloved.

True Alpha Powers, Activate! Scott McCall, True Alpha Of My Heart.

Bye Jennifer. See you in Season 6 I think? She's one of the Anuk-Ite's vision forms IIRC.

And bye Deuc, we'll see you in Season 5.

"We protect those who cannot protect themselves." <3

Yeah, like 99% sure we won't see Cora again now. Derek comes back without her in 3B I believe.

"I look for my friends." ;_;

Oh god, fucking Peter. Something else I forgot about. What a dick.

That's not a bad 'cliffhanger'. Kind of a nice ending, actually.

[guardiankarenterrier]

this laptop is apparently where all the terrible self-insert op fanfics baby writer me wrote were (wisely) left to die and it is amazing

they’re so terrible and i love them so much

[momentofmemory]

The Definition of an Alpha

for @teenwolf-meta​ week, day seven: parallels. click here for the companion gifset.

You wouldn’t think there are that many ways to announce you’re an Alpha, and yet Teen Wolf covers just about all of them. In the finales of s1-4, Peter, Derek, and Scott all define themselves and others as Alphas. The differences in their claims reflect their understanding of what it means to be an alpha, and how the show ultimately defines it.

Derek’s explanation of the concept of Alpha in Pack Mentality stresses power and threat: “It’s the most dangerous of our kind. [...] This thing is more powerful, more animal than either of us” (1x03). ‘The Alpha’ goes on to be an almost mythical force in s1: untouchable, powerful, and controlling, and central to what it means to be in a pack. It takes everyone coming together to finally defeat him in Code Breaker, the finale of s1. By that point, Derek has told Scott that the only potential way for him to become human again is to kill Peter (a lie, according to an interview with Jeff Davis). Now, at the crucial moment, Derek chooses to kill Peter and take the Alpha power for himself. When he turns to look at Scott, he says only: “I’m the Alpha now” (1x12). In claiming Alpha status, Derek claims the mantle of everything Peter had—including Scott’s relation to him. He is “the” Alpha—the definite article—and therefore, Scott’s only choice.

In the finale of s2, Master Plan, Scott rejects this. After successfully defeating Gerard’s plan, Scott says “You may be an Alpha, but you’re not mine” (2x12). This is a direct response to Derek’s line in s1. Scott clearly acknowledges that Derek has a certain amount of power in the first clause, saying Derek “is an Alpha,” but in switching out the definite article “the” for “an,” he rejects the idea that Derek is the only option. This is especially significant as Derek is the only Alpha in the area at this point—even the Omega from the first episode of s2 calls Derek “the” Alpha (2x01).

The second clause of Scott’s sentence, “but you’re not mine,” explains why Scott can make this distinction. Derek simply having power does not mean he automatically has power over Scott. This begins the shift in what it means to be an Alpha—the seeds of which had already been planted by Derek himself, when he recognized that Scott was “already an Alpha of [his] own pack,” despite being an Omega in terms of his power (2x05).

In the 3a finale, Lunar Ellipse, that metaphorical title of Alpha becomes literal. As he did with Derek, Scott defines himself and his new red eyes only by saying, “I’m an Alpha now” (3x12). He doesn’t use the definite article like Derek did in s1, and he certainly doesn’t use “The True Alpha,” contrasting Deucalion’s “The Demon Wolf” (3x04). Scott’s Alpha status, despite the way he earned it, doesn’t automatically place him above anyone else. He is simply “an Alpha”—which he’s been as a person for a while now. The shape he’s taken is simply reflecting the person he is.

Before 3a is over, however, this new definition is threatened. At the very end of Lunar Ellipse, Peter—“the” Alpha from s1—reenters the scene. After killing Jennifer, Peter throws his head toward the sky and roars, “I am the Alpha… I have always been the Alpha!” (3x12). This is a direct challenge to not just Scott himself, but Scott’s entire philosophy; Peter argues that it’s all about being the Alpha, not just an Alpha. Not only that, he’s always been The Alpha. This plays with the earlier concept of an Alpha being more than just red eyes, as Peter is a Beta at this point. Whereas Derek first suggested Scott was a kind of Alpha because he had a pack (2x05), Peter, on the basis of just having killed Jennifer at the Nemeton, is making a claim to Alpha on the basis of violent power.

These competing definitions finally come to a head in Smoke and Mirrors, the finale of s4. There Peter is a Beta in the literal sense, and Scott is an Alpha, but Peter desires to reverse this dynamic. First, Peter attempts this through actions. He spends much of the last two episodes acting like he imagines the Alpha should: he makes plans, gives the pack orders, and even coaches Malia on the importance of “shedding the blood of his enemies” (4x11, 4x12). Meanwhile, Scott has been turned into a Berserker, placed under the control of another—like Peter imagines a Beta should be, given his actions in s1. Secondly, when Scott breaks free of the Berserker mask, Peter attempts to define them both through words. He rejects Scott’s Alpha status by saying Scott doesn’t “deserve” his power—stressing, again, that he considers the position of Alpha as one defined by power. His rejection is on the basis of Scott’s distaste for violence, which he also considers central to being the Alpha. Finally, he reestablishes himself as the Alpha by reminding Scott that he was “[his] Beta first” (4x12)—as only Alphas can “have” Betas.

In rejecting Peter’s claim, Scott follows the same pattern of actions and then words. First, the outcome of the fight shows that Peter hasn’t understood what being an Alpha is about at all: whereas Peter had tried to get Malia and Liam to fight on his behalf, Scott fights on their behalf. Once Scott has defeated Peter in deed, he defeats him in word, as well: “You were never an Alpha, Peter. But you were always a monster” (4x12).

This is the reversal of Peter’s “always” claim in 3x12, because being an Alpha—being a werewolf—is ultimately about having and taking care of a pack, not having a monstrous desire for power.

[rocketmuse]

I thought I'd share my playlist for the anniversary of the boathouse kiss. :)

Song translations, MANY thoughts, and timeline under the break.

Noise warning for song 19, Hinahanap-Hanap Kita. 4:23 to the end. Loud high pitched beeps.

YouTube music version to be made soon.

Translations for foreign songs:

Ewan [Dunno] — Apo Hiking Society — Filipino/Tagalog

Amour plastique [Plastic love] — Videoclub — French

Panalangin [Prayer] — Apo Hiking Society/Moonstar88 — Filipino/Tagalog

Hinahanap-Hanap Kita [I'm Looking For You] — Rivermaya — Filipino/Tagalog

This is a collaborative playlist made with my friend.

Thought Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy would be a good starter song. Something about the music. Represents a good start of Alec persuing Maurice, like, hey, I can be yours... Whatcha doin'?

I added Puppy Princess because of the chorus but I know some people don't like that song so... You can skip if you'd like. KISS MEEEEE KIISS ME WITH YIIR EYESSS CLOSED . ALL I WANT IS YOU YEAH YOU. TELL ME I'M NOT FUNNY TELL ME I'M LEGIIIIT

Ewan. OH MY GOD this song is so them. Alec cares for Maurice, and doesn't like not being taken seriously or being treated badly and brushed off.

"I don't know why you're like that, you're difficult to talk to and you're a snob" COME ON IS THAT NOT THEM — Just a smile from you, and I'll be in heaven. Please give me a response, anything but "No idea"... What a perfect representation of Alec's continuous persuit of Maurice, always talking, always trying...

I could go on with every lyric.

Edit: I just realised this song fits so well for Alec's letters and meeting at the museum. Must resist the urge to add the same exact track twice.

So about Touch Me... Some of the lyrics apply better in other versions. Spotify just has this version tho. Touch me, just like that.

All I've Ever Known. Maurice discovered so much that night about touch and sharing and being with someone. He wants to be with Alec. "All I've ever known is how to hold my own, but now I want to hold you too. [Hold you close, I don't wanna ever have to let you go. Hold you tight, I don't wanna to back to the lonely life.]" Alec opened up his eyes and he'll never be the same.

Can't Help Falling in Love With You. 'Did you ever dream you'd a friend, Alec? ... Someone to last your whole life...' 'Alec, you're a dear fellow and we've been very happy.'

I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind was added from Maurice's perspective. Perhaps it fits Alec too...

I think Love At First Sight has the double meaning of the literal title, as well as "wouldn't you like to kiss her" perhaps being... Something Maurice would hear.

I Don't Dance. Based on this post/edit. Please watch this video oh my God.

Pink in the Night. Alec yearns for Maurice in the boathouse. He hasn't come. He hears his heart breaking tonight.

Every lyric is perhaps pulled straight from Alec's brain, to be honest. I remember seeing a post with this song in other contexts with them too. So yes, a few meanings.

Amour plastique. Alec reminiscences on the night in the Russet room. Why hasn't he come?

In my mind, everything goes wild. I lose myself in your eyes. I drown myself in the vagueness of your loving gaze.

And at night I cry tears that stream down my cheeks. I think of you only when the days ends, only when my sad demons descend upon my mind, into the bottomless abyss.

Waiting in the boathouse at night, when the day ends.

I ring out in kisses all down your chest. Lost in the avalanche of my heart astray. Who are you? Where are you?

The moments of then repeat in his mind. Where is Maurice?

I suppose Hopelessly Devoted To You and I'm A Fool To Want You are self explanatory. Maurice should really come... Alec really toughed it out, 2 days he spent in the boathouse, really wanted to see Maurice, really knew they had something, and doesn't want to be treated like a dog. Generally, his 1st letter.

Moon Song. My friend said they added it as a general love song. — Why do you treat me like this? Why didn't you come to the boathouse? — Alec's 2nd letter as a whole. Plus bits of 1st.

And you pushed me in, and now my feet can't touch the bottom of you. ... So I will wait for the next time you want me, like a dog with a bird at your door.

Ewan would fit here tbh.

Panalangin. My only prayer in this lifetime: to be beside you, to be together with you, that's my prayer.

"I since cricket match do long to ... place both arms round you and share with you, the above now seems sweeter than words can say."

And this heart won't allow if you will be away from me, my love, please listen.

It also fits the end of museum.

I Want You. Maurice, can you come to the boathouse already? Alec has no power to teleport you there. I hold one card that I can't use.

I found you. I found the door, but when I stepped through, there was no floor. He found Maurice, bit he's not being here for Alec.

You're coming back And it's the end of the world We're starting over And I love you, darling And I am done, dear

Alec wishes this would happen. Also, he does come back later and they love again over, and "it is finished".

Credit for suggesting the next two songs goes to @beatle-capaldi!!! He also wrote was in quotations!

English Summer Rain

The Most Radical Thing To Do

Hinahanap-Hanap Kita. 1st letter, he's looking for Maurice. Thinking about them together.

In my thoughts and dreams, in every turn of destiny, I look for you. Also applies to that hotel/post-hotel feeling. I look for you, even if I try to forget you, saying goodbye, looking back...

Wildest Dreams. They think a lot of each other. They share once more. But they must say goodbye. Alec saw this coming. Maurice hopes that Alec will remember him like this.

I Hear a Symphony. Alec truly opened up Maurice's eyes. Maurice was meant to be with him. He helped Maurice, changed his life. But now Alec is leaving on ship... Or is he? The symphony leads into...

An orchestral sountrack. The Boathouse. Unfortunately the Maurice soundtrack is not on spotify. It's on my personal YouTube music version. I added it because it just captures the boathouse the only way the sountrack itself can.

The Word of Your Body (Reprise). MLM people have moment of romantic tension, which culminates in confessions of love. Just had to add it. "Haven't you heard the word of your body?" perfectly describes Alec gifting and showing Maurice the wonder of truest physical affection and love. He lets Maurice be okay with himself, and again, changes everything. Every lyric is perfect.

Also, sorry JBW, I like other versions more... Too bad Spotify is mean.

I See The Light. Yeah. Every lyric. Maurice is Rapunzel. Movie Blond too. Both the morning at Russet room and the museum. And the world has somehow shifted. All at once everything is different, now that I see you. "By now they were in love with each other consciously."...

Suddenly Seymour. Suddenly see more, yeah? Clive = ass and someone gives him affection for once, wow! Sidenote, I want to sing this with them and their accents... Suddenly SCUDDER...

Helpless. Musical theatre songs seem to be good retellings of their love story. It's why they belong in post boathouse. Summaries and retellings. They're also good at conveying love they'd feel for each other in general, all times ever. Like loving men, retelling a story.

I'll Cover You. Cute love song feat. gays. I like to imagine them dancing around, declaring their love and devotion for each other. Walking and dancing around like in the original scene, sometime post canon. In my own imagination, I thought of Alec as Angel and Maurice (Christopher) as Collins.

Video Games. They must love spending time together. I thought this to be Maurice POV. Only worth living if somebody is loving you I mean, come on.

It's you, it's you, it's all for you. Everything I do. I tell you all the time, heaven is a place on Earth with you.

Un sospiro. I headcanon that Maurice picks up the piano and plays for Alec. Perhaps he picked it up bc of/after Clive, but now can play it for someone who gives a shit.

Something about the melody reminds me of them. And then it gets more intense... A bit like the passions of love, showing up in sharing and touch and more, too.

Liebestraum. I mean, it means love dream/dream of love. I just had to. Also I just like Liszt.

Take Me Up With You, Dearie. This song is just so sweet... So soft... Edwardian to boot... I love how quintessentially 1909 it is. Discovered it in a YT video. The thought of them getting married makes me cry. This song in general makes me want to cry, it's so romantic, tender, and exudes my favourite era...

Let us float, float, float through the clouds, and just have a lot of fun. We'll go up, up, up as two and then come down as one.

Put Your Head on My Shoulder. We Belong Together. I always imagine Maurice and Alec slowdancing to songs that come on the radio together, when the 1950s hits... Alec probably rests his head on his shoulder as this plays and they dance...

I'm using a lot of ellipses, am I secretly Rupert Graves?

Welcome to the 70s and 80s. They love dancing together and being with each other. Now, Panalangin can be a happy song. My only prayer for this lifetime ... To be together with you. And this heart won't allow if you will be away from me.

Just the Two of Us. What a nice, vibey song. Great title, great scenario of them dancing to this...

Tiny Dancer. Your Song. MLM people in the 70s + Radio, being happy and in love with each other. — I just thought I should add some Elton. A different friend, and I, like him. Maurice sings to Alec, "And you can tell everybody this is your song." That I put down in words how wonderful life is with you in the world.

Electric Love. Fun fact: this song got me to share the playlist. Got me thinking about them and their anniversary again. The funky busy instrumental describes well their passionate love. The highs of electric LOOOOOOVE describe the intensity of them.

Alt text continued: themselves together under and the love. And the love. The song has its own tension and it perfectly pictures their own tension. So yeah, this is THEIR song quite literally.

Sorry if my music taste is perhaps basic. I just made it for when I hear songs that are Them.

Falling for Ya. Alec falls for Maurice. "I saw you when you first drove up, Mr Hall..." Something about Maurice, right? Plus really nice vintage vibes with the music. The bit about Into your arms and it's a secure sure sounds like Maurice. Awh, they're falling for *each other*...

Rainbow Connections. Gay and bi people. Marriage. Everything that Maurice and Alec went through to get here, where they were meant to be. Clive. Working for Clive. Leading up to now.

All the things that had to go right, all the things that had to go wrong, that lead us to the place where we were going all along.

On the YT version there's a soft/jazzy cover of Panalangin here. Because they're old and spending time together and being happy. What a throwback, a defined meaning in their lives over time.

Still Into You. After all these decades... Old and grown, together... True soulmates... Two men can defy the world... Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood. Imagine Maurice meeting Alec's mom in this context. If only.

Postmodern Jukebox cover, because they are a quintessentially 20th century couple. They exude vintage.

Some piano playing for Alec. Soft, tender, romantic, emotional, true. Feels like nighttime. Feels like Maurice and Alec. And a throwback to the pre 1914 world as well. Claire de Lune feels like... A credits of life piece. Time spent in the early 1980s. Nocturne feels like that too, but more romantic. Smidge less nighttime. Ah yes, Gymnopédies. The truest credits feel of them all. None of these actually are credits for Maurice and Alec, but I struggle to find the word for this feeling. But yeah. These all have Them vibes to me. Piano of the time just does I suppose. Glad to be reminded of them at any time.

What a long playlist. Like going through almost their whole lives together. 1:52 hrs. Almost like a movie. Imagine that. A full movie of THEIR lives... But leaving to the imagination was a good thing. Led to this such action. Thank you E.M. Forster.

Timeline:

1. Pendersleigh

4. & 5. Russet Room. Night, then Morning

9. Cricket

10. Boathouse Nights

18. The Museum

20. The Hotel

21. After

23. The Boathouse

24. They Still Roam the Greenwood

I just like to imagine them dancing to songs on the radio, for decades to come...

[stressy-enby]

Hey there! What do you say ab making some headcanons featuring Hawks discussing earnest topics with his s/o? For instance, s/o perceives how hard Hawks is working to make the commission content and fulfill their everyday request. There's certainly lots of pressure put on his back but he shrugs it off and says that he's doing just fine. However, he initially let her in on particularly nasty stuff they needed him to do beforehand and she's asking him whether it makes sense anymore to discriminate villains when heroes have their own faults just as much. S/o is conflicted but she's not blaming it on him. So how is he going to respond? What would be his reaction? Will he act all defensive of heroes or will he agree with the statement?

I did this as a one-shot, because this is an interesting topic and I wanted to spend some more time on it than I would if I did this as headcanons. Enjoy!!

Heroes?

Warnings: off-hand mention of rape and sexual assault. It’s not important to the overall story, but it’s still in there and I don’t want anyone else to be unpleasantly surprised.

. . .

He left you on read.

He never left you on read.

Keigo always responded to texts fairly quickly. Even if he was working, it never took him longer than 5 minutes to reply.

So when you checked your phone at 8:38, finding your 8:13 text still unanswered, naturally, you began getting nervous.

You transferred your phone between your hands, weighing the options of sending him a second text. He had clearly seen the message, so maybe he was unable to answer it. But then again, this was Keigo. When was the last time he left you on read? Never. This was the first instance.

You sighed loudly, and your fingers flew across the screen and hit send before you could over think this any more than you had already.

Hey, when do you get off work? Wanna have a movie night? 

Read at 8:14

- Lmk when you get a minute, k? Hope everything’s ok

You watched the delivered pop up as you put your phone to sleep.

Unable to sit still, or even look away from your phone for even a moment, you woke it back up almost immediately. You gripped the device as if it were your lifeline when the read message appeared.

Finally, finally, the texting ellipses rolled across the left side of the screen.

Omw to your place. See u soon

I don’t like how blunt that is, You thought, brow furrowing. You texted a quick thumbs up, and went about putting the kettle on.

Something curling in your stomach told you that this was going to be a long night.

. . . . .

“Why were you so late tonight?” You asked your boyfriend, handing him his steaming mug.

Keigo, who was still in his hero costume, sans goggles and jacket, excepted the tea with a gracious, yet tired smile. “Meeting with the Commission.”

“Ah,” You nodded in immediate understanding. “That certainly explains your uncharacteristic bluntness.”

“Heh, yeah,” He ran a hand through his hair, and took a sip of his tea, avoiding your gaze. “Long meeting.”

“Uh-huh.” You raised an eyebrow. “What was it about?”

“Ah, you know.”

“In point of fact I don’t know, because you never tell me.” 

Keigo grimaced, still refusing to meet your eyes. “I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you.”

“Yeah? Well fuck that.” You planted your drink on the coffee table and turned his face towards you. “You’re never this out of it. I know those meeting aren’t fun, but you don’t stay depressed for this long afterwards. What was different?”

Keigo was quiet for a minute. He placed his mug next to yours, before leaning into you. He hugged you and buried his face in the crook of your neck.

“Fuck them,” He muttered “Fuck those fucking fuckers.”

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and pet his hair. You decided to stay quiet as he began to quiver.

I’ve never seen him so distraught.

“We talked about my infiltration mission.” He finally admitted. “With the League.” 

“Oh.”

What else could you say. You waited for elaboration.

“The League wants me to do something to prove my loyalty, and I wanted to talk it over with the Commission. It’s....extreme.”

“Uh oh. What is it?”

Keigo was silent. He hugged you tighter. “They want me to kill a hero.”

Your hand froze in his hair, and your blood ran ran cold. “What? What did they say? The Commission.”

He whimpered into your skin.

“Keigo,” You whispered, placing a comforting hand on the back of his neck. “They didn’t give the OK for that, did they?”

“(Y/N), I don’t know what to do. I can’t do this.”

You rubbed his back, astonished. “Of course you don’t! Who would? That’s ridiculous.”

“I’m sorry,”

“Hey, don’t apologize, Birdy. It’s not your fault. The whole situation is just royally fucked.”

He hummed pathetically. You felt your skin dampen as Keigo wept into it. You rocked yourself and him as he let it all out.

“God, the Commission sucks ass.” You muttered. “They don’t care about you or any of the other heroes. They just want to keep up their appearances and keep making money. They’re no better than the villains themselves.”

He remained quiet, but seemed to be listening. He buried a hand into your hair and gently pulled you even closer.

“Does it really make sense to keep demonizing villains the way we do when we’re just as bad?” You mused.

“Wait, what?” Keigo detached himself from your neck, eyes red. “What do you mean, just as bad?”

You leaned back into the couch, taking his hands in yours. “Well, it’s just that I’ve seen heroes get away with some stuff that shouldn’t fly. Sometimes it feels like they’re just as villainous.”

“I guess,” Keigo frowned, whipping his eyes.

“You seem unconvinced.” Your lips twitched. “Remember last month, when there was a scandal with the hero Twister? About how he treated his female sidekicks and employees?”

“I think so.” Keigo bit his lip in contemplation. “There were like, 8 different rape and sexual assault allegations against him, but he got off easy.”

“Yeah, the Commission paid the court a shit-ton of money to drop the case. He got off with almost literally a slap on the wrist.” You growled, gripping his hands tighter. “It’s absolute bullshit. The whole hero structure and society is bullshit, at least the way it is now.”

“Huh. I think I see where you’re coming from.” He whipped his eyes again. “God, this sucks.”

“Indeed.” You hugged him again, burying your face in his neck this time. “I just wish there was an easy way out.”

“We could run away,” The winged man offered, returning your hug. “Pack our bags and book it, never come back.”

“I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not.” You chuckled.

“Mean neither.” He admitted, laughing lightly. “Is there anywhere you’ve wanted to go? Out of the country, I mean.”

“Y’know, I’ve always liked to visit Sweden. It seems cool.” You remarked after some thought. “They’re pretty tight on hero laws, can’t get away with any bullshit over there.”

“I’m sold. Let’s go!”

“Keigo, we can’t just-”

“We can and we will, babe! Pack your bags!” He dissolved into giggles, resting his forehead on your shoulder. “Sorry,”

“Silly bird.” You laughed, kissing his forehead. “I’d go anywhere with you.”

[princeescaluswords]

*adds the stylish Fandom logic hat to my ensemble today* Why didn't the knowledgeable and wise Left Hand Peter emerge from his coma to provide wise counsel to Stiles and train him in using his spark?

Because it didn’t exist.   

That’s the simplest answer.   It’s actually quite a boring answer, really, but the why behind the question is far more interesting.  First, I’m going to reproduce the offending passage.

Deaton: Not all there is. Think of it like gunpowder. It's just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles. 

Stiles: If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up for that. 

Deaton: Let me try a different ANALOGY. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish. 

My emphasis.

This scene was very important to the story of Teen Wolf, but as is a depressingly often occurrence, fandom took the scene and ran with it in the absolute opposite direction.

Stiles isn’t supernatural at this point.  He is human.   So are Deaton, and Morrell, and Henri, and Melissa.  So are the Argents.   With force of will, camaraderie, and the appropriate knowledge, humans can be every bit the equal of supernatural creatures. 

Think about how the production talks about knowledge.  How it’s always better when they know.  How knowledge brings with it responsibility.  How the pack’s first instinct is to find out more and they get in trouble when they can’t learn abou their enemies “They’re winning and we don’t even know what the game is.”  

Scott doesn’t defeat the villains because he’s stronger than his enemies.  He’s not.  He defeats them because he’s wise enough to surround himself with people who know things, who trust him and he trusts them, and because he never gives up. 

“Scott doesn’t care about power, he cares about people.”  

It is an implicit rejection of the virtue of power in and of itself.  Seems like a very simple idea, doesn’t it?  That what we choose to do and how we treat people are more important than what we are capable of doing.   

Take the conclusion of Lunar Ellipse (3x12).  Going into that scene, Scott was a beta, but Scott isn’t a True Alpha because he was able to break a line of mountain ash.  He was able to break a line of mountain ash because he was a True Alpha.  And why?  Because he was able to blind Deucalion because he didn’t reject Allison and Chris as “evil Argents,” so he was willing to take an evil old man’s pain to learn the knowledge he needed.  He was able to put aside his problems with Derek in order to earn his trust, so Derek rejected Jennifer’s desire for revenge.  He wasn’t alone facing the Darach and the Demon Wolf.  Jennifer was far more powerful than he was.  Deucalion was insanely more powerful than he was.   But he had the right people on his side “My Pack,” he believed in Derek, and he trusted Chris and Allison.

We could go through every season and do the same calculus.

Then why does fandom try to turn Stiles into the Sparkiest-Spark-of-All-Sparks?  Why do they try to turn Peter into the Left Hand of the Mighty Hale Pack?   Why are they obsessed with making Derek an alpha again, when he was miserable and terrible at being one the first time?

Because not a single one of those scenarios require their beloved white men to trust other people or treat them as more important than themselves.   They can kill as they desire, they can ignore anyone else’s wants and needs but their own, and if someone objects, they can bully them into submission.

Read carefully.   Alpha Derek only has to listen to his High Spark Mate and no one else.   Left Hand Peter knows what’s best for the rest of the Pack without consulting them.   Betas exist to stand around in the background approvingly.  I was reading a good-friend Scott story (Scott McCall is a Good Friend is one of those worthless tags).  You know what Scott as a beta in that story, did?   Stiles tossed him the car keys twice and ordered him to drive people around.

It’s why they call Scott weak, because he doesn’t ignore the people around him.  it’s why they call Scott arrogant for not ‘ending the threats’ because he understands that he doesn’t have the right to execute people, that it is dangerous and damaging to see execution as a means or protecting yourself.  it’s why they say that Scott never listens to Stiles, because Scott listens to other people as well as himself.  It’s why they despise that Scott listens to Deaton, even though they can’t point out a single bit of bad advice Deaton selflessly gave him.

The same can’t be said for Peter Hale, which is why your scenario would only happen if Peter could figure out a way to use Stiles to his own ends.

[niallloverontheloose]

https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/647812292363386880/adds-the-stylish-fandom-logic-hat-to-my-ensemble#notes

@russianspacegeckosexparty: *adds the stylish Fandom logic hat to my ensemble today* Why didn’t the knowledgeable and wise Left Hand Peter emerge from his coma to provide wise counsel to Stiles and train him in using his spark?

@princeescaluswords:

Because it didn’t exist.

That’s the simplest answer. It’s actually quite a boring answer, really, but the why behind the question is far more interesting. First, I’m going to reproduce the offending passage.

Deaton: Not all there is. Think of it like gunpowder. It’s just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles.

Stiles: If you mean light myself on fire, I don’t think I’m up for that.

Deaton: Let me try a different ANALOGY. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish.

My emphasis.

This scene was very important to the story of Teen Wolf, but as is a depressingly often occurrence, fandom took the scene and ran with it in the absolute opposite direction.

Stiles isn’t supernatural at this point. He is human. So are Deaton, and Morrell, and Henri, and Melissa. So are the Argents. With force of will, camaraderie, and the appropriate knowledge, humans can be every bit the equal of supernatural creatures.

Think about how the production talks about knowledge. How it’s always better when they know. How knowledge brings with it responsibility. How the pack’s first instinct is to find out more and they get in trouble when they can’t learn abou their enemies “They’re winning and we don’t even know what the game is.”

Scott doesn’t defeat the villains because he’s stronger than his enemies. He’s not. He defeats them because he’s wise enough to surround himself with people who know things, who trust him and he trusts them, and because he never gives up.

“Scott doesn’t care about power, he cares about people.”

It is an implicit rejection of the virtue of power in and of itself. Seems like a very simple idea, doesn’t it? That what we choose to do and how we treat people are more important than what we are capable of doing.

Take the conclusion of Lunar Ellipse (3x12). Going into that scene, Scott was a beta, but Scott isn’t a True Alpha because he was able to break a line of mountain ash. He was able to break a line of mountain ash because he was a True Alpha. And why? Because he was able to blind Deucalion because he didn’t reject Allison and Chris as “evil Argents,” so he was willing to take an evil old man’s pain to learn the knowledge he needed. He was able to put aside his problems with Derek in order to earn his trust, so Derek rejected Jennifer’s desire for revenge. He wasn’t alone facing the Darach and the Demon Wolf. Jennifer was far more powerful than he was. Deucalion was insanely more powerful than he was. But he had the right people on his side “My Pack,” he believed in Derek, and he trusted Chris and Allison.

We could go through every season and do the same calculus.

Then why does fandom try to turn Stiles into the Sparkiest-Spark-of-All-Sparks? Why do they try to turn Peter into the Left Hand of the Mighty Hale Pack? Why are they obsessed with making Derek an alpha again, when he was miserable and terrible at being one the first time?

Because not a single one of those scenarios require their beloved white men to trust other people or treat them as more important than themselves. They can kill as they desire, they can ignore anyone else’s wants and needs but their own, and if someone objects, they can bully them into submission.

Read carefully. Alpha Derek only has to listen to his High Spark Mate and no one else. Left Hand Peter knows what’s best for the rest of the Pack without consulting them. Betas exist to stand around in the background approvingly. I was reading a good-friend Scott story (Scott McCall is a Good Friend is one of those worthless tags). You know what Scott as a beta in that story, did? Stiles tossed him the car keys twice and ordered him to drive people around.

It’s why they call Scott weak, because he doesn’t ignore the people around him. it’s why they call Scott arrogant for not ‘ending the threats’ because he understands that he doesn’t have the right to execute people, that it is dangerous and damaging to see execution as a means or protecting yourself. it’s why they say that Scott never listens to Stiles, because Scott listens to other people as well as himself. It’s why they despise that Scott listens to Deaton, even though they can’t point out a single bit of bad advice Deaton selflessly gave him.

The same can’t be said for Peter Hale, which is why your scenario would only happen if Peter could figure out a way to use Stiles to his own ends.

//

Lmfao @ Scott Stans feeling so threatened by the Dark Stiles/Void Stiles and Druid/Magic/Emissary Stiles tropes because of the “power imbalance”, as if Scott McCall’s True Alpha Maleness isn’t the cheapest, most blatant case of self-insert power fantasy EVER 😂🤣

Pew should just admit he can’t stand other Teen Wolf characters being canonically more powerful and badass than his bland True Alpha fav Scoot and fuck off

Also: “Scott doesn’t defeat the villains because he’s stronger than his enemies”

What villain did Scott defeat exactly? He literally failed to kill a terminally ill old man who’s already dying, and he never even fought with Deucalion…

[sillypandalover91]

I adore Baxter and even though this guy is fan dubbing him, I absolutely LOVE this voice and am therefore HC him sounding like this.

https://youtu.be/eN0o2n7xDKc

And now for an extra HC that no one asked for but it goes with the one where Alastor likes buying Angel'a merch like the good boyfriend he is:

He is a HUGE fan of Angel's. It all started when he was looking around in a book shop, searching for something to inspire him when he stumbled upon a video tape set of something called The Lady Science Collection. The synopsis on the box claimed that it was some of Angel's best work and that it would be sure to leave any scientist more than satisfied with the contents within.

Curious, Baxter bought it and has been hooked and crushing on Angel ever since. He goes so far as to buy as many videos as possible, or at least he tries to.

Some asshole that goes by the username DeerGentleman34 keeps winning most of the items Baxter is after. What's worse is that it seems like he is being targeted personally.. that or this DeerGentleman is really some horny bastard who has perverted intent with his beautiful Angel.

With misplaced chivalrous feelings fueling him, Baxter creates a device that messes with the binary code on the website. This is outside of Vox's and Velvet's interest so they don't enforce his rule on that part of the web, leaving Bax to do what he wanted so long it didn't blow out the rest of the web.

The next time he bids on an item, he sees that DeerGentleman34 is there also trying to win a body pillow and poster set of Angel possed like a pinup girl and dressed in black lace lingerie and a doctor's coat coquettishly falling off his shoulder's.

What makes this something an absolute must have for any self respecting collector of Angel Dust memorabilia is the fact that this was the first and last time he posed without shoes. His bare feet and legs were only covered by sheer black thigh highs and you can see the heart shaped pads of one of his paws as the other had a red soled high heel clinging to his toes.

As for Angel himself, why, he looked like his best friend had told him the funniest joke he had ever heard because his high spirits could be seen clearly in his lucid eyes.

"I need this," breathed both Baxter and his rival from opposite ends of Pentigram City as they poised themselves for the bidding war.

It's a long one.

Emotions were high.

Bidders slowly backed off as soon as the price fell too far out of what their wallets allowed until it was only him and DeerGentleman34. They paused and allowed the timer to tick down until there were only seconds left.

"Yes, that's right, you imbecile," murmured Baxter as he saw DeerGentleman34 submit a seemingly final blow of 300k and 1 dollar that would have bested his own. "Angel's smile is mine!"

Baxter slammed his gloved claw down on the execute button to activate the program that created a lag for the Deer who thought he deserved this bounty more than him and submitted his own final bid of 300k and 2 dollars then promptly covered his eyes when the screen went black and a pixilized loading image of an imp couting money popped on.

He peaked between his claws and gasped when his username DrAngler44 was shown to be the winner of the lot.

Giggles escaped him as he stared at his spoils being carefully packaged for instant delivery. The chat exploded with both praise and disgruntled curses but Baxter paid it little to no mind. He was far too light with elation that his plan had worked. He found a way to beat DeerGentleman34.

The package was delivered via imp magic and in a puff of purple smoke, his carefully wrapped treasures were delivered right on his courier basket.

Almost reverently, Baxter unwrapped the package starting with the poster. He heard the chat in the background ping with demons begging him to see his treasure as he carefully placed the poster inside a glass frame.

It was even more beautiful in person. The print was obviously of the highest quality and Baxter drank every inch of the masterpiece once he hung it on the wall. He studied it carefully until his eyes landed on the signature at the bottom corner.

"Oh my Satan!" Baxter pushed up his glasses and stared at the neat script.

Anthony Ragno

His face burned. Angel's real name was a sign of authenticity. There were only three if these prints left in existance here he thought he was getting a collector's edition of a reprint! But then did that mean...

Baxter ran back to the box and pulled out the body pillow and stared at Angel's- Anthony's cheek.

There, preserved by magic, was the imprint of Angel's kiss in red lipstick.

He swallowed and hovered his finger tips over it. Angel had actually kissed this pillow. This was his lipstick. That was his handwriting.

He needed to sit down.

Burying his face in his pillow, he couldn't help but giggle again. The giggles turned to laughter. Laughter turned to cackles as he quickly took pictures of both items to show what they really were and uploaded it to the chat.

Baxter hugged his pillow and watched with all the self satisfaction of a demon who screwed someone into handing over their soul as the chat exploded once again. He saw DeerGentleman34's username show that they were typing something out but after a few minutes of the ellipses showing and disappearing, Baxter turned his attention to stare fondly at his pillow.

"I am going to treat you like the treasure you are," he told it. Shame long lost, Baxter leaned into Angel's face and rubbed their noses together.

Sighing happily, he turned to the chat one last time to turn it off when his blood suddenly went cold.

DeerGentleman34 had finally typed out his message.

It didn't bode well for Baxter at all.

DeerGentleman34: You are invited to the Radio Tower, my good fellow. Everyone, stay tuned.

[goofmemes]

NSP’s “The Prophecy” Sentence Starters

Warning, some mildly N/W/F/W

Intro (The)

“Well met, young adventurer!”

“That day has finally arrived.”

“Because that’s what’s been foreseen by... THE PROPHECY!”

The Mystic Crystal

“Now gods and men and all between shall blow my necromancing schween!”

“Alas! For he was strong as fuck.”

“Search the forests, search the seas, search time and all realities.”

“Yes, my king/queen, it shall be done.”

“And that’s where our story begins.”

“Hey, ___, is that a mystic space portal behind you?”

“You've sailed across the sky and stars. The gods have brought you here unharmed.”

“My arms are broken, and I don't know why my chest is smoking.”

“I’m sure we’ll look back on this and laugh!”

“Ah, ___, do you think you could please warn me before you're about to light our righteous way?”

“Alright fine! Whatever man!”

“Then they ran straight away for they gave not a shit.”

“___, your heart is kind.”

“Stand back, ____, I'm going to hug them!”

“I probably should have brought some weapons.”

“I should have been in more pain than could ever be spoken...”

“Look, ___, the portal back home is opening!”

“Now fare thee well. It seems that our journey is at an end.”

It’s Bedtime

“Little child, close your eyes.”

“You’re like an angel in the moonlight.”

“It’s bedtime! Fucking bedtime!”

“Let my army of demons rock you to sleep!”

“I see you’re still awake for some reason. ...Was it the demons?”

“There's a boatload of pirates and they're fighting police.”

“Do you ever think about how ghosts can't be stopped by anything?”

“Would you like to see a slideshow about where meat comes from?”

“Apparently lots of venomous snakes can open doors! Who knew?”

“Check out my airhorn!” *HOOOOONK!*

“Here's one last bloodcurdling scream!”

The Wishing Bear

“I’m gonna ask for world peace. There’s so much pain and suffering on this earth...”

“OH NO! AAHH!!!”

“IT’S NOT THE WISHING BEAR!!!”

“CALL THE POLICE!! THE POLICE!!”

“Oh, real fucking nice, dude...”

I Don’t Know What We’re Talking About (And I Haven’t for Awhile)

“My heart was racing, and now we’re on our first date.”

“Now it's 10 o'clock and the meal is done, but the conversation's just begun.”

“You're fascinating, I feel blessed.”

“I don’t know what we’re talking about. And I haven’t for awhile.”

“I've been daydreaming about a pterodactyl named Lamar."

“I’m not absorbing anything.”

“Smile and nod.”

“Is it my turn to talk?”

“You’re looking at me -- Oh, God!”

“Focus... Focus....!”

“How many Draculas are hiding in this room?”

“I’d make an awesome cop if I could stop committing crime.”

“Anyway, why don't you and I go back to my place and, oh, I see you left at some point...”

Welcome to My Parents’ House

“I know what's on your mind.”

“The look in your eyes says 'take me tonight.’”

“Well I’ve got just the place.”

“Welcome to my parents' house!”

“You seem like a keeper.”

“I got my very own room and tons of free food.”

“Can you believe this shit is free?”

“S-sorry, sorry, every-everything's fine!”

“You need to go to bed.”

“Let's use our inside voices.”

“Sometimes ___ just hangs around to make sure I make good choices.”

“Get out of here, I said I'm on a date!”

“You always do this when I have company over!”

Wondering Tonight

“Sometimes I think of you and I.”

“No time will heal a wounded heart.”

“When I look up at the stars I wonder where you are.”

“I wonder who you’re slamming hard tonight.”

“Who is looking deeply in your eyes?”

“I sit here underneath the moon, wondering how our cherished memories were gone so soon.”

“...You were all I'll ever know of grace.”

“I'm missing you like crazy tonight.”

“I'm sitting here just thinking about why I'm alone without you next to me tonight.”

Ninja Brian’s Kids’ Album

“I kinda feel like I owe them one.”

“Everybody dies alone!”

“You know what-- I’m not doing this.”

The Decision Part 2: Ten Years Later

“Well we're still freaking awesome and we're back at your house!”

“We're all grown up and ready for romance.”

“Now maybe we can help you out, ‘cause ___ and I are still single somehow.”

“Now we're so fucking mature!”

“But before we begin, let me tell you where we've been.”

“We've had so many adventures.”

“I’ve had almost-sex with like a hundred girls!”

“There were Unicorn Wizards and samurai.”

“Wow... since we last saw each other, we've grown so much. As people, as ___... and also as people.”

Do Math With U

“Hello, my love. I've been away so long.”

“Let me pour you some champagne.”

“I wanna do math with you.”

“And our division's been too long.”

“Finally we’re here alone.”

“If our love was two trains traveling opposite directions at thirty miles an hour, baby, we'd still feel the same.”

“I guess it must be fate.”

“Now give my sweet ellipse a kiss.”

“Between me and you, we've got nothin' to prove.”

“Your curvature turns me on.”

“Calcul-me and calcul-you, girl, that makes calcul-us.”

“You know, they said it would never work between us. We're from completely different worlds.”

“Also. You fuck good.”

“I’ll love you till the end of pi.”

Thunder & Lightning

“But when I woke the next morning, I witnessed something odd.”

“I now had a new calling: I was destined to fight crime!”

“So I bought them a little unitard and found them a tiny cape.”

“I ran to the the city's toughest gang and screamed 'There's no escape!’"

“First you hear that rumble baby and then you see the flash!”

“Turns out being struck by lighting doesn't give you any powers.”

“They caved my head in with a pipe and beat me for several hours.”

“I looked up to the blackened sky and said an ancient prayer.”

“Lord, if you're there... Please infuse my nuts with the power of a thousand suns.”

“Holy shit, you’re real!?”

Outro (Prophecy) 

“Congratulations, traveler!”

“Induct them into the league of champions with one, final, triumphant chord.”

[adverb-slut]

Empty Wallets and Empty Stomachs (Fanfiction)

Hiiiii, another AO3 repost from me, mainly ‘cause I’m trying to spread out my stuff on both platforms.  This is a short four-chapter story that I’m going to post all in one go (that’s why it’s so long) since I think it’s hard to navigate between different chapters on Tumblr.  If you’d like to read this story on AO3, click here.  I apologize in advance for the really bad title; I just couldn’t think of anything better at the time.

Title: 

Empty Wallets and Empty Stomachs

Summary: 

No summary, really.  Just chilling with Mammon and Beel and MC  and being dumb.  Mostly just MC and Mammon go shoppin’ and you cook with Beel.  Other shenanigans ensue.

Genre: 

Humor/Fluff/Slice of Life

Rating:

T

Word Count:

6645

Additional Note: 

Sorry to take too much of your time up with the super long stores, but again, on AO3, this is formatted and was originally meant to be a four-chapter story! :)

-

Chapter 1

“ … and that, class, is the true nature of the Twin Paradox.  As you can see—” Your professor, a gangly demon with round glasses and a haircut that reminds you vaguely of the Backstreet Boys, is promptly interrupted by the low gong of the school bell, signaling that class is over.  

Upon hearing this, you whip out your D.D.D and make your way to the door as your teacher calls, “Don’t forget to read Chapter Seven, Section Nine through Twelve of your Physics IV: Mind Over Matter textbook for class on Wednesday!”  

You scroll through the messages on your Chat app, doing your best to keep one eye on your D.D.D and one eye on the sea of demons bustling to get to their next class.

Lucky for you, Physics is your last class of the day.  As you make your way to the House of Lamentation, you notice that you have a missed call dating back an hour ago from Mammon.

Feeling it’s too late to call back, you decide to send a text instead.

Mammon MC:  You called?

MC:  What’s up?

You see an ellipse bubble pop up immediately, indicating that Mammon is typing.

Mammon:  MC HOW DARE YOU MISS MY CALL

Mammon: You can miss everyone else’s calls, but not *mine*, got it?

Mammon:  I have important things to say, y’know!

You feel a smile grow on your face and shake your head.

MC:  Important things?  Like what?

Mammon:  WELL, it just so happens that I get paid today!

You stare at the message in confusion.  Paid?  Before you can question his statement, you remember that Mammon frequently did various modeling jobs to make cash.  It was supposed to be a way to earn a little spending money and pay off his debts, but unfortunately for his creditors, the latter very rarely happened.

However, you are still unsure as to why Mammon is telling you this.  You send a confused-looking sticker.

Mammon, surprisingly, doesn’t respond right away.  You close out of the Chat app and begin to put your D.D.D away.  As you fumble around for a pocket to put it in, you crash headfirst into someone.

Oh, crap, you think.  The demons at R.A.D normally don’t bother you, but that’s because you usually don’t headbutt them accidentally.

“I’m so sorry—” you start, but your apology is cut short as the demon turns around.  “Beel! I apologize; I didn’t see you there!”

Beelzebub pivots to face you.  “Oh, hi, MC,” he says, greeting you with a melancholy nod. 

You cock your head curiously.  The sixth-born demon’s face is set into a sorrowful frown, and the five-pound bag of Scummy Bears that he’s holding is only half empty.  “Is something wrong?”    

He looks down and shakes his head.  “Nothing you need to worry about.” Beel looks back at you.  “Are you going back to the House of Lamentation?”

You want to ask him some more questions, but at the same time, don’t want to pry.  “Yep!”

“Let’s walk together, then.”  He flashes you an unconvincing smile as the two of you begin to make your way down the R.A.D halls.  

Unsure of what to say, you keep silent, smiling internally as Beel walks slower than his usual long strides so that you can keep up with him.  By now, most students have either gone to their dorms or have made it to their last few classes; the only sounds that echo through the hallway are you and Beel’s footsteps.

You keep your silence until the two of you near a trash can in the hall, where Beel dumps what remains of his bag of Scummy Bears into the garbage.

You gasp and your eyes widen.  What in the Devildom just happened?

Beel puts a hand over his taut stomach in response to your astonished look.  He peers at his feet as he explains, “My stomach feels queasy. I can’t eat right now.”

In the few months that you have known Beel, you can hardly remember a time where he has turned down food, let alone thrown it in the trash.  Whatever problem Beel is facing, you wager it has to be serious.  

Beel turns away and continues to walk down the corridor.  You want to grab his hand and get him to stop, but knowing Beel’s strength, you know that there’s no way that you could physically do that.  Instead, you run in front of him and put your hands out, causing him to halt and tilt his head in confusion.

Furrowing your brow, you poke Beel in the chest.  “Tell me what’s bothering you, Beel.  It’s not good to keep things bottled up.”

Beelzebub still won’t meet your eyes.  “I know.” He sighs, as he glances up and notices that you still haven’t left his path.  “I’ll tell you later.”

You don’t want to push the soft-spoken demon and step to the side.  “I hope you do.”

As before, you and Beel continue to the House of Lamentation in silence.  Once you two arrive, Beel heads directly to him and Belphegor's room without his usual stop to the kitchen.  You shake your head and make your way over to your own room.

Dumping your backpack onto the floor, you head over to your downy bed, breathing in the floral scent of jasmine and roses.  Only Asmodeus uses that scent of detergent, so he must be on laundry duty this week. You mentally thank him for using such a pleasant scent, unlike the strange musk of the sandalwood and papyrus fabric softener that Satan had used two weeks earlier.  

Your laundry-related musings are interrupted by rapid, deafening knocking on your door.  You hope it is Beel, finally ready to talk about whatever is bothering him, but you know better than that.  Beel, for all his muscled glory, has a very quiet, almost timid knock. The only demon in the House of Lamentation that has a knock so boisterous, so cacophonous, so incessant is … 

“How come you’re not dressed yet?” Mammon demands, walking straight into your room as soon as you open the door.  “Didn’t you get my messages?”

“I haven’t checked my D.D.D in a bit,” you admit, pulling the device out of the pocket of your uniform.  You open the Chat app, noticing that you indeed have some message notifications from Mammon.

Mammon Mammon:  HUH?  How’re you confused by *that*?

Mammon:  Getting paid means I’m going shopping!  And you’re comin’ with me!

Mammon:  Be dressed by the time I get home from *barf* tutoring!

Mammon:  Curse Lucifer and Satan for making me go to that crap, by the way.

Mammon:  I mean, who *cares* if I have a D- in Statistics?

“I don’t think I can go shopping today, Mammon,” you sigh.  Grabbing your backpack from off the ground, you begin to rifle through it until you find your Physics IV textbook.  “I have a lot of homework due soon.”

“Homework, shmomework,” Mammon chides, yanking the book from your hands.  “There ain’ t nothing wrong with not doing it once in a while.”

You give him a look.  No wonder he has a D- in Statistics.  

Mammon grabs your hand, leads you off the bed, and pushes you over to the closet.  “Tell ya what, if you come with me, I’ll be super generous and buy you anything you want from the store—only something super cheap, though, but still!”

You want to protest, but figure Mammon won’t let this go.  Instead, you get dressed into something more casual than your uniform and step out of your closet.

The second-born, who was absentmindedly flipping through your Physics textbook as you changed, immediately sits erect once as you appear.  “I swear that I wasn’t going through your things,” he claims. “Much.”  He gives your outfit a once-over and two thumbs-up.  “I always forget how nice you clean up for a human, MC!  You’re officially fashionable enough to stand by my side!”

You blush ever so slightly, but before Mammon can notice, you busy yourself by emptying your backpack of any school-related content.  That way, you have an empty bag to carry as you go shopping.  “And if I don’t want to stand by your side, Mammon?” you tease.  

The demon’s face flushes with a blush even deeper than yours.  “O—of course, you want to be by my side! I’m the Great Mammon, don’t you forget that!”

You smile as you take out your last notebook from your bag.  “Okay, I’m ready to go shopping with you,” you say, putting your backpack on.  “Let’s go.”

“Say it with a little more enthusiasm, will ya?” Mammon complains as he opens the door to let you through. 

You shake your head, smile, and decide to tease him some more.  “Fine. Let's go!”

“That’s not the part I said to be more enthusiastic about!”

-

Chapter 2

“Are you serious, Mammon?” Leviathan growls. “I already checked ahead—the Ruri-chan figurine, if you buy it in the Majolish collectibles department, is only four hundred and fifty thousand Grimm. I’m not paying you a cent more.”

Mammon waves his hand nonchalantly. “And if I ain’t mistaken, Levi, ya want this figure today, right?”

Levi grinds his teeth. “Right.”

“Well, then! Ya want me to go buy it for you today, you pay me my two hundred and twenty-five thousand Grimm labor fee!”

“I’m not paying you that much Grimm extra.”

“Then go buy it yourself!”

“I can’t. I have to finish this gaming campaign today. I already put it off long enough, and it’s not my fault that the Ruri-chan neko maid figure releases today, too!  It's gonna sell out, fast!”

“Then pay me my damn labor fee!”

“You just made that up, and I already told you—I’m not paying you that much, you ass!”

And on they go.  

You’ve been listening to the two brothers argue for the past fifteen minutes. You had thought by now maybe Mammon and you would have gotten a start on his shopping, but no, he had insisted on barging into Levi’s room to see if he could make a little extra Grimm off of his younger brother before the two of you left.  

“You’re scum, Mammon, you know that?” Levi growls. He turns to you, pouting. “What about you, MC? Will you buy my precious Ruri-chan figurine for me?”

You sigh. “Give me the money, Levi. If I see the figure, I’ll buy it.”

The third-born demon grins. “Thanks! I knew I could count on you.”  

He rummages through the pocket of his coat and begins to count out the right amount of Grimm. Once he has enough bills, he hands the stack to you, but before you can grab it, the money is intercepted by Mammon.

“I’ll hold onto that for you, MC,” Mammon assures, a coy smile lighting his face. “You don’t have any pockets in that sweatshirt.”

You smile sardonically and pull Levi’s money back. You know better than to trust Mammon, the Avatar of Greed with money of all things. Secrets? Maybe. Schemes? Definitely. Being a tsundere idiot? There was no one more capable. But money? You’d be rivaling him in idiocy if you did that.  

“It’s fine; I got it,” you promise, sliding the money into the deepest pocket in your backpack.

Levi scowls at Mammon as you two leave. “Please die.”

-

“Here we are, MC!” Mammon grins, waving his hand for you to take in all the scenery. “The most expensive shopping district in all of the Devildom!”

You look around at your surroundings; it was a horribly gaudy site. There are huge building complexes, studded with stores selling items from the most famous brands in the world. What really brings out the garishness of the location is that every store seems to be covered in gold.

There’s a gilded Ralph Goren shop, a Chanhell showroom that sparkles with a yellow brighter than the sun, and even a Burbury emporium that glitters with a fine flaxen coating.  

“Why … why does everything look like this?” you can’t help but ask.

Mammon, who had been staring lovingly at the lurid buildings, looks over at you, pulled out of his reverie. “What? Oh, the gold? It’s just to show how expensive everything is.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, MC,” Mammon explains, suddenly grabbing your hand as he leads you further into the shining abyss. “All this stuff—” He gestures toward all the name-brand stores. “You can find in any of the regular couture shopping districts in the Devildom. However, the stuff sold here specifically—the very same stuff in all the other stores—is more expensive.  The buildings are all covered in gold to represent that.  It’s great, huh?”

You dig your heels in the ground. “Wait … you mean … you’re only shopping here … because it’s expensive?”

“Duh! Things that cost more make ya look cool.” He yanks your hand harder to get you moving again. “Not that I need help looking cool or anythin.’”

“Of course.”

Wow, you realize. He really lives up to his title of the Avatar of Greed.

“Oh! Look over there! Silver-plated spurs! Let’s go see if they have ‘em in bronze or somethin’—silver kinda clashes with my look, y’know? And holy crap, they’re selling diamond insoles for your slippers in that store! Can’t imagine they’d be comfortable, but still, why wouldn’t you want ‘em?”

Before you know it, you and Mammon are standing in line for the register at Versucky, with the second-born demon holding at least seven or eight different, high-end items, all of which you wonder if he has any use for.  

“I know what you’re thinking, MC,” Mammon says, looking at your confused expression. “How much money does the Great Mammon make from modeling if he can afford to buy this much stuff?”

You want to point out that that was not in fact, what you were wondering, but he barrels on ahead.

“Well, a lot, of course, ‘cause y’know, I got all this.” He gestures toward his body sensuously. “But still, even if it’s not enough, I got my beloved Goldie!” Mammon shuffles all his desired items to one hand, and with the other, whips out a shiny black credit card from his pocket.

Your eyes widen. “Didn’t Lucifer confiscate that from you two days ago?”

“Yeah,” Mammon admits. “But I found it. He left it in one of the oysters in Levi’s aquarium—don’t ask how I figured it out.”

You shake your head and can’t help but smile at his rebelliousness. You wonder how Lucifer is going to punish Mammon for his craftiness this time.

As you and he reach the front of the line, Mammon suddenly drops everything he’s holding. “Oh, crap.”

You reach to pick up all the items that had tumbled to the ground. “What?”

“Well … “ Mammon scratches the back of his neck, a slight blush coming over his tan skin. “I just realized that I promised I’d buy ya somethin’ if you came with me, and heh, here you are.”

“It’s okay, Mammon; you don't need to get me anything,” you reassure him. You hadn’t really expected him to keep his end of the bargain, and honestly, you didn’t really care. You hadn’t actually needed anything from the store, and in fact, the only reason you had tagged along was, well, for the company … and the fact that Mammon wouldn’t have shut up if you hadn’t.  

“No, it’s not,” he says. He grabs your wrist and leads you out of Versucky. “I said I’d buy ya somethin’ and that’s what I’m gonna do. Here, we’ll buy whatever you want first, so then I’ll know how much Grimm I have left to spend.”

“But you don’t have to worry about how much money you can spend,” you remind him. “You have Goldie.”

Mammon’s blush deepens. “W—well, yeah, I know!” He looks down, grinding his heel into the ground. “But I just remembered that Lucifer put a control lock on her that notifies him every time she’s being used, and then he’ll know I took her back.” His head whips up immediately. “And just so y’know, it ain’t like I’m afraid of him, or anythin;’ I just figured not using her would be the smarter thing to do, that’s all!” 

You smile at his display. “If you say so.”

“Wh—what! Ya don’t believe me?”

“No, no, of course, I do.” 

“You—you better!” He coughs and tries to regain his composure. “Now, where do you wanna go? Unless ya wanted to shop at Versucky, ‘cause I guess we could go back in there.” 

“I’m not really sure,” you admit. Even in the human world, you weren’t very familiar with couture brands, and you’re even more lost in the Devildom. Your eyes scan the apparently endless miles of gilded shops until you spot a strange blip of steel gray in the sea of gold. “What’s that?”

Mammon squints in the direction you point. “Never seen that store before in my life. Kinda gross, though. The whole ashy color scheme really clashes with the rest of the buildings here.”

To be honest, you find the dull color of the edifice somewhat soothing compared to the sheer gaudiness of its surroundings. You begin to make your way over to it, Mammon in tow.

“Thrifty’s Cheap Finds,” Mammon reads as you near the building. He dry heaves. “Cheap finds? What is this? Some kind of lame way to attract broke-ass degenerates like …” He trails off when he sees your raised eyebrow and blushes. “I wasn’t gonna end that sentence with ‘you,’ I swear! Calm down!”

You shake your head and don’t respond as you enter the store. As you begin to wander around the shop, not even Mammon can keep his jaw from falling open in wonder. Inside Thrifty’s Cheap Finds is everything from hairspray to mattresses to books to cookie sheets—all of them branded with human company labels.  

“No wonder everything here is so cheap,” Mammon realizes. “No one in the Devildom wants human stuff. Well, unless you’re Satan and Lucifer and like all that antique crap.”

You resist the desire to glare at him and instead pore through everything in the shop, your eyes never failing to examine each item. It’s been months since you’ve been home and seen any of these types of knickknacks.  

A wave of homesickness washes over you as you finger a timeless gingham tablecloth, as Mammon ambles off to the electronics section, which is filled with ancient-looking cellphones and computers. 

You swallow the feeling away before it can cause a lump in your throat and tears in your eyes. You wander farther down, realizing that all the mismatched pots and pans mean that this is the cooking aisle.  

You pause in the section of this aisle that displays cookbooks and remember the miserable look on Beelzebub’s face earlier today. Perhaps, you wonder, there is something in here that would cheer him up.

The cookbooks are all in disarray, and you shuffle through the many stacks of them several times before you find a book that you think Beel would like. You flip through the cookbook and nod in approval; the pictures are large and detailed and the human recipes are quick, simple and hearty—perfect for the always hungry Avatar of Gluttony.  

You flip the book over and read the price tag. “Nine thousand Grimm.”  

You worry that that’s too much, especially since you remember Satan once mentioning that books from the human world usually weren’t economical. You haven’t really gotten the idea of how much a single Grimm is worth yet, and you keep hearing Mammon’s voice in your head, insisting that whatever you buy today be cheap.  

“Hey, what’cha got there, MC?” Mammon asks, materializing as if on cue. “This what you want?” He grabs the book from your hands and gives it a mildly disgusted look. “A cookbook?”

“It’s for Beel,” you say, defensively.

Mammon raises an eyebrow. “The only demon ya should be buying stuff for is me, but I’ll let it slide this time.” He too flips the book over. You grimace nervously as his eyes widen when he sees the price.

“I’ll put it back if it’s too expens—” you begin, pulling it away.

Mammon blushes. “Ar—are you kidding, MC? When I said to buy something cheap earlier, I didn’t actually mean it! Hell, I’m willing to splurge on ya if you really want somethin!’ You didn’t actually have to go find something this dirt-cheap!”

Huh, so nine thousand Grimm is considered inexpensive, you note. You smile at Mammon’s uncharacteristic generosity. “It’s okay, I really do want this.”

He runs a hand through his hair and tries to regain his composure, but to no avail. “Y—you sure? I mean—if ya wanna get somethin’ from Ralph Goren or somethin,’ I’m cool with that!”

You hold the cookbook to your chest and nod. “I’m sure.” You grab his hand and lead him to the register.

As Mammon pays the nine thousand Grimm to the lanky demon clerk, he shakes his head and looks at you. “You really are something else, y’know that, MC?”

-

Chapter 3

As soon as you and Mammon return home, you walk over to Leviathan’s room and knock on his door.  Hung on your wrist is a bag from a store called, Look At Me, I’m a Stupid Otaku (or at least, that’s what Mammon had told you the building sign had said.  You don’t know how to read Japanese.), which held a Ruri-chan figurine. “Levi? It’s me, MC.”

“Come in,” the third-born demon calls. 

You open the door, only to see Levi slouched over on his computer.  You take the figurine out of the bag. “Where do you want this?”

“Oh, is that my darling Ruri-chan?” he asks, his eyes never leaving the screen.  “You can bring it here. Sorry, I’d come over and get it myself, but there are only two minutes left on this boss stage, and he still has half of his HP left.”

You bring the figure to his desk and leave it next to what looks like a box of granola bars.  “Super high-energy chocolate-covered cricket snacks,” you read. “Now with extra protein.” You blanch because despite living in the Devildom for a while, you still have yet to become accustomed to the food.  

“Yeah, sometimes when I’m really in the gaming zone, I don’t leave my room for days, not even to get meals and stuff lololol, so I keep those here if I get hungry.”

“Can I have one?”  You are planning to check in on Beel after making this stop to Levi’s room, and realize that it would be better to show up with food.

His eyes glued to his computer, Levi nods.  “Go for it.”  

As you reach into the box to take one, Levi suddenly turns toward you, even though you can see the timer counting down on his game.  “Better take the whole box. Beel’s not gonna be satisfied with just one.” He sighs. “Everyone’s been kinda worried about him, you know?  He’s been down all day, but he’s not saying anything to anyone, not even Belphie.” He perks up. “But! If there is someone who can make him feel better, it’s you, MC!”

You smile at his worry for his brother.  “Thanks, Leviathan.” You stuff the box into your backpack.

He nods, before turning back to his game, frowning when he realizes that the onscreen timer read 00:00 and he hadn’t been able to finish off the boss.  “He’s in the gym.”

“Of course,” you say, as you leave his room.

-

Just as Levi had said, you find Beel in the House of Lamentation’s fully-equipped gym. 

The sixth-born demon is sitting cross-legged in front of an elliptical, a towel slung across his shoulders.  Unsurprisingly, his twin—Belphegor—is with him, napping with his head resting on Beel’s lap.  

Beel frowns nervously when he sees you.  “Oh, hi, MC.” He sighs. “ I guess you’re not here to tell Belphie how cute he looks sleeping like this. ”

You cock your head curiously.  “I can if you want me to.”

Beel shakes his head.  “I was just checking to see if he's awake.”

“Ah,” you realize, sitting down next to him.  “Is there something that you don’t want Belphie to hear?”

Beel nods but doesn’t say anything more.  Instead, he fiddles with the hem of his rather tight-fitting tank top.  You try not to stare at the bulging silhouette of his abs that show through.  “It’s funny,” he begins. “When either of us is upset, I get less hungry, but Belphie becomes more sleepy.”  

You remember learning of the twins’ connection a few days earlier.  The two had a bond so strong that they sometimes shared each other’s feelings, and if one had an extreme emotion, the other would often experience it, too.  You put a hand on his arm. “What are you so upset about, Beel?”

He groans.  “It’s nothing, really.”

You decide to try a different tactic.  “You’re worrying your brothers,” you admit gently.

“I know.”  Beel takes a deep breath.  Twisting around, he pulls out his navy backpack from behind the elliptical.  After rummaging through it for a moment, he pulls out a telltale Physics IV: Mind Over Matter textbook.  He flips to the end of the book and releases a packet of paper, which he hands to you.

You examine it for a moment, surprised to see in obnoxious red ink, the phrase F - sprawled across the front.  Maybe stick to lifting weights, meathead is written underneath it.  Although the words cause your blood to boil, you swallow your anger and calmly move your hand up to Beel’s shoulder.  “You’re upset because you did bad on a test?”

Beel slouches, his back sliding down one of the supports of the elliptical.  He continues to fiddle with his shirt and doesn’t meet your eyes. “It’s not just that,” he confesses.  “If I fail another one, my professor is going to make me repeat the subject.” He sighs. “Belphie’s always helped me study in Physics; we almost always have the same class schedule—except I take Weights and he takes regular P.E—and he always made sure I knew the material.”

“But Belphie doesn’t go to R.A.D this year,” you realize.  “He’s supposed to be enrolled in a human school for the exchange program.”

“Yeah,” Beel sighs.  “I can’t ask him to learn the information at home with me—I know he would if I asked—he’s already been through so much this year.”  He gulps. “Lucifer is going to be so mad when he finds out I’m failing.”

“Why can’t you just get a tutor, like Mammon does?”

“You see how everyone makes fun of him because of that.”

You want to point out that Mammon usually brought the teasing upon himself  and justified it with his unrelenting moronness, but an idea strikes you instead.  “Hey, I 'm in Physics IV, too.  Why don’t we study together?”

Beel’s face lights up.  “Really, MC? You’d do that?” 

You laugh as you hear his stomach growl in excitement.  “Of course!” You remember the cricket snacks you took from Levi’s room and begin to take the box out of your backpack.  You see the cookbook you bought for him and take that out, too. “You’re hungry, now?”

He grins sheepishly.  “Yes, I’m famished!”

“Look here, I brought you snacks,” you say, handing the box to him.  “Thank Levi next time you see him.”

Beel immediately rips open a package and begins to eat.  “Hi wroh.” He swallows, and repeats, “I will. Thanks to you, too.”  He looks at the cookbook in your hand curiously. “What’s that?”

You place the book in his lap, balancing it precariously on Belphegor’s head.  “It’s a cookbook from the human world. I bet it has all kinds of recipes for foods you haven’t tried before.”

Beel grabs another cricket snack as his eyes widen.  “I haven’t eaten many human foods before.  Let’s look at it together.”

You nod, opening the book and flipping the page as Beel munches.  

“Haha,” he laughs.  “Angel Food Cake. Maybe we should make some for Simeon and Luke.”  

You smile and turn to the following page.  The next recipe is for Devil’s Food Cake. “Or maybe you can make this one for dessert someday.  Or this one—look—Deviled Eggs.”

“Those look good.”  Opening another snack, Beel suggests, “Hey, MC, I’m on dinner duty tomorrow.  Want to help me cook some of these foods? Or maybe, I can cook and you can help me study?”

“That sounds like a good idea, Beel,” you muse.  “What do you think we should make, then?”

“Well, Satan won’t eat animals, Leviathan refuses to eat seafood, and Belphie—” He pats his brother on the head.  “—doesn’t like to eat beef or veal. If we use any of those, we probably have to substitute the meat with other things.”

You and Beel pore through the cookbook for several hours, finally deciding on Deviled Eggs as appetizers, Garlic Parmesan Risotto and Savory Mashed Potatoes for the main course, and Black Forest Cake for dessert.  

“This will be fun,” Beel promised, yawning.  “I’ll pick up the ingredients after school tomorrow.”

You curse the contagiousness of yawns as you yawn, too, feeling your eyes grow heavy.  You can feel Beel’s head rest on your shoulder as he begins to snore lightly. Without thinking, you lean your head to the right, feeling Beel’s under you.  You promise yourself that you won’t fall asleep as you close your eyes and mutter, “Sounds … like a … plan.”

-

Chapter 4

“I’m gonna kill him,” Mammon whispers, his voice low and colder than ice as you, him, and Beel huddle over your D.D.D.  “I’m really gonna kill him.”

Beel frowns at his elder brother.  “Why are you so upset? You’re not even in the picture.”

“Yeah, if anyone should be mad, it’s me, Beel, or Belphie,” you comment, zooming in on the photo, which had been taken yesterday.  

It was from when you and Beel had fallen asleep together as you two pored over the cookbook you had bought for him.  Strangely enough, Asmodeus—who had both taken and posted the photo—was in the picture, as well; he was posing as if he had been napping sweetly on your shoulder the whole time.  To everyone’s surprise, the only one “awake” in the photo appeared to be Belphie, who had wriggled his way from lying in Beel’s lap to having his legs rest on his brother while his torso and head were sprawled all over your lap.  He was too deeply engrossed in reading Beel’s new cookbook to notice his brother taking the picture. Asmodeus captioned the photo, Just getting a bit of beauty sleep with my babes 😘. 

“Yes, you should!”  Mammon says. “ Why aren’t you, by the way?  This photo is a total invasion of your privacy!”  He whirls toward Beel, his eyebrows downturned in anger.  “And what’s the big idea, Beel? Sleepin’ on MC’s shoulder like that?”  He puts a hand on your head patronizingly. “You shouldn’t touch anyone like that without their permission!”

Beel smiles.  “Well, I think MC looks cute in this photo!  And it’s not my fault that we fell asleep like that.”

Mammon rolls his eyes.  “Well, I’m still gonna kill Asmo for postin’ it.”  He taps on your Devilgram feed to unlike the photo.  “Anyway, why’d ya call me here?” he asks, gesturing toward the Hall of Lamentation’s kitchen.  

“No one called you here,” you remind him, taking a seat at the kitchen table.  You reach down, grab your backpack and pull out the cookbook you had bought for Beel, as well as your copy of Physics IV: Mind Over Matter.

“Yeah,” Beel agrees, his mouth downturned in a frown.  “You just heard that MC was going to be in the kitchen helping me cook and decided to come along.”

Blushing, Mammon takes a seat next to you.  “Maybe I just wanted to help ya cook, Beel.”

“No way.”  Beel sticks out his arms, barring him from entering the kitchen.  “You’re not helping me cook. If you cook, I won’t eat it.”

“Okay, okay, fine, jeez.”

As you flip through the cookbook to find the recipes that you and Beel had decided to make yesterday, Mammon grabs your Physics textbook, whipping through it boredly.  “Why’d ya bring your textbook to the kitchen? You having trouble in Physics and want to study here or somethin’? ‘Cause if you are, never fear—The Mammon is here!”

You look at Beel—who glances at you nervously—from the corner of your eyes.  You yank the textbook away from Mammon. “You’re not even taking Physics.”

“Yeah, I’m taking Chemistry, and have a C in it, so I’m still passing—so what?”

“How are you supposed to teach me Physics when you’re not even in it?”

“MC!  Don’t doubt the Great Mammon’s abilities!”

“Oh yeah?  Does the Great Mammon know the formula for … angular acceleration?”

“The change in angular speed divided by the change in time,” Beel pipes up, as he hovers over the stove, checking for the water to boil for his Deviled Eggs.

Mammon laughs and waves his hand at his brother.  “Don’t be ridiculous, Beel.” He turns to you. “C’mon, MC, don’t mess around with me.  I know ‘angular acceleration’ isn’t even a real word.”  

You turn to the glossary in the back of your book and point to the term with the formula next to it, which Beel had recited.  “Seems like the Great Mammon’s abilities have failed him.” You watch Mammon blush furiously and smile. “And besides, Beel and I are having a Physics study session, since we’re both in the class.”

“And we’re not getting much studying done with you here,” Beel quips.  He retrieves four dozen eggs from the refrigerator and begins to carefully drop them into the boiling water on the stove with a ladle.

You do a double-take and glance at the cookbook.  “Beel, the serving information here says that to serve eight people you only need sixteen eggs, at the most.”

Mammon and Beel shake their heads.  

“If my brothers are going to get a chance to eat anything, we’re going to have to make this many,” Beel decides.  He hoists up a giant pot of potatoes that had been already boiling on the stove and plops it in front of Mammon, handing him a potato masher.  “Mash these.”

“I thought you said you didn’t want me to cook anything,” Mammon whines.  

“Yes, because whatever you make tastes gross.  Mashing the potatoes isn’t cooking anything, so you can do just that.”

Mammon grumbles something that sounds curse word-y, but stands up and begins to work the masher into the potatoes.  “Just for that, I’m making ‘em creamy. No lumps.” He whispers to you, “Beel loves lumpy potatoes.”

“Fine, Belphie will like it smooth, anyway,” Beel assures.  He walks over to the refrigerator and yanks out an entire wheel of parmesan cheese.  He sets it in front of you and hands you a cheese grater. “Can you shred this cheese, MC?  I’m about to start getting the arborio rice for the risotto ready and the whole process is going to take a while.”

Your eyes widen.  He wants me to grate the entire wheel of parmesan.  “Sure, but what about our … you know, study session?”  You had promised to help Beel with Physics, and you were by no means going to forget about it.

“Ask me questions as we go?  Sorry, I didn’t realize how much there was to do,” he says sheepishly.  

You nod, laying your Physics textbook flat open to Chapter Seven, which was your assigned reading for your next class.  

You cut off a block of cheese and begin to run it against the serrated surface of the cheese grater for several hours, asking Beel problem after problem from the book.  He stumbles on quite a few of them, but you correct him only if you know how to—after all, you yourself aren't a master in Physics. The ones you don’t are questions that you skip, mentally circling them to come back to later.  

Every so often, Beel grabs a scoop of the mound of grated parmesan that you have shredded and adds it to his pot of risotto.  Surprisingly, Mammon also throws several handfuls of cheese into his potatoes, as he mashes them until they are so smooth that you were sure that not even an ant would be able to find the tiniest lump.

Beel doesn’t notice that Mammon adds the rest of the ingredients in the recipe to the potatoes—copious amounts of cream, whole stalks of herbs, salt, and more butter than you have ever seen in your life, and stirs them together.  

“Beel says he won’t eat anythin’ I make ‘cause he’ll hate it,” Mammon explains to you when you stare at him for disobeying his brother’s explicit orders of doing nothing but mashing the potatoes.  He smirks. “But wait ‘till he gets a load of these.  They’re gonna be great.”

You roll your eyes at the mischievous demon, wondering how his little fling with deviancy is going to bite him this time. 

“Okay, time to assemble the cake,” Beel announces, plopping all forty-eight freshly-piped Deviled Eggs onto the table, along with a steaming casserole filled with Garlic Parmesan Risotto.  “MC, can you sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top?”  

As you begin to do just that, he brings over three round German chocolate cakes, a bowl of whipped cream, and a dish filled with cherries macerated in sugar.  One of the three cakes is already topped with a layer of cream and cherries.  

“I hate cherries,” Mammon grumbles.

As if on cue, Asmodeus walks by.  “That’s why you’ve never popped one.”

You stifle your laughter as Mammon’s face turns a very unbecoming shade of red.  “Asmo!”  He sprints after his brother, leaving you and Beel alone in the kitchen.  “I was already gonna kill you once, but now I’m gonna kill you twice! C’mere, you bastard!”

You turn towards Beel, who is putting the third layer of cake onto the growing tower and covering it with whipped cream.  

Putting his spatula down, Beel looks at you.  “MC, thanks so much for helping me today—with the food, with the studying, with everything.”  He looks down. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

You smile at him.  “It’s no problem, Beel!”

“No, really,” Beel insists, staring into your eyes with an intensity that sends shivers all the way down to your toes and causes you to flush pink.  “I feel so much more confident now in Physics. I think if I took a quiz today, I’d at least know enough to pass.”

“I’m just glad I could help,” you say honestly.  

Beel grins and carefully lifts the Black Forest Cake by its base and puts it on a cake pedestal.  “It’s time to put all this food in the dining room,” he says. He then notices Mammon’s mashed potatoes.  He frowns as he sees the green herb fragments, signifying that his brother had done something other to the potatoes than simply mash them as he had told him to.  He dips a spoon into the pot and tastes them.  Beel’s face becomes a blazing inferno. “I’m going to eat him.”

“What?” you ask, noticing the sudden shift in his mood.

“Sugar.”

“Sugar?”

“He put … sugar … in the Savory Mashed Potatoes.” 

THE END