#and comfort. Common materials include:

[yasministration]

to love love - remus lupin

summary: remus lupin's friends all love love, even when it's between their best friend and the most reputable pureblooded woman in the castle. especially when it's between their best friend and the most reputable pureblooded woman in the castle. wc: idk but it's short

Remus’s hand was soft on the covered skin of your thigh, his touch ever present as you sat quietly next to him, nerves trembling within you. The dress you wore was long and not enough of you was exposed for Remus to have skin-on-skin comfort, but for now this would do. A few people walked by you in the common room, eyes widening as they turned to face their friends, hushed voices immediately bringing up conversation about you and your boyfriend.

These discussions — so clearly about you and Remus — weren’t surprising or bothersome. If you were one of them, you’d be doing the same, because what on earth were you and Remus Lupin doing together? On the same couch? In the same room?

You were the definition, the essence, of luxury. A perfect image of poise and elegance. Always respectful, face never glaring. If you weren’t smiling politely, you had a neutral expression on your features, never a negative emotion displaying itself. You weren’t one of the obnoxious Slytherins, always in feuds with the Gryffindors, getting into trouble. No, you came from a reputable family — one so important that you didn’t flaunt your name around to bring you status. You just carried it alongside you with subtle pride everywhere you went.

But this luxury didn’t end at your personality. The dresses you wore spoke enough about your wealth if the simple jewellery that embellished your skin wasn’t a giveaway already. The most informal clothes anyone had seen you wear was the Hogwarts uniform; shirt material cheap, clinging to your skin in crevices you didn’t know existed.

Remus, on the other hand, was rough where you were soft. The brains behind the marauders’ clever yet destructive pranks, a quiet yet thrilling presence in lesson, scoffs and comments he barely realised escaped his lips sending his classmates into silent fits of laughter.

He was the different one, the sensible one. Despite his scarred face hinting to secrets he may never spill, his kind eyes were enough to draw you in. You never batted an eye to his battered uniform, fabric of the sleeves of his jumper thinning from how often he wore it. But you were drawn to him, your differences never pushing you apart, but bringing you closer together.

To everyone else though, you belonged in different worlds. And to everyone else, including Remus’s friends — who hadn’t believed their eyes when they had spotted you across the hallway, one of your hands reaching up to straighten up Remus’s collar — the proximity between you riveting.

They’d insisted on meeting Remus’s new friend, because you were obviously close (and they didn’t want to scare him away by immediately teasing). Turns out the marauders didn’t need to play any parts, because that same night in the common room, Remus was coming clean about your relationship.

You’d been together for months, and they didn’t even know.

But now, waiting for Remus’s four most important friends to meet you, you felt like hiding. Because if they didn’t like you, it meant you and Remus were wrong about each other. If they thought you didn’t match, it would probably be because you truly belonged in different worlds. Refusing to let the anxiousness reflect on your face, you snuggled deeper into your boyfriend’s side, one hand brushing against his cheek.

Remus glanced down at you, lowering his face to press a sweet kiss to your cheek. It seemed as though that kiss was a cue for for his friends to enter the common room, a roar of chatter following their path towards you. Remus moved his head to see them, a smile on his face as he exhaled nervously, standing up. You followed his movements, trying to hide behind his tall figure, the wide smiles of Sirius Black and James Potter scarily intimidating you now that they were targeted towards you.

Lily, however, beelined towards you, a kind smile on her face as she threw her arms around you. You stiffened, acutely aware of four pairs of eyes watching your reaction to the hug. You smiled, bringing your hands up to awkwardly pat her back.

Swallowing thickly as Lily let go of you, excitedly introducing herself to you, you silently prayed for Remus to protect you from an onslaught of hugs. As though reading your mind, he wrapped a protective arm around your shoulder as you stood, a shy look on your face as you greeted them.

Marlene couldn’t help her quiet laugh, and the glint suddenly disappeared from your eyes, convinced she was mocking you. Marlene felt bad, grimacing to herself before mumbling a quiet apology.

“Look at you.” Sirius cut in before she could say anything, a smirk balanced on his lips. “So different and yet…” But somehow you knew Sirius didn’t mean it in a bad way, and you felt a little better. He had a shimmer in his eyes, watching you as he and James went to sit side by side on the couch.

Remus guided you to an armchair, tugging you into his lap. “So this is…” You started, humming softly. Awkward, was the word you were looking for. “Can I ask you a question?” Perked up James, slumping back into the sofa. You nodded, bringing a hand up to play with the short hairs on the back of Remus’s head. Your boyfriend leaned into your touch as James chewed on his bottom him, squinting at you.

“Would you ever bring Remus home to meet your parents?” The question brought a laugh out of you, amusing you whereas Remus felt his eyes nearly bulge out of his face in shock, his mouth parting at the audacious question.

“I think the question you’re asking me is if my parents blood purists who support Voldemort.” You clarified, leaning into Remus’s body. Remus gripped one of your thighs, eyes scanning the side of your face. You raised your eyebrows at his friends, watching them watch you, expectant looks on their faces. “They’re not.” You finalised, a smirk tugging at the corners of your lips as you saw all four of their shoulders drop in relief.

“Okay, now for the important question!” Started Sirius, only to be interrupted by Lily, who jumped up on the couch, arms wrapping around her boyfriend. Sirius glared playfully at her.

“Yes, important question! How did you and Remus get together, because he won’t tell us anything!” Marlene nodded in support to those words, a grin forming on her face as she forced herself between Sirius and the arm of the couch, shoving the boy with her elbow so he would make more space for her.

In the mean time, you had turned your gaze towards Remus, a teasing smile on your face as your finger traced the sharp line of his jaw. “You haven’t told them?” You asked softly, and Remus tore his eyes away from his friends to look at you, shrugging. “Did you tell your friends?”

“I told Narcissa and Andy. They're the only ones who matter anyway.” “Oh.”

“Moony here just gets shy. Smiles so hard when talking about you that he can’t get the words out right then gets embarrassed.” Explained James, who immediately earned a humiliated call of his name by Remus, though it was drowned out by your ecstatic laugh. “Is that true?” You asked Remus, who turned his attention to the fabric on your dress, drawing abstract patterns on it.

“I-It might be.” So you pressed a grateful kiss to Remus’s temple, and the boy blushed brighter than his friends thought possible as you averted your focus back to the redhead. “I was asking Professor McGonagall a question in her office about some assignment and then he came in to pretty much ask the same one. We were both headed to the great hall afterwards — got talking. It sort of built a habit from there.”

“Kind of stalkerish of him, don’t you think?” Teased Sirius, grinning as he asked you. You smiled, glancing at Remus lovingly when you felt his fingertips on the side of your face, brushing loose strands of hair away from your eyes. “He can be stalkerish with me if he wants to. I don’t mind.”

James was so close to letting out an exaggerated gag, the love between you and Remus too overbearing. He now knows why everyone used to stare at him and Lily, secret smiles covered up with teasing comments, throwing everyone into fits of laughter. James glanced at Sirius, who matched his gaze, soft smile still floating on his lips. In unison, they nodded, showing the other their approval of you.

As James turned to glance at Lily, he caught her staring at you and Remus’s private moment fondly, leaning her chin on a closed hand. Feeling James’s eyes on her, she turned to look at her boyfriend, snuggling deeper into his side.

James let out a satisfied sigh; he loved love.

taglist: @ravisinghs-wife, @amatoanima, @starry-remus, @pain-in-the-ashe, @hiireadstuff, @superlegend216, @treefairy-28, @kitkatkl, @rory-cakes, @juliet-f017, @fl0weryannie, @tiaajosephin, @why-am-i-like-this18, @theoraekenslover, @animalcrossingshameless, @azure-drag0ness, @dream-alittlebiggerdarling, @dearlizzies, @matcha-kitty13, @thenasoneshots, @cakiebleh, @slytherin-princess-x, @daydreamandforget, @bxuzi, @dlljdhsh, @5sospenguinqueen, @aouoo, @spider–girl, @fandomhoe101, @user010380, @simp-for-fiction, @selenewowww, @paytonluvxx, @sharkers00

[blogmixed]

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[mostly-imagines]

answering a question nobody asked: what are jason's love languages ranked?

giving:

5 ) gift giving is bottom tier for him. i just dont see how he could value that more than any of the above because of the way he grew up. like material things and money seem like something he’d reject more than anything to me. but he does still give you presents, of course. he’ll buy you flowers randomly and jewelry and little things he’d noticed you admiring. but i dont think he really does it as a method of expressing his love for you so much as just like a little nice thing to do for you. its not his preferred method of communication, at least.

4 ) a little lower on the list comes words of affirmation because i don’t think it comes as naturally to him. he’s a man of few words and those chosen are caked in sarcasm and dry in a way that attempts to push people away, even if he doesn’t mean to. i just think his words can be rough around the edges even if his meaning isn’t. when he can work through it though, his words are very gentle and genuine. not one for hyperbole but really truly means what he says. he hears that you’re insecure about how a dress looks on you and he’s telling you to ‘shut up, you look good.’ or you’re nervous and he’ll say “you’re fine, don’t worry about it.” to someone else’s ears it might sound dismissive but you know that not how he means it. there’s a lot of unsaid words with him that are more significant than whats coming out of his mouth. like i said though, only like level 10 acquaintances and you will ever know him well enough to decipher those secret meanings.

3 ) he tends to treat himself like a loner, pulling away from people like second nature, but after he met you he found himself wanting to be around you all the time. he’s not the best with words or romantic gestures so quality time is an easier way of reminding you he loves you. he likes just sitting with you and letting you ramble about your day—listening to your voice is a big part of his calming down process every night. but sitting in comfortable silence with you is probably his favorite. he doesn’t get that with a lot of people. silence—sure; comfortable—not so much. he loves the implied intimacy and trust of quietly cooking, napping together, or doing your own things in the same space.

2 ) physical touch is another big one for him. only unlockable after entering a relationship with him. he does it for a lot of reasons, common ones include: as a reminder that he’s there, to ease anxiety (yours or his own), as a sort of fidget, or if he’s feeling a little possessive. its honestly going to shock his family how much he initiates touch with you. he’ll shove them off of him when they try to hug him and is likely to throw hands if they get too touchy. so when they meet you for the first time and he’s squeezing your hand in his the whole night, shoulder to shoulder with you—they’re surprised, to say the least. as time goes on they start to notice that he looks borderline uncomfortable when he’s not touching you—like he doesn’t know what to do with his body. his favorite ways to touch you (non sexually) include: keeping you pressed back to his chest, having your leg hooked atop his when you’re sitting hanging out, hand on the back of your neck, and hands on your hips are a must.

1 ) jason's prime method of communication is through acts of service. he fully believes it’s his responsibility to take care of you and doing things for you comes very naturally to him anyways. he’s known to refuse to let you carry things, let you have the comfortable chair, give you the last of his snack, that kind of thing. he also wants to make your life easier as much as possible—he’ll insist on you telling him about things you need, especially things you aren’t able to do yourself. you never ever have to hire a guy to come look at anything broken in your apartment, jason’s got that shit under wraps. he’d honestly be a little hurt if you did. he’s got a wide array of skills under his belt, he can fix leaky pipes, install locks, build furniture, repair cars, you name it.

receiving:

5 ) he always appreciates getting gifts from you but it’s not necessarily his preferred way of receiving your love. gift giving and acts of service are bottom tier because they’re the only ones that he feels like are taking away from you. costing you money or energy, wasting it on him—he doesn’t want you to do that. he can’t feel loved by the gesture when he’s busy concerning himself with the idea that he’s putting you out for it. when you do give him gifts he likes it most when they’re little things, especially things that you made. make him a friendship bracelet, a simple painting, a fucking paper crane—he’ll love it. with things like that, it makes him really happy to see how excited you are to show him and that’s when he feels the love from you.

4 ) it’s always a little hit or miss with acts of service. he has a hard time accepting help, especially from you. he tends to feel like its his job to take care of you and if you have to help him, he’s doing something wrong. the best way to perform acts of service for him is through littler things. cooking his favorite dinner, checking up on how his stitches are healing, covering him up when its cold and he’s too busy/stubborn to go get a blanket. don’t make a whole thing about it, just do it and he’ll notice and he’ll be thinking about it for a while.

3 ) for the same reasons as mentioned earlier, he loves quality time with you. he prefers being on the receiving end of it though because he is a little insecure and absolutely loves when you go out of your way to spend time with him. tell him you want to be around him, tell him you miss him, tell him you’re happy he’s here. warning: he might cry.

2 ) you’ll notice this one because his breath will literally hitch. physical touch is one of the most prominent methods of affection in your relationship and he never gets used to it. the presence of just your head on his shoulder or your hand in his provides such a noticeable release of tension for him. he’s a huge huge fan of you tracing patterns anywhere on his skin, playing with his hair, and wrapping your arms around his middle so you can hold him close. climb on his lap unexpectedly and his heart will skip a few beats.

1 ) he won't ever admit it, but words of affirmation are his absolute biggest weakness. your boy has a praise kink, but i also think it's difficult for him to accept that so you have to be subtle about it and work up. it gets him really blushy and if you can manage to get him talking, he’s stammering. he can’t hold eye contact for shit when you call him pretty and it’s very amusing to you to see such a quick and drastic shift in his disposition. things that have straight up put him out of commission include: calling him “my pretty boy,” or “sweet boy,” “you always take such good care of me,” “you’re so strong,” “you’re the love of my life.” “i’m proud of you” will literally put him on his knees.

[fl1rtaciou5]

What they are like as a partner | (HP Men)

including: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Draco Malfoy

Harry Potter:

this guy is under an unfathomable amount of stress and bears the weight of impacting the future of the entire wizarding (and muggle) world, so he cherishes the small moments with you

the lazy weekends, sleeping in and playing exploding snaps in the quiet of his dorm

cuddling with you on the sofas in the common room, the roaring fire's warmth miniscule in comparison to the comfort of his body enveloping yours

that doesn't mean in the stressful moments he's absent

he confides in you about the stress and struggle, you are his rock

he loves to listen to you, whether it's as complex as your studies about the nearing arithmancy exam or the simpleness of how your day was

he is a yearner!

he always has either his hands or at least his eyes on you

he worries about what others say about him. not because he's concerned about other's opinions, it's because he worries about yours

he'll ask if his hair looks nice "is it fine? i can change it, it's no problem. whatever you want"

but he is also a member of the sassy man apocalypse.

most of the time it's directed at other students, mostly draco, but there are times he hits you with an eye roll or witty response

he is quick to apologize though

overall, he is an attentive and reserved boyfriend

Ron Weasley:

when he met you, it was like merlin himself bestowed the greatest, heavenly gift to him

with his millions of siblings and legendary and powerful best friends, it's hard for him not to feel inferior or covered in a mirky shadow

but since you decided to choose him, which he still doesn't understand, he worships you

he always mentions you in conversation. to the point that the twins start to tease him and mention you before ron can

he knows all of your favorite things: sweets, class, professor, shop, t-shirt, drink, food, color...everything

he doesn't have a lot of money, so he makes up for the lack of material gifts with the expert knowledge of you

he'll save you an extra pumpkin pasty because he knows you love them. he'll pick the flower on the way back from hogsmeade for you.

however, he gets jealous super easily. dean thomas asks for a quill from you -> jealous. harry asks you a question about herbology homework -> jealous. justin finch fletchley glances at you for a moment to long -> jealous

he is easy to soothe though, a kiss will solve quite anything. he's wrapped around your finger

he will defend you viciously around others, he'll never let a bad word about you slide around him

he loves pda, an arm around you at all times. a kiss before class and after. he wants everyone to know that you chose him

Neville Longbottom:

he showers you with compliments all day long and will be your number one supporter

he goes out of his way to tell you how much he loves your insecurities

he is very shy, and will always ask you for input

"should i wear this sweater?", "can i walk you to class?", "can we hang out later, no pressure"

new flowers every two weeks, they always include a variation of your favorite flower

loves study dates, especially herbology because it is one of the few things he exudes confidence with

always tells you how proud he is of you

doesn't like pda, he is very private with his relationship

but he is the first person to praise/congratulate you in your big moments

he gets picked on a lot by others and it does get to him at times, so be prepared to comfort him like he does for you

Fred Weasley:

he is quite the flirt and will take any chance to make you blush

a wink when passing in the halls, a quick innuendo whispered in your ear in class, and longing touches when out with friends

will never let you open a door for yourself, will sprint ahead of you to open the classroom door

has a reputation for being a prankster, and you are not off limits when it comes to being pranked

however your pranks are very light and silly compared to most of his other victims

you are the first person (besides george) he tells about any new idea for his joke shop products

you know the saying you're not just dating a person, but their entire family - this is true for fred

george and lee are almost always with the two of you, very little privacy

He once asked george to switch spots with him to prank you, you could tell right away once george didn't immediately try to kiss you when you saw him that morning

he does get jealous at times, but mostly when you laugh to hard at someone's joke, he is the only one who can make you laugh like that

will always include you when going out with friends and invite you to quidditch practices always

George Weasley:

he is definitely more reserved than fred, but is still very extroverted

more outward with his pda though -> arm around your shoulder or waist at all times

doesn't like to prank you because he would rather you be included and contribute to his pranks

is also a flirt, but it's mostly compliments and telling you how good you look

there is always a smile on his face around you

will also include you in everything he does, thinks, or says

jealousy just runs in the weasley family, but he will sit with it quietly and you will just have to wonder why marcus flint was left hanging off the witch statue by his robe the next morning

loves to tease you

will moves strands of hair away from your face and just smile at you

loves to stare you, whenever you look up from your potion in class his eyes are piercing into you

loves to give weird gag gifts to you, then right afterwards surprise you with something you actually wanted

Draco Malfoy:

rivals harry with his sassy demeanor, obligatory eye roll every thirty minutes

a hand at the small of your back guiding you when walking

a smirk is always on his face along with a suggestive comment coming out of it at the sight of you

always has his silver rings and chain on

will make fun of others with you

during his quidditch games, he will show off for you and point to you

will entertain other girls' attention, then call you over to show you off

cares about appearance a lot

will tell the sweetest stories about his mother, but only to you and in the privacy of a dorm

is a huge cuddler, but do not tell anyone he is very worried about that getting out

a perfect afternoon for him is harry tripping and embarrassing himself, and then cuddling with you in his dorm after

is very competitive, whether it's class performance or a quick game of wizard's chess be prepared for him to try too hard

©fl1rtaciou5, 2025, do not steal my content, repost my work, or give to AI, thanks!

[lqveharrington]

For Better or Worse | C.S.

summary: Coriolanus was never the same after he came back from District 12. All he saw was power and fame.

pairing: President!Coriolanus Snow x First Lady!reader

includes: BABY SNOWWW aka Elizabeth Snow, manipulation, fluff, comfort, angst, death, guns, blood, trauma, coryo is kinda misogynistic, lying, Lucy Gray makes an appearance, (tell me if I forgot anything!)

a/n: love me some coryo fics :)

You’ve known Coriolanus Snow for as long as you’ve lived. You were there when he was at rock bottom and—somehow—you were by his side when he rose to power and fame. His sudden rise to politician to president wasn't at all shocking to anyone in the Capitol. Especially when he "rightfully" won the Hunger Games.

The second he was inducted as the President of Panem, you became his First Lady. It was expected of you by your past peers and inner circles. You dated him in while attending Academy and there were records of you and Coriolanus sending and receiving letters from one another while he was stationed in District 12.

But when Coriolanus came back from the Districts, he was different. You weren't exactly sure if he changed for the better, but it definitely came with its own challenges. His ideals and principles switched like a magnet. Those ideas that used to uphold his promises and quiet words to you were now vowed to the entire country. Your opinions no longer mattered to him—just the image of a loving wife doting on his every move.

Eventually, you changed.

Half your heart belonged to the boy Coriolanus once was while the other half belonged solely to you daughter—Elizabeth Snow. The second you learned you were pregnant, you practically begged the universe to bless you with a healthy child. Luckily, she came out absolutely perfect. She was an absolute rose.

Coriolanus loved his daughter more than anything Panem could offer, but his idea of being the best reined over his love. He was constantly away at business meetings rather than tending to his daughter—sending you or nurses to tend to Elizabeth rather than face the music himself.

He wanted—no, needed—a perfect family. He made sure to adorn the both of you in the best materials whenever presented to the public, even if you made quiet complaints about it being too much for you daughter. He made sure his daughter would be as smart as you, never him. No one should be as smart as Coriolanus Snow. Besides, you were tied with him for Valedictorian long ago.

If all his demands were pushing his family to their limits, so be it. Coriolanus demanded perfection—no matter what.

Despite all of his requirements to be absolutely perfect, you and Elizabeth found time to just relax with no expectations. Just you and her away from press and public images your husband set up for the both of you.

“Liza, what are you doing?”

You and Elizabeth were in the backyard of the Presidential Manor, although it was like a mini sanctuary if you were to describe it. There was a gorgeous pond in the middle with an entire forest encapsulating the entire backyard. There were rows and rows of flowers—mainly roses—and a greenhouse designated for fruits and vegetables you and Elizabeth would pick from time to time. It was your heaven away from the mess Coriolanus made, but you would never admit that willingly.

“Watching the swans, mama. They’re making funny patterns.” Elizabeth pointed out before beaming brightly when she saw you shut your art journal and approach where she stood, her platinum blonde curls bouncing with her every move.

“And why is that?” You hummed and dusted your charcoaled hands off, careful not to touch her precious clothing or stain her beautiful face with any idiotic movements.

“Well, it means a lot of different things.” She tilted her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut, doing her best to remember everything she's read about swans. “The most common reasons are for establishing territories or displaying affection.”

You hum and look out toward the two swans, “What do you suppose those two are doing?”

“Neither.” Elizabeth opened her eyes again and shifted her gaze toward the swans, pointing toward the bigger one. “See how the male swan is fluffing his feathers and sticking his neck high? He’s showing off his dominance to the female.”

To be honest, you were quite stunned your daughter knew so much about nature. This wasn't the first time she was able to explain events within living organisms. You knew she read loads, but you didn't think she would ever remember all of the information. Especially since she was merely seven.

“Where did you learn this?” You ask as you lead her back toward the manor, your journal in hand.

“The books papa has stored in the library.” She stepped on the stone path like the grass was lava, using her arms to balance herself. She spun around once she passed the stones, running around the willow tree until you caught up. “Miss Beth lets me read them when papa brings you on business trips at the Districts or when you leave for parties.”

You hold back your laughter at her actions and look around before beckoning her over, whispering in her ear—yet her giggles infect you. “Perhaps I’ll speak to your papa about getting you a miniature library in your room.”

“Really?” She grabbed your arm with wide eyes, practically jumping from excitement. Elizabeth squealed when you nodded—pulling you closer and closer to the manor. Now that you mentioned a miniature library just for her, she would do anything to make the process faster.

“You seem to like reading as much as I do.” You start to clarify as you let her lead you to the back porch, leaning down to whisper in her ear once more. “Besides, it’ll be an excuse for papa to buy even more books.”

Elizabeth squealed once more and tugged you even harder to follow her, your laughter and hers ringing out in the backyard. You loved moments where you and your daughter could just exist in a world without constraints. She was a light in your dark and shrouded world—if anything ever happened to her, you swore you would become the exact person the Capitolites expected you to be.

Just as ruthless and unforgiving as your husband.

“Where are you two off in such a hurry?” Coriolanus appeared in front of the both of you, eyebrow raised in minimal interest.

Speak of the devil himself.

Of course, he wore his pristine—blood-red—suit with a white rose pinned to the jacket's lapel and a white ribbon looped in the hole of his pants. The ribbon was stolen from you the day of your wedding and he chose to wear it everyday to show everyone who belonged to him. It was one of his many prized possessions in life.

“Coming to find you, papa.” Elizabeth left your side and moved to her father's—allowing him to pick her up in his arms. She pushed a stray hair away from his face, earning a half-hearted smile from him.

“Is that so?” He shifted her weight into one of his arms, locking his gaze to your “messy” appearance.

In his eyes, you looked terrible. The curls in your hair were flat; your hands were covered in charcoal; your dress was wrinkled; and it was clear to him you were running from the way your chest rose and fell. It was unacceptable for you to run. People ran for the First Lady—not the other way around.

Rather than dwelling on your husband’s scrutiny, you casted your gaze toward your daughter—who looked like she was ready to explode in excitement if you didn’t say anything. “I have a request on Liza’s behalf.”

“And what does Elizabeth want?” Coriolanus spoke in a sure tone, using his daughter’s full first name. He never understood the need to shorten her name—her name was pure class and power. She was the daughter of the President after all.

“A mini library in my room!” She clasped her hands together and spoke dreamily, eyes filled with stars and fireworks. “I want to fill it with all the books in the world.”

“I see.” He fixed the collar of her dress before tilting his head to the side, catching your eyes for a split second. Coriolanus saw your face soften as Elizabeth’s silent begging, therefore giving him the answer to his daughter’s request. “That can be arranged.”

Elizabeth grinned so wide that it looked like her cheeks began to hurt. She moved to kiss her father’s cheek, words of gratitude spilling from her lips until she couldn’t breathe.

For a moment, you swore you saw the person your husband used to be. You saw the boy who would do anything to make his family happy, even if it cost him more than what he could give. Yet the moment was fleeting as he set Elizabeth down and sent her off to her governess—who was waiting by the double doors of the back porch.

“What is it?” You ask quietly as he guided you away from any prying ears, leading you toward the bed of roses and small fountain by the left side of the backyard.

Coriolanus subtly gestured toward where the governess last stood, adjusting the cuffs of his suit in a composed manner. “She’s not filling her head with fairytales and nonsense, is she?”

“Absolutely not, Coriolanus.” You walk beside him and tuck your hands behind your back—watching every step you took on the cracked path of stones. “She’s been taught all her mathematics and history. When she has the time, Liza does her own reading.”

He hummed and nodded his chin toward the journal behind your back, “Is her portfolio as diverse as yours?”

“She’s learning new mediums every week.” You answer and look up at him—his piercing blue eyes boring into your eyes.

“What have you been up to?” He asked—snapping a rose from it's place and placing it delicately behind your ear, his eyes lingering on the earrings your adorned. Coriolanus had bought them for you mere days ago and expected you to wear them until he bought you a new pair.

“Taking note of everything in our backyard starting with the pond.” You say calmly and back away from his touch—instead—observing the swans and plants that you were drawing earlier. When you felt a burning stare in the back of your head, you continued to speak, hoping to please and ease his mind. “Peacekeepers were at a distance and surveyed the area before we came out.”

“Good.” Coriolanus replied in a curt tone and began to follow you once more, his mind going over a check list he conjured up earlier that day. “We have a conference with the mayors of each District at five.”

“It’s not the end of the quarter yet.” You curl your fingers tighter around your journal—your lips tugging down into a frown at the thought of another rebellion happening in your lifetime.

“They demand to push back the Hunger Games.” His own lips pursing together into annoyance. Who were they to tell him to push back such a crucial event that ever existed in Panem?

“How foul.” You respond accordingly and face him—having already made a short loop around the rose garden. “Of course you won’t agree.”

“Of course not.” He pushed a stray piece of hair away from your face—something Elizabeth learned from him after years of observing her parents. “They don’t have the power—“

BANG!

A loud, clear shot rings out of the Presidential Manor, your eyes widening at the sudden sound. Your grip on your journal tightens as peacekeepers begin to surround you and Coriolanus, your mind instantly wandering to your daughter's safety. You clutch Coriolanus' arm and look into the double doors leading into the manor—every sound muffling the second he begins directing the peacekeepers.

All you could hear was the blood rushing in your body—your heart pumping faster and faster. Your breathing was labored, each second that passed felt like an eternity until you saw the familiar curls rushing out of the house with her personal peacekeeper close behind. You pushed through the wall of peacekeepers surrounding you and instantly dropped to your knees, catching your daughter in your arms.

“Liza.” You breathed and held her closely, feeling for her pulse anywhere you could reach.

She was alive and well. She was alive.

“Mama,” She said shakily and buried her head into your neck, tears streaming from her eyes at the death she witnessed. She would never dare speak about the moment again and she swore her entire life on it. “Mama, Miss B-Beth—“

“You’re okay, I’m here with you.” You rub her back and wipe the tears from her face, your own voice shaky when you look up at your husband who looked like he was about to murder someone. “Coriolanus—“

“Already on it.” He replied coolly and took purposeful strides toward the back doors of the manor—peacekeepers to his left and right.

A peacekeeper from inside came out of the manor and saluted him before gesturing to the following group of peacekeepers behind him. “Sir, we found the intruder and murderer of the governess.”

Coriolanus' gaze hardened at the sight of an old acquaintance, his breath catching momentarily until he heard a quiet sob from his daughter—snapping him back to reality.

“Lucy Gray Baird.” Coriolanus shook his head at the woman, resentment filling every single step he took toward her. The sky began to darken as clouds covered the sun; the wind was much colder than it was earlier; and the tension that filled the air was thick enough to be seen.

Someone had to go, but it wasn't going to Coriolanus. He wasn't going to ever fall for her tricks again.

“Let go of me!” Lucy Gray fought against the peacekeeper's arms, eyes wild with rage and fury for the platinum blonde male in front of her.

“You killed my daughter's governess.” Coriolanus bent over and spoke to her face to face—hating how unfazed she was with his movements. “How the did you escape 12? Run off with the Covey after all?”

Lucy Gray clenched her teeth at him and shoved forward, barely moving from how hard the peacekeepers held her. She was probably bruised with how tight they were holding her. “You deserve no love for what you’ve done, Coriolanus. You know you were wrong.”

“You’re not supposed to be here.” He gripped her arm and pulled her closer to him, watching her eyes widen at the sudden aggressiveness. He scoffed, “I—“

“Your wife doesn’t even love you.” Lucy Gray spat and continued to struggle, hands clenching by her sides.

Coriolanus’ grip on Lucy Gray’s arm tightened the more she struggled and spoke, his knuckles whitening with the force of restraint. He spoke through his teeth—his voice low and dangerous. “You don’t know what you’re talking about."

Lucy Gray laughed. A brittle, sharp sound spilling from her lips.

“Don’t I? Look at her.” She tilted her head toward where you kneeled with Elizabeth, your arms wrapped around your trembling daughter. “Tell me, First Lady Snow, do you love your husband?”

Your heart pounded against your ribcage. The question hung in the air—heavy and suffocating. You glanced at Coriolanus—your husband—whose cold blue eyes pinned you in place.

He expected an answer. He always did.

“I love my family." You replied ever so carefully.

Lucy Gray snorted and tilted her head at you, tone mocking at your avoidance of answering a yes or no question. “That’s not what I asked, darlin’.”

“Enough.” Coriolanus’ voice was final—cutting through the thick tension like a blade. He shoved Lucy Gray back into the arms of the peacekeeper who found her originally, “You came here to what, Lucy Gray? Kill my family off until it was just me?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “I meant to kill you, but f’course you would never be with your daughter.”

Elizabeth gasped and buried her head into your neck again, squeezing her eyes shut. She wished this was all a dream—that everything she saw and heard was her imagination. A horrible and crude imagination.

“All that's left is to get rid of you." Coriolanus shook his head and glared down at the pathetic woman. Some winner she turned out to be. "Did you really think you could harm me or what belongs to me?”

“You’re sick." She spat and nodded her head toward you and Elizabeth. “Keeping them in this golden cage of yours. But they’ll never be yours, not really. You can’t make someone love you, Coriolanus.”

You take her words in—eyes darting between Lucy Gray and Coriolanus. Long ago you would’ve fought tooth and nail to defend him. Now, you weren’t sure if he was even worth defending.

“Take her away.” Coriolanus ordered the peacekeepers, stepping closer to Lucy Gray one last time, his breath hot with rage. “Make sure she never steps foot in the Capitol again.”

Lucy Gray smirked even as she was dragged away. Her voice was clear to everyone in the backyard, “You can erase me, Coriolanus, but you can’t erase the truth. One day, she’ll see you for what you are.”

The doors slammed shut behind her as they all left, leaving the Snow family in complete silence.

The sun returned and the winds calmed—even the swans came out of hiding to enjoy the once beautiful day. You finally stood up and wiped Elizabeth’s final tears, whispering words of reassurance and love until you felt the same burning you felt earlier.

Coriolanus turned to you with an unreadable expression, clearing his throat when he met your eyes. “Go inside with Elizabeth.”

You hesitated as Elizabeth held onto your hand tighter, her entire body still shaking from shock.

His eyes softened—just slightly—as he looked at his daughter. She was clinging onto you for dear life and you were thumbing circles into her palm, something you did for Coriolanus when he was stressed back in Academy.

“I won’t let anything touch you.” He murmured to the both of you, kissing your temple and leaning down to kiss the top of Elizabeth’s head.

But the question lingered.

Hadn’t something already?

©lqveharrington - all rights reserved. do not copy, translate or share my work on other media platforms

[gothhabiba]

Much of the most dramatic news of the past decade, including not only Iran but the Arab-Israeli conflict, oil, and Afghanistan, has been news of "Islam." Nowhere was this more evident than in the long Iranian crisis, during which the American consumer of news was given a sustained diet of information about a people, a culture, a religion — no more than a poorly defined and badly misunderstood abstraction, really — always, in the case of Iran, represented as militant, dangerous, and anti-American.

It is not much of an exaggeration to say that before the sudden OPEC price rises in early 1974, Islam, as such, scarcely figured in American culture. One saw and heard of Arabs and Iranians, of Pakistanis and Turks, rarely of Muslims. But the oil price increases soon became associated in the public mind with a cluster of unpleasant things: American dependence on imported oil, usually referred to as "being at the mercy of foreign oil producers," and, above all, a signal — as if from a new, unidentified force — that energy was no longer ours for the taking. Words like "monopoly," "cartel," and "bloc" achieved a remarkably sudden, if selective, currency. Such expressions were reserved for OPEC members and rarely applied to the small group of American oil multinationals. It now seemed that with the new pressure on the economy, a new cultural and political situation was also at hand. From being the world's dominant power, the United States had become embattled.

At almost the same time, the Unitec States was retreating from Indochina. Much has been written about the post-Vietnam syndrome in Americar politics, although few people have also noted how the claim that distant American interests needed military defense against instability and insurrection was transferred from Vietnam to the Muslim world. Along with that went a progressive liberal disenchantment with Third World causes in general. [...]

In short, what the consumer of news and oil sensed was an unprecedented potential for loss and disruption, with no face or visible identity to it. All the United States knew was that what we took for granted was about to be taken from us. We could no longer drive our cars the way we used to; our comforts and habits were undergoing a radical and most unwelcome change. Oil, the actual material question, remained vague in comparison with the threat of losing it [...]. Robed Arabs, fantastically moneyed and well-armed, appeared obtrusively everywhere in the West. The suddenness of Islam's capacity to trouble the United States in the mid-1970s was a disturbing concomitant of our lack of knowledge about its past and identity. A large number of Islamic states, personalities, and presences passed impercepibly into the general consciousness, from the status of barely acknowledged existence to that of "news."

As a result, everywhere one encounters it, the image of Islam today is an unrestrained and immediate one. There is an unstated assumption that the proper name "Islam" denotes a simple thing to which one can refer immediately, as one refers to "democracy," or to a person, or to an institution like the Catholic Church. A noteworthy instance is an essay by Michael Walzer in the December 8, 1979, issue of the New Republic. Walzer's title is "The Islam Explosion," and he deals, as a self-confessed layman, with a number of important, if largely violent and unpleasant, twentieth-century events — in the Philippines, Iran, Palestine, and elsewhere — which, he argues, can be interpreted as instances of the same thing, Islam. What these events have in common, according to Walzer, is first that they show a persistent pattern of political power encroaching on the West; second, that they are all generated out of a frightening moral fervor; and third, that these events shatter "the thin (colonialist) facade of liberalism, secularism, socialism or democracy."

In all three of these common characteristics it is "Islam" that can be discerned, and this "Islam" is a force that overrides the distances in time and space that separate all these events. By the end of his essay Walzer has convinced himself that when he says the word Islam he is talking about a real object called Islam, an object so immediate as to make any mediation or qualifications applied to it seem supererogatory fussiness. With this immediacy goes the tendency to treat Islam as something without a history of its own. If a history is conceded to it, that history seems pointless.

"Inside Islam: How the press missed the story in Iran." Edward W. Said. Harper's Magazine, January 1981.

One trip for one thing isn't conservation.

Do you know one of the best ways to make your gasoline go farther? Plan ahead. Don't waste gas on separate shopping trips. Combine several short ones into one efficient long one. Remember, your car's engine works more efficiently after it's been warmed up. So if you can increase the average length of your trips from one mile to four miles, you can save up to 60% on your average cost per mile.

Inside cover, Harper's Magazine, January 1981.

[cacoetheswriting]

dear stranger, | chapter two from right where you left me.

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader (modern day au) word count: 5.2k

summary: a weekend gateway to with your old high school friends? sounds like a dream! only it’s not really as it’s been three years since you last saw them. three years since you left hawkins without so much as a goodbye, and certain people tend to hold grudges.

content warnings: forced proximity, angsty, suggestive & mature themes, adult language, mentions & descriptions of underage alcohol consumption / substance abuse, recreational drug use, discusses sobriety, emotional hurt / no-comfort, eddie is a bit of an asshole, a little mutual pining, also touches on topics of: divorce, death, grief, self-doubt / insecurities, love triangle?, unrequited love — pls let me know if i missed any!

psa: any images used in chapter headers don’t depict readers physical attributes! these are also vaguely — if at all— described in the story.

Eddie’s first interaction with you, a short conversation outside Benny’s one faithful Thursday evening, only solidified the idea of a potential relationship, but he was a couple of years older and coming from a completely different world to yours. Trailer trash, and whatnot. He simply didn’t think you’d be interested in him like that.

Instead, riddled with self-doubt, Eddie opted to go down the friendship route and being your friend was easy. 

Despite not sharing a lot of the same interests, the two of you always managed to find common ground and the conversation flow came naturally.

Eddie, in his fuck-the-patriarchy and everything-that’s-cool way, introduced you to a wide variety of hobbies which, in your world, were considered wildly out of the box: Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, all sorts of Anime, punk rock and heavy metal music. The list goes on.

Hoping to humanise your lack of interests aside from your social status, you taught the metal-head all things pop culture. Cue marathons of various seasons of different Real Housewives, making him read Twilight and asking him to choose Team Edward or Team Jacob, and judging celebrity red carpet looks.

There also appeared to be a few short things you both agreed on:

The colour blue sucks.

Lord of the Rings franchise is one of the best book to movie adaptations to ever exist.

Pizza is clearly the best food and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Additionally, a debate arose one night to potentially include point four: Leia is a cute name for a girl. Eddie looked at you with those pretty brown eyes and smiled wide in agreement ‘cause even though you were still just a couple of kids, the potential of a future that saw your friendship blossoming, one way or another, excited him. However, the conversation happened when you were both quite high. Point long forgotten by the time the sun greeted the morning sky.

All in all, Eddie worshipped the ground you walked on. Back then, he would’ve done anything for you, you merely had to ask. The not-so-secret crush blossomed with every interaction and he swore if anyone ever dared to hurt the girl he told himself he couldn’t have, all hell would break loose.

How come, a hellish three years later, he’s the one doing the hurting? The question, of course, is rhetorical. He knows exactly what led to the breakdown of your friendship. That doesn’t mean however, he’s not completely riddled with guilt for how he just reacted to seeing you for the first time since the end of Senior Year.

His focus remains locked on where you’re after disappearing as his hand rubs the part of him you’ve just bumped, and Eddie swears he can still feel your arm against his shoulder. A tingle, an imprint, a ghost. His fingers curl into a fist against the material of his jacket and he eventually drops his head, sigh escaping his lips. Nancy is going to kill him for making you cry.

Upstairs, there’s a knock on your door. 

You quickly wipe any last tears that have trickled down your cheeks and call out to whoever is on the other side that it’s open. Robin reveals herself, head tilting to the side as she notices the miserable look on your face.

“Nancy is already crucifying him,” is all she says before wrapping her arms around you, pulling you in for a comforting hug.

“She doesn’t have to do that,” you protest, resting your chin on her shoulder. “He’s got every right to be upset with me.”

“But the thing is, babe, everything we told you is true. Like, he does ask about you constantly, and he didn’t even have an issue with you coming this weekend when Nancy told him you accepted her invite,” she elaborates, pulling back from the embrace and leaning against a set of drawers.

“He’s just acting like a dweeb ‘cause you hugged Harrington first.”

You whine, a little too dramatically, while burying your face in your hands. It oddly feels therapeutic. Robin huffs out a laugh at your reaction, poking your arm to get you to look back at her.

“He’s never going to forgive me, Rob.” You sigh.

“Yes, he will.”

“How can he forgive me when he doesn’t want to listen to my apology? He practically said to pretend he’s not here.”

The blonde rolls her eyes. “Honey, you realise that all you have to do is listen to his stupid-ass request?” She says it as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. “The second you start giving him the cold shoulder, he’s gonna want your attention.”

And Robin was right, of course.

You didn’t notice it at first, fully understanding of Eddie’s request to steer clear from one another, plus dinner prep was a perfect distraction from his lingering presence.

Nancy tasks you with making the potato salad. A simple request and one you are happy to oblige. She positions you at one of the counters, your back to the kitchen island where Eddie is sitting nursing a beer. He’s messing around on Spotify, skipping through songs, and it takes everything you have not to comment about how he should just fucking pick one playlist and let it be.

The one person definitely unbothered by the constant switch in music is Argyle who fell asleep at the table. Body completely relaxed on the chair, head hanging backwards, and light snores escaping his parted lips as Rob tries to balance a stack of Pringles on his forehead.

Jonathan is Nancy’s sous chef, her helping hand, fulfilling every little request she has while preparing the rest of the grand meal. They’re giggling together and you can’t help but smile to yourself, thinking about how lucky they are to have found someone they feel so comfortable around. 

Eddie was that someone for you, the thought crosses your mind, sending a twinge signal to your stomach. The twist in your gut is a sort of pain comparable to slicing your hand open, and at that moment your gaze shifts to the knife in your hand, grip tightening. You’re frozen for a minute. Unsure how to continue with the salad when all you can think about is the boy behind you. The boy that wants nothing to do with you.

Yet, unbeknown to you, also the boy who immediately notices the pause in your movements. 

Eddie doesn’t act on it though. He thinks about it, only for a second too long because Steve approaches you first, briefly placing a hand on your back to gauge your attention, before leaning against the counter next to where you’re chopping potatoes. You smile at him. Eddie can see that it’s timid, small. Clearly there’s something on your mind and he feels guilty for most likely being the person that’s caused your dampened mood.

“How are you doin’?” Steve asks, crossing his arms across his chest, eyes glued to the side of your face.

“Good.” It’s not entirely true, but you know Eddie, as well as everyone else currently alert in this kitchen, can hear your conversation. “Delaying cutting these onions ‘cause I know they’re gonna make me cry,” you joke.

Steve chuckles. “Well, all you gotta do is ask, sweetheart.” He says before twisting in his spot and reaching for a chopping board. “I happen to be a pro at cutting onions.”

The light laugh that escapes your lips causes Eddie to roll his eyes. Not that you see his reaction though. You also don’t see how his grip tightens on the bottle of beer, or how his jaw clenches when Steve’s arm brushes against yours while you both work on the salad.

But despite the anger — the jealousy — bubbling inside of him, Eddie doesn’t stop listening in on your conversation with Harrington. In fact, he shuffles his chair closer, lowering the volume on the laptop by one. He can’t help himself. He’ll forever be invested in you, even if he says he’s not and that he doesn’t care. It’s all a pathetic lie to cover up the fact that he’s never quite gotten over you.

“So, how’s Vegas treating you? Bet it’s all parties and no responsibilities,” Steve nudges.

“God, I’d be disowned if that were the case,” you reply, chuckling lightly. You don’t tell him you’re sober, it doesn’t feel like the right time. “First year I was there, I worked. My dad scored me a reception job at his firm, so I saved a little cash and moved out on my own, just in time for the following year, when I started my degree.”

Steve hums, impressed. Eddie’s feeling proud, then a little sad because you got into college and he wasn’t there to congratulate you. Seemingly, no one from this group was.

“Gone into teaching, like you wanted?” Steve asks.

“Not entirely,” you pause briefly, “But what’s with the third degree? We’ve got all weekend to catch up.”

Harrington snorts out a laugh. “True,” he agrees with a smile, “I guess, you’re just such a mystery now. The usual social stalking doesn’t work ‘cause you haven’t updated anything in three years, and whenever I tried to call, you didn’t answer.”

You’re not sure what to say since he’s not wrong in his words, so you opt to say nothing at all. Steve seems to understand your reverence, nudging your arm with his own in the form of a silent assertion that he’s really not mad.

Eddie starts to feel guilty for being the one who isolated you from your friends, your support system. Though you never said it, he knows you left because of what happened at Chrissy’s stupid party. Ashamed of your actions and how they affected the group. Actions that were a result of his rash decisions.

“Fucking— Are you seriously going to listen to me spill my feelings for you, then try and jump into bed with fucking Harrington?!” Eddie’s yelling, arms stretched out as if he’s daring you.

The sound of Nancy clearing her throat forces the memory to freeze. Eddie glances up at the petite brunette, whose got one eyebrow arched as if to ask what the fuck he’s doing. He shrugs, taking another swig of his beer, then glances back down at the laptop and continues his not-so-secret eavesdropping.

“Tell me this, though,” Steve prompts, glancing at you, “are you happy?”

You pause your own movements, taking a moment to ponder his pretty loaded question. When you meet his brown eyes, you smile a genuine smile, surprising even yourself as to how easy it is to answer.

“Yes,” you state simply, “I’m happy.”

The screech of a chair being pushed back fills the air, causing both you and Steve to turn around, at the same moment that Eddie walks out of the kitchen. Nancy is quick on his heels, only flashing you an apologetic smile, and the entirety of the last twenty-odd seconds leaves you even more confused.

All throughout dinner, you notice how Eddie is oddly quiet, only chiming in when someone — not you — directly addresses him. No one comments on his unusual behaviour, though Robin shoots you some knowing looks from across the table every couple of seconds.

Then when the group agrees to move outside, while you get comfortable on the patio furniture, Eddie deliberately chooses the chair closest to the steps, as if he’s planning for a quick escape. He lights a cigarette, staring out at the lake, and your entire body is screaming to ask what’s on his mind, but then again, he’s made it quite clear he wants nothing from you.

So you decide to continue pretending his sullen mood isn’t affecting you.

“Merlot or Pinot Grigio?”

“Hmm?”

Steve’s at the door, a bottle of red and white wine in each hand. He lifts them up slightly, repeating the question, then waiting patiently for an answer. Although he doesn’t have to wait long because you quickly shake your head a firm no.

“I uh… I actually don’t drink anymore.”

Eddie’s ears perk up at your answer, though he doesn’t actually look in your direction. Still pretending to focus on the ripples in the dark water ahead.

“Oh.” Steve shifts awkwardly. “Well, now we know why Nancy didn’t offer any with dinner. Assuming she knows?”

“She does.”

“Then I’m sorry for offering.”

“Don’t be,” you say and it’s true.

He goes back inside without another word, leaving you alone with Eddie. 

The silence is overwhelming and frankly, a little awkward. It’s odd to be so close to one another, yet feel as though you’re oceans apart. It’s also odd to have revealed this new and intimate detail about yourself, yet since it wasn’t said directly to him, Eddie might as well still not know.

You don’t know how to act, so you take out your phone.

There’s a text from your mom, ‘Really hope you’re having a good time, honey. Send some pictures, if you can.’

‘surviving ;)’, your fingers work across the keyboard, then you go into your album and select a photo of yourself with Robin and Nancy. The only one taken so far. ‘everyone says hi.’

‘Everyone?’

Your eyes flutter to where Eddie is sitting. He’s still looking at the lake.

‘almost everyone…’

As the three dots appear on the screen, your phone dings with the unmistakable sound of an Instagram notification. Your super secret secondary profile makes itself known, and you hold your breath for a split-second. But if Eddie heard it, he doesn’t say anything.

When you open the notification, the corners of your lips twitch upwards.

That, Eddie notices. Well, he noticed the sound too, but he’s not going to pry about your use of social media after pretty much telling you to fuck off earlier. His mind however, is running in circles. The metal-head knows you haven’t posted anything new on Instagram since you left Hawkins, so you must only be using the app for messaging, but who from your old life — that isn’t here this weekend — would be dming you at this hour of the evening? The second you smiled, at whatever the fuck you were after seeing on your phonescreen, well, Eddie wishes he handled your reunion earlier a little better because maybe you’d privy him to that information. He wants, no, needs to know who else you’ve been in contact with.

And he knows exactly who to ask.

A little too lost in your dm’s, you don’t notice Eddie put out the cigarette he’s been smoking and stump back inside. You don’t notice him approach Steve, mumble something in the guy's ear and point to his phone. You don’t notice them glancing at you through the large window, or whisper manically back and forth. You don’t notice Nancy joining in on the conversation, hands on her hips like a disapproving mom.

“She’s not in touch with anyone else,” she says and because she sees Eddie in particular is not buying whatever she’s selling, Nancy adds, “She’s got a second profile.”

Both boys are stunned, albeit only for a minute. Then the back-and-forth begins again. Questions arise. How long has Nancy known? Why doesn’t anyone else know? What’s the handle? Why not just use the old, original profile?

“It’s none of your business,” she tells them in a hushed tone of voice, “If she wanted you to know what is going on in her life, she’d post on the profile she created in high school, okay?”

Steve huffs, wine long forgotten, instead opting for something a little stronger. He pours four glasses of whiskey before motioning for Eddie and Nancy to take one, the last being for Robin who disappeared to talk to her girlfriend again. He takes a sip, liquid burning down his throat.

“I just don’t get the secrecy,” he says with a shrug.

With the glass pressed to her lips, Nancy looks out the window to where you’re sitting. A sigh escapes her lips. There’s a small smile present on your expression, focus remaining on your phone, and Nancy hates herself for being the person that’s ruined that, along with breaking the promise she’s made you about seven months into your time in Vegas.

She wanted to know how you were getting on. Considering by then you told her you weren’t coming back to Hawkins any time soon — one of the only texts you’d sent her since the time you left. The brunette girl wanted to know you were safe, happier. Calls weren’t going to work since you were barely replying to messages, and it’s not like at that point in time you were keen on letting the rest of the group know what you were up to, so your main Instagram account was out of the question.

Nancy suggested a second profile.

Then she promised she wouldn’t tell anyone.

“There’s two things you should know,” she breathes, glancing between Steve and Eddie. “First thing’s first though, you need to fucking forgive her.” Poking Eddie’s chest, her expression is stern. “You’ve forgiven Harrington here, so the least you can do is have a normal conversation with her.”

“Nance—”

“Eddie, I swear to fucking Christ. If you’re actually incapable for swallowing your pride for one fucking second—”

The sound of the sliding door causes her to halt her words and the three of them turn their heads to where you’re now standing, wide-eyed and apologetic because it seems at first glance you are after interrupting a very important conversation.

“Sorry,” you say with a meek smile, “I just came to get a glass of water.”

And you don’t mean to eavesdrop when they start whispering amongst themselves as you fill a glass with ice. In your defence, however, they’ve never been good at keeping their voices quiet, and they’re no better now. You hear your name escape Eddie’s lips, then something about Instagram coming from Steve.

Oh.

Having filled your glass with water, you turn back to look at the three of them. 

To your surprise, the metal-head is already looking at you. His expression is hard to read, but regardless, it makes your heart skip a beat. It also makes you think that the only way for him to start trusting you again, he deserves to know what you’ve been up to these last few years — even by means of a now not-so-secret Instagram account.

So you call Steve’s name, not looking away from Eddie at first. When Harrington doesn’t react, in too deep with Nancy, you say it again, louder. He spins on his heel then, at the same time that you shift your attention in his direction. 

Sighing softly, you tell him to pull up Instagram and then you dictate the handle and although you’re watching Steve type in every syllable that escapes your lips, from the corner of your eye, you can see Eddie’s fingers also work the screen of his phone.

Proof of both their curiosities dings in your pocket. 

You quickly take out your own phone, silently accepting their follow requests while choosing not to comment on the fact that there were two: Eddie’s name gracing your notifications for the first time in three years. 

With a quick refresh, there in all its Las Vegas glory, is the last three years of your life.

“I’m sorry,” Nancy says, now standing in front of you, “They’re relentless little fuckers.”

“Hey!” Steve’s offence is melodramatic and Nancy just rolls her eyes at the boy, before linking your arm with hers and leading you back outside. Having one quick glance at your newly found account, Harrington follows quickly behind.

Eddie on the other hand is frozen in place.

He tries to keep a straight face as opens the first image, quickly scanning the caption, before focusing on the picture posted two days ago. Apparently you were in Fort Wayne, visiting your mom. There’s a smile on your face that he hasn’t witnessed since high school and his heart tightens thinking about how he’d do anything to be the reason for your happy expressions again.

Did you stomp all over his heart? Yes. Rationally, Eddie should hate you for that alone, not even mentioning how you flushed years of friendship down the toilet. And for a long, long while, he did. Eventually, the metal-head realised the hate was superficial because he was actually more angry with himself. 

“Your behaviour is fucking desperate.”

“Fuck you, Eddie.”

That stupid party, and putting you in the position he did, all while you were clearly too drunk, was a huge mistake on his part. It wasn’t the right place, nor the right time. Eddie just thought you looked so beautiful that night, and the alcohol cruising through his own veins clouded his judgement.

Then you reacted the way you did. When Eddie found you in the downstairs bathroom of Chrissy’s house in the arms of Harrington, well, you both said some equally rude things in the aftermath. They came from a place of anger, but he could never actually hate you.

You left without a word, before Eddie got a chance to apologise for his shitty behaviour at the party. Before he got a chance to tell you that he doesn’t care that you kissed Harrington, or whether you feel the same way he does. All he cares about is being in your life.

Now, your life resides on a profile Eddie didn’t even know about until mere minutes ago. 

He’s scrolling, slowly. Taking the time to examine each photo, down to the comments left behind. Each image only adds to the ache in his chest. There’s experiences here he selfishly thinks he should’ve been a part of, as opposed to the people you’ve actually tagged. He’s known you for far longer than this dude Jax, who you seemingly went and got a tattoo with.

What hurts the most though, is seeing the proof of how happy you’ve been the last three years. How happy you’ve been without him in your life.

-

“So, babe, who the fuck is Jax?” Robin asks with a smirk.

Having been the last person to find out about your secret account, she was sure to take her time to tease you in retaliation. Starting light, with small jabs on the new wellness hobbies you’ve picked up over the years like hiking through the Nevada Trails Park, sunset yoga in the desert, and a new affinity for green smoothies. Then moving quickly to your new choice of friends, not judging them by any means, more expressing curiosity as to why these specific people replaced the group from Hawkins.

“Jax is a friend,” you answer simply.

“Looks awfully cosy for just a friend,” she teases, glancing up at you briefly before twisting the phone in Steve’s direction, to show the picture.

You roll your eyes ‘cause there’s really nothing going on between you and the boy in question, so the teasing you can take. You’re not ashamed.

“He’s great as a gym partner, honestly, he’s great for most boyfriend related activities, but he would, one-hundred per cent, make a terrible actual boyfriend.” You say with a soft laugh, sinking further into the cushioned seat as you further let your guard down.

Steve smirks. Satisfied. Clearly glad there’s nothing between you and Jax, though you don’t comment on his reaction. Instead, your gaze momentarily shifts to Eddie, who still hasn’t said a single word.

The brunette boy is staring at his hands. Fidgeting with the metal rings that coat his fingers. You can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking about, and it takes everything you’ve got not to ask him. Is he proud of the person you’ve become? Or is his continuous resentment spiralling out of control, because maybe he’s wondering why you could change for those strangers, but couldn’t change for him? But that, you couldn’t even answer for yourself.

“So you haven’t been dating anyone?” Robin further probes into your new life.

When you glance back at the blonde, she raises a brow, and you know she’s only asking because she wants the same thing as you: some sort of reaction out of Eddie.

You shake your head. “No.”

But it’s Steve who reacts instead.

“Come on, sweetheart!” His tone is full of disbelief. “You mean to tell us that no one in Vegas tried to sweep you off your feet?”

You let out a soft laugh.

“They sure tried. I’m just not interested,” you answer with a smile, then reach for your glass of water, bringing the brim to your lips.

“Why?” He asks.

“Steve—” Nancy tries to cut in, aware of what you’re going to say next. Aware of the reason why you haven’t dated, and no, unlike everything else that’s happened since you’ve seen this group last, this decision you made not to date wasn’t because of Chrissy’s party.

“I uh…” You clear your throat. “I haven’t dated since Billy.”

The group goes silent. Suddenly it’s all really… awkward.

“Jesus, babe,” Robin exhales dramatically, “That’s like—”

“Forever?” You interject, trying to keep your tone of voice as positive as you can. “I know.”

There’s a beat of silence. No one in the group is really sure what to say next, how to steer the conversation away from this topic. 

You glance at Eddie who, for the second time this evening and to your surprise, is already looking at you. Brown eyes full of compassion. They say more than words ever could and you’re suddenly feeling hopeful. Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe you could be friends again. Maybe…

Though there’s still a lot of mending to do before any of that can happen. Starting with:

“Billy dying really fucked me up.”

Acceptance. Admitting your flaws, owning up to your mistakes. Making amends with the people that tried their very best to stand by you in the worst of times, even when you made it damn near impossible to do so.

“I kinda fell off the rails and I uh—“ You swallow your breath, gaze shifting from the brunette boy to the lake behind him. The sight of water soothing to your soul. “Well, I made some mistakes and I’m sorry. To all of you.”

“You don’t have to apologise,” Nancy says quickly and the rest of the group nod along. Aside from Eddie, who is back to fidgeting with his rings.

One by one, everyone eventually says goodnight. Jonathan and Nancy are the first to go, citing an early wake-up excuse and reminding everyone the canoes are rented for eleven in the morning, so breakfast would be at ten. WIth that information in tow, Argyle checks out next. You learn how he hates the open water, so he’s hoping extra sleep will make him less nervous in the morning. Robin gets a call from Vickie. She says she’ll be back shortly but after she disappears, Steve jokes that the next time the blonde will be seen is breakfast. This leaves you with a less than desirable duo.

Steve and Eddie.

Silence stretches for minutes at a time. Out of some sick and twisted principle, you don’t want to be the first to leave because that might get misinterpreted as running away, and this entire weekend is about proving how you’ve changed. Plus you’re not going to give Eddie the satisfaction of seeing you walk away twice in the span of one afternoon.

Luckily, awkwardness never seems to phase Harrington. Not for long, anyway.

He makes small talk, asks further questions about your new life, wonders if you are open to visitors and practically plans a trip out to see you in Vegas: sooner rather than later, as he puts it. He gets you to laugh on a few occasions and the sound comes naturally, no reservations or concerns.

You make note to apologise to him privately for everything you put him through the night of Chrissy’s party, although you already know he’ll tell you it’s no big deal because Steve Harrington has a heart too pure for this world. It makes you momentarily sick that you took advantage of his kindness in a moment of drunken despair.

“Okay kids,” Steve begins and stands, stretching, “If I tuck in for the night, will you kill each other? Or should I stay to play peacekeeper a little bit longer?”

“We’ll be fine,” Eddie answers shortly. The sentence being his first set of words in hours.

You exchange a glance with Harrington, who seems just as surprised as you by the metal-heads response, and offer up a timid smile.

“Goodnight, Steve.” You say kindly.

“Goodnight, sweetheart.” Then he turns to address Eddie, “‘Night, Munson. Don’t be a dickhead.”

Eddie grumbles something under his breath, but you don’t quite make out the specifics. Instead, you watch Steve’s frame disappear into the lake house and once he’s fully out of sight, a sagging feeling settles in the pit of your stomach — what now?

Although, nothing happens. Silence settles around the two of you. Only the sound of the night, the woods, the water graces your ears and, despite the company, it all feels quite peaceful.

Eddie lights a cigarette. Hesitantly, he offers you one, avoiding your gaze as he holds out the box. You politely decline, further wrapping yourself up in your hoodie and sinking into your seat.

After a few more minutes of utter quiet, Eddie exhales, blowing smoke into the midnight air and finally looks up in your direction. You’re aware instantly, that his chocolate-button eyes are latched onto you. The sensation sends a shiver down your spine. Clearing your throat, you tilt your head to meet his wide eyes then, surprising yourself, you offer him a small smile.

The metal-head surprises you too. For not only does he smile back, he says: “I’m sorry.”.

“You don’t—”

But he cuts you off. “I do. About earlier. I was an ass and yeah, I’m sorry.”

All you can do is nod. Not like you don’t believe him, you do. You know Eddie well enough to tell he’s being genuine. Unfortunately, a lot has gone down in the past and three years have passed since. Plus, only a few hours ago, he told you to practically shove your own apologies which can only mean he’s not really interested in having you back in his life. For that, you can’t blame him and as much as you’d want “I’m sorry” to fix things, it’s not that simple — you understand that now better than you did when you first arrived here.

You just need to get through this weekend, you remind yourself and slowly stand up, your own self-deprecating thoughts getting in the way of what you really want to tell him. 

Eddie’s eyes remain on you, as if he’s analysing your every move, which, unknown to you, he sort of is. This girl he thought he knew, now a mystery and it’s in part all of his fault. He’s aching inside because everyone else seems to click with you easily, like no time stole memories they’ll never get to experience. Steve cracking intimate jokes mere moments ago causing something vile to bubble inside of the metal-head.

An apology for his earlier comments is a good place to start rebuilding, that’s what Nancy said. He likes to think he listens to advice, even if he doesn’t think it’s good, so he did what his friend told him too and now he wishes he hasn’t. Even more so when you clearly don’t want to hear anything from him.

“I appreciate your apology, but we don’t have to talk about it,” you say matter-of-factly, “We don’t have to talk at all, just like you wanted.”

And Eddie can’t dig himself out of the hole he jumped into.

as always, thank you for reading & please support your writers by reblogging <3

story masterlist

& tagging some cool people that expressed interest in this story: @ali-r3n @thelazyarchangel @hufflepuffobsessedwithmarvel @peculiarwren @fxoxo @losingmygrasponreality @kellsck @sp1dyb0y1008 @mmmunson @somethingvicked @darknesseddiem @scream4mami @pineapplechuncks @sophiejayne-illustrations713 @emxxblog @bl0ssomanddie @theladyhellfire @gracelouiseoneill @emquinn94 @transparent-enemy @rach5ive @knew-better-forever-girl-two @lemonmarquee @mossgh0st @probablyin-bed @dustbowleddie @residentoftomlinsonsass @heart-eyed-love @munsonburn3r @helsa3942 @althaiareads @theladyhellfire @v1per1ne @sugarplumsweetiepie

[loveemagicpeace]

What do u need in relationship

Houses and your spouse

The 2nd house represents the cause of death of the spouse. Inheritance and inheritance by spouse.

The 3rd house represents the long journeys of the marriage partner. Religious beliefs of the spouse.

The 5th house represents the friends of the marriage partner

The 6th house represents the limitations of the marriage partner. Restrictions due to marriage.

The 7th house represents the qualities of a marriage partner

The 9th house represents the mentality of the marriage partner

The 10th house end of spouse's life

The 11th house relationship to the entertainment of the spouse

🌙What moon signs need in relationships🌙

Aries Moon-you need a relationship that is adventurous, energetic, brave, combative. In a relationship, you need someone who is fearless and will do the crazy thing, and that in person will really appeal to you. Someone who will bring out a more fiery and courageous side of you. Someone with whom you can be crazy but at the same time feel like you can be you.Someone who will always encourage you and make you feel that you can do it, but at the same time someone who will make you feel that you don't have to do everything yourself.

Taurus Moon-you need a relationship that is stable, safe and secure. Someone with whom you will share money, luxury and enjoy the material things of life. You need someone who will hug you and show you love through touch, which is one of the most important things for you. If you don't touch a person, then you don't feel a connection. Someone to cook with and someone to cook for you. Good food is also very important to you. Someone who will make you less stubborn and someone who will persevere and not give up on you.Someone who will make you feel that it's okay to just enjoy and exist.

Gemini Moon-you need a relationship that includes a lot of communication, stimulation, interesting things, new things. Someone you can talk to for hours. Someone with whom you will share an intellectual side of yourself. It is important to you that the person has a good mentality and intelligence. Someone who is sociable and gets along with his relatives, or at least includes that in your life. Someone to watch funny videos with and comment on things. Someone with whom you will go shopping or do some daily activities.Someone who will always make you feel like you can talk about how you feel no matter what it is.

Cancer Moon-you need a relationship that is emotional, gentle, safe, caring, above all, that someone fulfills you emotionally and gives you the feeling that you can freely express your emotions. A relationship that will represent your home. It is important for you to share a space with a person you have in common and to create an environment that is only yours. You play cards and watch movies under the covers. The relationship can be warm and comfortable. A person who makes you feel at home. With Cancers, it's not even that important to include family (although many people think so), they want to create their own family with that one person. You need someone who will know all your feelings and know exactly what you need without expressing it. Someone who will be with you through thick and thin and will never leave you. "Save me and I will save you"

Leo Moon- you need a relationship that is teenage, playful, warm, full of surprises, even childish (to bring the inner child into your life). You want someone to give you a feeling of childhood, nostalgia. You need romance and maybe children too. Children can be a big contributor here. So you will be emotionally looking for a person with whom you will have children or see her potentially for this. You need someone with whom you can share hobbies and do more things. Also a lot of attention, a person who will put you first. A relationship that will bring sunshine into your life. Someone who will always make you feel that you are young and that you can be a child forever.

Virgo Moon-you need a relationship that is healthy (literally healthy - in the sense that you don't want a toxic relationship, drama and things like that) I think this is also the only moon that really hates it and they will always look for a partner that will be healthy for them. A relationship in which you will have some benefit, that you will do something for yourself together, such as exercise, body care, healthy eating, etc. You like to take care of others and you like to be of service to others, so also a relationship in which you can do a lot for the person but at the same time the relationship, which is practical and gives you the feeling that the person also gives a lot to you. Someone who will give you a sense of peace and calm.

Libra Moon- you need a relationship that is romantic, a little dreamy, harmonious, balanced. A relationship in which you will feel beautiful and admired, that the person will give you the feeling that you are beautiful and that you have a beautiful style. You need love, and this will also be one of the important things for you to have a relationship that is really focused on the two of you. Someone who will buy you nice things, give you lots of compliments. A union that will be peaceful and just. Also which includes a lot of communication especially about you two. That you can find some intellectuality in the relationship. A relationship in which you will always feel okay and that regardless of the conflict, you will still stay together. To do things together and share things.Someone who will always pick you up and never stop admiring you.

Scorpio Moon-you need a relationship that is intense, deep, emotional, self-sacrificing, faithful. Loyalty is really important in your relationship and that you can completely trust your partner and know that you are the only one. Maybe even someone who is a little more dominant and in control of things, so that you have the feeling that he is really interested in you. Depth is really important to you and you want to connect with someone on a really deep emotional level, to know everything about your partner and to tell you all the secrets. Maybe also a relationship that is hidden from others, that you emotionally like it when the two of you have secrets that others don't know. Intimacy is also one of the very important things to be able to connect with a person, so that your partner can fulfill you here. Sharing finances and soul. Someone who will see your dark side and still love you.

Sagittarius Moon-you need a relationship that will bring you growth, optimism, a journey where you can learn something, fire, passion. You need someone who will emotionally fulfill the passion you long for. You need the drama of someone who will be a little crazy and do crazy things with you. Someone who will never leave no matter what the situation is. That the fire will always burn. You need a relationship that will give you new perspectives on life and bring you enthusiasm. Someone you will want to marry and share the whole world with. Marriage is very important to Sagittarius (rules over the 9th house - which also shows this). You need activity and events so that you and the person can do a lot during the day. You need a person who will put fire in you. A relationship in which both of you will feel that you want to discover the same things and also with someone with whom you share spirituality and the same belief. Someone with whom you will not feel like a stranger, but at home. Someone who will share the journey with you and make you feel that you are not alone.

Capricorn Moon-you need a relationship that will open you up emotionally, give you support, stability. Someone you can build a future with. You always look at whether a person can fulfill you emotionally in the long term and how much they can bring you. A relationship that will give you the feeling that it is important and serious. A relationship that pays off. Maybe even a relationship that will be good for your career and reputation. That the person will bring you some benefit from the work and that you will be able to invest in this work with the person. It is important to you how others accept the relationship you have (which is why you may sometimes be unsure about whether you really want it or not). Especially how the parents view the relationship can be an important factor here. You need someone who will give you the feeling that he is responsible, serious, mature, disciplined, has ambitions and goals and is determined. Someone who will build with you and will never tire of building.

Aquarius Moon-you need a relationship that is unique, different, friendly, visible. A relationship in which you will feel that you can be you and that the person accepts you and accepts your feelings. A relationship that will give you a sense of freedom but also stability. Someone who shares the same interests and views as you. Especially when it comes to society, you want someone who looks at the system of society in the same way (someone who is too average and thinks the same as others or does something other than others quickly puts you off). Someone who stands out with their looks and personality. It is important that the person takes you over and that there is something completely different about this person than others. Someone who will make you feel that it's okay to be different and choose a different path.

Pisces Moon- you need a relationship that is fantasy (emotionally fulfills your emotional fantasies), spiritual, gentle, emotional, self-sacrificing, without ego. A relationship in which you will feel emotionally okay and that the person will give you the feeling that you can pour out your emotions without hesitation. A relationship that will not contain ego but will be really true without reservations is stubborn. Maybe a relationship that is magical but at the same time brings stability and reality to your life. That everything you emotionally want will come. You feel things profoundly and are highly attuned to the emotions of others. U need relationship that will give you unconditional support, understanding, and a touch of the mystical. Someone who will make you feel that illusion has no limits and will dream with you.

🎸For personal readings u can sign up here: https://snipfeed.co/bekylibra 🎸

-Rebekah🌊🦋🌙

[caladblog]

A BASIC GUIDE TO VICTORIAN CLOTHING, FOR FANDOMS

wherein VICTORIAN CLOTHING is understood to mean "common clothing from the 1830s to the end of the century, in fashion as set by London and followed to a greater or lesser extent in the rest of the British empire"

This is very much meant as a starting point or a cheat sheet, not a comprehensive historical essay, for people who want to know what the Fuck is happening under that morning coat and/or dress the size of a kitchen table. I've also included a little bit on likely materials and colors so you can add some texture to your fics.

Here's the rule of thumb: Victorians loved LAYERS, BUTTONS, and DECORATIVE SHIT. When in doubt, slap several layers of clothing on your guy, button 'em all together, and flourish the hell out of the top layer. Congrats, you have dressed a Victorian.

Read on for details! And check my reblogs for a note on trans characters. A Part 2 on Mending/Laundry is in the works, because it had a much bigger impact on Victorian dress at all levels of society than it does on modern fashion and I think it's worth talking about.

UNDERWEAR FOR MEN:

a warm and comfortable and easily washable undershirt (typically called a vest) with sleeves that went down to the wrist

drawers, also warm and comfortable and easily washable and covering the whole legs, fastened with buttons or ties at the waist and ankles

pair of socks

If you cover your whole body in this base layer made of undyed, unfashionable, who-cares-if-it's-stained fabric, the sweat and dirt of your body stays on this easily-washable layer and spares the outer layers of clothing that would be damaged by hot water and soaps, or at least that was the philosophy.

The most common fabric for this underwear was flannel, as it was cheap and fairly soft. Bands of cotton could be stitched to the inside of the wrists, ankles, waists, and collar if you found the wool itchy. Socks were almost always knitted wool, holes or thin spots mended with darning whether you were poor or rich.

UNDERWEAR FOR WOMEN:

the chemise / shift: a simple, short-sleeved cotton tube that fell to the mid-thigh

other underwear requires a bit of a history lesson, sorry. At the beginning of the century, you wore like 85 petticoats and no bloomers. Then crinolines--a sort of metal cage skirt that held your dress away from your body to obtain the fashionable wide silhouette--were invented in the 1850s. It was great, because they replaced 30lbs of underskirts, but also inconvenient, in that hoops of steel are inherently bouncy. To preserve modesty (and also warmth) women began wearing bloomers, open in the middle and buttoning at the waist and either at or below the knee. These were also made of plain cotton and only occasionally decorated with a bit of lace-- for all your underthings, male or female, you wanted to be able to 1) make a bunch of sets quickly and cheaply so you could change every day without needing to launder as often and 2) use cloth that could be laundered easily.

stockings were longer and more decorative than men's socks, made of wool, cotton, or silk. White was popular at the beginning of the century, but bright colors and patterns became fashionable in the middle, and conservative black stockings dominated the end of the era. Wool fabrics were the most common, warmest, and cheapest; silk stockings were for very wealthy and fashionable women as they required the most care. Near the end of the century stockings were suspended from the corset, but up til that point stockings were held up by garters tied above the knee.

MIDDLE LAYERS FOR MEN:

shirts, with much longer tails than the button-up shirts we're used to, with a buttoned slit that only went about halfway down the chest rather than all the way down the front of the garment. Lots of volume in the sleeve around the armpit, buttoned up at the cuff. At the beginning of the period, rich men's shirts were checked or patterned while working men's shirts were white(ish), but this swapped over the course of the century as colored fabric became cheaper. (It hides stains better.) The gentleman's shirt from midcentury onward was a crisp, bright white.

As a middle layer, parts of it (like the cuffs and front) could be seen in public, but you absolutely could not go out without a waistcoat and jacket. You only removed your jacket and showed your shirtsleeves at the end of the day, amongst your family.

Trousers were held up by braces / suspenders that went over the shoulders, not belts that fastened around the waist, and you did NOT let them show. They were meant to be covered entirely by waistcoats.

MIDDLE LAYERS FOR WOMEN:

As a very carefully tailored and shaped garment that couldn't really be washed, corsets went over the shift. All women wore them, even laborers, even prisoners and people in workhouses as part of their (institution-provided and deliberately demeaning) uniform. They were viewed as necessary armor to support your weak internal organs, and the physically upright posture they created went hand in hand with moral uprightness in the Victorian mind. They could lace up in the front or back, and the boning could be made of steel (cheap and sturdy) or whalebone (springier and therefore a bit more comfortable) or wood (if you are truly broke AF) or even just stiff cord (mostly for young girls, in which they were called stays).

camisoles (also called vests or corset covers) were tailored shirts worn over the corset, and could be either extremely decorative with embroidery and lace or plainer and made for warmth.

then you've got the crinoline, tied at the waist, a skirt made of steel hoops as already described.

then a couple of petticoats, decorated at the hem for fashion, layered for warmth and to hide the crinoline's hoops.

OUTERWEAR FOR MEN:

trousers, made of cotton or wool. The big differences between Victorian trousers and today's are 1) zippers hadn't been invented yet, the flies were buttoned and 2) the modern waist sits around the hipbones, while the Victorian waist was at the bottom of the ribcage.

jackets, made of thick heavily felted wool that was decently wind- and rain-proof. Darker colors in jackets and trousers lasted longer, so light-colored cloth was mostly worn by the young and rich (or those who wanted to look rich) and flashy.

waistcoats were where the fashion REALLY was. As the back was always made of plain cotton not meant to be seen, even poor men could often afford the cost of the fabric needed to make a neat waistcoat. The front could be made of embroidered silk for luxury, wool for added warmth, or printed cotton making full use of the brilliantly-colored (and relatively cheap) dyes that had just been invented. It's a little bit like people today wearing simple suits and shirts paired with wild socks.

OUTERWEAR FOR WOMEN:

and here you finally get to the f*cking dress. I couldn't possibly go into all the variations on dresses in this era, but I can say that bright colors and patterns were common for women of all classes (but were also part of the ever-present anxiety about people acting "above their station", if a maid dressed too fashionably). The design of the sleeves and the decoration of the hems changed regularly with fashion, as did the precise shape of the feminine silhouette, but the bodice was always tight and the skirts were always full. The average woman would spend more money on flourishes--ribbons, lace, other trimmings--than the dress itself, largely because the average level of skill in sewing was so high that they mostly bought the fabric for the dress and cut & sewed it themselves.

ACCESSORIES FOR MEN:

the collar was not an integral part of the shirt! It was detachable and had to be washed, starched, and ironed separately. Laborers didn't wear them, just a loosely-tied cloth around their neck, but a stand-up collar was necessary for anyone working in a business setting whether you're rich or making really terrible clerk's wages. Turned-down collars like the ones on most of our shirts today were informal and for wealthy men at leisure.

a stock or necktie, ideally black silk. Modern neckties weren't around yet, but the century moved slowly towards that and away from cravats.

gloves. Especially when status was a concern, so, men outside the home not engaged in business and servants waiting on their masters. These were tight-fitting, pale in color, and damn near impossible to launder and mend.

ACCESSORIES FOR WOMEN:

a shawl, often. Your lower half would be covered in stockings and plentiful skirts, while your upper half would only have a few layers that were usually made of cotton, so freezing your tits off was unfortunately common.

gloves. Like men's gloves, these were also status symbols worn when visiting your acquaintances or waiting on your masters. The vast vast majority of servants were women, and the rough labor of washing and cleaning fell to them, so these gloves also covered the evidence of that rough work.

HATS/BONNETS:

Everybody wore a hat when out in public. It's just what you did. The type of hat varied based on fashion, occupation, and social standing, but you had SOME kind of thing on your head when you left the house.

SOME SPECIFIC CLOTHES:

Fishermen wore knitted jumpers instead of jackets. Laborers out in the country (muddy when it rained, dusty when it didn't) wore gaiters, which were basically just rectangles or tubes of cheap-ass sacking that tied around the ankle and below the knee to keep the mud / dust off their trousers. Surgeons and people who worked a lot with ink (clerks, stationers) had sleeves, which were tubes of canvas that tied around the wrist and elbow to protect their shirtsleeves. The advantage of sleeves and gaiters is that you can remove them, toss them in a bucket of water, and beat the shit out of them to wash them without worrying about rips or tears OR getting the stains (mud, ink, blood, etc) onto your other clothes.

Maids and other laborers didn't wear crinolines, but they did wear a corset and a couple of petticoats under their dress.

More prosperous laborers might still own a collar / crinoline, but only wear it to church on Sundays or other occasions that called for nice dress.

When at home and not working or entertaining visitors, both men and women would wear slippers that could be super fancy or very simple or your kid's first sewing project, etc etc. Depends on your preference.

Men would sleep in long, loose nightshirts and women would sleep in long, loose nightdresses. Practically speaking there wasn't much difference between these garments; both might be decorated a bit with embroidery or lace. Rich people would have finer fabrics, fashionable people would have more decoration, poor people might just sleep in whatever combination of day clothes is the most comfortable. Fairly straightforward.

TO RECAP

MEN: vest + drawers + socks > shirt > trousers + braces + collar > waistcoat + stock or necktie > jacket + shoes or boots > hat

WOMEN: shift + bloomers (optional) + stockings > corset > camisole > crinoline > petticoats (minimum 2) > dress > shawl > shoes + bonnet

===

SOURCES

How to Be a Victorian, by Ruth Goodman

Inside the Victorian Home, by Judith Flanders

Episode 342 of Antiques Freaks, Historical Costuming for The Terror (2018)-- the first ~8 minutes talk about men's clothes in general, then they go into naval uniforms until minute 15ish.

[lisafication]

This post is uh, extremely normal I swear

So hello yes I am absolutely On My Bullshit regarding my new favourite game. 

That’s right, it’s the cannibal incest game, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. And I’m here to shove five thousand words of pretentious analysis down your throat because, and I do not exaggerate, I think it is one of, if not the best written game I have ever played. And I have played a lot of games, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV and Undertale, to name a few narrative luminaries to come to mind.

That wordcount is not an exaggeration. My brainworms are extremely powerful and now you can share them with me as I walk you through my insane skyscraper of inference-driven analysis.

Or you can click away. I really wouldn’t blame you, it’s quite a lot.

Content Warnings: …Yes?

(To drop the bit for a moment, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley covers extremely disturbing material and challenges you to examine aspects of living in this world that many have taken for granted all their life, it is not a comfortable game, this will cover similar topics and will often echo the game’s unremitting scepticism on basic principles of society and humanity and you should look after yourself first. My Content Warning is framed as a joke, but it’s also quite real in that the game is designed to make you uncomfortable and there’s no shame in that not being for you.)

This was originally posted on and formatted for Sufficient Velocity, and you can probably more easily read and discuss it with me here.

With that said, let’s dig in. I have had to split this into multiple posts because tumblr will only allow so many images. There will be spoilers for all endings.

She’s excited, are you?

It’s All About Ashley

It really is, isn’t it? I mean, for approximately eighty percent of the total game as currently released and the entirety of Episode 1, you’re in control of Ashley, just as she’s in control of her and Andrew’s relationship for 80% of the game, up until the various ending sequences where it begins to slip. The only other characters who really matter at all in and of themselves are Andrew and her mother — and the former is under her thumb, and she eats the latter. It’s all about Ashley. Even her obsession with Andrew is, ultimately, about Ashley.

But who is Ashley? What is Ashley? Why is Ashley, even? Let’s take a look.

Ashley as presented to us in Episode 1 is very straightforward, so let’s list off the traits we’re given — she is malicious, she is fearless, she lacks empathy, she doesn’t have anything resembling a conscience, she demands Andrew belong to her and her alone, she has him at her beck and call.

In Episode 2, we’re ostensibly shown how she has him at her beck and call— she leverages the threat of reporting Nina’s death over him and had him swear to be with her forever. We’re shown that even as a child she was “just, like that” — but as a child, she hadn’t learnt to live with it yet, to laugh at the farce of it all.

Yeah, exactly like that!

And she does this throughout Episode 1 — The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a remarkably silly game much of the time, finding moments of absurdity and levity against a backdrop blacker than pitch — and most of the time, your internal narration is coming from Ashley and the jokes will not-infrequently come at her own expense.

She will later get negged by her human sacrifice for her poor ritual circle drawing

Her reaction to being told that her soul is as dark and viscous as tar is “You guess you already knew that” — it’s confirmation to her, not new information. Ashley knows who she is. But who taught her this? There’s layers to this, nothing in this game is as simple and straightforward as it appears at first sight, which is why I’ve been obsessing over it for days.

While it’s common in fiction, the truth of the matter is, most ‘bad people’ really do think they’re good people. But Ashley has never once thought of herself as a good person — or perhaps better put as a person worthy of love — as we learn across Episodes 1 & 2, with our flashbacks to Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!!

I really wish I had space in this essay to talk about this, but I’d like to touch on these being traits usually more easily forgiven in young boys than young girls at some point.

If she removes all other options, only then can she expect him to like her.

This is something that is echoed in the modern day — her seeming self-assurance is easily shaken and she reaches out to the world — usually Andrew — to affirm and validate her, soothing her insecurities, using any tool she deems necessary. Even when her life is on the line when Andrew has her by the throat at the climax of Episode 1, the only ‘compelling reason’ she can give Andrew to not kill her is her ability to soothe his nightmares. When he tells her there are sleeping pills for that…

Most people would have a bit more to argue for their existence.

While she, unlike Andrew, acknowledges having had friends before the quarantine… you know she’s got a point that they didn’t even bother to answer her calls, that was clearly not something the state was interfering with given Andrew’s calls with his mother and his girlfriend, and given her general demeanour it’s not hard to imagine that… they weren’t ever very close. When we see her and Nina talk in the infamous ‘box scene’, it’s clear that Nina doesn’t like her very much, despite Andrew’s assessment of Nina as being one of Ashley’s friends.

We see further support for her general lack of companionship in her dream sequence in the Burial route — Leyley and Leyley Alone. No matter what you do, you can’t place the pink plushy at the family table, the flowers won’t bloom if you give the Julia and Nina plushies her own as a companion instead of Andrew’s — and if you’re bold enough to go for the ‘incest route’, in the ‘Love’ room you see that no one ever looks happy to be with her in the childlike depictions of her history, nor is she happy in turn, save for when she’s with Andrew. In a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, the player then overwrites all of these tense, upset, hard moments with Andrew, having him fill in for everyone else in life — and happy with her.

Once Upon A Lousy Life…

THE END

And that’s why she needs him to affirm her, because no one else ever has and no one else ever will. It’s even included in their comic beats — when the siblings are getting along well, they’ll often play a game where Andrew dramatically overpraises Ashley while she demands more; it’s a comedic bit but I mean — it really does matter to her!

For the record, she opened a door. She gets a little heart in a speech bubble after this exchange.

We have a great example of this dynamic, that of insecurity and affirmation, in Episode 1, after Andrew has killed for her, butchered for her, his girlfriend broke up with her, he’s seemingly thrown his entire life away for her… she’s still insecure over her relationship with him, she’s uncertain of her control and she needs him to reaffirm it for her.

This is her victory, surely?

Andrew affirms her once, with his usual dead-eyed look.

But she's still not so sure.

He actively reaches out to affirm her again with cheer.

Look how happy she is!

While it’s most obvious and clear cut here, it’s hardly the only case. Let’s look back to the aftermath of Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!! (I’m not using the other name). Leyley is, after similarly extreme acts — he murdered a girl and hid her body for her — convinced Andy doesn’t like her and she needs this leverage to keep him around, to meet her basic needs for survival. Because that’s what this is — she receives no care of affection elsewhere, so she forces it out of the only source she sees available through the means she sees as necessary.

I really hope we see some of their earlier childhood in Episode 3

What exactly made her like this? Was it just neglect, or something more specific…

She needs this to be the case because otherwise she doesn’t believe he’d stay.

This pattern repeats throughout — Ashley’s insecurities are hit on and she reaches out to Andy to affirm that she is not alone, and she will use any and every tool to exploit her ostensible control over him and force him to be what she needs him to be — and as long as she has that, as long as she is everything to him and it’s not possible for him to leave, she’s happy. As long as she thinks he loves her in her very particular, very peculiar view of love, she’s content, come what may. As long as Andy and Leyley are together, they can take on the world.

Let’s talk about that view of love, because there’s always more layers to unpack here I’m only scratching the surface with this essay — Ashley consistently refers to anyone else Andrew may have befriended or spent time with as a whore, a slut, a bitch — highly gendered insults that bring to mind the idea that he’s cheating in some way. But it’s not even about sex — when Andrew mentions that their parents had friends, she accuses them of cheating on each other in the same way!

There’s a lot to unpack about Ashley’s view of femininity and the role the patriarchy plays in their relationship.

Any kind of emotional engagement, any kind of commitment, any kind of life outside of your significant other is, to Ashley, cheating. Because that’s what she needs from Andrew, a seeming complete and total commitment, secure in her place as the only thing in his life, because she cannot understand anyone picking her if they have a choice.

This insecurity she has in her relationship is what drives her to empower the trinket — he can’t leave her as long as she can protect him with prophetic dreams, after all. She needs every kind of leverage she can get because until she succeeds in being everything to him, in devouring him so completely she has him in her thrall mind, body and soul she can’t be sure of herself — hell, her dream sequence in Burial has you placing Andrew’s signature green plushy, ‘the best thing in the world’ in a cage far away from anything else.

Ultimately, it really is all about Ashley — even her seeming obsession with Andrew ultimately comes back to her own insecurities. If she is everything to ‘the best thing in the world’, some of that ‘best’ must surely reflect on her! 

But that’s enough about the more normal, straightforward and understandable sibling. 

That was not a joke.

Andrew’s Rank 100 Deception

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist.

Let me explain.

You might have noticed that in the previous section I often use language such as ‘ostensibly’ or ‘seemingly’ to describe Andy and Leyley’s relationship, and there’s a good reason for that. From the beginning of the game through to its end, Andrew is lying to you, the player, without ever falsely representing or misinforming you about events that occurred.

The common, or obvious ‘initial take’ on Andrew as presented in Episode 1 is fairly straightforward. The game primes you to think this way, it frames things and strings reveals just right so as to make it very easy to overlook the incongruities it introduces in Episode 2. He’s a victim. Plain and simple, Ashley is his abuser and he is her victim and would be fine, a normal albeit kinda depressed guy without her.

It really is not a difficult conclusion to draw

You can go all the way through the game, have him try to accept his mother’s olive branch and enter the Decay route as a method for him to finally actualise his desire to get out from Ashley’s thumb and it makes sense, it’s a reasonable way for the story to go, given his character.

You see him this way because the game primes you in Episode 1 to view their relationship like Andrew does — he’s lying. He’s lying to himself, he’s lying to Ashley and he’s so good at it — Deception Rank 100 — he even lies to you. Without misrepresenting a single event or otherwise misleading you directly, the game gets you to buy into his preferred self-perception. Nina? Ashley. Julia? Ashley. The murders they commit in the course of the game? Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, it’s not his fault he’s not to blame he’s just a doormat at the beck and call of his demonic sister.

But he wants to be there. From the very outset, the very first puzzle, that’s made clear. Does anyone else remember this exchange, from right at the beginning of the game?

Ashley wants to investigate the music!

Andrew disapproves…

…Or does he?! 

Like. Listen. Okay. You do not frown when saying ‘Nope’ and then smile when saying that you’ll instead tag along if they do it if your heart is at all in the no. That’s not an objection, that’s using Ashley as his excuse. Especially if you immediately throw her the balcony key that she could not possibly have gotten from you by force (more on Andrew’s ability to use force later).

This is the very first time you control both characters together with Andrew following Ashley instead of off on his own, the first adventure, the first puzzle! 

But put a pin in that for now, let’s talk about his initial framing in Episode 2 first. Episode 1 has set us up to, generally speaking, believe the superficial framing of the siblings as portrayed in its promotional art:

The question that we then ask, right at the heart of it is… why is he a doormat? We explore this in his dream sequence in Episode 2, which does make it clear that the boy’s not okay but— it’s real easy, given the priming from Episode 1 to make you think that he’s the one with the originally functional moral compass, to think that that him being fucked up is damage done to him by Nina’s death and being bound to Ashley for his entire life. She corrupted him.

But, well, is that the case?

You're primed to ignore this as manipulation (which it is) but the best manipulation has some truth to it.

Precisely two things spur Andrew to action in the entire game, consistently — they are the fear of consequences and Ashley. And the first incident of that fear, the very first time we’re shown his seeming moral compass as a kid — the first time it’s really hammered home that it’s a fear of consequences rather than any true moral qualms is after Nina’s death. And why does he fear consequences here?

……

The ‘natural’ read that many take away from this sequence, particularly those who have only played Decay, is that Ashley browbeat him into doing this against his will, using emotional blackmail to overwhelm his objections, and then used the event itself to bind him to her forever as her personal doormat.

In a strict sense, this is true. But this doesn’t match up with the details, something the game uses shock to encourage you to overlook. That outburst is before any kind of threat has been made, and absolutely nothing either of them say anything about it being morally bad until Ashley weaponises ‘you’re a bad person’ against Andrew — morality didn’t seem to enter his mind or the equation at all until Ashley brought it up. More than that, his greatest fear and driving motivation even prior to that is, as shown above, being taken away from Ashley.

She, of course, recognises this and uses it against him. But she never needed to, it didn’t change anything about Andrew’s attachment to her, it was there to address her own insecurities.

Just like to touch on how a lot of his affirmations are preceded by him confirming her insecurities.

I adore this phrasing

There’s a second prong to this as well, to the question of ‘who really calls the shots here’ because — Andrew can, at any stage, apply an ‘ultimate veto’ of physical violence. The game is very clear to the player that that is on the table — even when they were children, when Andy swears their blood oath, he briefly considers killing her — and take note of how he ultimately got a ‘winning’ condition out of her by not specifying there wouldn’t be others and she is forced to accept that, there. Even outside of their most serious confrontations, Ashley is portrayed as having to convince, manipulate or otherwise coerce Andrew into going along with her schemes — she really can’t make him do anything, she doesn’t have the supremacy in violence and, to a lesser extent, capability that would allow her to. 

Andrew, you are like ten years old.

The truth of the matter is, Ashley can only make Andrew do anything because he lets her. I don’t mean in the sense that I’m saying abuse victims let their abusers emotionally abuse them, I mean in the sense that he is clearly considering his options on the table and choosing to discard those that could stop her, or bring an end to any of this. He needs her.

But it’s true that he hates her, too. He has to hate her, because if he doesn’t hate her, if he isn’t forced to have done this, that means… he’s responsible. And nothing, at the start of the story, is as important to Andrew as avoiding the consequences of his own actions, not even Ashley. By the midpoint, he loves her, he hates her, he can’t live without her, he wants to kill her — by the end… well, that depends if you’re on Decay or Burial, but more on that in a bit.

A great scene to study for this dynamic is the climax of Episode 1, when Andrew grabs Ashley by the throat and considers strangling her to death. She’s pushed him too far with hurtful words and assault, and he’s seemingly had enough.

It’s still framed as a question of risk, of consequences happening to him. 

Like, this is not the usual behaviour of someone who’s been pushed past their breaking point.

He tells Ashley that he wants to kill her, because she’s just going to throw another fit and that’s a risk to him. She is… not framed as being able to fight back (she does have a gun here, and more on that in a later essay, maybe). He’s so calculated in how he approaches his use of violence here, which isn’t at all what you’d expect of someone about to commit a crime of passion… but it’s very easy to overlook because of the abuser/victim narrative that the player fits his behaviour into the narrative that the game primes them to accept, brushing incongruities under the carpet.

At the start of Episode 2, we get to control Andrew for the first time, and the first obvious holes in his cover start to show. Some of this is optional — you only learn that he’s been faking having nightmares in order to share a bed with Ashley if you choose to go back into the motel room and check the bed, for example — but not all of it.

----(See reblogs for the second half)

[astra-ravana]

Spirit Vessels

A spirit vessel is a physical object that acts as a home, anchor, or conduit for a spirit, entity, or familiar. It can be used for communication, protection, spellwork, or companionship. Spirit vessels are common in witchcraft, necromancy, and spirit work, often used for housing spirit guides, familiars, servitors, or bound entities.

Types of Spirit Vessels

• Natural Vessels – Stones, crystals, wood, bones, or shells that already contain strong energy.

• Man-Made Vessels – Statues, dolls, jewelry, rings, mirrors, or bottles that are ritually prepared.

• Personal Vessels – Items that belong to the practitioner, such as a pendant, charm, or wand.

Choosing a Spirit Vessel

Consider the following:

• Material: Some materials hold spirit energy better (e.g., quartz for clarity, obsidian for shadow work).

• Symbolism: Choose something connected to the spirit’s nature (e.g., a silver locket for a fae spirit, an animal skull for ancestral work).

• Size: Small items (rings, pendants) for personal carrying; larger items (statues, jars) for home-based spirits.

Creating a Spirit Vessel

Creating spirit vessels can serve as a meaningful way to honor ancestors, connect with spiritual energies, and provide a physical representation of intangible forces. These vessels, often crafted with intention and reverence, can act as conduits for guidance, protection, and healing. They help individuals establish a deeper relationship with the unseen world, fostering personal growth and spiritual awareness. Additionally, the artistic process of making a spirit vessel can be meditative and therapeutic, allowing for self-expression and a greater sense of purpose.

The Process

Cleansing the Vessel-Before inviting a spirit, purify the vessel to remove residual energies. Methods include:

• Smoke Cleansing (Sage, Palo Santo, Mugwort)

• Salt Bath (For non-metal items)

• Moonlight or Sunlight Charging

• Sound Cleansing (Chimes, Bells, Singing Bowls)

Incantation for Cleansing:

"By fire, water, earth, and air,

This vessel now is pure and fair.

No harm within, no ill remain,

Only light shall now sustain."

Charging the Vessel-Hold the vessel and infuse it with your intention using energy work, visualization, or chanting.

Example Intentions:

• "This vessel shall house a guardian spirit for protection."

• "This ring shall serve as a link between me and my familiar."

Optional Enhancements:

• Sigils: Inscribe a protection or binding sigil.

• Anointing: Use oils (e.g., myrrh for spirits, lavender for peace, dragon’s blood for power).

• Blood or Hair (if comfortable): For a personal connection.

Calling the Spirit-There are different methods to invite a spirit:

• Invoking a Known Spirit-If you have a spirit guide, familiar, or deity-aligned entity, invite them into the vessel.

Example Invocation:

"By will and word, I call thee near,

Dwell within this vessel clear.

By pact and bond, remain with me,

Bound in trust, so mote it be!"

• Creating a Custom Spirit (Servitor or Thoughtform)-If you want to create a spirit rather than invite one, visualize the spirit’s form, name, and purpose. Charge the vessel with that energy and command it to awaken.

Example Statement:

"From thought to form, I give thee breath,

Bound to this vessel, life and depth.

In my service, thou shall stay,

By my will, by night and day!"

• Calling an Unknown Spirit-For ancestral work or unknown guides, use a pendulum or divination to confirm a willing presence. Never bind a spirit against its will.

Caution: Always establish rules and boundaries before allowing a spirit to reside in a vessel.

Sealing the Vessel-Once the spirit is inside, seal the connection to prevent interference.

• Wax Dripping: Seal with candle wax (black for protection, red for power, blue for wisdom).

• Thread Wrapping: Bind with string to secure the energy.

• Protective Sigil: Draw a sigil to prevent unwanted energy from entering.

Sealing Spell:

"Bound by word and light so bright,

This vessel holds, sealed tight.

By my will, this pact is spun,

This work is whole, it is done!"

Aftercare & Communication

Once the spirit has entered the vessel there is still much to be done to maintain the connection and keep the spirit comfortable in its new home.

Signs the Spirit Has Settled:

• Dreams or visions of the entity.

• Sudden cold or warmth from the vessel.

• Unexplained feelings of comfort or guidance.

• Divination confirming presence (tarot, pendulum, scrying).

How to Care for the Vessel:

• Offerings: Incense, candles, or small gifts to maintain the bond.

• Cleansing: Occasional gentle cleansing (avoid disrupting the spirit).

• Respect: Do not mistreat or neglect the vessel.

Releasing a Spirit (If Needed)

If you need to release the spirit, do so respectfully:

• Thank the spirit for its time.

• Offer a final gift (incense, a prayer).

• Open the vessel and say:

"With love and light, I set thee free,

Return now where thou choose to be."

• Bury, cleanse, or decommission the vessel afterward.

Spirit vessels are powerful tools when used correctly. They require responsibility, mutual respect, and ongoing care. Always trust your intuition when working with spirits, and never force an entity into a vessel against its will.

[j-richmond]

Why aren't comics more common in TTRPGs?

(This is about game design and presentation) In school one of the things I discovered is that I have trouble absorbing info from a big text book. And most TTRPGs are presented as text books. Once I understand the basic information in the book (chemistry textbook or RPG sourcebook or whatever) I can deal with the book on my own terms. I can dive into individual parts and learn, and slowly absorb the book as a whole. But I need help to get there. I need an access port. Sometimes this comes in the form of someone explaining the book to me. Explaining the rules of the game or the outline of an essay. This is great, and gives me a way in so I can absorb and master the book myself. But I don't always have someone in my life who can do that. Interestingly, I don't have this problem with novels at all. Narrative feels easier to access, at least for me.

In school I also discovered Scot McCloud's Understanding Comics. This is a pretty fantastic book which I'd recommend to everyone. It helped me understand how I process information. More importantly, it helped me understand the different people process information in different ways. I hadn't realized that at age 16, although I was starting to suspect it. Before I started making comics or games I used to be a teacher. As a teacher I could see that some of my kids were struggling with the information I was giving them, in the same way I had struggled in school. I started using comics in class to help reach these students. I'd draw little comics on my handouts or on the whiteboard to explain what we were learning. The goal wasn't to provide an entire lesson in comics form. I'm not Scott McCloud! Instead, I was trying to find an access point for my students. An on ramp. A port of entry to the ideas and material we were covering so they could engage and eventually absorb the information. It worked so well. It worked like magic. Why don't we do this more in TTRPGs? I used comics in my early games, Panty Explosion Perfect and Ocean. These were narrative comics, not rules comics, but the goal was to provide both an example of what play looked like (from a narrative standpoint) and a point of access for players who weren't sure what the game was or how to engage with it. My thought was that if you understood what the game was supposed to look like it would be easier to approach the rules. (A short comic from Ocean. The book has a bunch of these)

When my brother Nick and I started working on The Magical Land of Yeld I knew I wanted to use comics more directly as a teaching tool. Especially because part of our target audience was new and younger players who might look at a big text book (Yeld is a giant 400 page hardcover) and just bounce right off it. Like I did in school and like I often do with big games. So I needed to teach with examples and illustrations, and especially comics.

The first comics you'll encounter in the Yeld book are narrative, and designed to get you into the ideas and themes of the game. But in the first few pages we also start sprinkling in rules comics. These are presented along side the rules text. They don't replace that text, which is important. The text explains the rules in greater detail, and includes information that just couldn't be added in a single page comic. Instead, the comic is intended to be a point of access to the rules text. A player can read the comic, understand the basic concept, and feel comfortable engaging with the text. That's the goal, to make players comfortable and to make the rules text accessible.

We use comics to teach basic game mechanics, but we also use them to explain specific player facing systems. Sometimes these are things that really do need a comic to explain them, but sometimes we use comics as lures to draw player attention to mechanics that we're afraid they might otherwise not engage with. For example, in playtesting we found that when characters died during a fight the player would just sit there for the rest of the fight and not engage. It turned out, since you don't do anything in D&D once you die (except slowly die more), most players assume that's how all games work! So they hadn't even noticed that in Yeld you become a Ghost and get to ghost around and do fun Ghost stuff! I decided to create a comic that not just explained this but drew attention to it and showed why it was a fun (and important) part of the game!

Structure of play isn't always obvious to players, especially if they're new to TTRPGs or have only played D&D. You pick up habits from the games you play the most, and since most gamers play nothing but D&D there is a tendency to assume EVERYTHING works like D&D. Yeld doesn't, so we decided to take nothing for granted and make comics that very specifically show what a session of play looks like. In this example, it may not look a lot different from D&D, but the adventure is specifically divided into 5 parts. The comic illustrates these parts in a way that is easy to understand. The accompanying game text explains each part in more detail and illustrates how they are important to play. The comic serves as a ramp that gets players to the info they need.

Not all of our comics are player facing. Yeld has a rotating GM (which is awesome, btw), and this means every player gets a chance in the Game Master roll. Which means every player needs to understand how this roll works. Comics like this one, which explain how to build monsters to use in your game, help make the process easy to understand. Again, its about building a point of entry for players. A player might say "I don't want to GM, it sounds to complicated!" But its not. You just need to make it easy for them. Make the mechanics and responsibilities easy to understand. Show why they're fun! In Yeld, its important that each player takes on the GM role from time to time, since we're building a story together. Making it look fun is important! Comics help with that. What's more fun than comics?

Narrative comics are important too. At least for Yeld. I don't think every game benefits from them (although I always love seeing them). Narrative comics show players what the game is supposed to look like. What the characters do and say. What environments they visit. Narrative comics set a tone. Narrative comics let new players understand what a game is about immediately! We can hand a Yeld book to a new player or customer and they know what's up in seconds, just by reading a short single page comic. That's a powerful tool. So why don't more games use comics? Part of it is that game creators are usually not comic creators. There's not a lot of crossover. That always surprises me, but both disciplines take a lot of work. Who has time for both? Even when you have game designers that are comic creators, they often don't include comics in the games (Lancer???). I don't think this means game designers don't recognize the value of comics. I've had this conversation with so many game designers, and they usually agree that comics are useful tools. But if you don't know how to make comics, making comics for your game can be daunting. What rules should you focus on? How do you present that information in comic form? How many comics should you make? How do you hire someone to make comics, anyway? Hiring artists is expansive, btw. You know that, of course. Hiring an artist to make a set of comics for your game could cost you thousands of dollars (or more), depending on what you want. Of course, you can try to make your own comics. And you should! Really! A poorly drawn comic is not necessarily a bad comic. The point is to get your information across to your reader. to provide a point of access. You don't need great art for that (although great art can help attract people to your game). Stick figure work just fine. Here's an example, the layout for the Tea Dragon card game. Another artist took this layout and redrew it in their own style. But my goal here was to be simple and concise with my explanation of the rules. To make the game accessible.

There's a few more pages of this, but you get the idea. The purpose is to explain, and make the player comfortable with learning more. The art matters to the extent that it serves this goal. In fact, flashy or complicated art can get in the way! You'll notice in that most of the Yeld rules comics I posted above the art is pretty simple, with solid color backgrounds. You want to make your comics as easy to read as possible, and that includes avoiding clutter, overpacked word balloons and messy layout. Readers are easily distracted. It doesn't take much for them to set down a book at all. A complicated phrase or hard to read font can often be enough. And once they set a book down they may not every pick it up again. That's more true for a big text book than it is for a comics, but its still true for a comic. So our goal is to make our comic the easiest, smoothest point of access it can possibly be. So easy and smooth that the reader can slide right into the rules text without noticing! Here's my general process for creating a rules comic. This is from my friend Brian's game Scofflaws. I start by taking the basic mechanics that need to be illustrated and breaking them down into panels. The goal is to make each panel readable and not overwhelm the player. At this point I'm just doing a rough sketch. It may not eve=n be readable, but that's fine!

Next, I refine the text and art. I decide on the exact language I'll use, and I finalize where characters and other elements will be placed. As you can see, the actual layout didn't change much here. Sometimes it changes a lot!

Finally, I create the finished art. Honestly, the previous step was just fine. It explanans the rules I wanted to explain. But this last step allows me to add in some narrative flavor. The first panel contains a complicated background in order to present the game's setting. The characters look like the kind of characters you'll play in the game. This isn't nessacary for presenting rules, but it helps present the game as a whole. You want players to engage with every part of your game. The last thing you want them doing is picking up your dungeon crawling game and going "Oh, this would be great for playing Star Wars!"

(I probably shouldn't have chose than shade of red for the background. It makes the text a bit hard to read!) So again, why aren't we seeing more comics in games? Its not as if they don't exist at all, and I'm personally always excited to see them. I recently opened the Final Fantasy RPG box set and was so happy to find the rules were accompanied by cute comics. And there's lot of other examples (maybe you can post some in the comments). But I think comics are a clearly underused tool in game design and presentation. And as a comic person, let me tell you that you're leaving a valuable tool on the table if you're not considering using comics. Are they right for every game? Maaaybe not? But I think MANY MANY MANY games could benefit form them. Are they expensive? They can be. Are they hard to make? They can be. Are there people you can go to for advice? Hey, my door is open.

[liloshits]

The Three Words

Where two worlds collide

Word Count: 2.5k

London - October 15th, 2004

It was a chilly Friday morning right in the middle of England’s autumn, it was not a surprise to anyone that the sky was grey and the weather was unstable. Dani was in town to participate in the European Social Forum, a conference where important (and not so important) people gathered around to discuss the world’s problems. 

Dani was there not because she was one of the VIPs, but because her Professor told her it’d be good for networking, and she’d get some complementary hours for it. Obviously she didn’t want to spend her weekend trapped at Alexandra Palace, listening to white old men talking their asses off about problems they didn’t really live through nor truly cared about. 

But she’s here anyway, wearing not so comfortable clothes and heels while she’d much rather be rotting in bed, watching TV or crying, as that’s what she does best, apparently. Well, at least that’s what she does best when she’s not drinking and partying or studying and working her ass off so she doesn’t lose her mind over how much her life changed in so little time.

Last october, she had just recently gotten engaged to her ex-boyfriend Marcus, she was studying Business Administration in Oxford University and she would start planning their wedding in a few weeks. She never got around to it because in what felt like seconds she found out he was one of those men who loved women too much. In fact, he loved women SO much he’d gotten himself a fianceé and three side chicks at the same time, which still baffles her as he is, at best, a 7 out of 10. 

She still remembers how he cried and knelt in front of her, begging Dani to not leave him, telling her how much she meant to him and how it was all a mistake. 

He cried telling her that his mom would get mad at him if she ever found out he fumbled an heiress. She scoffed at this, knowing his family was good and that his mom did nothing wrong raising him, Marcus himself was a piece of shit. He proposed to her in front of at least 40 people, including some family members and friends, and deep down she knew he only did this so she’d say “yes”. 

Maybe the way she didn’t even want to tell anyone she’d gotten engaged was her gut telling her that she shouldn’t marry him, even though they had met in school and were together for 2 years already, she never thought of him as husband material. He was sweet when he wanted, funny but a tad bit arrogant and at times she could swear he’d rather be with and marry his best friend than her, but whenever she teased him about it he’d call her crazy, lunatic and be a homophobe. 

She used to tell herself she wasn’t excited for it because she was still too young, barely 19 when he proposed, in college and absolutely focused on her career. 

Which also was a problem to Marcus, he’d say that when they married she would stay home and tend to their kids, he said he wanted at least four, two boys and two girls, whenever he said it, she used to stare into his soul, thinking to herself that maybe they were together just because it was common to be in a relationship in their age. She tried to convince her friends that he already talked about kids and marriage because he was 3 years older than her, that maybe when she were 22 she’d also start to worry about it. Deep down she knew she wasn’t convincing enough, because she also didn’t believe it.

So when she found out he was cheating she hurt, obviously she did, she felt like a fool, like someone who committed a mistake, like a woman who didn’t deserve true love. But at the same time she felt relieved like she had a reason to walk away and never look back. 

10 months after her discovery she finally understood she was angrier because she knew she was out of his league and still got fooled by him. He didn’t even deserve to ever be with her, and yet, he made her cry. After all, she was at least a 9 out of 10, she was tall, brunette, blue eyes, beautiful smile, intelligent, independent, funny, and undeniably hot. That’s what she reminded herself of when she went back home to Brazil to spend Carnival partying around the country, kissing as many men as she could, sleeping with the best kissers and more frequently then not getting told by someone that they thought they weren’t worthy of her. 

And she wished that Marcus knew his place like those random men who approached her, but from what she heard he was slowly but surely understanding that he’s the dumbest man to ever live. 

Clara, one of her Uni friends, told her he got dumped by all his three mistresses and that whenever he sees anyone that knows Dani he can only talk and ask about her. His mom, Diana, bless her heart, still keeps in touch with her and always tells her how sorry she is for Marcus’ attitudes and how she knows that Dani deserves much better than him. 

A part of her feels like she gave him too much power over the situation when she left Oxford. She felt like maybe people would think she was hurting so much she couldn’t even be in the same city as him and to a certain extent it was true, but the reason behind it wasn’t heartbreak, but disdain. Also, her favourite professor had moved to Vienna, and going to a new city, staying close to her mentor, meeting new people and living in a new place where no one knew who she was, was the definition of freedom. 

So yeah, her life was upside down, but she was managing and even finding strength to sit through an economic forum. At least, Elina, the girl she met in her first week at Vienna University was with her and, God bless her soul, she certainly was making her days better by just being this bubbly little thing that talked too much, too loud for Austrian standards but who didn’t care for what people thought. 

“Hey D, I don’t think I’m going to watch this panel on venture capitalists, I’m going to go outside to smoke a bit and maybe find myself a girl I can talk to and maybe smooch after. Wanna come? We may find you a finance guy” Elina said with a nonchalant tone, staring at her watch as they knew the panel was about to start, so if they were to escape they should do it soon. 

“Nah, I’m staying, I’m way too tired to stand, and it’s not like I’m going to pay attention to anything any those guys are going to say, so my plan is: sit here and create scenarios where I’m sleeping in my fluffy pajamas and all of my essays are written.” Dani says with a sigh and a soft smile, Elina seeing how tired her friend looks, nods and walks away, knowing better than trying to convince her.

As Elina leaves, almost immediately the panel starts and the names of the businessman behind capital firms are announced. Dani claps at each name, and a small part of her starts to rank their suits and who’s the ugliest from them all. The guy from Balderton is definitely on top of the list, with features that make him look like Gargamel and Frankenstein had a baby. 

On the other hand, the guy from Marchsixteen is *CUTE*, tall, brunette, piercing eyes, disheveled hair, tailored suit, dimples when he smiles and an accent. And if she’s not mistaken, his accent is Austrian, as she’s now becoming an expert on Viennese people speaking English (as they switch to English every time they realize she’s a foreigner, even though she speaks German fluently, she just has an accent). Unfortunately, Gargamel spooked her so much she didn’t get the Terminator’s name, at least now she has a reason to pay attention to this panel. 

And this ends up being the best thing to happen to her this morning, as now she spent the last 25 minutes with someone very easy on the eyes, he’s not only tall and conventionally attractive, he’s also charming. She swears, at least 3 or 4 of her friends would be throwing their panties at him if they were here. But Dani? Yeah, she knows he’s handsome but she also realizes he must be at least 8 or 10 years older than her and she doesn’t have daddy issues, not serious one’s at least. 

But when they start the Q&A session at the end of the panel she can’t help but raise her hand, as mister Austria seems to have the brain and the looks - he certainly made her curious- so she asks once she has a chance. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get his name, but my question goes for the guy from Marchsixteen” Dani chuckles softly as she rises to her feet copying what she had seen everyone else do before her. “Guy from Marchsixteen name is Christian Wolff” he says cheekly with a soft smirk, while looking directly at her. “Right, I’m sorry Mr.Wolff, so you said that you’re a self made college dropout, and I can see you’re younger than most successful venture capitalists - not saying you guys are old - but I’d like to understand what’s the mentality behind the hunger of pushing yourself to be and do better, to achieve bigger things and how you don’t suffer from imposter syndrome, and if you do, how do you manage?” Dani says while staring at Christian Wolff, as she thinks to herself that he doesn’t look like a Christian. God she KNOWS that no one must call him Chris. That's impossible!

As she finishes her question, he looks at her like he’s surprised and thinking hard at the same moment “Wow, that’s a very good question, I believe that I dropped out of college because I’m a builder by nature. I learn by doing, failing, iterating. And I’ve always felt this urgency — maybe because I didn’t come from a safety net — to create something meaningful, something bigger than me. Now, as for being younger and maybe walking into rooms where I’m the least experienced on paper — sure, imposter syndrome creeps in sometimes, as I’m 32 and most of my colleagues are around 40/45. But I’ve learned that it’s not something you get rid of, it’s something you grow around. I manage it by reminding myself of the work I’ve done, the risks I’ve taken. And the hunger? That comes from knowing what it feels like to be underestimated and publicly humiliated.” Wolff states while looking around the room but always finding Dani’s eyes once again, and when he looks at her, he doesn’t simply look, he stares, and she feels herself blush a little at how intense his gaze is. As he finishes his answer she nods and whispers a thank you under her breath, he smiles softly and nods to her as well. 

After that, all she thinks about is him, the way he looks, speaks and handles himself as someone who’s confident and truly selfmade. She knows he’s transparent and true to himself. Needless to say she doesn’t listen to any of the other questions and she doesn’t stop staring at him, and she could swear he also glances her way a few more times. 

The panel ends, she picks her things up as she wants to go grab some coffee, she leaves the conference room searching for the toilet, ever so often nodding softly to someone she’s not even sure she knows. 

After spending some minutes in the lady’s room line, she finally finds the room where the coffee is and as she places her order she hears a deep voice behind her “Oh, there you are, I thought I had you but then you disappeared” and before she turns she knows it’s him, Christian Wolff. “So the eyes that I felt burning my back were yours Mr. Wolff?” she turns, already smiling at him, kinda surprised at herself for the subtle flirt. “You could say that miss… sorry, now I’m the one who didn’t get your name” He says half chuckling at her, as they’re now in opposite roles “Miss Salles, Daniela Salles. Nice to meet you Mr.Wolff” she says stretching her hand to him, he shakes it softly as they look at each other up close for the first time. “Pleasure is all mine Ms. Salles, you’ve made a very good question out there, balancing the personal, psychological and business side of things. I see you’re a very bright young woman” he says smirking softly at Dani. 

She chuckles lightly “Thank you Mr. Wolff, you’re very well spoken, I really liked to listen to your insights on Venture Capital, even though that’s not something that attracts me very much. But if you don’t mind, I’d love it if you could let go of my hand so I could get the cup of coffee I ordered.” Dani says, chuckling lightly at the face he makes when he realizes he’s been holding her hand for longer than it’s normal. “Sorry, didn’t mean to… what was your order? I got myself a half cappuccino before going on stage, wouldn’t recommend it” He says making a face as he recalls his poor choice of drink. 

“Oh, I got only a cappuccino,” Dani says trying it out “hm, it’s actually good, I like it Mr.Wolff, maybe the problem is that in the half cappuccino they use half the effort, so it’s not as good.” she says laughing “do you wanna taste it or do you take my word for it?”

“I’ll take your word for it, you seem like the type of woman who knows what’s good in life. Confident in yourself.” Wolff says, half surprising himself with his flirty words but quickly changing the subject once he sees her face registering his words “so, are you still in university? I mean, you look younger than me so I presume you’re still in Uni” he asks “Yes, I am still in University, business administration, with a minor in marketing, but I’ll graduate soon.” Dani answers “Oh, that’s good, do you like it? Do you go to college here?” he asks genuinely interested and listening to her “No, I’ve studied in Oxford until this summer, but I transferred myself to Vienna University, I’m liking the change of air for now. Let's see during winter, if the Viennese winter is as bad as Oxford’s. I couldn’t help but notice, you’re Austrian, aren’t you?” Dani answers as she watches his face lit up at the mention of his hometown

“Yes, I’m Austrian, from Vienna actually but I’m surprised you guessed, my accent is almost nonexistent” he says jokingly “glad you’re liking it and I truly hope winter is not too harsh on you, Vienna is a beautiful city to live in. I’m definitely not biased though” he says smiling straight into her eyes, like he’s building courage to say something else “I’m sorry if I’m staring Ms. Salles, but your eyes are quite distracting… I’m glad I couldn’t see them properly from the stage, otherwise I think I wouldn’t be able to form many sentences” 

[blankblankdead]

l&ds | ideas of caleb

just some headcannons i had of the puppy dawg colonel because its juneleb!

caleb keeps a photo of you in his wallet!!!! he didn't know he could do this but after hearing his subordinates do that with their wives / gfs and seeing it once in an old movie you had put up one night, he secretly printed out multiple photos of yours. fat wallet? this man's currency is your photocards.

similar to these photos, he screenshots or snips out any article of the Association that mentions you. "hunters' group successful in clearing out area xx-yy" with your team's photo on the front page that caleb meticulously cuts/crops to include only your face. all of this is stored in a usb drive he hides in his office.

almost all divisions in the fleet are suspicious the colonel has a girlfriend. as adjutant you overheard many subordinates even put bets on how long their colonel will take to cheat on his "gf" with ...you. they're eyeing his behaviour whenever you're with him and even tried to ask the colonel himself before deciding against it for their safety.

caleb doesn't send letters. well, not exactly. he sends rare gifts that the fleet found while inside the deepspace tunnel usually along with the consistent "a rare gem like you <3" serenades. you're concerned with how many valuable materials are actually stored in your home back in skyhaven in the guise of a gift. you're scared to even touch them.

his subordinates are afraid of walking in his office. not because he's intimidating, but the paranoia of bumping into his model aircraft figures (some of which you gifted him) and breaking them scares them more than being fired(pun intended).

some caleb based mc and LIs ideas too.

you wonder how far the fleet's influence goes until one day you find some of onychinus' customers are names you've read in caleb's reports.

the association and fleet has never had explicit meetings or talks, but you're shocked to hear your partner share the fleet's internal politics that you've overheard caleb talk about on the phone.

thankfully you weren't in your hunters' uniform when a fleet's lower rank officer bumped into you at akso hospital. intrigue grows when you're later notified by your primary care physician that he'll be in up in skyhaven again for a week for some highly confidential work.

caleb agrees to your simple suggestion of enhancing the fleet's common room with some brighter and comforting decor. next time you visit, you can't help but analyze where have you seen such paint strokes on a canvas before.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - May 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Support me on Ko-fi! Also, if you tip me on Ko-fi, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week - almost double the content!

1. Translocation of 2,000 rhinos in Africa gets underway in “one of the most audacious conservation efforts of modern times”

“The 2,000 rhinos - more than are currently found in any single wild location in Africa - represent around 12-15% of the continent’s remaining white rhino population. […] “Rhinos perform an important ecological function in the environment as a large grazing herbivore,” says Dale Wepener[….] “The protection of rhino is far more than just looking after rhino; other species that occur in the protected areas will benefit from the protection,” explains Jooste. “This will lead to an increase in diversity and result in much healthier ecosystems.”

2. Florida Corridor Buffers Effects of Climate Change on Wildlife — And People

“A massive multi-partner effort that has conserved 10 million acres for wildlife in Florida over past decades will help buffer wildlife—and people—from the effects of climate change, a new report says. […] Protecting these corridors is important for wildlife genetics, demography and connectivity […], conducting prescribed fires in the corridor can reduce the risk of more intense wildfires [… and] they can provide buffers against hurricanes and seasonal thunderstorms.”

3. Global life expectancy to increase by nearly 5 years by 2050 despite geopolitical, metabolic, and environmental threats

“Increases are expected to be largest in countries where life expectancy is lower, contributing to a convergence of increased life expectancy across geographies. The trend is largely driven by public health measures that have prevented and improved survival rates from cardiovascular diseases, COVID-19, and a range of communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs).”

4. Valencia has Spain’s longest urban park

“Jardin del Turia (Turia Garden) is the green spine of the City of Valencia and Spain’s (and possibly Europe’s) longest urban park stretching for a length of 8.5 kilometres [… and] the current administration plans to make Jardin del Turia Europe’s largest city green space by extending it to the sea[….] Almost all Valencia residents (97 per cent) live within 300 metres of an urban green space. […] Jardin del Turia is a true urban oasis that provides exceptional thermal comfort, with a temperature difference of up to three degrees compared to other areas of the city.”

5. This Paint Could Clean Both Itself and the Air

“When an artificial ultraviolet light source shines on [photocatalytic] paint, the nanoparticles react with pollutants to make them break down—theoretically removing them from the nearby air and preventing a discoloring buildup. [… R]esearchers developed a new photocatalytic paint that they claim works using UV rays from ordinary sunlight, making its self-cleaning properties easier to activate. They’ve also shown that they can effectively produce this paint from recycled materials [including fallen leaves].”

6. Planting Seedlings for a Cooler Rockingham

“A dedicated group of volunteers recently planted over a thousand native seedlings in Lewington Reserve [… and] re-established canopy cover to areas of the reserve to create cooling shade for the local community and provide homes for native wildlife. […] Planting lots of trees and shrubs in urban areas can help create shade and cool cities, mitigating the impacts of climate change, contributing to biodiversity conservation and building greener, more resilient communities.”

7. Sydney’s first dedicated affordable housing for trans women designed to deliver ‘positive outcomes’

“Community housing provider and charity Common Equity NSW, […] which is for people on very low to moderate incomes, prides itself on creating inclusive living and promotes the independence and well-being of people and communities […, and] will deliver the first-of-its-kind social housing in a bid to provide a safe place to live for transgender women seeking an affordable home.”

8. Rewilding: How a herd of bison reintroduced to Romania is helping ‘supercharge’ carbon removal

“170 European Bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help capture and store the carbon released by up to 84,000 average US petrol cars each year. […] By grazing a 48 square kilometre area of grassland in a wider landscape of 300 kilometres squared, they helped to capture an additional 54,000 tonnes of carbon each year. That is around 10 times the amount that would be captured by the ecosystem without the bison.”

9. World’s biggest grids could be powered by renewables, with little or no storage

“[…] 100% renewable supply can then match the load by putting surplus electricity into two kinds of distributed storage worth that [an energy expert] says are worth buying anyway – ice-storage air-conditioning and smart bidirectional charging of electric cars, and recover that energy when needed, filling the last gaps with unobtrusively flexible demand.”

10. Supporting the Long-Term Survival of Copper River Salmon and Alaska Native Traditions

“With $4.3 million in NOAA funds, the Copper River Watershed Project and The Eyak Corporation will remove fish passage barriers, opening more streams for salmon spawning and subsistence fishing. [… As part of this effort, o]ld narrow culverts that constrict water flow will be replaced with “stream simulation” culverts wide enough to fit the full stream, including its banks. They are also deep to allow contractors to place stones and other material inside to mimic a natural stream bottom.”

May 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[mako-neexu]

Edguda and Obeguda.

There's a special sense of distance to be found between them. I think its really good... Along with their own way of caring for guda, comes their different views for their star. Based on what Dantes has said along with his actions he's the one who supports and grants what his accomplice desires.

"If that is what you desire, then I, the Count of Monte Cristo, shall obey you." He's said this in game himself its still insane....So I think he's very indulgent in guda's whims, never denies them in a way that this kind of sweetness makes guda clam up. Because if they asked, they know their Avenger would do everything in his power to follow through. Dantes listens to them, accepts what they say and gives his utmost support that it makes it hard for guda to say something.

On that regard, I think guda is careful in saying what they want in front of Monte Cristo.

"You mean you could buy me an entire island if I just said so?" Ritsuka asked, giving the man a mixture of amusement and slight mortification.

"Yes." The Avenger replied without hesitation, "Anything you desire goes. Only if that is what you wish."

Of course, Ritsuka rolls their eyes, showing a hint of displeasure and pain, but also fondness before holding both sides of his face, "Okay...But what if I want you to take care of yourself? That includes no more sacrificing your well being for me. Will you grant that too?"

If it is for my sake. If you truly are willing to grant what I want...

For so long, Dantes is silent, strangely bearing a man who was given a task far heavier than what Atlas carried on his shoulders before oh-so hesitantly conceding with closed eyes, he accedes, "..............Mm."

Id chapter considering, along with Prison Tower this guy's form of salvation is to be someone like Abbe Faria who became a guiding light, wherein their own body is used for a means to escape the tower of despair. So of course he would be hesitant on that part. He wouldn't hesitate to lead guda to a brighter future or shower them in comfort and riches...but I do think when it comes to himself, he doesn't/can't see himself in it because of his nature. EVEN SO his own heart yearns to be with guda even as all of his actions and determination point in the direction of letting them go towards the future.

So it's up to guda to be the one to tug him to be by their side when they walk together. Not just as a shadow who watches and protects, but also as an "accomplice".

There remains a sense of distance between them that I can only describe as "their bodies are so close, pressed up against each other, and yet their lips remain forever merely a centimeter apart."

As for Obeguda, Oberon sees guda through far better along with Castoria. Fellow bystanders in the story, fellow actor in this seemingly neverending play, reflections of the others as people who are too stubborn to give up, bearing their own star to reach as they run towards their end.

Though I have Monte Cristo brain, Oberon's care and love for Guda is still so sweet and far more gentle. His valentines, summer lb6, material 13 is proof of that. Furthermore, I think its just highly sweet he does his best to get around his lying curse just for guda... because the most common phrases he'll use is commonly described by JP as very "roundabout". he wants to convey clearly his thoughts and feelings to them, cursed his tongue may be. Just like Monte Cristo, he is compassionate and kind in his own way...

But as it is his own way, his care is different from Monte Cristo.

Because the Avenger spoils Guda as "accomplice", the Pretender's way of caring is through truly seeing the other, the thoughts and feelings of Fujimaru Ritsuka lay bare before him. A "friend". I feel a romantic sense like a lover wouldnt accurately describe it (the feeling Obeguda has in comparison to Edguda) but its that kind of feeling to me to be honest.

A "friend". A "foil", is a better term i think. Where there remains a sense of distance between them, but there is a bond that allows the other to harshly criticize each others' actions, out of compassion, out of care, out of love. That's why the times Oberon in fanon calls Guda out is really so good... even during the Garden, even though "Oberon" is just a reflection of Guda, it doesnt change the fact that Oberon sees right through them. Especially considering his valentine's gift to them.

Of course, a distinct difference in care is their brand, namely, Monte Cristo wants Guda to keep going in their journey to be happy (because that is what Guda needs), Oberon's brand is giving them an "end". A peaceful end away from the horrors and nightmares, where he takes their willing hand and holds them as they both fall into the abyss out of the World's reach, an eternal rest and reprieve that relieves their soul from burdens... towards oblivion.

"Hopeless idiot, that you are," Oberon clicked his tongue, yet gently sat beside Ritsuka, deep into slumber sporting fresh bandages, the blankets that covered them in disarray. "You've chosen to sacrifice yourself again, knowing you'd get killed... and despite my offer once more, you denied yourself of it."

The low tone gradually descending to become a harsh whisper, the Pretender looked back with a glare.

The star's light flickers like a candle in the storm, try as it might to shine its best throughout the night or give warmth to those gathered around it, there's only so much time until it miserably dies out.

Until nothing of it remains, until it gets discarded, used, thrown away without a care by those who were protected by it.

Before it comes to that point, someone needs to take away that light from those ungrateful wretches. From the hands of those foolish, greedy pigs, from the strings of fate that wraps around that tiny light's neck like a noose...

A black clawed hand reaches out, its talons sharp as a knife that could easily cut through, that could so easily end it all-

Yet merely brushes away the lone tear that slipped past the sleeping Master's eye.

Oberon closed his eyes as his jaw clenched, his bangs hiding his gaze while his hand retracts, merely moving back to his initial position of sitting beside them... intent on staying by their side until they woke up.

He wants to give them an end, but Ritsuka doesn't need it just yet. But they want it. An "end". Of things finally coming to a close. of that "game complete" their own star advised them to reach.

Their sense of distance is like that. Exactly like Edguda

So Ritsuka can't stop now, Monte Cristo encourages them, but to reach an end is natural and Oberon is is more than willing to give it, to guarantee rest and sweet dreams... Both of Monte Cristo and Oberon holds themselves back as the former is a flame destined to scorch those around him/a man who restrains himself to avoid tainting that star's light and the latter is a doomsday device who only holds himself back because he cares for what Ritsuka wants.

Both idiots are hopelessly sweet and caring for Fujimaru Ritsuka.