#but i will still post your communication from beyond the grave

[artiststarme]

Shakespeare? Gay as hell

Based on this post about Eddie getting held back for writing about gay characters in Shakespeare. Thanks to @lunaraindrop for needing more of his essays! I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Many relationships can be observed in William Shaksepeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, the most important relationship is not between the famous star-crossed lovers. No, instead the most important relationship is between Tybalt and Mercutio, another pair of star-crossed lovers often overlooked by the conservative, religious audience of the play. This relationship highlights the struggles of the homosexual community in the fourteenth century as well as those that still exist today. By analyzing the tragic gay relationship between Tybalt of the Capulets and Mercutio of the Montague side, efforts can be made in the present day to prevent tragic endings to gay relationships in the 80s.  

Eddie didn’t know why he got called into the principal’s office. He was three weeks into the school year and he hadn’t even done anything yet. He’d been attending all of his classes despite how goddamn early they were and he’d been turning in all of his schoolwork. They had no reason to pull him from his lunch and tentative new Hellfire members. 

His confusion only grew when he saw Wayne sitting awkwardly in one of the office chairs. “Uncle Wayne? What are you doing here?”

“Hell if I know,” he grumbled. “They said it was important that I be here. Boy, I haven't been in the principal’s office in over thirty years. What the hell did you do?”

Eddie threw his hands up in defensive surrender. “I haven’t done anything! Whatever they say is lies and slander! I’m innocent!”

He heard a scoff behind him and turned around to see Mrs. O’Donnell, his senior English teacher. She was a rigid old woman that wore three too many layers and went home every night to her twenty-seven cats and no husband, or at least that’s what Eddie assumed. She was standing next to an unimpressed Principal Higgins that glared at Eddie when their eyes met. 

“Sit down, Mr. Munson. Now, we’ve called you both here today to discuss some concerns. It seems that Edward here has some… perversions that we are concerned about.”

“Perversions?!” Eddie shrieked. What the fuck?

Uncle Wayne sat up straighter in his seat. “No, that’s not Eddie. I don’t know what this is regardin’ but my Eddie is a good kid so you must be mistaken.”

Mrs. O’Donnell slapped his latest essay on Hamlet down on the desk in front of Wayne. “Read it! He’s disgraced one of the grandest plays of all time!”

Everyone sat in silence for a moment while Wayne read his paper. Both Principal Higgins and Mrs. O’Donnell looked almost giddy as they waited for Wayne to start yelling at him and his ‘perversions’. Instead though, Wayne just hummed and leaned back in his seat.

“I think it’s great, wonderfully written. The sex scene between Tybalt and Mercutio was a little graphic for my taste but it was beautifully written. Eddie always has had a gift for writing stories.”

Mrs. O’Donnell’s jaw dropped in the utmost offense. “Excuse me?! This is not ‘wonderfully written’, this is a travesty on Shakespeare’s good name!”

“You’re his teacher, ain’t you? You should be happy that your teaching is inspiring such creativity. Great job on your part,” Uncle Wayne told her. 

Principal Higgins dismissed them hurriedly and as they left, they could hear Mrs. O’Donnell’s shrill screeching from down the hall.

He didn’t pass her class that year.

~*~*~*~

In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, the most important theme is love. The love between King Hamlet and his son allows his ghost to appear from beyond the grave to pass along important information to aid in revenge. The false love between Claudius and Gertrude causes revenge to spark and ultimately people to die. Perhaps most notably, the romantic relationship between Hamlet and Horatio proves the most important. It shows that love can persist beyond heterosexually bearded relationships, as Hamlet’s is with Ophelia. Furthermore, it shows that love can exceed death, as Horatio’s feelings continue even after Hamlet’s death when he kills Claudius in revenge. 

Honestly, the calls down to the principal’s office had become routine. Eddie was always being pulled out of class whether it was for goading on the basketball team, stealing Billy Hargrove’s clothes while he was in the shower, or allegedly selling marijuana to freshmen. It was always something. 

But when he walked in to find Wayne sitting uncomfortably in the office chair once again with Mrs. O’Donnell and Principal Higgins standing behind the desk, he let out a groan of annoyance. 

“Jesus Christ, can you not just let me live my life?”

“Eddie, don’t talk like that. Treat them with respect,” Wayne scolded him. 

“Mr. Munson, I don’t want you exposing my eyes to your homosexual writing urges. Unlike you, William Shakespeare was not a faggot!”

“Now you wait a damn minute,” Wayne said, whirling around to face Mrs. O’Donnell. “It ain’t my Eddie’s fault that this Shakespeare fellow was writing about gay characters in his plays. Just because Eddie is noticing them doesn’t give you the right to put him down or spread your lies. Grade his paper properly like you should be doing and stop trying to stomp all over my boy’s creativity!”

Uncle Wayne grabbed his arm and pulled him all the way out of the school to his truck. They drove to the diner a town over, the best place now that Benny’s was closed. He turned to Eddie in the cab of the truck and rested a calloused hand on his shoulder. 

“Look Eds, people are always gonna try and put you down but it’s your job never to stay there, alright? They don’t like your paper because it's too gay in their eyes? Write some more, do what makes you happy. And if you are gay, that’s okay too. I’ll always love you no matter what.”

By the time he’d finished, Eddie had tears dripping down his face. “I’m so sorry, Uncle Wayne. I didn’t want to be and I tried so hard-”

“Hey, stop that. There’s nothing wrong with being gay and you can’t believe anyone that says that there is, you hear me? Now c’mon, let’s get some burgers and you can tell me about any crushes you have at school. Any handsome fellas around here, you think?”

From that day forward, Eddie stops putting filters on his writing. Wayne told him that there was nothing wrong with him and he’d never lied to him before. He started making every character in his essays gay, he even added some gay characters to his campaigns and when no one questioned him, he centered the entire campaign around a lesbian elf saving her girlfriend from a horde of homophobic goblins. His friends didn’t so much as blink and Wayne beamed at him in pride when he told him about it later.

No, he didn’t pass his English class that year either but he remained true to himself and according to Wayne, that was the best thing he could do.

~*~*~*~

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the major theme of the play is homosexuality. This can be observed when Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to start killing all of the men that she thinks had a crush on him such as Duncan and Banquo. However, it can be seen most prominently when Lady Macbeth kills herself, may she rest in peace, because she realizes that despite all of her actions, Macbeth will remain fucking gay as hell. 

Eddie received a note from Mrs. O’Donnell the last class before Spring Break that summoned him to the Principal’s Office upon his return to school. However, with the murder accusations, earthquakes, and sheer amount of deaths, his summons was thrown to the back of everyone’s minds. 

Eddie graduated that year, passing Mrs. O’Donnell’s class with a pity A- but passing nonetheless. He walked across the stage with Uncle Wayne and the Party in the audience, ignoring the slurs and hate being screamed at him and focusing on Steve’s wolf whistling. Afterwards, everyone went back to the same diner that Wayne had taken him to a year prior and they celebrated the fact that he finally graduated. Who knew that all he had to do was remain true to himself and win over Mrs. O’Donnell?

(Or maybe it was the horrific events over Spring Break that allowed everyone to graduate despite how bad their grades were, but no one will ever know.)

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[dateamonster]

so like. think abt a cyberpunk scifi story, and its about ghosts.

except when i say ghosts i dont mean like the way were used to. spirits and spectres, visitors from beyond the grave with unfinished business to resolve and all that. what i mean is, in a future where the corporate control of the internet and subsequent privacy and data sharing/selling issues are even more exasperated, not even death can protect you from exploitation.

with the physical world becoming more and more inhospitable, many people live practically their entire lives online. and after death, their various accounts immediately become forfeit and their digital footprint, everything from social media posts to search history to whatever random bits and bites they leave behind, is compiled into an advanced ai program that uses that information to simulate an entire "person", a ghost made out of data.

these post-mortum simulacrums are then sold off to the highest bidder. if youre lucky, and wealthy, you may be able to win the rights to your loved ones digital remains, to with as you will. but more likely their ghost will be recycled into whatever form is deemed most profitable appropriate, as detailed in the all powerful terms and conditions. dead artists and musicians and creatives of all kinds are fed directly into the Content Generation machine. particularly charismatic or empathetic individuals become chatbots, bringing that "human" touch to automated customer help bots and mental Wellness apps and the like. if you didnt have (or at least document) any particularly notable talent in life however, odds are your ghost will simply become one of the innumerable faceless, mindless dead mining crypto and generating random text sequences like infinite monkeys on infinite typewriters for all eternity. a modern purgatory if there ever was one.

doesnt count as a human rights violation. after all its only a reflection of a reflection, humanity as seen through a pinhole, a thin beam of refracted light. and if this assemblage of random points of data occasionally spasms out some indicator of distress, just give it a new command to keep it focused and on-task, rinse and repeat.

the person is gone. only an echo remains. but it still falls to the corporations to decide how that echo is used.

at one point a certain company collects such a large number of mathematically-minded ghosts that they are able to assemble them into a powerful probability algorithm which generates likely outcomes to nearly any given situation in real time. essentially, a bot that can see the future, and tell it to you in a cheerful synthetic voice. in theory at least. in reality, the early trials of this cutting edge technology come out a little dodgy.

sure, the subjects who interface with the bot report a high level of overall accuracy. those that are still responsive after their trials at least. the problem is, to accurately account for the extremely high number of branching outcomes that are produced by any given action, the subject needs to be communicating with a massive number of these data ghosts at once. the glitches that occur therewithin this complex operation... could be due to a number of factors. user error? hardware limitations? there must be some reason that after a stretch of time, all subjects begin to report phantom voices, whispers, things that a glorified statistics model simply shouldnt have reason to say.

more data may be required.

[numetaljackdog]

WILT 8/3/2024

spotify//youtube

and get this. song notes under cut

Limp Bizkit - No Sex: ahaha the funny bizkit band!!!!! except this song speaks deeply to some Themes 😐<-the seriouser. pretty sure i've talked about this one in past WILTs but it just continues to strike me as unusual to hear fred like this on significant other. it's such a shameful song, definitely with some large doses of deflection and passing the blame to the woman he's addressing in the lyrics, but it connects on a base emotional level that fred rarely operated on at this point in bizkit hiztory, and an emotional level which i operate on every day of my life. this is in my top 3 lb songs

Jerk - I Hate People Like That: whenever i'm listening to this song, it's the best song in the world. i discovered this through the "crazy-ass moments in nu metal history" instagram page and loved the live video (the singer looks so cool!!) but hearing the studio version for the first time was the real jaw-dropper. recommend the whole album, some of the crunchiest, tastiest, most australian industrial i've ever heard

Deftones - Lotion: FINALLY entering my deftones era with lots of around the fur. lotion came on shuffle whilst i was mightily zooted one day and i decided that this was, in fact, the best song ever. the little vocal riff in the chorus? wild. plus ngl i do feel sickened

Fabricoh - Arm the Left: what a cool hardcore band :)

Coal Chamber - Fiend: idrc about coal chamber that much but this shit bumps

Klokwise - Bounce With This: as i believe i mentioned, this is one of my current favorite tracks from a newer nu metal band. hype as fuck, good riff, lots of bouncing. one thing i like best about klokwise is that they have a catchphrase. fucking brilliant way to build a community around your band. people can just say WISE UP and if you're with it then you immediately know what's up

Faith No More - Jizzlobber: speaking of themes and topics. i have been getting more into fnm due to reasons beyond my control and well frankly they are so bangers. "banger" doesn't really cover this one though this is straight up freak shit those vocals are crazyyyy

Cradle Of Thorns - Flesh: before videodrone was videodrone they were a strange little diy industrial outfit that made some independently-released records throughout the 90s. i've much yet to explore from the back catalog but this is a jam that's a combination of sexy and nasty and funny. included in the youtube playlist is footage of ty what's-his-name flailing and screeching like a wet little loser faggot boy

Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us: i followed the beef from about the midpoint to the conclusion and i'm still marveling at how thoroughly kendrick lamar put that man in the dirt. and made some bangers along the way, this shit is in my head everyday

Faith No More - Digging the Grave: the singing so good. that's all i really have for this one rn, this is the newest addition to the rotation

Boskat - Boiler: honestly rudeboy really deserves most of the credit for this, like yeah boskat came up with a catchy riff but otherwise it's like barely their song. plus i checked out some of their other shit and it's mid as hell. really good nu revival track but seems like a total fluke unforch. plus idk why they shied away from just saying "dick" like grow up

Joey Valence & Brae - Packapunch: been bumping some jvb recently, which is where some of the beastie posting has been coming from. i'm a little cynical about some of their new stuff like ohhhh yeah i bet you want to add nu jazz and breakcore and w/e to your sound yeah i bet your online-as-fuck audience eats that shit up. but then also i'm part of that audience and i kind of do. so i guess they've got me there. plus danny brown! i'm serious about the beastie girls thing btw

Blondie - Rapture: another legitimate claim for the title of first-ever rap rock song! which is crazy bc it comes out of nowhere. like wow this blondie song is good in the way that most blondie songs are g- hey wait what. i love new wave and art punk and other stuff too. plus debbie harry's voice sounds realllll sexy when she sings the song title

P. O. D. - School of Hard Knocks: from little nicky. it's nu memtal

Insane Clown Posse - Hum Drum Boogie: oh goody! anyway me + the crew have been jamming this album recently and this song is so funny. MY BALLS

Charli XCX - Guess featuring Billie Eilish: i like girls :) this track strikes me as like a modern take on the paradigm of older club hits where there's like a male rapper who's the main artist and a female singer who's featured and does the hook and through the lyrics the narrative of performance is that they're gonna fuck down on each other. this is that but instead of pitbull or whoever it's billie eilish. and well that's kind of awesome. becuase of lesbian sex

Natalie Portman - Natalie's Rap: i don't give a fuckkkk about snl but i love when women rap and i love when it's violent on purpose

Chris Korda - Save the Planet, Kill Yourself: i got obsessed with the church of euthanasia recently after reading a bunch about the unabomber and that led me to chris korda's music which admittedly is not something i would give a fuck about if not for everything else going on with her. i would have added "i like to watch" instead of this but for some strange reason that i just can't fathom it doesn't seem to be widely available anywhere. weird!

Insane Clown Posse - I'm Ugly: actually awful song but soooo fucking funny. and then it gets kind of hard at the end and i stand by that

BONUS TRACK!

Trapt - These Walls: fuck these guys and their shitty band but also this song is kind of real as fuck....... like yeah man i would trade everything for this. however this was almost certainly purely incidental as all their songs sound like they were made in a lab

[remythologise]

please rank your gay ships based on how bad thekr first time havifn sex would be thank you

a short selection of SOME gay ships from western live action on a RELATIVE score ranking because we don’t have time or space for all the rest: charles/erik: charles is literally a telepath. their first time having sex is 15/10 even if both of them cry and erik gives himself an injury it doesn’t take away from how out of this world the sex is

hannibal/will: 13/10 for the 13 people that died right before it happened. I am so sorry to tell you this but they are BOTH so into it and there is so much blood.

alexander/hephaistion: over two millennia of people saying alexander was cuntstruck by hephaistion’s thighs so I guess that first messy 12/10 handjob was astronomically good for alexander.

tos kirk/spock: kirk is very kind and gentle with spock here even though spock’s losing his goddamn mind about it. kirk, in fairness, ALSO loses his goddamn mind about it a bit. not for nothing are they based on the above two historical figures. 11/10 lewd handholding

xena/gabrielle: including women on this list as a comparison point. it’s so 10/10 good and they are so normal and communicative about their needs, wants and feelings

post-15.18 destiel: might be sort of normal actually. a bit awkward at first, but given cas is an angel and blows out some lights along with dean’s back I’ll give it a solid 9/10 that can only get better from here.

flint/silver: 8/10 sadly they’re both so in love with each other and work so well together it overrides all of the gaslight gatekeep girlboss manipulations and mindgames that have or will go on, even if they’ll never admit that!

steve/tony: picking one universe and saying ultimates, ults steve is homophobically trembling the whole time and ults tony is bitter and jaded and laughs derisively at the situation after steve comes. 3/10 objectively but a 9/10 experience for steve (previously had not had gay sex) and a 7/10 experience for tony (he’s a masochist)

holmes/watson: holmes is too in his head about it and watson doesn’t know if he likes gay sex yet. 6/10 love that dare not speak its name is still very sexy for all involved

house/wilson: they know way too much about anatomy for this to be bad, BUT never underestimate the power of them derailing the experience by arguing with each other and bringing up death before anyone even gets off. 5/10

kim/harry: oh this is ABSOLUTELY what you’d expect (harry full on losing it not even halfway in and sobbing violently) but it is saved by the fact harry can near-read kim’s mind even if he doesn’t know what kim’s mind means half the time. 4/10, +0.5 modifier (kim really trusts you)

nandor/guillermo: also 4/10, neither of them communicates about their kinks. guil makes a secret action plan of how the next time can be better, except nandor then immediately goes off and hooks up with some other love of his life

merlin/arthur: 5/10 sloppy blowjob by merlin that gets a downgrade to 3/10 because somehow in sucking arthur off he also managed to doom magic, all other gay people and the entire working class

geralt/jaskier: 2/10 geralt is thinking about yennefer’s breasts the whole time. sorry he can’t help it blame the djinn probably

aos kirk/spock (or any pre-movies version of tos): somehow kirk spends the whole time convincing himself it’s just a casual thing for a literal vulcan. spock spends the whole time trying not to kill kirk and then thinks he’s gravely injured him AND disgusted him with the scale of his aggressive desire. 1/10 they both get off but it’s physically painful and both are miserable about it

endverse destiel: dean is SOOOO angry and revolted with both himself and castiel. absolute 0/10 that never happens again.

dishonourable mentions for the hell of it:

aziraphale/crowley: whatever neil gaiman said about them never having sex because they’re beyond that or whatever. -10/10 they don’t qualify

[cbsghostsdaily]

Meet the Ghosts: Alberta Haynes Click on each image for higher quality + image ID is under the cut!

[Image ID: A still graphic of three photos, all with a red gradient with black.

Graphic 1: A Spotify Podcast template. The podcast section is labeled: “Meet the Residents: Alberta Haynes”. The cover itself is a red gradient. There is a photo of Alberta from the 1920s in black and white, with a white outline behind her image. The cover photo states: “THE ULSTER COUNTY REVIEW PRESENTS: RATS, JAZZ, & MURDER: WHO KILLED ALBERTA HAYNES?” Underneath, it says: “Hosted by: Samantha Arondekar & Todd Pearlman”

Graphic 2: A purple-pink table top containing: 

A pink pen

A cup of coffee

Next to the coffee cup, a paper that says: “From the desk of Todd Pearlman” in blocky writing. There are three notes underneath it that say:

“There’s some beautiful, ethereal humming. Sam’s weird assistant said it’s off-tune but it reminds me of Alberta. Maybe it’s her cheering us on from beyond the grave...”

“Need to double check Sam’s sources. Yesterday she said Alberta liked Dungeons & Dragons, which wasn’t even around then? Then when I pointed it out she said “Uh...I mean...I think she’d like it.’“ 

“Alberta Clone plan is still in Phase 1. Sadly.” 

Under the cup of coffee is a phone, with a photo of Alberta on it. 

Under the phone are two notepads. The one on the left says “TODD’S THOUGHTS: Sam joked this photo has Alberta in it. Obviously, it’s empty but I feel inspired whenever I look at it...” The one on the right in neat handwriting says. “Hey Todd! Just slipping htis under your door where you’ve been doing hte podcast notes. For days. Just a hunch that you’re listening to Alberta’s songs again. But we have guests coming so you can come back next week for more Alberta research instead! Just at your earliest con-” from here, the word trails off with a scribbled line, and new handwriting is seen, saying: “GET OUT BRO - JAY.” 

Graphic 3: A community forum page that says “Ulster County Review Community Forum. Underneath it says: “Selected topic > Alberta Haynes > Most viewed”. Five posts follow in varying red-pink gradients: 

4.8k upvotes: Posted by albertafan101, 6 months ago. Title: ALBERTA HAYNES: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR. Subtitle: “Ignore what that guy was saying, ther edefinitely wasn’t any “Thor” or “Pete’s” around in Alberta’s circle. Now, something that IS interesting, however, is a note found in the Woodstone B&B...

0 upvotes: Posted by fortheloveofpete, 6 months ago. Title: SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS. Subtitle: “Don’t ask me how I know this, but I can give my word it’s true! - Pete: Friend (and hopefully more?) | Lizzo: descendant? - Sam: “bestie” } Thor: enemy whenever he says landship

1.2k upvotes: posted by toddhaynes, 2 weeks ago. Title: SONGS. Subtitle: “Alberta did not get the chance to perform a lot of her songs, but there are some notable ones. - “Don’t Be a Rat (ironically, Alberta had ratted out a singer...”

90 upvotes: posted by sam_arondekar, 1 day ago. Title: NOTABLE QUOTES. Subtitle: Hypothetically. I’d like to imagine she’d say these! “My death, like my life, was spectacular. Had to be! No way I went out from something boring like a busted ticker.” 

56 upvotes: posted by pickleballover, 30 minutes ago. Title: WHY ARE THE HOSTS SO STRANGE? Subtitle: He sounds like a stalker. And let me tell you, that Sam woman...

/end image ID]

[shardssystem]

So I saw a post about this concept and thought it would make for a interesting ask. Magical damage, like a necromancers fingers slowly turning black and losing sensation or a wizard with lighting bolt scares across their arms. What dose it look like when your oc's push their magic beyond what their bodies can handle?

Sorry for the delay!

So for Liya, like most cases of magic, it mostly depends on her host. Outside of a host, she becomes anchored to the ironwood tree that makes her grave on Melenas, or to the former heart of the Selesnya conclave in the 10th District on Ravnica, where the leylines meet. The more she fights against it, the more transparent she gets, and the foggier her mind becomes. It’s like a slower acting anaesthesia.

Though Yri’s magic is small to match its user, she can still push herself too far. Her hair starts losing its fight against gravity, and it becomes harder for her to fly. Less obviously, food (especially sweets) loses its flavour.

Vasil’s magic is basically what’s keeping him alive, so using too much means he starts drying out, as it were, and his bones start weakening their connections. Like Liya, he starts getting fuzzy around the edges before becoming a temporarily inanimate pile of bones.

Caidi’s magic powers her telepathy and projection, along with their shapeshifting. They remain sentient, but become unable to communicate effectively.

Kolya unfortunately finds himself in this position too often. Utilising precognition puts stress on the brain, so he develops nosebleeds and sharp headaches as a warning sign to avoid damage from continuing. He’s pushed himself into a coma before, and could risk death.

Conversely, The Coterie rarely push too hard, being able to channel power through all three of them. Unless in a literal life or death scenario, they don’t tend to fight together, meaning there’s at least one of them in reserve. If it comes to it, they collectively start weakening and aging, their shared mind generating screams internally. This heals over time with rest, but leaves the triplets vulnerable in the interim.

Thanks for the ask, @little-red-rabbit!

[glitterarygetsit]

I've said most of this on Twitter already, but here is my Obligatory OFMD Finale Feels post.

In short: I'm disappointed on a plot and character level and people are right to say it's ableist, but I mainly think the writers fucked up while trying to do something positive. A lot of this is conjecture, and it doesn't absolve the creators for making the mistakes they did or continuing to preach kindness and happy endings in interviews, but I think it makes sense and frames OFMD as an effort to make a show that is far more progressive than most other shows, but still really, really fucked up without meaning to.

Looking at the timeline, the show got renewed in June 2022, and was filming by September. The fandom has had a full year to explore Izzy's character and get more attached to him than the writers, who got about 3 months to gauge audience reaction and potentially rewrite his whole arc, could have expected.

I think the fact that the writers seem to have tried to give a fan favourite an arc in which he achieves happiness and self-actualisation is laudable. The problem is that in doing so, they made him even more of an avatar of queer and disabled survival while failing to change the endpoint they had planned for him. As a result, when he died, he wasn't just a complex deuteragonist with an arc that served the main story who saw the error of his ways, but a protagonist who had come to represent the themes of survival and acceptance that the show has embodied from the start.

The fact that s2 explicitly gave Izzy an arc about becoming disabled and coming to terms with it is what invokes the "bury your cripples" trope, and the idea that being disabled makes life not worth living despite earlier episodes (and other characters!) in the series explicitly demonstrating the contrary. If we look at his death as something the writers viewed as a fixed canon event, it's clear that they badly fumbled the ending, thinking they'd given him peace at the end when what they'd actually done was rip the prospect of more peace and happiness from him.

The way Izzy's death and funeral were handled--the in-universe inconsistency of having his fatal wound be on the left side, the cruelty of the British noticing his golden leg, the implication of something beyond the grave by having possibly-seagull-Buttons landing on his grave and denying us the closure of knowing that's the end, as well as separating him from his community and from his prosthetic were repeated slaps in the face that I see as the result of internalised ableism and trying to force a character that had grown beyond his original narrative purpose back into a predetermined fate. To me djenks' garbled rewriting of Izzy's relationship with Ed in interviews confirms that the character broke the bounds of its intended purpose and left the writers unsure what to do with him.

Ultimately, I don't think djenks and the writers intended to be cruel. I think they're the products of an ableist, racist, homophobic society with a lot of internalised prejudice who should have hired a disability consultant for their silly pirate show that unexpectedly punches far above its weight in terms of representation. Still, I can absolutely understand why viewers might feel that the failure to account for their internalised ableism is enough of a betrayal to stop watching. I do hope those viewers can still find joy and representation in the fandom going forward; if they move on to another show, our fandom will be poorer for it, and I think other fans need to recognise the hurt they're going through and use this experience as an impetus to create better-informed fanworks themselves.

I'm not especially interested in litigating whether OFMD signposted this from the start or is breaking or sticking to genre conventions or three-act-structures or whether it broke in-universe rules (it did, though. bite me.) Izzy's death was neither an inevitable beat in a well-told story nor evidence of an intentional shift towards Game-of-Thrones-style cruel and pointless deaths. They just fucked up, badly, and I hope they'll do better in future.

[imakemywings]

You've pointed out how Miriel said she's glad that they (Indis' children) exist, and that Indis has her love. Do you think that would've changed anything in the house of Finwe? Like the relationship between Feanor and Fingolfin?

That's a great question! I'll be honest, I haven't thought about it before. If there was anyone who could talk Feanor off hating Indis and her kids, it's probably Miriel. If their conversation took place after his death (although RIP Feanor, Miriel in Morgoth's Ring leaves the Halls right before Feanor arrives), I think he would be more inclined to listen. If she'd come back and tried to talk to him when he was still alive in Valinor and under the influence of Melkor's lies, I'm not sure even Miriel would have gotten through to him. But assuming they spoke post-mortem, I can see how with time and effort Miriel could make Feanor see that Indis and her kids were not a threat or an insult. I think it would take a long time to normalize those relationships, but I like to think it would be possible.

Alternatively, if like, Miriel had communicated these thoughts to Finwe (or anyone else) from beyond the grave and Feanor just kind of had to take it as truth that she felt that way...I'm not sure that would have changed much. He would have thought on it, but Feanor's concern with them was also about the existential threat he considered them to pose to himself. If Miriel, the queen, could be so easily replaced, why not also the crown prince? If Mirieli is no longer the queen of the Noldor, then what is her son, Feanor? And I don't think even Miriel's reassurance that she has no issue with Indis' kids would quell that concern for Feanor, particularly with Melkor whispering in his ear that Fingolfin intends to usurp him.

I think Indis might have been grateful to hear this, just for the reassurance...and I'm sure her kids would've considered it a suitable comeback to Feanor's dislike ("Even your mom has no fight with us!")

But would it have changed anything? I'm not sure.

[lesbiten]

COMMUNICATION. COMMUNICATION. BEYOND THE GRAVE COMMUNICATION

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[agentofscifi]

Success is the Best Kind of Revenge Ch. 3

Heels click onto the floor of my office as Chloe pushes open my doors. My hands were currently holding up the train of a dress hung on Juleka. Alix follows after Chloe, tinkering with some kind of camera in her hand. Over the years, as we all graduated from University and done pretty well for ourselves.  

Juleka ended up changing her major in school after three semesters. Instead of going into performing arts for instruments, she went and got a composition degree. Juleka wrote music for a variety of artists and was one of the most sought-after songwriters. When she wasn’t doing all of that, she was modeling for my company. Juleka did a variety of photoshoots for several companies, mine included throughout her University Years. After I opened up my first few stores, we signed a formal contract. She’d been working for me for almost a decade. She split her time between Paris and Nashville in America. 

Alix decides to focus on a degree in art history. She worked at an Auction House company in Paris, moving between the various countries of Europe to authenticate pieces of art and then handle their sales. She was rather successful at her work, earning many bonuses for rather extremely successful sales. Alix’s unique style and comfortable professionalism made her easily approachable to buyings. She was rather blunt, and it did her well in her job. On her off-hours, Alix did some minor modeling and promoting much of my athletic pieces. Alix’s popularity grew as she competed in several X-Games in and after university. She won several titles in skateboarding, BMX freestyling, rollerskating, and snowboarding before retiring after a slip-up when snowboarding. She shattered her kneecap, broke a leg, her collarbone, and dislocated her arm in two places. She still did BMX biking, skateboarding, rollerblading, and snowboarding, just not in a professional capacity. That being said, little kids still asked for her autographs all the time.  

Chloe graduated from the London Business School with Honors and then proceeded to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York to get a Graduate Degree in Global Fashion Management. She modeled some of my designs, worked connections, handled all my brand’s social media accounts, and finalized contracts. Now, she had several people working underneath her, to handle the day-to-day operations. Either way, Chloe handled all of the Brand’s business dealings and flourishes.  

As for me, I attend the London College of Fashion. I got a Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design and Development with honors. After those years, I went to Milan to attend Istituto Marangoni International for a Master’s Degree in Luxury Accessories Design & Management. After that, I relocated back to Paris. My first boutique opened up quickly after that along with a small factory with a loan from a bank. I ended up having to open a second factory within three months due to demands. More boutiques opened up worldwide as the Brand became a household name.  

“Hello Chloe, how is everything?”  

“We got invitations to a reunion for Lycée. Alya sent them, as she was the class representative when we all graduated. Personally, I think she wants to get her hands on you or Juleka for an interview. You know her journalism career is in the gutter.”  

Alix snorts. “And who’s fault is that?” 

Chloe rolls her eyes. “Her’s. The idiot ruined her blog when she was a teenager and she never changed. She still does idiotic and frankly dangerous things to get a scoop. Sure, she does some basic research now, but the girl’s been detained several times for endangering people and disrupting the peace. No University would touch her, and no place will hire her.”  

Alix looks up from the camera. “So, you didn’t inform everyone in the fashion journalism world about her history, knowing it would spread to all major news and journalism networks.  

Chloe raises an eyebrow. “Look, this company’s image is important. I was not going to let Miss Blogger ruin it for 15 minutes of fame. She dug her own grave.”  

I sigh. “This is great and all, but are you all going?”  

There’s a snort right behind me. “Not on any of our lives. We will not be sinking that low.”  

“Chloe!” Juleka’s face is red and slightly scandalized.  

“What? Why would we go to this reunion? To see how everyone is doing? It’s rather simple. Alya’s a tabloid writer. Nino is a barely successful DJ who works at a music store to help pay his bills. Max is an IT guy at a company. That fake research paper haunts him to this day. Kim works at a gym. The drugs screwed his athletic chances over and he never planned for anything beyond going to the Olympics. Nathaniel works at an art store and does nighttime classes. He’s unsuccessfully worked with 7 different writers for his comics after leaving Marc.   

Now, Myléne and Ivan are happy, at least. Myléne works as a secretary and Ivan as a grocery store manager. Both are part-time so one of them can stay home with their kids at a time. They have millions of photos of their family on their Instagram accounts. Neither one can do much with charities. The fraud they committed was spread around the charity communities fast.  

Rose, Adrien, and Sabrina are the only ones who did what they wanted to do. Rose had a few years of fame with her music before getting married and settling down as a youth music teacher. Adrien moved to America and works for a University. However, I know for a fact that he will not be returning to Paris for anything less than a funeral or a wedding. As for Sabrina, after some therapy, ended up as a Detective in Marseille.”  

“Didn’t you pay for her therapy?” I tie off my last stitch and let the train fall to the platform.  

Chloe purses her lips. “I owed her that much. I screwed her childhood up, majorly.”  

“Did you stalk everyone to find out all of this?” Alix has a mischievous look.  

Another eye roll from Chloe. “I didn’t need to. In this day and age, all you need to do is type their name into the internet and all of their social media pops up.”  

I hum. “What about Lila?”  

“She’s still in prison. Tried another appeal a little while ago, to no avail. Her long list of offenses and the “assisting a terrorist” change isn’t something any judge would want to touch, even with a 10 ft pole.”  

Juleka simply shrugs. “Back to the point at hand. I’m not going to this reunion. Rose is the only one I wanted to keep in contact with, and she’s not going. It’s her five-year anniversary with her husband. She’s going to Spain that week.”  

Alix shugs. “I’m not going either. Kim has tried to contact me so many times to help him get back into the sports world. I am not giving him another chance. Besides, there’s this huge auction going on in Russia for that week. I am not missing that for a few hours with our childhood classmates.”  

I look at Chloe. She raises a perfect eyebrow. “Not a chance and you are not going either. Heavens forbid Alya posts something on that new blog of hers.”  

I set my needle and thread down on a work table and gesture to Juleka to get changed. “I’m not going if none of you are. Besides, there’s this fashion show in Milan that weekend. It’s for freshly graduated designers to show off their talents to possible employers. I was planning to go to find some who would specialize in Fashion Contour. I’ve been doing quite a bit of work in that field and want to get a fresh pair of eyes that will eventually take over that area of our brand. I was also hoping to look for someone to start a Make-up department. One of your people mentioned the idea at a meeting.”  

Chloe nods and starts to type into her phone. “I’ll tell my assistant to look through the applications we have to see if anyone fulfills the requirements for that job. Just find that new department head.”  

I give Chloe a nod as Juleka hands me the dress from before. A custom-made wedding dress for a woman who happened to be Juleka’s exact size. One of the many I had made of the years since I’d started my fashion business.   

Some part of me wanted to thank Lila. If I was honest with myself, I wouldn’t be where I was if she hadn’t arrived at my class and taken everyone’s loyalty. They weren’t bad people, but thanks to Ms. Bustier, they were a drain on my energy and abilities. Now, however, I was one of the most well-known and successful fashion designers with over two dozen people for me in Design. I could not be happier. 

Ch. 1 ~~~~~ Ch. 2

[soul--scribbles]

Is there anybody going to listen to my story?

All about the girl who was betrayed.

She's the kind of girl you hate so much, you don't feel sorry.

As her body was left out to decay.

A giiiirl...

Lucinda only has one reason for being revived into Night Raven College (besides the fact that idiot first years lit the black flame candle and summoned her) all in my fic!

She is currently a fugitive since she had committed one of the gravest crimes in all magical & non-magical realms: making a contract with a demon.

Demons aren't all the same, however, it is a crime to summon and use a demon since they are notoriously powerful in granting their summoner's wishes...at a grave price. Demons have enormous magical energy and give the "illusion" of power beyond all imagination, but by doing so they also fail to neglect the consequences of allowing magic/non-magic wielders to harbor such power with disastrous results.

Because of people misusing this power, magical communities made it a capital crime to perform certain magics (contracting a demon, transfiguration, etc) without the proper clearance from the higher up councils.

Even though Lucinda was alive during the early 1900's prior to these changes, contracting demons for great magical power was still considered incredibly dangerous.

Lucinda, herself, is unable to wield magic (being a medium), so she harbors spiritual/psychic energy. Her sister, on the other hand, is another story. For another post

Lucinda had discovered that her sister had harnessed the power of a particularly dangerous demon to increase her magical ability tenfold who was later recognized as one of the most powerful, deadly witches in all the realms.

In order to protect her sister from the demon consuming her soul and breaking through the barrier from the demonic realm, Lucinda summoned the demon to overturn her sister's contract and create a contract with herself, as a sacrifice.

Of course, the demon did not object and willfully overturned the contract to create one binding to Lucinda. She didn't realize at the time that mediums have a much stronger bond to beings from different realms so her body was able to allow the demon to possess her to the point he could easily materialize separately from her body. This caused Lucinda great distress and took it as her responsibility to never allow the demon to be free, so she sheltered herself within the Macabre Mansion, where only spirits are able to reside.

Now that she's been brought to Night Raven College, she will use any chance she gets to acquire the information she needs to rid herself of that filthy demonic entity within her once and for all.

Problem is, if you try to exorcise a demon from your body, the vessel it hosts will die...no wonder they're considered parasites.

I suppose there's a loop hole to everything.

[heavenpierceher]

OFFICIAL MACHINE GIRL SONG ASSIGNMENT FOR SELECTED MTMTE CHARACTERS

CRITERIA: CHARACTER MUST BE ABLE TO TOLERATE LISTENING TO AT LEAST ONE MACHINE GIRL ALBUM

〜〜〜

RODIMUS: IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLENIALS TO DESTROY A NATION OF MILLIONS... - .​.​.​BECAUSE I’M YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR

Pull the world ablaze And while god’s busy getting faded We start from the basics Forget the world we hated Fuck everything they held sacred

DRIFT: Splatter! - U-Void Synthesizer

Shibuya meltdown Tokyo plastered 7 A.M. still huffing plasma System purge stop smoking dirt In the synapse the terror lurks Juggle poison and fireworks Dance with the devil and die with a smirk

CHROMEDOME: Psycho Signal Jammer - The Ugly Art

I’ve become the enemy they’re onto me suddenly I’ve become the enemy they’re onto me— FUCK! Psycho signal-jammer L-R-A-D A lonely birdsong resonates inside of me Stealth achieved until the return of the frequency Bloody nose now a bloody sleeve

REWIND: ATHOTH A GO!! GO!! - ...BIYAAHEYSF

You're the love I always wanted Free falling through time after life I’m petrified cause there's nothing That can stop my fall In the corner we can hug each other Till our brains and our guts splatter all over the fucking sidewalk

BRAINSTORM: .​.​.​BECAUSE I’M YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR -  ...BIYAAHEYSF

I exist in the sludge between fiction and fact Future and past U-G-L-Y You ain't got no alibi But you do have valentines The day of doom approaches

CYCLONUS: Necro Culture Vulture - The Ugly Art

They built a condo on your tomb The earth is rotted to the root A marble corpse like sister moon Necro-culture vulture, prime real estate

TAILGATE: 覆面調査員 (GabberTrap Mix)  - WLFGRL

(I was too over the top A dull loop of allurement spins away from me The weak rhythm from your side tends to fall short What’s the intention of your mission? I won’t cut corners, but It just feels entirely as if you’re testing me)

WHIRL: Roach On Dope - The Ugly Art

(I swear, I will get a gun, and I will shoot myself in the head) All my bad habits are back in the saddle Cutting off my hands is half of the battle Rinse and repeat until I die or black out It's a bug trap, death by poison glue It's a bug trap, you know they’ll poison you too

SWERVE: かわいい Post Rave Maximalist - WLFGRL

[Instrumental] (If you like those crazy-ass Japanese movies, Machine Girl is definitely for you)

SKIDS: Kill Screen - The Ugly Art

How do I sleep at night Knowing what I did I feel nothing Kill screen No shades of grey I'm to blame

PHARMA: SAD CLAPS - ...BIYAAHEYSF

Brain dead but you got a check A few hundred bucks step back A boogiepop phantom from beyond the grave suckin' on a template And it's dried up and there’s nothing left for it but table scraps My condolences to you sir, I give you sad claps

FIRST AID: Status - The Ugly Art

Status, what's your condition? Manic, I'm picking blisters Static, cut off transmission, I’ve had it Inhale, not to scale, lungs full so I exhale Double dare, dumbass over there Exhale fabric tears, imploding in my chair

NAUTICA: Infinite Potentiality - Reporpoised Phantasies

[Instrumental] (And that's when he realized that to stand and consider all possibilities is to drown in a tunneling sea of infinite potentiality) (So he changed his mind!)

RED ALERT: A Song Called Clive Barker - The Ugly Art

Someone's there screaming There's the gun And— I know somebody’s watching me Losing my self and all my patience How much longer can I take this

VELOCITY: Out by 16 (ACiDPUNKMiX) - Gemini

(Out by six- Out by six- Out by sixteen- Out by sixteen or dead on the scene, but together forever)

FORTRESS MAXIMUS: Full Metal Dipshit - The Ugly Art

Soothsayer, everything you said’s come true Masquerading proto-doppelganger of you You are the real, I was just here first Augmented post-modern rage fermented Metal septic down to the bone

ANODE: Fully In It - U-Void Synthesizer

I talk to the mirror I communicate with the dead Grave digging my psyche Plunging the depths of my head I reach down my throat And remove the world And the planet reveals itself

LUG: Cloud99 - Gemini

I will do my hardest to fuck your mind back to its original state (Thank me later) [Instrumental]

GETAWAY: A Decent Man - The Ugly Art

Need to escape I need a Pegasus My hatred grows inside a chrysalis Bark like a leader You're just a man Beg like you need it

[robininthelabyrinth]

- [x] Post canon Jiang Cheng accidentally died and went back in time to his Gusu Days, de-aged. Plot twist, the him in this dimension died, like 3 months ago, in Caiyi Town. Everyone thinks he is a fierce corpse because everyone attended his funeral and all the ceremonies that followed. The Nie sabers dont want to hurt him though?! The talismans in calming vengeful and restless spirits dont work?! Chaos, utter chaos happens.Give Jiang Cheng some love AncientChina-20forever. I’m one of the 8 sibs

Nie Mingjue trusted Baxia more than he trusted himself, which was probably a stupid decision – according to sect lore, it was definitely a stupid decision – but when he raised his saber to strike down the fierce corpse that had risen up from the Jiang sect heir’s untimely grave, Baxia said Hey cool we get to kill people now? 

So he stopped.

(He said he trusted her, not that he listened to her. He wasn’t that stupid.)

Jiang Cheng was panting for breath, shaking in terror but too exhausted to continue running. Now that Nie Mingjue had a moment of calm to study him, he observed that his pupils were blown wide from the effort of escaping, but they were still there; his eyes were neither full white nor full black, and thus unlike those of most resentful spirits. His fingers were red and raw and the nails all broken, as if he’d had to dig himself out of his tomb or something, but they were a human length, not elongated.

“Are you alive?” Nie Mingjue asked him.

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng said. “Like I’ve been trying to tell everyone, but no one believes me –”

“Your death was witnessed by many people,” Nie Mingjue told him. “No less than the two Jades of Lan testified regarding your heroism in preventing the Wen sect from using the Waterborne Abyss they unleashed as a pretext for conquering the Cloud Recesses.”

“The Wen sect?” Jiang Cheng said. “The Waterborne Abyss – what?”

“You don’t remember?”

“No, I do remember, that’s just not how it happened. The Wen sect didn’t come to burn the Cloud Recesses for another two years after the incident with the Waterborne Abyss –”

Nie Mingjue could feel his eyebrows going up – we’re back to not killing humans again aren’t we, Baxia grumbled, figuring out that she wasn’t getting blood today, stupid rules, do you know how many evil humans there are – and he frowned, considering the possibilities provoked by that sentence. “Did you get a glimpse of the future when you died?” he asked. “Or – something else?”

“I have no idea,” Jiang Cheng confessed, looking over his shoulder at where there were still shouts of anger from the ones who had been hunting him. “I can tell you, only – the others –”

They were still trying to kill him, he meant, and were being most unreasonable about it.

“Of course,” Nie Mingjue said, and drew Baxia again. “Hold her.”

“What?”

“Stop complaining, they’re almost here.”

Jiang Cheng took Baxia by the hilt – she growled at him lest he think too much of himself, and he twitched like a startled rabbit – and stood still as a statute. Nie Mingjue draped a spare set of robes over his shoulders to hide the glaring purple that screamed Jiang sect and turned towards the door, hands behind his back.

“Sect Leader Nie, Sect Leader Nie –” the pursuers chanted as they ran towards him, clutching calming talismans and other spiritual weapons in their hands, seeking his aid in pursuing the abomination that perverted the honorable Jiang Cheng’s body.

Not one of them looked in the direction of Baxia for more than a split second.

She had that effect on people, Nie Mingjue had found. 

After a while, Nie Mingjue chased them off, giving them incorrect directions in the hope they’d wear themselves out on their wild goose hunt, and maybe in the process find something useful to hunt on the mountain.

“I’ll take you to the Lotus Pier,” he told a still-frozen Jiang Cheng, and removed Baxia from his hands. “Do you require rest first?”

“Your sword is the scariest thing I have ever met,” Jiang Cheng said, voice dazed.

“Saber,” Nie Mingjue corrected. “My saber is the scariest thing you’ve ever met.”

“…right.”

“Your family will be happy to see you,” Nie Mingjue said. “They have not taken your death well.”

Jiang Cheng scrubbed his face. “I hadn’t even thought about that. Mother must be furious, and jiejie’s probably crying…who even knows how Wei Wuxian is taking it. Probably figuring out a way to blow things up to vent his feelings or something, what a disaster.”

Wei Wuxian had in fact lapsed into something not unlike a comatose state, capable of little more than eating and sleeping and responding to direct commands; he stirred only when Jiang Cheng’s name was mentioned, and even then the only change was that tears dripped down his face – he had been there when Jiang Cheng had sacrificed his life for him, for the Lan sect, for the world, and Nie Mingjue had been unsure if he would recover from the blow.

Madame Yu had been little better, though Jiang Cheng had correctly identified her primary emotional response as rage – Nie Mingjue thought that she didn’t know of any other ways to communicate, a situation he sympathized with – and Jiang Yanli was, in fact, inconsolable.

“Your father is upset as well,” Nie Mingjue said, because Jiang Cheng hadn’t mentioned him, and the surprise on Jiang Cheng’s face was – unexpected, hitting him like a jab to the gut that knocked out all his breath. “Did you not think he would be? You’re his son.”

“If I’m gone, Wei Wuxian can inherit the sect,” Jiang Cheng said as if a sentence like that made any sense at all. “He understands the motto better, Father likes him better –”

“Your father is a fool,” Nie Mingjue said. “He’s the one who has mangled your sect motto beyond all recognition, not you – he allows his heart to guide him anywhere he wishes to go, without any burden, and that is not how righteous men live. If he thought you did not understand, it was his duty as a father to teach you; if he did not naturally love you, it was his duty as your kin to value you regardless. That he has failed in those duties is his failing, not yours.”

Jiang Cheng’s mouth opened and closed, shocked by Nie Mingjue’s rudeness.

“He is a fool,” Nie Mingjue said again. “But even fools can be taught, even if only in the harshest of circumstances. Your father has declared war against the Wen sect, regardless of the recklessness of his actions, and says he will not rest until your memorial tablet is drenched with the blood of your killers; they say he aged twenty years in a day, that he visits your room and your grave every day, that he can barely look at the water around the Lotus Pier without flinching in memory of you –”

“None of that happened,” Jiang Cheng said desperately. “None of that –”

“My brother will be happy to see you as well,” Nie Mingjue continued. “He was rather distraught, to say the least. You should speak with him on the way to the Lotus Pier; he can help you come up with a coherent cover story.”

That this wasn’t the Jiang Cheng that had died, he already knew, but Nie Mingjue trusted Baxia when she said that this was a human, and anyway it seemed fairly clear that it was a Jiang Cheng, who loved his family, and that was good enough for him.

The Jiang sect’s declaration of war was messy, liable to lead to their destruction rather than anything else; the Wen sect would focus in on them and everyone else would stay out of it, thinking it some private affair. He was of course willing to help, but two Great Sects weren’t enough - they needed more than that. If they were to survive what happened next, if the entire cultivation world were to survive, they would need all their wits about them.

They were going to need Jiang Cheng.

[knightsimp]

Recovery (2/2)

Pairing: Percival Graves x Reader

Summery: You were right; that was not Percival Graves. So, what are you going to do about it?

Genre: Angst + fluff (I think it’s a sweet ending :D)

Word Count: 2600+

Date Posted: February 14, 2021 (Happy Valentine’s Day!)

Note: None

Part One: Link

“How do you think she is doing, Teenie?” Queenie found herself asking as she and Tina made their way to (Y/N)’s apartment. 

“I’m not sure, but I regret not staying with her for a couple of days.” The girls had no idea what (Y/N) was up to; she had not turned up for work, understandably, for the last five days. Now that it was Friday, they were able to check up on her. 

The sisters looked at each other before Tina knocked on (Y/N)’s door. They chose not to apparate to avoid scaring her. 

“It’s open!” (Y/N)’s muffled voice came through the door. When they entered the apartment, they did not expect such a mess.

The kitchen was a mess, first of all. Pots and pans everywhere, and unwashed dishes piled the sink. 

“In here!” (Y/N) called from the room at the end of the corridor: the bedroom. The bedroom was not any better than the kitchen. From what can be seen by just looking through the bedroom door, (Y/N)’s bed was not made and a couple garments were dumped onto it. Miscellaneous things, such as her hairbrush and a few pieces of clothing, were piling onto her bedside table.

Tina and Queenie were not prepared to see a spew of papers near the wall which was facing the bed. Tina had not known about (Y/N)’s investigation at all, but Queenie knew and did not realize it would get this far and this bad. The small patch of papers that were pinned on the wall, which had been connected together with red string, had taken over the square-ish area and had started to crawl onto the ceiling. 

“Oh my god.” Tina mumbled, looking up at one of the moving snippets from The Daily Prophet. 

“Tina! Queenie!” (Y/N) was at the wall where this collection started. “How are you?” It looked as if (Y/N) just rolled out of bed and got to work. And that was exactly what has been happening the last several days.

“We’re doing alright, (Y/N).” Queenie hesitated for a moment. “How are you?” (Y/N) shrugged her shoulders.

“Tired mostly. I haven’t slept in a couple days, but look! I have made so much progress!” Queenie looked around and found two empty mugs which were, no doubt, once filled with coffee. Tina snapped out of her memorization of the ceiling. 

“Progress?” Tina asked, raising an eyebrow. She slowly put the pieces together. “(Y/N),” pause, “are you trying to figure out where Mr. Graves is?” (Y/N) smile dropped for a moment while she averted her gaze downward. Her enthusiastic smile became a sad one as she fiddled with the delicate gold charm that Percival had gifted to her for a birthday. 

“Well, of course.” (Y/N) looked back at them, speaking softly. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“First, you need to go take a shower.” Tina went behind (Y/N) and pushed her shoulders out of the bedroom to the nearby bathroom. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but you really do stink. We can smell you from across the room and it is a long room.” 

“Tina’s right!” Queenie agreed, looking at them. “You need to take care of yourself, (Y/N). You are not going to make much progress when you are unconscious from a lack of sleep and proper food.” Before (Y/N) could say anything, Queenie added, “And yes, regardless of what you think, you do need a little freshening up.” With a little more arguing, (Y/N) agreed to at least take a shower. Queenie handed (Y/N) some clothes to change into before she entered her bathroom.

Tina continued to awe at (Y/N)’s investigating. She knew (Y/N) was a brilliant detective, but this was beyond what she thought. She followed it down from the ceiling to the original wall. In the middle of the wall was where everything was connecting to; a photo of (Y/N) and Percival at the Blind Pig. After being constantly reprimanded by Percival, who was really Grindelwald, when he was around, it surprised her that she did not notice the differences between him and the real Percival sooner. Percival was very intimidating and dominating, yes, but he still cared about his subordinates. Grindelwald could not care less unless it was meddling his involvement in MACUSA.

As Tina looked closer into the snippets of newspaper, she noticed how (Y/N) had been investigating all over the city. No doubt she was going to all of these locations. Once a location was visited, it seemed like (Y/N) would pin or make notes on the snippet. 

“No way.”

“Possible, but not probable”

These were only the very general notes being made. It looked like (Y/N) was also communicating with Theseus Scamander in London to make some inquiries in Europe, but nothing came of that.

Tina did not realize how long she was gawking at (Y/N)’s work until she heard the shower stop.

(Y/N) looked as if she was in deep thought when she exited the bathroom. She definitely looked, and smelled, fresher than before.

“(Y/N)?” Tina tried to call out to her. “Are you okay?”

“(Y/N), are you sure?” Queenie came around the corner, overhearing (Y/N) thoughts. “Is that a likely place?”

“What is a likely place?” (Y/N) looked up at Tina. 

“You know how while you take shower or a bath, it is easy to let your mind wander?” Tina nodded. “I think...” She trailed off, again seemingly trying to make sense of her thoughts.

“You think Mr. Graves is at MACUSA!” Queenie gasped. 

“What?” Tina exclaimed. “Explain!”

“There is nowhere else he can be, Tina!” (Y/N) was right, but also sounded like she was grasping at straws. “I have scavenged the city for signs. I even had someone in London make secret inquiries for me. And it is absolutely something Grindelwald would do. If anyone was going to look for the real Percival, they were not going to search MACUSA, a place swarming with talented aurors. And it makes it easier to get ingredients for the Polyjuice potion. No one is going to question Percival Graves if they spot him walking through the building.”

“That is actually genius.” Tina mumbled before clearing her throat. “But where would he be? Like you said, MACUSA always has aurors in the building.”

“MACUSA is big and has been running for decades! There has to be some abandoned areas that are no longer required for work.”

“We can always check.” Queenie suggested. “All three of us work in that building.”

“Though, depending on how large the search area is, we may need help from Picquery.” (Y/N) bit the inside of her cheek. Might as well.

The sun was starting to set when the three women arrived at MACUSA.

“You two stay out here.” (Y/N) told the sisters. “I can’t have you two getting in trouble, especially you, Tina; you just got your job back as an auror.”

(Y/N) stormed into President Picquery’s office. She did not mean to, but her adrenaline took over. The President was clearly in the middle of some sort of meeting. She looked peeved, to say the least.

“Miss (L/N),” she started sternly. “I am glad to see you are feeling better, that being said-”

“Madame President-”

“-I am in the middle of something-”

“I may have figured out where Percival Graves is, ma’am.” The room went silent. “The real Percival Graves.” Picquery’s expression turned from annoyed to serious. 

“Gentlemen, we can reschedule, but I must talk with Miss (L/N) this instant.” The two men in suits left and closed the door behind them, leaving (Y/N) to Seraphina’s mercy. “Miss (L/N).” She let a bit of silence go by. “I’m listening.”

“I believe Percival may be in this building.” Seraphina leaned back in her chair and sighed.

“And what is your proof?”

“The lack of any. Madame President, when I tell you that I have scoured the whole city looking for him, I mean it; that is not an exaggeration. I have been making inquiries in Europe and no one has found anything.” Seraphina continued to stare at her. “Please, at least humor me.”

“And where would he be, (Y/N), if he is in fact here?”

“That is the big question, ma’am; that is why I am here in your office.” She purposefully kept Tina and Queenie out of it to avoid any repercussions they may face if she is wrong. “In my investigation into this theory, I wondered if there are any abandoned areas here in MACUSA. A building and organization this old cannot still be using all of it’s floors.” Then, the realization seemed to hit Seraphina.  

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but you may be onto something, (L/N).” She stood up from her chair and went to the front of her desk, leaning against it. “Some of the lowest floors have not been used in a long time. At least five or six floors. No one goes down there anymore; there is no need.” She led (Y/N) to the door. “I am sending five people to each floor immediately. You and the Goldstein's gather two more aurors and start the search.” (Y/N) wanted to ask how she knew the Goldstein sisters were involved, but quickly shut her mouth. “If you’re wrong, this is a waste of a lot of manpower. People are finishing up their shifts and will be very upset to be searching a good portion of our building when they could be going home.”

“Then, let's hope that I’m not wrong.” Seraphina nodded before heading off to the main floor. Tina and Queenie came closer, seeing as the coast was clear. 

“Miss Goldstein-”

“Find two other aurors and we’ll meet you at the elevator.” Queenie glanced at both the president and (Y/N) before leaving Tina with (Y/N). 

“(Y/N)?” Tina put a hand on her shoulder to stop her for a moment. (Y/N) explained the plan as they made their way to the elevator. 

“We don’t know what or who is down here.” Tina warned, talking to everyone, but keeping her eyes on (Y/N). “Stay alert.” The five of them split up, wands in hand, but stayed close enough to see each other in case of an ambush.

The bottom floor of the building, way under sea level, had definitely been abandoned. The remaining desks down there were dusty and untouched. Whatever else they had down there was the same.

After about half-an-hour, (Y/N) was losing hope; she was hanging on to the thought of finding Percival and it was the only thing keeping her going, but her grip was slipping.

In the relatively silent bottom floor of MACUSA, they could hear the echoing of someone yelling. They can barely make it out, but the words which were projected were very clear: “we found him!”

(Y/N) heart dropped to her stomach. She almost did not believe what she heard. Tina and Queenie caught up to (Y/N) as she ran to the cage elevator, though the elevator was way above where she was, giving her ample space to look up.

“Give me a floor!” (Y/N)’s voice cracked as she yelled up the shaft, trying to get through all of the noise. She got responses for many of the aurors, but she got a general answer: three from the bottom. Percival was supposedly only two floors above where she was. Her breathing was getting a little heavy. 

She looked at the floor before apparating to it. Her team followed. 

“(L/N)!” One of the aurors on the floor called her over. “He’s over here!” (Y/N) almost tripped with how quickly she ran, following the auror. The heels of her shoes made a loud clack every time her feet pummeled onto the floor. 

Her heart was pounding, but it really started hitting hard against her ribs when she saw her first glimpses of him. Her running had come to a halt and she slid on her knees in front of him.

The poor man had been through so much. Whatever skin was showing outside of his torn dress pants and ruffled dress shirt was bruised and his face was home to a black eye. His hair and facial hair had grown way past what he would have tolerated if he was in control of it. He stank of blood, sweat, and dirt.

He was not in a cage or cell; he was, instead, shackled to a support beam by his wrists.

“Percy!” (Y/N) gasped out, holding his almost unconscious face in her shaking hands. It looked like he may have been sleeping to pass the time. “Get medical down here!” A couple of aurors nodded and left to get personal from the medical wing. “Percival, please open your eyes.” 

Slowly, with whatever energy he had, he opened his eyes. He could believe (Y/N) was sitting in front of him, holding his face so gently. The light coming in from behind her made her look oh-so angelic. 

“(Y/N)?” Her name barely passed his lips. 

“Percy! Yes, yes! It’s me!” She could not care less that she was crying; hearing his voice again, the real him, brought her to tears. She let a sob escape. “Oh Merlin, I found you! I finally found you!” In her happiness, she planted tender kisses all over his face. She did not notice when Percival mumbled something to her. 

“Make way!” The healers had arrived with a gurney, ready to take Percival up to the medical wing. (Y/N) was reluctant to let go of him, but did so. She watched as he was taken away from her. 

Queenie, from (Y/N)’s side, gave her a reassuring hug, which the crying auror returned and finally let out her whimpers. 

He was found.

This was the real Percival.

He was alive.

And he was going to be okay.

It took about a full day for Percival to become coherent. He was so void of nutrients and fluids; the man was on the brink of dying. 

What had happened was clear: once Grindelwald was found out, Percival was no longer needed and he was left down there to die. It was horrifying to think what would have happened if (Y/N) had not had that miscellaneous thought in the shower.

When he awoke, (Y/N) was right there, gently holding onto his bruised hand so as to not hurt him further.

“You’re safe now, Percival,” was the first thing she said to him. “Everything will be alright.” Once again, the light coming from behind her made her look ethereal, as if she was an angel. 

His angel.

“I said, I love you.” Percival got out. (Y/N) blinked, thinking she misheard him.

“Percy?”

“I love you, (Y/N) (L/N). I’m not going to let another day pass where I regret telling you that.” (Y/N) looked away, bashful. 

“You need to rest.”

“I mean it-”

She pressed a sweet kiss on the corner of his lips, ignoring the irritation from his beard, before sitting back in her seat. “I know you do. You are not a very flowery man.” He looked at her, a little confused. She gave him a soft chuckle, knowing what he was thinking. “I’m not going anywhere, Percival. I made that mistake once, and look at what happened. I am staying right here.”

[charlotte-headcanons]

Thank you for answering my first ask 🙇‍♀️. If it's okay i would ask a secound prompt on both Katakuri & Cracker again. Aloe, Daffodil, Hydran, Poeny and Willow

Hello there friend! Thanks for asking again 💕 Of course, we're happy to provide! With this post, we wrap up answering the botanical prompts too: we'll get to the questions from the next headcanon game soon! ✨

CW: Death, depression, bad coping habits, self-harm

Aloe: How does your muse handle grief?

As we kind of already described before, grieving Katakuri is basically... Katakuri reacting to the Brulee incident on steroids. On the outside, he shuts down emotionally, overworks himself, and generally sets on never letting something like this happen again. Inside, though, he's heartbroken, and blames himself a lot: even if someone's death was not even remotely his fault. He only opens up when visiting the deceased person's grave alone, pretty much: it is through these visits that he is still able to cope somehow.

Cracker's grief means violence and destruction: to inanimate objects, towards others, and to himself. He copes with unfamiliar emotions by replacing tham with anger: and thus, you can a expect a lot of vase-breaking, furniture-smashing, violent annihilations of entire islands, or (to a degree) self-harm in the form of throwing himself at walls. Obviously, none of this really helps. Cracker...well, let's just say he's not great at coping with grief... In the slightest.

Daffodil: Is your muse one to be loyal in relationships, or are they likely to quickly move from one bond to another ?

Katakuri is extremely loyal to every family member, good friend, and casual friend he makes. He never ghosts anyone, never forgets their existence or their birthday (if he knows it), and never moves on: rather, he accumulates bonds with people, even if most of them don't know him beyond his public persona. There is a reason for why he's so liked and that is that despite being so perfect and popular, it's hard to envy him: he doesn't dismiss anyone or look from above at anyone at all!

Cracker is too isolated and too introverted to live a lifestyle of quickly moving from one bond to another. It's not that he's uber-loyal; however, as his friends and love interests can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, he is kind of stuck with them lest he wants to be lonely forever.

Hydrangea: How much does your muse value communication in their relationships with others? Are they prone to being misunderstood?

Katakuri is generally a great communicator. He doesn't say much, but what he says is always meaningful. He doesn't really ever blurt out stuff, he thinks about what he wants to say before saying it, and so, miscommunication is rare. The only exception has to do with communicating his needs and wants. That one... He's really, really bad at and he considers it to be no one's business.

Unlike him, Cracker blurts out a lot of random bullshit at any given moment and often speaks before thinking. He's often too blunt and rude in what he says, often miscommunicates due to anger blinding him, or avoids communicating at all if he doesn't like you. As a result, he constantly gets into unnecessary arguments and wouldn't be too great of a leader; he just cannot forward information without fucking up.

Peony: What would a ‘happy life’ look like in your muse’s eyes?

Katakuri dreams of a life in which he would be able to... Have a clone. Weird one, I know. But it's just that... He knows how much is expected of him and how much the happiness and safety of his siblings depends upon him. He also knows that he, regardless of what they think, is imperfect and cannot handle it. With a perfect clone to perform all tasks expected from him, to always be there for everyone, and never disappoint... Katakuri would be able to finally, finally rest, lay down, and enjoy donuts whenever without the overwhelming guilt.

Cracker is a simple man and one lazy ass. All he dreams of is not ever having to work, not having to do anything, and being provided for. In this fantasy, lack of pain would be a much appreciated addition, and so would the constant presence and attention from his three favorite siblings and 1-2 husbands that'd be exactly his type.

Willow: How does your muse handle sadness & depression?

Deep down, Katakuri is unhappy almost constantly. His meriendas make him feel a bit better, but he doesn't really... Escape into relaxing when depressed. Instead, to calm down the self-doubts and dissatisfaction with life, he tries to only work harder, believing that eventually, if he helps enough, if he shows to others and himself how useful he can be, self-worth and happiness will come to him. Obviously, though, they never do: so he's just stuck in this endless vicious cycle, lucky enough that he didn't get a horrible, debilitating burnout just yet.

Cracker's way of living - locking himself up in the armor, isolating, not getting enough fresh air or sunlight, having a bad diet - makes him particularly prone to developing mood disorders. When he was younger, dysphoria made it all even worse, too. When dealing with sadness or depression, as he does with grief, Cracker...tends to lash out. When he's unhappy, he walks around like a ticking bomb: any slightest nudge can make him erupt and yell at someone for really petty reasons, as if his mood was their fault. Again, not a great way to handle stuff. The spectrum of emotions is broader than just anger, Cracky-boy! 😔

Thank you for the ask! Hope you enjoyed 💕

[a-little-slice-of-fandom]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Irish-ness of Dracula, if you wanna ramble about it!

(Okay I just want to apologise for how long this took to answer because I know it’s been sitting in my inbox for over a month but..depression and work happened and I just didn’t have the time or energy to complete it. I seriously do apologise for this but I hope you enjoy the post anyway!)

So the first thing I need to clear up is this: the concept of a monster or a demon that feeds upon the life force of humans is not limited to one singular culture or folklore. In fact, this core concept is a wider cultural phenomenon and variations of it exist across both countries and continents. And no one country can take sole credit for the this core concept of vampires. Anyone who tries to claim otherwise either doesn’t know much about vampires or is intentionally being disingenuous. There can be cultural variations that are specific to certain folklores (and to just blatantly steal these would be cultural appropriation), but the main idea of vampires exists across a wide range of folklores and no singular person, group of people or culture can take credit for the creation of vampires.

However, arguably it was the work of Bram Stoker that aided in the solidification of the concept of Vampires that we know today. While there were other authors from a wide range of nationalities who wrote about Vampires before Stoker (including John William Polidori who wrote the Vampyre in 1819)...Dracula is the best known. (Now I personally believe that’s because Dracula is an absolutely banging novel, although I do concede that the prevalence of adaptations of Dracula from the 1920’s to today helps keep Dracula in the forefront of audiences minds.) In addition, it’s important to remember that Stoker was inspired by another Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, who wrote the novel Carmilla. As far as I know, Le Fanu and Stoker actually worked together on a magazine!

Another thing I think that needs clarification is the common belief that Stoker heavily/religiously based Dracula on the historical figure Vlad the Impailer. This is heavily debated by scholars. While there’s an obvious, undeniable similarity between the names of these two...the similarities start to wain after this, with only small similarities between the two and there’s even literal contradictions between the history of Vlad the Impailer and Dracula’s history in the novel. In fact, there’s not much indication that Stoker based the character Dracula off Vlad the Impailer, or even that he had a working knowledge of Vlad the Impailer beyond the name. In all 124 pages of his notes, there’s nothing to indicate that Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula came from Vlad the Impailer.

(Plus Dracula in the novel wasn’t even originally called Dracula...he was called Count Wampyr in the original drafts of the novel and this was only changed, from what I can gather, in the last couple of drafts.)

In fact, I’d personally argue that that connection between Vlad the Impailer and Dracula is actually something that’s been retroactively added by other artists, for example the 1992 film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” heavily leaned into this idea that Dracula and Vald the Impailer were one in the same, and as time has progressed people assume that these elements were in the original novel when that’s simply untrue! Stoker didn’t write that! It’s a retroactive addition by other artists that’s just assumed by the masses to be canon. This phenomenon is actually super interesting and it’s absolutely not limited to Stoker’s novel Dracula/the modern day perception of Dracula (another example would be Mary Shelley’s version of Frankenstein versus the modern day perception Frankenstein). I’m not sure if there’s a word for what this is, but I like the term “cultural canon”, where something that’s been added in by other artists has become as good as canon within the minds of the masses and as such is ingrained within the cultural perception of something, despite it having no basis within the original piece or even directly contradicting what is in canon.

(Now I’ll absolutely concede that Stoker taking the name of a historical figure and possibly their likeness from another country and making them into a literal monster is something that should be discussed. I don’t know how Vlad the Impailer is viewed within Romania - whether he’s viewed positively or negatively or a mixture - but regardless he was a historical figure and Stoker did eventually use that name for his own creative purposes. Again, Stoker didn’t say that Dracula and Vlad the Impailer were the same person, that’s other artists doing, but there’s still issues with Stoker that needs to be discussed)

Now, I’ve seen people talk about how Stoker took a lot of inspiration from the Baltic folklore surrounding vampires for his novel, but I don’t really know this folklore very well and therefore I don’t feel like I’m qualified to discuss it. If anyone is more well versed in this topic wants to add to this post then they’re more than welcome to! I don’t deny that Stoker too inspiration from places other than Ireland (like the novel is set in Whitby) but I just feel like people over hype the relation between stokers Dracula and Vlad the Impailer.

Now, onto the Irish mythology side!

So the most obvious inspiration for Dracula comes from the story of Abhartach. here is a link to an actual, respectable retelling of the story of Abhartach which I’d highly recommend people read (it’s really not that long) but the key points go as follows:

There was this Irish chieftain called Abhartach, who was really cruel and the townsfolk didn’t really like him. So, the townsfolk and another cheiftain (known as Cathain) banded together to kill Abhartach. They did succeed in killing him (yay), however, Abhartach just sort of...rose from the dead and began another reign of terror (not yay). However, Abhartach needed to be sustained by blood and required a bowlful every day to sustain his energy. Cathain comes back and kills Abhartach once again, but Abhartach rises from the dead once more and now needs more blood. Abhartach is only banished when Cathain uses a word made from yew wood and wounds Abhartach with it. Abhartach is buried upside down with a grant stone over the grave to stop Abhartach rising once again.

Sound familiar? The similarities between Abhartach and Dracula are undeniable! Yes, there’s some differences between the two but the core story here is almost identical. I could totally reword that paragraph, omitting the names, and it would be indistinguishable from a short summary of Dracula! Even the way that the main characters find out about the wooden weapon that can kill the monster is similar, as both Jonathan and Cathain go to wiser and older members of their community to learn more.

(Also please mythology blogs don’t come for me I know my retelling was an incredible oversimplification but I’m writing on my iPad and my thumbs are starting to hurt. People have wrote full papers on the similarities between Dracula and Abhartach and there’s so many more people more qualified than me, I’m just an 18 year old trying to make a fun and interesting tumblr post. Again, if anyone wants add anything like extra sources or more information or even to point out my mistakes then I more than welcome the additions)

Another piece of folklore that’s also said to have inspired Dracula is the Dearg Due. Now there’s multiple different versions of the tale, but the version I have heard goes like this:

There’s a noble woman who wants to marry a penniless peasant boy, but her dad disapproves and wants her to marry another man who is much richer. The rich man and the noble woman were eventually married but the woman didn’t love the rich man. In retaliation, the rich man locked the woman in a windowless castle where she starved to death. The woman was buried by the locals who took pity on her, but because she was buried hungry she came back to life and drank the blood of her father and her husband as revenge. The version I heard says that the dearg due now basically wanders ireland drinking the blood of men who have hurt or wronged women (as one should) but there’s other endings to the story.

(Again is anyone has a reliable source they want to share then please feel free to add!)

So this is another Irish piece of folklore that clearly includes some elements that we now associate with vampires. Now people (including Wikipedia) claim that this story was specifically what Stoker based Dracula on, and while I definitely think that Stoker was aware of this story and took inspiration from it, I personally think that the Dearg Due inspired the concept of Dracula’s wives more than Dracula himself.

However the key point still stands: Stoker was likely aware of these legends and even the most staunchly anti-Irish person would have to concede that there’s similarities between all three stories. And very rarely are these similarities discussed in classes about Dracula...which I feel is a real disservice. I don’t think students should have to have an intense knowledge of Irish mythology (my knowledge is spotty at best) nor do I think it should be an exam question...but even a brief acknowledgment of “hey, Stoker was inspired by these stories and you can clearly see similarities between them” would be nice. Moreover, it further solidifies my original argument that Stoker was, at least to some extent, Irish and that his Irishness inherently influenced his work.

Also...the social context of what was going on in Ireland in this period can’t be ignored! Again, while Stoker did spend time in both England and Romania, he spent a lot of his life in Ireland and therefore would have known what was going on in his own country.

Dracula was published in 1897, which is exactly 50 years after the worst year of the Irish Famine/ The Great Hunger/An Gorta Mór. Now I don’t have time to do a whole history of the Great Hunger but the effects of the famine were greatly exacerbated by the horrific mismanagement of Ireland by the British government and the British system of ruling in Ireland. How many people died during the famine isn’t clear, but we do know that the population of Ireland at the time was 8 million and the population today is 6 million...200 years later and we still haven’t recovered. So while we all like to joke about the fact that Stoker wrote about an unfeeling member of the aristocracy literally feeding off others with no remorse and basically ruining their lives...are we really going to pretend that there isn’t social commentary there? Scholars specifically think that Stoker was commenting on the absentee landlords (basically British aristocrats who owned land in Ireland but didn’t live there and as such didn’t care about the well being of their tenants) who would often have tenants forced off the land when they couldn’t pay rent...despite the fact that their tenenants were already starving and had no money because their only source of food and income failed.

(I’m not being shady by the way, I also love to joke about the social implications of Dracula, but I feel like people forget that the jokes have actual points behind them)

There was also a cholera epidemic in Ireland in 1832 which is generally accepted to be one of Stoker’s biggest inspirations. You can read more about the epidemic here if you wish, but I’ll summarise what I feel are the key points. Not only was Stoker’s mother from county Sligo and lived through this cholera epidemic, but Stoker also asked her to write down her memories of the epidemic and used her accounts to aid in his research of the cholera epidemic. Now the fact that he was actively researching this should indicate that it would influence his work, especially considering the situation in county Sligo was incredibly morbid. There’s accounts of the 20 carpenters in Sligo town being unable to make enough coffins to keep up with the amount of people dying, resulting in hundreds of dead bodies just lying on the street. However, the most horrific account from this epidemic was the stories of terrified nurses placing cholera patients into mass graves while they were still alive. Stoker himself literally stated that Dracula was “inspired by the idea of someone being buried before they were fully dead”. So while at first there seems to be very little relation between the novel and a medical epidemic, it quickly becomes clear that Stoker’s fascination with this historical event influenced his writing.

My overall point is that Stoker’s irishness inherently influenced his writing. Writers don’t write in their own little bubble, divorced from the world around them, their views and work are shaped by their position in society and their upbringing (it’s why I dislike death of the author as a literary theory). So when people try to claim that Dracula is a piece of British literature...it indicates either a lack of understanding of the context in which Stoker was writing in or a wilful ignorance founded on colonialist ideas. His influences are so obvious to me as an Irish woman but they rarely get discussed, and even if they are it’s seen as overreaching! To call Dracula British literature and to ignore the inherent Irishness of the novel does a great disservice to Stoker!

Anyways I really hope you enjoyed this discussion my love! Once again I apologise for how long this took to write. Also I’m sorry if this comes off as argumentative or anything, that absolutely wasn’t my intention, I just have a particular style of writing long posts haha.