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swannieluv · 9 months

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.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜ Hide and Seek – (PLATONIC) Wanderer x Child!Reader

✦⸼࣪⸳𝐆𝐍!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 <3

✦⸼࣪⸳ 𝐖𝐜: 1,4k

✦⸼࣪⸳ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆!!: none.

✦⸼࣪⸳ A/N: HI MOOTIE!! Hope you'll like this aaa <33

✦⸼࣪⸳@gayestsillybilly

"Peace, finally, peace."

Sumeru, a region known for its hot climate and vast forests. For those not used to high temperatures and humidity, it could be a stressful nation to be in. But for the inhabitants who had lived their entire lives in the region, or for a puppet who was not susceptible to climate change, Sumeru was tantamount to a tropical paradise.

It's undeniable that in the midst of daily tribulations, people need a break from the problems that surround them. Wanderer was no exception, looking for the perfect spot in the treetops to put his thoughts in order without the presence of idiotic people making noise and–

Smack.

A toy ball hit him right on the face. In disbelief, he put one of his hands on the hit spot and looked at the source of the attack.

"Hey!" He turned around with an annoyed face. It took a lot of courage for someone to actually hit him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

On a tree branch next to him was a child, a very familiar one who made him take a deep breath before saying anything. They had been following him for days. They were [Name], one of the children from a small orphanage in Sumeru.

When he asked Lesser Lord Kusanali for advice on what to do with his little stalker, he was bombarded with information about babysitting. Not that he was going to use any of her advice for anything anyway.

"Do you want to play with me? We can make flower crowns or play soccer together." They cracked a big smile, trying to convince him somehow.

"I don't..."

A small tightness came to Wanderer's chest, which was strange for someone who didn't have internal organs like humans. The child bore an eerie resemblance to one of the ghosts from his past.

"But I really want to play with you, I really want to be your friend!"

They put their hands together, making an abandoned dog face to try to soften his non-existent heart. However, as they did so, they lost their balance and slipped off the branch they were on.

"Waaaah-"

Their eyes closed tightly, preparing for the direct impact with the hard ground. If they were lucky, they might only end up breaking a few fingers or their feet, but if they were unlucky they would break their whole body this fall. However, contrary to expectations, the reality was somewhat different.

"Hm?"

A pair of arms caught them in mid-air, he had saved them. Using his anemo vision to fly, Wanderer left them in a safe place on dry land.

"Woah! That was amazing! Again, again!" They jumped in joy, their eyes shining with energy like stars in the night sky.

"How can someone as small as you have so much energy to spend?" Wanderer took the child in his arms again, trying to calm them down.

"I don't know, hehe."

They swung their legs and put their arms behind his neck for support. It was fun following this grumpy stranger, he always got annoyed but eventually gave in to their sunny personality.

"I'll take you back to where you live." His footsteps echoed in the empty woods. He had run far away so that [Name] wouldn't follow him, but apparently their willpower was so great that the little human caught up with him.

"But I walked so far just to play." They pouted, their eyes filling with small tears that were sure to give him more trouble.

"Wait, wait, don't cry!" He quickly tried to calm them down, lightly wiping the tears from their eyes with his fingers.

Wanderer was in a dilemma. Either he surrendered and spent his precious time playing childish games to appease them, or he could simply leave them in the orphanage where they lived and go back to living his routine. But Lesser Lord Kusanali's little voice rang in his mind whenever he questioned himself like that, saying something like:

"It wouldn't be nice to disappoint a child's pure heart. If they likes you, at least try to cheer them up!"

At times like this, following the advice of the Dendron Archon was the wisest thing to do, since he could end up doing something that would make this already complicated situation worse. Perhaps playing with [Name] would make them stop chasing him through Sumeru for the week.

"Hm... come on. What kind of game would you like to play?" He kicked the ball from under his feet into one of the surrounding trees, the accidental force he put into it breaking its branch.

"Oh. I don't want to play soccer with you, no." They watched the branch next to the toy, not wanting to become a victim of accidental kicks. "I'd rather play hide and seek."

"Hide and seek? What's that?" He was a little confused, he had never played or seen this game before.

"You don't know it? Then I'll teach you!”

They pushed him to a place where he could lean his head and not peek. A little smile adorned their face, happy that they had finally gotten him to play.

"You need to stay here and count to 10 so I can hide. Then you come and find me, it's easy!”

Wanderer closed his eyes, burying his head in one of his arms to start counting. A strong breeze made the light fabric of his hat sway, perhaps a sign of storm.

"One... two... three... four... five..."

[Name] started running, observing the area to find the best possible place to hide. The trees were too tall to climb in ten seconds, and the bushes too thorny and noisy to enter.

'He counts too fast!’

Their faces lit up when they finally found a perfect spot. The chance of Wanderer finding them there was very low, he would certainly have a hard time.

"Six... seven... eight... nine... ten... that's it."

Wanderer began to search. Opening up small bushes and using his vision to climb into the treetops, but [Name] was out of his field of vision.

'There's no way I can't find a child, this is ridiculous.’ He kept searching every nook and cranny, looking for some sign of where [Name] was.

"Hehe..." a chuckle echoed through the room, causing Wanderer to turn around, searching frantically with his head.

"Where...?" He looked up and was startled to see a child falling towards him.

"ATTACK!"

[Name] literally threw themselves at him. If it hadn't been for Wanderer's quick reflexes, who managed to catch them in his arms, they would both have fallen painfully to the ground.

"Haha!" They laughed at his face, being placed on the ground carefully.

"Isn't that against the rules?" He crossed his arms, his face slightly frowning after what had happened.

"There are no rules in hide-and-seek apart from not spying."

"I guess I'll have to accept that then..." Wanderer sighed, but without realizing it, a smile formed on his face. What was a smile turned into a big one and then into a hearty laugh. "Don't ever scare me like that again, please."

"You... YOU SMILED!" They shouted enthusiastically. "I finally made you laugh!"

"I... forget it."

The first drops of rain began to fall to the ground, wetting [Name]'s hair slightly. It was only a matter of time before thunder and lightning began to rumble through the sky.

"..."

Wanderer pulled [Name] under his hat, providing a cover for the smaller child. It was like a small space protected from the outside world, where the two of them could watch everything as long as the precipitation didn't increase.

"Do you dislike thunder?" they looked up to meet his gaze.

"Yes..."

"I don't like it either..." [Name] grabbed one of his hands, pulling him forward. It was an invitation to go with them. "So you're not alone, Mr. Wanderer."

Perhaps there was comfort for someone like him somewhere in the world.

✦⸼࣪⸳♡ BONUS:

"I was told your birthday was a few days ago, so I brought you a small cake."

"A... cake?"

The sweet in front of him was small, perfect for two people to eat. When Wanderer put a slice in his mouth, he couldn't help but feel the sugary taste of the food.

"Here, for you." He held out the piece of cake to [Name], who looked at him with a sad face.

"Don't you like it?"

"H-Hm? Of course I did, that's why I'm being generous enough to give you my slice. Take it soon."

And so, Wanderer successfully escaped yet another dessert.

#genshin impact #genshin platonic #genshin x reader #wanderer #wanderer x reader #wanderer x you #wanderer x y/n #sumeru #genshin sumeru #Swanniesarchive<3

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mariacallous · 17 days

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The Internet Archive has lost a major legal battle—in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of internet history. Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running digital archive, upholding an earlier ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive that found that one of the Internet Archive’s book digitization projects violated copyright law.

Notably, the appeals court’s ruling rejects the Internet Archive’s argument that its lending practices were shielded by the fair use doctrine, which permits for copyright infringement in certain circumstances, calling it “unpersuasive.”

In March 2020, the Internet Archive, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, launched a program called the National Emergency Library, or NEL. Library closures caused by the pandemic had left students, researchers, and readers unable to access millions of books, and the Internet Archive has said it was responding to calls from regular people and other librarians to help those at home get access to the books they needed.

The NEL was an offshoot of an ongoing digital lending project called the Open Library, in which the Internet Archive scans physical copies of library books and lets people check out the digital copies as though they’re regular reading material instead of ebooks. The Open Library lent the books to one person at a time—but the NEL removed this ratio rule, instead letting large numbers of people borrow each scanned book at once.

The NEL was the subject of backlash soon after its launch, with some authors arguing that it was tantamount to piracy. In response, the Internet Archive within two months scuttled its emergency approach and reinstated the lending caps. But the damage was done. In June 2020, major publishing houses, including Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley, filed the lawsuit.

In March 2023, the district court ruled in favor of the publishers. Judge John G. Koeltl found that the Internet Archive had created “derivative works,” arguing that there was “nothing transformative” about its copying and lending. After the initial ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the parties negotiated terms—the details of which have not been disclosed—though the archive still filed an appeal.

James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and internet law at Cornell University, says the verdict is “not terribly surprising” in the context of how courts have recently interpreted fair use.

The Internet Archive did eke out a Pyrrhic victory in the appeal. Although the Second Circuit sided with the district court’s initial ruling, it clarified that it did not view the Internet Archive as a commercial entity, instead emphasizing that it was clearly a nonprofit operation. Grimmelmann sees this as the right call: “I’m glad to see that the Second Circuit fixed that mistake.” (He signed an amicus brief in the appeal arguing that it was wrong to classify the use as commercial.)

“Today’s appellate decision upholds the rights of authors and publishers to license and be compensated for their books and other creative works and reminds us in no uncertain terms that infringement is both costly and antithetical to the public interest,” Association of American Publishers president and CEO Maria A. Pallante said in a statement. “If there was any doubt, the Court makes clear that under fair use jurisprudence there is nothing transformative about converting entire works into new formats without permission or appropriating the value of derivative works that are a key part of the author’s copyright bundle.”

In a statement, Internet Archive director of library services Chris Freeland expressed disappointment “in today’s opinion about the Internet Archive’s digital lending of books that are available electronically elsewhere. We are reviewing the court’s opinion and will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books.”

Dave Hansen, executive director of the Author’s Alliance, a nonprofit that often advocates for expanded digital access to books, also came out against the ruling. “Authors are researchers. Authors are readers,” he says. “IA’s digital library helps those authors create new works and supports their interests in seeing their works be read. This ruling may benefit the bottom line of the largest publishers and most prominent authors, but for most it will end up harming more than it will help.”

The Internet Archive’s legal woes are not over. In 2023, a group of music labels, including Universal Music Group and Sony, sued the archive in a copyright infringement case over a music digitization project. That case is still making its way through the courts. The damages could be up to $400 million, an amount that could pose an existential threat to the nonprofit.

The new verdict arrives at an especially tumultuous time for copyright law. In the past two years there have been dozens of copyright infringement cases filed against major AI companies that offer generative AI tools, and many of the defendants in these cases argue that the fair use doctrine shields their usage of copyrighted data in AI training. Any major lawsuit in which judges refute fair use claims are thus closely watched.

It also arrives at a moment when the Internet Archive’s outsize importance in digital preservation is keenly felt. The archive’s Wayback Machine, which catalogs copies of websites, has become a vital tool for journalists, researchers, lawyers, and anyone with an interest in internet history. While there are other digital preservation projects, including national efforts from the US Library of Congress, there’s nothing like it available to the public.

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theinfernalcollective · 3 months

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RAMCOA and SRA

This is a very long post so we apologize in advance.

Do we believe in RAMCOA? no. And no this is not saying we don't believe that the people saying they went through RAMCOA is lying. We simply do not believe in it because of how suddenly is had just shown up. The title satanic and ritual abuse has been around since the 80s. However it was also satanic panic. And while even SRA is very exaggerated. RAMCOA is the rebranded name for SRA.

RAMCOA stands for ritual abuse, mind control, and organized abuse. However the name RAMCOA doesn't get used in clinical settings. And after discussing this with both our therapist and psychiatrist neither have even heard of it, or RSA.

Cults and trafficking are most definitely real, and those affected by their actions are also real. We're not invalidating victims by saying this but none of the cults that SRA/RAMCOA were believed to come from in the 80s and 90s even existed. They were fears and conspiracy theories. Otherwise meaning not real. unfounded conspiracy theories of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA) as a cause of mental illness – particularly dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD).

The problem

Satanic Panic — broadly, the fear that devil-worshiping Satanists engage in criminal, antisocial acts on a massive scale – exploded in the 1980s, primarily in the United States. During this time, a fear that Satanists were sexually abusing and sacrificing children in bizarre rituals gripped the nation. For many, skepticism regarding these invisible crimes was tantamount to complicity, fostering a situation in which even the most improbable of claims went unquestioned by jurors and the public at large. Individuals were imprisoned for crimes stemming from unsubstantiated SRA allegations – often the product of recovered memory therapy techniques. Families were torn apart by gruesome and impossible accusations. Some were repaired after supposed victims learned they were suffering from false memories; others remain destroyed to this day. This moral panic over nonexistent Satanic cults arose out of an unholy alliance between well-meaning but misguided mental health professionals, law enforcement, prominent feminists, and Christian leaders. And it was catapulted into living rooms across the country by credulous television hosts – such as Geraldo Rivera and Oprah – who platformed self-proclaimed survivors, opportunistic “ex-Satanists” who asserted past involvement in Satanic crime, and reckless therapists who demanded the public believe these strange accounts.

Although Satanic Panic began to dwindle by the mid-1990s, the mental health field has not entirely rid itself of this plague. In fact, many of the same licensed therapists who contributed to Satanic Panic during that time continue to do so today, including as members of respected professional societies – such as the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). These professional organizations sponsor conferences – eligible for continuing education credit – featuring presentations that promote pseudoscientific recovered memory therapy and SRA. We refer to licensed mental health professionals who practice recovered memory therapy and/or promote Satanic Panic conspiracy theories as “conspiracy therapists.”

The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) is a mental health organization for professionals and students. The organization focuses on psychological trauma and the dissociative disorders, including dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD). The ISSTD has held annual international and regional conferences since its founding in 1984, with most presentations rewarding attendees with continuing education credits required to maintain clinical licensure. The organization promotes pseudoscientific recovered memory therapy, other dangerous treatment techniques, and fictitious conspiracy theories including ritual sacrifice, cannibalism, and widespread, abusive, Satanic cults. ISSTD members, speakers, researchers, staff, and board members continue to promote the long-disproven notion that these Satanic conspiracies have caused mental illness in thousands or even millions of people. As such, the ISSTD is the primary structure around which conspiracy therapists organize. But contrary to their assertions that they are healing the abused and traumatized, many prominent ISSTD members – including its founders and presidents – have been the subject of disturbing misconduct allegations and lawsuits from former patients.

Two issues after the publication of the Goodwin and Hill article, Dissociation printed a scathing letter to the editor from Richard Noll, a psychologist and historian of science. Noll charged that the Goodwin and Hill article relied on weak sources, ignored important context, and evaded the fact that their examples were almost invariably hoaxes, rumors, and forgeries. ”The truth of the matter is this: distinguished historians of witchcraft and of ritual magic… do not find evidence that satanic cults practicing the Black Mass, with cannibalism, ritual murder, worship of Satan, etc., have ever existed.”

bipolar disorder. Objectives of the presentation include being able to identify “at least five presentation clues that indicate a possible diagnosis of ritual abuse, mind control, or organized abuse” and “describe some hallmark features of Monarch mind control.” Danylchuk’s lecture covered how to recognize patient “patterns” that indicate ritual abuse victimization and how to identify “the most common role reenactments that emerge during therapy.” Salter’s lecture explained how “dissociative symptoms and traumatic attachments can be manipulated by perpetrators to coerce vulnerable people into organised abuse.” Though Salter’s presentation denounces “simple dichotomies of ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ abuse,” his constant references to perpetrators and survivors lay bare his allegiance to believing alleged victims no matter how self-falsifying the narrative.

- Vayu

Source and half of the post is directly from greyfaction.org

#did system #system #traumagenic system #did #dissociative identity disorder #dissociative system #did osdd #actually did #osdd #not endo safe #ramcoa is a theory #satanic ritual abuse

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anto-pops · 1 year

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Mallowsweet Muses PART 3 - Sebastian Sallow/Ominis Gaunt/Female! Reader

Summary: Sebastian had been right all along... three heads really were better than two.

The OT3 sexcapades have arrived and now I’m gonna go crawl in a hole

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: 18+, aged up characters, explicit sexual content, F/M/M, polyamory, rough sex, gratuitous smut

Full fic can be found here on Ao3 ! Part 1 and Part 2 are linked here for anyone interested on Tumblr.

This wasn’t the first time you’d woken up with morning wood grinding lazily between your ass cheeks. Hell, with Sebastian around, it was pretty much a given. He was a snuggler through and through, intentionally stealing your warmth throughout the night like a leech, and when that was paired with his usual half-asleep, horny tendencies, well… like you said. Powerful morning wood.

It was, however, the first time you’d woken up sandwiched between two men. After Ominis and Sebastian had made good on their promise to ‘return the favor’ yesterday, the three of you had been too tired to bother trekking through the castle to return to your respective rooms. The large, spacious bed that Sebastian had conjured for your escapades served its purpose well, and all of you had opted to remain in the sanctity of the Undercroft in favor of returning to the dorms.

So waking up warm and cozy and stuffed between two dudes, one of whom was exactly one-third awake in the brain and two-thirds awake in his cock, was relatively new territory.

You shifted over in place between the two Slytherins, stretching your arms high above your head with a strained groan before you felt Sebastian’s arms snake around your waist, tugging you firmly against his bare chest. “Mm, good morning,” you muttered softly, doing your best to keep your voice low so as not to rouse the blond man inches away.

“Morning,” he murmured against the nape of your neck, and his breath tickled against your warm skin. He curled around you impossibly further, kicking one of his knees up to drape over your legs, and through hooded eyes you watched as Ominis stirred beside you, rolling over to face you and Sebastian.

The taller man cracked his eyes open, gracing you with the sight of his gorgeous, milky-blue irises as he blinked the sleep from his mind, and when his pale arm slithered out from under the covers to feel around for your hand, you met him halfway and intertwined your fingers with his own. “Good morning indeed,” he mused, his lyrical voice raspy with sleep.

You pulled gently on his arm, silently urging him to come closer, and he obliged you easily, sidling up directly against your front so that he could idly slip his arm over your waist. He followed the feeling of Sebastian’s arm when he felt him already holding you, trailing his heated palms down to the brunet’s slowly rocking hips. The drawn out gesture effectively trapped you in the middle of the man sandwich, and you were caged between the two radiating furnaces, nice and warm. The whole affair was akin to being stuck betwixt a rock and a hard place, but you weren’t about to start complaining.

Waking up with Sebastian at your back and Ominis pressed into your chest felt right. Ominis’ own knee hitched over yours and Sebastian’s tangled legs, and the way his wiry body conformed to the two of you was tantamount to perfection. All of it. All three of you.

You’d known yesterday when you and Sebastian invited Ominis into your duo that it was far more than ‘just a mere sex thing’. Ever since the events of your fifth-year, the three of you had overcome your struggles and found yourselves closer than ever. The comfort you felt amongst the longtime friends had made it even easier to fall in love with their contrasting personalities; Sebastian’s sharp, fiery nature worked brilliantly alongside Ominis’ softer, cooler demeanor.

You were beginning to realize you had a growing need for both, if you were being honest, and ‘just a sex thing’ couldn’t even begin to cover the affectionate warmth in your chest when Ominis hummed thoughtfully at your hands sliding up his smooth, alabaster chest.

“Anything planned for today?” Sebastian questioned from behind you, the lingering remnants of sleep drifting from his brain at the sight of your palms skirting up Ominis’ slender torso, and he buried his chin in the crook of your neck so he could participate in the languid touching. His freckled hands slipped up Ominis’ arm and across his bony shoulder to play with his shaggy, sleep-mussed hair, while the other tightened around your waist to press you solidly against his growing erection.

“No plans,” you whispered, dragging Ominis closer with your legs as you reached back to thread your fingers through Sebastian’s knotted bedhead, making your intentions to both men abundantly clear.

“No plans,” Ominis echoed, letting his eyes slide shut to dip his head down into the hollow of your collarbone, sucking at a fresh mark leftover from last night without even knowing it. Whether it was from him or Sebastian, you didn’t know. It was bracketed by light imprints of teeth, though, so it was likely the latter. You shivered at the attention, rolling your hips forward against Ominis’ and back into Sebastian’s.

Sebastian let his lips wander over the exposed, tantalizing stretch of your neck, brushing light kisses down the bruised expanse of skin. He and Ominis had certainly done their best to leave evidence behind in the midst of running you ragged the night prior. The two of them reverently got to work dotting your body with kisses and featherlight touches, and you sighed contentedly. Ominis’ head steadily rose higher until he felt Sebastian’s breath ghosting against your neck and his cheek, and when those eyes swirling with moonlight slid open, your freckled lover was pulling him by his hair against his lips with a throaty groan. Wiggling against them both, you swallowed thickly at the seductive sound of both men shamelessly making out right next to your ear.

Ominis must have heard you gulp if his breathy chuckle was any indication, and he pulled away from Sebastian with a soft nip at his lower lip before moving to kiss you too, tangling his tongue with yours lazily in time to his rocking hips. Grateful for the attention, your hand delved beneath the sheets to grip Ominis’ member, pleased to discover that he was standing at attention much like Sebastian, and he moaned into your mouth at the testing pump you bestowed upon him.

Sebastian was practically vibrating with need as he ground his cock against your backside more firmly, spurred on by the barely there sound of you sighing and Ominis’ groans of blatant pleasure. Reaching down to your lower half, Sebastian’s fingers slipped through your folds gently, pulling a startled gasp from your lips that Ominis swallowed fervently, and then he was easing a crooked digit inside of you, already craving the tight heat around himself.

Ominis had gotten his turn for most of the night, aside from Sebastian fucking your open mouth until you’d been brainless and desperate– which was more than fine, mind– but he knew what he wanted right now, and he willed you to relax into his slow, steady thrusts. Sebastian twisted his finger inside of you, listening carefully to the hitch of your quickening breaths as you rode back into his easy rhythm.

“Hm, eager much?” Sebastian teased quietly, breathing a laugh against your flushed shoulder. All you could do was moan in response, pulling Ominis against you harder for a messy kiss as you jerked him off under the covers, and he groaned when your fist tightened around the head of his cock and twisted.

“Fuck–” he pulled away from your lips to grit through his clenched teeth. “D-Don’t do that.”

You couldn’t help it; you grinned wickedly at his reaction. “Why? Are you too sensitive first thing in the morning?”

Ominis swore softly when you punctuated the question with another dizzying squeeze around his tip, and his hand flew away from your waist to grip your wrist in a bid to get you to stop. “Yes,” he hissed, “and rather quick to finish after waking up, so forgive me if I’m trying to protect my ego here.”

Sebastian laughed over your shoulder, tentatively slipping a second finger inside your welcoming heat and curling it up in a teasing motion that had you trembling in his arms. “She’s a demanding little thing isn’t she? What, he didn’t do enough for you last night? That’s not what it looked like from where I was sitting, darling.”

You flushed brilliantly at the memory of Ominis’ overwhelmingly large cock breaching your walls for the first time, recalling the cries of delight that had spilled from your spit-slick lips before Sebastian had silenced you with his own neglected member to fuck your throat in earnest. The man in question felt you contract around his fingers, betraying your train of thought instantly, and he chuckled darkly into the crook of your neck.

“Please,” you choked out, sounding breathless and needy as Sebastian pumped his fingers in deeper, pressing the heel of his palm against your clit for extra measure. Ominis groaned at the sounds tumbling from your lips, every stuttered gasp pushing him closer to the brink of ‘fuck it’, especially with how your fist tightened a fraction around his cock from Sebastian’s ministrations.

“You’re going to have to give her something, Ominis,” Sebastian chidded his friend, arousal coating his every word. You shivered when his fingers slid out of you completely, whimpering as he adjusted the arm he had curled under you so that you were snug against his chest when he lined up the head of his cock with your slick entrance. “She’s asking so nicely,” he whispered the praise directly against the shell of your ear, and then he was pressing into you, slowly and tenderly.

You arched and moaned as Sebastian slid into you, filling you up far more than you’d anticipated, but you weren’t protesting in the slightest. Not when Sebastian grabbed your thigh to spread your legs open further, and definitely not when his cock grazed past your still-sensitive sweet spot, leaving you to pant loudly in Ominis’ direction.

Sebastian watched with rapt interest as Ominis audibly processed everything happening beside him, and the blond moved to sit up with his knees tucked under him. All the while, your hand stayed glued to his shaft; in part because you desperately wanted to taste him and also because he had yet to release his vice grip on your wrist. A small smirk curled over Ominis’ lips then as he instructed his friend, “Thrust a little.”

Sebastian quirked a brow and smiled, hitching your leg up higher and nuzzling behind your ear before giving you a few slow, firm thrusts. You melted against his chest, a keening sound ripping from your throat, and your hand around Ominis’ cock flew down to grip at his knee weakly. Ominis’ hand replaced yours, stroking himself a couple times under the guise of ‘planning’, before he was scooting up closer to the head of the bed.

“Do you think you can handle us both again, love?” Ominis purred, patting at the empty space between his legs in a silent command. Sebastian seemed to understand immediately what Ominis meant, and he rolled you over so you were flat on your stomach between the taller man’s long legs. He stayed sheathed in your all-encompassing heat as he sat up on his knees, gripping your hips to raise your ass invitingly before him, and you wriggled yourself onto your elbows so you could inch your way closer to Ominis’ achingly hard cock. You hastily took him in your hands once again, relishing in the soft hiss it pulled from the blond’s lips before he grit out, “I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

Sebastian pulled back before giving you a testing thrust, jolting you so that your face careened straight into Ominis’ thigh. Your breath caught in your throat, the sensation of Sebastian pushing into the deepest parts of you tantamount to perfection, and then you felt Ominis’ slender fingers gather a handful of hair at the nape of your neck to pull your face directly up to his cock.

Ominis swore softly when you angled the tip of his shaft down to press invitingly against your lips, immediately setting to work peppering soft kisses and featherlight strokes against him. You heard him groan, the sound guttural and tempting, and Sebastian’s own fingers dug into your waist at the spark of lust that shot through him at the sight.

From behind, he got a glorious view of your arched spine, and he was able to watch himself slide in and out of you greedily, his cock already glistening with your alluring slick. Ominis was one hell of a sight too; his head was tipped back against the headboard, blond locs falling into his flushed face, and those stunning eyes pinched shut with obvious desire when your warm mouth finally enveloped the head of his generous length, laving your tongue over the tip to taste the salty pre-cum beading there.

“Fuck,” Ominis cursed, his hold on the back of your head tightening just barely. “Merlin– that’s good–”

You sealed your lips around him firmly and sucked, curving your tongue through the slit in some vain attempt to coerce Ominis into giving you more. He groaned and obliged you, arching his hips forward at the same time he tugged you further onto his shaft by your hair, and his stomach tensed as he felt you open wider to take everything you were given, no problem.

Sebastian had been content watching the entire exchange, his hands squeezing gently at your ass in encouragement, but the tight heat wrapped around his cock was beginning to get to him. Hunching forward, the brunet ran the tips of his fingers fleetingly over your jaw in silent praise before sitting back on his heels again, his hands returning to your hips to hold you steady as he pulled out nearly all the way. His eyes darkened as he watched you stretch around him, eagerly rolling his hips back into your incredible cunt, and the sound you made around Ominis’ cock lit a fire in his blood.

Your muffled cries around Ominis’ massive length seemingly motivated all three of you, and Ominis found it in himself to dig his heels into the mattress before he pulled back to start gently fucking your mouth. Sebastian leaned over you and set an even rhythm, following your pleading little whimpers until he was pounding evenly into you, holding you by your waist with bruising strength that made your head spin. All the while, you continued to do the best you could around Ominis’ slowly-thrusting cock, hollowing your cheeks and working your tongue over him in a bid to pull him in deeper.

Ominis swallowed hesitantly, knowing damn well that the size of him was more than enough to gag you. But then he felt your arms around his waist tighten, and your nails dug favorably into the skin of his back to silently convey that under no uncertain terms did you want him to hold back.

With a trembling breath, Ominis readjusted his hold on your hair and thrusted his hips deeper, hitting the back of your throat with a growl, and the way you clenched around Sebastian’s thick cock all but confirmed how much you fucking loved it.

Sebastian grinned diabolically down at Ominis and licked his lips, whispering to catch the blond’s attention. Ominis leaned forward with an eager moan and let Sebastian guide their lips together, kissing him desperately while he fucked your throat. He moaned louder when he felt you gag slightly, and he started to pull back so you could take a breath, but your hand shot up to catch his hip, holding him in place while you swallowed around him, then choked on his girth.

“Fucking hell,” Ominis gasped, his thighs spasming on either side of you while his grip in your hair teetered on the brink of painful. He pulled back when you saw fit to let him, sliding out of your mouth slick with saliva and pre-cum. You pulled in a few frantic breaths, licking away the wet strands still stretched between your lips and Ominis’ cock, before you dove right back in and bobbed your head perfectly over his aching arousal. “Holy shit–” Ominis stammered, his head tipping back with an audible thunk against the wood frame.

“Showing off, darling?” Sebastian asked, panting slightly as he rammed harder into your phenomenally soaked heat, lifting one of his hands to slap your ass playfully once– then twice– and the sound echoed throughout the humid room around you. Moaning from the sting, the vibrations in your throat reverberated straight through Ominis, causing him to buck harder into your mouth as you began flicking your tongue over the sensitive spot just under the head.

“I’m not going to last like this– fuck–” Ominis mumbled an incoherent string of curses when a particularly forceful thrust from Sebastian pushed your nose into the sparse collection of hair under his navel, and your garbled cries were like music to both men’s ears before you pulled off with a shuddering gasp.

You spluttered through your swollen lips, “F-Fuck, Sebastian, right there right there–”

Sebastian groaned in response, giving you another quick slap before railing into you harder, driving his cock straight past your sweet spot in sharp, fast thrusts that left you boneless in Ominis’ lap. Your hands fisted in the sheets on either side of Ominis, tugging fitfully as you wailed out desperately for more.

Ominis sat back to listen intently again, completely entranced by how easily Sebastian was rutting into you, his brutal tempo never faltering as you writhed in earnest under him. With the way you sounded– so needy and shaky and overcome with euphoria– Ominis couldn’t decide if he wanted to fuck your mouth or kiss you again. He settled for jerking himself off quickly, listening as you buried your cries into the hollow of his bent leg, twisting and trembling with every rough pass of Sebastian’s cock.

Ominis managed to hold out just long enough, until your high pitched, incessant begging grew louder and louder, slurring out promises of “Close, close, I’m close–” just before you threw your head back to scream Sebastian’s name. The two men felt as every muscle in your body tensed under the relentless pounding, and you tightened impossibly further around Sebastian’s cock at the same time your legs began to quake violently beneath you.

Sebastian keened breathlessly at the feeling, pumping deeper into your pulsing heat until you were a moaning, shaky mess in his arms and you were finally coming around him. You sobbed as you fell apart at the seams, Sebastian’s hips continuing to piston into you as he fucked you through your climax, and he leaned forward to tug Ominis off the headboard, burying his sweaty forehead in the crook of the blond’s shoulder. Sebastian sank his teeth into the sensitive skin of Ominis’ neck, frantically sucking and biting to muffle his own needy sounds against the pale, marred flesh. Ominis could only gasp, the stinging pleasure working in tandem with the painfully hard strokes he bestowed upon himself, and when he felt your head shift off of his lap to mouth brainlessly at his sac, that cord in his stomach was wrought tight as a wire.

“Shit,” was all Ominis said in warning before his cock twitched tellingly against your cheek. Half-coherent, you found the strength to push yourself up so you could take all of him in your mouth, swallowing around him again and bobbing your head eagerly while one hand slid away from his hip to cradle his balls. “Gods– fuck, I’m close,” he gasped against Sebastian’s temple.

Sebastian’s voice was raspy as he murmured against the wet, bruising skin, “You going to come for her? Seems like she’s eager to swallow for you, right? Come on, Ominis, come for us both, I want to hear you.”

Something about the affection in Sebastian’s gravelly voice, encouraging and yet still so damn filthy, sent Ominis reeling over the edge, gasping and clawing at both of you. His sharp, choked moans filled the Undercroft, his fingers fisting back in your hair as he came right down your throat, unable to keep himself from holding you firm on his cock until he was milked completely dry.

Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as Sebastian ruthlessly chased his own pleasure, ramming his cock into you with a mind-numbing pace that had your eyes rolling back in your head. When he finally came with a hoarse shout of your name, he buried himself to the hilt to grind his balls against the reddening skin of your ass, pulling away from Ominis to squeeze generously at the welting handprints that he had left behind. Your moan was stifled around the softening cock still in your mouth, the feeling of being filled from both ends leaving you blissfully high and numb to anything else.

After a few moments of labored breathing, you allowed Ominis to slide out of your mouth and licked your lips contentedly, having already swallowed everything he’d given you. Your pleased sigh filtered up to Ominis as you let your head collapse against his thigh, and his fingers were instantly smoothing out the unruly mess he had created atop your head in the throes of passion. Your eyes fluttered shut, finding it all too easy to get lost in the feeling of him playing with your hair.

On your other end, Sebastian took his sweet time pulling out– languidly withdrawing his cock to the very tip before pressing in again– effectively shoving his load deeper inside of you, and you groaned at the overstimulation.

“Merlin,” Sebastian groused as he finally removed himself from within your spasming walls, and you whimpered at the jarring sensation. Those broad, strong hands gingerly lowered you down to the mattress, limp as the day you were born, but you found the willpower to roll towards Ominis and shamelessly curl around his outstretched leg.

Ominis’ hand came to rest against your back, rubbing soothing circles there as Sebastian crawled his way up to you. He nuzzled into the nape of your neck, laughing softly under his breath as he propped himself up sideways on his elbow, and you craned your head back to fix him with a questioning look. “What are you laughing at?”

The tips of Sebastian’s fingers ghosted down the seductive curve of your waist, then trailed up the supple rise of your hip to press lightly against the finger shaped bruises that now decorated your side. “Nothing, just a random, stupid thought.”

Humming in amusement, you let one of your hands wander behind you to affectionately caress the sharp outline of Sebastian’s hip bones. “Care to share with the class?”

Ominis could hear the grin in his voice when he asked, “What’s that Italian dessert called? The one with the cream in the middle?”

Your brows slammed down in confusion at the same time Ominis’ head swiveled in the direction of Sebastian’s voice. The blond retorted before you could, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Come on, help me out here. She wanted to know, and this applies to the thought.”

Ominis huffed in exasperation, so you elected to entertain the freckled man, your body still too peacefully satisfied to let the random line of questioning shift your mood. “Tiramisu?”

Sebastian considered your suggestion, then shook his head, “No, not that one– the long pastry kind that’s folded over on itself.”

There was another brief pause before you offered, “A cannoli?”

“Yes, that’s the one! I thought that you were like a cannoli just now– getting stuffed from both ends. That’s what made me laugh.”

Ominis’ snort of horribly contained laughter had your face burning up in his lap, but even you couldn’t keep your giggles muffled for long. Sebastian shook his head, as though bewildered by his own stupid joke and lack of decorum, but that didn’t stop him from throwing himself down against the pillows, tangling his legs with your own before tugging at Ominis’ bony shoulder.

“That was quite possibly the dumbest thing you’ve said to date,” Ominis muttered as he let Sebastian pull him into your pile of limbs. You lifted your head to allow him the space to settle against the pillows, and once he had, Ominis was looping his arm under your neck to tug your head to his chest.

“I hardly think that joke wins first place,” Sebastian mused from behind you. “But now I am craving sweets. Anyone up for a trip to Hogsmeade?”

Groaning your protests against Ominis’ sternum, you rocked your head side to side, further disheveling the hair stuck to your damp forehead. “I think I’d rather go back to sleep. Maybe take a bath after– I haven’t decided yet. I can’t fathom leaving the room right now, though.”

Sebastian chuckled, leaning forward to tenderly press his lips to the smooth curve of your shoulder, and then he was peppering kisses up the bruised expanse of your neck until he reached your jaw. He playfully nipped at your thundering pulse while his hand sought out Ominis’, and as their fingers twined together, the brunet sighed heartily. “Sleep, then a bath, then Hogsmeade?”

“Works for me,” Ominis agreed quickly, already nestling himself deeper into the covers. The three of you shifted around easily, readjusting yourselves back into the loose, sweaty snuggle-pile that you’d woken up in, and it didn’t take long for sleep to creep over you once more. It was deeply satisfying to be sandwiched between the two Slytherin’s again, filling your heart with such fulfillment that you knew your thoughts from earlier had been strikingly correct.

Ominis was way more to you and Sebastian than ‘just a sex thing’. Later when your trio found itself locked in the Prefect bathroom– sneakily hoarding the spacious tub for yourselves– you and Sebastian shared a knowing look, happily finding yourselves on the same page. Because really, why the fuck not?

Covered in bubbles and love-bites alike, you and Sebastian then offered Ominis a different sort of invitation, and to your immense satisfaction, he accepted wholeheartedly.

#sebastian sallow x you #ominis gaunt x you #sebastian sallow x reader #ominis gaunt x reader #sebastian sallow x female! reader #ominis gaunt x female! reader #sebastian sallow smut #ominis gaunt smut #sebastian sallow x ominis gaunt x reader #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy fanfic #bisexual silver trio because those boys are NOT straight #my writing #f/m/m #if this is the post that takes me out it was nice knowing you all

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sad-outsider · 7 months

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Why I didn't like the ending of R&R. Part 3. The heroine fights not with the cause, but with the effect

Destroying the Fold and the Darkling was tantamount to trying to heal an open fracture by applying plantain to it.

Do you know why the Darkling is not considered a villain, despite everything he has done? Because he fights the source of the problem - the oppression of the Grisha, the wars tearing Ravka apart and the parasitic monarchs. Is he being cruel? Absolutely. But does anyone else in the trilogy struggle with the above problems? No. Draw your own conclusions.

Do you know how this could be fixed? Do you know how to make the Darkling the villain that the narrative so strenuously portrays him as? Make the Fold the cause of oppression and war, not its effect. But, again, this is a problem with the entire trilogy.

What do we actually see? At the end of the trilogy, the Fold, which, admittedly, was indeed one of Ravka's problems, but by no means the main one, does not exist, but at what cost? The Second Army, which, let me remind you, together with the Darkling himself was the main military power of Ravka, actually no longer exists, Ravka itself is in debt, like silks, the wars have not stopped, the Grisha are oppressed even more, if you believe the Six of Crows, and the country is led even though resourceful, but still inexperienced children. Nikolai and the Triumvirate might as well have sent Shuhan and Fjerda an invitation to conquer Ravka, because that's exactly what was supposed to happen in reality.

Alina not only didn’t help, but did even worse, destroying the only person who, although not by the most noble methods, could really change the situation in the world along with Ravka’s only effective weapon. After this, monuments should be erected to her in Shuhan and Fjerda, because the “noble” Sun Saint made their life so easy!

As for the Fold, it was not necessary to destroy it at all, just to make a passage through it in order to open a free path to West Ravka. The Fold itself could be used as a defense. How? It's simple - expand the Fold to the borders with Fjerda and Shuhan. With a high degree of probability, this will stop the war, because sending your soldiers through a death trap inhabited by cannibal monsters in order to kill or dissect a couple of Grisha is political suicide no matter how you look at it.

But hey, this is a fantasy for teenagers, here the “bad guy” must be punished, and all the heroes will undoubtedly be fine in the end because they are so good, what am I even talking about?

To be continued in part 4…

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #ruin and rising #anti leigh bardugo #the darkling #alina starkov #anti alina starkov

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hiemaldesirae · 3 months

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picked up this book called 'murder your employee: the mcmasters guide to homicide vol 1' from my local bookstore and . Hmmm. am i hearing murder academy radiostatic au... (<- delusional)

quick rundown of the books setting (time period vaguely 1950s, before 1962 at the latest) is that there's this murder academy (i say that but its closer to a uni than a boarding school which is typically what i think of when i read academy) open to applicants of all ages to train their students to murder. the admissions fee is an extremely high price, but regular people can enter in via sponsorships (like scholarships, sort of, but its more like a specific rich person sponsoring the candidate). the students don't operate on a regular year by year schedule because 1) no one knows where the school is and thus cannot always tell even what season it is much less the month 2) students are informed of their graduation basically the day of, when the faculty decides theyre ready to leave and complete their thesis project (AKA the murder). anyway its a very fun book and so of course i had to be insane about its premise

For what it was worth, Alastor hadn't meant at all to end up studying at the Hazbin Institution for Homicide Practitioners.

Which, in fairness, was just a fancier way of saying that he hadn't meant to get caught.

It had been a situation entirely out of his control. For whatever reason, that night, the swamp had been especially difficult to navigate- even alone, much less with a bloodied and battered body slung over his shoulder, he's quite certain it would have been a struggle to work his way around the place. And while that had never been a problem the few dozen or so times he'd made the trek before (granted, they were without the actual body in his hands, but it didn't make much of a difference when he'd been carrying heavy sacks of sand to offset the weight), there was an unfortunate caveat in his plan.

He hadn't banked on being seen and followed by a truly infuriating pair of 'detectives' (though surely whatever idea they'd held of a detective was truly and fully siphoned from one of those insipid moving pictures his dear Mimzy was ever so obsessed with), and he hadn't expected to be offered a spot as a student at this... interesting facility.

The smiley man sitting in front of him nods emphatically as Alastor finishes his little cajoling speech. The nametag on his black and red suitjacket reads Dean Morningstar, and a half-poured cup of brandy sits on the side of his table. Alastor eyes the alcohol with interest, if only because looking anywhere else in the room might make him lose composure and attack the bothersome man sitting across from him.

"So, then... Mr. Hartfelt, is it true that your next target was to be your father?"

Alastor narrows his eyes at the dean. The room's atmosphere seems to drop as he holds his gaze, both of them wearing smiles that convey vastly different emotions. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to."

Of course, such a lousy comeback isn't tantamount to a proper argument (unless you're the type who enjoys messing with people, which Alastor is in all moments except this one) and the dean smiles when he realizes Alastor's slip up.

"See, you have an extremely generous patron backing you on your goal... not only to take down your father, who, by the way, seems to owe you quite a lot, considering your less than stellar upbringing and childhood, so good luck with that one, but also in relation to the other bodies that have been found half-submerged in the swamp." The little devil smiles merrily. "Sorry about that one, by the way. But we had to be sure you were a good candidate for our very highly revered course list. I mean... your sponsor is paying a lot of money to see you succeed, so... we had to be pretty thorough. Again, sorry, but it's just standard protocol."

Alastor clenches his jaw, feeling his eye twitch. He'd more or less tuned out whatever else Dean Morningstar had said after he admitted to resurfacing the already weeks old bodies in the swamp- Alastor's very first targets- as a means of... assessing him, apparently. "So you're the reason the bodies have started turning up in the bayou...?"

"Not entirely," Dean Morningstar shrugs, providing no further context. "In any case, this is sort-of a caught with pants down situation, I think. You don't have many options, Mr. Hartfelt. Either you stay as a student, or we let the truth out- and let your mother know first, before getting rid of you."

He grins sunnily at Alastor. "What will it be, young man?"

So, that was that.

Following that conversation (blackmailing session) Alastor finds himself being the unwitting recipient of a campus guide by the dean himself, who, despite his short stature and seemingly accomodating personality, had already managed to make himself an enemy in the form of one (1) incredibly vexed young radio host slash serial killer in the making.

"...And that's the Music Hall, where my vice-dean and most beloved wife holds her concerts and lectures on Murder, as a Fine Arts- you may notice the ingenious references there to one Mr. Thomas De Quincey, the famed opium eater of the 1800s London..." Alastor turns a blind eye to the dean as the man just kept on talking, choosing instead to focus on the surroundings instead of the urge to strangle the annoyance beside him.

The trip to the Hazbin Institution for Homicide Practitioners- a mouthful and an incredibly unnecessary one at that- had been less a trip to a school and more like a kidnapping, in which Alastor had been more or less blackmailed into going with the two detectives who'd found him in the bayou that day and then drugged to high hell from some sort of tampered liquor, then promptly deposited in front of the school gates and almost fed broken glass twice before nearly being poisoned and then having to sit through another blackmailing session with the Dean (the guy who'd tried to poison him in the first place). So... all in all, a rather unpleasant experience on his end.

Still, the scenery almost made up for it.

The campus was almost the size of his town back home, and towering gothic buildings from before his time populated the grounds. Signs in different languages were littered around the campus grounds, and exotic foliage grew in just the right places to make the patchwork of cobbled streets and oddly vintage buildings look uniform.

"Oh, Vox! How are you this afternoon?"

Alastor's attention is drawn back to the dean as the man greets a young man dressed in formal evening attire, complete with a pocket square boutonniere and sleek black gloves. The man in question has short-ish black hair, tied back into a small ponytail with a deep blue ribbon, and two striking eyes: one a glassy larimar blue and the other the deep brown of axinite gems. Alastor finds himself regarding the other while he and the dean make simple conversation. Something about him strikes him as familiar, though he can't quite put a finger on it exactly. "Going to the Music Hall, I presume?"

"That would be correct, Sir," Vox inclines his head respectfully. "Professor Leviathan asked us to dress for the occasion, since we would be doing another ballroom class."

"Ballroom class?" Alastor raises an eyebrow, and the man startles, seemingly not having noticed he was there. Rather inept for an assassin-to-be, Alastor frowns. Were these really the sorts of students they were training? Pretty-faced civilians knowing nothing of killing, who dressed up in evening gather for afternoon classes?

"A-ah, yes..." Vox looks off to the side, seemingly nervous. His cheeks redden slightly, like a child caught in the act of stealing candy. "Uh. You're new here, right? I haven't seen you around before..."

"He is," Dean Morningstar confirms, beaming. "Just arrived this morning, with a very generous sponsor backing him. In fact, he's going to be rooming at Pride House because of the sponsor!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Vox's easy confidence seems to come back to him as he turns to Alastor, seemingly mollified by the Dean's interference. Something inside of Alastor wants to see the man nervous again, if only because the uneasy approach of the man with the gemstone eyes reminded him of the shaky-footed does he would fake out during hunts. "Well, in that case, we might be roommates. It's nice to meet you, Mister...?"

"Hartfelt. Alastor Hartfelt," Dean Morningstar says before Alastor can introduce himself, smiling even when Alastor directs a glare at the man. "He's quite the upstart, I'll have you know- Hell, I think he may have set more fires on his first day here than you did!"

Vox chuckles awkwardly, a reaction that has Alastor's eyebrows raising with curiosity. "Well, I'd sure hope not. I really wouldn't want to cause Professor Leviathan any more trouble than we already have. He deserves a bit of a break from troublemakers like us, I'd say."

While Alastor is... okay, not really all that sure what exactly Dean Morningstar was referring to with 'fires started'- in his case, they were all non literal, considering his first arrival here had ended with him on the wrong end of a shotgun (its irony was not lost to him now, three hours later and standing in the middle of what looked to be a town square plucked straight out of Vienna's bustling populace despite the fact that they were in a location completely unknown to the rest of the world)... but whatever this man had done... it intrigued him, especially given Vox's reaction to it.

"Anyway..." Vox smiles once more, inclining his head in a bow. "I really do have to get going now. If I don't, I'm afraid I may be late, and Professor Asmodeus always picks on the latecomers to answer questions first."

"Ah, we won't keep you any longer, then," Dean Morningstar agrees genially. "Have a good afternoon, Mister Vanhal!"

"You too, Dean Morningstar, Mister Hartfelt," Vox bows once more, before turning off and heading in the direction of the Music Hall. Alastor regards the other man's retreating silhouette carefully.

"Is there something you want to say, young man?" Dean Morningstar snaps him out of his reverie, covering the faint smirk on his face with a gloved hand.

While Alastor wishes he could simply meet the other with simple derision, there is a question he had been meaning to ask. "What was the evening get up for?"

Dean Morningstar shrugs, but there's a glint of something Alastor doesn't quite like in his eyes. "Why don't you go and ask Vox yourself, if you're so interested?"

"...I'm surprised your staff haven't tried to murder you yet," Alastor responds shortly. He's much too tired and frustrated to entertain the man, and- well, frankly put, his mind is a little distracted at the moment at the thought of the man with the mismatched eyes.

Dean Morningstar laughs. "They're certainly welcome to try, as are you. After all, you're now a student of the Hazbin Instution for Homicide Practitioners- and we pride ourselves on our hands-on, engaging curriculum. Hopefully, your sponsor finds what they're looking for by sending you here."

"Hopefully," Alastor agrees. After all, there's nothing else to say: from here on out, it seems to be do or die.

Student Report written with input and conference from Dean Lucifer Morningstar

Student: Alastor Hartfelt, 29 years old, Sponsor

Sponsor: [REDACTED]

To the esteemed and generous sponsor of one Mister Alastor Hartfelt,

Enclosed is a report of your charge's first day at our esteemed institution. Please dispose of this report as soon as you are finished reading it for privacy insurances. We at the Hazbin Institution for Homicide Practitioners thank you for your interest and your patronage.

Sincerely, Dean Lucifer Morningstar.

#oops i got a bit carried away with this one #ill be honest i originally noticed the book because it sounded like something mk would like #and then i had to purchase it because the cashier didnt have any change for me when i was purchasing the 7 husbands of evelyn hugo . So.#i mean i dont regret it i guess ill just wait for the next volume #btw for anyone interested in why vox dressed in evening wear is for the ballroom dancing occasion + gloves can be used to hide prints #its a rule in the book to always be dressed for the occasion. or well not a rule but like . a general guide for when youre committing murde #also im duly aware of the fact that they call it deleting and not murdering but thats just soooo fucking stupid im not calling it deleting #i am also aware of the fact fhat they are not training serial killers at mcmasters but this is hazbin and u know what #they Can train serial killers. as a treat #ran rambles #radiostatic #hazbin hotel #chai writes #the hazbin institution for homicide practitioners

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crooked-wasteland · 2 months

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Keep in mind Amazon had nothing to do with funding for Hazbin. The show was finished by A24 in February 2023, and Hazbin had no distributor until the summer, hence missing Viv's proposed release date and her not even saying anything about the delay.

It's also quite curious that A24 funded and produced the entire show, yet hasn't promoted it at all. Really seems that production was hell behind the scenes, and considering the 4 years for 8 episodes and Viv's general attitude, I don't doubt that at all.

Won't be surprised if a Sweatbox-like documentary comes out about it in a few years with how awful production seems like it was.

That is why I say that calling Hazbin an "Amazon Show" is tantamount to misinformation. Amazon is merely the streaming service who have a contract with the production company, in this case A24. They buy the license to the show, which can vary in length. It's why Netflix loses shows from their library all the time. Additionally, overseas licensing is often cheaper (why the Japanese Netflix had shows like Kung Fu Panda while American Netflix didn't). So the contracts are more like leasing agreements and they may renew them or lose them after that time.

A24 has preferential treatment with Amazon. Amazon hosts almost all of A24's library and it's a bit of a sweetheart deal between the studio and streaming service. It's why I say that it seems so weird that it took so long to get a streaming service for the series.

In regards to advertising, A24 doesn't actually do much advertising. Think how you heard about Midsomner and Talk To Me, usually from YouTubers. People who make videos about the films, social media posts, etc. That isn't a buh, that is the A24 model. They keep their films cheap by not advertising. They just don't do that. So the fact Medrano had a historical theatre marquee for her advertising is outside the norm. Not just in its sheer impotence as a marketing strategy, but also for A24 as a studio. That either had to come out of the budget for the series (explaining why the last episode was unable to be finished) or Medrano's personal income, which we can safely assume did not happen.

Additionally, Amazon also has rules they usually follow (which were broken for Medrano) in that they do not advertise shows until after they air on the platform.

#vivziepop critical #anon ask

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izzyspussy · 4 months

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The Burden Easy: Crew & Izzy + Omegaverse (5/15)

Summary:

Bitching is one of the worst things a person can do to a fellow human being, tantamount to rape even if they don't force a mating bond while they're at it. The transition is painful, the dominance of the act humiliating, but beyond that an alpha who is forced to become an omega will almost always succumb to dysphoria and despair and, unless prevented, will take their own life.

But Izzy's always been a fucking contrarian. He's gonna be just fine.

CONTENT WARNINGS TYPICAL TO THE GENRE APPLY

Excerpt:

The Captain of the Revenge is a specter, a poltergeist, the leftover impression of the monster he still professes himself to be and to have always been. Most of the time the only evidence of his presence on board is the fear of the men thick in the air as they wait for him to make his next physical appearance. There's no guarantee he will or won't show himself, except for the daily raid. Izzy himself grudgingly obeys Frenchie's order to hang back until his transition finishes and he can stand for more than twenty minutes without bursting into tears or vomiting over the rail. As such, he's cursed to watch Edward stand completely still in the middle of every battle, weapons down at his sides if not completely holstered, finishing off any man who falls already defeated into his range with dull, dead-eyed indifference. Porcelain and pearls crunch under Izzy's weight as he finds the best of the vantage points he can still reach, gun out, hoping the way his hands shake now won't have him shoot through the wrong skull if someone goes for Ed like it almost seems he wants them to. When Edward haunts the deck off-raid, Izzy is a ghost to him too. A shadow. A dead thing lingering, invisible, desperate, and pathetic, past the ending of its life. Izzy continues to live and change, whether Edward deigns to see him or not. His own altered scent frequently chokes him - a strange lightened up and sweetened doppelganger of his old scent with hints of the same twisted mirror of Ed's, the alpha who injected part of his body into Izzy's to change it on his fucking whim. Who made Izzy his bitch and then didn't even claim him even though Izzy immediately went into fucking heat for him. Now Izzy stinks of that, will be identifiable forever by how Edward doesn't respect him and doesn't want him either.

Read on AO3 ->

@saphoblin @bazjack @izzyspinkytoe @thorasreblogpile @izzyhandsdefender

@someoneiwasnt @thecryofthegulls @orangesandunicorns @astralwashboard @thewhovianspirit

@kookykey @sky-fire-forever @usedtobeaduchess @ndanddnd

#jack facts #ofmd #blackhands #izzy hands #ed teach #omegaverse #my fic #tbe

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myskyperevenge · 5 months

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So how’s Sasha doing in this hypothetical Psychonauts sequel?

do you want something from me about it like is there a problem

with where he's at in his life as a person i think though he might be kind of going through some great tumultuous change. i have partial custody (weekends, every other holiday, one whole post every four to six months,) of an ask blog for him with some girl and we developed a rich vein of events for him to undergo. it was established that the state of his inner world is highly unusual and tantamount to psychic self-mutilation, performed with the goal of micromanaging his thoughts & behaviors. as a result he developed a separate "id" that wanders the far reaches of his mind and routinely attempts to assert its influence over him. it looks and sounds like him but wears revealing women's clothing. we just called it "other sasha" which is also my last.fm username if youre interested

anyway he lives at whispering rock year round and doesnt have a car and cant drive so he can be AROUND but i don't want to see him playing a much larger role in my visions than he did in the first game if he was important id care less

#psychonauts #sasha nein

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remusawoooo · 3 months

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anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!).

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too.

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here.

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all.

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone.

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

#anti jkr #anti jegulus #anti marauders fandom #anti fanon #marauders fandom #gender and sexuality in fandom #race in fandom #canon wolfstar #fanon wolfstar #hp canon #canon vs fanon

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slyandthefamilybook · 4 months

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If you don’t mind, can you explain why you want Israel to be abolished? Not in the anarchist sense of ‘I want all states abolished as an ideal’, but actually wanting it dismantled while states are still a thing. I think that’s your view anyway— I remember that, in the post heritageposts and his minions went after you for (really sorry about that btw, I’ve also been harassed on here but luckily haven’t had one of the big bloggers come after me), you said that you want Hamas to surrender and then after that have Israel dismantled. You don’t have to reply if you don’t want to, I’m just trying to understand that view a little more when it’s not egregiously Jew hating, even if I won’t agree with it, and also you seem like a very nuanced and compassionate person. I hope you’re doing well, and have a nice day!

It is very much in the anarchist sense. I don't think Israel is the only state that should be abolished; I think we should get rid of all nation-states. It's not something I've really had the opportunity to talk about much outside of the Current Situation so I understand that it may have come off like I think Israel is singularly...idk. Dismantle-able. I think we tend to think of these things in terms of immediacy; countries that are currently at war are constantly teetering on the verge of collapse and are therefore primed for anarchy. On the flip side we also often forget our political idealism when real people are suffering. No non-Jewish anarchist is calling for Hamas to be dissolved, despite the fact that they ostensibly abhor centralized government in all its forms. To them Hamas is the final bulwark between Israel and total decimation of the Palestinian population and so calling for them to step down in the anarchist sense is tantamount to signing the death warrants for everyone in Gaza. They're wrong, but the idea is sound. You can't defeat the mechanism that allows people to organize at a national level while its people are currently endangered. That's why I've said no "revolution" can precede peace which is where I differ from the Hamasniks who think the revolution will bring peace (because they don't care about the safety of the Israeli population). Ultimately I think liberalism is like a sword: it's a tool that I need because everyone else has one, much as I would rather none of us needed on in the first place.

Sorry if this is incoherent, I haven't haven't had my coffee yet. Tl;dr is: Would I like to see all nation-states including Israel be abolished? Yes. Do I think that will happen? Not in this lifetime, especially not with the Current Situation. So I'm not going to go around pretending it is, because then everything I do will be utterly useless

#ask #anonymous

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witchyafterdark · 10 months

Text

The Statute of Secrecy 📜

Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion. I'm sorry if this was answered late but... I just wanted to answer this properly. And perhaps a late birthday post! 🎉 I'd love to hear more thoughts in the comments section or give me more asks!

The anon was pertaining to a previous post of mine, which you can find here.

Once again, this is a very, very long post. ✨ Please take your time!

Thank you so much for sending me this ask. This is my first one ever, and I couldn't be happier! You have no idea how long I've been stewing on this topic but didn't know where to start.

Let's talk about it! I originally just wanted to post my vague take about this topic but I got to thinking 🤔 If we're really going to talk about this, let's delve deep into it, and get all the proper information out. Lots of people are divided about this statute; some in agreeance, some in complete opposition.

Also, I know that I'm no expert in the areas of government that I'm going to mention here. But I think I have a decent handle on the topic at hand, and for once, I'd like to put my degree on International Relations and Politics to good use!

What is the Statute of Secrecy?

According to the wiki, the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy (commonly shortened to Statute of Secrecy) was a law in the Wizarding World that was first signed in 1689, then established officially in 1692. The purpose of this law was to safeguard the wizarding community from Muggles, and hide its presence from the world at large. This statute was inveterated by the International Confederation of Wizards — which is the equivalent of the United Nations in the muggle world.

The ultimate reason as to why this law had to be made and laid down in the 17th century was due to the severe Wizard-Muggle relations at that time. Witch trials were at an all-time-high across European nations. It was said that, "...[witches and wizards] that offer to aid their muggle neighbors with the use of magic was tantamount to volunteering to fetch the firewood for one's own funeral pure." This was evident in the many witches and wizards that were imprisoned and sentenced to death on the charge of practicing witchcraft.

On top of that, there had also been a time of widespread persecution of wizarding children by muggles, and both witches and wizards being forced by muggles to perform and teach magic for the latter's benefit; thus, increasing the numbers of persecution that inevitably included those of muggles mistakenly tried and burned as witches. At this point in time, the Wizarding World had to establish interventional measures.

During that period, Great Britain was ruled by King William III alongside his wife, Queen Mary II. There was a time during their reign when the newly-created Ministry of Magic attempted to convene with the muggle British Monarchy via a special Ministry Delegation. The British Wizarding World went as far as begging the muggle monarchy for the protection of wizards under muggle law. Of course, this attempt had failed, which promptly resulted in the collective decision of Wizardkind to voluntarily remove themselves from muggle societies, and went towards the direction of hiding and secrecy.

Now that the historical background of this law has been covered, let's now talk about what would happen if the Statute of Secrecy were to be abolished; which will make the Wizarding World known to all muggles. (Again, these are my personal views and hypotheses, backed by ample amount of research from both sides of the debate).

Of course, in an ideal world, we would all be accepting of each other, holding hands and singing Kumbaya. 😀🤝😀

But given the current status of wars we're facing today, we have to be honest with each other here. The power of love and acceptance is not going to be enough if the muggles themselves cannot even reach an amicable understanding between themselves. And this is without magic to begin with!

So, what will happen if the Wizarding World were to reveal themselves to the muggles?

I. Economic Repercussions

There are so many bases to cover when it comes to the economic impact of what the abolishment of the Statute would entail. If the Wizarding World were to reveal their truth during this time, I can only imagine the economic upheaval both the muggle and wizards will face. Assuming that the Wizarding World would unveil themselves today, year 2023, these are the highly anticipated events that may occur:

1. At least half of the Muggle jobs will be obsolete

The first that comes to mind are people who work blue-collar jobs. I believe they will be hit the hardest in the event that magic will be known.

Why would you need a couple of dozen of construction workers (who work at a slower pace, and costs more) if you have magic to do if for you; which is considerably cheaper, faster, more efficient, and safer for all who are involved? Sure, wizarding engineers do exist as Hogwarts was built both by hand and magic. But for the most part? Utilizing magic to build and construct infrastructure will be far easier and faster than its muggle counterparts. This alone would affect the economy of manual labor of the muggle workforce.

How about housekeepers? Servers? Customer service? Handymans? They are surely the backbone of our society. But with the integration of magic, again, it would be cheaper to hire one witch or wizard to do the job, and it would be faster if magic was involved with stacking grocery goods into shelves, enchanted clothing stores that automatically alter your clothes to your size and shape, and a swish of the Scouring Charm (a charm used for cleaning and washing things) will inevitably cut the muggle labor-force into considerable numbers.

Didn't we see the Leaky Cauldron's tables being cleaned and chairs being put up by one wizard? A restaurant wouldn't need lots of servers if this would be the case. That alone would wreak havoc on muggle economy. (Less workers = less income tax revenue for the muggle government).

We've seen in real life how the recent pandemic messed with our economic recovery simply because the service industry was not wholly available as it used to be during pre-pandemic times. Everything else became impossibly expensive and difficult to obtain.

2. Pharmaceutical Corporations and Insurance Companies

Come on, now. We all know this is a gargantuan beast to tackle.

The first thing that came to mind are the magical creatures and plants that will be harvested to extinction if the muggles knew of their medicinal properties. Poaching will be at an its height (poor Poppy) with both muggles and crooked wizards selling and auctioning these creatures for mass breeding programs. There will be a race to find and get ahold of the rarest magical creatures, such as the Phoenix, Unicorn, and some species of Dragons and Winged Horses.

Wizarding potioneers and apothecaries will be reaping the benefits of this, of course, but they will be swamped with millions (if not, billions) of desperate muggles who are in search of cures for their ailments. Skele-Gro for immediate regrowth of bone-related accidents, Wiggenweld for the immediate treatment of open wounds and post-operative incisions, and the Forgetfulness Potion and Draught of Peace for patients who are suffering PTSD or any other trauma-related symptoms; just to name a few.

But the most dangerous part is that there will be a race for the recreation of the Philosopher's Stone. This is the key to create the Elixir of Life. And this is something both the wizarding world and the muggle world will fight to the death over.

Muggle pharmaceutical corporations will be affected considerably due to the magical competition of potions and healing spells that are far better than some of the muggle medications. However, there are still medicines that are needed and irreplaceable at this time; such as post-operative maintenance medicine, emergency care, anti-psychotic drugs, chemotherapy, anti-seizure aid, and the like.

And as much as we all loathe our respective countries' insurance companies and policies, they are still an important factor in our economic system. These companies will also be affected by the decline of both muggle medicinal and medical procedures.

3. Doctors, Nurses, and Healthcare Professionals

In that same vein, all healthcare professionals and providers will be affected. There will be a demand for more wizarding healers than doctors, and there will be an influx of muggle patients seeking treatment from the Wizarding World. Yes, there will be muggles who will still be wary and untrusting of wizarding procedures. This will be the saving grace of the muggle doctors and nurses — but only for a little while. Once the legitimacy and credibility of wizarding medicine becomes apparent (which it will over time), lots of muggle physicians will be at a loss of employment as more and more wizarding healers will be on demand worldwide.

The bright side to this dilemma is if both wizard and muggle medical professionals learn to cooperate with one another and have an exchange of training information with each other. Wizarding healers can learn how to do first aid; such as CPR, resuscitation, defibrillation, Heimlich maneuver, etc. We also have to give lots and lots of credit to the muggles. We have survived thus far with our own studies and the sheer will to live.

And so, we also have a lot of knowledge to impart to the wizard healers. Surgery would be even more revolutionary with the brainpower of muggle surgeons and wizard healer's magic and potions; perhaps to the point where mortality rates would go even lower than what we currently have. Maybe the muggles would give the wizards an idea of replicating organs instead of relying on donors! These are some of the positives that can happen for sure.

The Wizarding World will finally get to know dentistry! 😂 I honestly can't believe they don't know the existence of dentists all the way to as late as the 1990's.

4. Transportation

Commercial air and sea travel will most definitely be hit by the presence of wizarding means of transport. Imagine: Floo Stations can be built almost entirely anywhere (from major cities to remote islands), Witches and Wizards can be hired to apparate and disapparate (making traveling much faster, given the Wizarding World could figure out a way to bypass splinching), and Portkeys can be made and sold for a price! (There had been an incident where a muggle accidentally touched a Portkey, and was transported in the middle of a Celestina Warbeck concert!)

Surely, the muggle way of transporting goods will still be there simply because there is just too many parcels and packages to deliver. But human transportation will be affected, putting a dent the industry of airlines and seafaring companies. Plus, wizarding travel methods are easier on the planet! They don't use fuel and gas to begin with.

Another thing is broom flight! Yes, it's fun for the most part. But there will need to be an entirely new set of transportation systems and rules to be implemented before it can even be introduced for public consumption. I assume it's cheaper to buy than a car, and so a lot of muggles will be enticed to opt for brooms instead of cars — and they can just hire the aid of wizards to enchant their bags with Extension Charms for their personal belongings.

But ultimately, automobile manufacturers and corporations will, once again, become obsolete. It would push for smaller car companies into bankruptcy, and the larger ones would probably have to sell their now-surplus stock of cars for a drastically cheaper price just to be sold. Can you imagine what this would do to the economy?

5. Muggle-Made Products vs. Magically Modified Products

Funny enough, I added this part last-minute. But I immediately thought about this from seeing a review of Lady Gaga's beauty brand, Haus Labs, and their "Atomic Lip Lacquer." A product review said:

I'm 100% convinced Lady Gaga found some glamour witches and hired them! This product is impossibly good and effective!

This set my idea lightbulbs off because true enough, I had sampled this product before — and it works! It's smudge-proof, transfer-proof, and the color is quite universal on a lot of skin tones. (This is not an advertisement, nor is this post sponsored by Lady Gaga). 😂

But of course, the caveat is that if this truly was enhanced by glamour witches, then there will be a problem. Right now, we know that Haus Labs probably just have really good cosmetic chemists in their lab. But if the world was to know that glamour witches can be hired to amp up certain products, there will be a power and economic impact in the market competition.

Sure, all major companies can hire their own witches and wizards to magically enhance their products. But what about small, family-owned businesses? What about those actually honest companies that pay their workers fair wages? What about small companies who rely on ethically-sourced products from indigenous communities; like woven garments and furniture? What happens to them, then? They will be obliterated by these major corporations who have the money to hire people of magic to modify their products that will ultimately (and unfortunately) overpower smaller businesses.

Even if we are to ethically buy muggle-made products in support of their honest work, it will become much more expensive to procure over time. Much like cultural products made by locals are more expensive than your factory-produced goods, even the masses will have no choice but to buy products that are magically enhanced because they're cheaper and they take less time to manufacture. And most importantly, the magical products are going to be much more effective.

Just like that Atomic Lip Lacquer.

6. Currency, Trade, and Stock Markets

This one's pretty straightforward. With the use of divination, legilimency, seers, and all sorts of other methods of prediction, the odds are in the wizards' favor. Even with muggle technology that aids them in stock market predictions, it wouldn't stand a chance against magical seers and divination. Not only that but it would wreak havoc upon the value of both muggle and Wizarding currency exchange.

Since their community is considerably smaller than the rest of the world's, their economy is pretty stable. The system of currency isn't really expounded in great detail in the books, aside from what we know that there are 29 Knuts for 1 Sickle, and there are 17 Sickles for 1 Galleon.

Interestingly, there have been systems from forums and websites that have shown the actual money exchange rates between the Wizarding and the muggle currency:

(This one, however, is no longer the actual rates because we all know that rates change daily. There used to be a website for daily conversion rates but it's currently inaccessible or have been taken down. Do try to see if this website's working by the time I published this post).

I am not an economist, and I suck at economics, but judging from how a Galleon is worth more than the Euro, the US dollar, and British pound, Wizarding currency is more powerful than muggle currencies. If the Statute would be taken down, the Galleon would now have to enter the International Stock Exchange! But the worst part is that the British Galleon is not the only Wizarding currency there is. In France, they operate with the Bezant (which was established around 1927), and in the US, they have the Dragot and the Sprink (from at least the 18th century).

Yes, Gringotts Bank do accept muggle currency for Galleons in the case that muggleborns needed to have them exchanged. But the goblins do find the way to put muggle money back into circulation. So, in reality, muggle money is worthless in the Wizarding World. Not only that, but assuming that Galleons are made from gold, that in itself will cause a lot of confusion as to how it would be converted, and which method of conversion would yield higher returns. The bottom line is that the Wizarding currency would suffer from the process of joining the muggle market.

—

🔹 Now these are the things that I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure there are tons of other things to consider. We're barely scratching the surface of the economic repercussions. Sure, there are advantages in the long run. But will the muggles and wizards even get to the long run with other factors to consider?

II. Religious Opposition

(Note: I am NOT pertaining to the derogation of any specific religion on this section of the post. Anything mentioned here is alluded to in a generic way or historical context. I am not siding nor criticizing any particular group or religious organization by refering to "real life" events; I am merely making historical references that align with the canonical events in the Harry Potter universe).

—

One of the other factors that I just mentioned is the religious opposition the Wizarding World will inevitably face. The contrasting beliefs and practices of the Wizarding World against the muggle religious organizations is the prime reason why the International Statute of Secrecy had to be made to begin with.

There are extensive historical references, records, and studies about the subject of the European Witch Hunts and Trials that go way back to the 1400's. There was a book — which is famous, even today — that is considered as the "handbook" of identifying, capturing, torturing, and executing a witch in captivity. This is called the Malleus Maleficarum, also known as the 'Hammer of Witches.'

It is because of this book that tens of thousands of people, 80% of them were women, have been put to death. Inevitably, this became the ultimate cause why the Wizarding World have decided to completely go into hiding. The differences in the acceptance of religious beliefs and practices were the driving force why the Statute of Secrecy had been passed and enforced.

Given that today's religious climate is arguably better than how it used to be during those days, there is a bigger and better chance that the youth will have a far greater sense of open-mindedness about the existence of witches and wizards. A lot of Millennials, Generation Z, and the oldest of Generation Alpha are scientifically considered smarter and the most educated generations in all of modern history. We are, as a collective whole, the most progressive and accepting when it comes to considering things that are unknown or are yet to be discovered. Most of us won't react with violence or have the need to gather our pitchforks against the Wizarding World.

However, the same couldn't be said for religious orders. Witchcraft and wizardry are real punishable violations under scriptures, and the history of this practice is one of dark times. If the Wizarding World is to be revealed to the masses, alongside the demonstrations of magic for everyone to witness, religious organizations will most likely take action against the Wizarding population. It would not be a surprise if religious extremists host groups of people willing to revive witch hunts and take matters into their own hands, citing holy scriptures and rights against the perceived enemy. (Keyword: Extremists; not the religious organizations as a whole).

Taking note of the political upheaval in today's warring nations (and to completely acknowledge the severity of what's going on these days without disrespecting real-life situations), muggles alone have taken part in religious crusades after another. Dominant empires of the past have conquered and colonized solitary societies who are living in peace solely in the name of their respective religions. We see this even today. It is not far-fetched to think that some (not all) factions within religious organizations will take up arms against the Wizarding World. It is easier to find a common enemy to attack and fight against. It is easier to wave white flags toward your usual enemy, and join forces to defeat the new threat.

On the other hand, we see a new wave of several revivals of pagan faiths by today's youth. More and more people participate in different forms of divination (such as tarot and astrology; here's my shameless plug: @tarotwitchy), some practice the Goetic rituals and methods of communicating with deities and spirits, others prefer to continue with their ancestors' lost pagan traditions according to their ethnic roots.

So, that is a good thing... right? Unfortunately for the youth, majority of world religious leaders are the elderly; who have grown accustomed to conservative and very traditional practices and systems. And while there's technically nothing wrong with that, I personally do not see them willing to put aside their beliefs in order to allow the Wizarding World to be acquainted and assimilated in the muggle world. Pagan and indigenous spiritual people (and those who have folk religions in their cultural heritage) have a higher chance of tolerance towards the new comers. Again, I could be wrong, and I'm very open for discussion. But the judging from the current situation of the world, muggles cannot even set aside their differences to realize that we're all human with the right to live. What more when it comes to a completely new "species" of humans that will most definitely be perceived as a threat?

III. Cultural Nuances

There are obvious cultural nuances when it comes to the acceptance of the practice of witchcraft around the world; as a matter of fact, it wouldn't be so popular in today's new age of spiritual resurgence if these nuances haven't been a part of ethnic cultures in the first place. Some countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Carribean, and in Central and South America, witchcraft is basically a part of "folk culture," wherein the practice is deeply embedded into the traditional heritage of the people. Some cultures do not necessarily look upon witchcraft and wizardry as evil practices but something to respect (or at the very least, steer clear from out of ambivalence).

I can only speak for my own culture, but here in my country, located in Southeast Asia, we are part of a handful of countries that practice "folk Catholicism." This is when the influence of colonial religions have meshed alongside the natives' pagan traditions and practices. The assimilation of the two groups make for quite an interesting culture! Here, as much as 86% of the population are Catholic. But in spite of the clear-cut religious law that witchcraft and wizardry are not to be tolerated, the indigenous roots of folk practices can never be forgotten nor erased. For example, whenever the Church has done all they could do to help someone under spiritual attack, most people would turn to the ancient pagan practices for cures and solutions.

And I know we aren't the only country that does this. The Haitians and Romanians also have these practices deeply embedded in their culture. (I don't claim to expertly know about these countries, and I understand that not all citizens of those two nations practice witchcraft and wizardry). Mesoamerican culture entails the assimilation of the Catholic faith and its indigenous beliefs as well! (This was a really interesting and enlightening read for me to have researched, and people should read about it, too).

Therefore, I think majority of the muggle population around the world would have a lukewarm reception of the revelation of magic, in general. Of course, there will be fear. There will be wary people who might even spurn the existence entirely. But with how the younger generations have been extremely curious and eager to participate in these practices with an open mind, I wouldn't be surprised if the culture of the Wizarding World will be assimilated into the mainstream in just under a decade. That is, idealistically speaking, if the younger generation would really push for the human rights of the wizards as well. None of this would matter if wizards won't be given the same human rights and freedom as the next muggle. Only then would the wizards be granted the lawful freedom of practicing their own culture (besides other lawful implications and regulations).

Nevertheless, as good as that sounded on paper, greediness and envy does not have an age bracket. Both young and old will be tempted to take advantage of magic simply because it is power, in its natural form. You can see this phenomenon happening in high school students' social experiments; wherein one group of students are being given good school materials, better grades, more attention from teachers than the other group. The less "privileged" group of students began to complain and raise their concerns, and some even gave up entirely. But at the end, since their concerns were left unheard, they plotted against the other group to covet what those students have for themselves.

Of course, these feelings can somehow be justified on the perspective of the muggles. Why should the wizards have all the power? Now that they revealed themselves, they should also share their magic! These muggle concerns, in turn, will alarm and scare the Wizarding World even more. Given their respective histories, they didn't have a good parting to begin with. And this is why, on the grounds of Cultural Nuances, it would really depend on the heritage of the country or region; and how they received and perceived witchcraft and wizardry throughout their histories.

IV. Sociopolitical Upheaval and Power Vacuums

[Note: I have seen and read different takes on this issue, and I must say, there are some who see this issue in an entirely new light that I haven't considered before. Alongside my own personal research and beliefs, I will try to put all of the information together in a cohesive way. Again, all of these are the amalgamation of my own opinions and of others'. This post is for entertainment purposes only, and I am in no way pertaining or pointing fingers to a specific governmental body of any nation in real life. If there are countries mentioned in this segment, it's only because of comparison, and I'm correlating the given information that coincides with the Harry Potter universe]. 🙂

—

A little interesting fact: It was common knowledge that the Malfoys used to be staunch and vocal protesters against the Statute. Why? Well, during the time before the Statute, they enjoyed being part of high-society muggle circles that ensured the steady rise of their wealth from collecting muggle artifacts, currency, and assets. They also used to align themselves with the muggle monarchy, providing discreet (and shady) services to King William the First. The Crown rewarded these services by giving them annexed land from local landowners in Wiltshire — that's why they have a huge manor! But when the new law was passed, the Malfoys became adamant in their denials of interactions with upperclass and royalty muggles.

Now, the discovery of the existence of the Wizarding World can most certainly go in so many different directions. I'm about 99.99% sure that at least half of the world's governments would not take kindly to this shocking revelation. Personally, these are the things I think would happen from the moment witches and wizards made themselves known to the masses, to name a few:

1. Governments would be on high alert

The first thing that I can imagine happening is that the muggle world will be in a state of frenzy. The simple fact that the Wizarding World has managed to hide under the muggles' noses this entire time could make the majority believe that they are not safe at all. If the wizards have lasted this long without the muggles knowing their existence, what else could they be hiding, right? Not only would the public masses become paranoid and fearful of their surroundings, their respective governments will issue a high-alert status all over their nations.

Remember, the wizards are considered the aliens and new outsiders in this scenario. We've seen time and time again in different movies (Transformers, The Fourth Kind, Signs, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Arrival, Edge of Tomorrow, and The 5th Wave) that humans in general will employ all strategies to contain and annihilate the foreign species. And so, this is most likely the first thing muggle governments would do. It wouldn't be far-fetched if these world leaders might also go as far as to call for martial laws to their countries for total control over all citizens. But of course, this would just be a façade for what would actually happen; which is the unlawful and literal witch hunt for the wizarding population that may have been living in muggle communities.

Looking back at when the existence of aliens have been "confirmed" by the US government, most people didn't even bat an eyelash or react with frenzied panic. Given that it's because these disclosed aliens don't pose a perceived threat, most of the youth didn't really react with hostility or fear. If anything, they treated the whole thing with a tired lightheartedness. People knew all along that aliens existed. While some muggles might have an interest for learning magic, the government would treat magic as an ultimate threat against their security, AND they would covet it at the same time. Which brings us to the next point. ⬇️

2. Political upheaval, and the struggles for positions of power in the government

Personally, I don't see fair play happening at all. The first thing that I thought of is assassinations. Dark witches and wizards for hire will do the bidding of high-ranking muggle officials "under the table." That is if the Wizarding World will even allow themselves to be henchmen for long. Can you imagine: the only reason why wizards would "work" for muggles is to truly get to know the entire system from top to bottom, then dismantling everything themselves? National security would be compromised, muggle protective and intelligence agencies will be on red alert, targeting all of the Wizarding World (even the good ones). It will all just be a disaster.

{I wanted to get into the entire Warfare and Security Issues but this post has gotten so long already. So, if anyone is interested in seeing that, I can insert that in another post. Maybe a presentation?}

Solution?

1. Develop a whole 'International Muggle Affairs and Intelligence Agency' for all Ministries of Magic.

As far as I know, the British Ministry of Magic only has TWO offices that cater to handling muggle affairs — not even official departments! One is the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office (the same one where Arthur Weasley is working for), and the other is Muggle Liaisons Office (which is more like catastrophe-handlers office at this point. They're in charge of fixing the collateral damages wizards have caused to the muggle world than anything).

But what they need the most is a wizard equivalent of a CIA or FBI. They need to be on top of all muggle affairs in each region and continent. There is a Japanese Ministry of Magic (since they also have Mahoutokoro School). They should work with other neighboring Asian wizarding bodies to stay on top of political, social, economic, and technological developments of the muggle world. The British Ministry of Magic should also get off their high-horses and collaborate with neighboring European wizarding officials to maintain the latest knowledge of muggle happenings.

The only reason why the Wizarding World was unscathed during the World Wars of the muggles was because they were sequestered and protected with spells around their secret territories. But I don't think that would suffice any longer against muggle technology and nuclear weapons. Drones are everywhere, the countryside are getting more and more urbanized, and the wizards communities are getting smaller and smaller. If I were them, I wouldn't wait until the very last minute to get to understand the importance of muggle powers and knowledge. I'd get on top of it now.

2. Secret Muggle Integration Project

On top of that, I truly believe there needs to be a Ministry project that hire muggleborns to report back the situation of the muggle world to their respective wizarding ministries. They know it best, as they were born and most likely raised in those communities. They need to collect gadgets, latest hand-held weaponry, books, clothing, and other materials for the Muggle Artifacts Office to study very carefully.

The Wizarding World needs to adapt to the changing times. The muggles are already looking to the stars and neighboring solar systems for new life and possible habitation for the next generation of humanity, whilst the wizards are stuck with their narrow-minded ways. Quill and parchment, really? This isn't to scoff at traditional ways. But we all know that they are severely stuck in the middle ages. They have become complacent and comfortable with the tried and tested magical methods.

Muggles have bled and learned the hard ways of life. That's why they soared to new knowledgeable heights. Muggles weren't handed things the easy way. People died from illnesses and catastrophes and accidents; and that's when we learned to advance ourselves as a collective whole. Wizards need to understand this, and assimilate this kind of thinking in their lives if they hope to catch up with the muggle status quo, or they'll be sorry they didn't once the muggles discover them in due time.

I understand the historical bad-blood between the two factions. The primary reason why wizards cloistered themselves away from the muggles were because they were being persecuted in the first place. And it would be very insensitive to force their communities to accept the muggle ways.

That's why in my honest opinion, they shouldn't lift the Statute of Secrecy.

They should only study and be up to date with everything else that's going on in the world while maintaining anonymity and secrecy.

—————

I hope this truly provided a complete picture and breakdown of what would happen in this scenario, and I apologize that I do not agree with your position. I still hope you enjoyed this, anon! Thank you for being my very first ask.

#witchy speaks #hogwarts legacy #ominis gaunt #sebastian sallow #garreth weasley #ominis gaunt x mc #ominis gaunt x reader #sebastian sallow x mc #sebastian sallow x reader #hogwarts legacy mc #hogwarts legacy headcanon #hogwarts legacy headcanons #harry potter #hphl

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shootybangbang · 10 months

Text

The Upsides of Property Damage [Part 4/5]

Authored by @verai-marcel and @shootybangbang

[Ao3 link]

[Pairing]: Arthur Morgan/Reader

[Rating]: Mature

[Content Advisory]: light D/S undertones

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[Author's Note]: Thank you guys so, so much for your patience, and so sorry for the delay! Most of chapter 5 has been completed and should be out soon. If you want to be notified when that comes out, go ahead and leave a comment down below and I'll make a taglist or something.

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The maintenance request form states: [Please give a brief description of the problem.]

for the past few days i've been so fixated on fucking the maintenance man that i've been having difficulty accomplishing basic tasks because every time i try to concentrate on anything even remotely meaningful all i can think about is him saying "maybe you just enjoy my company" and if this keeps up i'm fairly certain that i'm going to actually get fired from my job so clearly i need to either get laid or get evicted

This statement makes you look certifiably insane. It’s not even a request– it’s a confession . Sending this would be tantamount to seating yourself beside the grated window of a church booth and asking its captive priest whether he’d prefer you spit or swallow.

More importantly, it also exceeds the text box’s 250 character limit. You rapidly tap the delete key until the entire obscene paragraph disappears. Then you try again.

broken cabinet.

Hmm. Lacks an element of genuine contrition.

broken cabinet. sorry. :’(

[Your service request has been logged. Please allow up to one standard business day for a response.]

You glance at the time displayed on the microwave’s grease-spattered screen. 4:36PM. Morgan’s probably already packed up for the day– and taking normal operating hours into account, the earliest he could possibly show up tomorrow would be 9AM… which gives you at least sixteen hours to emotionally prepare yourself to confront him.

Morosely, you drag yourself out of your kitchen chair to pour yourself a glass of sparkling water. So this is what I’ve sunk to . Using service requests as a means of personal summons for the hot repairman. Pathetic. Shameful. And 100% necessary for the preservation of your sanity.

How many times have you pictured it now? Morgan, cornering you against the wall and wrapping his hand around your jaw… Or maybe , he’d rumble, caressing your lower lip with his thumb. You just enjoy my company . Then he’d fuck you silly, of course, in a series of lurid positions that grow increasingly obscene with each imagining.

And how many times have you pictured its inverse? Morgan, backing away in response to your hypothetical advance, his face contorted with faint disgust as he asks, “You know I was just joking, right?” Following which you’d get written up for sexual harassment by the leasing office and put on… housing probation, or something.

Being humiliated, you can handle. Albeit not very well— but you’re usually able to stay at least semi-functional. The same goes for flirtation. It’s this hopeless vacillation between the two possibilities that drives you out of your mind. Schrodinger’s boner: simultaneously fucked and unfucked. And like that quantum superposition, you’ve been plunged into a private hell of uncertainty until your reality can settle definitively on one or the other.

This has been predictably bad for your job performance. Earlier today, you’d accidentally deleted two entire spreadsheets of data whilst lost in competing visions of fornication and abject rejection, and then constructed a pivot table so incomprehensible that one of your colleagues had personally reached out to ask whether you’d recently experienced head trauma.

God. At this point, you really have no choice but to put the question to him directly. Plain and simple. Just a quick “are you hitting on me” and it’ll all be–

Your thoughts are interrupted by an urgent knock at the door.

Huh. Looks like Defying Your Blue Collar Dom is getting delivered a day early? It’s unusual for Amazon to leave packages at your doorstep instead of in the lobby, but it does happen, so…

…Oh.

It’s Morgan. What the fuck.

“But you were supposed to come tomorrow ,” you blurt, eyes wide with panic.

“That so?” Morgan asks, one eyebrow raised. He glances sidelong to the empty hallway, and shifts his weight uneasily from one leg to the other. With a shrug, he squares up his shoulders and turns back towards the stairwell. “Later, then.”

Shit. This is all going wrong. “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that I– I, uh…I’m… ”

He allows your stammer to run its course into awkward silence. Then the corner of his mouth angles upwards in a sly smile and he asks, “Or d’you need a minute to put away anything else your ‘friend’ mighta left out? I can wait.”

Somewhere in the realm of missed quips, there probably exists a clever response to this. Somewhere that is decidedly not here. “No,” you reply in a small, pained voice. “She, uh– she hasn’t been around, so… y’know…”

The sentence unspools like loose yarn. Jesus Christ, this is stupid.

“You alright?” Morgan asks, frowning down at you from where he stands. “You ain’t normally this incoherent.”

His comment implies that you’ve been operating thus far on an existing, baseline level of incoherence. Biting back the urge to query exactly what that looks like, you reply with a clipped, terse, “I’m fine.”

As you lead him towards your kitchen, you nearly trip over the half-packed suitcase parked beside the door. At this, Morgan again voices his concern. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you this on edge before. Something botherin’ you?”

Yes , you think to yourself. My libido.

“Or is it some one that’s botherin’ you?”

He says the words with such a darkly implicative undertone that you actually turn around to stare at him, disarmed by the sudden shift. The warmth in his eyes has gone out like a blown candle. “Is it one of the other maintenance men?” he asks, and the whisper of lethality in his countenance surfaces so quickly that it speaks to a kind of practiced efficiency.

A mingled thrill of fear and intrigue runs up your spine, and you swallow hard.

“If one of ‘em’s harassin’ you— if anyone’s harassin’ you…” he says these words with slow deliberation, while curling his free hand into a fist, thumb tucked over his folded fingers in that characteristic manner of boxers and street brawlers alike, and god if he were anyone else you’d likely be shrinking against the wall in terror right now. “Then you come tell me. And I’ll handle it.”

You have a sneaking suspicion that his method of conflict resolution involves grievous bodily injury. “Nobody’s bothering me,” you reply. Then, because he still looks vaguely homicidal, you follow up quickly with, “Just had an off day.”

This placates him somewhat. The tension diminishes like a rope going slack, and you realize with a hot pang of humiliation that your underwear is slick with arousal.

It’s not until he’s crouched in front of your broken cabinet, which stands ajar with its wooden door peaked at a 45 degree angle, that you finally work up the nerve to confront him. “So. Morgan.” You lean against the edge of your kitchen countertop like the faux marble might offer you emotional support. “There’s, uh. Something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

He’s sorting through his tool kit and doesn’t lift his head. Picks through an array of silver chiseled pieces so deftly that you can’t help but wonder what else those hands might be clever at. “Yeah?’ he asks, selecting a screwdriver head. He slips it into the drill chuck, twisting it tight.

“Are you, um…”

Fuck. You can’t say it. Your mouth literally refuses to shape itself to the words. Instead, you hear yourself ask, “Are you thirsty? You want some seltzer?”

Morgan blinks, then turns to you looking predictably baffled. “That’s… what you’ve been wantin’ to ask me? Whether or not I’m thirsty?”

“Yes,” you reply weakly.

For once, it’s him who’s been caught off guard. “I– uh. Sure, I guess.”

He takes his drill and begins to remove the damaged hinge. Taking the door leaf and flipping it this way and that, he examines the damage.

The crack of aluminum when you pull back the can’s metal tab and the responding fizz of compressed air sounds a little like a rebuke. Scathingly, it hisses: what the hell are you doing?

I have no idea , you admit, pouring the can of sparkling water into a clean glass. You pass it over to Morgan after he presses the trigger on the drill twice and sets it on the countertop. He gulps down an absent mouthful, then immediately stands up to spit it in your sink.

Oh. He hates it.

Your voice is thin as a reed. “I guess you’re not a fan of sparkling grapefruit, huh?”

“It’s…” With the duty-bound reluctance of a dog given a loathed order, he takes another, tentative sip, and forces himself to swallow. “It’s fine.”

It is clearly not fine. “Do you, uh. Do you want a beer?”

“What, you encouragin’ me to drink on the job?”

You open the fridge. Good god, you might as well partake too. It’s not like you’re in any state to get any work done, stuck as you are in this miserable limbo . “In any case, I’m gonna have one. And I’m still on the clock.”

“Alright.” He sounds like he’s smiling. “So long as you’re complicit, why not?”

You end up downing half a bottle of 8% oatmeal stout in about three sips, then stand around blankly waiting for the roil of anxiety to abate. You’d attempt the precarious endeavor of small talk were it not for the fact that the only thing you can think of right now is “grapefruit”. Not the concept of grapefruit. Just the word “grapefruit”. This must be how computers feel when they spit out the same, continuous error message.

Mercifully, he intervenes. “You goin’ on vacation somewhere? Saw that suitcase by your door.”

“Catsitting,” you say.

“’…s’cuse me?”

“Catsitting. Like… babysitting. But for a cat,” you explain. “My friend’s going to Vegas the day after tomorrow, and her cat has anxiety.”

“Cats can get anxiety?”

“This cat takes cat Xanax . His name is Sebastian, and he’s the most neurotic animal I’ve ever met.”

Morgan asks, “Yourself included?”

You make a noise that bears no resemblance to any word in the English language.

He chuckles. “Well, go on, tell me how neurotic he is.”

Thank fucking christ, the alcohol is finally beginning to course its way through your blood. Your tongue loosens enough to tell him how poor Sebastian had spent nearly an entire day curled up under your friend’s bed the first time you’d tried to take care of him, how you’d ended up driving to the grocery on a Sunday morning to scour the shelves for the most pungent can of sardines they had in stock, and how only then , with the room saturated in fish fumes, had the cat finally dragged itself out of the boxspring to nose curiously at your offering.

Morgan laughs. A good sign, you think. “That’s nothin’,” he says, and describes to you his boss’ cat: a purebred white Persian appropriately dubbed “The Count”, so thoroughly spoiled that she won’t eat the same meal twice in a row.

You snort at the image of a prissy little fluff ball turning her nose at a gourmet cat meal.

“Though it’s funny, I never took you for a cat person,” he says.

“No?”

“Figured you’d prefer snails.”

“Look, snails… snails are…” This is a sentence you started with absolutely no knowledge of how it should end. “I like snails,” you say lamely.

“Oh yeah? Think I remember somethin’ else that you like.” He puts his hand around his jaw and pretends to look thoughtful. “What was that book called again? Somethin’ about… bein’ punished by blue collar doms?”

“I’m sure that my friend who left her book on blue collar doms here very much enjoys them, if that’s what you’re referencing.”

He merely chuckles indulgently as he continues to fix the cabinet. You watch his muscles flex under his shirt as he drills new holes into the wood and sets the new hinge in place. As he works the power tool with a soft grunt, you find yourself idly wondering if he’d make the same sound as he drills you —

“Y’know,” he comments, stepping back as he tests the alignment of the door. “I’m actually kind of impressed. This is the most work I’ve ever had to do for a single apartment, barring natural disasters.”

“Wow. Comparing a girl to a natural disaster. Are you this charming with all the tenants, Mr Morgan?”

“You gonna be jealous if I say ‘yes’?”

The alcohol makes you honest. “Extremely.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want that.” He grabs the edge of the kitchen counter and hauls himself back to his feet. “If this is the amount of property damage you cause normally, then I’d hate to see you angry.”

He takes another step forward. You take a step back reflexively, but find yourself pressed against the wall. He leans his forearm against the drywall and he’s close enough now that you can smell sweat and machine oil. Your heart beats hard in your chest.

For once you’re lost for words. No quip comes to mind, for your brain is emitting sparks. “I, uh– I’m not–”

“You’re not what, exactly?”

“I don’t know,” you say weakly.

He raises his hand to your jaw, tips your chin up with two fingers. “The answer’s ‘no’, by the way,” he says quietly. “It’s just you.”

Morgan looks like he’s going to kiss you. The expression on his face is softer than you’ve ever seen it, all his gruffness melted away. You tentatively tug at the fabric of his jumpsuit and stand on your toes to–

But he puts his hand on your shoulder and pushes you back down. “Goddamn,” he says, frowning. “You’re really red.”

Huh. What.

“Listen, I ain’t one for takin’ advantage of drunks, even if they got themselves into this mess.” He picks you up as if you weigh nothing at all and sets you down on the couch. “Now, I’m goin’ to get you some water, and yer goin’ to sit here and sober up while I finish this cabinet. Alright?”

“I’m not even that drunk,” you protest loudly.

“Yer about the color of a fire hydrant right now.”

When you press the back of your hand to your cheeks and forehead, your skin feels feverish. Begrudgingly, you sink down into your couch cushions and cross your arms.

“Good girl,” he rumbles, patting your head affectionately.

***

You slouch on your friend’s comfy couch with Sebastian sitting regally in your lap as if you were his loyal subject.

“Hey Sebastian, I think I did something really stupid.”

Sebastian stretches and yawns.

“I hit on the maintenance man.”

He meows. It sounds almost disapproving. Even the cat is judging you.

“It gets worse.” You loll your chin downwards until it touches your chest. “I was sloppy drunk.”

Sebastian tilts his head at you and blinks.

“Okay, one bottle drunk.”

He sniffs haughtily.

“Right? Pathetic, I know.” You move to pick up Sebastian, but he begins to arch his back and you stop, leaning back against the cushions again. He relaxes and maintains his regal position.

“Well, maybe YouTube will keep my mind off him for the next two days…”

***

You return from your friend’s place, having used her cat and your friend’s YouTube Premium as your therapy sessions. You feel better about things now, and life should return to normal. Right?

The washer’s inner mechanism gives a promising rattle as it swallows your last six quarters. There’s a low rumble of moving parts, the click of something slotting into place— and then silence. The drum of the machine sits sedately in place. Your dirty clothes sit inside in a quiet, unsoaked heap.

“Son of a bitch,” you mutter under your breath.

You try out a couple different methods: Turn the knobs to various settings without success. Jiggle the handle to try and unlock the washer door. Yell at the machine, call it a worthless piece of shit.

But where discourse fails, violence often prevails. It’s a lesson that has offered a decent measure of success in your dealings with vending machines, keurigs, and lawnmowers. So it’s not merely anger that guides you to kick the washer. No, this is… this is a strategic use of force.

The first kick yields no results. The second kick produces an interesting sputter. Perhaps , you reason, a more precise method is needed here . You raise your fist.

Before you can punch the machine, someone grabs you by the wrist.

“What the hell are you doin’?” Morgan asks, exasperated.

“Laundry,” you answer matter-of-factly.

“What part of laundry involves fightin’ inanimate objects?”

“The part where I get this piece of shit to finally work.” You attempt to give the washer a last parting shot out of pure anti-machine sentiment with your other hand.

Before you can continue to perform percussive maintenance, he grabs your other wrist too.

You tug on both your arms, but he is ridiculously solid; it’s like trying to break free of handcuffs.

Of course my mind goes there.

Looking up at him, he’s realizing at the same time as you of how suggestive this looks. His eyes widen a bit, and you take that as a look of surprise and embarrassment. Yet neither of you moves for a full minute.

“Well,” you say finally. “Are you gonna let me go? Or are you gonna make me submit?”

His eyes narrow for a moment before a smirk slowly grows on his face. “Sounds like that’s what you want.”

He pulls you away from the machine and instead pushes you up against the closest wall. You can feel the heat of his body through the thin linen of your sundress. He traps your wrists against the cold surface and presses his whole body against yours.

“Mr Morgan—”

“It’s Arthur,” he interrupts. “Call me Arthur.”

You whisper his name, beckoning. His expression darkens ever so slightly as his desire for you manifests in a slight twitch of his lips, a crinkling of his brow.

Then he kisses you hard, his tongue lashing against yours before lightly nipping your bottom lip. When he pulls back, his lips are wet and his pupils are blown out with desire.

Letting go of your wrists, he reaches for the hem of your sundress and hikes it up, his calloused hands stroking upwards from your thighs to your hips. He shifts his knee between your legs and nudges them apart before grinding against you. You can feel how hard he is, how big he is, and you moan softly. Burying his head between your neck and shoulder, he begins to suck on the delicate skin there—

The door creaks open. Mrs. Smith, the septuagenarian from down the hall, walks into the doorway with a hamper of laundry in her arms, then pauses when she sees the two of you.

For a second, everyone stands tense and still as participants in a shootout.

“Well,” Mrs. Smith says mildly. She doesn’t look surprised or scandalized. If anything, she looks mildly entertained. “I can see you two are busy. I’ll come back in an hour or so—”

“No! It’s fine,” you say before laughing nervously. You yank your skirt back down. Arthur immediately releases you and begins intensely inspecting the washing machine. “I was actually just leaving. This, uh, this machine’s broken.”

Morgan’s face is red as he makes a noise of confirmation and nods.

“That certainly seemed a novel means of repair,” Mrs. Smith says. The smile on her face is benign, but knowing.

“Anyway!” You pick up your empty laundry basket. “I really must get back. I have a…that is, I… I think I left my oven on.”

You barrel out the door, nearly knocking Mrs. Smith over in your escape. You run down three flights of stairs and into your apartment, slamming the door shut. Marching to your couch, you put a pillow over your face and scream .

***

Watching her leave, Arthur stands in shock at first, then glances over at Mrs. Smith and turns himself towards one of the washing machines, examining it with great focus.

A soft chuckle reaches his ears and he turns his head to look at the old lady, steadily pulling out one piece of laundry at a time from another machine. Under the pretense of examining all the machines, he notes that she also slowly and methodically loads the dryer.

“You should just go after her,” she says quietly, throwing a pair of large pink underpants into the dryer. “She’s a nice one, that girl.”

Arthur can only mutter, “I got work to do.”

“Come now, we both know that’s a lie.”

He sighs. It’s bad enough that John is on his case, but now 705 is giving him grief.

“Do you like her?”

He’s silent. He does not want to be having this conversation.

“Because a girl as pretty as her…”

“I know, I know,” Arthur grumbles. “I’m goin’.”

As he walks past her, Mrs. Smith grins knowingly.

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan/reader #arthur morgan/oc #fic #modern au #verai-marcel #upsides of property damage

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citygirlyuno305 · 1 year

Text

Analysis of Amane’s Psychosis, How it Influenced her Murder, and How it Supports Voting her Innocent for T2

Obligatory TW for numerous reasons- this discusses torture and child abuse, murder, etc.

This came to mind after I viewed posts from tumblr user @purgemarchlockdown (check out their posts! :)).

Introduction

Purge March (PM) recently dropped and has already skyrocketed to over 500K views. Despite an initial heavy lean towards innocent, Amane’s votes have been steadily dropping, dipping beneath 70% innocent today (September 2). Many viewers indicate that a major reason, if not their exclusive reason, for voting Amane guilty is to discourage her present mindset as to the veracity and reliability of her cult. Such people tend to argue that her voice drama (“VD”) and PM suggest that she is deeply indoctrinated, and hope that a guilty vote will be less harmful by forcing her to confront her beliefs with skepticism.

Although there are multiple other reasons why I disagree with this mentality, this analysis centers on the theory that Amane experienced psychosis when she committed her murder, and the similarities between her mindset at that time and her mindset now.

I. Sleep deprivation as torture

This portion of the analysis discusses the relationship between the above images and the possibility that Amane experienced sleep-deprivation induced psychosis.

a. The Green Figure’s punishment in Magic is a reference to Noise Torture, not mere yelling or verbal abuse.

It is my opinion that the above images suggest that she underwent sleep deprivation and/or noise torture.

The image from Magic of the punishment includes the green figure, who’s head is depicted as a metal ball with 2 attached ringing bells, while Amane holds her ears. This, combined with the surrounding red and yellow zigzagged lines, suggest the “punishment” was sharp, loud noise. Many theorize that this was supposed to represent her being yelled at, but I believe it actually represents a much more sinister, cruel punishment, tantamount to the noise torture experienced by prisoners of war. [See: Iraqi prisoners subject to noise torture by US government, it won’t let me paste the link here but I will try to in the comments.]

I believe it is more extreme than mere yelling based on the degree of torture she experienced in other circumstances. The PM MV suggests that Amane was both tased and waterboarded- two highly extreme punishments. Yet, the Magic MV depicted these punishments in a manner similar to how she showed her torture from the green figure.

From this, it can be inferred that her torture from the green figure was far more extreme than that depicted in her Magic MV. For this reason, I believe that she was subject to noise torture.

b. The psychological impact of noise torture

Sleep deprivation is known to cause psychosis, perceptual delusions, hallucinations, etc. Noise torture in and of itself is a clear factor in Amane’s psychological decline, but I want to focus on how noise torture suggests an impact on Amane’s sleep.

Sleep deprivation is known to cause psychosis. A quick google search yields results confirming that sleep deprivation causes delusional psychosis, perceptual delusions, hallucinations, etc. Moreover, a CNN special, “the dark side of music: Using Sound in torture” states that noise torture strengthens the effect of other methods of torture, including sleep deprivation. For reference, the NHS explains that a delusion is an unshakeable belief in something implausible, bizarre, or obviously untrue; a person with psychosis will often believe that someone or something is trying to harm or kill them. Perceptual delusion refers to a true perception, to which a person prescribes a false meaning- for instance, perceiving that a traffic light has turned red when it indeed has is a true perception, but believing that its turning red means that the president will be killed, is perceptual delusion.

With this, it becomes clear that noise torture is related to sleep deprivation in those who experience it. In turn, the symptoms of sleep deprivation, including psychosis and perceptual delusion, are not out of the question for those who experience noise torture.

Amane experienced multiple kinds of torture, and this is not me saying that I think this is the most “severe”. But I believe understanding noise torture is helpful to understand her PRESENT mindset.

c. Amane’s psychological response

This in mind, I believe this method of torture had a devastating impact on Amane’s psychological function. Based upon Amane’s eye bags in the PM video, during the moment where her eyes turn into bright yellow spirals (signifying what I see as a psychological break), I believe she is experiencing psychosis, exacerbated by her noise torture/the other methods of torture she suffered.

At the moment her eyes turn into spirals, she reenters the all-white world; all of the other Amane’s have similar eye spirals, and she remains in the white-world form in the frame where we see she committed the murder. From what we can tell in the Pm Mv, the white world is representative of her participation and compliance in the cult. While all the Amane’s were strictly falling in line in the beginning of the video, at this point, all the Amane’s are running and moving as less of a monolith. Though implying that her murder was “in line” with the cult’s ideals in her mind, this change also suggests her formerly rigid compliance and participation is now uncontrolled, less rigid.

I believe her finding the cat broke the straw on the camel’s back, as it immediately precipitated her psychotic break. I also believe the realization that her mother killed the cat caused a perceptual delusion in Amane’s mind that, the cat is now dead, ergo, I have to kill my mother. This is still technically in line with her cult’s view on tampering with fate, but I believe it also shows an extreme deviation from her previous view on cult compliance, AND that her mental state is incredibly fragile as a result of her previous punishments.

d. Conclusion

I believe Amane experienced noise torture, which caused sleep deprivation and delusional behavior, leading up to her psychotic break.

II. Why this means she should be voted Innocent

As mentioned above, I believe Amane experienced noise torture, as well as multiple other forms of abuse. I believe the noise torture point specifically supports voting her innocent because if she is voted guilty, we will be subjecting her to noise torture again.

a. T1 punishment and Amane’s behavior in her T2 VD

The trial 1 guilty punishment is said to include restraints, but also, the constant and jumbled up echoing of our voices of disapproval in the prisoner’s minds. They are confined to listen to these voices. Amane, being guilty in t1, did experience this- and we saw an enormous change between her sprites for t1 and t2. Once cheerful and childlike, her sprite is now hunched over, and once again is marked with these extremely visible eyebags to show her lack of sleep or rest.

In her VD, she discusses this, and shows signs of her resulting psychological decline. She attacks Es with scissors, shouting “I won’t forgive you.” This parallels her response and actions towards her victim after finding the cat dead. At that point, she even says “You’re sorry? I dont care!” to demonstrate her lack of forgiveness. In my view, the punishment for T1 had a similar, if not exactly the same impact on Amane that her cult’s punishment did. After all, it was mindless, irrational noise echoing in her head, telling her she’s unforgiven. And she aptly pointed out our own hypocrisy in voting while simultaneously showing that her murder was partially driven by her perception of her mother’s hypocrisy.

When she was in the cult, if she knew she was in trouble, she knew she would be punished. Our voices thus gave her the indication that she was not forgiven- “in trouble”- and thus that she would be punished when she met with Es. This makes me see why she thought the scissors were necessary. She equated us and Es with her mother and her cult, anticipated torture as a punishment, and thus brought something to protect herself. But notably, she only used the scissors at this point. Her encounters with the other guilty prisoners, despite their having been beaten and healed (which is against her cult’s teachings), were actually peaceful, or at least entirely verbal and nonphysical.

So at this point, it does not occur to me that she is a physical danger. She had the opportunity to attack fuuta, yet she didn’t. But a t2 guilty would change that.

b. T2 verdict and prospected impact on Amane’s behavior

For this reason, I believe guiltying Amane again will make her MORE violent. T2 is rumored to bring even heavier restraints for prisoners. So to vote Amane guilty then means we will be locking her down, forcing her to listen to our echoed and overlapping voices of disapproval. This is absolutely tantamount to the previous torture she experienced at the hands of the cult. She would be correct to say once again that we are being hypocritical- in real life, we would not endorse torture to rehabilitate an already tortured cult victim.

Also, her eyes flashing in the Mv showed her break- but here, despite her outbursts, she didn’t show any physical change. I think her referring to herself as “we” is essentially a warning that she is extremely close to breaking into a psychotic episode again.

Given her response after the T1 trial, it is extremely unlikely that she will experience a change of heart after being subjected to even harsher punishment. And considering her response to the similar psychological trauma inflicted by the cult, which then caused her murder, it is reasonable to assume that she will become even more confrontational and violent after we lock her down to listen to us again.

c. Conclusion

the T1 punishment subjected amane to noise torture similar to that she experienced in the cult. Her psychological response to this was violence. However, she hasnt had a similar break in psyche yet- her eyes did not flash, despite her outbursts. A t2 guilty will result in heavier restraints and similar voice torture. To prevent further decline, I advise voting innocent.

Sources in pictures because my fingers are tired!!

#amane purge march #amane momose milgram #amane momose #milgram amane #the milgram project #milgram project

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