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hestiasroom · 1 year

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My hatred for “alternative” aka quack medicine has really only strengthened over the years. These people are pure evil, and they do not care about you.

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Stephanie Tisone began pursuing new answers to her health concerns in 2013. She was 33 and had already molded her life around nutrition for years, traveling from her home in Newtown, Pennsylvania, to Hawaii and Southeast Asia to meet other raw vegans. Her family has a history of cancer, and after testing positive for two gene mutations correlating to an increased risk for breast cancer, she thought reconfiguring her diet could help.

On the advice of the mother of a family for whom she had nannied, Tisone booked a consultation with Anthony William, known on social media and in his books as the Medical Medium. A 53-year-old former health food store owner from Connecticut, William claims that, at four years old, a spirit visited him and gave him the ability to scan bodies for disease by sight. During Tisone’s hour-long $400 phone call with William, he said that heavy metals from vaccines caused her migraines and that the Epstein-Barr virus was hiding out in her liver. He recommended that she start a regimen of wild blueberries, spirulina, cilantro, zinc, and vitamin B12, and later said that high estrogen levels fueled her headaches.

William has said that negative energy can be a source of disease and that he can teach you to clear it; that he can give followers emotional support to rewire their brains and souls after post-traumatic stress disorder from long-term illness; that he can speak to the entity he calls the “Spirit of Compassion” on their behalf. He has said that his information is decades ahead of science, that he knows if objects are hidden in the walls of old homes, and that he fell into a long coma after running past a chemical spill from an overturned truck. His former associates say that much of his follower base is made up of women dealing with chronic illness and pain.

“It actually tells you what’s wrong and how to fix it,” Tisone would later tell a friend. “That’s why Anthony’s approach is so empowering.” The diagnostic call buoyed her, and she started learning William’s vernacular. “The true cause of breast cancer is the Epstein-Barr virus,” he wrote in his 2017 book Thyroid Healing. In the coming years, Tisone and William developed a friendship, and he eventually dropped his consultation fees. She began to work for William as an occasional assistant, accompanying him on trips to visit clients and speak at events. She held out hope, she often told friends and family, that she could one day work for him full-time. (Through his counsel, William declined repeated requests to comment on the record for this story.)

William is a frantic presence on his YouTube channel and social media accounts—he has 4 million Instagram followers. An article about his work published by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop in 2015 became the site’s most read story that year. With his hair tied in its regular short ponytail, William showed up in a YouTube video with Novak Djokovic’s wife, Jelena; on a 2019 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, waving his hands over Kim Kardashian and Kanye West; in a podcast interview with Kate Hudson. He traveled to Los Angeles to make nighttime house calls for patrons. In 2019, publications including this magazine traced surging demand for celery juice among the wealthy and health-conscious to one of his signature recommendations.

William SHOWED UP in a YouTube video with Novak Djokovic’s wife, Jelena; on a 2019 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, waving his hands over KIM KARDASHIAN AND KANYE WEST; in a podcast interview with Kate Hudson.

To some degree, William has drawn from folk tradition in his work. He has compared himself to Edgar Cayce, who claimed to be clairvoyant and became known as a founding father of New Age. William’s ascent has also coincided with the boom the wellness industry has undergone in the last decade as an ever-growing swath of consumers explores ideas like raw diets and detoxes. It’s been a boon to a now common brand of social media entrepreneur. For many followers, William has functioned as an amusement or a supplemental health source. To a certain percentage of true believers, though, the Medical Medium serves as community and identity.

As William gained more exposure, experts began to warn against his pseudoscience. “Promoting the Medical Medium is no different than promoting anti-vaccine views or cleanses or coffee enemas,” Jennifer Gunter, a San Francisco ob-gyn and leading Goop critic, told the online magazine Inverse in 2018. “The minimum is that people waste money, but there is great potential for harm with many of the therapies that are recommended and delays in diagnosis.” William often folds his defense against such critiques into his pitch. “I noticed that there’s this desperate, desperate need to take down the Medical Medium out there,” he recently said in an online chat group.

“STEPHANIE RELATED to Anthony as he said he was,” says a friend. “JUST UNDER GOD.”

Like other alternative health practitioners, William’s site includes standard disclaimer language: “Anthony William…is not a licensed medical doctor, chiropractor, osteopathic physician, naturopathic doctor, nutritionist, pharmacist, psychologist, psychotherapist, or other formally licensed healthcare professional, practitioner or provider of any kind. Anthony William, Medical Medium does not render medical, psychological, or other professional advice or treatment, nor does it provide or prescribe any medical diagnosis, treatment, medication, or remedy.”

Tisone’s belief in William never wavered. She was, according to her friends and family, a 30-something woman with a high emotional quotient, a lifelong student with a tendency to commit herself totally to various diet protocols or gurus. Where other of William’s millions of followers might treat his dictates as larks or view them as part of the vast online orbit of self-billed health experts, Tisone found herself transfixed. “Stephanie related to Anthony as he said he was,” says a friend. “Just under God.” Through her association with William, Tisone spent time at the homes of Robert De Niro and Demi Moore, where he would advise them to buy thousands of dollars in supplements. (Representatives for both actors declined to comment.)

Between 2014 and 2017, according to a record of Tisone’s text and voice messages obtained from her brother, Tisone and William kept in regular communication that was as steady as it was wide-ranging. They analyzed her health and his career progress; she asked him about the circumstances of actor Brittany Murphy’s death, and how to handle debt. Tisone also frequently texted with William’s wife, Rachel Schutzman, and several Medical Medium associates about various ailments and her understanding of William’s advice.

Before William started his current business, he and Schutzman ran a health food store in the roughly 2,000-person town of Machias, Maine. According to a 2001 report in local newspaper The Lubec Light, the shop marked the couple’s first retail venture since William began his career in natural healing in 1985. William eventually moved to Florida, where a Naples yoga studio advertised $12 medical intuitive readings with him. He began phone consultations as the Medical Medium in the early 2010s and saw his profile begin to rise. He performed a reading for Moore in 2014 and got a major break when the leading New Age publisher Hay House released Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness the following year.

Prefame Medical Medium clients remember William spending extra time on the phone with them consulting and gossiping about raw food gurus. “He talks in this sweet voice,” says one. As a published author, that availability shifted. “Books give credibility,” Janis Donnaud, a New York literary agent for health and cooking authors, says. “Something different than selling people supplements.” In 2016, William established an informal franchise system of health practitioners. These affiliates didn’t pay William but were steeped in his thinking and spread the word.

By then, William’s and Tisone’s social circles overlapped. She had become close with Phil McCluskey, a public speaker and author known in the raw food world for his 200-pound weight loss. At the beginning of 2015, McCluskey and his wife, Casey, an Australian former raw food coach and especially dedicated Medical Medium student, began helping William. The McCluskeys own a supplement company in Florida named Vimergy that William often recommends. (Phil and Casey have described themselves as the Medical Medium’s director of operations and director of content and education, but both say they have never worked for William.) As William prepared his book debut, Tisone asked Phil McCluskey for help getting more work with William. He told Tisone they couldn’t because the team had increased its Facebook ad spend to push William’s book. (McCluskey says he had checked with William’s team and was relaying this news on its behalf.)

The Medical Medium became a polished brand with textbook-style offerings. Even by the volatile standards of the health personality business, William’s full-fledged emergence looked sudden. “It just seemed to be there one day,” Donnaud says. “He has been working on this for a really long time,” the early client says, “and he has been trying to find fame and fortune.”

William began holding live events. One of his followers flew to attend the first one at the Sheraton Sand Key Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, in February 2016. She had been blowing through her savings trying to alleviate years of illness and had her first phone call with William the following week. “Thousands of people were waiting to talk to him,” she remembers, “and here I was.” She thought she’d never speak with him again, but he texted her a few days later. “I couldn’t believe he was reaching out to me on a personal level,” she says. “This was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.” William eventually named the client as a practitioner on his referral page. That November, with De Niro and his family in the audience and Tisone volunteering at the event, she gave a testimonial to William onstage at Loews Hollywood Hotel.

William became Hay House’s most successful author. He bought two new homes. Other self-styled medical intuitives flocked to him. Without William’s recognition, the follower turned practitioner says, “You’re just anyone else.” (William prefaced his online referral list with another disclaimer: “The names and associated links are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended to state or imply that Anthony William or Anthony William, Inc. recommends, endorses, supports, sponsors, or is in any way affiliated or associated with any person or entity listed below, or any linked website or content.”)

“You’re NOT ALLOWED to talk about your own level of connection with him,” a practitioner says, “so IT’S HARD TO KNOW about someone else’s.”

A vocal base of Medical Medium enthusiasts coalesced on Facebook and Reddit. They’d dissect William’s diet recommendations and share their own experiences. “We’re all a family at Medical Medium, and it’s the safest place,” he has said. “The family that’s been through hell and back. It’s the forgotten souls, I call ’em. It’s the people who have been swept under the carpet, who’ve been sick, and they’ve been through so much, and there’s no answers out there.” On camera, he wraps his eccentricities in a smiling benevolence. “I know everything about coconuts,” he once said. “I know it’s a bold statement, but it’s the truth.”

William’s closest acolytes maintained his mystique. “You’re not allowed to talk about your own level of connection with him,” the practitioner says, “so it’s hard to know about someone else’s.” In a 2015 text, he told Tisone, “No one cares about the truth!! Do you think that vaccines are the only screwup???” Shortly after publishing his first book, he told her to “write a review dude and retaliate the evil review someone just put up” on Amazon. “Maybe throw a comment telling person how wrong and they obviously didn’t read it.”

Tisone was 20 years old when she absorbed her first health book—by Suzanne Somers, the sitcom actor. It was 2000. The social media–enabled wellness boom was still years off, but long-thriving subcultures tied to New Age thought and alternative diets were spreading online. Tisone actively pursued her passions. She studied the raw food authors Douglas Graham and Don Bennett and the naturopath Robert Morse. She spent a season living in a commune with David Wolfe, a superfood enthusiast and conspiracy theorist.

By her 30s, Tisone liked to joke about how she’d never been kissed. She had the word Love tattooed on her arm and a gentle communion with kids, which friends attribute to her enduring state of wonder. Above all, they describe her as solicitous and devoted, a connector in the raw food community. She met Sarma Melngailis at Pure Food & Wine, the aughts-era raw vegan hot spot in Manhattan that Melngailis opened before serving jail time for grand larceny and tax fraud.

Tisone met William in person for the first time in 2014, the year after her initial phone consultation, eventually landing some work with him as an ad hoc travel assistant. During their trips, she drove him around, ironed his shirts, and went on Whole Foods runs. They once got into a car accident on the way back from Moore’s home in Los Angeles.

As Tisone grew closer to William, she added further restrictions to her raw diet, cutting out nuts, seeds, and avocado. For dinner, she sometimes ate two heads of romaine lettuce with cayenne and lemon. She would tell friends and family that she couldn’t say too much about her work with William, but because they regularly texted, she could bring him their concerns. One family for whom Tisone nannied thought that vaccines had harmed their daughter’s health and tried introducing bone broth to her diet.

“Bone broth fad is by far the most retarded of all time,” William texted Tisone. “For some stupid demented reason people believe it does something for their body like the Druids did when they were sacrificing humans and making soup out of them in the dark ages of satanism.”

“Thank you for confirming my gut feeling,” she wrote back.

Tisone continued pursuing work with William, and she tried to broker a Medical Medium consultation for Timothy Schmit, the longtime bassist for the Eagles, whose wife she had met through a raw food friend. Some William associates thought of Tisone as too wide-eyed, according to one, but her responsibilities afforded her an air of uncommon proximity. “There’s very few that I trust in life,” William texted her. “And your the most.”

When William and Schutzman moved in April 2017, they gave Tisone a job preparing the house for their arrival. Despite her excitement, Tisone kept the gig quiet as best she could, telling her brother and parents not to let anyone else know. “This is super duper PRIVATE and so its really important you don’t share this with anyone,” Schutzman texted her.

The month prior, in March 2017, Tisone had texted Schutzman with a health development. “I’m assuming this isn’t anything to be worried about and prob just detox related,” she wrote. “I noticed a pretty large lump in my left breast today.” Schutzman responded, “Breast lumps can be lymph or node related if you’re detoxing, during your cycle, or under the weather, but you should always have it looked at by your physician, thermography scans are ok to get too if needed.”

“You can give it a week or two and see if it decreases in size or swelling too,” Schutzman added.

“Yes feels like detox I will do that and observe it over next week or 2,” Tisone replied. “I’ve done thermography in past so I am familiar with that So I’ll just keep an eye on it.” (A thermography scan is a painless test that measures skin temperature and doesn’t require radiation; the FDA and American Cancer Society have published warnings about using one as a diagnostic tool for breast cancer.)

A few days later, Tisone followed up with Schutzman. A New Jersey–based woman named Muneeza Ahmed has established herself as a leading voice in the Medical Medium community—she describes herself as the first practitioner in the world to be endorsed by William. Tisone had sought her input, and Ahmed told her that she thought it was an Epstein-Barr virus “activity packing in toxins into the cyst.” (“I did the best I could to keep up with the texts Steph sent and while I cared for her and always wanted to support her as a friend,” Ahmed says, “I would at times feel very overwhelmed by the sheer volume of texts and the large variety of topics she asked me about.” Ahmed also says that she told Tisone to see a doctor to address her lump—but that she understood her to have “EBV from mono as a kid.”)

“Updating you on Muneeza’s opinion about my breast lump,” Tisone texted Schutzman, telling her she’d been advised to up her intake of chaga mushroom tea and that Ahmed was sending breast health massage oil from the beauty brand Living Libations. Ahmed offered Tisone a 10 percent discount on the $30 product.

Schutzman didn’t text back about Ahmed’s assessment, but about two weeks later, she told Tisone, “I wanted to give you a heads up that Ant & I won’t be able to answer any health related questions for the next month or so, all our energy will need to be on this move.”

While Tisone was readying the house, she told a friend in a voice message, “Anthony told me that my body is transforming since I’ve been here, like my health and everything has gotten a lot better.” When the couple got there in April, Tisone spent time with them before heading back to Pennsylvania.

Members of William’s inner circle at the time understood his attention as a commodity, and Tisone’s messages have a deferential tone. While Schutzman and William work closely together, in August, Tisone conveyed her awareness of a lump in her breast directly to William. “I have a quite large lump in my left breast since March, feels like I need to tell you,” she wrote, adding, “No worries if you can’t respond to this.”

William’s brushes with fame were becoming more common. He described Mark Burnett, the producer of Survivor and The Apprentice, as one of his good friends to one early client, and told her that he only texted her, Moore, and other celebrities. In October 2017, along with Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson, he appeared in Heal, a documentary about mind-body medicine directed by Kelly Noonan, who is married to private-equity billionaire Alec Gores. The following year, the couple and Town & Country editor in chief Stellene Volandes cohosted a book party in Los Angeles for the actor Roma Downey, who is married to Burnett. A guest recalls William sticking close by Sylvester Stallone’s side as the night wore on.

The testimonials on William’s site snowballed to include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Diane von Furstenberg, Naomi Campbell, Alexis Bledel, James Van Der Beek, Calvin Harris, Rashida Jones, Kelly Rutherford, Lisa Rinna, Carla Gugino, Pharrell Williams, Hilary Swank, and Adam Sandler. His co-signs could range from spirited (Swank’s and Sandler’s representatives vouch for theirs) to something more like a framed headshot at the dry cleaners (Van Der Beek’s rep says he wrote his eight years ago) to aspirational (William listed Sophia Bush in the acknowledgments of four of his books; a rep says the actor was never a client but they once met when she accompanied a friend to the friend’s consultation).

William soon hit the peak of his own celebrity. “So your name came up from my cousin sending me screenshots of your Instagram, and then other people just sending me your name,” Kim Kardashian told him on the 2019 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. He proceeded to tell the reality star that copper in her liver was causing outbreaks of her chronic psoriasis.

Steven Novella, a neurologist and the founding editor of the site Science-Based Medicine, sees William as part of a lineage of health-oriented operators including Cayce and Franz Mesmer, the late 18th-century physician who practiced hypnotism and befriended Mozart and Marie Antoinette. “People who are either wealthy or celebrities aren’t necessarily scientists, or even very smart, and so they become targets,” Novella says. “These kinds of people will prey upon them because they know that their endorsement is worth a lot.”

William’s nonfamous clientele also span a spectrum of belief. While there are die-hard converts such as Tisone, there are those who approach his practice with something of a wink. There are happy customers and vocal proponents as well as those who have gone all in on the Medical Medium but walked away unsatisfied. Dee Sclafani, a piano teacher in Richmond, Virginia, discovered William in 2013, the same year as Tisone, when she suddenly couldn’t make it through one of her regular runs. She soon found William online.

Sclafani initially viewed William in messianic terms and proposed to him that she make a documentary about his life. She referred friends to him, and one decided that she would book a session as long as Sclafani would join her on the call to calm her nerves. But Sclafani drifted as the cumulative consultation fees ballooned and he became scarce: “I tried these supplements and spent a ton of fucking money.”

“You’re coming from a desperation energy,” she says, “and that’s not a good energy to come from.”

‘Bro I’m [not] doing good at all,” Tisone texted William in July 2017. “Back in excruciating pain. It’s been weeks but way worse now. Sorry to bug you.” Hours later, she wrote, “Thank you for your support. And yea think the stress you mentioned is financial stress. Praying for that to come to completion. I love you and I appreciate all you do for me.” Tisone sent photos of bumps on her skin a few days later and asked if she had shingles. William said she had “baby shingles”—“which is what the back prob was originally”—and advised her to take vitamin C and lysine.

Tisone sought out a number of other alternative health practitioners to address various subsets of her symptoms. She spoke remotely to Teshna Beaulieu, a chiropractor and a self-described specialist in quantum neurology and neuro-emotional technique; Tienko Ting, the author of Natural Chi Movement: Accessing the World of the Miraculous; and several Medical Medium devotees. Tisone conveyed many of the assessments she received to William.

In August, Tisone couldn’t get up. She had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor at her parents’ house and her back pain had become unmanageable. She kept the lump from her family, later texting William that she was not up front with her father because his sister had breast cancer. Tisone discussed the growth and all other manner of health issues with others, but at this moment of crisis, she went directly to William. They exchanged 156 voice messages between August 30 and September 3. They discussed several opinions Tisone had by then received and whether she would get an MRI. She did not at that time.

As her concern grew, Tisone often back-channeled to try to understand the thicket of health ideas contained in William’s messages and phone calls. “Sweetheart in your audio you said Ant didn’t know why you have nausea,” Casey McCluskey texted her. “But he does know. Maybe you didn’t hear him correctly love. Do you want me to text you the reason?” (McCluskey says that all of Tisone’s friends knew that her nausea was from migraines.)

“Did you ever have a lump in your breast?” Tisone texted McCluskey in July. “I think I told you I have one right? Since March.”

Tisone spent decades in the ALTERNATIVE HEALTH ECOSYSTEM, and it’s difficult to get a full picture of the advice she followed. “Just want to make sure you know I DON’T HAVE A DOC that’s overseeing all this,” she texted William.

“Yeah you told me,” McCluskey responded. “It will go, just takes time especially while you’re having a viral flare.”

“Stephanie had told me during that time that she had seen a doctor multiple times,” McCluskey says. “She also told me she had a viral issue.” By this point, Schutzman had already told Tisone breast lumps can be “lymph or node related” but that she should have it looked at, and Ahmed had spoken about it with her. A couple of weeks later, Tisone reminded William of the lump. She became unable to work. Her father, a manager for government construction projects, covered most of her health costs, and a friend sent her money throughout 2017 to buy supplements. That August, she stunned her health community friends by missing the annual Woodstock Fruit Festival, and one of them came to visit her. She shared with the friend that she had a breast lump but assured her that she was talking to William.

‘Sorry to bug you again but these things I am legitimately worried about,” Tisone texted William toward the beginning of October. She was vomiting and her throat was starting to feel swollen.

“Think we will find a dr to come to house,” he wrote. “Let’s look tomorrow.”

“If you get so bad and can’t breathe, you can always call emergency,” he said a few minutes later. “But I think it’s just acids burning throat.”

“I don’t have a good feeling about having a doctor come here to draw blood,” Tisone texted. She didn’t have health insurance and didn’t “want to get trapped and fall down the rabbit hole.”

“I understand,” he responded. “How is it.”

Tisone had spent nearly two decades in the alternative health ecosystem, and by her own account, it’s difficult to get a full picture of the advice she followed. “Just want to make sure you know I don’t have a doc that’s overseeing all this,” she later texted William. “Just a mish mash of random people.” Her reliance on this community was broader than William, but time and again she returned to him. “Haven’t heard from anthony,” Tisone texted a friend and former William assistant, “but Tienko says there is a virus in my intestines.” She asked William if a chiropractor correctly identified her slipped disc and he said she did. She told him that Beaulieu had used her neuro-emotional technique over FaceTime. “Yayyyyyy!!!!!,” he responded, adding, “That can help a sensitive nervy girl like you.”

Tisone followed up a few days later about whether she should get blood work, and William said she should because her sodium level could have dropped from vomiting. She said she was vomiting less and asked if she still needed to.

William responded in a series of voice messages. “You’re dealing with the shingles virus, tried and true, like 100%,” he said in one. “I mean, that’s the virus that flared up your disc, everything else.”

If a doctor could come and draw blood, he said, it might make her family feel better. “I think your family really needs you to see you get at least a little support,” he said, adding, “They could lose perspective over time, even though it’s a slipped disc keeping you from getting up.” Later that week, Tisone’s nipple began to bleed. She sent William a photo of stains on her shirt and asked if she had a hiatal hernia. “You didn’t have one months ago when I looked,” he responded, “but now that you vomit this much it’s possible.”

Tisone’s doctor was forthright about how much time she had left; she responded by asking if someone could contact William to check.Courtesy Tony Tisone.

When she asked what he thought of her bleeding “from my left nipple on same breast as cyst,” he responded, “I’m not liking that at all”; “but don’t want you worried right now”; “just get your back better”; “as your back gets better then the vomiting should stop”; “it should come together.” He told her the bleeding probably didn’t have to do with the cyst.

It had been about seven months since Tisone texted Schutzman about a lump in her breast. William and Tisone had exchanged hundreds of text and voice messages about her health. According to the phone records reviewed for this story, William never told her not to see a doctor. On at least several occasions, he suggested she seek other medical help. Over the same period, he told her he could do a bacterial scan on her, and she asked him to ask the Spirit of Compassion if there was “anything pressing on the nerves that we can’t see with an MRI?”

Tisone wasn’t getting any better. She had blood drawn the week after her nipple began bleeding and told William that her breast was throbbing where the cyst was. “When did the breast get this bad,” he asked. After Tisone sent the results of her blood test, William wrote to her, “Can’t fuck around with that,” and said to get a thermography scan and ultrasound. Schutzman arranged to have a new mattress, bed frame, bedding, and pillows sent to her.

Tisone sought more clarity the following week. She told William in a voice message she didn’t want to go to the hospital unless “you honestly agree that that is necessary” and that “you made it clear what I need to do for my breasts.”

“Steph it is important to have the breast looked at and cared for for sure,” William responded in a text. “It’s always wonderful too that your family knows your reaching out for care, they must be very very worried about you so don’t be afraid of getting attention from a doc on the breast.”

About a week and a half later, in mid-November, Tisone texted him the results of her thermography scan, which showed an array of elevated temperatures. She sent him more blood work, and they started discussing mammograms and biopsies. She asked him to join her on a call with a doctor she was now speaking with, and he said he couldn’t. “When we talk next about my breast can it be on the phone and can we ask spirit to help us see what’s happening??” Tisone asked. “Thank you I love you.” He didn’t respond. She wrote again the next day after a family doctor called her with X-ray and blood results.

“What is a compression fracture?”; “I’m kind of freaking out”; “I need a plan”; “My goal and vision is that spirit and yourself will rd and scan me and will put me on a perfect protocol and my breast will heal itself with nothing invasive.”

The next day, Schutzman texted her, “It’s been super hectic the past few weeks but I will make sure Ant gets back to you ASAP.”

William never texted her again, but Casey McCluskey relayed a thought in December: “I think all the vomiting and all the immobility has just given you a ton of pain. That’s what Anthony said it would be a few days ago.” (McCluskey says that she didn’t speak to William about Tisone specifically and that it was a general conversation.)

Ahmed and McCluskey say they believed Tisone’s family didn’t want William involved, and McCluskey says she understood that the family took Tisone’s phone away. Tisone texted with Schutzman a few times the following year. Tisone and McCluskey corresponded throughout the course of that year. Tisone’s brother says her family never took her phone away or sought to limit her contact with William.

In December, Tisone’s family, now aware of the lump, took her for a biopsy. Before the results came back, she had a seizure that sent her to the hospital. Doctors induced a coma for three days, and she learned that she would never walk much again. She had stage IV metastatic breast cancer, which had eroded her spine.

“They’re assuming it’s tumors which is not smart as the radiation can cause problems,” McCluskey texted her. (McCluskey says she was echoing another Tisone friend’s fear.)

Most of the friends who took care of Tisone after her cancer diagnosis had some tie to the Medical Medium world. In August 2018, one of them made a trip to the beach with her. “She always was hopeful,” the friend says. William’s disappearance hurt and confused Tisone, but she kept faith that he had the answers. Her doctor told friends and family that they needed to be honest. He had been forthright about how much time she had left, and Tisone responded by asking if someone could contact William to check. “I’m alwaysss behind you,” she once texted him. “It’s my purpose.”

In November 2018, Tisone died of breast cancer. She was 38 years old.

In her final weeks, the pain of William’s absence lingered. “I don’t want to die Can you PLEASE talk to anthony for me,” she texted McCluskey five days before her death. “Maybe he will have a solution or something.” McCluskey responded that she was sorry; she says she wasn’t sure if the text was from Tisone.

News of Tisone’s death began to circulate. William offered another medical personality an unsolicited clarification that he wasn’t responsible. A bit over a year after Tisone died, a friend wrote about her on Instagram. Sarah (a pseudonym) still mostly stuck to William’s methods. She previously did work for Medical Medium, and was close enough to William that in 2018, they discussed her business proposal for a health retreat that never materialized. Her father had died shortly after Tisone, and in her post, Sarah reflected on their contrasting circumstances. Her father had undergone traditional cancer treatment, while Tisone “did all the healing protocols you can think of” and “was guided personally” by William.

Ahmed and Kimberly Spair, another health coach touting William’s name, responded to Sarah’s post by sending letters to their respective followings. Their notes covered similar ground and used much of the same language. Spair said that Tisone was not under William’s care or a client of his and advised her followers to look past Sarah’s post. “Vulnerability is real during healing, and the last thing we need is a story to be twisted and throw us into fear, doubt, and adrenal spiral,” she wrote.

After seeing the letters, Sarah aired her distress in a blog post.

“The only people who knew Steph that are still connected with Anthony are the ones who are making money,” she wrote. (Both Ahmed and Spair say they’ve never received money from William.) Still, she remained conflicted: “It was Steph’s decision not to see a doctor. She’s responsible for that,” she wrote, but maintained that William “built a relationship with her based on this mutual belief that he had perfect information about her health.” She told the story of Tisone’s illness and death at greater length and elaborated on Tisone’s closeness with William—even if she had stopped paying for sessions. “Yes, it’s a fact that Steph wasn’t a client of Anthony’s,” she wrote. “But now do you see how she was so much more than that?”

The back-and-forth among William affiliates set off debates across the network of Facebook groups formed around interpreting his work. The month after Ahmed’s and Spair’s letters, he did a live stream on the platform. “I’ve always known about the paid trolls out there,” William said. He claimed that two women reached out to him and told him that a “corporation or this entity or group or some kind of association or something” contacted multiple people and offered “not a little bit of money, like a large amount of money” to “make up slanderous stories, tall tales, crazy claims to weaken Medical Medium credibility.”

A few months after Sarah’s blog post, in June 2020, Ken Turkel, a lawyer retained by William who has represented Hulk Hogan and Sarah Palin in their battles against Gawker Media and The New York Times, sent cease-and-desist letters to her and others who posted about Tisone’s death. “As you supposedly know,” Turkel wrote, “Mr. William considered Stephanie to be a friend, and for you to imply that he played some role in her death devastated him.” Sarah had already removed the posts after the blowback. Turkel said that the record of text and voice messages would show that William had told Tisone to seek traditional care from a doctor, but did not include them out of privacy concerns. The matter began to die down.

Over the last few years, as both William’s celebrity glow and the online discussion of Tisone dissipated, he has settled into a life of professional proximity to fame. He struck up a public friendship with Tony Robbins. Miranda Kerr told New York magazine that his book Cleanse to Heal “transformed the way I think about food.” In August 2020, he wore dark sunglasses as he appeared on an episode of the short-lived podcast In My Feels. Cohosted by Noah Cyrus, the show had previously featured interviews with the life coach Jay Shetty and the business influencer Gary Vaynerchuk. William advised Cyrus to take up spirulina, cilantro, and wild blueberries. He talked about aliens on his podcast and posted a juice shot recipe for chemtrail exposure. “You can come and go as you please,” William recently said in an online chat group, “which you can’t do in a cult.”

Friends who knew both Tisone and William continue to reckon with the role he played in her life, as well as the extent to which they went along with it. One recalls a maxim that William texted Tisone: “It’s loving others and having compassion for others that’s more important. So don’t go too crazy loving yourself.”

“He never said this shit to me,” the friend says.

One practitioner I spoke to told me she abandoned her association with the Medical Medium after coming to terms with Tisone’s death. She still keeps tabs on William on social media. “There’s a new group after us,” she says. “A new inner circle.”

Nonetheless, she says, “I still feel best when I do what he recommends.”

#medical medium #medical medium is a quack #i'm only so passionate about this because i myself got caught up in this nonsense during my ED #i was totally into the raw vegan world etc #it is so so dangerous and fucking stupid #ugh like this lady even attended Woodstock Fruit Festival aka cult headquarters #i hate this alt health world so freaking much #quack doctors DO NOT WANT TO HELP YOU #they only want to give you quick easy neat answers to ~solve~ your issue so that you give them all of your money #they prey off the fact that you are desperate and that traditional medicine often cannot just pull answers out of thin air #because they have to do actual research and testing before just telling you if something works or not

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gleafer · 8 months

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I’m an avid Redditor and follow GoodOmensAfterDark (great group of miscreants!) where a ton of fun memes are posted daily.

One meme was a joke about how Aziraphale had to trap Crowley in a salt circle (demon thing) to get him to partake in social festivities.

And I just had to throw together a quick comic about just that! Enjoy my nonsense!

#ineffable fandom #ineffable husbands #good omens #goodomens crowley #good omens aziracrow #good omens art #good omens fan comic #good omens aziraphale #illustration #illustrator #comic art #gaimanverse #digital artist #comic panels #fanart #digital arwork #good omens gabriel #good omens beelzebub

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aldryrththerainbowheart · 2 months

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Medieval knight!Jason Todd who's a long-lost son of the Wayne earldom. He took up a crusade when he was younger but was believed to be dead. Only to reveal himself several years later during the swordsmanship tournament hosted by Wayne family. Just as Dick was lying in the sand coughing up blood next to his discarded sword, his unknown challenger took off his scarlet helmet and the entire court erupted in chaos.

That was years ago now. Since then, Sir Todd made amends with his family, but they are by no means close. Jason managed to gain a title and a fief on his own, independent of his family and he takes no small pride in that. These days he and his merry group of loyal warriors take up mercenary work and guardianship if the person has enough coin.

When the local baron hired him to be a personal guard for his daughter, Jason was sure that would be an easy job for a good amount of gold. The red knight soon found out that being your bodyguard is not as easy as he thought. You were quite the escape artist. Whenever a banquet or an audience was too boring for your liking, you simply vanished, and Jason had to search for you high and low to drag you back. It made him grind his jaw and caused his temper to flare more than once.

You were thrilled and appalled that someone spoke to you so crassly and brazenly. Other soldiers your father assigned to you treated you with the utmost respect and gave up after a few months. Not the red knight. He proved himself to be just as stubborn as you, if not more. At this point, it wasn't about money anymore. He just couldn't stand the thought of some spoiled daughter of a noble getting the better of him. Jason had no qualms about throwing you over his shoulder and carrying you back to the castle, while the plate of his armor dug uncomfortably into your stomach.

After six months of this, Jason was fed up with your nonsense and was ready to collect his gold and disappear for good. You were hiding from the baroness, some nonsense about dress fitting or a dance lesson. Jason was just returning from the training grounds when he saw you sitting on the ground near the barn, playing with a fresh litter of kittens. You knew the cat and the kittens well, and judging how other animals treated you it wasn't your first time there. You met his gaze and winked at him, placing a finger to your lips. Your first shared secret.

After that day, your personal guard Jason somehow became your partner in crime. He looked the other way sometimes or followed in a safe distance. You fascinated him, and somehow, before he even knew it, he started to fall for you. He wanted to deny it. Jason reminded himself time and time again why it was a horrible idea. However, he couldn't keep himself from falling more and more for you.

Another day, another one of your daring escapes. This time was, different, though. You took some of your belongings and your horse while leaving a letter to say your goodbyes. Jason did not care for exploring the feelings of absolute horror that grasped his heart at the thought of you disappearing from his life. He immediately set out to search for you. You couldn't escape too far and he knew where to go. He knew you better than anyone.

When he caught up with you, you were residing in a tavern in a small cozy village near the edge of your father's land. You were always annoyed and scathing whenever he came to bring you back home, but this time, you were just sad, almost tearful. Jason demanded an explanation for your unusual disappearance, and the one he received almost made him shatter the pitcher in his hand. The courting season was swiftly approaching.

He knew of your fear and unwillingness to get pawned off for alliance and title. He was also aware that your parents were adamant in marrying you off before grow out of marrigable age.

Which is why your loyal guardian made you an offer. You stay in the village for its upcoming festival, relishing in last days of freedom without responsibility, before returning home. This offer served not only you, but Jason as well. He wanted to revel in your presence before returning to your old life where he was the knight and you were the noble.

In hinsight, he should've realized that was a mistake, because in these last few days he became aware of how smitten he'd become. It was all too easy to forget his duties when you were pretending to be a simple village girl.

You peroused the stalls, gawking at everything you saw and chatting his ear off. He watched you trying to eat the commoner food with your bare hands, hilariously failing. When they arrived in the square where the dance was held, you haven't hesitated before grabbing his hand and pulling him for a dance. Jason wanted to protest, but your bright smile convinced him. He twirled you amongst the townsfolk before he noticed familiar faces heading your way. The baron's soldiers, no doubt they were looking for you.

Quicker than you could react, Jason pulled you into a darkened corner, covering your body with his, pressing your lips together. He kissed you until he knew the guards were gone. He pulled away to apologize but before he could say anything you grabbed him by the lapels of his cloak and pressed your lips together again. You kissed him with sweetness and desperation that stole breath from his lungs, and Jason had no choice but to melt into you. He wrapped his arms around you, pressing you impossibly close to him, your hands slipped from his cheeks to his hair.

He indulged little longer before letting voice of reason win, pulling away. Jason reminded you that you shouldn't be doing this, reminded you of your respective postitions. You didn't listened, instead, you uttered words Jason both wished and dreaded to hear.

You loved him.

He asked of you to never say these words to him again, and without another word he took your hand and led you back home as he tried to ignore your quiet sobs.

Despite your promises, he catches you trying to climb out over one of the garden walls during your courting ball. Jason wanted to strangle you, not that he enjoyed watching you dance with all those idiot nobles while all he wanted to do was to take you and carry you somewhere where there only be the two of you. This can't go on much longer, he has to end things tonight. Jason takes on a quest, to slay creatures in the southern forest. Surely you'll understand eventually...that the distance is good for both of you.

Months go by, and the pain the red knight felt when leaving you felt bearable. The other soldiers in his unit were curious as to why the infamous red knight left such prestigious position. Some speculated it was because the position was too peaceful and the dead son of Wayne was hungry for blood. If only they knew the true reason he left, but it was for the better. No one needs to know. One day, a messenger arrived, bearing a letter that stated there was an attack on the baron's family. The baron and his wife were badly injured and you were missing.

How was this possible?! You were supposed to be safe here! Without missing even a single second, Jason rode his horse tirelessly to the city. He will find you, and whoever took you will pay for every scratch he finds on you with their life. When he rescues you from your kidnappers, you're barely conscious. Gently, he pics up your weakened body and carefully carries you over the dead bodies lying everywhere. When he brings you back home, as he always done, he is adamant to never leave your side, no matter what takes. With heart full of determination, he asks, no, demands your hand in marriage. His name, his fief, his sword and his hearth, all of it is yours.

The baron is wise enough to give Sir Jason his blessings. After all, who's better for his daughter than a man who is able to set the world ablaze to safe her?

Art: Crown; Katerina Kirillova

Tags: @thinkingofausername, @fir3flytv, @ivysangel, @cherrrysstuff, @xxgoblin-dumplingxx, @mostly-imagines , @applejuicebegood , @sanguineterrain

#jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #jason todd medieval au #knight!jason todd #knight x princess #medieval au #red hood x reader #red hood x you #jason todd fanfic #jason todd fanfiction #jason todd drabble #princess reader #the art is so cool you guys

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ludwigplayingthetrombone · 5 months

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Bing Bang boom, Kakagai confession part 1 is done! Takes place during the 3 year gap between og narts and narts shippuden starting

Kid: Race you back! Kks: Let's go, Gai Gai: Papa

Kks: He's too important to risk Kurenai: You can push him away, kakashi, but that's /his/ choice to run back in. Punishing yourself will only leave you with regrets. Asuma: You and Gai have always been a pair

Dai: I don't have to worry about him knowing the two of you look out for eachother. Rin: You like him, don't you? Kushina: Have fun with Gaaaiii~! Kks: UUUGH Gai: Found a quiet place to space out, Rival?

Kks: Ooo!...Mm!

Gai: Do you not savor /anything/? Stop/doing/ that, you'll choke. I don't want to hear at all about your stomach hurting later Kks: Oh, I will. I'll have Pakkun track you down just so i can tell you

Kks: You didn't have to leave your brats. You looked to be having fun. Gai: Nonsense! They met up with their other friends! We always spend festivals together! Kks: Just letting you know

Gai: What's gotten into you?I knew you were up here brooding. Kks: I like watching you with them. You act like more of a dad. Reminds me of Dai

Kks: You just need a mustache Gai: I could never grow that beast. That's a relief! I thought you were mad at me. Ruined a date or something like that. Kks: A date? That'd be a first Gai: Eh? Kks: Never been.

Gai:... You've never been on a date? Kks: Not seriously. Never seemed appealing to me. Gai: People throw themselves at you daily! You could truly have anyone what do you mean?? Kks: I'm not interested in any of them/ I was also working non stop back then, you know that. Gai: Is there any person in this village you /do/ want to kiss?

Kks: Yeah Gai: WHO??? Kks: You seriously want to know?? Gai: Only if you want to! As your trusted rival, your secret would die with me! That's my self rule!

Kks: Fine

Kks: It's you.

Kks: Now you know... Gai?... Yup, ok... I made it weird. Sorry-

Kks: Forget i-

Tenten: GAI SENSEI!!

Tenten: I GOT THE TURTLE Lee: Can you believe it, sensei?! Tenten: [maniacal cackling] Gai: AAAAAAA!!

Gai: Excellent work, tenten! Tenten: Here ya go! Gai: For me? Tenten: It reminded us of you, so we had to win it! For the best sensei! Lee: Neji's idea Neji: Lee! Kks: Hm, Naruto gave me a frog in his pocket once Gai: I truly have been honored with the best students!!

Neji: The fireworks are starting soon Tenten: Kaaayy! Lee Right! LEt's go, kaakshi and Gai sensei! Gai: Uuhh Kks: Lead the way, Lee

#kakagai #gaikaka #kakashi hatake #maito gai #might guy #naruto #my art #team gai

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onyourowndaisymae · 6 months

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mistletoe mayhem

a/n: i wanted to get out a festive little piece before the holidays are over. sorry for the lack of posting-- i am so sleepy all the time. also i just got my wisdom teeth out so if this is nonsensical i do apologize. i am on several pain meds

characters + content: lucifer, satan, asmo, solomon, simeon x gn!reader

word count: ~1.3k

prompt: it's christmas at the demon lord's castle. drinks are flowing, music is blasting, and you're caught up in the fun of the party with everyone in the main hall. when you slip away to grab yourself another drink, however, you collide with another body in the doorway. who is that? and what's that above your head, dangling from the doorway... is that... mistletoe?

"Lucifer?"

colliding with the solid chest in front of you knocks some of the breath from your lungs. yet, you don't tumble to the unforgiving ground. you look up and see red eyes searching your face, gloved hands steadying you by the underside of your arms to keep you on your feet.

he breathes your name easily. "watch your step."

"my bad," you reply. you didn't even realize you were clutching the front of his coat until you let him go. lucifer's lips curl into an easy smirk as he crosses his arms.

you readjust your clothes and start to wander off with a polite nod, but his hand catches your arm again. "wait a moment."

"huh?"

his gloved finger points above you to the top of the doorframe. there, dangling above your head, is a bundle of mistletoe. you should have known lord diavolo would have the place decorated in such a way-- he'd been asking you for weeks about human traditions for the festive season. you must have told him about this one somewhere along the way. judging by the look on lucifer's face, he knows what exactly that leafy sprig means.

"mistletoe, is it not?" lucifer starts, then seems satisfied when you nod. "i owe you a kiss. if you'll allow it, of course." the smoothness of his offer makes your cheeks split with a delighted grin.

"i'd be offended if you didn't."

"and we can't have that, now can we? not during the holidays." and with that, his lips meet yours.

"Satan?"

a sharp swear hits your ears as strong hands catch you, gripping your shoulders with startling intensity as he somewhat forcibly props you back onto your own two feet.

satan's cheeks are flushed as he looks you up and down once more to make sure you're alright. his fingers find your shirt and dust you off once more for good measure.

"are you alright?"

"i'm okay," you answer, now secure in your own footing. "thank you for catching me."

"sorry for running into you in the first place."

there's a gap of silence. he shifts awkwardly on his feet, eyes flickering up above your heads to the top of the doorframe.

"is there something up there?" you ask. your gaze flits up above you to find a leafy sprig adorning the doorframe.

"if i'm not mistaken," satan says lowly, cheeks aflame and eyes darting from yours, "that's mistletoe. there's a human tradition where two people kiss if they're caught under it together-- i assume you've heard it?"

"i have."

there's another beat of silence where satan looks hesitant-- his body is angled towards yours, leaned in ever so slightly in interest, but his mouth doesn't move. the words won't come out. you can tell he's interested in the tradition, but he doesn't want to pressure you because of the tumble you almost took. you'd find it more endearing if it wasn't so silly.

"... do you want to give it a try? 'tis the season and all."

he lets out a breath you had noticed him holding and nods, scarlet in the cheeks as his fingers brush against yours. satan's lips find yours-- soft, grateful, melting into your touch as voices of your friends and family fade into the background.

"Asmo?"

"oh!"

two arms wind around your body, pressing you against him as the two of you fumble together lightly. you eventually find yourself unscathed and on your feet once more.

"sorry, hon, i didn't see you coming," asmo murmurs, fingers flitting over your form to help fix your hair and crumpled outfit.

"i'm sorry, too. i wasn't paying attention when i came around that corner. are you okay?"

"i'll be okay. now that i've got you alone, actually, i've been meaning to ask you about something."

a delighted little smile crosses his lips, and he takes your hands in his to coax you closer.

"anything, asmo. what's on your mind?"

"this whole mistletoe tradition solomon was telling me about, is it true? you really make out with someone under this plant? it sounds to me like one of the best human traditions i've heard in awhile."

"it's more of a kiss than a full make-out, but yes, sure, i do suppose it's an interesting tradition."

"and what's the plant look like?"

"uh, it's this leafy green little thing, usually tied up somewhere on the ceiling or in doorframes."

"like that?" asmo lifts a finger from your intertwined hands to point up with a devious grin. sure enough, above your head, you spot a sprig of mistletoe.

"you knew that was there, didn't you?"

"well i wanted to try out the tradition myself. and there's no one i'd rather do it with than you! so maybe i bumped into you on purpose to get you under here with me. is that so bad?"

as you find yourself leaning in to ring in the holiday season, you can't help but think maybe bumping into asmo under the mistletoe was a gift itself, even if it was a silly plot on his part.

"Solomon?"

"mc!"

your bodies bump together uncomfortably, and the two of you fumble together to stay standing. solomon's boyish laugh rings through the area, and you can't help but laugh a little yourself at the absurdity of almost bowling each other down on your way through the doorframe.

"are you alright?" he asks, giggles subsiding into a softness as his eyes scan you for any minor bruises or bumps.

"I'm alright. are you?"

"i am. better now that i have you alone."

"oh? and what is that supposed to mean?"

"did you happen to notice the mistletoe above us as you were walking this way?" solomon asks. your eyes drift upwards with his to see the plant hanging above your heads-- probably mistletoe, considering it's decorating the castle for the party, but honestly you'd never been close enough to know what it's really supposed to look like.

"not until now. assuming that's what that is."

"you think i'd lie about that?" he teases.

"oh, for sure. anything to get a kiss."

"ouch," solomon whines, pressing his hand against his chest to cover the emotional wound your words left. "i would never go so far as to deceive you. if i wanted a kiss, all i'd have to do is ask."

"that's true," you murmur, leaning in as he brushes his knuckles against your cheek.

silence.

"anyways," solomon starts, pulling away with a chesire grin and turning on his heel.

"solomon! you bastard! i thought you were gonna--!"

before you can protest further, his lips are on yours, grinning and kissing you senseless as he backs you up against that very doorframe-- to ensure you stay caught under the mistletoe, of course.

"Simeon?"

a gasp comes from the body you collide with, as sharp and unexpected as the collision you found yourself in. the body bumps into the doorframe with a muffled noise of surprise.

"oh, i'm so sorry! i didn't see you coming!" the apology is out of your mouth before simeon's fully steadied himself on his feet, but he's already chuckling jovially and reaching out to comfort you despite nearly tumbling to the ground.

"i'm sorry," he replies. "i should have been paying more attention."

he reaches behind him to adjust his cape, but his gloved fingers brush something caught in his hair and he frowns. you pull it out for him-- it's a decoration. leafy, green, christmas-y. you look above you to see the hook from which it hung in the doorframe now swinging empty after your collision.

"did i knock that over? i'll have to apologize to barbatos." simeon mutters. then, after a moment, "what is that?"

"mistletoe, i think."

"mistletoe?"

"it's a human realm plant," you tell the angel, twirling it in your fingers. "we hang it up around christmas time. it's for couples. when you stand underneath it together, you're supposed to kiss."

"oh," simeon answers quietly, cheeks heating up at your simple explanation. he looks pensive for a moment. "should i hang it back up?"

"huh?"

"well it sounds like a good excuse to kiss you, and i'm not one to let that chance pass me by. or can we just--?"

he gingerly slips the mistletoe from your fingers and holds it up above you, grinning bashfully. no more words are needed-- you answer the angel with a sweet kiss to mark the occasion.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me swd #obey me nightbringer #obey me nb #obey me x reader #obey me lucifer #obey me lucifer x reader #obey me satan #obey me satan x reader #obey me asmo #obey me asmo x reader #obey me asmodeus #obey me solomon #obey me solomon x reader #obey me simeon #obey me simeon x reader #obey me fluff #obey me imagines

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totalswag · 30 days

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nonsense — DREW STARKEY

authors note i've wanted to write a singer!reader drew fic for the longest time. i've read some singer!reader fics lately and it gave me some inspiration to write my own. i hope you guys enjoy reading. this was also requested by an anon not long ago, so if you’re reading this enjoy 🩵. the song choice is nonsense and just think to when sabrina is performing this song at coachella.

summary performing at coachella for the first time with friends and your lovely boyfriend supporting you in the crowd.

warnings none!

Coachella.

This is your first Coachella where you are performing. You will be playing live in front of millions of people. This is the last weekend for the festival.

Tens of thousands of people travel from all over the world to attend Coachella. The festival features sculptures, art installations, and other open events in addition to music.

When your manager called you about being invited to perform you couldn't believe your ears. Now, here you are about to step on stage.

Standing in a circle backstage with your crew, discussing everything you've prepared for over the last few days and having fun out there. This is what you always do before a show.

Second weekend of the festival.

Walking on stage seems like a surreal experience for you. Looking around, you can sense the intensity of the enormous crowd in front of you.

The weather was lovely, with the sun still shining and the breeze brushing over your skin.

"Hello Coachella, my name is Y/F/N, what's yours?" You smile into the microphone while waving away.

You began by introducing the crowd to yourself, your backup dancers, your music, if everyone is having a great time, etc.

Interacting with your fans is one of your favorite parts of singing on stage. You value your interactions with them since you like conversing. When you read comments on your shows, they usually mention how fascinating you are.

After singing a few songs from the set list, you took a little breather and spoke to the crowd saying a joke, making them laugh.

You begin the next song by sipping from an old-fashioned soda bottle while seated in a chair. As you take a seat, you glimpse your boyfriend, Drew, along with a couple of your friends and security.

You two make eye contact. Butterflies fill your stomach. You offer him a small wave, and he smiles and turns around, presumably blushing.

Fans up close captured the brief interaction with their phones out. We'll see it on social media later today.

Drew and you began dating in the midst of season three of Outer Banks. The first outing was Pougelandia, and fans began to speculate about your relationship because it came out of nowhere.

To be honest, Madelyn Cline and you were close friends before she began filming season one of Outer Banks. She’s the one who introduced you to Drew.

"The last song I'll be playing for you guys is nonsense, so if you know the lyrics, sing along," you cheer, lifting your free hand in the air, moving it around with excitement.

"Is it possible we get my amazing dancers out here," you turn around, pretending you have no idea where they went, "guys come out here, we could perform some sort of choreography, you know" as you gaze at your dance crew coming out the set.

Nonsense is about Drew.

It is one of your favorite songs that you have written. When you first released it, many were unsure who it was about until photos of Drew and you emerged.

Think I only want one number in phone

I might change your contact to "don't leave me alone"

You said you like my eyes and you like to make 'em role

Treat me like a queen, now you got me feelin' thrown, oh

You dance with your dancing crew, who are behind you and moving in sync. The choreography is muscle memory for you guys because you've been performing this song for a few years now.

But I can't help myself when you get close to me

Baby, my tongue goes numb, sounds like "bleh bleh bleh"

I don't want no one else (no no) baby, I'm into deep

Here's a little song I wrote (a song I wrote) its about you and me

When you sing the last line of the pre-chorus, you gesture to Drew in the audience, who moves his head side to side while listening to you sing and blushes when you point to him. You giggle into the microphone.

Fans started cheering louder as they watched you motioning to your lover in the audience.

You continue to move around stage all throughout the song.

You go around the center of the stage as your backup dancers finish their final few dances. One of your backup dancers grabs a chair for you to sit in.

At the end of nonsense you always come up with rhymes. Started doing this after the first performance and can't stop doing it.

Told him he makes me weak to my knees

Everything about him just so dreamy

By the way he's name Drew Starkey

When you say your boyfriend's name, the crowd cheers. You saw his response as he mouthed the words "I love you," dropped his jaw, and put his hands over his heart.

"Coachella, you've been amazing to me these past two weekends. Thank you so much. Can we please give a huge around of applause for our amazing dancers, come on out guys!" Excitement in your voice when you call your dance crew out on stage.

Once you guys made it off stage, you guys began cheering with a bunch of energy. Everyone gave each other hugs.

"Water is calling my name right now" you groan with urgency.

Approaching your manager, holding a cold water bottle for you- thanking her a few times as you open the bottle. You were about jugging down the water when you heard Drew's voice approaching.

"Hi baby," you squeal, dragging the y in baby, and rush into Drew's arms, wrapping your arms around his neck. Being in his arms sends relief in your body.

He smells so good.

He chuckles, "You did so well out there, so proud of you," and delicately places you on your feet.

"Thank you," blushing to the point where your cheeks were red. "Did you enjoy the outro of nonsense?" You inquire with curiosity, despite the fact that you already know his response.

He softly grins that makes your heart flutter, "Mhm yeah I did" kissing the top of your head, wrapping his right arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer to him.

"Why don't we get something to eat?" "How's that sound, baby?" Drew asks, his arm still around you.

Your ears and eyes light up from his request, “obviously yes.”

Before leaving you heard the voices of friends turning the corner. The rest of your friends, as well as Drew's cast members who are also your friends, returned to stage, thrilled to see you.

It was so good to see them.

Drew and you returned to the van to change, drove to the Airbnb to relax before returning to watch other artists perform after the sun had set with your friends.

my taglist!

✰ if you would like to be added to my taglist and be notified whenever i post please let me know in the comments or in my ask box. if there's a line across your name that means i couldn't find your account.

@diqldrunks @chenslucy @winterrrnight @rosezza @solanathascientst @runningfrom2am

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rose-tea-and-strawberries · 1 year

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"Don't You Know It's Bad Luck To See Your Bride Before The Wedding?"

Warning: I write reader as female

Masterlist

One of the most interesting things about having a girlfriend from another world is learning about the culture and traditions that her world possesses. Normally, he would consider every part of the home of the love of his life nothing less than perfect, since it managed to create such an exceptional individual - the very same individual that he can proudly call his. This was, however, before you mentioned a certain tradition/superstition that you had where the soon-to-be husband and wife spend the night before their wedding apart and forbids said betrothed couple from seeing each other until they meet at the altar.

Here’s how our dear NRC boys would react when told this news:

Is cool with it. At least on the outside. They understand that it’s a silly little tradition from your home world so they let you spend the night with Adeuce (you bet that those two are your bridesmen/men of honour and the three of you and Grim are going to have the greatest bachelorette party of your life)/Papa Crewel

But of all traditions, why this one? He seems perfectly calm when you say goodbye - you pretend you don’t notice how he holds you much longer and tighter than he usually does when he hugs you - and your text messages to each other are as normal as they can be, but no matter how hard he tries he just can’t shake off the cold feeling of loneliness your absence brings and how his body feels empty without yours to anchor it.

Once the festivities of his bachelor party are over, it takes five minutes of him trying and failing to keep himself occupied and distracted before his desire to at least hear your voice becomes unbearable and he grabs his phone to call you. He wordlessly slips off somewhere where none of his friends would find him and he gives you a ring. The two of you speak to each other until one of you falls asleep.

He would actually go through with it in its entirely and seeing you walking down the aisle in all your glory and beauty, emerging through the door like a celestial being, after hours of not seeing you had him completely awestruck, like a dying man seeing an oasis after spending hours crawling through the desert. It nearly almost made the wait worth it.

Just never make him go through that again. Please.

Trey, Jamil, Silver, Jack, Sebek

Instantly shoots it down.

Listen, Y/N, he loves you so much it hurts. He’ll move mountains for you, pluck the stars and moon out of the sky for you. He’d make the sun rise from the west if that’s what you desired. If there’s an option to carve out his heart and present it to you on a silver platter he would. Every breath he takes, every time his heart beats, and every hour of every day, he’s dedicated to making you the happiest person in the world - the ring on your finger is an attest to that.

But he won’t, absolutely will not nor ever, deprive himself of a single minute of your presence. He’s trying to make up for the years he’s spent without even knowing you and now that he has you in his life, do you think he goes a day without thanking every force in the multiverse that you found him and filled his life with light and colour and laughter. Do you truly believe that he would ever even attempt to get any amount of rest when you’re not in his arms? It’s absolutely unfathomable and he will stand for it. Now come over here and spend the next hour cuddling him for speaking such nonsense.

It does not matter how long your respective bachelor and bachelorette parties last, you two are spending the night together and that’s that. Full stop.

And don’t worry about the consequences. Whatever supposed ‘bad luck’ that befalls you as a result of his actions, he’ll shoulder it all. In sickness and in health until the end of time, after all.

Riddle, Vil, Jamil, Azul, Leona, Malleus, Idia

Haha, no ♡

Leona, Lilia, Jade, Floyd

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM???? 🥺😭

Ever since you brought it up, he’s been nothing but clingy. It’s hard to tell where you start and he ends from the way he’s hugging you so close it’s like he’s trying to fuse the two of you together.

He wants to do it for you since you’re already sacrificing so much by being away from your home but-but that means that he has to spend a whole entire night without you! Don’t you know he can’t live without your goodnight kisses? And your good morning kisses? And your breakfast kisses and lunch kisses? And you’re just going to desert him like that? Abandon him and then deprive him of hours of kisses and cuddles that legally are his right to have? Starve him of his well-deserved affection and leave him when he needs you the most? Just tell him that you hate him, it would hurt less.

This boy is going to be facetiming you throughout his entire bachelor party - the rules of your world be damned. He’s going to be marrying you in less than 24 hours and he wants to spend every second of his excitement and pure elation with you.

These boys are also the reason as to why you have to have people stationed outside your changing room like guards to make sure that the surprise of your wedding dress isn’t ruined because ‘they just had to see you’.

Needless to say, you are going to be spending the night together

But seriously he’s tried to follow you into the bathroom. Just tell him that it’s an old custom that no one abides by anymore before he breaks the door down.

Ace, Deuce, Cater (100% snapchats/live tweets his feelings of betrayal), Ruggie, Epel, Kalim, Azul, Floyd, Rook

You used your impeccable negotiation skills (puppy eyes) to reach a compromise. You’ll spend the night in Ortho’s room and the two of you will spend the entire night before your wedding playing video games using your matching couple headphones. Ortho will run interference until you leave the next day to get ready to make sure that you don’t end up seeing each other.

Or at least that was the plan until Idia woke up in the middle of the night to find his room devoid of the only lights in his life. Without even thinking, he leaves his bedroom and goes over to where you and his brother are and he gets into bed with you and cuddles you.

Listen normie, you’ve wormed your way into his heart so take some responsibility. If your world is right, then he’ll take the L. He’s used to doom and gloom so whatever bad luck happens can’t be worse than the life he had without you and it certainly isn’t worth even an hour without you by his side.

Idia

Are you kidding him, Herbivore?

First he has to go to some stupid bachelor party that his brother, Ruggie and Jack are throwing because no one would shut up about it when he could be sleeping with you and now you’re telling him that you want him to spend the night alone when he could be sleeping with you?

No. Absolutely not.

He doesn’t care if you think it’ll bring him bad luck or whatever. He’s not spending the night without you. In fact, he’s not even going to go to that blasted party. You and him can just spend the entire time napping in bed.

What? He has to go. Fine. They get one hour. Then, you're his. And if anything tries to get in the way of yours and his happiness, he’ll turn it to ash with his very claws.

Leona

Child of Man, he does not understand. You mean to tell him that in your world, a betrothed couple must spend the eve and morning of their nuptials apart lest a curse of bad luck shall befall them? He’s never heard of such a thing. Humans have such strange customs from where you’re from. You needn’t worry, however, as the future king and powerful mage, he is more than capable of handling whatever calamity that comes your way. A measly little curse is no match for a fae such as he. Therefore, there is no reason for you to deprive him of the warmth of your body for he shall always be there to soothe your fears. He has sworn to protect you and made an oath to you that no harm shall ever befall you.

For if anyone dares to prove him otherwise, he shall deal with them.

Personally.

Malleus (it takes him a while to realise it’s not an actual curse since your world doesn’t even have magic to begin with but he still makes you wear enchanted jewellery on your person just in case - even though every piece of jewellery he had gifted you prior to that is chock full with protection charms and that’s not even counting the heaps of blessings he gave you) (It’s like that time you told him about the curse of ‘The Scottish Play’ all over again)

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