#we love xina in this house

[soft-persephone]

Would anyone be interested in monster!daughter & Miguel O’Hara?

Trigger Warning: Mentions of blood, flesh eating, gore. (Nothing too extreme. I am not a horror expert or fan. But for this I’m willing to dabble)

I’ve read so many fics and fan art depict Miguel as some feral brown monster man thing, like references to chains and muzzle or straight up having a line in a fic where he will be “growling animalisgicly” or “crouching like a beast.”

All of this has lead to a very not good time.

But I’ve been churning it around in my head.

I’ve created this girl who was experimented on against her will, she’s saved by Jess and they’ve been friends ever since. She has a mother, but now Jess is like another mother figure, and almost an aunt, and Jess becomes an honorary member of their little family.

But it is as sweet as it is a decision made out of a necessity in Jess’s opinion.

The incident has left her with several side effects and urges she can’t control on her own. Their are periods where her mind shifts to instinct mode and not a normal human being and it terrifies her.

She wants to do.. things.. unspeakable things. She has to fight the urge to bite people. Sometimes it’s out of love, sometimes she has to feel their flesh muddle in her mouth, the taunt skin snapping in her her teeth as it rips into their flesh. She wants to hear the crackling sound of bone pricking her ears as they snap in her jaws.

Just to feel something…

Things sound too loud, smell too strong, the light hurts her eyes and when it gets really bad, the fangs force themselves out her gums, and her mouth bleeds when each one slowly surface.

There could be more changes, more things, but she doesn’t know what they are yet. She is too afraid of letting it go that far and what she might do.

But luckily, ever since Jess saved her life, she knows there is one solution. When Jess or someone she truly trusts us around, the world doesn’t sound so loud, the pain in her mouth and the light seeking into her eyes don’t matter.

But one day Jess can’t get to her in time on her own and Miguel ends up there with her.

Now he knows why Jess was never intimated by him. Why she would always tease about being able to handle him.

Because this seemingly normal girl may have the same if not more strength in her body than he has, from the way the bed creaks as you grip the sheets in pain forcing a seemingly inevitable transformation from taking place by sheer will alone.

Jess places a hand on the girl’s back and the muscles in her thighs relax, the death grip she has to stay in bed relax, the growls in her throat subside, and the rise and fall of her chest slows down into a regular rhythm.

“…Jess.” She relents.

Jess maneuvers her into a firm but gentle embrace, and by some silent prayer, you let her.

The fangs diss spear, the wild look in your eye subdues, and you fall into her hug willingly.

Miguel’s guilt in life has always clawed at his own mind, and after that forced injection that made him what he was and the ways he’s hurt people he has only thought of himself as such a thing, but to be confronted with it in the form of another?

A child too…

And then one day Jess can’t make it so she sends him.

But he only makes things worse. He knew he would.

His presence makes you tense, her fangs become more pronounced, and he sees they are thick, fat, with sharp tips. In comparison to the slender canines that hold poison in his mouth.

She immediately lunge at him and he has to pin her down.

She see him as a threat, and he can’t say your exactly wrong about that. He is a threat.

He does hurt people and your better off if he stays away and you never see him again.

He was a risk, and she was a child.

But he was a geneticist. He could do something about this. Probably save you in a way he cousins save himself. What was injected into him to kill him, had become his own reluctant salvation. But that didn’t have to be the same for you.

He couldn’t let something like this ruin a poor girls life. He wouldn’t.

He decides to watch over her from the shadows. He was only asking to be polite anyway. This was more important than formalities.

He takes some of her blood when she’s sleeping, a few stray curls of her hair from a brush, a cotton swab of her cheak.

Thankfully, she was a heavy sleeper.

Eventually, she let him close.

“What’s wrong? I thought hanging with your friends makes you feel better?”

“They think your my sugar daddy and Meena’s already been telling a whole bunch of people.”

Miguel swears under his breath and has to fight the urge to smatter the car window with his fist or show his temper.

“Well, if it’s just a rumor, it’ll die soon. Just wait it out and keep your head up.”

“If you say so..” she frowns and puts her headphones on.

It gets worse.. so much worse…

And now he’s sitting in front of Jess and Your mother without a good explanation to how he became a part of this young girls life.

“You approached her in a library and dragged her into your car to parade her around town?” Her mother screamed.

“No! I just waited until she was alone, so I could explain to her who I am and how I know Jess! I wanted to help her!”

“You watched and cornered her until she was alone and swooped in to get close to her? Because you saw how vulnerable she is!”

“No!”

“I’m calling Jess!” She bit out. “Don’t you dare move or I swear I’ll kill you before she gets here!”

“Mom, he’s not lying—“

“—not a word from you! Go to your room!”

He fucked up.

Jess did not hesitate to tell him as much.

They told him to stay away.

He did what they said.

Maybe it was for the best.

“Why did you let them say all those things about them that you new weren’t true!” You were at his apartment.

How the fuck did you manage to get to his apartment? He was back on 2099.

“What are you doing here?”

“Why didn’t you come to campus with me like I asked and set the record straight? Why don’t you stand up for yourself? You…”

Her voice cracked and her lip was quivering.

His chest swelled and his heart beat faster than he ever felt before.

Why were telling him this? Why did you care so much.

It reminded him so much of.. of a person from a long time ago.

Who would berate him just as much when he was younger for being bullied. Who would stay by his side no matter how fucked up he was it what fucked up things he did.

It him like a truck.

He realized now why this child meant so much to him.

Why he wanted to be around her so bad. Who she reminded him of. What she represented.

Would his daughter with her have been like this? Would she have wanted a girl or children at all? If he showed her this lost poor would, would she care as much about this little girl as he did?

He opened the door and let her in, not saying a word.

He fixed her some tea and turned off the lights. He took his time and found a soft record to let meddle in the background. He wrapped her in a blanket.

She soon relaxed and settled into his chest, sleeping for the night.

She was nothing like him. No part of her was.

But she saw something in him that was.

He thought it was only the fangs, his size, and the unnatural strength in each fiber of his muscles.

But now he knows it was so much more, and it scared him.

It scared him as much as being a boyfriend did, as being a partner, lover friend…. Brother.

He was scared to be a father, especially a son.

But now he had a daughter, and she was the scariest.

[madschiavelique]

Cursed Vampire!Miguel O'Hara

Okay so i came back from this tiny pause and idk why but a sudden hit of vampire diaries content has been multiplying all over my medias after i returned fully and ooo boi

vampire miguel

but not any vampire miguel

cursed vampire!miguel

on the 30th of august i did a spell for the blue moon in pisces and i was guided by my witchy friend who reminded me about the 4 elements and their usage in witchcraft : if you want something fast you use fire (candles), something that is a bit less faster and that purifies you use air (incent for instance), something that takes a little longer and that you use to heal you use water (rain, rivers, moon water etc) and if you want to make something to last in time, you use earth (burying something in the earth for instance)

and she punctuated this recall by “which is why curses are most of the time buried in the earth, because it lasts in time”

and I was like

yea cursed vampire miguel

but with a twist

content warnings : mentions of blood, killings, miguel trying to kill himself but failing, general vampire stuff and some personal lore i elaborated word count : 4,6k (not proofread)

Let’s imagine the setting. A little village lost in the middle of nowhere, Miguel being perhaps mayor, or even just chief of the village if we go back enough in time to a point where electricity was still just a thing you could see when lightning was striking in the sky but had no place in your home.

He owns the biggest house, a manor with multiple rooms and multiple people living in it ranging from normal villagers to servants. Is he a member of the aristocracy ? Not so much, let’s say that he was a hard worker in the fields or something that involved him getting them big muscles (lumberjack perhaps, who knows) and that he revolted against a previous higher up that owned the place.

Xina, his lover at the time, was a witch, hiding the village. She had helped Miguel with her magic without him knowing when he made the rebellion happen. See, she was ambitious, and if Miguel could help her reach her goals, then she’d use him to her own profit. But one more thing, she was deeply in love with him.

And he did love her, until one thing happened. Dana, Dana D’Angelo happened.

Xina believed in many things, in spirits, in demons, in deities, but if there was one thing she didn’t believe in was second chances.

And so, she cursed him, for you don’t play with a woman’s heart, even less with a witch's one.

It had been a few days since the symptoms of this curse still unknown to his consciousness had started spreading within his body.

First, the same night she was executing the ritual, he couldn’t sleep well. He felt heavy, and yet his head felt airy like it was full of cotton. He felt feverish, his shaking body boiling one last time before his life would turn to eternal ice. He had weird dreams that night, altering between horrors and his eyes opening to his window, looking at the full moon.

The next day felt odd, he had this sort of dryness that never left his mouth, and no matter how much he passed his tongue on the inside of it or drunk anything, it stayed parched. The difficulty and surprise settled in when he tried to eat his breakfast but his silverware burned him. He ended up taking something that did not necessitate him to cut, an apple, a fruit, something to satiate the sharp hunger that burned in his body.

He didn’t like seeing people much in the morning, but considering how many lived in this place, he’d have to face them some time or later. And the light, the light from outside felt… too bright for his eyes. The chandeliers that were still getting lit up in the corridors didn’t burn his eyes though, so why ?

That night, he couldn’t sleep. The next day, going outside felt like an army of ants were crawling under his skin as he got under the sun, and these tingles lasted all day, until at the end of it the tingles had turned into a slight burning. He didn’t understand, it was winter, and here he was catching sunburns.

And the next day, another symptom added itself to the list. Why did the people surrounding him smelled so good ? Why did he feel like being near anyone gave him the sensation that he had not eaten anything for days and that they were smelling exactly like the one thing he craved for and needed ?

And then he couldn’t see himself any more in the mirrors, and cutlery felt like he was touching hell, and being outside was like being in hell. And when he passed someone that felt so good, why were his nails elongated into claws ? He definitely ruined some curtains at some point because he was trying to retract them.

And… wait, Xina hadn’t been much around lately. Why couldn’t he get a grasp of her ? Why did he never cross her way ? Had she discovered about his affair ?

And then, one night, when the multiple symptoms had added and fixed themselves entirely in Miguel’s body, his entire property started acting weird around him.

He could hear their whispers, their hearts beating in their chests and pumping blood in their entire body, he could smell their singular perfumes from metres away : everything felt as heightened as dull.

More and more people started leaving their place from the manor. They had heard rumours, rumours saying that he was a malfeasant being, that he had organised the rebellion for power and that he intended to turn everyone here slaves to his demonic energy.

Soon enough, only Miguel remained in the manor. He was more and more absent, living as a recluse in his own part of his quarters.

And one night, as someone was banging heavily on his doors, he came downstairs. As he opened them, he saw that the villagers that had been living under the same roof with him for several months were armed, ready to stab or spike him.

Of course, Xina was at the center of the group. Followed what looked like a fight, but Miguel was almost twice bigger than most of them, and ten times stronger, so he massacred most of the rebels against him until the remaining ones decided to leave the village.

Xina came to him, and told him :

"You have grievously offended me by your cheating, and this crime against me is an affront I could not let pass. Hence, I have cursed you."

Miguel tried to attack her, but as his claws tried to dig into her, he was violently pushed away and his back came into contact with a wall, he fell to the ground, remaining seated against it. Xina walked towards him.

"You can't do anything to me," she said, a pale glow glimmering around her as the sort of crystal crisalide that surrounded her faded at the lack of impact against it.

"What have you done to me?" he breathed.

"I told you, I cursed you," she knelt. "I made you a vampyr."

he looks at her, his eyes finally turning red. She smiled. He had heard of these creatures of legend, these stories made to frighten children and the superstitious, but he had never thought that he would become one in his turn.

"You should be happy, I've given you the gift of immortality. I told myself that eternity would be enough time for you to reflect on your actions," she said, tilting her head to one side. "The few friends you have left will die, those around me will die too, and much later it will be my turn to die. But you, you will remain. Children age, lovers perish. Kingdoms are born and burn up, and you, you will go on."

He didn't want eternity. Why want it when you know the world you live in, but did he really have a choice?

"But you see, even in my revenge I will remain merciful. I offer you two solutions." she said, raising her hand next to her head to count the options. "The first, you find my curse, and destroy it, which will return you to mortal rank." Hope sprang up in Miguel's now cold mind. "Secondly, you find someone who will love you despite what you are and be prepared to forgive all your faults and misdeeds. However, they won't bring mortality back to you, you'll simply be able to change them into a being just like you, and to live with that person for eternity." She rose to her feet, looking down on him before saying her last words:

"Farewell, Miguel O'Hara. The secret of my curse will be taken to my grave. You were my first and last love. You took hold of my heart and crushed it. If you fail to find my curse, choose well." Choose well.

She left, leaving him alone. Remorse, Regret, Guilt and Anger mingled within him in his grey heart. He was alone.

The first decades and the first century were most complex. First of all, he searched the entire region, every piece of land and stone, for Xina's curse. His first instinct was to go to the room she occupied in the manor house, but she had taken everything she owned with her. He went to his family home, searching every room with great interest. But there was nothing.

He searched the library of his manor for information on witches and their rituals, and the only information he could find was that most curses were buried in the ground.

Days, weeks, months of digging everywhere, and nothing. Strictly nothing. The despair of loneliness overtook him earlier than he thought, and soon enough, he tried to put an end to it.

He tried many times. To make matters worse, all the silver objects he used for everything had been taken away by the villagers. The coup had been prepared, Xina had planned everything so that he would have to live with himself.

Hanging himself was useless, as he could no longer breathe, and the cutlery, which was not made of silver, bent against his skin when he tried to stab himself. All night he tried, and when the time finally came for the sun to rise, he placed himself in full sunlight, telling himself that the tingling would be enough to finish him off.

But nothing, the sun stung his pale skin slightly, but didn't go any further. The sensation was slightly unpleasant, but he wasn't suffering terribly. Trying to stay all day in the sun to try and burn himself was useless, for when night came, his skin healed by itself.

Rage hung in his stomach as much as hunger, but he smelt something so enticing that for a moment he wondered if normal blood was flowing through his veins again and he was alive. A simple passer-by had come too close to the village, and Miguel had let his gnawing desire for something to eat get the better of him, draining all the energomer's blood in just a few seconds.

It didn't take him long to become addicted to the feeling of life that filled him everytime he drank blood. He couldn't live like a human again right? So he would take whatever human life he could find on his path.

He knew of a small village nearby where he could feast. It took him a long time to learn to control his appetite, but it took less to learn that his curse had given him an intoxicating beauty that attracted all those he desired. Another of Xina's cruel tricks, he told himself, people will simply be blinded by my aura, thinking they love me when it's really just cursed desire.

He began methodically, taking the inhabitants back to his manor one by one. The first few times he drank them raw, but soon he got used to not drinking all their blood and making them his reserves. They were intoxicated, he could do whatever he wanted with them, but above all: their blind desire made them immensely loyal. None of them ran away, none of them refused to have their blood drunk, and even if Miguel told them to leave, they were far too pained by the thought and preferred to stay.

When the village was hit by an epidemic of a disease, Miguel went there to dump the few corpses that had not survived his bites, so that his business could pass incognito.

He knew of a town not far away and how difficult it was to house all its inhabitants. He went there, explaining to the mayor that he had recently bought a piece of land not far away with old abandoned houses that could help. "What a generous man," said the mayor, and soon enough much of the overcrowded town found itself reviving the village.

Miguel was an experimentalist in his approach to humans. It was so strange to have to deal with them in this way, not as people like himself, but as prey and how he would go about capturing them.

In particular, he was experimenting with his physical abilities. Some twenty years later, when the village was well established, he was tempted to go to the village pub. He could drink as much as he liked and didn't get drunk, he could carry heavy loads without any problem, and he gave himself over to the desires of the flesh with an excpetional energy that pleased all his partners - although they all complained about his icy body.

A century later, all was well, he had once again continued his trick of taking various villagers to his home and making them his delicacies, but he was doing it more sparingly. Humans became less foolish with time, and soon disappearances became too much of a topic in the village. Miguel was finally suspected, after a series of attempts to pin the blame on other suspects.

The slaughter was terrible, and the bottles of wine he filled with blood in the huge cellar of his manor house multiplied until he no longer had to hunt for a long time.

The company of men had become too boring for him. He had become bitter towards them, finding them profoundly idiotic. So he locked himself away in his books, and only left his manor occasionally to go and get more.

But Miguel was no longer interested in finding a way to end it all, he now wanted to get on with feeding his intellect and perhaps, who knows, one day help humans to make this world a better place and become less stupid.

Fifty years later you arrived. You had fled from a village further afield and found this one, which seemed untouched and empty, just what you needed to live peacefully.

You entered the manor house, and unlike all the other dwellings in the area, this one didn't seem so dilapidated and abandoned. You were convinced that someone was living there as soon as you saw one of the chandeliers lit. You arrived in the library, which was by far the least dusty part of the house, and for good reason - Miguel hardly ever went out of it. You found him sitting in his armchair with a book in his hand.

Miguel was 232 at the time, and had long since forgotten the second chance that Xina had offered him. And now that he was a more mature vampyr who didn't attack everything that moved, he managed to strike up a conversation with you.

He was intrigued that a human had arrived here, it's been a long time since he'd seen one. At first he was bothered that you were disturbing his calm and solitude, and he hesitated to kill you on the spot, just like that, without you having time to wonder what was happening.

But when you explained that you'd run away from your village, he was intrigued. And his interest was further piqued when he learned that the reason you had fled was that you were suspected of practising witchcraft, and therefore should be burnt. You didn't really seem like much of a threat, but then again, Xina didn't seem much of a threat either...

He also noticed that his charms weren't working on you, as you were obviously protected. His trained nose detected garlic in your necklace and bracelet, mixed with other herbs that wouldn't do him any good if he were to come to close to them.

Garlic cleanses, it 'purifies', it's a very good antibiotic like lemon (which repels spiders). Vampyrism would have been considered a blood disease, which in Miguel's eyes was not far from the truth.

Eating garlic purified the bacteria present in the blood and, according to some people, would either turn a vampyr back into a normal person or cause their death. The plague came from miasmas, and strong smells like garlic and spices kept them away, which was a reason in the collective mind for vampyrs to use them as a repelling weapon. These little things wouldn't do him much harm, but their influence was enough for you to not feel his hypnoze.

He agreed to let you stay with him, and went so far as to hunt animals for you and bring you vegetables from his garden so that you could eat properly. Why did he keep you with him when he could no longer stand humans and you could be a danger to him? It's quite simple.

Vampyrs aren't sentimental, the only state that comes close to love or attraction for them is obsession, and it didn't take Miguel long to develop one for you. Second, after so many years of loneliness, sharing some parts of his days with someone felt good. And then there was the fact that you were a witch, and that with a bit of luck you'd be able to help him put an end to his curse.

You started off naively enough, but you were curious about vampyrs and kept asking him questions on the subject:

"Why can't you see yourselves in the mirror?"

He sighs, taking you to a room in the manor where stood an old mirror. He took your arm and placed you with him in the reflection. You could only see your own reflection, and just as you were about to marvel in your shudder, Miguel explains:

"That mirror you see there is made of steel, a material that could be lethal to me, and is a formidable weapon against my kind. I'd advise you not to try and break it to attack me, that would be a serious mistake. Most of the mirrors there were in my time were made of steel, and since then they've started to make..." he led you further into a corridor where there was another mirror, "made of aluminium."

He placed you in front of it again, and this time you could see your reflection in the mirror. He was so tall compared to you, and so powerful... a shiver ran down your spine as your eyes met.

"With fae, they can't see themselves in lead, it's their Achilles heel." he said before letting you go and moving on.

You didn't feel any particular hatred towards vampyrs, more a certain curiosity, and obviously a fright. These creatures had been alive for so long, had seen empires fall, kingdoms be born, wars break out, and they had lived through so much...

Miguel had almost forgotten the need for humans to sleep. Fortunately, there was still one bed for you to occupy: Miguel's.

It was a bit dusty, and you even joked to Miguel that you were surprised it wasn't a coffin. He sighed as he got your bed ready, thinking that if you hoped to make friends in such a mediocre way he'd already regret his decision to keep you.

But that didn't stop him watching over you while you slept.

You seemed so peaceful like that, abandoned to the world of dreams, of your insignificant little life. Your frailty fascinated him. And to think that he himself had once been like that...

Your days were quiet, there weren't many exciting activities. You were used to picking and working all day in your village, but here you had nothing to do.

So you chatted to Miguel, listening to him tell you a bit about his whole life. In 232 years of existence one must have a few amusing anecdotes to tell, don't you think? You spent almost all of your time together, and it wasn't long before you started to have feelings for him.

You were afraid, afraid of what he would think, that he would tell you that "it was to be expected, humans are so easily corrupted. You don't love me, you're simply attracted by the beauty that was given to me to attract you."

But you knew it wasn't that evil charm that had got you, it was him all over. Perhaps you should avoid him? Maybe you should leave...

Miguel had felt the change in you, heard how your heart beat a little faster and stronger when you spoke to him, noticed the change in your attitude, especially when he caught you deep in thought. You were hiding something from him, and he was curious to know what.

One evening, when you'd pretended to go to bed, you came down the stairs, grabbed a few provisions that you'd packed in your basket in the kitchen, and silently walked through the big door. It wrung your heart to leave, but a human and a vampyr are an impossible love story. It was only a few minutes later, as your smell and the presence of your warmth began to disappear, that Miguel looked up from his book and your absence hit him right in the throat.

You trudged along on the muddy ground, the snow falling on your body and chilling you despite your coat. A sound of wind as swift and as a sharp blade on a stone brushed against your ear when Miguel was standing in front of you. You stopped walking, watching the prince of the night who was not afraid of the cold let himself be caressed by the snowflakes. None of them melted on his skin.

"What are you doing?" he asked, even though the question sounded almost like a threat.

"I realised that my humanity would be my undoing soon enough in your presence, and so I chose to leave."

"Why," he questioned as he moved closer to you until you had to tilt your head back in the hope of continuing to look him in the eye.

Your heart raced, "My personal affections towards you have shifted."

"Shifted?" he enquired as his hand gently came to clear the melted flakes from your cheeks, or was it your tears? "How have they shifted?"

"They became... omnipresent."

A slight smile stretched his lips as his fingers passed under your chin

"Tell me about them." an order, a necessity.

"They... they make me feel different." you say as your voice shrivels.

"How different," he says as he leans in and brings his face close to yours.

"Warm, and fuzzy," you whispered, "and make my every thoughts come back to... you."

Your breath catches on his lips, his red eyes never leaving yours.

"Am I the object of your love, mi vida?" His breath was cold, and exuded death.

"Yes, you are," you confirm as your voice cracks.

He came to kiss you, the coolness of his lips even colder than the night, and you shivered as the contrast with your skin and the sensation of passion in his kiss sent tingles to the back of your skull.

In as many years of existence, you're the only one who's managed to make him feel human again, and that's enough for him.

"Let's bring you back inside, alright?" he said as he parted from your lips to lift you up in one fell swoop into his princess arms.

And so your relationship gradually metamorphosed, each day sweeter and more fused than the last, until finally the time came for Miguel to think about making you his eternal bride.

What a vile gift she had given him, to allow him to turn you into such a loathsome, despicable, odious being. This choice was going to deprive you of so many things. From the sunlight going from caress to crush, your appetite capsizing, your inability to sleep again. And he didn't want to deprive you of your life.

He didn't want to turn you into such a monstrosity, but you reassured him, explaining that there was nothing in the world that would make you shy away from being with him. Besides, was a life without him by your side really worth living when you were growing old and he remained eternally young and beautiful?

So, with determination, he finally sank his fangs into your skin and set about turning you into a vampire. He simply let the venom infect your veins without ever, ever drinking your blood.

And your change took place just as his had, over the course of several days. He mopped up your fever, held you close to him when your dreams were strange, got you used to going out in the sun without going too far, and then introduced you to drinking blood. He had forgotten how hungry and powerful a new vampire could be, and seeing you almost empty his entire wine cellar made him shudder: not with regret or disgust, but with euphoria.

Never again would he be alone.

The years went by, and your couple survived every era. The good thing about living forever is that you can always find ways to entertain yourself, and it stays with you over time. You still remember so well, for example, that moment when you swam in that lake moving a poor piece of wood and people nicknamed the legendary creature you had inadvertently created 'the Lochness monster'.

It wasn't until years later, out of curiosity, that Miguel wondered what had become of Xina. And after several months of intensive research around the world, you find her grave.

He had read some of the records of what she had achieved. She had climbed far enough up the social ladder until her decisions were taken seriously by certain governors. But soon enough, when she passed the age of 110 while still looking pretty young for her age, she was accused of witchcraft, and instead of dying at the stake, she stabbed herself in the heart, her relatives burying her here.

The two of you stood by her grave and still insisted on bringing her flowers. But it was as he lowered himself to the ground that Miguel remembered what she'd said: "The secret of my curse will be taken to my grave."

Could it be...

So you both set about digging it all up, digging until you finally found her coffin. You were, after all, creatures of blasphemy, but opening her grave made you hesitate at first. Who knows what spell she might have put on her coffin to ensure that anyone who opened it would be cursed?

But when he opened it and discovered her skeleton, he found nothing.

"You were my first and last love. You grabbed my heart..."

"And you crushed it," he whispered.

He plunged his hand between her empty ribs, until he touched something hard, something that didn't have the texture of bone. He reached for the object, a wooden box sealed with black wax.

"Is it... what I think it is ?" you asked.

He nodded, silent. He wouldn't open it, he'd learned from some of his lessons. With his powerful hand, he crushed the box between his fingers with ease, a cascade of dust mixed with sand, herbs and other objects from the ritual surging through his fingers.

And his body burned with a delicious warmth. The familiarity of the humanity in him completed itself, while for you, too, vitality returned to your veins.

The curse was lifted, and now you could act normally. What a surprise it was when your two bodies touched and the warmth they emanated made you smile. And what a joy it was to be able to eat normally and not get a rash on your skin if you spent too many hours in the sun.

Thus your life ended in peace and love, both of you continuing your lives together peacefully.

[mindshelter]

we joke that miguel got lyla in the divorce but... hey, at least xina kept everything else. miguel pushed her away for a lifeless life. he lives in spotless corporate housing, on the highest floor. too far up to recognize what is happening underneath him—and as he comes to realize, never far enough to be seen as more than a well-trained dog. most of the apartment is empty. the windows are sealed for his safety. his home isn't a home; the clearest trace of personality is xina's gift to him. lyla is, emotionally and physically, the brightest thing there. the bright yellow sun in the dark. the clearest sign of love, that miguel might be someone who is loved.

xina's home isn't on the top floor; that's not somewhere she needs to be—there is no validation there. she knows distance only makes you vulnerable. she decorates her walls with the things she loves. her windows open, leading to a balcony full of plants.

there are two chairs in her living room, waiting for company.

[neverlearnedtoread]

Spin the Dawn

⭐⭐⭐⭐; me @ the main characters: so many things would work out if either one of you had a slightly more developed (emotionally, intelligently...) braincell....and one of you is FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD 😡🤬

Oh?? 👌😉😏

diversity!! richly described southeast asian inspired-setting. as a southeast asian myself im always into that sweet sweet asian-inspired worldbuilding

inspired by the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl! at least, im pretty sure. the story itself uses a lot of other elements that don’t happen in the original story but i still got that vibe from the characters

i liked the main character, maia - she was a little feistier than she was cold hard BDE, but! she put her money where her mouth was when it came to a challenge, and worked hard for her victory

lots of weaving imagery, which i love - if you’re gonna have a protagonist who creates some kind of art, you better believe im expecting extensive metaphors and painstaking depictions of pouring your whole heart into something breathtakingly gorgeous, powerful enough to bring the masses to their knees

No.. ❌🤢🤮

male love interest is *hand-wavey motion* much older than the female protagonist, on account of him being a hot sexy immortal magic man. im not too annoyed by this, because the dynamic was relatively balanced in-story, but it does annoy me as a trope on its own merit. why does he need to be that much older, especially when he’s not that much more mature??

not necessarily a complaint, but an observation: some of maia���s decisions were very YA protagonist; as in, i needed her to stop using her emotions as an excuse. if you’re gonna do it for the sake of a good dicking down, at least admit it to yourself, woman! it’s okay to be H word. you and i both know you’re gunning for that ass. just stop lying to me

Summary: Maia, the lone girl in a family of three boisterous brotherss, is a talented seamstress poised with the skills and the drive to take over the family’s tailoring business. Only she possesses both the patience and the artistic flair for making the most beautiful of dresses - so when the imperial palace summons the greatest tailors in the kingdom to become the new empress’s official dressmaker, she disguises herself as a boy (Mulan-style!) to take her aging father’s place. After some Project Runway shenanigans, the emperor’s bride-to-be throws a perfectly staged curve ball on things - she refuses to accept the royal wedding unless her appointed tailor is good enough to complete an impossibly gruelling task - crafting three beautiful, handsewn, uniquely-designed dresses to serve as her wedding gift. Oh, and if that wasn’t a tall enough order for one lone (and relatively inexperienced) dressmaker - the dresses she has in mind are made from the laughter of sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of the stars. So that’s fun.

Concept: 💭💭💭💭 The cover. The COVER. Whew!! I make no pretenses about being a shallow reader, and this cover hit. right. Her cover artist really doesn’t miss! The blues! The stance! The spinning golden thread! The blurb actually managed to curb my excitement somewhat because I can smell a protagonist-falls-in-love-with-someone-she-probably-shouldnt subplot like a freshly rotting carcass, but I took another look at the cover and thought, I’ve made worse decisions than this. I’ll read it for the weaving metaphors. No regrets.

Vague spoilers under the cut!

Execution: 💥💥💥💥 And the verdict is....no regrets! Guess I will continue to go on being helplessly shallow about beautiful book covers. I didn’t love this story, but it was a fun romp through a well-paced plot and a gorgeously detailed fantasy world (the moon, sun, and star imagery.....monkey brain says huhuhu sparkly things do bring joy and I believe that), so there was really nothing to hate. I’m not too desperate for the sequel (except that I really need to know if my babe Sarhai gets her happy ending) but I want to pick it up eventually!

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤ This book took me 3 days to finish this after taking two months (two attempts! why didn’t I just dnf..) to finish To Kill a Kingdom. It got me out of the bad reading slump so well, so fast! I really liked the writing style - the cadence rolled, instead of stabbed (insert bad weaving / sewing metaphor here). However, I really could’ve done without the rapidly intensifying no-braincell energy (NBE) of the two protagonists. While I’m in no way opposed to NBE, the fact is that the BDE wasn’t strong enough to justify the lack of thoughts - I kept thinking ‘where were the two of you when they were handing out the good braincells?? huh??? HUH????’. Love made them stupid but not more unhinged. *deep sigh* What a waste of a good simp

Favourite Moment: I have the distinct memory of Lady Sarhai stomping around the gardens with a handful of arrows and dead hawks (doves? she was trying to shoot the enchanter if i remember right. BDE honestly) and Lord Xina following after being a simp. maia did some shit too but i was paying more attention to the important stuff

Favourite Character: its a close match between Lady Sarhai and Lord Xina. Lord Xina only appeared like twice in this whole book but damnit im probably more invested in HIS love life than i am with maia’s. maia can figure her own shit out, she’s proved capable, but that Lord Xina dude willingly chose to simp for a highly pissed-off, hotheaded viper of a woman, and that can only mean one thing: he is a Man With Taste. we have no choice but to stan! plus in the narrative it’s pretty clear to me that Lady Sarhai and Lord Xina fully communicate their next moves (desperate, desperate moves on a sparse chessboard, bless their lovestruck souls) to each other before they pull anything. Sarhai’s next moves are calculated, and defiant, and Lord Xina plays his bad hand in a losing game with such precision. I just *clenches fist* we love open communication and clear co-conspirators in this house!!

[liveindiatimes]

Ruby: Hero dog we don’t deserve but need, she pets other canines. Watch her in action - it s viral

New Post has been published on https://www.liveindiatimes.com/ruby-hero-dog-we-dont-deserve-but-need-she-pets-other-canines-watch-her-in-action-it-s-viral/

Ruby: Hero dog we don’t deserve but need, she pets other canines. Watch her in action - it s viral

Ruby, a dog, is the Internet hero we don’t deserve but certainly need, especially in the current times. This pooch won over people’s hearts not with her goofy antics or cute looks, but something she does to her fellow canines. She pets the other dogs that visit the same daycare as hers. Isn’t that absolutely adorable!

Ruby became the source of online chatter, after a video of the dog flaunting her awesome social skills made its way online. The video, initially posted on TikTok, is a collection of the dog petting different pooches. It’s now being shared by many across varied social media platforms.

Here’s the video of her antics shared by Twitter handle ‘We Rate Dogs’ and there’s a chance it’ll leave you with a wide grin.

This is Ruby. She likes to pet the other dogs at daycare. 14/10 extremely relatable pic.twitter.com/5KgOnL5kwW

— WeRateDogs® (@dog_rates) March 31, 2020

Ruby has touched millions of viewers’ hearts since the video was shared. In fact, just this particular tweet has gathered over 4.5 lakh likes and more than 89,000 retweets. It has also been seen more than 7.4 million times.

While many expressed their love for Ruby, others wrote that she has great petting skills. Some also shared similar videos to show how their animal companions like to pet others.

“Ruby has great petting skills,” wrote a Twitter user. “OMG! I love her,” commented another. “My goodness. Dogs are so awesome. Maybe the closest example of God’s love we can get on Earth,” expressed a third. “Ruby is doing our part by petting all the good dogs while we stay at home,” wrote a fourth.

Here’s how others reacted:

This is Lucy. She likes to pet the other pets in the house! pic.twitter.com/cnFaND7LnF

— RobboyFangirl17 (@RobinBoyer17) March 31, 2020

This is Taco. We adopted my brother’s cat. Taco likes to pet the cat. pic.twitter.com/VwMhA0hNhk

— Kenny Stewart (@Kenny__Stewart) March 31, 2020

My Cooper is constantly doing that also 🐾❤ pic.twitter.com/642yUcT0yH

— Jeannie Cutlip (@jealin98) April 1, 2020

ruby is just making sure everyone knows that they are a good boy or girl

— xina ✨ (@itsMaxinaa) March 31, 2020

OFFICIAL PUPPETTER RUBY

— darth™ (@darth) March 31, 2020

Several others wrote how Ruby is the sweetest girl ever. Do you think that too?

Source link

[thestylistcoop]

Stylist Spotlight: Melina Hammer

By Xina Giatas

A triple threat, Melina Hammer is The Stylist Co-op’s food stylist, photographer and cook. If you weren’t hungry before checking out her work, you'll certainly have a grumbling belly after!

Melina’s images are authentic and honest- you can sense crunch, juice, char and richness throughout her imagery. Along with her smart use of lighting, Melina styles her dishes with original propping elements- genuine pieces and textiles collected from all over the world.

Melina’s Instagram is a constant source of inspiration for both creativity in the kitchen and a strong appetite. When she isn’t busy making you drool, she can be found foraging for wild food and settling nicely into her new country home, soon to be bed & breakfast upstate.

Full portfolio: melinaphotos.com

Instagram: @melinahammer

Blog: lickingtheplate.com

- How did you come to be a food stylist & photographer?

My path in becoming a stylist and photographer is a little unexpected. I was a metalsmith for the better part of a decade and used ancient techniques to create mythology-inspired pieces for collectors around the world. NYC was a different culture after 9/11, and ultimately I found myself faced with making too many compromises day-to-day to support my art. I decided to reframe my creativity. Having always loved food, I thought I could adapt my fine art background - a rich relationship to textures, connection to how shapes and colors relate to one another - to editorial food stories. One thing led to another, and after a lucky mentorship with some food greats I found my stride. Even though I let go of my identity as a metalsmith - which I deeply loved - I found perhaps my greatest love of all: sourcing incredible foods, cooking & styling them for editorial and ad commissions, and now, I have plans to host pop-up events and a b&b in the country, where people can come sit at my table and *eat* the food I love making.

- What are your favorite types of jobs?

My favorite jobs are those where the client trusts my creative process and empowers me to create it start-to-finish. Often that means I'm writing a column as a broader narrative to accompany recipes, which correspond to the images I photograph, after cooking and styling the food and props. Despite the fact that these projects are major undertakings, I love sourcing objects to tell a certain story, and creating the platform to explore a particular type of cuisine or food. Perfect example - devoting myself to the romance of Hand Pies in the holiday issue of Sweet Paul magazine.

- What is the best part of your job?

The best part of my job is creating the undeniable "Need! GET IN MY BELLY!" effect. When an audience drools, I know I've done well. The other best part is eating the creations once a shoot has wrapped, since whatever I use on set  is real food, and recipes are almost always delicious. (Thank you, awesome clients!) Another great part of my job is knowing exactly where to get unusual or amazing fresh ingredients. I've taken to stocking my pantry with many esoteric vittles and can throw a wicked party on a moment's notice.

- Where do you draw inspiration from?

I'm inspired by so much! Finding people via Instagram has - of course - opened the world up. JoMarie Pitino and Evan Funke and their incredible work making handmade pasta. My wild salmon fishermen friends Driftersfish and their tireless labor in grand, pristine Alaska to bring sustainable salmon to people's tables. Scratching the tip of the iceberg in learning more about food fermentation - a true art, a way to preserve seasons, and incredible portal to health benefits in big, funky flavors. Nigel Slater's and Diana Henry 's poetic words and food. Photographer greats such as Andrea Gentl - half of the duo Gentl & Hyers - showing how beautiful the elemental can be. Love the food Steve Pearce styles, ever since I began. Every single thing he does makes me hungry.  I am so grateful for regular inspiration and (almost) never running out of ideas.

- Sustainability is very important to you. What are some of starter tips for going green in the kitchen?

I grew up with a mom who recycled or reused almost everything (sometimes to my chagrin). Needless to say, sustainability is very important to me. To broaden your own consciousness repertoire, here are some things you can apply in your daily routine: - I reuse plastic bags that make their way into my life (they also happen to be recyclable - yay!) and try not acquiring new ones by having fabric bags on-hand to schlep groceries or tools, or whatever. - Any aromatic veg scraps left from food prep - onion & celery ends, bones, carrot peels, parsley stems, etc - go to a large ziplock bag in the freezer and get made into a lush overnight broth when it's full. I use the broth to boost flavor in cooking grains & beans, as well as for sauces or soups. The best part is this - I use a slow cooker to make it, so it's completely hands-off! And your house will smell amazing as it brews. Freeze the strained+cooled stock in ice cube trays and pull from it as you need. - Since I produce so much organic matter, at the beginning of the year we decided to try a vermicompost setup in our apartment. Turns out to be pretty fascinating stuff, and the result is incredibly nutrient dense compost. If you have container garden aspirations (I'm now gardening in a bigger way - we just bought a house upstate!) this fertilizer will make your basil and tomatoes go bonkers. If that's further step than you're ready to tread, check out your local neighborhood community garden and bring your scraps there.  - Whenever shopping these days, I try to buy products with the least amount of packaging. That stuff just gets tossed! Now that I have seen where much of that packaging goes, I can't unsee it, and I don't want to contribute to it any further.

- Ideally, where would you like your career to be in ten years?

In ten years, I see myself having written another book with vibrant, drool-worthy pictures, highlighting what it means to eat well every day. I also see leading workshops on cooking since food is the center of everything - bringing new & punchy foods into people's repertoires, and hosting people at our dreamy upstate getaway.

[mindshelter]

not to be a downer, i'm not sure exactly where you stand on xinamiguel after that analysis post (which is v good), but after everything miguel has done it just doesn't really feel like xina should be with him at all. do u think there's any scenario where it works or do you think their differences are irreconcilable?

don't be worried about being a downer! you're asking a really good question and we're talking about miguel o'hara's Emporium Of Awful Choices, here. par for the course, and part of the fun.

short answer: things are irreconciliable—at least, they are, at the beginning of the story. alas, sm2099 is about change, and about betterment.

longer answer: yeah, miguel... does not deserve xina. on a similar vein, he doesn't deserve gabriel, either. part of his character growth is that he wants to be someone who does—he wants it so desperately—but they're both fully entitled to telling him to fuck off; if he and xina truly reconcile, it should be entirely on her terms.

so, where's the appeal? (say, aside from the fact that we're rooting for xina and want to drop the hissy, scraggly cat that ran off a while ago back on her doorstep?)

when we look at the original sm2099 storyline as a whole, its thesis (and miguel's thesis, too) states that it's never too late to turn things around and break the cycle. to be better than what the generation before you groomed you to be. the only thing that makes the pain of leaving his blissful ignorance towards a fundamentally unkind world bearable is while the world is not kind and is not loving, the people are.

narratively, xina is completely enmeshed in this idea of self-determination. her personal interests are separate from those of the state. she talks of history that alchemax is supposedly hiding, and is intrigued by the remains of a society that's long gone. she tells miguel he has to stand up for himself. tells him to be brave.

and therein lies the problem: i don't think—for a minute—miguel ever stops being the scared kid in an angry man's house. bravery, in his world, meant broken bones (it meant getting his drink spiked). safety, in his world, meant being the smartest, most powerful person in the room.

it takes a long time... almost too long, for miguel to be brave despite his terror—but he does it. maybe bravery lends to hope, and love, and safety.

and the miguel o'hara xina knows—the best friend that was dragged away from her from right underneath her feet—is someone she recognizes again. the man who snarked at her choice twencen decor comes back, and he gifts her a gumball machine.